traitor

Hum!

The space trembled, and waves of Qi surged straight into the sky. A terrifying pressure swept across all directions. At this moment, Long Chen was like an ancient beast undergoing an Awakening, his ferocity monstrous.

The flame blade in Long Chen's hand, which had originally been only a few meters long, suddenly surged to over fifty meters. It was like a heavenly blade descending from the heavens, slashing down toward the two of them.

"Boom!"

Qi Xin and Lei Qianshang were instantly sent flying in a sorry state, like rolling gourds. They flew over a hundred meters before finally coming to a stop.

The surrounding people were startled by Long Chen's strike. Seeing Qi Xin and Lei Qianshang rolling away in such a pathetic state, they were left dumbfounded.

Elder Sun, who was standing on the hillside, stood up involuntarily. His eyes flashed with a sharp light, staring fixedly at Long Chen.

Even Ling Yunzi couldn't help but be moved: "What a powerful battle skill! To be able to instantly increase energy by dozens of times—his aura now is almost comparable to the Yijin Realm."

Tu Fang was also startled. The combat power Long Chen had just unleashed was dozens of times greater than before. How could such a terrifying battle skill exist in this world?

After knocking the two of them away with a single strike, Long Chen thought to himself that time was running out and he had to end this quickly.

Taking a step forward, he charged toward the two, his flame blade slashing down fiercely.

Lei Qianshang and Qi Xin were shocked, and at the same time, their anger flared up. As two experts of the Yijin Realm and also Core Disciples, they had actually been reduced to such a sorry state.

They had been careless just now, intending to humiliate Long Chen like a cat playing with a mouse. They hadn't expected Long Chen to possess such powerful strength, and they dared not be careless again.

The two of them let out a simultaneous shout, fully unleashing the aura belonging to Yijin Realm experts. Their giant blades surged as they charged toward Long Chen.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The giant blades collided crazily. The ground shattered, rock fragments flew everywhere, and the surrounding people were forced to retreat frantically from the shockwaves.

At this moment, Long Chen was like a war god possessed, actually managing to forcefully block the attacks of Qi Xin and Lei Qianshang.

This won't do; time is almost up.

Long Chen felt the Spiritual Qi within his Fengfu Star rapidly diminishing. In just a few breaths' time, it would be completely exhausted.

"I'll risk it all!"

Long Chen gritted his teeth and raised his flame blade high. All the power within his Fengfu Star surged out and poured into the blade.

The flame blade immediately surged violently, the runes upon it becoming increasingly distinct, as if a blue blade of heaven-opening power had been slashed down.

"Heaven-Opening!"

Lei Qianshang and Qi Xin's expressions changed. They recognized this move; it was the exact strike Long Chen had used to defeat Gui Sha.

Now that Long Chen was using it again, it was even more terrifying than last time. Their hearts turned cold, and they hurriedly unleashed all their power without holding anything back.

"Water Arrow Penetrating Heaven!"

"Thunder Blade Piercing the Void!"

Both of them used their ultimate techniques. The three rays of light collided in the air, and a terrifying force erupted. Everyone nearby was sent flying, and those close by were knocked unconscious directly from the shock.

As the wave of energy struck, Long Chen had no strength left to resist and was sent flying. Lei Qianshang and Qi Xin fared no better, being buried alive by a massive amount of soil.

Long Chen panted frantically. The flame blade in his hand had disappeared, his divine ring was gone, and his Spiritual Qi was nearly exhausted.

He looked up at the stick of incense, seeing that it was about to burn to the end. It was only a tiny bit left now.

"Protect the flag bearer!"

Long Chen suddenly shouted. Seeing someone creeping toward Guo Ran in the distance, he immediately warned loudly. At this moment, there were only twenty-something people left around Guo Ran who could still stand.

Hearing Long Chen's shout, they hurriedly surrounded Guo Ran, desperately fending off the surrounding people in a suicidal attack.

"Go to hell!"

Just as Long Chen finished his warning, a sharp pain suddenly struck his back, and he was sent flying. At the same time, Lei Qianshang's curse reached his ears.

"Pfft!"

Long Chen in mid-air spat out a mouthful of blood. Without Spiritual Qi to protect his body, his internal organs had suffered a violent shock and were beginning to rupture.

Falling to the ground, Long Chen coughed up two more mouthfuls of blood, but he had no time to tend to his injuries as he looked toward Guo Ran and the others.

He hoped everyone could hold on for a few more breaths of time; victory was imminent. Long Chen's heart was gripped with anxiety—this concerned everyone's future.

Qi Xin looked at Long Chen coldly and sneered: "Long Chen, do you remember? I said I would make you regret coming into this world. Now, the retaliation is here. Do it!"

Hearing Qi Xin's shout, Long Chen's expression suddenly changed drastically, and he roared: "Guo Ran, watch out!"

Guo Ran heard Long Chen's warning immediately. Just as he was about to react, a sharp pain suddenly struck his back as he suffered a heavy blow, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.

Guo Ran discovered that the person who attacked him was actually someone who had been protecting him all along, and he couldn't help but be furious: "You…"

But before he could speak, he received another heavy blow to his right ribs, and the sound of bone fracturing reached his ears, setting one's teeth on edge.

Suddenly, Guo Ran felt a lightness on his back; the flag tube he had been carrying was actually snatched away. Guo Ran was overcome with anxiety. Ignoring his pain, he clung tightly to the flag tube, wanting to snatch it back, for it concerned everyone's future.

