Chapter 35: Forced into a Final Battle

Qu Yi emerged from the Dimensional Ball and suddenly appeared in Hong Wu’s cultivation cave, his Shangjin Sword already thrust forward.
“Hmph, you still try to assassinate me,” Hong Wu roared in anger.
Instantly, a golden barrier formed around Hong Wu’s body, blocking Qu Yi’s attack.
Qu Yi quickly retreated.
“Not bad. Your dimensional magic is quite skillful—you even created a dimensional space to protect yourself,” Qu Yi said calmly, standing still with a smile.
Hong Wu removed the golden barrier and narrowed his eyes at Qu Yi, smiling. “So you’re the assassin who specializes in killing elders. Pleased to meet you.”
It turned out that Qu Yi had transformed chaotic energy into Golden Element Xian Yuan, revealing his cultivation as a lower-tier Earth Soul Demon of the Golden Element. Thus, Hong Wu immediately guessed that Qu Yi must have succeeded in assassinating dozens of elders by relying on this sudden appearance tactic.
With his perfect spatial barrier, Hong Wu was unafraid of Qu Yi’s attacks.
Hearing Hong Wu’s words, Qu Yi laughed lightly. “Even if you have a dimensional space, it’s useless. I’m here to kill you—you must die.”
With that, he continued to wield his Shangjin Sword and lunged at Hong Wu.
“Arrogant wretch! You don’t even run and still dare to attack me? Die!” Hong Wu shouted angrily.
After speaking, he pushed out with his right hand, sending a golden palm the size of a human body toward Qu Yi. This golden palm was formed from Golden Element Demon Yuan and contained sharp spatial laws. If it hit Qu Yi, countless sharp spatial forces would slice through him.
Qu Yi smiled, abandoning his attack, and instead used his body to meet the golden palm.
No matter how powerful spatial laws were, they were still supported by primal energy. So Qu Yi decided to use his unique body to absorb all of Hong Wu’s Demon Yuan.
Seeing Qu Yi’s actions, Hong Wu’s expression changed.
Soon, Qu Yi’s body collided with the golden palm. His body vanished, entering the dimensional space within the palm to face the attack of the sharp spatial laws.
When Qu Yi’s body disappeared, a faint smile appeared on Hong Wu’s lips. But when he sensed the situation in the space, his expression turned extremely surprised.
“How is this possible? How can you absorb the Golden Element primal energy in my space?” Hong Wu exclaimed in shock.
But Qu Yi wouldn’t answer. Instead, he activated the chaotic energy within his body, creating a swirling flow, and immediately drew in the Golden Element primal energy from outside, constantly absorbing it into his body to transform it into chaotic energy.

Hong Wu felt his magical essence draining rapidly. No matter how much magical essence he sent into the alternate dimension, it couldn’t stop Qu Yi from absorbing it. “How does this person have such power?” Hong Wu wondered in confusion. Soon, he realized that his alternate dimension couldn’t hold Qu Yi back, and his magical essence was depleting fast. He immediately withdrew the space and released Qu Yi. “How can you absorb my fundamental energy? What secret technique do you have?” Hong Wu asked Qu Yi right away. Qu Yi looked at him, pretending to be surprised, and exclaimed, “Are you stupid? How could I tell you about the secret technique on me? Fine, take my attack again!” With that, Qu Yi rushed at Hong Wu once more. Qu Yi still wanted to drain Hong Wu’s magical essence; his attack method now seemed rather despicable. Seeing this, Hong Wu flew into a rage and shouted, “My alternate dimension can’t trap you, but can your body withstand my mid-tier magical weapon?” Immediately, he drew out a snake-shaped sword—the Blood Snake Sword, his life-bound magical weapon. The Blood Snake Sword traced a strange curve through the air and rushed toward Qu Yi, ready to pierce his body. At that moment, a black pentagonal shape appeared on Qu Yi’s body, blocking the sword’s strike. The divine formula card had transformed into a defensive armor, protecting Qu Yi. Since the Blood Snake Sword failed to pierce Qu Yi’s body, Hong Wu was astonished and stared in disbelief at Qu Yi’s body. Knowing Hong Wu would be surprised, Qu Yi took advantage of his stunned moment and thrust the Shangjin Sword into Hong Wu’s body. Now that the Shangjin Sword was inside Hong Wu, how could Qu Yi miss this chance? He immediately sent a thread of chaotic energy into Hong Wu’s body. By the time Hong Wu tried to retreat, it was too late—the chaotic energy had already entered his body, disrupting his magical essence and causing it to stop functioning smoothly. “You…” Hong Wu began to panic. He hurriedly mobilized his magical essence to expel the chaotic energy, unable to focus on Qu Yi for now. Qu Yi wouldn’t let this opportunity slip away. He immediately chased after Hong Wu, swinging the Shangjin Sword continuously, unleashing waves of sword energy that could tear through space to attack Hong Wu’s body. Soon, Hong Wu’s body was confined within a space, forcing him to create a golden shield to protect himself once again. Meanwhile, he continued to use his magical essence to resist the chaotic energy’s attacks.

