Chapter Ninety-Seven: The Right Moment

Within a hidden cavern of the Earth Profound Palace, Liu Yaner abruptly woke from the illusion array of the Human Dao Realm.

"Who was it?"

"How could there be such astonishing archery?"

That windbreaking arrow, swift as light, seemed to have crossed space itself.

In her eyes, it carried at least three layers of force.

One layer accelerated the arrow's tail. Another shook the void and clouded her judgment. The final layer was the most exquisite of all, silently tearing through her protective force without a sound.

"An archer of this caliber must be found."

A strange gleam flickered in Liu Yaner’s eyes. For the opportunity ten months from now, her party still lacked one divine archer.

She had always preferred to travel alone, yet she knew well that if one truly found oneself in the sort of environment of the primordial battlefield of the Ancient Saints, no one could survive alone.

On the ancient battlefield, hailstones as large as eggs blanketed the region where Xu Chen and the other two stood.

The three of them each circulated their protective force, enduring the hail amid the freezing wind.

"Requiring only three-dragon strength to enter was far too conservative."

"At the very least, four-dragon blood qi is needed to withstand this kind of environment."

Each hailstone fell from above bearing at least several thousand pounds of force, smashing down so fiercely that Li Chengfu could scarcely even speak.

"It is indeed a little difficult." Xu Chen gazed into the distance. His Earth-Listening Thousand Illusions force spread outward from the ground.

"Twenty miles ahead there is a mountain range. Let's go there first and shelter from the hail."

Xu Chen looked ahead; no matter how the hail battered him, it could not break through the three-zhang radius around him.

"Move."

The three of them ran wildly through the hail. Only when they reached the foot of the mountain did they realize it was not a rolling range of peaks at all.

It was the corpse of a mighty being, vast as a mountain range.

Before they could even recover from their shock, they found a sheltered place at the giant's toes.

"A human body with a shell, six eyes, and three arms. This must be the ancient spirit Qu Li." After a brief look, Zong Changshou spoke with certainty.

"Isn't that the deified spirit of Earth Soul Province?"

"Is it really appropriate to leave a corpse here?" Xu Chen could not help but say.

Among the seventy-two provinces of the human race, almost every province had ancient spirits deified by the Human Emperor. In truth, ancient spirits were simply wild spirits of heaven and earth that had lived for an extremely long time; because of their strength and the human race's regard for them, they were called ancient spirits.

When Xu Chen was young, he had even studied these deified sacred spirits in class.

"Who knows? Maybe he had nothing to do and came to the Human Dao Realm to take a casual job." Li Chengfu pulled out a pill from his robes and put it in his mouth, rapidly replenishing the somewhat depleted blood qi within him.

The day’s trials had drained their blood qi somewhat quickly.

"In the battlefield of all living beings and ancient foes, do pills still work?" Xu Chen asked curiously.

"Pills that simply restore blood qi work. Anything more advanced won't." Zong Changshou reached out and snatched the pill bottle from Li Chengfu's hand, then poured out another pill and swallowed it as well.

"That's good." Xu Chen nodded slightly.

His blood qi was abundant, far surpassing others of the same level.

Even the speed at which he recovered it was beyond the ordinary.

Just as the three of them were avoiding the hail, a sky-piercing pillar of light suddenly rose in the distance and stabbed straight into the heavens.

"That must be the treasure-receiving platform. They say the fighting there is the most brutal of all."

"Shall we go take a look?" Li Chengfu's blood qi had already recovered to eighty percent.

"Let's go. We were bound to fight sooner or later."

The pillar of light was more than forty miles away from them. At full speed, it would only take the time to drink a cup of tea to arrive.

"Come on. If we move now, maybe we can pick up an advantage."

The three of them sped toward the distant pillar of light with all their strength.

At that moment, the hail that had been raging just before vanished, and the heavy clouds in the sky parted to reveal a broken sun.

The blood moon and the sun hung in the sky at the same time, illuminating a heavens riddled with spatial fissures like a torn net, making the scene all the more eerie.

The trio moved swiftly and soon reached the area where the pillar of light stood.

The treasure-receiving platform stood like an altar. Beneath it, dozens of disciples from various sects had gathered, all watching one another with vigilance.

The three of them remained hidden behind a slope, quietly observing the situation.

"It is not wise to show ourselves. There is a disciple of the Jade Purity Gate with six-dragon strength, and his combat power is quite formidable."

"As for the others, even the strongest among them are only at five-dragon strength." Based on the intelligence he had gathered on the disciples of the various sects, Zong Changshou silently assessed the strength of those present.

Xu Chen listened and quietly calculated. Aside from that disciple of the Jade Purity Gate, the rest were nothing to fear.

"Fellow disciples, since we all come from the five great sects, I do not wish to make this too ugly."

"How about this: hand over the treasures you have gathered to me, and I will give you fifty percent of the points."

"In this way, you will not have come all this way for nothing."

The Jade Purity Gate disciple spoke with arrogant authority, sweeping his gaze across the crowd. Here, strength was the only right to speak.

"I am Fang Jie of the Jade Purity Gate. If any of you are unwilling, step forward. We can have a proper talk."

As Fang Jie activated his blood qi, a giant phantom appeared behind him, practicing a set of fist techniques.

A crushing pressure rolled out from Fang Jie, making everyone feel as though they could scarcely breathe.

Behind the slope, Li Chengfu quietly said to Xu Chen, "Junior Brother, are you confident you can loose an arrow?"

Actually, Xu Chen had already been thinking the same thing. He had simply been waiting for an opportunity. Once they started fighting, the chance to strike a killing blow in the chaos would be much greater.

"Now is not the best time. They need to start fighting first."

Xu Chen restrained his own aura, but that faint, almost imperceptible trace of killing intent was still sensed by Fang Jie in the distance.

"So you want to monopolize the treasure-receiving platform all by yourself? You may be strong, but your face is certainly thick."

A disciple of the Earth Profound Palace stepped forward, enduring Fang Jie's pressure as he confronted him.

"Your strength may indeed be impressive, but not to that absurd degree."

"Act so domineering, and aren't you afraid that the disciples of the four sects will join forces against you?" the Earth Profound Palace disciple said.

"Since you refuse, then you need not have the remaining fifty percent either."

Fang Jie suddenly struck, driving a fist toward that Earth Profound Palace disciple.

In that instant, every Jade Purity Gate disciple present also moved at once.

The entire area around the treasure-receiving platform plunged into chaos.

Xu Chen watched the battlefield with burning eyes, yet made no move at all.

"Junior Brother, is the moment still not right?" Zong Changshou asked.

"He wants to use the chaos to draw me out. It is still not the time."

Slowly, Xu Chen laid the azure bow behind him down beside him, drew out a windbreaking arrow, and placed it within easiest reach.

"So the other side has already sensed your killing intent."

"Yes."

The battle raged on. Though the Jade Purity Gate had only six disciples, each of them was formidable.

The other four sects had greater numbers, but each harbored their own schemes and none fought with full force.

Under such circumstances, the entire battlefield remained locked in a bizarre and fragile balance.

Yet Fang Jie, standing at the center of the battle, grew increasingly anxious.

The owner of that killing intent still had not been lured out.

"Come out already! Ambush me! I'm easy to kill!"

As Fang Jie roared inwardly, he deliberately revealed an opening.

But Xu Chen, far away, remained unmoved.

Time passed little by little. Under the combined assault of the crowd, the disciples of the Jade Purity Gate began to show signs of weakness.