Furthermore, he had promised Long Chen that even if he died, he would protect the flag tube well. Guo Ran held onto the arrow tube tightly and wouldn't let go.

"Bastard, let go!"

That person pulled hard twice, but still couldn't break free. The other two were furious and kicked Guo Ran's arm fiercely.

"Crack!"

The sound of bone cracking rang out, and Guo Ran's arms broke immediately, yet Guo Ran still didn't let go.

"Bang!"

The person kicked Guo Ran in the chest, and Guo Ran spat out another mouthful of blood, his entire body flying backward.

The people around him had been frantically fending off attacks from the outside and didn't know what had happened behind them. By the time they realized it, that person had already taken the flag out of the flag tube and thrown it into the distance.

Someone from Gu Yang's faction over there had long been prepared, directly catching the flag and inserting it into the flag tube of the person beside him.

"Dang!"

At this moment, the incense ash burned out, the bell rang, and the tournament ended.

All fighting stopped instantly. Tang Waner looked at Guo Ran lying on the ground, and then at the cold indifference on the faces of the three traitors, feeling as if the world had changed color.

"Long Chen, I said I would make you wish you were dead. Do you believe me now? Hahaha!" Qi Xin's arrogant laughter echoed throughout the arena.

The same situation was not only happening on Tang Waner's side; a tragedy had also unfolded on Ye Zhiqiu's side, where the betrayal of two Disciples had given the flag away to others.

Long Chen walked slowly to Tang Waner's side. Seeing the look of misery on her face, he couldn't help but feel a pang of pain in his heart.

"Long Chen."

Tang Waner embraced Long Chen and burst into tears, feeling incredibly aggrieved: "Why is this? Why on earth is it like this?"

She had treated everyone with sincerity and had never expected that anyone would betray her. This was more heartbreaking than losing the competition; it was as if someone had stabbed her in the heart.

"Tang Waner, how about it? I'll give you a chance now; join an Alliance with me." Watching Tang Waner holding Long Chen and weeping, Gu Yang couldn't help but feel secret anger, and he spoke in a deep voice.

Long Chen glanced coldly at Gu Yang: "Gu Yang, what you have inflicted upon me today, I will return it to you a hundredfold."

Gently patting Tang Waner, Long Chen walked slowly toward the three people. Those three had joined the Heaven and Earth Society later on, and were also those whom Tang Waner and Guo Ran had personally recruited back then.

Tang Waner was filled with regret, hating herself for being blind and unable to judge people. If Long Chen had been there, he definitely wouldn't have let them infiltrate. The more she thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt.

"Sorry, Long Chen, we are just serving different masters. Who told you to be so unappreciative?"

One of them smiled slightly. Although he said he was sorry, everyone could see that he didn't feel the slightest bit of remorse.

Tu Fang stood up, his face full of anger: "This is too much! How could such people actually be accepted into the Xuantian Branch? I must have been blind."

The "such people" Tu Fang referred to did not just mean those three, but also those who were pulling the strings behind the scenes.

What was supposed to be a fair and open competition had actually turned into a contest of underhanded tricks, which completely went against the original intention of the tournament.

"Trash won't walk into the trash can by itself, so why get so angry?" Ling Yunzi took a gentle sip of tea and said indifferently.

"Sect Leader, do you mean to just let it be?" Tu Fang said somewhat unnaturally, clearly a bit annoyed.

"Hehe, Tu Fang, you are quite old now, how can you still not see through this? Trash won't walk into the trash can by itself; otherwise, what would cleaners be for?" Ling Yunzi laughed.

"You mean…" Tu Fang was stunned.

"Be calm. Usually, you are responsible for cleaning up this trash. This time, take a break, watch the show, come on, let's keep drinking tea!"

Ling Yunzi gently picked up his teacup, his eyes looking toward Long Chen in the distance, a glimmer of golden light appearing deep in his gaze.

If the legend is true, he will do that.

Long Chen ignored that person's words and walked slowly to Guo Ran's side. Now, Guo Ran had multiple fractures on his body, and his aura was extremely chaotic.

It could be said that Guo Ran felt very stifled; being ambushed by people around him, he had absolutely no defense and had been tricked.

"Boss, I'm sorry to you. I deserve to die; I didn't complete the mission you entrusted to me," Guo Ran couldn't help but cry.

"Good brother, you did very well. This matter is not your fault," Long Chen comforted him softly.

Guo Ran had indeed done very well. Although Guo Ran seemed a bit slippery on the surface, deep down, he was a true man who kept his promises.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have held onto the flag tube tightly no matter how they beat him. At that time, there was nothing in his mind except the flag tube, the glory and future of everyone; he didn't even care about his own life.

"Boss, if I were a bit stronger, if I were a bit smarter, it wouldn't have ended up like this. I deserve to die…" Guo Ran cried out in remorse, just like a child.

"Slap!"

Long Chen lightly struck the back of Guo Ran's head with one hand and stuffed a healing pill into his mouth, letting him fall into a deep sleep for a while. Otherwise, such a blow would be unfavorable to his spirit and might possibly affect his Dao Heart.

Putting Guo Ran down, Long Chen walked slowly to the front of those three people, looking at them coldly.

The three of them had sneers on their faces. One of them tilted his head and said: "What, not convinced? You can come back and get your revenge next time. But I don't think you'll have that chance. You will forever be trampled under my feet, never to rise again. Hahaha…"

"Pfft…"