Chapter 42

  Inside the observation pavilion, the Princess, the Crown Prince, and Zhou Yanyue watched the tournament unfold below.

  All three were intently following the battles taking place across the battlefield—major sect teams clashing against each other, minor teams squaring off, ambushes, special quests, shifting alliances. The entire arena was alive with strategic plays, desperate gambits, and raw cultivation power.

  From time to time, they turned their attention toward the audience stands, where chaos of a different sort reigned. Spectators from all over were loudly making bets, cheering, and jeering. Amidst the crowd, the Princess spotted a particularly round and animated figure throwing bets at other sect disciples.

  “Isn’t that a rare sight,” she remarked with a smirk, nodding toward the fatty making wagers with wild enthusiasm.

  Meanwhile, Zhou Yanyue had her focus elsewhere—specifically, on evaluating marriage prospects for the Princess. She was eyeing potential candidates from the most prestigious sects: Grand Harmony, Void Pillar, and Heavenly Flux. From those, she had narrowed it down to four individuals: one from Void Pillar, one from Heavenly Flux, and two from Grand Harmony—Adam and Xiaoyan.

  “Adam,” the Crown Prince repeated thoughtfully. “Now that’s an interesting name. Sounds otherworldly. Is he from one of the ancient clans with a foreign lineage?”

  The Princess gave a light laugh. “With a name like that, and those blonde hair and blue eyes, you might think so. But he doesn’t have a surname. The ancient clans are proud—they flaunt their bloodlines, not hide them. So chances are, he’s a bona fide otherworlder.”

  Their attention turned back to the battlefield as Zhou Yanyue recalled something Adam had said earlier:

  ‘The fewer people I personally kill, the fewer enemies I make. No grudges, no long-term feuds. We’re already part of a major sect—there’s no need to paint an even bigger target on our backs.’

  Zhou Yanyue gave a thoughtful nod. “That’s a rather cautious outlook. But he’s a little na?ve if he thinks others need a reason to come after him.”

  As the battle inside the trap formation intensified, Adam revealed a new hand—death element.

  The Princess leaned forward with surprise. “Well now, death, light, and metal?. He just keeps adding to the list.”

  Zhou Yanyue narrowed her eyes. “Seems Grand Harmony decided to take in a dangerous variable.”

  The Crown Prince tilted his head. “Why dangerous? One of my imperial guards has the death element too. It’s not that rare—or dangerous—most of the time.”

  Zhou Yanyue shook her head. “It’s not just the element. You have to consider the grade. The higher the grade, the more potent–and the more dangerous–it becomes.”

  Then she glanced toward the Princess, a faint smirk playing on her lips. “Are you interested in him?”

  The Princess paused for a moment before replying, “Yes.” Then, in a more precise tone, she added, “Interested—as in looking at a rare breed of dog.”

  Zhou Yanyue chuckled. “Well, every story starts with a little interest–even if it’s just curiosity.”

  —

  Just outside the trap formation, two minor teams lay hidden in the brush. They had temporarily allied to gain an edge—should they encounter a major team, they hoped numbers would make the difference.

  But before they could reach the trap itself, something unexpected happened.

  A swarm of spirit beasts came crashing through the trees, running straight toward them. Instinctively, the cultivators readied their weapons, preparing for a confrontation. But the beasts didn’t attack. They didn’t even look their way.

  They were fleeing—from something deeper within the forest.

  "That many beasts don’t run for no reason," one cultivator muttered, narrowing his eyes.

  “Must be a major team up ahead,” another said. “That pressure… it's heavy, even from here.”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Driven by curiosity and caution, several members climbed up into the treetops. From their elevated view, they saw the trap formation in the distance. The dome glowed faintly, darkened with strain, but it was still standing. Within, they could see chaotic flashes of Qi and glimpses of movement.

  The scale of destruction told them everything: a major clash was underway inside.

  And they had a plan.

  “Let’s wait it out,” one team leader instructed. “Once the fight’s over, we ambush whoever’s left.”

  “Easy pickings,” the other agreed. “We’ll move in as soon as the formation comes down.”

  They waited just outside the barrier’s reach. The trap formation was tinged with a dull black hue, almost impossible to see through. One of the scouts peered in closely, squinting through the haze.

  “I think the fight's nearing its end,” he said. “They’re barely holding on.”

  Inside, it was Adam’s team—locked in a desperate battle against members of a major team. And they were losing.

  The minor team leaders warned their members to stay alert and be ready. The plan was simple: the formation would eventually be deactivated from within. At that moment, they’d strike hard and fast, without ever revealing they were watching.

  But then—something changed.

  The dimly glowing barrier suddenly darkened. Black smoke began to rise inside, slow and steady at first… then thicker, heavier, filling the dome like black coffee swirling into a translucent cup.

  “What is that…?” someone whispered.

  Thin cracks began forming on the barrier’s surface, spiderwebbing out with startling speed.

  The team leaders didn’t hesitate.

  “EVERYONE, TO THE TREETOPS! MOVE!”

  Most of the cultivators jumped, scrambling into the branches above.

  But a few were just a second too slow.

  The trap formation shattered.

  A single beat of silence.

  Then the black smoke burst out, roaring in all directions like a tidal wave.

  The cultivators still on the ground barely had time to scream. Their bodies began to wither instantly—vitality drained in an instant, their skin turning brittle, flaking into ash before it even hit the dirt. One by one, they collapsed into dust.

