"Hehe!"
"Fear not!"
"Truth be told, an unusual adversary like you gives me pause before delivering the killing blow!"
"Let's make a deal, we'll engage in an honorable duel!"
"I will set aside my Black Crystal Sky Piercing Shuttle and Carefree Heavenly Extreme Robe, and only wield the Shadowblade Sword."
A mischievous grin tugged at the corners of Jiang Chen's lips, "Should you best me, I'll grant you your freedom! Do you dare to accept such a challenge?"
Upon processing his audacious proposal.
Duan Ziming and the others regarded Jiang Chen with bewilderment.
Really, what is he thinking? Why not simply eliminate Ye Fan on the spot?
However, unbeknownst to them, Jiang Chen harbored a deeper desire to destroy Ye Fan than anyone present.
Yet the circumstances forbade it!
He was compelled to contrive opportunities to gradually erode Ye Fan's Heavenly Fate Value.
"Can you truly mean this!?"
At the sound of Jiang Chen's proclamation, a glimmer of hope seemed to pierce Ye Fan's oppressive gloom!
Simultaneously.
A derisive chuckle resonated in his heart.
He had dispatched numerous haughty and self-absorbed young masters in his time, and it appeared that this Jiang Chen before him fell into the same category of egotistical fools.
Despite possessing an undeniable upper hand.
He sought to initiate a purportedly 'fair' duel!
In that case.
Ye Fan would not hold back!
After all, he had recently utilized the Wordless Heavenly Jade to siphon off some qi and blood power.
The qi and blood of the Extreme Wind Splitting Skywolf were far from ordinary. Such potent energy would suffice for him to refine a Heavenly Origin realm cultivation method to the perfect-level!
"Assuredly, it is!"
An air of a cat toying with a doomed mouse emanated from Jiang Chen's smirk.
With that, he tossed the Black Crystal Sky Piercing Shuttle and the Carefree Heavenly Extreme Robe into Duan Ziming's grasp.
Nonetheless.
He sneered inwardly with disdain.
Handling the protagonist undeniably demanded devious strategies.
Should any unforeseen event occur, Jiang Chen would unhesitatingly renounce the agreement.
Even though he was prohibited from utilizing the Black Crystal Sky Piercing Shuttle and the Carefree Heavenly Extreme Robe.
His existing Villain Value was ample for him to exchange for at least one Heavenly Origin realm treasure. This was the foundation of his unwavering confidence.
Moreover, his other pillar of confidence was his cultivation base, primed to break through at any moment.
"Very well!"
"If this is the case, then let's engage in battle and see who emerges victorious, who survives or perishes!"
Ye Fan narrowed his eyes and consumed a pill, steadily retreating towards the heart of the battlefield.
Throughout this maneuver.
Externally, he seemed to be harnessing the medicinal power to heal his injuries, but in truth, he was using the Wordless Heavenly Jade to master a Heavenly Origin realm power-enhancing secret art!
Once the practice reached fruition.
Once deployed, it could momentarily elevate his combat power to the Early-stage Heavenly Origin realm!
At that juncture.
Even if it lasted merely a few breaths, he would seize an opportunity to strike down Jiang Chen!
"Jiang Chen."
"Why don't we pool our strength together, to avoid the unnecessary risks of a prolonged battle."
Out of the blue, Mu Tao made the proposition to Jiang Chen.
Duan Ziming, Miao Xiaorui, and the others also shifted their gaze towards Jiang Chen in unison.
As long as Jiang Chen consented, they would readily offer their assistance.
"Hehehe!"
"Today, Ye Fan's demise will be by my hand alone. Any interference will earn you my, Jiang Chen's, enmity!"
A twisted smirk twisted Jiang Chen's countenance.
Upon hearing his decree.
Everyone exchanged knowing looks, feeling somewhat at a loss.
Then.
They watched as Jiang Chen unsheathed his Shadowblade Sword, steadily advancing towards Ye Fan.
Shortly.
Jiang Chen and Ye Fan found themselves squared off at the epicenter of the battlefield, a mere fifty meters apart.
"Are you prepared, Ye Fan?"
