Gate of God

Lights flashed as two shimmering suits of armour appeared in Zu Lian’s hands, one silver and one black. The suits of armour were decorated in complex cloud patterns.

“Armour?!”

“It doesn’t look like an ordinary suit of armour!”

“Could this be the Xuanji Armour left behind by the first Sect Leader of the Xuanji Sect?”

The disciples from the other sects looked at the two suits of armour that Zu Lian was holding. Some were curious while others were shocked.

“Yan Qing’s strengths lie in close combat. I want to see how he would manage to hurt the two of you when you put on the suits of Xuanji armour! Zu Lian passed the suits of armour to the two young disciples, his eyes twinkling with a cold light.

“Thank you, Sect Leader” The two young disciples from Xuanji Sect fell to their knees in gratitude.

The disciples from the other sects were finally sure that it was the treasures of the Xuanji Sect that Zu Lian had given the two young disciples.

“It’s really the Xuanji Armour!”

“Isn’t this unfair? Two versus one with the help of two suits of Xuanji Armour!”

“Blame Yan Qing for being cocksure. If he had not been so insolent, Sect Leader Zu Lian would not have taken out the treasures of Xuanji Sect.”

The other disciples looked at Yan Qing as they spoke to each other. They tried to scrutinise his face for expression changes but to no avail.

Yan Qing watched everything that was happening around him silently with the same cold indifference.

“Pavilion Master, this…” The Heaven Dao disciple was perplexed as to how to proceed. After all, they had not prepared for a two-versus-one scenario in the tournament. He looked to Mu Qingfeng for further instructions.

“Since both the Xuanji Sect and Shadow Sect are agreeable to this arrangement, let them go ahead. Mu Qingfeng closed his eyes for a moment before making his mind.

“Alright!” The Heaven Dao Pavilion nodded and turned to the contenders.

“The second round of the Shadow Sect going up against the Xuanji Sect, begin!”

“Whoosh!” The announcer had barely finished speaking when the two Xuanji Sect disciples quickly split up and tried to put a distance between themselves and Yan Qing.

Their behaviour was making the disciples from the other sects confused. However, the audience quickly understood.

Although the two young Xuanji Sect disciples were wearing their suits of Xuanji Armour, they were handling the fight cautiously. After all, Yan Qing specialised in close combat and they were not about to let him get close to them.

“Yan Qing, you asked for it!” The two Xuanji Sect disciples exchanged a look and unsheathed their swords together.

Two masses of energy, one silver and one black, emanated from the bodies of the two young men. At the same time, both of them attacked Yan Qing with their swords, one silver and one black.

“Roar!” Yan Qing did not reply the two Xuanji Sect disciples but he let out the ferocious roar of a beast. At the same time, his eyes turned blood red and snapping sounds rang out from the bones in his body.

“Crack!” A large crack appeared on the ground.

‘Yan Qing’s body disappeared on the spot. In the next moment, he appeared right in front of one of the Xuanji Sect disciples and grabbed onto his sword with an iron grip.

“How… is this possible?!” The Xuanji Sect disciple had already seen what Yan Qing was capable of but he was still taken by surprise.

Unfortunately, the Xuanji Sect disciple was unable to react because his sword had already been broken into pieces.

Following that, he suddenly felt a powerful blow to his chest and he flew backwards immediately.

“Kaboom!” The Xuanji Sect disciple rolled on the floor, his face a deathly pale. A ray of silvery white light disappeared from his chest.

“Very impressive!”

“Is this what they call the Indestructible Body technique?”

“He is a monster indeed. How did he manage to block a sword attack carrying with it the peak powers of the Rebirth State with his bare hands? This is crazy!”

The disciples from the other sects were stunned. They knew that if it was not for the Xuanji Armour, the Xuanji Sect disciple would have broken a few ribs at least by receiving that blow.

Of course, as Yan Qing attacked one of the Xuanji Sect disciples, the other Xuanji disciple attacked him from the back.

“Roar!” A deafening call.

Blood began to spurt out of the wound on Yan Qing’s back and dyed the ground red.

After all, these were promising disciples from the Xuanji Sect and they knew an opportunity when they saw one. The advantages of fighting two to one quickly became apparent.

However, Yan Qing did not back down even though he had been stabbed in the back. He did not even turn around.

In Yan Qing’s eyes, there was only the Xuanji Sect disciple that had fallen to the ground.

This was the fighting style of beasts!

When he had locked onto his target, his surroundings melted away into insignificance. Only his prey remained in his line of vision.

“Awooo!” Yan Qing let out a howl as the wounds on his back healed rapidly. He began to move towards the Xuanji disciple who was still lying on the floor. Yan Qing pounced.

“Yan Qing, you…” The Xuanji Sect disciple had never seen someone fight like this before. This was looking more like a fight to the death.

He got to his feet hurriedly and made an attempt to run.

He did not make it.

A hand grabbed onto his shoulder right when he stood up and he felt the world around him go topsy-turvy.

“Boom!”

The Xuanji Sect disciple had been lifted up and smashed headfirst onto the ground. He saw stars. Thank god for the Xuanji Armour that he was wearing.

Even so, it was proving to be extremely uncomfortable. No matter how strong the defensive capabilities of the Xuanji Armour was, it was not a good feeling to be treated like a punching bag.

Of course, he did not have a choice in this matter.

Yan Qing had locked onto him as a target and was pummeling him with all his might.

