Qin Wentian stared at Chen Yin, his eyes flickered with intense coldness and extreme sharpness, resembling a dangerous beast staring at its prey.
Chen Yin hated Qin Wentian, but didn't Qin Wentian hate Chen Yin as well? Back then he was forced into such desperate straits by the Great Solar Chen Clan, they even forced Bai Qing's master to her death and paraded her corpse in Ginkou. This was a major event which caused Bai Qing's temperament to change. And as he thought of that little lass whose life and death were currently unknown, the sharpness in Qin Wentian's eyes grew so piercing that it felt they were able to penetrate through everything.
"BOOM!" The sound of the drum echoed out as a terrifying ancient imprint blasted towards Chen Yin.
Flames borne of anger flickered within Chen Yin's eyes as his entire body erupted into flames. Those waves of overwhelming flames were then channelled into his battle drum, and with a howl of fury, numerous gigantic flame pythons manifested and shot towards Qin Wentian.
Chen Yin acted in such a hurry because he was very clear on Qin Wentian's potential. Back then in Grand Xia, Qin Wentian was a totally unknown character, yet just after a few short years, his name was already known through the Royal Sacred Region. With his rate of growth, if Qin Wentian continued to mature, Chen Yin knew he would never be able to get any opportunities for revenge. The Immortal Martial Realm was his last chance; he wanted to borrow the power of the Great Earth Sect and destroy Qin Wentian.
However, Chen Yin was proud. Before he resorted to borrowing the strength of his sect, it would naturally be the best choice if he could kill Qin Wentian with his own strength.
The lava-like flame pythons dance chaotically in the air as the terrifying heat revolved about, evaporating everything in its vicinity. The sound emanating from Qin Wentian's drum got increasingly terrifying, and thousands upon thousands of palm imprints akin to a great tidal wave accompanied the thunderous booms in the air. At the instant of contact, the fire pythons all disintegrated under the might as the remaining force carried over, blasting towards Chen Yin.
Chen Yin slammed his attacks into his drum like a madman. The flames he manifested transformed into a sea of fire which engulfed everything. Yet, it was unable to halt the momentum of Qin Wentian's palm attacks.
Shen Ting, who was beside Chen Yin, snorted when he saw this scene. He instantly imbued more lightning into his drum to stabilise the formation. Instantly, several palm imprints formed from lighting appeared in the air, frantically defending against that torrential force gushing over from Qin Wentian.
BOOM!
Blood-colored ancient halberds also zoomed out, aiming right for Shen Ting. The scene of this happening caused Shen Ting's eyes to flicker with coldness as he turned his gaze onto Qin Wentian. However, he only saw that Qin Wentian was similarly looking at him. The battle intent of the two of them collided with each other in the air with their gazes as the medium.
Drum sounds rumbled the air as an incomparably huge arm composed from earth essence grabbed towards Qin Wentian. This earthen arm seemed indomitable, it was as heavy as a mountain and had extremely terrifying might.
Qin Wentian slammed his palms into his drums as an ancient halberd materialised in the air, blasting right into the earthen arm. A fearsome destructive energy was unleashed. The gigantic earthen arm was destroyed inch by inch before completely shattering.
Shen Ting's countenance had no change, he waved his palms and blasted towards the drum again. At that instant, nine similar looking arms manifested as they grabbed towards Qin Wentian. When she felt the might radiating from these nine arms, Ye Lingshuang who was behind Qin Wentian had an extremely nervous expression on her face.
The huge battle drum in front of Qin Wentian vibrated relentlessly, as the humming of a sword filled the sky. A boundless sword might enveloped him and at the approach of the nine arms, the sword might eruption lacerated outwards, slicing and dicing them into pieces.
Bzzz!
A bout of swords rained down from heavens, striking towards Shen Ting. Shen Ting furrowed his brows in displeasure. He could only continue to issue his own attacks, forming a stone wall in defense. Qin Wentian's eyes was as cold as ever, the members of his group were similarly fighting against the other experts from the Great Earth Sect. Qin Wentian's eyes gleamed with sharpness as his arm slammed onto the battle drum with a loud bang. A long spear penetrated the void, rushing forth with the speed of lightning as it suddenly disappeared from sight.
Chen Yin was fighting against Chu Mang, yet suddenly a terrifying dreamscape appeared in his sea of consciousness. The air shimmered before him, it was as though he could see that deep and frightfully cold eyes of Qin Wentian staring right back at him.
"Pu…" A long spear instantly penetrated Chen Yin's head as the sound of an explosion blasted out. The user died, the battle drum linked with the user similarly shattered, the battle spirit transforming into a beam of light that zoomed and fused into Qin Wentian's battle drum.
"YOU!" A terrifying killing intent surged over, Shen Ting murderously slammed blows into his battle drum unceasingly, Qin Wentian had no fear on his expression at all, calmly defending against his opponent's blows. His aura perceptibly grew stronger. Staring at Shen Ting, he coldly asked, "Is this what you meant by teaching me conduct? Truly disappointing."
"You will learn." Shen Ting's eyes gleamed with murderous rage. His attacks suddenly deviated, no longer aiming for Qin Wentian.
He couldn't defeat Qin Wentian during such a short period of time, yet he saw Que Cheng and the others gradually stronger. This wasn't a good sign. Although he was confident that he could kill Qin Wentian given enough time, he had to give up. As time flows by, every second counts, the difference in strength between him and the other geniuses would only grow larger and larger. This was something he was unable to accept.
If in the end, when someone who could suppress the rest appeared, it would mean doomsday for the rest of them. That 'someone' must only be him, Shen Ting.
