Battle Frenzy

“Hu! Hu!” Heavy gasps sounded. After much trouble, Wang Zhong finally managed to stand upright.

“You are an admirable opponent.” Phumetheus’s voice carried less ridicule and held more respect.

Even though he had complimented Wang Zhong before, it was only due to the circumstance he was in and also partly because he wanted to mock the Earthling. However, Wang Zhong had managed to prove that he did have the power to fight him. “If you were a Solid Core, you might have had a chance to beat me.”

Wang Zhong laughed. He could read the emotions contained in Phumetheus’s voice. The other party was serious, but it was also the seriousness that made him laugh. “Do you believe you have already won?”

Phumetheus closed his mouth, and his eyes narrowed slightly. If Wang Zhong said this previously, he would have thought of it as a joke. But currently, he could feel that Wang Zhong was neither joking nor being arrogant.

Does this guy still have a hidden card up his sleeve?

The thought had just arisen, and the shaky figure in front of him had already changed.

One could only see golden light shining in the veins of Wang Zhong’s body, and immediately afterward, the same golden light appeared on the already dim and weak energy wings. Those golden lights lit up like rune threads on his body and his wings.

Pieces of dried blood clots fell off his body, revealing a layer of new skin that seemed so tender it could break when touched. The big holes in the tattered energy wings were filled with dense golden threads. The golden light quickly covered the surface of his body, and in the end, even the wings turned golden. An aura that was completely different from before radiated from Wang Zhong’s body. The original death aura had disappeared, and replacing it was an aura of vigor!

“Is this guy a chameleon?”

“No matter what, he’s still a Void Core. What use can there be?” Some people were surprised and did not understand what was happening.

Most people believed that one could only have one true form. There were only a few people who could come into contact with advanced information such as the second stage of the true form.

Some didn’t understand, but there were naturally others that did. Faces of many members of the Celestial Honors Class (CHC) started to change, and in the main seat of a stand, Elder Miehill’s face had also changed suddenly.

“Second stage of true form?!”

Almost all the top true forms had a second stage. This was a consensus among the top few powerhouses in the Land. In theory, as long as the potential of a true form was tapped to the extreme, the second stage true form would naturally appear.

But theory was theory. It was simple to say, but there were only a few that managed to do it. This was much more challenging than condensing one’s Gold Core. At least half of the Gold Cores would have managed to uncover their second stage true form. However, for a Solid Core, it was much less likely.

Taking the top geniuses of the CHC as an example, all of them were pursuing the second stage of their true form and hoped to condense their Gold Core in their best state so that they could tap into their full potential. However, in the end, very few could complete it.

This was referring to the Solid Cores in the CHC. Void Cores having a second stage true form? That was unprecedented! In other words, as Void Cores, it was almost impossible for them to come into contact with the concept of the second stage true form, let alone successfully possess it.

Phumetheus’s pupils shrank violently. Wang Zhong was currently like a newly born colorful butterfly that had undergone metamorphosis, and the increase in his spiritual power from his second stage true form was extremely terrifying. It was much more than the increase one would get when one progressed a realm.

At this time, Wang Zhong’s golden wings alone made him feel a strong sense of threat and anxiety! Wang Zhong’s aura and spiritual power were soaring rapidly, even to the point where they were almost equal to his own!

The original heavy breathing was gone. Unleashing the second stage true form and integrating his Draconic Spiritual Power itself was a process of recreating his body and strength. No matter the physical injury or damage to his Void Core, they were all healed after the transformation to his second stage true form.

Every transformation of the true form would allow for rapid recovery of one’s body. This was one of the reasons why Lao Wang was not afraid of injuries. Of course, the more important thing was to be able to adapt. Only through adapting to Phumetheus’s strength was he able to squeeze his potential to a greater extent. Otherwise, if he used this move the moment the match started, the strength and power of it might not reach the current level it had.

Pa!

Wang Zhong flipped his wrist slightly, and the Hidden Dragon Sword flew into his hand like a happy child.

Weng weng weng~~~

A terrifying sword sound that made people’s hearts start palpitating sounded, and the space that was originally extremely stable under Phumetheus’s spiritual power and natural laws were directly trembling under the sword sound.

Phumetheus managed to feel that the vibration was completely different from the one before. Previously, it was only a light sound, but this time, a tremor followed every vibration. It was as if someone was hitting his heart with a sledgehammer, making his heart tremble endlessly. Even his control over his spiritual power seemed to drop, and he almost lost the Liaoyuan Demonic Spear in his hand!

He was being suppressed by a Void Core!

Boom!

Phumetheus was focusing his gaze when his true form suddenly shook. He was about to break the sword attack forcibly, but the other party had already changed to another weird sword technique. The Hidden Dragon Sword slightly shook, and the sword attack changed.

