Chapter 764: Battle Against a Half-Step Fourth-Grade Sovereign

In just a few brief exchanges, Lance King was gravely wounded and forced to retreat.

As he fell back bleeding, time itself seemed to freeze over the battlefield.

No one had expected this outcome—not even those on the Domain of Chaos’s side.

Lance King’s reputation echoed not just through the Heaven-Earth Sect, but across the Domain of Chaos as well.

Though the Crimson Slaughter King was infamous in his own right, most had believed this clash would at least rival the earlier duel between Sleep Monarch and Demon Sorrow Sovereign in ferocity.

Instead, the final result left them all stunned.

“How…?” Mu Honglian whispered, staring at Lance King’s injured form in disbelief.

Lin Langtian also gazed upward.

The heavy-armed figure of the Crimson Slaughter King still hung there in the sky, suffocating killing intent rolling off him in waves.

During his exchange with Lance King, the full extent of his strength had been laid bare.

Seventh-Grade Sovereign.

The Crimson Slaughter King had advanced to the level of the elders.

Lance King, though first among the Nine Kings, remained only at peak Sixth-Grade—a single step below.

But that one step was a gulf like a chasm.

And because of it, the Heaven-Earth Sect lost the second bout.

“Hehe, we really did get lucky this time,” the Blazing Fist Gate Master said with a narrow-eyed smile.

The Grand Elder’s eyes turned frosty.

He retrieved the unconscious Lance King, passing him back to be treated, then looked up at the unmoving Qian Tian on the golden throne.

“One win, one loss,” the Sect Master murmured, his eyes narrowing slightly before a cold chuckle slipped out. “It seems the Domain of Chaos has made their preparations.”

“Hehe, you’re being unfair, Senior Brother,” Huang Kurong replied with an easy smile. “The Domain of Chaos is weaker than the Heaven-Earth Sect to begin with. This is just them doing everything they can.”

With an Earth Sovereign of the Earth Desolation Hall sitting behind them, the Domain of Chaos leaders no longer feared Qian Tian as they once had.

The Blazing Fist Gate Master laughed.

“Sect Master Qian, the first two duels are tied.

“If you’d like to withdraw now, we can skip the third.”

One win, one loss.

The final match had become the decisive one.

They had chosen their final fighter carefully—Song Zang, the quietest of their commanders, yet the one whose strength even Liu Xuanjian could not dismiss.

Many believed that even among the commanders of the Heaven-Earth Continent as a whole, Song Zang would rank far from ordinary.

By contrast, the Heaven-Earth Sect had fielded a newcomer.

Though Lin Langtian had made waves recently, the gap in seniority and reputation was still there.

The Domain of Chaos was confident.

Even if Song Zang failed to win outright, as long as he did not lose, they could declare a moral victory.

For if the former overlord of the continent marched out in force, brandishing their banner in such a grand fashion, only to slink away without a decisive triumph, the entire Heaven-Earth Continent would mock them.

On the Heaven-Earth side, countless eyes turned toward Lin Langtian.

No one had imagined that the duel they’d assumed unimportant would become the lynchpin of everything.

Fate’s twists were hard to predict.

Faced with a storm of skeptical gazes, Lin Langtian remained unruffled.

He merely lifted his head and met the Sect Master’s eyes.

Whether he fought or not would still depend on that man alone.

The air grew still as every gaze followed Qian Tian’s.

The Sect Master studied Lin Langtian, a faint shadow of doubt flickering behind the golden glow.

Then his eyes flared.

An invisible pressure fell upon Lin Langtian, merging with the very weight of heaven and earth.

It pressed down like a sacred judgment.

But though the force felt as heavy as a mountain, Lin Langtian’s expression did not change.

He had once been Heavenly Ancestor.

Compared to the tides he had weathered in that life, this was far from enough to shake him.

Even in the face of an Earth Sovereign’s will, he looked as calm as a still lake in the eye of a storm.

Noting his unshaken gaze, Qian Tian blinked.

The bearing radiating from this young commander stirred a rare flicker of surprise in him.

“Thunder in the chest, yet the face remains as calm as a quiet lake,” he said with a soft laugh. “Such a one may well be made a great general.

“This third match holds the Heaven-Earth Sect’s honor in its hands, Lin Langtian.

“Do you have confidence?”

“I will give everything I have,” Lin Langtian replied with a calm bow.

For the sect, for himself, and for the Dragon Kun Realm quota, he would not hold back.

This was a battle delivered to his doorstep.

There was no reason to refuse.

“Good.”

Qian Tian smiled. “Then the third match is yours.”

The Heaven-Earth experts exchanged looks.

It seemed the Sect Master had no intention of changing his choice.

All they could do now was wait and see whether this new commander could truly live up to that trust.

“Do your best, Langtian!” Mu Honglian called, small fists clenched.

Whatever the result, she would stand behind him.

Lin Langtian nodded, about to move when he felt a familiar gaze on him.

He looked up.

Jiang Yinlan’s eyes were fixed on him, full of worry.

He smiled at her lightly, said nothing, and then his figure flashed upward.

He appeared between the two armies, suspended high above as both sides watched.

“The third match,” he said calmly, hands clasped behind his back. “Shall we begin?”

His green robe fluttered in the wind as his indifferent voice rolled through the air.

The Domain of Chaos side erupted in a low stir.

There was suspicion there, of course—but also a hint of admiration.