Jiang Chen's gaze bore down on Ye Fan, his face a mask of derision, as if surveying an insignificant insect.
"Prepared... to end you!!"
Ye Fan's eyes blazed with fury, and the intimidating aura of the Heavenly Origin realm surged forth with staggering intensity!
The following instant.
He lunged directly towards Jiang Chen.
"No!!"
Duan Ziming and the others were stricken with terror, their hearts filled with acute remorse!
Ye Fan had indeed unleashed the combat prowess of the Heavenly Origin realm!
Deprived of the Carefree Heavenly Extreme Robe and the Black Crystal Sky Piercing Shuttle, how could Jiang Chen possibly evade!?
They could do nothing but watch in despair as Jiang Chen barely managed to lift his hand in defense.
In the ensuing moment.
"I relish the sight of cocky fools like you, so full of yourselves!"
Ye Fan bellowed manically, his long saber embodying unmatched power, savagely colliding with Jiang Chen's longsword.
In his mind's eye.
The vision of Jiang Chen losing control of his sword, and his body being cleaved in two was almost tangible.
However!
The resistance transmitted through his long saber abruptly shifted from feeble to potent.
In the very next heartbeat.
Boom!!
An aura identical to that of the Heavenly Origin realm detonated from Jiang Chen!
Simultaneously, a remarkably mysterious and peculiar wave radiated!
"Ha-ha-ha!"
"You, who dismiss the champions of the world, are the true fool!"
Jiang Chen's laughter echoed, clutching the Shadowblade Sword with both hands, staunchly thwarting Ye Fan's long saber!
"How can this be!"
"How on earth could you have a breakthrough right now!!"
Ye Fan's eyes blazed with fury, his heart abruptly filled with a mix of dread and shock, his mind nearly blank.
He was petrified, rendered speechless!
He had temporarily unleashed the combat power of the Heavenly Origin realm, but Jiang Chen had ascended directly to the Heavenly Origin realm!
[Ding! You have successfully shattered protagonist Ye Fan's mental state, Ye Fan's Heavenly Fate Value has decreased by 300 points!]
[Ding! You have gained 500 points of Villain Value!]
The system alert resonated.
"Void Rainbow Eighth Sword Style! Shattering the Clouds!"
Seizing Ye Fan's moment of shock, Jiang Chen executed his most potent sword technique at present, swiftly launching sixteen strikes, each landing on Ye Fan.
Slice, slice, slice, slice!
In an instant.
Sixteen gaping wounds were carved into Ye Fan's body!
"Ahh!!"
Ye Fan roared as he stumbled back, desperate to flee!
But he had pushed himself beyond his limits multiple times, employing power-boosting secret arts, and even more significantly, invoking a Heavenly Origin realm power-boosting secret art at the Spiritual Awakening realm. His body was utterly depleted.
His once unstoppable momentum had been crushed, and his spirit was in tatters!
His combat power plummeted like a mountain collapsing or a cliff crumbling away.
"Halt!"
Jiang Chen shifted his stance, activated Clear Sky Flash, and his body blurred into an afterimage, instantly materializing by Ye Fan's side!
Ye Fan endeavored to dodge.
But he couldn't!
His left arm was seized by Jiang Chen, who swung him with great force.
Boom!
Ye Fan's body traced a semi-circular trajectory, crashing into the solid ground, forming a sizable crater!
Yet, in the very next heartbeat.
He burst forth from the massive crater, rushing towards the fractured opening in the ceiling of the secret chamber!
"Hmph!"
"Ye Fan, your end is nigh!"
Jiang Chen scoffed lightly, lifting his right hand, upon which a storage ring glinted conspicuously.
[Ding! You have successfully seized part of Ye Fan's opportunities, Ye Fan's Heavenly Fate Value has decreased by 1,000 points!]
[Ding! You successfully wounded the protagonist Ye Fan, temporarily reducing his Heavenly Fate Value by 200 points!]
[Ding! You successfully defeated the protagonist Ye Fan, causing him to flee, reducing his Heavenly Fate Value by 200 points!]
[Ding! You have gained 2,500 points of Villain Value!]