Seeing this, Qu Yi was overjoyed. He immediately mobilized the energy of the Xingluo Ding within his body and kept swinging the Shangjin Sword, continuing to attack Hong Wu without giving him a moment’s rest.
Hong Wu felt immense distress. After a while, he noticed that his own demonic energy was depleting rapidly, while Qu Yi’s seemed inexhaustible, which filled him with even greater sorrow.
“No good, this guy is strange. I might not be able to hold him off. I need to contact Hong Yi and Hong Ji, who are nearby, and ask them to come and help me quickly,” Hong Wu thought, already taking out his communication card.
Qu Yi noticed Hong Wu’s movements and smirked. Suddenly, the entire cave was filled with golden light. The life core of the Soul-Calling Flower flew out and entered Hong Wu’s golden shield, from which ten thousand golden rays were emitted to attack Hong Wu’s Soul Flower.
“Ah…”
Hong Wu’s soul suffered intense pain, and he cried out in terror before curling up on the ground. Of course, his golden shield also disappeared immediately.
Seeing this, Qu Yi smiled as he walked over to Hong Wu, took out the Shangjin Sword, pointed it at Hong Wu’s throat, and showed a hint of contempt.
“A powerful Upper Earth Soul Demon like you hid your strength and waited for me, only to be killed by me. You’re just the first. I’ll continue to assassinate the others until all these powerful Upper Earth Soul Demons are dead,” Qu Yi said softly.
Hong Wu tried to shout, but he had no strength left. The ten thousand golden rays from the life core were rapidly draining his Soul Flower. Before long, the life core had extracted all of Hong Wu’s Soul Flower energy and flew back to Qu Yi’s soul space to protect his own Soul Flower once again.
Qu Yi picked up the Blood Snake Sword and Hong Wu’s space ring, then entered the space ring.
※※※
The ten powerful Upper Earth Soul Demons sent by Emperor Ze were Hong Yi, Hong Er… Hong Shi, hiding in ten different locations across the Gongzhi Continent.
From time to time, they would contact each other to check on one another’s status. After some time, Hong Yi, Hong Er, and the other nine sent messages to Hong Wu but received no reply.
Hong Wu was dead! Naturally, Hong Yi and the others understood right away that he must have been killed by someone else. Although Hong Wu wasn’t the strongest among the ten, he was still among the mid-tier. When Hong Yi and the others found that Hong Wu was dead, they realized that the assassin had the ability to kill even the most powerful Upper Earth Soul Demons.

The nine of them all grew uneasy.
Ze Di sent ten people over, but gave them a strict order: if they failed to help Zhuang Guangming seize the position of sect leader, they must commit suicide.
Thus, Hong Yi and the other nine immediately sent messages to discuss a plan.
“Abandon the plan to boost Zhuang Guangming’s disciples’ confidence. Instead, let Zhuang Guangming issue a challenge for a final battle among the elders.”
According to their plan, Zhuang Guangming would lead nine elders to directly challenge Long Zhan Tian and his eleven elders. At the climax of the battle, Hong Yi and the other nine would intervene and eliminate Long Zhan Tian’s group in one fell swoop.
Soon, Hong Yi sent out the order.
※※※
In the Light Palace, Zhuang Guangming and the nine elders supporting him were in discussion.
Suddenly, Zhuang Guangming took out a communication card.
“Ah…” Zhuang Guangming was surprised for a moment.
Having received Hong Yi’s message, he immediately guessed that the assassin who had killed dozens of their elders possessed the strength of a high-level Earth Soul Demon. The content of the communication card clearly stated that only Hong Yi and the other nine would take action, with Hong Wu not coming to help.
With Zhuang Guangming’s wisdom, he surely understood that if Hong Yi and the other ten had come, they would act as a group—no one would be absent. Naturally, he deduced that Hong Wu was dead, killed by that assassin.
“Sect leader, what’s wrong?” the nine elders asked in unison.
Zhuang Guangming waved his hand to calm the situation and said softly, “Messenger Hong Yi has given me an order—to have us ten fight against Long Zhan Tian’s twelve in a final battle.”
The nine elders also exclaimed in surprise but quickly calmed down.
“Good. No matter how those disciples fight, it won’t affect the ultimate outcome. Since it’s us elders who will decide the winner, let’s hasten to engage in the battle.”
“With the help of ten messengers, our side will surely emerge victorious.”
“Yes. The ten of us will first deplete Long Zhan Tian’s group’s magic energy. Once the ten messengers arrive, they will surely kill them all.”
Each of the nine elders showed a joyful expression.
Seeing this, Zhuang Guangming said nothing more.
“Since all the elders agree, I’ll issue a challenge to Long Zhan Tian now. Our elders will have a final battle,” Zhuang Guangming said calmly.
The nine elders nodded slightly.
Immediately afterward, Zhuang Guangming took out a communication card and contacted Long Zhan Tian directly.
“Half a year from now, on the Water Continent—An Elderly Battle. Will you dare to come?”