Qin Wentian understood Shen Ting's thoughts, since he had already slain Chen Yin, he wasn't in any hurry to deal with Shen Ting. What Shen Ting could think of, he naturally could as well. If they continued their battle, the ones who benefited would only be the others.
The situation in the battlefield was actually extremely simple. Although Shen Ting wasn't his only enemy, the truth was that whoever stepped into this battlefield, only those from your alliance are your friends, the others are all your mortal enemies. Earlier when he fought against the experts from the Great Earth Sect, he could already feel many pairs of eyes staring at them, as though waiting for an opportunity to strike out.
Now, he naturally had to take care of all these opportunists. Attacking, plundering, continuing to grow stronger.
This fair battle was in fact extremely cruel, every one had to go all out in order to survive. If you didn't plunder the battle spirits of others, others would plunder yours, growing stronger and the only ending for you would be death. It was also impossible to leave halfway. The moment one stepped into here, anyone who left their battle drums would find themselves defenseless, and the only fate that remained would be that their drums shattered as the battle spirit within strengthened others.
There was no path of return the moment one entered. They could only kill or be killed. Maybe this was the cruelness of the Immortal Martial Realm. Right now in the battlefield, chaotic shockwaves ravaged everywhere as experts died one after another. The sounds of battle drums shattering seemed continuous as the number of participants dwindled. The only alliances remaining were the elite few.
At this moment, only thirteen alliances remained. The number of people in each alliance were different, but the total number of participants added up didn't exceed a hundred. As for the leading characters of these alliances? Many among them had lifted the suppression on their cultivation bases. Having plundered enough battle spirits to have leveled up to the fifth-level of Heavenly Dipper, and their Mandates were at the transformation boundary of the second level.
The strongest among them was the Violet Thunder Sect alliance, headed by Que Cheng.
This person was extremely intelligent, right from the start he stayed away from the strong ones and only attacked the weak. It wasn't that he was afraid, but because he focused merely on gathering strength first, which resulted in him currently becoming one of the strongest here.
Also right now although only thirteen alliances remain, they were all extremely united. If not, they would never be able to walk until this step.
Even so, although the name of an 'alliance' remained, the reality is gone. Because they poured the battle spirits obtained all to the leading character, this caused the disparity in their strengths to grow wider and wider. Right now, the supporting characters couldn't even help if they wished to, they were just too weak in comparison to the leaders.
"Que Cheng, it all depends on you now," the experts from the Violet Thunder Sect stated. Que Cheng nodded his head, he slammed his palms into his battle drum as lightning danced in the air. The other experts from his sect all retreated, voluntarily breaking off the connection they had with their battle drums. After that, lightning blasted onto their battle drums, destroying them, plundering the battle spirits within as Que Cheng's aura grew even stronger.
After which, these people's silhouette flickered as they retreated to behind Que Cheng.
"Wentian." Chu Mang and the others stared at Qin Wentian. Qin Wentian nodded his head, since the situation now required it to be so, he can only destroy the battle drums of his comrades.
"Prepare yourself." Qin Zheng spoke. Qin Wentian raised his palm, and after which, Chu Mang and the others retreated together while voluntarily breaking the connection they had. When Qin Wentian's palms cut through the air, sword qi whistled as their battle drums all shattered into pieces. The battle spirits within were all absorbed into Qin Wentian's, causing the light surrounding him to grow more intense as his aura also became increasingly stronger.
Chu Mang and the others moved behind Qin Wentian, standing together with Ye Lingshuang while right now all around the battlefield, similar scenarios were happening.
Thirteen alliances accomplished a total of thirteen experts.
Que Cheng from the Violet Thunder Sect, Shen Ting from the Great Earth Sect, Shi Kuang from the Heaven Crippling Sect. These three who were Qin Wentian's enemies were all here. As for the other nine, there was an expert from the Battle Sword Sect, and the others were Heaven Chosen from ancient countries and reclusive sects. The leading characters were naturally talented geniuses since they could get others to support them.
The combat abruptly halted all of a sudden. The battle drums of these thirteen leaders were all enveloped by bright light, they didn't continue combat, but merely stared at each other as undisguised battle intent radiated from them.
After the round of plunder, there were a few among these thirteen whose aura has already reached the sixth level of Heavenly Dipper. As for the others, they were all at the peak of the fifth-level.
"Thirteen people remaining, if we have six matches, there seemed to be one extra," a person stated. This person was clad in golden armor and radiated a golden glow. He was none other than an expert from the Radiant Gold ancient country, and possessed overwhelming strength.
"In that case, one among us has to be eliminated." Shi Kuang from the Heaven Crippling sect turned his gaze onto Qin Wentian. His eyes gleamed with killing intent as he coldly spoke, "As long as I kill you, only twelve will remain and we can proceed with the six matches."
"Hmph, why are you the one?" The expert from the Radiant Gold ancient country snorted in response to Shi Kuang's words. He was also staring at Qin Wentian akin to how a hunter would stare at prey. The battle spirit of Qin Wentian's battle drum was now incredibly powerful, as long as one could plunder that away, their strength would definitely grow by leaps and bounds. This was something everyone was very clear on.
Upon hearing these two wanting to slay Qin Wentian, the gazes of the remaining participants all landed on Qin Wentian as well. This wasn't because Qin Wentian was the weakest among them but rather, since Shi Kuang and the Radiant Gold's expert had already chosen him, they simply allowed nature to take its course, and naturally chose him as well.
Especially the fact that Qin Wentian was one of the eighty-one selected individuals who acquired an Immortal Martial Realm Medallion. These twelve people were naturally more than happy to see Qin Wentian dying in front of them. They were filled with pride and arrogance, how could they admit that they were inferior to Qin Wentian? Wanting to prove that the judgement of the envoys from the Immortal Martial Realm this time was wrong!