20demayo Chapter 2008 A world of difference
Chapter 2008 A world of difference
Chapter 2008 A world of difference
Yun Zihan's figure gradually blurred and became transparent at the edge of the martial arts arena, eventually disappearing completely. The power of the rules had sent him away from there, thus saving his life.
However, even though the person is gone, that deep sense of resentment still lingers in my heart.
Yun Zihan appeared on a desolate mountaintop, his face so gloomy it was almost dripping with water.
"A total of thirty-two primordial lotus seeds..."
Yun Zihan looked into the lotus seed in his sleeve, which had shrunk by half. What weighed on his heart even more was that his strength had been weakened by the rules once again.
The number of kills dropped from twenty to ten, which meant that the suppression of his soul in this realm suddenly intensified, as if a heavy shackle had been put on him out of thin air, and his cultivation was somewhat sluggish.
Yun Zihan took a deep breath, looked up at the nine demonic spots that still hung high in the sky, radiating an ominous blood-red light, and felt a strong sense of powerlessness welling up in his heart.
"They were able to force a killing spree this time, but what about next time? Even if I accumulate twenty kills again, I'll probably be dragged back into this arena and face being plundered and weakened once more."
This has become an almost unsolvable vicious cycle. As long as one's overall strength is inferior to that of the demonic cultivators, obtaining the Origin Lotus Seeds may very well just be a stepping stone for the demonic cultivators.
Of course, it's not entirely without a solution.
By getting stuck at nineteen kills and avoiding the threshold of twenty kills, you can avoid this forced killing spree.
But as soon as the thought arose, Yun Zihan rejected it himself.
In this perilous and deadly Demon Lotus Realm, how can such a brilliant scheme be tolerated? If you don't kill the demon cultivators, they will come to kill you.
To precisely control the number of kills to nineteen while ensuring one's own safety is an incredibly difficult task, comparable to ascending to heaven. The slightest mistake could mean certain death.
"Or... form an alliance with other trustworthy monks?"
Yun Zihan's eyes flickered, "I will severely injure the demonic cultivator, and then my companion will deliver the final blow, helping him accumulate kills, while I will remain below the safety line..."
This is indeed a method that can preserve the strength of top cultivators to some extent.
However, this method is too frustrating, as it means handing over one's own gains to others and bearing the main risks of combat. More importantly, it is ultimately a stopgap measure that only addresses the symptoms, not the root cause.
"Ultimately, it's because the demonic cultivators are now too powerful."
Yun Zihan sighed. From the nine-to-six contrasting demonic spots in the sky to the arrogant aura of the demonic cultivators in the martial arts arena, it was clear that the power balance within the Demon Lotus Realm was severely unbalanced.
"This time, I'm afraid... all the cultivators in this realm are in danger. Who knows how many will be able to leave alive..."
A jumble of chaotic and oppressive thoughts churned in his mind, eventually turning into a sigh filled with helplessness and worry.
Yun Zihan concealed his aura and blended into the forest below. He needed to continue killing demonic cultivators and find suitable companions.
Yun Zihan's surrender and withdrawal caused the remaining cultivators present to frown.
The predicaments and despair that Yun Zihan could imagine, the other cultivators present could naturally also imagine, and even think about them more deeply and further.
For this reason, everyone, including Chen Fei, looked extremely serious, and a heavy sense of oppression filled the air.
The rules of this battlefield of slaughter are far too disadvantageous to the cultivators.
Demonic cultivators can leverage their numerical advantage to wage the most brutal war of attrition. Even without killing anyone, merely forcing them to surrender can continuously weaken the overall strength of the cultivators.
With one side gaining and the other losing, the final outcome is almost predictable.
To fight or to retreat? To fight, or perhaps to perish.
Retreat would severely weaken our strength, making the situation even more difficult.
On the training ground, Pang Yan'en, who had easily obtained thirty-two lotus seeds and was in high spirits, licked his lips and his greedy and playful gaze swept over the cultivators' camp once again.
