Ancient Godly Monarch

The participants all entered the battlefield in turn and stood upon the stone platforms, gently touching the battle drums in front of them.

Qin Wentian’s gaze roamed the place, counting. There were around a few hundred people here.

“Let us enter as well.” Qin Wentian stepped out and a moment later, he arrived before a battle drum. Around him, Ye Lingshuang, Chu Mang, and the others took up their positions, with Qin Wentian in the center.

Qin Wentian gently touched the battle drum before him as a mysterious feeling floated up in his mind. It was as though as long as he was willing, he could infuse his consciousness into the battle drum and create a battle spirit from the drum to fight for him.

Just like what the stone tablet had engraved. In this battlefield, the battle drums were the ones fighting instead of the humans.

Their cultivation bases were still suppressed, but if they used the battle drums to fight, they could break through this suppression and even surpass their peak strength to the extent of unleashing terrifying strength that far exceeds what their cultivation base was capable of.

But as to how to accomplish that, it would depend on one’s self to figure it out.

Everyone wasted no time and stepped into the battlefield. They understood that since there was this battlefield prepared for them, it must mean that the next test wanted them to contend against each other. This would be the first test in the Immortal Martial Realm that required them to fight against the other participants and from a certain perspective, this was also a test of absolute fairness.

BOOM!

Somebody used their hands and blasted into the battle drum causing an impassioned battle intent to radiated out, resounding through this battlefield.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

Booming sounds rang out one after another as the various participants were trying to figure out the way how to use the drums for combat.

Qin Wentian’s perception drifted out, after which he blasted a palm strike right at the battle drum in front of him. All of an instant, a thunderous roar reverberated the space as a mysterious energy was summoned from within the drum, which then created a screen of light that enveloped him.

At that moment, an unusual feeling bloomed in Qin Wentian’s heart. It was as though he could merge as one with the battle drum. This battle drum seemed to contain a battle spirit that belonged to solely to itself, born because it wanted to do battle, born because of the warrior that managed to reverberate it.

BOOM!

Qin Wentian sent out another palm strike as that unusual feeling got stronger and stronger.

After three booms, Qin Wentian felt as though he fused together successfully with the battle spirit of the battle drum. As long as he willed it, he could unleash an attack towards any direction using the battle drum as a medium.

BANG!

A fiery palm imprint grabbed towards Qin Wentian. Qin Wentian didn’t lift his head, but his perception could clearly feel everything that was happening around here. On the left, an incomparably fiery palm of destruction slammed towards him. Evidently, there was someone who figured out how to use the battle drums a step earlier then Qin Wentian and activated an attack towards him.

Qin Wentian’s palms slammed mercilessly onto his own battle drum as well. Instantly, a draconic roar thundered out, blasting towards that incomparably fiery palm imprint as sounds of a collision resounded in the air, causing chaotic qi flows born from the impact to appear.

The confrontation had started here, but combat also erupted among the other participants. Instantly, this entire place was transformed into a real battle field as thunderous booming sounds of the battle drums filled the air. Roars of battle spirits could be heard as they radiated an incredibly intense battle intent.

Since there was someone trying to sneak attack him, Qin Wentian naturally wouldn’t be overly courteous. He initiated an attack right at his attacker. His palms turned crimson as he blasted onto the battle drum, manifesting blood-colored palmprints formed from the Bloodcurse Imprint to zoom madly towards his target.

“Hmph,” that person coldly snorted, unwilling to show any weakness as he infused his fiery palms with a heavy destructive might that blasted through all the blood-colored palmprints and continued its way towards Qin Wentian.

“Shattered Void!” Qin Wentian slammed his palms down as an even more overwhelming destructive might gushed forth, dissipating the might of his opponent’s attack. Right now, both his palms twirled about as he blasted them towards the surface of his battle drum, causing two enormous ancient bells to manifest, hurtling towards his opponent as the sounds from the bells reverberated through the air, targeted to pulverise the heart of his opponent.

The Heartbreak Echo was able to explode hearts.

Following the start of combat, the participants were all starting to get more proficient with using the drum as a medium for their attacks. The shockwaves from the combat collisions also became more intense in magnitude. The Heartbreak Echo’s reverberations caused the heart of that opponent to pound. His eyes then flashed with madness and killing intent as he unleashed a barrage of strikes onto the battle drum, causing flame-coated long spears to manifest, shooting forwards with terrifying speed.

