Chapter 69: Chapter 67: Initiating the Final Plan

On the battlefield where Liu Hui and the short young man fought, the sounds of fierce combat and the roars of a Demon Beast occasionally echoed from within the swirling dust and sand.

Suddenly, the Demon Beast’s roars turned from rage to terror, then to whimpers for mercy, before finally vanishing completely.

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the Wolf Fang Sect members changed. Even Jin Quan, who had been relaxed and certain of victory, lost his smile, his eyes fixed on the slowly settling dust.

To avoid any suspicion of interference, no one was allowed to scan the battlefield with their Divine Sense. Therefore, besides Liu Hui and the short young man themselves, no one knew what had actually happened inside.

’This Pig Demon would make for some excellent cooking ingredients. I could bring it to the Master, but I wonder if the Lord Emperor would mind.’

In the dust, two corpses lay before Liu Hui.

One was the short young man, the other a Pig Demon with its head smashed in.

Liu Hui stored the Pig Demon’s corpse away. The "Lord Emperor" he mentioned was, of course, the Pig Emperor.

The short young man’s strength was not to be underestimated; he was among the best even for a Refining God Ninth Heaven cultivator. Unfortunately for him, he had run into Liu Hui, who possessed the Dragon Transformation Divine Technique.

While others grew more exhausted the longer they fought, Liu Hui was the exact opposite. The longer the battle raged, the more excited he became, and the greater his power grew.

At first, the two were evenly matched. But gradually, the short young man realized he was no match for Liu Hui.

Left with no other choice, he summoned his Beast Pet.

Who would have thought that under the pressure of Liu Hui’s Dragon Energy, the Pig Demon could only display half of its true strength?

Not only did it fail to help him, but it also became a significant burden.

In the end, Liu Hui found an opening and smashed the Pig Demon’s skull with a single punch. The short young man couldn’t escape either and had his neck snapped by Liu Hui.

The battle ceased, and the dust settled.

Liu Hui dragged the short young man’s corpse out and tossed it before Jin Quan.

"Couldn’t even win two-on-one. Pathetic!" Liu Hui spat out the cold words before turning back to the Void Sect’s camp.

After a moment of silence, joyous cheers erupted from the Void Sect.

"Well done!"

"So satisfying!"

For the first time, a smile appeared on Ji Lin’s face as he patted Liu Hui’s shoulder in appreciation.

Ye Lei was even more direct, striding forward to give Liu Hui a bear hug, looking like he wanted to plant a couple of kisses on him.

Jin Quan’s expression turned incredibly ugly. His goal from the very beginning had been to help his Sect secure the entire share of the Spiritual Ore mine, not leaving even a single scrap for the Void Sect.

This was why he had gone to such great lengths to set up an Array Formation and lure the Beast Tide.

He had never expected the Wolf Fang Sect to not only lose a match, but to lose to some small fry at the Refining God Sixth Heaven.

This was a result Jin Quan found hard to accept.

Especially Liu Hui’s parting shot, "Pathetic!", was like a fishbone stuck in his throat that made him sick to his stomach.

However, things didn’t end there.

Liu Hui’s victory seemed to have spurred on Qi Tian and Diao Qing.

Qi Tian, who had been at a disadvantage, suddenly gritted his teeth as an astonishing aura erupted from his body. He had clearly activated some kind of Secret Technique.

The pouncing Spirit Cat Demon Beast was caught off guard. Qi Tian severed its torso with a single karate chop, and it fell to the ground, its fate unknown.

Seeing this, the skinny young man swung his Long Halberd, aiming for Qi Tian’s heart. Qi Tian twisted his body to avoid the fatal blow, taking the Long Halberd with his shoulder.

He clamped down hard on the halberd’s shaft with one hand while, with the other, he formed his fingers into a blade and plunged them deep into the skinny young man’s abdomen.

The skinny young man hastily dropped the Long Halberd and retreated desperately, barely avoiding having his Dantian pierced.

Both were severely wounded and had lost their ability to fight, resulting in a draw.

A pair of metal gloves had appeared on Diao Qing’s hands. The fingertips were fitted with custom blades that glinted with an eerie light.

The handsome young man lunged with his sword, but Diao Qing’s left hand shot out like lightning and actually caught the blade.

"Jye jye jye, caught you," Diao Qing said. A morbidly strange smile appeared on his face, his eyes filled with madness.

"Die!"

Hearing the soft cry, the handsome young man sensed the danger and instinctively tried to pull his longsword back.

But Diao Qing’s hand was like a vise, clamping down on the blade. No matter how hard he pulled, he couldn’t break free.

