Chapter 1859: Joint Siege
Looking at that ball of brilliant white light, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. That fellow was undoubtedly dead.
Ordinarily, the disparity in strength between everyone participating in the Saint Tower Battle was never too wide. That meant that two people joining hands could usually take out anyone. In everyone
s view, Fang Chen's chances of survival were abysmal.
The expressions of the Fang Clan members watching turned grave.
However, as the white light blinding the battlefield quickly receded, everyone revealed expressions of astonishment.
They saw Fang Chen standing completely unscathed. The ground around him seemed to have been crudely scooped up, but the spot he was standing on hadn't sustained any damage.
The nearby divinity users stopped dead in their tracks, unable to believe their eyes. Meanwhile, the black-winged divinity user and his temporary ally said nothing more, intending to strike once again.
They saw Fang Chen abruptly vanish from his spot.
Both of them inwardly cried out in alarm.
Immediately following that, the black-winged divinity user suddenly let out a miserable shriek. His wings had actually been violently ripped off his back. He wanted to turn his head to see his attacker, but his vision started spinning until he was plunged into darkness.
Seeing that, his temporary ally turned and fled, no longer holding back his boundless, majestic immortal essence. However, before he could even flee ten feet, he suddenly stiffened. Looking down, an arm had burst through his chest, a throbbing heart gripped in its grasp.
Puff!
The heart was instantly crushed. The person let out a soft sigh and abruptly passed away.
From the moment Fang Chen was ambushed by the joint attack to the moment he retaliated and slaughtered these two peak sixth transformations, only a few breaths had passed.
Right now, there were only about thirty sixth-transformation cultivators left on the field. The rest had all perished in the fierce battle just now, their corpses scattered across the ground. An even greater number had been reduced to ashes, leaving no remains behind. The divinity users who could survive the deathmatch up to this point were no fools. They immediately ceased their attacks. Even the people who had been locked in a life-and-death struggle separated and stopped fighting.
Every gaze fell on Fang Chen. Some were wary. Some were solemn. Others were simply confused.
Someone suddenly spoke up. "This person might be able to kill us all. He possesses the means to break into the top 100,000."
"Let us join hands to kill him before deciding the final victor!"
"Agreed!"
The thirty-odd individuals immediately chose to form an alliance, closing in on Fang Chen from all directions.
That was precisely the scenario Fang Chen had wanted to avoid from the very beginning. It was not that he feared them. Even if their numbers were multiplied several times over, it would still be useless. Not a single person among them had reached the level of someone like Xie Aman.
He had already tested his limits inside Xie Zhi's Saint Tower. When facing dozens of opponents of Xie Aman's caliber simultaneously, he was fully capable of slaying them all with a single strike of his sword. It would simply cost him a portion of his lifespan. His main concern was that he did not want to expend so much effort right at the start. It was naturally best if he could conserve his energy and hide his true capabilities as much as possible.
As more Inner Domains turned their attention to this battlefield, the number of illusory gateways continued to increase. The figures behind these gateways were mostly Half Saints. Saints typically focused their attention on the seeded contestants such as those at the Third Step of Limit Breaking.
"Brother, which race do you hail from?" asked someone as they closed in, seemingly trying to ease the tension.
"The human race," replied Fang Chen calmly.
A collective look of blank bewilderment surfaced in everyone's eyes.
"The human race?"
"Has anyone here ever heard of the human race?"
"They don't seem to have any reputation to speak of."
Fang Chen inwardly sighed. There were simply too many races in the Divine Realm, which was why the human race remained virtually unknown to the various factions despite having participated in the Saint Tower Battle numerous times. Of course, this also had quite a bit to do with the fact that the human race's true foundation and strength were indeed far too weak.
"I think I might have heard of the human race. Aren't they the slave soldiers of the Flame Race? When did they manage to become a Saint race?" someone suddenly asked with a frown.
Though they were conversing, they did not pause their advance for even a moment. Instead, they completely surrounded Fang Chen, leaving him virtually no room for escape. However, no one dared to make the first move. Those at the very front would be the ones to face Fang Chen's attacks.
Fang Chen wore a faint smile. "It has been a good many years since Saints first emerged within the human race. What you are speaking of is ancient history."
"But no matter what, the human race hasn't been free from being slave soldiers for very long, right? To think you could actually nurture a figure like yourself. Just how many Saints does your race have, and how many Supreme Bones do you possess?" asked someone as he tried to probe the human race's foundations.
Fang Chen replied calmly, "There is nothing much to hide about this. Our race currently possesses ten Saints."
He smiled. "Do you all truly intend to join forces against me? Do you trust those beside you that much? Aren't you afraid that the moment you strike, they will turn around and launch a sneak attack on you?"
The expressions of the crowd shifted slightly, and they cast wary glances at one another.
However, hearing that the human race possessed only ten Saints made them breathe a sigh of relief. With only ten Supreme Bones, no matter how strong the race was, just how powerful could it really be?
Someone shouted, "Strike together! Every time this fellow kills someone, he has to rest for a short while, which proves that he unleashes his absolute full strength with every single move. Even if he is a notch stronger than us, his Immortal Essence won't be able to sustain him for long."
Seeing that the crowd was still hesitating to act, another person cursed and urged, "If we don't strike now and allow him to recover his energy, he will become far more difficult to handle!"
"That's right!"
That fellow had just killed two of their peers in quick succession. If they didn't strike now while he was recovering his strength, when would they attack?
The eyes of the crowd flashed with realization.
Meanwhile, the people watching through the major Inner Domains were pointing at Fang Chen and discussing him.
"Human race? Never heard of them. When we have time, look into where that race is located and what their background is."
"The strength of this lad might truly give him the capability to break into the top 100,000. He's roughly on par with the geniuses originating from those great races backed by thirty Saints."
"He's a gem for sure, but hailing from such a weak and vulnerable race, his future prospects are bound to be limited."
"What a pity. He drew a Deathmatch Token the moment he entered the Saint Tower. He is doomed to die this time."
Pairs of eyes from the major Inner Domains fell upon Fang Chen. Most of their gazes were pitying, seemingly lamenting the cruel fate of a genius who was more than capable of making the top 100,000 but would perish due to terrible luck.
***
Inside the Fang Clan Inner Domain.
Seeing dozens of foreign sixth transformations closing in on Fang Chen all at once, the expressions of the Fang Clan divinity users turned incredibly solemn.
Their understanding of Ancestor Chen was quite limited. They only knew that his bloodline was exceptionally pure and that he had spent a hundred years inside the Saint Tower. That alone proved he couldn't be weak. However, no matter how strong he was, he surely couldn't face an entire group of peers, each of whom was far from ordinary.
"This... could the Old Man have overestimated Fang Chen...?"
Fang Cangyou sat poised in his wheelchair, staring at the scenes inside the Saint Tower with a strange expression. Setting everything else aside, if he had faced the same situation back when he was at the sixth transformation, he wouldn't be able to run away even if he tried. He would have had no choice but to surrender and see if he could smooth his way through using his slick tongue.
Fang Cangyou lightly tapped his index finger against the wooden armrest of his chair. "I reckon even the Old Man wouldn't be able to handle this kind of situation. Can this kid really be stronger than him at the same stage?"
At that moment, the surrounding cultivators finally reached a tacit understanding. Signs that they were about to attack began to appear.