by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
BOOM!
Wilde let out a muffled shout as he was sent flying. He directly smashed apart a huge boulder in the distance.
But what shocked everyone was that despite receiving such a powerful blow, Wilde wasn’t injured at all. He got up from the ground and once more charged forward with his club.
Elder Sun was about to retaliate when suddenly he felt a whistling gale on the other side going for his neck. Long Chen had actually also attacked him at this moment.
This time, everyone really was stupefied. He actually attacked an Elder? Did he not care about his life anymore?
“Bastards!”
Elder Sun roared and a powerful surge of invisible energy sent both Long Chen and Wilde flying.
“This is the power of Bone Forging? How terrifying!” People muttered to themselves. It was said when cultivators stepped into the Bone Forging realm, their spiritual qi could be released outside as pressure. Without even moving your body, it was possible to just use that pressure to crush your opponents to death.
But that was also something that was only possible when a Bone Forging expert’s cultivation base had reached an extremely solidified level. The secular world’s Bone Forging experts were unable to do that.
Even with Long Chen and Wilde’s power, they were unable to resist that pressure.
“Violating the rules and then daring to resist; you really are asking for death!” Elder Sun harshly shouted.
Long Chen felt his blood surging in his body. A Bone Forging expert really was too terrifying. He was far from being a match for him.
“Elder Sun, please try to distinguish right and wrong first. Don’t wrongly accuse others before investigating the truth,” Tang Wan-er angrily shouted, her whole body trembling from rage.
Last time, Elder Sun had been intentionally targeting Long Chen, and now he was suppressing him even more directly. That really was hateful.
“Hmph, you’re doubting my eyes? I personally saw you all muster and attack the law enforcers, viciously injuring them. You still want to quibble?” snorted Elder Sun.
“You-!”
“Wan-er, don’t waste words with this old bastard. Since he wants to target me, let me make this a bit more exciting.” Long Chen cut Tang Wan-er off, as that was useless. He was clearer than anyone here as to what this old bastard was thinking.
In front of everyone’s puzzled eyes, Long Chen took out his disciple badge. Using his bone blade, he cut along across his left hand, leaving a line of blood. He then placed that bleeding hand on the badge, causing dazzling light to immediately shine from it.
A resounding bell sound rang out throughout every inch of the Xuantian Monastery.
“What? Long Chen issued a life and death challenge?” People let out startled cries.
The monastery had a certain rule. If there were irreconcilable differences between two people, you could issue a life and death challenge.
Once a life and death challenge was issued, the opposing party had to accept. If they didn’t, they would be expelled from the monastery.
That was an extremely odd rule, but it was precisely because it was so strange that Long Chen remembered it now.
The way to issue it was to have your blood activate your badge. Once you did, the monastery’s bell would alert everyone.
Once that bell rang, his badge immediately became invalid. In other words, if he wanted to continue staying in the monastery, he must kill his opponent and snatch his badge.
Elder Sun’s expression changed. A life and death challenge would disturb the entire monastery.
And as expected, countless people immediately began to rush over.
“Who issued the life and death challenge?”
Suddenly, space trembled as three figures abruptly appeared. One of them was sect leader Ling Yunzi.
A life and death challenge was no small matter. If the sect leader wasn’t in seclusion, he had to personally oversee it.
Beside Ling Yunzi was Tu Fang as well as another thin, withered old man. He only had a few strands of hair left on his head and his temples were caved in, giving him a frightening appearance.
When that old man appeared, he immediately saw Wilde in his sorry position and his expression sank.
“Little fellow, what happened to you? Tell master who bullied you and master will break his claws!”
Although that withered old man was small, his voice was like a drum, shaking the entire mountain. Several disciples turned pale and almost fainted.
Such an unremarkable looking old man was shockingly so powerful. And he actually called the giant fellow his apprentice.
Elder Sun’s expression turned green when he heard that appellation. Terror appeared in his eyes, replacing that overbearing arrogance.
Wilde pointed to Elder Sun and raged, “That old bastard didn’t even listen about who was right and who was wrong before wrongly accusing my brother Long. I can’t beat him, so old man, you help me beat him!”
The old man was really infuriated now. He glared at Elder Sun, causing his face to turn from green to blue, and he stammered, “Granduncle-master, I-”
Everyone’s eyes popped out as that old man didn’t even give Elder Sun a chance to explain and slapped him right in the face. Elder Sun immediately coughed up blood and flew back.
Over ten teeth glittered through the air. His body collided on the immortal caves behind him, causing an avalanche of tumbling stones.
Ling Yunzi sighed and bitterly smiled, “Uncle-master, can you at least let people explain themselves?”
Hearing Ling Yunzi’s words gave everyone a shock. So this unremarkable man was actually the sect leader’s uncle-master.
It was no wonder Elder Sun was so terrified. His status was so high it was shocking. And it was also no wonder he was so strong. He had used some kind of unknown technique to give Elder Sun a slap despite the space separating the two of them. That was practically a magical technique. It wasn’t even possible to see his attack, let alone dodge.
People looked in shock from the old man to Wilde, and then Long Chen. This would be a good show now.
