"Awake! Awake! Pei Yan is awake!" After talking with Lin Junzhao, Pei Yan slowly opened his eyes and listened to the concerned cheers of his companions around him. He struggled to move his body but found it full of aches. After a couple of attempts, he collapsed weakly.

"Pei Yan, how do you feel now?" Pei Jin, watching Pei Yan slumped on the bench, asked concernedly while Zhao Yuanhu massaged his knees from both sides.

"Water!" Pei Yan slightly opened his mouth to utter a single word. Xia Yu, who had already prepared, immediately twisted open a bottle of mineral water and brought it to Pei Yan's lips. After taking two sips, he shook his head, rinsed his mouth with the water, and spat out the remaining blood foam. Feeling slightly more energetic, he took the bottle from Xia Yu and drank it all, exhaling a long breath and saying weakly, "I'm fine. That old man just tormented me. With Lin Junzhao watching, he didn't dare inflict serious injuries. I'll be fine with a couple of days' rest."

As he spoke, Pei Yan looked around and asked, "What about those who came to assist?"

"After the incident, most of them followed the space passage you opened and returned. After all, each investigation hall needs them back to hold the fort. Some decided to stay and continue watching the fight," Gu Shenghui said, pointing to the rear of the audience. Pei Yan turned to see Elder Lin chatting with representatives of the various investigation halls. Seeing Pei Yan looking their way, they nodded courteously, and Pei Yan slightly bowed in gratitude for their assistance.

After the formalities, Pei Yan sat back upright and asked, "What about Moira? Is she settled?"

"Don't worry, Liang Qian and Wang Wenze are watching over her. She hasn't woken up yet, and when she does, we'll console her properly," Pei Jin reassured from the side.

Pei Yan nodded in satisfaction, took a deep breath, and then asked solemnly, "What about Ye Ruozai? Has the next match started?"

"They were just cleaning up the arena. Now that you're awake, the match is about to begin!"

Upon hearing Gu Shenghui, Pei Yan noticed that Ye Ruozai was already standing in the ring. He didn't need to choose an opponent as right across from him stood Flamel, whose face was as dark as water, radiating a murderous aura.

"Do you think Ruozai can win?" Xia Yu asked softly, feeling relieved that Pei Yan was unharmed as she sat behind him.

"Victory is certain!" Pei Yan bit down on a cigarette from a pack handed by Gu Shenghui. After it was lit, he took a drag and slowly exhaled with a chuckle. "Flamel is furious, but he's not like us. Ye Ruozai and I are the kind who become calmer the angrier we get during the fight. Flamel has already lost his composure! Old Ye, this time he's a goner."

On stage, as if to validate Pei Yan's words, Ye Ruozai stood within the ring of light and formally issued a challenge to Flamel, "I, Ye Ruozai, challenge Flamel to a battle to the death!"

As soon as the words were spoken, Flamel, standing in the ring, did not hesitate to step into the light, ready to fight. As two light curtains lit up in the arena, the ring's defense array was reactivated, and the match resumed.

"Flamel, you don't seem to be in good shape. Was the blow from earlier too much? Do you need to take a break and gather your wits? I can give you that time," Ye Ruozai casually taunted, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

"Heh heh heh!" Flamel reached up to tidy his disheveled hair in front, giving a sinister, eerie laugh as he looked up at Ye Ruozai and retorted, "I wondered who it was. So, it was the kid who foolishly launched a soul attack on me. Didn't the pain from last time teach you a lesson? Or do you think that after gaining the Power of Origin and training for six months, you can defeat me and challenge me again?"

"We won't know until we fight. If you're ready, we can begin! I want to finish this match quickly; there's something else I care about off-stage that I want to attend to," Ye Ruozai calmly said, drawing his longsword.

"All of you are the same." Upon hearing Ye Ruozai's declaration, Flamel's inner rage was completely ignited. His breathing became rapid, his eyes reddened as he shouted in anger, "Pei Yan was like this, and now you're like this too! Acting all condescending! Why? You were just monkeys in the energy wastelands, yet you repeatedly humiliate me! Stop uttering such arrogant nonsense and underestimating people!"

With a roar, Flamel bent down and slapped his hand on the ground. As one of his fingers, adorned with five rings, glowed yellow, the arena's platform began to tremble violently. Moments later, the terrain changed, with numerous earthen spikes shooting up toward Ye Ruozai on the ground.

Ye Ruozai wouldn't passively endure such an attack. With several leaps, he jumped into the air. However, these earthen spikes did not solidify after emerging, unlike typical earth magic. Instead, when their initial attack failed, they immediately softened and turned into flexible mud whips, waving in the air to continue pursuing Ye Ruozai.

"Instant casting of a forbidden spell!" Pei Yan immediately sensed the magical fluctuation on stage and marveled. Moira's triple chant for forbidden spells was already fast, and although the spellcasting process was simplified and sped up, it still required chanting and array carving. Flamel completely dispensed with these steps for direct release.

Reviewing the earlier scene's replay, Pei Yan quickly identified the key issue. He fixated on the rings on Flamel's hands, frowning. "Those rings are problematic. The forbidden spell just now was released from those rings."

"Huh?" Zheng Jia Ru, standing nearby, immediately leaned in to take a closer look at the arena's edge upon hearing this. By now, Flamel had already launched a second attack. A red glow radiated from another ring as he waved his fingers, and the platform, riddled with earthen spikes, surged with flames. Each waving mud whip opened its sheath during motion, spewing hot magma, forming a fiery rain as it fell, and trapping Ye Ruozai mid-air from both above and below.

"Isn't this considered a Divine Artifact? Isn't it against the rules?" Seeing his friend in danger, Zheng Jia Ru shouted in indignation.

With Zhao Yuanhu supporting him, Pei Yan stood at the arena's edge, squinted for a long time, before shaking his head to stop Zheng Jia Ru from acting out, saying helplessly, "Those rings are merely containers for storing forbidden spells. Although precious, they don't qualify as Divine Artifacts, so they aren't against the rules."

"Containers for storing forbidden spells?" Upon hearing this, Zheng Jia Ru looked toward the arena again. There were eight rings on Flamel's fingers that hadn't yet glowed with anger. "This guy brought a total of ten rings—how shameless! Doesn't that mean Old Ye has to face eight more forbidden spells?"