"Not good!"
Seeing the figure suddenly appear before him, Qi Ye exclaimed. Driven by instinct for survival, he unleashed all the formless intent within his body.
But as he unleashed it, Jiang Zheyue's saber had already plunged towards Qi Ye's heart.
Qi Ye held his breath, using all his strength to control the formless force, wanting to deflect the saber. But it was like trying to push away a boulder with a river; his ability could only be broken by the saber, not repelled.
Fortunately, the saber veered slightly, and as it finally landed, it missed his heart.
*Swoosh!*
The crescent-shaped saber pierced Qi Ye's chest, sinking in completely until it tore through his back clothes and emerged from his back.
"Pfft!"
He spat blood and, enduring the searing pain, transformed his ability into a hammer, intending to blast Jiang Zheyue before him to death.
But the latter's movements were a beat faster. Or rather, the moment the saber plunged into his chest, Jiang Zheyue had already drawn a small knife and plunged it towards Qi Ye's heart again.
With intense killing intent, Qi Ye felt fear.
He ignored everything else and detonated the formless abilities between their bodies.
*Boom!*
The terrifying force blasted Jiang Zheyue dozens of meters away. He tumbled several times in the air, blood splattering everywhere, before he managed to stabilize himself.
Qi Ye, however, couldn't stabilize himself and was blown into the air.
He was already severely injured, his chest pierced by the saber, and the blade was poisoned.
Without timely treatment, he might die.
Now, he had been blasted off the summit of Sky Dome Peak and was about to fall.
Looking down at the swirling clouds, Qi Ye's face turned ashen. If he fell, he would surely die.
But they were already at a numerical disadvantage. Their remaining allies were all engaged with their own opponents, and Ye Gong was desperately entangled with Jiang Taixu. Who could come to his rescue?
He shifted his gaze to Qi Lan.
The latter was indeed rushing towards him, shouting words like, "I'm coming to save you," and "Don't be afraid."
But in reality, Qi Ye could see that Qi Lan's eyes were icy cold, filled with killing intent.
He intended to seize this opportunity to kill him.
"You all just wait for me!"
Amidst the chaos, Qi Ye roared through the pain, then controlled his body and accelerated his fall down the mountainside of Sky Dome Peak.
At the same time, Qi Ye crushed the jade slip in his palm.
Two seconds later, a spatial rift appeared halfway up Sky Dome Peak. Qi Ye naturally fell into it, and the rift vanished.
Qi Ye was gone.
His injuries were too severe, and he needed to be treated outside to have any chance of survival. Moreover, he had no other way to stay. Thus, he had to crush the jade slip.
In other words, Qi Ye was eliminated!
"Damn it!"
Ye Gong cursed in anger upon seeing this.
He had never expected things to turn out this way. Before the battle, he was so confident of victory, but now, the strongest person in his team besides himself, the one capable of assassinating Jiang Taixu alone, was eliminated.
They seemed to be at a disadvantage.
"Ye Gong, why don't you crush your jade slip too? We'll spare your life!"
Jiang Taixu taunted Ye Gong while fighting. Ye Gong's face turned green and then white with rage, and his swordplay immediately became faster.
*Swish swish swish!*
He wove one sword curtain after another in the air, mercilessly killing and eliminating the numerous ability users who surrounded him.
Jiang Taixu himself was under immense pressure, retreating steadily. He quickly called for reinforcements.
"Help!"
Upon hearing this, the alliance members immediately wanted to move to support him, but they were all desperately entangled by their opponents, unable to move. Even Jiang Zheyue and Xu Mu were the same.
Meanwhile, Jiang Taixu's aura had reached its limit, yet countless bloodstains, growing deeper, were still being etched onto his white robe.
He was also approaching the edge of the summit.
"Damn it!"
Jiang Taixu gritted his teeth and endured, regretting his earlier words. His original intention wasn't to taunt but to enrage Ye Gong through such means, to prevent him from fleeing like Qi Ye.
But he hadn't expected that an enraged Ye Gong would be so powerful; his sword could instantly dispatch dozens of other ability users and then push him to the brink of death.
A third-stage sword cultivator, truly terrifying.
*Whoosh!*
An arrow streaked across the night sky, gleaming with cold light, heading for the back of Ye Gong's armor. Sensing the danger, Ye Gong immediately split off a sword strike from his curtain to deflect it casually, but he did not succeed.
"Leave quickly!"
Qian Qian roared, reminding Jiang Taixu while simultaneously shooting three more arrows at Ye Gong. All of them carried immense weight, lacking any sharpness, as if a real mountain was hidden within them.
Ye Gong's sword seemed to bend slightly under the impact of the arrows, but with a surge of his power, Qian Qian's four arrows, forged from meteoric iron, were all knocked off the cliff and plunged into the clouds.