His gaze lingered on Chen Fei for a moment, a flicker of interest crossing his eyes, but then, as if remembering something, he looked away and finally focused on Yi Jingcheng, another cultivator who had just achieved twenty kills.
Of these two newly promoted cultivators with the rank of Twenty Killer, Yun Zihan has already retreated without a fight, leaving Yi Jingcheng as the remaining one.
"you!"
Pang Yan'en pointed his finger at Yi Jingcheng without any politeness, his voice like rolling thunder, "Get the hell up here!"
Being directly called out, Yi Jingcheng's pupils contracted slightly, but his face showed no fear. He snorted coldly, and without making any move, his figure swept through the void like a breeze. The next moment, he was already standing firmly in the center of the martial arts arena, facing Pang Yan'en from afar.
Yi Jingcheng's aura was calm and composed. Although not as violent and outwardly aggressive as Pang Yan'en's, it was still as deep and imposing as a mountain, possessing its own unique bearing.
As fellow cultivators of the Earthly Dao Foundation, Yi Jingcheng felt little fear; instead, a fierce fighting spirit ignited within him.
"Hahaha!"
Seeing that Yi Jingcheng actually dared to go on stage, Pang Yan'en was not angry but delighted, and let out a wildly arrogant laugh, "Do you think that just because you are a Foundation Establishment of Earthly Origin like me, you have the right to challenge me? Today I will open your eyes to the fact that there is a world of difference between Foundation Establishment of Earthly Origin!"
Before the laughter subsided, Pang Yan'en's dark red demonic flames suddenly surged. He made a fist with both hands, and the vast demonic energy instantly condensed into a giant demonic axe the size of a door panel, with its blade wrapped in an aura of destruction.
The moment the demonic axe took shape, the surrounding space emitted a violent buzzing sound.
"Die to me!"
Pang Yan'en roared, without any fancy moves, his arm muscles bulging, and swung the demon axe with the simplest and most violent chop.
The demonic axe tore through the air, carrying a shrill shriek and an overwhelming, violent force, as it slashed down fiercely towards Yi Jingcheng's head. Even before the axe arrived, its terrifying pressure had already locked down the space around Yi Jingcheng, leaving him no way to escape.
Faced with this axe blow, Yi Jingcheng's eyes flashed with a sharp light, yet he neither dodged nor evaded.
Yi Jingcheng shouted in a deep voice, and with a flick of his right hand, an octagonal earth-shaking hammer, entirely black, engraved with intricate Dao patterns, and exuding a heavy aura, appeared in his hand.
Yi Jingcheng's Yuan Power surged within his body, and his Earthly Yuan Dao Foundation roared. He poured all his power into the iron hammer, delivering a straightforward and unadorned strike from below, slamming it down hard against the descending demonic axe.
"clang!"
A deafening roar, like the terrifying sound of two stars colliding, suddenly erupted.
Where the demonic axe and the iron hammer clashed, blinding light and violent energy shockwaves swept out in a circular pattern, crashing into the rules-based barriers surrounding the training ground and creating ripples all around.
Yi Jingcheng's body trembled violently, his expression changed slightly, and he involuntarily took a step back. Although he quickly regained his footing, the outcome of this first direct clash was already decided. In a pure clash of strength, he had actually fallen into a disadvantageous position.
"Primordial Chaos Technique!"
Yi Jingcheng steadied his qi and blood, his face turning somewhat pale, and he uttered the name of the cultivation technique practiced by Pang Yan'en, word by word.
Even among the same Earthly Dao Foundation, there are indeed differences in quality.
Although the difference is not as obvious as that between the Profound Origin Dao Foundation and the Earth Origin Dao Foundation, the top-tier Earth Origin Dao Foundation cultivation methods provide a significant boost to cultivators compared to ordinary Earth Origin Dao Foundation techniques.
Among the many 15th-level Earth Origin Dao Foundation Techniques, the Hunyuan Wuji Technique is considered to be among the best.
