Chapter 431 - 207: An Astonishing Rescue, Another Skill Gained
Chapter 431: Chapter 207: An Astonishing Rescue, Another Skill Gained
It was a massive cavern the size of a soccer field, connected to dozens of tunnels on all sides. The terrain was open, yet offered no place to hide.
At this moment, two Xinhuo squads, fourteen people in total, were completely trapped by an endless, green tide!
An overwhelming tide of the Rot Eye Race poured out from the tunnels on all sides!
At times, they would converge into a giant green hand, descending from above to slam down and shatter the ground. At others, they would morph into green tsunamis, sweeping across the cavern.
The Xinhuo members fought for their lives amid flashes of blades and bursts of Gang Sha!
But their attacks had little to no effect on the Rot Eye Race.
Even when they managed to break apart the amalgamated beasts, the creatures would instantly split into countless smaller individuals, only to reform from another direction and launch an even more ferocious assault.
Moreover, with every strike that made contact with a Rot Eye’s body, their weapons would be partially corroded.
With an agonized scream, a Xinhuo member’s saber was sent flying from his grip. His hands had been corroded into a mangled mess of flesh and blood!
"If you can’t hold out, activate your device and forfeit!"
From a tunnel entrance overlooking the cavern, a referee in a Kunlun uniform watched on with indifference, showing no intention of intervening.
"You all know the rules. Unless there’s a life-threatening situation, I will not interfere."
Despair began to spread through the Xinhuo team.
In the conference room, the atmosphere was incredibly tense.
Xiao Yuanshan glanced at Lv Yongze, the corner of his mouth curling into a barely perceptible smirk.
He gestured, and the screen split to show another scene.
The scene was another cavern, but the battle unfolding within was completely different.
A seven-man Kunlun squad, facing the same tide of the Rot Eye Race, seemed to be handling the situation with ease.
Three of the Martial Artists, their hands wreathed in roaring flames, worked in perfect sync. The fire they unleashed formed an impenetrable wall, keeping any approaching members of the Rot Eye Race at bay.
The highly corrosive acid they spat was instantly vaporized the moment it touched the high-temperature flames.
Fire was clearly the bane of the Rot Eye Race.
"Mr. Lv, it looks like Kunlun will be taking a temporary lead on the first day’s leaderboard."
Xiao Yuanshan’s voice carried a hint of perfectly measured pity.
Lv Yongze’s eyes narrowed.
He could see, of course, that Kunlun had come prepared.
The upper echelons of both Martial Halls were aware of the detailed intelligence on the Painful Labyrinth, including the Rot Eye Race’s fatal weakness to fire.
But for the sake of so-called fairness, both sides had a tacit agreement not to share this intelligence with their participating members.
But Kunlun had gotten clever.
They hadn’t revealed the intelligence directly. Instead, they had deliberately chosen a large number of participants whose Martial Arts Spirituality had an affinity for the Fire Attribute.
It wasn’t against the rules.
But this innate advantage was on full display right from the start of the competition.
Xinhuo, on the other hand, was at its breaking point.
The captains of the two squads were Hu Dahai and another elite member.
They watched their comrades fall one by one, their eyes filled with frustration and desperation as they stared at the endless green tide.
"Everyone, prepare..."
Hu Dahai gritted his teeth, preparing to give the order to forfeit.
’If this keeps up, we’ll really die here.’
’There’s no point in holding on any longer.’
But at that very moment—
No one had noticed a fly hovering at the edge of the battlefield, its tiny form faltering in mid-air for a split second.
The next second, a figure appeared out of nowhere, right where the fly had been.
Castling!
Lin Ye’s figure materialized out of thin air above the chaotic battlefield.
The instant he appeared!
HUMMM—!
An invisible domain, yet one so heavy it felt as if it could collapse space itself, erupted outward!
It was as if someone had hit the pause button on time itself.
The entire world instantly fell into an eerie silence.
The Rot Eye Race that had been frantically surging in from all directions froze in place, as if afflicted by a Body Fixing Skill.
The streams of acid spewing from their bodies, arcing through the air on lethal trajectories, also hung suspended, unable to advance another inch.
All the Xinhuo members were frozen in place—mid-block, mid-dodge, or in the middle of activating their devices—with expressions of shock and bewilderment etched on their faces.
They could feel the crushing sense of mortal danger that had been pressing down on them suddenly vanish.
In the entire cavern, only one person could move freely.
Lin Ye floated in mid-air, observing the frozen tableau composed of countless members of the Rot Eye Race.
...
「Yanjing, Kunlun Sub-Palace.」
The moment Lin Ye’s figure appeared on the screen and every single member of the Rot Eye Race was rendered immobile, both Long Bohan’s and Wang Jingcheng’s eyes lit up.
They stared wide-eyed at the screen, their faces a mask of indescribable shock!
’What happened?’
’Why... Why has everything stopped?’
’And why did Lin Ye suddenly appear?!’
"I never expected his Martial Arts Spirituality to display such terrifying power while still only in the Initial Appearance stage..."
Lv Yongze’s voice was calm as he spoke, but his eyes, usually as still as an old well, now shone with an unprecedented light.
He watched the figure on the screen, unable to suppress the smile spreading across his face.
On the other hand, the smile on Xiao Yuanshan’s face looked somewhat strained.
He stared at the screen, the jealousy in his eyes practically overflowing.
Lin Ye’s previous, invisible clash with Zhang Daoming had ended inconclusively, and no one knew which of them was stronger.