Jiang Taixu seized the opportunity, flashing to Ye Gong's side and gathering his divine sense to unleash a palm strike that momentarily shook Ye Gong. The latter turned to continue his attack, but Jiang Taixu immediately retreated several steps, returning to a safe area.
Qian Qian leaped into the air and then jumped to his side. The two stood shoulder to shoulder, staring intently at Ye Gong.
"Thanks." Jiang Taixu said in a low voice, his body tense, his wrist trembling, as he spoke to Qian Qian.
He hadn't expected that at such a critical moment, it would be Qian Qian who made the move, preventing him from being knocked off the cliff.
Before this, their relationship hadn't been good; it could even be described as terrible.
Qian Qian did not reply, merely nodding slightly, acknowledging Jiang Taixu's thanks. Ye Gong, standing opposite them, showed no hesitation and charged forward again, facing their combined assault.
This time, his sword was even faster than before. With every swing and thrust, countless sharp sword energies erupted, severing everything in their path that they came into contact with, including Qian Qian's meteoric iron arrows and Jiang Taixu's aura.
If they couldn't win, they could only retreat.
Thus, Ye Gong moved forward with his sword, crushing everything in his path. No one dared to block him. Or rather, the only two with the fighting capacity, Jiang Zheyue and Xu Mu, were both surrounded by a large number of cultivators and couldn't disengage.
The others also couldn't stop Ye Gong, so Qian Qian and Jiang Taixu could only retreat, step by step, from one side of Sky Dome Peak's summit to the other.
They once again found themselves at the edge of the cliff.
At this moment, Ye Gong suddenly stopped his advance and then swept his sword horizontally, unleashing a torrent of sword energy before him that cascaded down like a great river.
Qian Qian and Jiang Taixu roared and simultaneously used their most powerful abilities to confront it. But almost instantly, they were blasted off the summit by the energy contained within the sword energy.
Even more terrifyingly, the sword energy had pushed them off the summit before it even touched their bodies. If that sword energy had truly struck them, what would have happened?
Qian Qian and Jiang Taixu knew they would die, so they had to find a way to block the incoming sword energy. But how?
Jiang Taixu did have a way to block it, as he had secretly taken out a forbidden artifact. If he used it, he would be safe, but as a consequence, he would be eliminated.
A struggle flickered in Jiang Taixu's eyes. He was a genius destined to shine at the Grand Assembly of Myriad Races; how could he be willing to be eliminated in the preliminaries?
But if he didn't use it, would he die?
At this moment, the sword energy had shattered all other abilities and flowed to within three meters of them.
Jiang Taixu held the artifact, on the verge of using it, when suddenly a figure blocked him and Qian Qian.
"Break!"
Xu Mu, stepping on swift winds, condensed the origin of the Dao on his arm and then unleashed a punch forward. The sharp sword energy was instantly shattered by the blow, and the intent of the great river was dispersed by the surging blood energy.
Xu Mu stood like a colossal mountain, blocking the rushing river, unmovable.
Ye Gong was forced back three steps by the punch's intent and had no choice but to block with his sword. After he broke through this punch's intent, Xu Mu had already brought the two of them back to the summit safely.
Ye Gong turned his head and saw that the ability users who had been responsible for surrounding Xu Mu were now all lying on the ground. And the group surrounding Jiang Zheyue was also on the verge of collapse.
"Useless! What good are you if you can't even keep one person in check!"
Ye Gong cursed angrily. He had been just moments away from killing Jiang Taixu, then turning to kill Jiang Zheyue, and then Xu Mu, dealing a heavy blow to the Jiang family. But because they couldn't contain Xu Mu, it all failed!
"Boss, there's nothing we can do. We could actually hold them off, but there are too many of them!"
A thin young man said bitterly.
They were already at a numerical disadvantage, fighting five hundred against a thousand. It was fine for a short while, but as time passed, the disadvantage became apparent. Their stamina was gradually faltering, while the opponents' coordination was becoming more and more fluid.
And if it were just this, it would be manageable. But the problem was that after Qi Ye was eliminated, they had to deploy dozens of people to surround Xu Mu and Jiang Zheyue, and they still couldn't subdue them. This was adding insult to injury.
Ye Gong also understood this. So, after venting his frustration, he didn't dwell on it further but quickly drew his sword and charged towards Jiang Zheyue.
He had thought it through: if they had lost one person in Qi Ye, then by making them lose one in Jiang Zheyue, the battle situation might be somewhat balanced, as he was confident he could fight Jiang Taixu and Xu Mu alone.
But obviously, Xu Mu would not let him succeed so easily. The instant Ye Gong turned his gaze towards Jiang Zheyue, he also raised his hand and charged forward, his fist gleaming with a dark golden light, charging like a collapsing mountain.
...