This method is extremely difficult to cultivate. Not only does it have special requirements for the cultivator's physique, but its difficulty is rumored to be only slightly inferior to those peerless cultivation techniques that directly lead to the foundation of the Heavenly Origin Dao.
Those who cultivate this technique possess unparalleled power, and their demonic energy flows with a sense of primordial unity and limitless power, greatly enhancing their explosive power and endurance.
No wonder Pang Yan'en is so arrogant; he certainly has the right to be arrogant.
Beside the training ground, several cultivators frowned even more deeply.
They could naturally see that Yi Jingcheng's Earthly Origin Dao Foundation Technique was by no means ordinary; it had a solid foundation and a deep, concentrated aura. However, compared to Pang Yan'en's Primordial Chaos Limitless Technique, it was indeed inferior in terms of the purity and explosiveness of its power.
"This is troublesome..." one of the cultivators murmured to himself.
If even Yi Jingcheng can't withstand it, then among the remaining people, apart from Tianyuan Daoji, the others will probably all be in a tough fight against Pang Yan'en.
On the demonic cultivators' side, there are several like Pang Yan'en.
"With such meager skills, you dare to go on stage and throw your life away?"
Pang Yan'en, seizing the opportunity, grinned maliciously and raised his demonic axe once more, unleashing even greater power as he slashed at Yi Jingcheng's vital points like a storm.
The axe shadows blurred, completely sealing off all of Yi Jingcheng's space to dodge.
Yi Jingcheng's expression was cold, and his pride was also ignited. He didn't believe that the gap between him and the other party was really that big.
Yi Jingcheng wielded the Earthshaking Hammer in his hand, pushing his own skills to the limit, still choosing to engage in a head-on confrontation.
"Dang!" "Dang!" "Dang!"
The deafening clang of metal clashing continued unabated, and violent energy exploded continuously.
In the blink of an eye, the two had already exchanged eight blows.
Although Yi Jingcheng was slightly at a disadvantage in these eight moves, he managed to withstand them with his tenacious will and exquisite hammer techniques, without taking a single step back.
"Break it on me!"
Unable to break through his defenses, Pang Yan'en's ferocity was fully unleashed. The demonic flames around him surged once more, his arm muscles bulged like dragons, and strange dark red patterns appeared on his demonic axe, exuding a destructive aura.
"boom!"
The two weapons clashed fiercely once again.
This time, Yi Jingcheng could no longer completely dispel that overwhelming power. A sweet, metallic taste surged up his throat, which he forced down, but his body staggered backward uncontrollably.
He stumbled back more than a dozen steps before barely managing to stand, his face flushed an unnatural red.
Seeing that Pang Yan'en was unaffected and continued to slash, Yi Jingcheng stopped attacking and instead moved his body to try and maneuver.
Sensing that Yi Jingcheng's aura was disordered and that he intended to rely on his movement techniques to maneuver, Pang Yan'en revealed a mocking sneer.
"Trying to fight? Too late!"
The momentum of Pang Yan'en's demonic axe slashing down did not slow down; instead, it became even more violent and bizarre.
What's chilling is that some of the power he had unleashed earlier did not completely dissipate into the void. Instead, as if drawn by an invisible force, it transformed into wisps of dark red energy that flowed back into the demonic axe in his hand.
This is another characteristic of the Hunyuan Wuji Technique: the circulation of force, which grows stronger with each battle.
As long as he cannot be completely defeated in one blow, his power can be partially recovered and amplified during continuous attacks, making subsequent attacks increasingly heavy and difficult to withstand.
After a few moves, the aura emanating from Pang Yan'en grew stronger and stronger like a snowball rolling downhill. The demonic axe in his hand seemed to have become several times heavier, and every strike made Yi Jingcheng, who was trying to dodge, feel extremely strained, as if the space around him had become viscous.