The system alerts streamed in.
Indeed.
The genuine objective behind gripping Ye Fan's arm and swinging him just now was to pilfer Ye Fan's storage ring.
Because Jiang Chen had personally witnessed Ye Fan stowing those cultivation method jade slips and manuals within.
'Another staggering one thousand four hundred points of Heavenly Fate Value!'
'Tack on the earlier mental onslaught, that tallies up to exactly seventeen hundred points!'
'At this juncture, Ye Fan's Heavenly Fate Value has plummeted to less than five hundred eighty-eight, thus he can be outrightly eliminated!'
Jiang Chen's eyes sparkled with a concoction of surprise and elation, his velocity surging!
At this moment.
Ye Fan had already made a hasty retreat onto the nearby stone bridge!
A dead end!
Below lay nothing but a pitch-black subterranean river, its terminus a mystery.
"I'll gamble everything!"
Clad in grim resolve, Ye Fan took the leap of faith and plunged directly into the abyss!
However.
"Still nurturing hopes of escape? Dream on!"
The cold laughter of Jiang Chen resonated.
His body, however, moved with even greater swiftness.
Melding with his longsword, he formed an ominously sharp sword-light that pierced through the airborne Ye Fan with ruthless precision!
Continuing its relentless trajectory, it sent him hurtling several tens of meters, mercilessly pinning him to a rocky mountainside!
"No!"
Ye Fan's eyes, tinged crimson with blood, were widened in a blend of agony and defiance. Desperate, he strained to tap into the vestiges of Yuan Power within him, mustering the strength to resist!
"Perish!"
Jiang Chen's eyes narrowed into slits, his killing intent chilling to the bone. Suddenly, a violent torrent of Burning World Raging Flames erupted from his longsword.
Boom!
"Ah!"
Instantaneously, Ye Fan was transformed into a silhouette consumed by fire, issuing a scream of excruciating torment.
But the scream was ephemeral.
The next moment, this Son of the Heavenly Fate was reduced to a charred husk!
A note from AlphaWIA:
Get early access to more chapters by joining my Patreon.
"Hehe!"
"Fear not!"
"Truth be told, an unusual adversary like you gives me pause before delivering the killing blow!"
"Let's make a deal, we'll engage in an honorable duel!"
"I will set aside my Black Crystal Sky Piercing Shuttle and Carefree Heavenly Extreme Robe, and only wield the Shadowblade Sword."
A mischievous grin tugged at the corners of Jiang Chen's lips, "Should you best me, I'll grant you your freedom! Do you dare to accept such a challenge?"
Upon processing his audacious proposal.
Duan Ziming and the others regarded Jiang Chen with bewilderment.
Really, what is he thinking? Why not simply eliminate Ye Fan on the spot?
However, unbeknownst to them, Jiang Chen harbored a deeper desire to destroy Ye Fan than anyone present.
Yet the circumstances forbade it!
He was compelled to contrive opportunities to gradually erode Ye Fan's Heavenly Fate Value.
"Can you truly mean this!?"
At the sound of Jiang Chen's proclamation, a glimmer of hope seemed to pierce Ye Fan's oppressive gloom!
Simultaneously.
A derisive chuckle resonated in his heart.
He had dispatched numerous haughty and self-absorbed young masters in his time, and it appeared that this Jiang Chen before him fell into the same category of egotistical fools.
Despite possessing an undeniable upper hand.
He sought to initiate a purportedly 'fair' duel!
In that case.
Ye Fan would not hold back!
After all, he had recently utilized the Wordless Heavenly Jade to siphon off some qi and blood power.
The qi and blood of the Extreme Wind Splitting Skywolf were far from ordinary. Such potent energy would suffice for him to refine a Heavenly Origin realm cultivation method to the perfect-level!
"Assuredly, it is!"
An air of a cat toying with a doomed mouse emanated from Jiang Chen's smirk.
With that, he tossed the Black Crystal Sky Piercing Shuttle and the Carefree Heavenly Extreme Robe into Duan Ziming's grasp.
Nonetheless.
He sneered inwardly with disdain.
Handling the protagonist undeniably demanded devious strategies.