The golden light on Hidden Dragon Sword erupted, and countless sword auras were surging in the air, turning into tens of thousands of golden flying swords. The whole life and death battle arena was densely covered by the swords in an instant, and the sharp swords were all aimed at Phumetheus.

Phumetheus’s face changed drastically. Not only did the opponent become quicker, but his attacks had also become much stronger. Although the condensed golden swords in the sky were not very powerful, there were a huge number of them, and they even combined into a formation. He felt a strong sense of oppression and threat.

How could this be?!

Not even a Gold Core could have such an amount of spiritual energy to support such a large formation of swords. Not to mention, he was only a Void Core…

“Sword Three — Ten Thousand Sword Slash!” Wang Zhong’s cold voice sounded, and the Hidden Dragon Sword shot away towards the direction his left hand pointed to.

Shua Shua Shua…

Thousands of the sword energies in the air rushed towards Phumetheus in an instant, falling towards him like rain! Phumetheus had no time to think about how a mere Void Core managed to condense so many sword auras. Without hesitation, he thrust the Liaoyuan Demonic Spear in front of him, condensing all the spiritual power he had into it.

“Break!” he shouted violently, and a fiery red energy shield that was of the height of half a person directly unfolded in front of him, with the Liaoyuan Demonic Spear as its core.

The storm-like sword energies blasted against the shield wildly, and only a series of dangdangdang sounds could be heard. The strings of surging sword energy were forcibly blocked by the spear shield, with the residual sword energy rebounding everywhere.

For a moment, it felt like the battle had reached a stalemate.

Everyone around the life and death arena was dumbfounded. At the start, they thought lowly of Wang Zhong. However, seeing the progress of this fight, they started to change their perspective towards Earthlings and felt they were of an acceptable standard after watching Wang Zhong being able to fight back and forth with Phumetheus.

But now, Wang Zhong was evenly matched with Phumetheus?!

This was simply unimaginable.

A Void Core having the ability to contend with Phumetheus, a genius Solid Core powerhouse! And what if he could go further?

More than likely, he would become another king-level Gold Core in the Land! This was someone on the same rank and power as people such as Superintendent Erza, Elder Yimo, etc. They were far superior to ordinary Gold Core powerhouses. Just one of them would be enough to support the existence of half a level-8 civilization! Even in a level-8 civilization, not even one might appear within an era! There were no more than a dozen king-level Gold Cores in the Heavenly Gates in the Land, and this was only through the slow accumulation of tens of thousands of races in the Land after many eras. After all, Gold Cores were said to live eternally and had a long lifespan…

Everyone couldn’t help but gawk at the main stage. At this time, let alone Elder Miehill, even Superintendent Erza could not calm down. If Wang Zhong had reached such a level, or perhaps if he could even win today, then she would have to think about how to appease Wang Zhong’s dissatisfaction with the Heavenly Shell Race’s arrangements. He had far exceeded the previous evaluation of him by the clan. If he could cultivate to become a Gold Core, he might become an important key to the victory against the Fire Demon Race.

Ding, ding, ding, ding…

The series of sword energies in the arena were endless. Wang Zhong’s sword energies never seemed to end, as if they could regenerate naturally. The speed of condensation of the swords even exceeded the speed they were being destroyed. The longer the battle, the more sword energies there were. What was more terrifying was that Wang Zhong, who was on the opposite side, seemed to be completely relaxed; the continuous condensation of sword energies did not seem to take any toll on him!

Phumetheus understood that this was a special characteristic of the sword move. It incorporated the law of self-replication. Otherwise, Wang Zhong’s power consumption would be much greater than that of his defense. It would then be impossible for him to last for such a long time. Not only that, what made Phumetheus most uncomfortable was that the opponent’s spiritual power had a domineering and aggressive spirit that seemed to crush everything. It felt as if he was two levels higher than him. This was the scariest part.

The spear shield that should have been able to last for a long time now felt like it was going to melt away like ice. With a roar, more of Phumetheus’s spiritual energy poured in. When comparing one’s spiritual power level, his was much higher than Wang Zhong’s.

This should be impossible…

Impossible…

Wang Zhong’s mind was concentrated on the Hidden Dragon Sword. He felt a sense of unity with the sword. After using the Draconic Spiritual Power, it felt as if he was brought to a whole new world. Even the pride of the Fire Demon Race was being suppressed by himself.

Sword One!

A golden light that seemed to pierce through both time and space flashed by, and Phumetheus’s spiritual power, which was increasing non-stop, was shockingly stopped.

CRACK!

A crack appeared on his spear shield. Following this, a series of ka ka ka sounds could be heard, and the cracks started spreading over the entire spear shield. Phumetheus’s face instantly turned pale, and the whole world seemed to have stopped at this moment, allowing him to feel tranquility before his collapse.