However, Qin Wentian didn’t seemed to see the incoming attacks. Demonic qi gushed out in torrential amounts as both his palms rapidly struck out, causing the reverberations from the ancient bells to shake the entire space in this area, focusing and aiming for the heart. The bell chimes echoed throughout his opponent’s mind and an instant later, that opponent suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood as his face turned pale. Heartbreak Echo, when unleashed with the aid of the battle drum as a medium, was even more terrifying than normal. The reverberations could merge together with the booming of the battle drums, causing this attack to be in a perpetual loop, relentless and unceasing, constantly targeting the heart.

Streams of sword qi lacerated outwards, slashing at the flame-coated spears. The humming of ten thousand swords filled the air amidst the booming sounds from the Heartbreak Echo. That person coughed out another mouthful of blood as his battle intent wavered. The battle spirit of his drum was already trembling from the pressure. A moment later, his heart exploded with an explosive boom as the battle drum in front of him shattered into pieces. That person coughed out yet another mouthful of blood; the shattering of a drum meant the death of the user. After which, the mysterious energy in his opponent’s battle drum actually shot towards Qin Wentian’s, adding to the quantity of it.

The light from his drum that enveloped Qin Wentian grew even brighter and when he did a test sending out another attack via the drum, that drum sound was even louder as the magnitude of his attack got even larger.

Not only Qin Wentian. This entire space had already erupted with combat and quite a few people had successfully shattered the drums of others, causing their own battle drum to be infused with even more energy.

This was the plundering of the battle spirits.

Plundering by virtue of destruction.

“Quickly up our attacks and start to plunder the battle spirits of others. If not, the distance between the strength of our group and our opponents would be pulled apart.” Qin Wentian understood the situation and swiftly transmitted his voice to Ye Lingshuang and the others. They all nodded in agreement as their attacks got more ferocious, seeking to strengthen themselves by destroying the drums of the other participants.

Que Cheng from the Violet Thunder Sect, Shi Kuang from the Heaven Crippling Sect and Yin Ting from the Great Earth Sect weren’t in a rush to attack Qin Wentian. After they discovered that they could plunder the battle spirits of others to strengthen themselves, they started to attack others near them in a frenzied manner.

“Go all out and aid me in plundering the spirits,” Que Cheng commanded the experts of the Violet Thunder Sect beside him. They had already formed a formation with Que Cheng in the center. If someone wanted to work alone and plunder the battle spirits, their might in the end would surely lose out to others. There’s only one method to make one level up the fastest, and that’s getting the help of others to supplement one’s battle drum growth. In such a situation, the first one to level up in this battle field, will be an unrivalled and unstoppable existence.

“Aid me,” Yin Ting commanded, evidently he had the same idea as Que Cheng.

Not only them, the alliances of major powers also started to group around with their leading characters in the center as they began to plunder the battle spirits of the other drums. Very swiftly, quite a few had levelled up.

“He already broke through to the second level of Heavenly Dipper despite the suppression effect. The will of Mandate in his attacks also got stronger.” Somebody discovered that Que Cheng had broken through and his attacks were more terrifying than before. The overall might of the Violet Thunder Sect Alliance was increasing as time flowed by.

Those that joined the Violet Thunder Sect were usually people who were proficient with lightning and thunder, and the lightning and thunder attribute techniques almost always placed a strong emphasis on attack. When a number of people proficient in lightning joined forces in a formation, their combined might would naturally be beyond terrifying. Hence, Que Cheng’s strength had already started to pull away from the others.

RUMBLE!

Under the tyrannical might of lightning, yet the battle drum of another participant was shattered as the user died.

“Damn, this can’t go on. Only by aiding only one to plunder would we be able to block them from levelling up,” some of the unaffiliated major powers realised. They weren’t willing to be stepping stones for others to rise up, and hearing the ever-increasing volume of the the jarring booms from the battle drums from those of the Nine Great Sects, all of them understood that they would soon be in danger.

“Wentian, we will aid you to plunder,” Ye Lingshuang spoke.

Qin Wentian was currently duelling with an opponent. Upon hearing Ye Lingshuang’s words, Qin Wentian’s expression shone. Chu Mang also added, “That’s right, if not the distance between us and others would only be lengthened.”