Should any unforeseen event occur, Jiang Chen would unhesitatingly renounce the agreement.
Even though he was prohibited from utilizing the Black Crystal Sky Piercing Shuttle and the Carefree Heavenly Extreme Robe.
His existing Villain Value was ample for him to exchange for at least one Heavenly Origin realm treasure. This was the foundation of his unwavering confidence.
Moreover, his other pillar of confidence was his cultivation base, primed to break through at any moment.
"Very well!"
"If this is the case, then let's engage in battle and see who emerges victorious, who survives or perishes!"
Ye Fan narrowed his eyes and consumed a pill, steadily retreating towards the heart of the battlefield.
Throughout this maneuver.
Externally, he seemed to be harnessing the medicinal power to heal his injuries, but in truth, he was using the Wordless Heavenly Jade to master a Heavenly Origin realm power-enhancing secret art!
Once the practice reached fruition.
Once deployed, it could momentarily elevate his combat power to the Early-stage Heavenly Origin realm!
At that juncture.
Even if it lasted merely a few breaths, he would seize an opportunity to strike down Jiang Chen!
"Jiang Chen."
"Why don't we pool our strength together, to avoid the unnecessary risks of a prolonged battle."
Out of the blue, Mu Tao made the proposition to Jiang Chen.
Duan Ziming, Miao Xiaorui, and the others also shifted their gaze towards Jiang Chen in unison.
As long as Jiang Chen consented, they would readily offer their assistance.
"Hehehe!"
"Today, Ye Fan's demise will be by my hand alone. Any interference will earn you my, Jiang Chen's, enmity!"
A twisted smirk twisted Jiang Chen's countenance.
Upon hearing his decree.
Everyone exchanged knowing looks, feeling somewhat at a loss.
Then.
They watched as Jiang Chen unsheathed his Shadowblade Sword, steadily advancing towards Ye Fan.
Shortly.
Jiang Chen and Ye Fan found themselves squared off at the epicenter of the battlefield, a mere fifty meters apart.
"Are you prepared, Ye Fan?"
Jiang Chen's gaze bore down on Ye Fan, his face a mask of derision, as if surveying an insignificant insect.
"Prepared... to end you!!"
Ye Fan's eyes blazed with fury, and the intimidating aura of the Heavenly Origin realm surged forth with staggering intensity!
The following instant.
He lunged directly towards Jiang Chen.
"No!!"
Duan Ziming and the others were stricken with terror, their hearts filled with acute remorse!
Ye Fan had indeed unleashed the combat prowess of the Heavenly Origin realm!
Deprived of the Carefree Heavenly Extreme Robe and the Black Crystal Sky Piercing Shuttle, how could Jiang Chen possibly evade!?
They could do nothing but watch in despair as Jiang Chen barely managed to lift his hand in defense.
In the ensuing moment.
"I relish the sight of cocky fools like you, so full of yourselves!"
Ye Fan bellowed manically, his long saber embodying unmatched power, savagely colliding with Jiang Chen's longsword.
In his mind's eye.
The vision of Jiang Chen losing control of his sword, and his body being cleaved in two was almost tangible.
However!
The resistance transmitted through his long saber abruptly shifted from feeble to potent.
In the very next heartbeat.
Boom!!
An aura identical to that of the Heavenly Origin realm detonated from Jiang Chen!
Simultaneously, a remarkably mysterious and peculiar wave radiated!
"Ha-ha-ha!"
"You, who dismiss the champions of the world, are the true fool!"
Jiang Chen's laughter echoed, clutching the Shadowblade Sword with both hands, staunchly thwarting Ye Fan's long saber!
"How can this be!"
"How on earth could you have a breakthrough right now!!"
Ye Fan's eyes blazed with fury, his heart abruptly filled with a mix of dread and shock, his mind nearly blank.
He was petrified, rendered speechless!
He had temporarily unleashed the combat power of the Heavenly Origin realm, but Jiang Chen had ascended directly to the Heavenly Origin realm!
[Ding! You have successfully shattered protagonist Ye Fan's mental state, Ye Fan's Heavenly Fate Value has decreased by 300 points!]