Sensing that Pang Yan'en was growing stronger with each battle, while he himself had suffered internal injuries and the situation was rapidly sliding into an irreversible abyss, Yi Jingcheng's face turned extremely grim.
"I surrender!"
Without further hesitation, Yi Jingcheng seized the opportunity during a brief moment of collision to retreat sharply, shouting out at the same time.
Yi Jingcheng is not entirely without the power to resist. If he were to burn his source energy at any cost, he might be able to unleash power beyond his limits and fight Pang Yan'en to the death.
However, beyond this battlefield of carnage lies the perilous Realm of the Demon Lotus.
Once his source energy is burned, regardless of victory or defeat, he will suffer a severe blow, the aftereffects of which will not be recovered in a short time. At that time, with his strength greatly reduced, he will find it difficult to move an inch in this realm, and he may perish if he encounters even a demonic cultivator.
Although admitting defeat means losing most of the lotus seeds and kills, and having your strength weakened by the rules, at least you've preserved your foundation and your life, and you still have a chance to make a comeback.
However, burning one's very essence to fight to the death is too risky; once one fails, there will be no hope of redemption.
As soon as the word "defeat" was uttered, the power of the rules descended once again.
Yi Jingcheng's figure began to blur. He took a deep look at the aggressive Pang Yan'en opposite him and his solemn-faced companions in the cultivator camp before disappearing from the scene.
At the same time, a total of seventy-three primordial lotus seeds, radiating a soft glow, appeared from the void and flew toward the smug Pang Yan'en.
Pang Yan'en waved his hand and collected all seventy-three lotus seeds. Feeling the powerful energy fluctuations in his arms, the smugness on his face was almost overflowing.
Pang Yan'en spat disdainfully in the direction where Yi Jingcheng had disappeared.
"Pah! I thought he was got some guts, that he'd burn his life force and fight me to the death, but he's just a spineless coward. What a disappointment!"
Having won two matches in a row and reaped over a hundred precious lotus seeds, Pang Yan'en's arrogance reached its peak.
He raised his head, his aggressive gaze sweeping over the four remaining cultivators opposite him. Finally, his undisguised malice and probing fell once again on Chen Fei, whose cultivation level was the lowest.
Pang Yan'en stroked his fleshy chin, turned around, and smiled at the demonic cultivator behind him:
"Fellow Daoists, do you think... that junior at the late stage of the fifteenth level on the other side, he managed to get here by sheer luck?"
Upon hearing this, an undisguised burst of laughter erupted from the demonic cultivators' camp, and all their gazes focused on Chen Fei's calm and composed face.
"Hehe, Brother Pang's words have indeed enlightened us."
A demonic cultivator with a soft, feminine voice, a pale face, and long, black fingernails chuckled and spoke first, breaking the brief silence.
His narrow eyes narrowed, staring at Chen Fei like a venomous snake, and he said slowly, "With a mere late-stage fifteenth-level cultivator, to be able to kill thirty demonic cultivators of the same level in this realm, there are only two possibilities."
He held up two jet-black fingers: "Firstly, I have incredible luck. Along the way, all I've encountered are people of low cultivation level who are easily defeated. However, this possibility is extremely slim."
Upon hearing this, all the demonic cultivators laughed. Hoping to rely solely on luck to pick off the weak and kill thirty people was nothing short of a pipe dream.
"Then only the second possibility remains: this child did not win by relying on his own strength, but by using unorthodox methods."
In the Demon Lotus Realm, where the rules are unique and suppress absolute individual strength, some unconventional methods can indeed produce unexpected results.
"Among the many unorthodox methods, the only ones that can enable a late-stage cultivator to achieve such amazing results in this world are arrays, puppets, and the art of talisman making."
The demonic cultivator paused, his gaze towards Chen Fei becoming even more intrigued:
“Array formations borrow the power of heaven and earth to form their own domains, enabling the weak to overcome the strong. Puppets and talismans can fight on behalf of their masters, unafraid of casualties, and overwhelming the enemy with sheer numbers. All three are possible.”
