Deathmatch

Although prepared, hearing Long Chen's voice left them shocked; Long Chen was actually issuing a life-or-death challenge to a Peak Middle Stage Yi Jin Realm expert.

This was no ordinary challenge; unless one side refused to fight, once accepted, one of the two must die.

A cold sneer appeared on Wu Qi's face. While he felt Long Chen was strong, in his heart, he had never looked upon Long Chen with any regard.

If not for the academy rules, he would have killed Long Chen long ago. Unexpectedly, Long Chen had now delivered himself to his doorstep, and he couldn't help but sneer inwardly.

"Long Chen, you must think this through. Once this life-or-death challenge is issued, one side must perish; it cannot be treated as a game. If you have any grievances or have received unfair treatment, you may appeal to me," Ling Yunzi said solemnly.

According to the branch academy's rules, life-or-death challenges should prioritize reconciliation; only if reconciliation is impossible can the challenge begin.

On one hand, understanding the flashpoint of the conflict allows for perfecting the academy's rules, because unless there is an irreconcilable deep hatred, no one would initiate a life-or-death challenge.

On the other hand, Ling Yunzi was also worried. Although Long Chen was an anomaly of the heavens and earth, according to legend, such people only die under the Heavenly Dao, not at the hands of ordinary people.

But that was just a legend. Anomalies of the heavens and earth might not appear for tens of thousands of years, and even if they did, basically no one would know.

Only when those people trigger the World-Extinguishing Divine Punishment do people realize they are anomalies of the heavens and earth.

However, in history, there are records of only two or three such anomalies, and because of the long passage of time, they are very vague.

No one understands the specific situation, and legends cannot be fully trusted. Although Long Chen is very powerful, facing a Peak Middle Stage Yi Jin Realm expert, he will undoubtedly lose.

Therefore, Ling Yunzi pointed out that if there were any grievances, he could appeal to him; if there was truly any unfair behavior involving malpractice, he would uphold justice for Long Chen.

"Reporting to the Sect Leader, the situation is like this…" Tang Waner hurriedly stepped forward, about to explain the full story.

Long Chen waved his hand and said, "Sect Leader, in this world where strength is respected, there is no such thing as fair or unfair."

"The so-called unfairness is merely a slogan for the weak, only reflecting one's own incompetence and stupidity."

"Since there is no fairness in this world, let us speak with strength. I ask the Sect Leader to grant this."

"Long Chen!"

Tang Waner's expression changed. Clearly, they had the right on their side, yet Long Chen would not argue and still insisted on issuing the life-or-death challenge.

One had to know that Wu Qi was a Peak Middle Stage Yi Jin Realm expert. Even if Long Chen were stronger, he would definitely not be his match; this was a path to death.

Tang Waner felt aggrieved. Sometimes Long Chen was so smart he felt like a sage, but when he was stubborn, even ten cows couldn't pull him back.

"Guild Leader, you don't need to persuade him. I understand Boss; he wants to take revenge himself. He doesn't want to use the academy's power to deal with Wu Qi," Guo Ran said.

Having followed Long Chen for such a long time, Guo Ran understood Long Chen's personality very well. Long Chen did not get angry easily, but once he did, it meant the matter had touched his reverse scale.

Furthermore, both sides had responsibility in this matter. First, Little Snow was not Long Chen's pet because it had not been planted with a Soul imprint, so it could not be judged as Long Chen's private Demonic Beast.

Wu Qi could also insist that he discovered a Demonic Beast in the wild and wanted to tame it as a mount.

For an ownerless Demonic Beast, anyone has the right to tame it as a mount; even killing it would be no problem.

If Long Chen said this Demonic Beast was his, Wu Qi would say, "I didn't know it was yours. First, there are no markings on Little Snow, so it cannot be proven to be a Demonic Beast raised by someone else."

"Second, Little Snow's Soul is complete and has not been branded. Based on these two points alone, he has an absolutely solid reason."

Even the Sect Leader could not catch him on any fault. Wu Qi saw this point, which is why he dared to act so unscrupulously.

With Long Chen's wisdom, how could he not see that Wu Qi was relying on this? It was impossible to get revenge this way, so Long Chen couldn't be bothered to argue and still defiantly issued the life-or-death challenge.

Tu Fang's expression changed slightly. He could also see that if Long Chen went up against Wu Qi, there was absolutely no hope of survival.

But the academy's rules could not be changed even by the Sect Leader. He could only worry secretly. This Long Chen was truly too stubborn and didn't know how to retreat at all! Tu Fang could only sigh helplessly.

"You must think this through. Once the challenge is initiated, it cannot be changed," Ling Yunzi reminded him again.

"Thank you for the reminder, Sect Leader. This Disciple has made up his mind." Long Chen bowed to Ling Yunzi, knowing he was well-intentioned, but he had to do this.

Seeing Little Snow's miserable state made him feel like his lungs were about to explode. He felt that if he couldn't kill Wu Qi, living was simply a disgrace.

Although facing a Peak Middle Stage Yi Jin Realm expert, he had no confidence at all, but he could no longer care about that much.

This time it wasn't the will in his mind acting up, but his own desire; no one could hurt his family without paying the price.

"Wu Qi, what do you say? Do you accept?" Ling Yunzi looked at Wu Qi indifferently.

Wu Qi immediately felt that his little schemes were all exposed before Ling Yunzi, as if Ling Yunzi's gaze could see through all his thoughts, making Wu Qi break out in a sweat.