[Ding! You have gained 500 points of Villain Value!]
The system alert resonated.
"Void Rainbow Eighth Sword Style! Shattering the Clouds!"
Seizing Ye Fan's moment of shock, Jiang Chen executed his most potent sword technique at present, swiftly launching sixteen strikes, each landing on Ye Fan.
Slice, slice, slice, slice!
In an instant.
Sixteen gaping wounds were carved into Ye Fan's body!
"Ahh!!"
Ye Fan roared as he stumbled back, desperate to flee!
But he had pushed himself beyond his limits multiple times, employing power-boosting secret arts, and even more significantly, invoking a Heavenly Origin realm power-boosting secret art at the Spiritual Awakening realm. His body was utterly depleted.
His once unstoppable momentum had been crushed, and his spirit was in tatters!
His combat power plummeted like a mountain collapsing or a cliff crumbling away.
"Halt!"
Jiang Chen shifted his stance, activated Clear Sky Flash, and his body blurred into an afterimage, instantly materializing by Ye Fan's side!
Ye Fan endeavored to dodge.
But he couldn't!
His left arm was seized by Jiang Chen, who swung him with great force.
Boom!
Ye Fan's body traced a semi-circular trajectory, crashing into the solid ground, forming a sizable crater!
Yet, in the very next heartbeat.
He burst forth from the massive crater, rushing towards the fractured opening in the ceiling of the secret chamber!
"Hmph!"
"Ye Fan, your end is nigh!"
Jiang Chen scoffed lightly, lifting his right hand, upon which a storage ring glinted conspicuously.
[Ding! You have successfully seized part of Ye Fan's opportunities, Ye Fan's Heavenly Fate Value has decreased by 1,000 points!]
[Ding! You successfully wounded the protagonist Ye Fan, temporarily reducing his Heavenly Fate Value by 200 points!]
[Ding! You successfully defeated the protagonist Ye Fan, causing him to flee, reducing his Heavenly Fate Value by 200 points!]
[Ding! You have gained 2,500 points of Villain Value!]
The system alerts streamed in.
Indeed.
The genuine objective behind gripping Ye Fan's arm and swinging him just now was to pilfer Ye Fan's storage ring.
Because Jiang Chen had personally witnessed Ye Fan stowing those cultivation method jade slips and manuals within.
'Another staggering one thousand four hundred points of Heavenly Fate Value!'
'Tack on the earlier mental onslaught, that tallies up to exactly seventeen hundred points!'
'At this juncture, Ye Fan's Heavenly Fate Value has plummeted to less than five hundred eighty-eight, thus he can be outrightly eliminated!'
Jiang Chen's eyes sparkled with a concoction of surprise and elation, his velocity surging!
At this moment.
Ye Fan had already made a hasty retreat onto the nearby stone bridge!
A dead end!
Below lay nothing but a pitch-black subterranean river, its terminus a mystery.
"I'll gamble everything!"
Clad in grim resolve, Ye Fan took the leap of faith and plunged directly into the abyss!
However.
"Still nurturing hopes of escape? Dream on!"
The cold laughter of Jiang Chen resonated.
His body, however, moved with even greater swiftness.
Melding with his longsword, he formed an ominously sharp sword-light that pierced through the airborne Ye Fan with ruthless precision!
Continuing its relentless trajectory, it sent him hurtling several tens of meters, mercilessly pinning him to a rocky mountainside!
"No!"
Ye Fan's eyes, tinged crimson with blood, were widened in a blend of agony and defiance. Desperate, he strained to tap into the vestiges of Yuan Power within him, mustering the strength to resist!
"Perish!"
Jiang Chen's eyes narrowed into slits, his killing intent chilling to the bone. Suddenly, a violent torrent of Burning World Raging Flames erupted from his longsword.
Boom!
"Ah!"
Instantaneously, Ye Fan was transformed into a silhouette consumed by fire, issuing a scream of excruciating torment.
But the scream was ephemeral.
The next moment, this Son of the Heavenly Fate was reduced to a charred husk!
A note from AlphaWIA:
Get early access to more chapters by joining my Patreon.