"Array?"
Pang Yan'en replied in a muffled voice, with a hint of skepticism:
"Although the array is powerful, it has extremely high requirements for the materials used to set up the array. Where can we find top-quality array materials in the Demon Lotus Realm? The original lotus seeds have a single attribute and are extremely unstable, so they cannot support the operation of complex arrays at all."
Pang Yan'en's gaze swept over the opposing cultivators' camp again. He knew he couldn't defeat the Tianyuan Dao Foundation cultivators. He had heard of the other two cultivators, but he had just fought one battle. He wasn't sure he could win if they continued with a series of attacks.
On the other hand, that junior at the late stage of the fifteenth level... although he seemed strange, the difference in cultivation level was obvious.
Even if there are truly unorthodox methods, their power will inevitably be limited.
However, having already gained benefits from two battles, if he were to become even more greedy, he might incur the dissatisfaction and exclusion of other demonic cultivators... Thinking of this, Pang Yan'en laughed heartily, and with a sway of his body, he took the initiative to jump off the training ground and return to the demonic cultivator camp.
Pang Yan'en withdrew, and in the demonic cultivator camp, another demonic cultivator, Wei Gao, whose face was withered and who looked as if he had just recovered from a serious illness, let out a hoarse chuckle.
“What Fellow Daoists Lai and Pang said is indeed reasonable. Array formations, puppets, and talisman making can all rely on external objects to temporarily obtain power beyond the level.”
Kui Gao's voice was like sandpaper, unsettling. His cloudy eyes swept over the demons, finally settling on Chen Fei, and he slowly said:
"However, the biggest constraint of such unorthodox techniques in this world is the spiritual materials. Whether it is the foundation of an array, the body of a puppet, or the talisman paper that carries high-level talismans, the upper limit of its power is limited by the quality of the core spiritual materials used."
"The rules of the Demon Lotus Realm are special. Rare materials from the outside world are difficult to enter, and resources within the realm are sealed off. No matter how ingenious the array is set up, if the base material is ordinary, its defensive barrier has its limits."
"By possessing the special power to briefly penetrate or even tear apart energy barriers, one can directly attack their weak points, weakening the formation's power by several degrees, or even breaking it in one fell swoop!"
Kui Gao's words were incisive and hit the nail on the head, directly addressing the core of the problem.
Upon hearing this, three pairs of eyes suddenly lit up within the demonic cultivator camp.
These three demonic cultivators all happen to possess innate supernatural abilities or techniques that are similar to annihilation, penetration, or have extremely destructive effects on energy structures.
They are experts at dealing with formations, puppets, and other things that rely on external objects.
"Hehehe... As for those two at the Earthly Origin Dao Foundation, I, Ji, am not very confident, but..."
A sinister voice broke the brief silence.
From within the demonic cultivator camp, a demonic cultivator dressed in brocade robes, resembling a dissolute young master, slowly stepped forward. He was Ji Botao, possessing a foundation in the Earthly Dao, and was known for his treacherous and cunning nature.
Ji Botao first glanced at the surrounding demonic cultivators with feigned humility, and seeing that they had no intention of making a move immediately, a smile appeared on his face.
"This junior, who is in the late stage of the fifteenth level, must have some tricks up his sleeve to have gotten to where he is today. I, Ji, am not very talented, but I would like to go up and test his abilities."
Before he finished speaking, Ji Botao moved and disappeared from the spot as a faint shadow. The next moment, he landed lightly in the center of the martial arts arena.
Ji Botao calmly straightened the non-existent folds in his robes, then raised his bloodshot eyes, which gleamed with greed, and looked at Chen Fei, who remained silent, with a half-smile.
"Youngster..."
Ji Botao stuck out his scarlet tongue, licked his lips, and said in a mocking tone, "Will you voluntarily admit defeat to avoid physical pain, or... will I personally escort you down?"
(End of this chapter)