No one had expected a mere new commander of the Heaven-Earth Sect to stand so calmly at the center of this storm, facing a field of experts without the slightest sign of retreat.

Whatever else might be said of him, his composure was undeniable.

“He’s supposed to be from a lower plane, right? Seems he was quite the figure there too,” someone muttered. “His bearing doesn’t fall short of the three great leaders of the Domain of Chaos.”

“Yeah. Let’s just hope he’s not all shine and no steel.”

“We’ll see. He doesn’t look like someone who built his reputation on air.”

Even within the Heaven-Earth ranks, many nodded.

Regardless of what they’d thought before, he had at least carried their flag well in this moment.

Lin Langtian ignored the whispers below.

Even as the focus of two great factions, he stood as steady as ever.

He had faced the Otherworldly Demon Emperor’s army once before without flinching.

This was far from the worst he’d seen.

On the Domain of Chaos’s side, Song Zang finally raised his head.

He studied Lin Langtian’s form in silence.

There was no contempt on his face—only a deep, measured calm.

He had climbed to this point step by step, not by underestimating his opponents.

And Lin Langtian gave him a distinctly dangerous feeling.

His instincts had saved his life more times than he could count.

He had learned never to ignore them.

“Song Zang, everything rides on you now,” the Blazing Fist Gate Master said gravely.

Song Zang nodded once.

He said nothing more as he stepped lightly forward, his body blurring before he reappeared opposite Lin Langtian.

“Song Zang, commander of Black Demon Sect, Domain of Chaos,” he said, his voice echoing through the sky.

Lin Langtian inclined his head slightly, eyes steady.

“To be chosen by the Sect Master as a half-step Third-Grade, you must indeed be more than you seem,” Song Zang said quietly. “I look forward to your guidance.”

With that, he stopped talking and stamped a foot.

The space behind him rippled as his Sovereign Sea loomed into view, its vast waves of spiritual power surging outward.

The sheer pressure rolling off him had already surpassed the peak of Third-Grade Sovereign.

In truth, Song Zang had one foot in the Fourth-Grade realm.

Given time, he would almost certainly complete the breakthrough.

Among the Heaven-Earth ranks, faces darkened.

Dong Kui and Luo Lin both wore grave expressions.

Their own power had reached the Third-Grade, but next to Song Zang, they felt painfully outmatched.

If they’d been chosen for this match, they would have stood little chance of victory.

“Half a step into Fourth-Grade…” Lin Langtian narrowed his eyes.

Of all the commanders he had faced, this one was undoubtedly the strongest.

Golden light burst from his skin.

Twin dragon horns appeared on his forehead, and vast kun wings unfurled from his back.

His Dragon Kun Body had been pushed to its absolute peak.

His gaze turned icy.

He stepped once—and vanished.

Song Zang’s pupils trembled, then his hand flashed through a seal as he struck behind him.

Power rolled through his arm like a tide.

Boom!

Space tore open behind him as a sinuous dragon-kun shadow lunged forth, twisting into Lin Langtian’s figure mid-strike.

His fist streaked toward Song Zang’s skull like a thunderbolt.

Song Zang’s counter met it perfectly.

Their fists crashed together.

Bang!

The shockwave roared out.

Lin Langtian’s body shook as he was blasted back, boots skidding through the air before he stamped down to halt himself.

A sharp numbness crawled up his arm.

Song Zang, by contrast, had retreated only a few steps.

Not even Dragon Kun Body and a surprise spatial strike had cracked his guard.

“With only half-step Third-Grade strength, you can still tear space in close combat,” Song Zang remarked. “You are… impressive.”

Lin Langtian’s face remained inscrutable.

Song Zang gave a low chuckle.

“But it won’t be enough.”

He swept his sleeve out.

His spiritual power surged again, pouring skyward like a storm.

He rose higher, extending one palm toward Lin Langtian.

Strange lines of light began to glow in his hand, forming the outline of a tombstone.

Boom!

Spiritual power erupted from his palm.

It gathered into a gigantic hand pressing down from above, a crushing palm of pure power.

A single tombstone sigil blazed in its center, radiating a force that seemed capable of pinning mountains in place.

“Burial Monument!”

At Song Zang’s quiet shout, the hand descended.

The looming shadow left Lin Langtian with nowhere to run.

His eyes flashed cold.

A column of demonic flame roared up from around him, coalescing into a massive flaming pillar.

He swung his arm and smashed it into the descending palm.

Bang, bang!

The battlefield shook under the storm of colliding energies.

The pillar buckled, cracking as it was driven toward the earth.

Song Zang still held the advantage in raw force.

Lin Langtian’s brows drew together.

He swept his sleeve again.

A wave of demonic ice surged up to join the flames, solidifying into a colossal ice pillar that struck alongside the fire.

The twin pillars flared with dark light, unleashing a torrent of freezing cold and raging heat.

With a deafening crack, they punched clean through the tombstone palm, shattering its surface and blowing it apart.

As the technique collapsed, the pillars themselves disintegrated in turn, grinding themselves to powder against the backlash.

Lin Langtian’s expression did not shift.

This man was formidable.

That level of power would have killed many a Third-Grade Sovereign outright.

On the Heaven-Earth side, hearts pounded.

Dong Kui and Luo Lin’s faces had gone slightly pale.

If they had been the ones standing there, the Burial Monument would already have crushed them.

Now all eyes turned back to Lin Langtian.

“Let’s see,” someone whispered, hardly daring to breathe.

“How will he answer that next?”

(END CHAPTER)