He had never thought that he would be defeated by a mere Void Core, let alone in such a high profile match. If only he had gone all out from the beginning…

It was a pity that there was no such thing as “what if”. Remorse and resentment had arisen in Phumetheus’s mind, but the spear shield had already shattered.

Boom!

The Liaoyuan Demonic Spear could no longer hold on, and it was blown away. The endless sword energies were no longer being blocked by the spear shield and thus rushed over like a wave, completely submerging Phumetheus in an instant…

The terrifying wave of sword energies blasted against Phumetheus for 20 to 30 seconds, and when the endless sword energies in the sky were finally exhausted, Wang Zhong retracted his sword and stood upright at where he was.

The ground of the life and death arena was already full of holes, and the extremely sturdy gold ground was densely covered with small holes, leaving pits that looked like honeycombs.

Phumetheus was bloody and limp on the ground. His left arm had been completely cut off, and there was hardly any intact skin on his body. His four-meter-high Heavenly Demon God True Form had also dissipated, returning him to his original “human” size. Air could only be seen coming out from his nose, with none going in.

Lost? Phumetheus was defeated by the Earthling who was merely a Void Core?

The audience was dead silent, and countless people were dumbfounded.

Who would have imagined that Phumetheus, who had just completed a historic-level Celestial Honors Assignment and was highly looked upon, would fall this way in the Life and Death Arena? This was a battle of life and death, not a practice match. Losing meant death!

Was the Fire Demon Race going to lose a future leader just like this?

Countless people’s eyes were focused on Wang Zhong. Everyone had thought that he would just have a small role in the background. Yet, he had suddenly become the winner in this life and death match! He could decide whether Phumetheus lived or died.

“Earthling!” Elder Miehill stood up fiercely, the coldness in his eyes seemed to envelop Wang Zhong who was in the life and death arena. Phumetheus’s failure was of course unacceptable to the Fire Demon Race as he had lost face for them. But if Phumetheus lost his life here today, the Fire Demon Race would have lost much more than just their face.

The aura of a peak Gold Core extended from Elder Miehill, enveloping the entire space and making people feel that the originally clear sky seemed to be suddenly covered with dark clouds! He wanted to create pressure on Wang Zhong, scaring him from killing Phumetheus!

But before Elder Miehill’s aura could reach Wang Zhong, an aura much stronger than his suddenly appeared, easily suppressing him.

“Elder Miehill.” Superintendent Erza’s face was filled with that smile of hers. It couldn’t be helped. She was trying her best to hide the happiness in her heart. Wang Zhong’s performance was too surprising. The Heavenly Shell Race had, unfortunately, not done their best to help Wang Zhong from having to enter the life and death arena before. This must have created a grudge with the other party. Now that there was a chance to remedy their mistakes, if they did not show their sincerity, they were afraid they would push Wang Zhong to the side of the enemy. “It’s been a long time since you came back to the Heavenly Gates. Has Elder Miehill already forgotten about the rules here?”

Elder Miehill’s face was blue from being suppressed so easily by Superintendent Erza. The spiritual pressure was too strong, and it even felt stronger than rumored! Although Erza was still very young, she was hailed as the strongest king-level Gold Core of the Heavenly Shell Race in the past millennium. Many people had not taken it seriously before and thought she was too young, including Elder Miehill. But now it seemed that he was not a match for her even in his heyday, not to mention now when he had yet to recover from his injury.

“Wang Zhong.” Supervisor Erza suppressed Elder Miehill and said directly to Wang Zhong in the arena, “You are the winner of this battle. Do not care about what others think. There are rules on the Life and Death Arena. No one can decide how you deal with Phumetheus. The life or death of Phumetheus entirely lies on you.”

Jhonas was so excited that he was going crazy. If not for the scene being too quiet and Superintendent Erza was still talking, he would have already started screaming in excitement. Even Celeste next to him could not help but cover her mouth.

The scene was quiet. A few minutes ago, Phumetheus was still very energetic, and Wang Zhong was still the prey in everyone’s eyes. However, in just a few minutes, he had already reversed his role and became the hunter. The prey was Phumetheus instead.

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on Wang Zhong’s face, waiting for him to announce the verdict as the winner of the Life and Death Arena.

This was not just a simple execution. Even the blind could see the terrifying potential and future of Wang Zhong. If the Heavenly Shell Race managed to bring him under their wings and helped him to advance smoothly, he could be the key that determined the outcome of the two civilizations’ conflict with each other.

It could be said that even before the skirmishing between the two major level-8 civilizations, the Heavenly Shell Race had already gained the upper hand, right from the beginning. This made many representatives from the level-6 and level-7 civilizations who were still neutral lean towards the side of the Heavenly Shell Race.