"This Disciple… accepts the challenge," Wu Qi said with his head lowered; he didn't dare to look into Ling Yunzi's eyes.

If Wu Qi didn't dare to fight, he would be expelled from the branch academy; this was also the cruel part of the life-or-death challenge.

Accepting meant a fifty-fifty chance of death; refusing meant getting kicked out immediately. This was why, under normal circumstances, reconciliation was prioritized, because no matter the result, the branch academy would lose a Disciple.

Seeing Wu Qi accept, the whole place was silent, and hearts began to sink. This was a very unfair decisive battle.

But this battle was initiated by Long Chen, which made everyone feel a bit indignant. As newcomers, whoever stood in Long Chen's position would feel endless humiliation.

But even if they were Long Chen, they would choose to endure, not like Long Chen, who knew it couldn't be violated yet still initiated a life-or-death challenge.

This looked very stupid, but such a stupid thing was not something everyone had the qualification or courage to do.

"Alright, follow me."

Ling Yunzi sighed, waved his hand, and everyone's body shook. Before their eyes blurred, they appeared in an open space at the back of the branch academy.

This open space was hundreds of miles in radius and desolate all around. In the center of the open space was a giant iron cage, and inside the iron cage was a giant stone.

The giant stone was square, reaching a hundred zhang in height. It was actually a single piece, and no one knew why it was locked in the iron cage.

"This is the Deathmatch Platform."

Tu Fang sighed and said, knowing that things had evolved to this point, there was no room for turning back.

He reached out and took out a Spirit Stone, gently placing it on a stone tablet in front of the Deathmatch Platform. There was a groove on the stone tablet that could just fit a Spirit Stone.

When the Spirit Stone was placed into the groove, the patterns on the stone tablet lit up, and suddenly the earth began to shake violently, startling everyone.

People were horrified to find that the giant stone in the iron cage was slowly rising. No one knew how heavy that giant stone was, but it could shake the earth for a hundred miles, showing its weight was extremely terrifying.

After the giant stone rose more than ten zhang, it revealed a circular arena a hundred zhang in radius below it. People were shocked to find some strange things on the arena. It looked like a picture.

"It's two people."

Someone let out a cry of surprise, seeing that the shape of the picture was two people, but they had been pressed into meat patties.

People couldn't help but be shocked. They didn't expect that there were dead people inside. Looking at the giant stone that was a hundred zhang thick, people instantly understood how they had died, and for a moment, they couldn't help but feel their scalps tingle.

"Whoosh."

Suddenly a mountain wind blew, and the picture immediately disappeared. Because too many years had passed, both of them had already turned to ashes. A gust of wind blew, and the arena returned to its original flatness.

The arena was restored, but everyone felt their scalps tingle. No wonder it was called the Deathmatch Platform; it was too terrifying.

"The time for the Deathmatch Platform to be open is one hour. If you cannot kill the other person within one hour, the Life-Severing Stone will fall."

"You have all seen this Life-Severing Stone. Its weight, let alone you, even if an Elder-level expert were pressed underneath it, they would undoubtedly die. So you need to kill the other person before the time runs out, otherwise, you will end up like the two people before," Tu Fang said in a deep voice.

"Clang."

The iron gate on the arena opened. The hundred-zhang radius arena was surrounded by countless iron pillars as thick as an arm. At this moment, the iron gate opened, just like a terrifying Vicious Beast opening its mouth, making people feel their hearts tremble.

Long Chen nodded to Tang Waner and the others, gave a reassuring gesture, and walked calmly into the Deathmatch Platform.

"Little Savage, this brother of yours is not bad. He has guts; he suits this old man's taste," that old man looked at Long Chen, his eyes flashing with a touch of appreciation.

"However, aren't you worried about him?"

"Why worry? My Brother Long is peerless and powerful; no one can defeat him," A Man shook his head. Regarding Long Chen, he had a near-blind self-confidence.

Among all the people present, A Man was the only one who didn't worry about Long Chen. In his impression, Long Chen was an undefeated War God.

Even if Long Chen dueled with Ling Yunzi, he would think Long Chen could win. This was A Man's single-minded way of thinking.

That old man couldn't help but shake his head. With his vision, he could naturally see Long Chen's cultivation, reaching the Peak of Blood Condensation, with surging Qi and blood in his Physical Body, and very powerful combat strength.

However, Long Chen's Physical Body was still far behind A Man's. The beast tooth in his hand, although not bad, was not a real weapon, and its power was not strong.

So Long Chen had basically no chance of winning against Wu Qi. In his prediction, if Long Chen could stay alive and drag it out until the Life-Severing Stone fell, it would already be considered a victory.

"If he can come out alive, this old man will personally craft a weapon tailored for him," that old man muttered to himself.

"Old man, then you should go back first," A Man said.

"Why?"

"My Brother Long is bound to win. If you go to craft it now, you can save a lot of time. Aren't you just wasting effort by standing here?" A Man said with his eyes wide, taking it for granted.

That old man was amused by A Man, but he knew this kid's temper, so he didn't argue with him and stared at the Deathmatch Platform. At this time, Wu Qi also went in.

"Click."

When Wu Qi entered the Deathmatch Platform, the stone gate closed immediately. A groove on the Life-Severing Stone lit up, and people were horrified to find that the Life-Severing Stone began to fall slowly.

The life-or-death battle had begun.