Chapter 39: Guidance through Spatial Rifts

After the first round of battles for the position of city lord of Dui Ping City, only five members of the Gongye family remained. Gongye Shang, Gongye Qian, Gongye Cui, Gongye Wei, and Gongye Wang stood on the battle platform, filled with rage, their eyes blazing as they stared at the cultivators from Tianfeng Fort. Even the waters of the outer sea could not quench the fury in their hearts.

The cultivators from Tianfeng Fort would simply give up when facing non-Gongye family members at the Divine General stage. But when confronted with Gongye family members at that same stage, they would fight to the death, activating ten divine artifacts simultaneously, causing heavy losses to the Gongye family cultivators.

Of course, some of the Gongye family’s Divine General-level disciples, lacking sufficient strength, could not withstand the explosion of those ten divine artifacts and were severely injured, forcing them to surrender. Only Gongye Shang, Gongye Qian, Gongye Cui, Gongye Wei, and Gongye Wang, equipped with divine artifacts at the Divine King level, managed to resist and stay on the battle platform for the next round.

Yet even these five had their divine energies nearly depleted. There were still about two hundred non-Gongye family Divine General-level cultivators left on the platform, having defeated over fifty cultivators from Tianfeng Fort of the Gongye family, who also remained there.

The three Divine Kings—Gongye Ming, Gongye Zhong, and Gongye Yu—had their faces turned purple with anger as they watched the five Gongye family disciples on the platform. The more they thought about it, the angrier they became.

Qu Yi sent the cultivators from Tianfeng Fort to prevent the Gongye family members from competing for the position of city lord of Dui Ping City. Qu Yi himself did not want to seize that position, but he also did not want the Gongye family to continue holding it—clearly intent on creating difficulties.

“Good job, Qu Yi. Keep being so arrogant. Once you step into the battle arena, that will be your death day,” the three Divine Kings thought fiercely, trying to calm their anger.

This time, the Divine Kings of the eight great royal families had already planned to use the rules of this virtual battlefield to prevent Qu Yi from freely leaving. Then, they would unite the top ten disciples from the eight great royal families to kill him. Naturally, as the battles progressed, the time for Qu Yi to enter the arena was getting closer.

Sitting on his seat, Qu Yi smiled faintly as he scanned the entire virtual battlefield. He was well aware of the thoughts in the minds of the three Divine Kings of the Gongye family.

“Top ten on the heavenly list—each of them has a spiritual entity count exceeding 100 million. They’re more than enough to deal with other cultivators at the Divine Marshal stage, but trying to take on me? That’s like an egg hitting a rock,” Qu Yi thought calmly.

Zong Jing noticed the changes in the expressions of everyone present. He was pleased inside, but his face remained calm—this was the demeanor he had to maintain as the host.

“The second round of battles continues. Everyone, draw lots again,” Zong Jing called out after a short while, and a disc was sent flying once more.

Four cultivators from the Gongye family, 200 cultivators from the Zedui Divine Realm, and over 50 cultivators from the Tianfeng Camp immediately grabbed a card from the disc, flipped it over, and determined their opponents based on the color at the bottom of the card.

“Hmph…”

“Haha, lucky…”

Soon, two different voices came from the cultivators who had drawn their lots on the battle platform. It turned out that Gongye Shang, Gongye Qian, Gongye Cui, Gongye Wei, and Gongye Wang all faced opponents from the Tianfeng Camp.

Naturally, the five of them, with little divine energy left, were filled with anger. It seemed another brutal battle of attrition was ahead.

Meanwhile, the five cultivators from the Tianfeng Camp who would face them looked pleased, seemingly glad for the chance to battle against the Gongye family’s cultivators.

At the same time, the other over 40 cultivators from the Tianfeng Camp spoke directly to Zong Jing, “Host, I want to withdraw from this battle.”

As long as they faced someone from outside the Gongye family, the Tianfeng Camp members had no interest in fighting to the death and simply chose to withdraw.

Seeing this, the Eight Realms’ Divine Kings were enraged but helpless.

The cultivators at the Divine Marshal stage could not stay calm and began to condemn them loudly.

“You bastards from the Tianfeng Camp! Do you think this battle platform is your playground? If you’re going to fight, do it seriously. Running away at the last moment isn’t heroism at all!”

“You guys from the Tianfeng Camp—do you deliberately want to oppose us cultivators of the Eight Realms? After dealing with the Zedui Divine Realm, do you still plan to harm cultivators from other divine realms?”

“On this battle platform, you bastards from the Tianfeng Camp can manipulate the rules as you wish, but once you return to the divine realm, prepare to face the consequences.”

“Qu Yi, why are you still hiding in your seat? If you’ve got guts, come out and fight now!”

……

One after another, these voices poured toward the area where the Tianfeng Camp cultivators were, filled with a united spirit of resistance.

Qu Yi had always remained calm, but now, seeing the arrogant behavior of the cultivators from the Eight Regions, he could no longer stay composed. After all, as the leader of Tianfeng Fort, if he allowed others to insult and slander him without reacting, it would dishearten his people.