“Boom boom boom…” Thunderous sounds reverberated all around the Heaven’s Peak. Yan Qing was hammering onto the head of the Xuanji Sect disciple with his fists.

The other Xuanji Sect disciple tried his best to weaken Yan Qing by stabbing him in the back continuously.

Nevertheless, he did not dare to go nearer to Yan Qing.

It was a terrible sight.

The disciples from the various sects were horrified. They had never seen such intensity in a tournament before.

“Is this fellow even human?!”

“Monster… he’s a real monster!”

“This is insane!”

No one had expected the battle to turn out this way. They were watching a wild beast savage a person.

As thoughts ran through the minds of the audience members…

A pained voice came from the direction of the Xuanji Sect disciple being attacked on the floor.

“Ah….no, no!”

“Crack!” As the Xuanji Sect disciple groaned in pain, the helm that he had been wearing was tossed into the air. Yan Qing turned to look at the audience.

His eyes were bloodshot and there were streaks of his victim’s blood on his cheeks. His mouth dripped with fresh blood.

“He… he actually bit the helm off the head of the Xuanji Sect disciple?!””My god!”

“So this is the Indestructible Body technique!”

The disciples from the other sects sucked in breaths of cold air as they watched the gory sight take place before their eyes.

The other Xuanji Sect disciple was at a loss of what to do. From where he was standing, he could see the blood spurting out of the neck of his fellow Xuanji Sect disciple who was lying helplessly on the ground.

“Roar!” A beastly roar rang out once more. It sounded like a beast’s declaration of victory.

“Monster… monster…” The Xuanji Sect disciple standing behind Yan Qing took an involuntary step back as his sword trembled in his hand.

He had seen his fair share of blood as one of the premier disciples of the Xuanji Sect.

However, he had never seen anything like this before.

Yan Qing’s back had been dyed red with blood and his wounds were so deep that his bones could be seen. This was thanks to the multiple stabbings that the second Xuanji Sect disciple had inflicted on Yan Qing.

Even so…

Yan Qing did not collapse.

Yan Qing was not even frowning.

Unbelievable!

The Xuanji Sect disciple did not want to believe his eyes but he could see that Yan Qing had already transformed into a monster.

Now, this monster was staring at him. He had a feeling that he was going to be Yan Qing’s next prey.

“No!!!” The Xuanji Sect disciple let out an indignant shriek but it was too late. Yan Qing was already bounding towards him.

Like a beast with bloodshot eyes.

“…”

“…”

At this moment, not only the disciples from other sects closed their eyes. Even Zu Lian, who was standing in front of Xuanji Sect, shut his eyes.

He really couldn’t accept the outcome.

However, what could he have done? Xuanji Armour was the only solution he could think of.

Nevertheless, even the most powerful armour was only capable of providing defense.

The huge difference between their strengths couldn’t be bridged with two pieces of armours.

“Yan Qing, my Yan Qing… why did he join the Shadow Sect?!” Zu Lian’s heart hurt for he had spent too much in effort on recruiting Yan Qing. In the end, he was even forced to make the decision to kill Yan Qing if he couldn’t be recruited.

However, Yan Qing’s Indestructible Body was too tough to handle. Coupled with his sharpened senses from growing up in the forest since young and his instinctive perception of danger, he eventually managed to enter the Holy Region.

That could have been the end of it. However, Yan Qing somehow ended in Shadow Sect, a rival of Xuanji Sect. Zu Lian’s heart was bleeding with pain and hatred.

“Zu Lian, do you still have any tricks up your sleeves? Isn’t time to play your hand?” He heard Wu Yuer’s voice.

“Wu Yuer, don’t get ahead of yourself!” Zu Lian opened his eyes and gazed at the Xuanji disciples who had collapsed on the ground, before turning his head away.

“Haha…” Wu Yuer smiled gently, but she suddenly went silent. Then, she looked at Yin Yang Hall and Nine Pinnacles Mountain and murmured, “Yin Yang Hall, Nine Pinnacles Mountain. Even if you saved Yan Xiu, I’d still avenge Fang Zhengzhi’s death!”

“Yan Qing, stop it, you’ve already won!” At this moment, a disciple of Heaven Dao Pavilion exclaimed. They didn’t need a judge to announce the result anymore because the Xuanji Sect’s disciple had completely lost the power to defend himself.

“Hmm.” Yan Qing’s hand stopped in midair as he stood up slowly and wiped the blood off the corners of his mouth in a casual manner. He returned to the Shadow Sect camp.

It had happened all so quickly but to the disciples of the other section, it seemed as though a century had gone by. When they had finally recovered themselves, they were shocked to realise that their backs were drenched in sweat.

“This is scary!”

“Yeah, I’d rather be enemies with a master of the Sage State than clash with this fellow!”

The disciples from the various sects shook their heads with unforgotten trepidation. The memories of what they had seen would stay with them for a long time.

The Heaven Dao Pavilion disciple wiped the sweat off his brows. He quickly regained his composure.

The first stage of the tournament had ended. The four sets that would progress to the second stage of the tournament had emerged.

“I shall represent the Five Sects of the Holy Region and announce the conclusion of the tournament’s first stage. The sects that have progressed to the second stage are Yin Yang Hall, Ling Yun Tower, the Shadow Sect and the Heaven Dao Pavilion…”

“Wait a minute!” At this point, a voice suddenly interrupted the announcement as a human figure fell from above.