“What did you say? Just what kind of senior disciple are you? You let your junior disciples be bullied like this and don’t do anything. So what if I give this brat a lesson? Are you all grown up and dare challenge your uncle-master? Do you want to have some practice between us?” raged that old man.
Ling Yunzi smiled bitterly. This uncle-master’s cultivation base was frightening, but his temperament was extremely explosive, perhaps even completely unreasonable. But he also refused to accept that shortcoming, so Ling Yunzi didn’t dare keep talking.
“Hmph, did you forget who saved you when you were bullied by that Ghost Gate brat? Ungrateful kid.” The old man was still scolding.
Ling Yunzi felt his face grow hot. Being scolded in front of this many people really was embarrassing.
But he then remembered that whenever he had caused a disaster back then and was about to be punished by his master, it was always this uncle-master who had saved him.
Even when he suffered outside, it was this uncle-master who had done everything to help him grow. In reality, he had doted on him even more than his master.
This uncle-master’s cultivation base was incredibly powerful. Unfortunately, his temperament wasn’t so good. He was disinclined to even give others a glance.
When Tu Fang had brought Wilde back, this uncle-master’s eyes had immediately turned red and he had immediately grabbed Wilde. He doted and pampered Wilde crazily, giving him anything he wanted.
But other than eating, Wilde didn’t want anything else. So in order to let Wilde eat to his full, he also stopped cultivating and brought Wilde out of the monastery and personally took him hunting, treating him like he was his own son.
This time, they had just returned to the monastery when Wilde had heard Long Chen was also in the monastery, and he had rushed over.
The old man had been in the midst of drinking tea with Ling Yunzi
and Tu Fang, praising and applauding Wilde’s abnormal physical body, practically babbling non-stop.
But he had only managed to babble for a while before Long Chen issued his life and death challenge. That had irritated him greatly. He had just reached the interesting part of his story.
However, he also knew that a life and death challenge was a major affair and that the sect leader had to be present according to the monastery’s rules.
That was because it was something that related to their disciples’ lives and deaths. Normally, such a challenge would rarely be issued. But if it was issued, that would mean there was an unerasable and unconcealable hatred between two parties.
Just one or two disciples’ deaths wouldn’t be able to affect the monastery’s development, but in order to prevent further similar situations, they had to be treated with the proper attention of the monastery.
There was no way the rules could be absolutely perfect. People had to constantly adjust them to improve them.
Otherwise, if people used loopholes in the rules, and more and more of these conflicts appeared and grew more intense, it would influence the monastery’s growth.
The old man scolded some more, but seeing that Ling Yunzi merely continued to smile, he also began to feel embarrassed. He turned to vicious glare on Elder Sun who had just crawled out of the stones.
Ling Yunzi was afraid this uncle-master would continue beating others, and he hastily coughed, “Who issued the life and death challenge?”
“This disciple.” Long Chen walked forward.
Seeing that it was Long Chen, Ling Yunzi and Tu Fang gave each other a furtive glance. They both saw what was written on the other’s face: of course, it was him.
“Who did you issue the life and death challenge to?”
“Disciple Long Chen issued the life and death challenge to law enforcer Wu Qi. With blood as my oath, I will not rest until one of us is dead!”
Long Chen raised his medal, his gaze glaring knives at Wu Qi. His voice was filled with a soaring killing intent. Today, one of them would die.
Chapter 224 Death-Deciding Stage
Although everyone was already prepared for it, hearing Long Chen’s voice still greatly shocked everyone. He had actually issued a life and death challenge to a peak mid Tendon Transformation expert.
This was no ordinary challenge. Unless one party backed out, one of them had to die today.
An icy smile appeared on Wu Qi’s face. Long Chen was powerful, but in his eyes, Long Chen had never been an actual match for him.
If it weren’t for the monastery restricting him, he would have long since killed Long Chen. The fact that Long Chen would just send himself to be killed by him like this was a nice surprise.
“You have to think this through Long Chen. Once the life and death challenge is issued, one party will die. This isn’t a game. If you feel you have received injustice or unfair treatment, you can make a complaint to me,” warned Ling Yunzi solemnly.
A life and death challenge was something that was only to be issued when the differences had reached an irreconcilable level. Unless the hatred between the two parties had reached an extremely high level, no one would issue such a challenge.
Ling Yunzi was worried. Although he was sure Long Chen was a Divergent, a legendary existence that would only die beneath the Heavenly Daos, those were just legends. A Divergent had not appeared in who knew how many tens of thousands of years. And even if one had appeared, no one would know about them.
Only when those people were destroyed under a world-eradicating divine punishment would people realize that they had been a Divergent.
But in all recorded history, there had only ever been three definite Divergents. Furthermore, they had existed so long ago that those recordings were very vague.
And so no one could be sure of any exact details about Divergents, and the legends could not be entirely trusted. Although Long Chen was powerful, in front of a peak mid Tendon Transformation expert, he would definitely lose.
And so that was why Ling Yunzi gave Long Chen this option to simply give him his complaints about any injustices. If Wu Qi really had abused his authority against him, he would get justice for Long Chen.