“Brothers of Tianfeng Fort, since these cultivators from the Eight Regions don’t know when to stop and keep shouting insults, there’s no need to be polite—just retort back at them,” Qu Yi said calmly.

What’s the difference between us in numbers or volume of noise? Tianfeng Fort has nineteen thousand people—we’re not mute!

The cultivators from the Eight Regions… there are less than two thousand of them in total.

“What are you yelling for, you guys from the Eight Regions? Looking for a fight? Don’t worry, Grandpa will come and teach you a lesson soon.”

“You brutes who only know how to roar like beasts—don’t even check your own strength. Do you have a hundred million spiritual entities in your bodies? If not, shut up and obey Grandpa.”

“If you’re so angry, come and fight! It’s not that Grandpa won’t give you a chance. With just a few tens of millions of spiritual entities, one move from Grandpa will make you shit yourselves.”

“We of Tianfeng Fort have always remained low-key. With only two thousand of you from the Eight Regions, you still shout like this—how shameless! Want to argue? Fine, Grandpa’ll join you in the shouting. Bastards, ugly freaks, pig-headed fools…”

In an instant, the nineteen thousand people of Tianfeng Fort started roaring and cursing the cultivators from the Eight Regions like a volcanic eruption.

All the cultivators from the Eight Regions immediately realized a harsh reality: the number of cultivators at Tianfeng Fort far exceeded theirs, and with nineteen thousand people sitting together, if one started shouting, the entire group would join in. There was no way they, scattered as they were, could withstand that.

The cultivators from the Eight Regions fell silent.

Zong Jing, who was overseeing the situation, stood up and said calmly, “Enough. This is a fighting platform, not a place for you to argue. Let’s continue watching the match.”

Now, only five people—Gongye Shang, Gongye Qian, Gongye Cui, Gongye Wei, and Gongye Wang—along with five people from Tianfeng Fort, remained on the fighting platform.

“I’ll go first,” Gongye Shang said calmly as he stepped to the center of the platform.

Immediately afterward, Wang Chongyang, who would be fighting him, gracefully flew to the center and smiled at Gongye Shang. A transparent energy barrier then appeared, enclosing the two of them.

“Let’s begin,” Wang Chongyang said softly.

With that, Wang Chongyang vanished in an instant and reappeared behind Gongye Shang. Holding a slender sword covered in a golden, luminous shield, he thrust it straight at Gongye Shang’s back.
One hundred million spiritual entities had condensed into a short sword as thick as a finger, aimed at Gongye Shang’s back.
“Hmph, can speed alone allow you to ambush me? I have defensive armor.” Gongye Shang was momentarily stunned before coldly summoning a golden, dragon-scale-like defensive suit.
With a ding, the massive collision of energies produced only a faint sound. Gongye Shang’s body wasn’t shattered, but he still suffered a severe shock, launching himself far away before finally stabilizing, blood foam already dripping from his mouth.
“Very good. Very good. Since you ambushed me, don’t blame me for killing you.” Gongye Shang grew furious, his eyes blazing as he stared at Wang Chongyang.
At this point, Gongye Shang drew a golden long sword—a divine artifact at the level of a Divine King.
“Die!” Gongye Shang roared, swinging his sword.
A space rift, twisting like lightning, formed in the direction of his swing, heading straight for Wang Chongyang. The fierce, chaotic energy from it kept surging, devouring everything in its path.
Wang Chongyang smiled and moved swiftly again, swiftly swinging his slender sword. Another finger-thick sword of spiritual energy appeared, slicing through the space where the rift was coming. Wherever it passed, space trembled and became unstable.
The space rift created by Gongye Shang was redirected in another direction by the spiritual energy sword, now flying toward Wang Chongyang’s body.
Yes, Wang Chongyang had created spatial thinness with the spiritual energy sword to redirect the incoming rift.
Whoa…
All the cultivators present exclaimed in astonishment. They were clearly shocked by Wang Chongyang’s incredible technique—turning out it was possible to counter such a powerful space rift created by a Divine King-level artifact.
Gongye Shang was also stunned.
And that moment of hesitation gave Wang Chongyang the chance to dash forward again, reappearing behind Gongye Shang. He sheathed his sword and pressed his right hand firmly against Gongye Shang’s back.
Pfft!
Gongye Shang was struck again by the one hundred million spiritual entities, crashing to the ground as a mouthful of blood sprayed out.

Wang Chongyang no longer gave Gongye Shang a chance. He rushed to Gongye Shang’s side and continuously struck his back with one palm after another. Although Gongye Shang was protected by a divine king-level defensive armor, the gravitational vibrations still took a toll on his body.
“I surrender,” Gongye Shang cried out in humiliation after feeling the injuries inside his body and realizing he could no longer resist.
Wang Chongyang smiled faintly, stopped attacking, and placed his hands behind his back, exuding the natural aura of a master.
Gongye Qian, Gongye Cui, Gongye Wei, and Gongye Wang also felt sorrowful upon seeing Gongye Shang’s plight, their faces filled with grief.