As the sound of his voice faded, a fearsome meteor hammer chopped down mercilessly aiming for Chu Mang. Chu Mang wasn’t flustered, he slammed his palms onto his battle drum as the manifestation of a great axe appeared, slashing towards that meteor hammer. Two streams of invisible force clashed in the air, but after a few moments, the force of the hammer won out and continued towards Chu Mang. The person attacking was obviously the leading character of an alliance, and the might of his attacks was already infinitely close to breaking through to the second level of Heavenly Dipper.

“Right.” Qin Wentian nodded. He then turned his gaze onto Chu Mang’s attacker as a cold light flashed in his eyes.

“All of you act as support for me, I will be the main attacker.” An intense battle intent radiated out from Qin Wentian. The sounds of the drums form a cacophony of discordant booms in the air as Qin Wentian unleashed Heartbreak Echo once more. His attack was like a tempest of wind and rain that swept towards that alliance.

“Okay!” Ye Lingshuang and the others nodded in agreement. They also started their attacks, aiding Qin Wentian in negating the effects from attacks issued by other alliances, allowing Qin Wentian to focus his all on his role.

The air flashed with sparks from the collision of countless attacks. The drum sounds shook the heavens only to see a number of ancient bells appearing as well. The chimes of these bells caused reverberations that formed into a wall of sound, raining down with crushing force on the alliance who attacked Chu Mang, causing their faces all to turn red as a result of resisting Qin Wentian’s attack.

Right now, a number of blood-colored ancient halberds descended from the skies, raining down upon the alliance of seven experts.

RUMBLE!

A nightmarish dreamscape instantly appeared in the minds of that seven experts. They would have been able to resist this intrusion of dreamforce in their normal states, but the Heartbreak Echo had already caused them to summon all the fiber of their beings in defying it. Now with this additional attack from Qin Wentian’s dream will, they could only grit their teeth and bear with the invasion.

The reverberations from the bells continued, joining in with Qin Wentian’s drum sound, akin to a melody of destruction.

The seven experts all coughed out blood, their drums of the weaker ones shattered as all of them died. Only the leading character proved to be more resilient, but he was still killed as an ancient halberd rained from above and impaled his battle drum, causing it to shatter.

The battle spirits all rushed into Qin Wentian’s battle drum one by one, further increasing its power. And at the instant the alliance was destroyed, there was a manifestation of a flaming giant currently dashing towards Ye Lingshuang, wanting to bury her within a sea of flames.

“Sister Lingshuang, be careful!” Qin Wentian shouted as his perception sensed the incoming attack. Ye Lingshuang instantly blasted her palms onto her battle drum causing sword qi to ravage the air. But despite so, she was still slower by a beat. That flaming giant exuded an indomitable might and under the monument pressure, Ye Lingshuang coughed out blood as she hurriedly terminated the connection with her battle drum as a crack appeared there. Although the battle drum didn’t shatter, Ye Lingshuang had already lost control of it. The battle spirit within was forcibly absorbed away by the attacker, wresting the battle drum away from her control.

The remains of the flaming giant metamorphosed into the form of a dragon as it lunged towards Ye Lingshuang. Ye Lingshuang paled, the instructions engraved on the stone tablet clearly stated that one can only uses the drums to battle in this battle field. Those who broke the rules will be sentenced to death.

Staring at the fire dragon helplessly, Ye Lingshuang lifted her palms, preparing to unleash her final attack.

BOOOM!

An incomparably gigantic palm imprint suddenly appeared in the middle of the air, shattering the dragon completely into pieces. Ye Lingshuang’s body was trembling uncontrollably as cold sweat drenched her back. What a narrow escape!

“Sister Lingshuang, come stand behind me,” Qin Wentian called out. Ye Lingshuang nodded, her silhouette flickered as she appeared behind Qin Wentian.

Qin Wentian then shifted his gaze onto the person who sneaked an attack on Ye Lingshuang. Indeed it was none other than Chen Yin from the Great Solar Chen Clan. Although Qin Wentian had a grudge with plenty of people, they weren’t in a rush to attack, but were spending time on plundering the battle spirits instead, opting to raise their strength as fast as possible. Yet this Chen Yin seemed unable to contain himself any longer and decided to attack him right away!