“Reporting to sect leader, what happened was-” Tang Wan-er quickly walked out and was about to explain what had happened.
But Long Chen waved his hand, “Great sect leader, in this world where only strength is respected, there is never any fairness or justice. Complaints of unfairness are just the excuses of the weak, only confirming their own incompetence and foolishness. And since the world has no fairness, then we should use strength to speak. Please help me out great sect leader.”
“Long Chen!” Tang Wan-er’s expression changed. He was clearly on the righteous side, but he refused to explain himself, stubbornly issuing this life and death challenge!
That Wu Qi was a peak mid Tendon Transformation expert, and Long Chen was definitely not his match! He was just sending himself to death.
Tang Wan-er grumbled inside. Why was Long Chen sometimes so smart that people felt he was a sage, yet sometimes so foolish that nothing could save him?
“Faction leader, don’t try to persuade him. I understand the boss; he wants to personally settle his enmity and does not want to rely on the monastery’s power to punish Wu Qi,” said Guo Ran.
Having been with Long Chen for this long, Guo Ran had a great understanding of Long Chen’s character. Long Chen wouldn’t easily become angry, but once he did, that meant that something had touched upon his taboos.
Furthermore, he was not entirely free from fault in this matter. First of all, Little Snow couldn’t formally be considered his housepet since he hadn’t placed a spiritual imprint on him. There was no way to definitively prove that they knew this was Long Chen’s Magical Beast.
Wu Qi could easily make an excuse for himself by saying he had accidentally stumbled upon a Magical Beast in the wilderness and wanted to subdue it.
An ownerless Magical Beast was something anyone had the right to subdue for their own. Even killing them was no problem.
If Wu Qi simply said he didn’t know this was Long Chen’s Magical Beast, there wasn’t much they could do. Little Snow had no markings on him that showed he was Long Chen’s. And with no spiritual imprint, he definitely had no leg to stand on.
Even the sect leader would not be able to prove the truth. And it was only because Wu Qi had known that that he had been so brazen as to capture Little Snow.
With Long Chen’s intelligence, how could he not realize that Wu Qi was sure of his own safety? So there was no way to get revenge through that route. And so Long Chen was disinclined to explain himself, directly forcing the life and death challenge.
Tu Fang’s expression changed slightly, as he could easily tell that Long Chen had no chance of defeating Wu Qi.
But in accordance with the monastery’s rules, not even the sect leader could change what was happening. He could only be worried inside. Long Chen was really too stubborn, not even knowing when to retreat! Tu Fang could only helplessly sigh.
“You have to think this though. Once the challenge is issued, there’s no way to change it,” warned Ling Yunzi once more.
“Many thanks for the warning sect leader. Disciple is sure.” Long Chen cupped his hands to Ling Yunzi, knowing he was looking out for him. But he had to do this.
Seeing Little Snow’s condition gave him so much fury that he felt he might explode. If he couldn’t personally kill Wu Qi, living would be a complete disgrace to him.
Although he had no guarantees against a peak mid Tendon Transformation expert, he no longer cared.
This time, it wasn’t that will in the back of his head that was forcing him, but his own will. No one would hurt those close to him without paying a price.
“Wu Qi, do you accept the challenge?” Ling Yunzi turned to glance at Wu Qi lightly.
Wu Qi immediately felt as if all his thoughts were laid bare before Ling Yunzi. It was as
if Ling Yunzi’s indifferent gaze could see completely through him, causing him to sweat.
“Disciple… accepts the challenge.” Wu Qi lowered his head, not even daring to look Ling Yunzi in the eye.
If he didn’t accept the challenge, he would be expelled from the monastery. That was the harshest part of the life and death challenge.
If you accepted the challenge, you theoretically had a fifty percent chance of death. If you didn’t accept the challenge, you would immediately have to scram. That was also why most similar situations were to be mediated differently. With this method, the monastery would lose one disciple no matter what.
Everyone was silent. Their hearts sank now that Wu Qi had accepted the challenge. This was an extremely unequal fight.
But it was initiated by Long Chen. Those disciples watching couldn’t help but feel dissatisfied with this, as they were all members of the new generation. Anyone in Long Chen’s position would be feeling endless humiliation.
If they were Long Chen, they would definitely have just endured it. They wouldn’t go and issue a life and death challenge against someone they clearly knew they couldn’t defeat.
This was complete folly. But this kind of foolishness was also not something that just anyone had the courage to do.
“Fine, follow me.” Ling Yunzi sighed and waved his hand. Their vision changed and they felt their bodies jolt, reappearing at an open space in the rear mountains of the monastery.
This completely open space was hundreds of miles wide. But within that wide open space was an enormous iron cage with a huge monolith inside.
The monolith was completely square and hundreds of meters high. None of the disciples knew why it was locked within this iron cage.
“This is the death-deciding stage,” sighed Tu Fang. Now that the situation had developed to this point, there was no longer any retreat.
He took out a spirit stone and placed it onto a stele in front of the death-deciding stage. The stele had a groove just for that spirit stone.
The stele lit up when the spirit stone was placed on it. The land began to shake intensely, giving everyone a fright.