SWISH!

An eerie light flashed. The handsome young man’s movements froze, and the light in his eyes quickly dimmed.

Diao Qing retracted his right hand, extended his tongue to lick a drop of blood from the blade on his middle finger, and revealed a look of pure enjoyment.

Only then did the handsome young man’s head slide from his neck. The cut was perfectly clean, and blood spurted high into the air.

The Ox Demon arrived a moment too late. Its master’s death drove it into a frenzy, and it charged at Diao Qing.

"You big, dumb ox, jye jye jye." Diao Qing’s soft laughter sounded as if it came from the depths of Hell, chilling one to the bone.

His figure flashed, and he dodged the Ox Demon’s charge.

Using the Ox Demon’s forward momentum against it, Diao Qing thrust the handsome young man’s longsword forward.

SLOSH!

The sword’s edge sliced open the Ox Demon’s belly, and blood mixed with entrails spilled from the wound.

The Ox Demon couldn’t stop in time. By the time it finally managed to halt, it had already run a hundred meters while dragging its own intestines.

Its massive body crashed to the ground, and the Ox Demon breathed its last.

Diao Qing, victorious!

"Couldn’t even win two-on-one. Pathetic!"

Mimicking Liu Hui, Diao Qing tossed the handsome young man’s corpse in front of Jin Quan and added the faint remark.

In that moment, he had reverted to his usual refined and peaceful appearance, showing not the slightest trace of his bloodlust and madness.

Cheers once again rang out from the Void Sect. Several Elders, treating him like a hero, personally went to support the exhausted Qi Tian and welcome Diao Qing.

In contrast, a gloomy silence fell over the Wolf Fang Sect.

Jin Quan’s face had turned completely black. To think they had lost another match!

Moreover, if Qi Tian’s match was counted as a draw, then the Void Sect and the Wolf Fang Sect would each receive a five percent share of the Spiritual Ore.

In other words, after ten duels, the Void Sect had obtained a total of twenty-five percent of the shares, while the Wolf Fang Sect had seventy-five percent.

It might look like a landslide victory for the Wolf Fang Sect, but this was not a result Jin Quan could accept.

"Lord Jin, we..."

Someone stepped forward to ask, but Jin Quan cut them off with a wave of his hand.

"I have my own plans."

Jin Quan stood up, his face grim. "Ji Lin, don’t celebrate too early. That twenty-five percent isn’t yours just yet!"

The members of the Void Sect stopped cheering, wondering what new trouble the Wolf Fang Sect was trying to stir up.

"Jin Quan, what more do you want? Are you planning to turn hostile right now?" Ji Lin asked coldly.

For some reason, Jin Quan’s relentless persistence gave him a bad feeling once again.

Jin Quan said, "As I recall, there is another rule for these duels. Although no one has ever invoked it, it does indeed exist."

Ji Lin’s expression changed drastically as he realized what Jin Quan was referring to.

"Jin Quan, are you insane?!"

"I’m not insane at all!" A smile returned to Jin Quan’s face. "The rules state that, to ensure fairness, if one side is dissatisfied with the outcome after the duels are complete, they may propose a final duel."

"They can select one disciple from among their combatants to fight all of the other side’s victors, one by one. There are no breaks, and they cannot consume any restorative Elixirs or Spirit Stones. If the challenger succeeds, they win all the opponent’s shares. If they fail, the share won by the challenger in their own match is forfeited."

Simply put, Jin Quan was dissatisfied with the final result. He could pick one person from his ten combatants to fight Qi Tian, Diao Qing, and Liu Hui in succession.

If his chosen fighter won, the Wolf Fang Sect would claim the shares represented by Qi Tian, Diao Qing, and Liu Hui. If they lost, then that disciple’s own share would be forfeited to the Void Sect.

There was only one chance, and the challenge would be continuous, without interruption.

"You’re despicable!" Ji Lin roared in anger.

The Void Sect had started with ten people, seven of whom were now dead. Of the three remaining, Qi Tian had lost his ability to fight.

In other words, the Wolf Fang Sect only needed to send out one person to defeat Diao Qing and Liu Hui to seize that twenty-five percent share.

"Don’t call me despicable; these are the rules. Besides, the Void Sect is more than welcome to invoke the final duel as well. The Wolf Fang Sect welcomes the challenge."

’Challenge my ass!’

If the Void Sect were to invoke the final duel, one person would have to defeat seven members of the Wolf Fang Sect!

Never mind that no one possessed that kind of strength—even if they did, they would be exhausted to death.