  Even the nearby trees weren’t spared. Their bark cracked, leaves shriveled, roots curled back into the soil in slow, creeping death.

  Those who had made it into the treetops survived—for now.

  But none of them dared move.

  They had come hoping to ambush the weak.

  Instead, they had witnessed something far more terrifying.

  And deep within that rising smoke, where even Qi sense failed, something still stirred.

  From the treetops, the surviving team members looked down toward the source of the black smoke. What they saw sent a chill down their spines.

  Standing at the heart of the devastation was a lone figure—shrouded in a dark, oppressive aura. His appearance was gaunt, almost skeletal, as if there were more bone than flesh on him. Beside him loomed another ominous dome of black mist, thick and opaque.

  It was Adam.

  His hollow gaze shifted from the dome to the treetops—straight toward the watching cultivators.

  The moment the team leaders sensed his attention, they shouted in unison, “Attack!”

  Without hesitation, both teams unleashed a barrage of elemental spells—flames roared through the air, lightning arced across the sky, jagged icicles, metal shards, and columns of stone all tore toward Adam in a chaotic storm of power.

  But Adam moved like a shadow—slipping and weaving through the deadly rain.

  Mid-dodge, he extended his right hand. The surrounding death mist coiled in response, swirling into a dense, protective wall that absorbed the incoming attacks.

  As the barrage paused for just a second, Adam struck.

  With a sharp motion, he reshaped the mist—forming it into a cluster of spiked, writhing tentacles that lashed out toward the treetops.

  Two cultivators from each team reacted fast, conjuring solid walls of earth and metal in defense. The death-formed tentacles slammed into the barriers and lodged themselves there, seemingly halted.

  A brief sigh of relief passed through the group.

  But it came too soon.

  From the ground beneath them, the death mist surged upward—erupting like a geyser.

  “MOVE!” both team leaders shouted.

  One of them vanished in a flash of lightning, reappearing yards away. The other launched himself back with a powerful blast of fire. Another cultivator leapt away with the aid of a wind technique.

  But the earth and metal cultivators were too slow.

  The mist swallowed them whole.

  Behind it all, the black dome finally faded. From within, Xiaoyan and Red—the white fox—stood silently, watching the fight unfold. Xiaoyan’s breathing was labored, her expression drained from the effort of maintaining the Echo Bubble that had shielded them until now.

  Xiaoyan and Red quietly retreated into the shadows, choosing to stay hidden for now.

  As the death mist slowly dispersed, the battlefield became visible once more.

  Seizing the moment, the three surviving cultivators decided it was time to finish things. One of the team leaders pulled out ten explosive talismans. The other conjured large, sharpened icicles using his spells. Together, they attached the talismans to the icicles and launched them in a deadly volley toward Adam.

  In response, Adam vanished with a flash step—leaving behind a glowing afterimage of light to mislead them. The icicles exploded in midair, tearing through the space where his image lingered.

  As the smoke cleared, the afterimage flickered out.

  From below, Adam lunged upward.

  He bounded from tree to tree, using flash steps like wall-jumps, ascending rapidly toward his targets. In a blur of motion, he reached them—his sword-arm slashing in a wide arc aimed at all three.

  Two of them didn’t stand a chance. Blood sprayed as Adam’s blade carved through their necks. The third barely managed to dodge, but not without cost—his arm was severed at the elbow.

  Adam landed against the trunk of a tree, then immediately flash-stepped again, closing in on the final opponent.

  But this leader had been waiting.

  Just as Adam closed the gap mid-air, a bolt of lightning surged from the cultivator’s palm. It struck Adam at point-blank range.

  At the last second, Adam instinctively activated his metal-body technique, hardening his flesh into living alloy. But in midair, with no grounding, the lightning couldn’t dissipate—it exploded directly on impact.

  The blast hurled Adam downward. He hit the ground hard, scorch marks blackening his arm and side.

  Lying motionless, he instinctively activated his light-element healing ability. Warm radiance spread over him, restoring his wounds. His previously emaciated form faded, replaced by a more normal, stabilized body.

  The leader, thinking Adam was vulnerable, leapt down to deliver the final blow. He extended his hand, lightning crackling, ready to end it.

  But just as he began his strike, a brilliant flash of light blinded him.

  Disoriented, he staggered—too late to defend.

  Xiaoyan appeared in front of him with a blazing Echo Step and, in a clean, fluid motion, beheaded him. His body dropped silently to the forest floor.

  He and Red moved quickly to Adam’s side, watching as he lay unconscious.

  “He’s not dead yet,” Xiaoyan said calmly, glancing at his chest rise and fall.

  “Let’s get out of here before another team shows up because of all this noise.”

  Without wasting time, Xiaoyan retrieved the golden contribution tag from Mu Qing Li’s spatial ring, and took Li Fan’s ring as well. Just before he left xiaoyan prayed for both of them

  “Thank you for having my back.”

  Red gently bit Adam’s collar and whirled him onto her back. With Xiaoyan leading, the two disappeared into the woods once again—vanishing into the silence they’d come from.

  Meanwhile, back at the pavilion...

  Zhou Yanyue watched the scene unfold with narrowed eyes.

  “This just keeps increasing his potential—and his

  unpredictability.”

  The Princess gave a small nod, her gaze fixed on Adam’s fading figure.

  “Well, if he keeps surviving and growing like this… he’s absolutely going to become a monstrous threat.”