Chapter 1001: Will You Sell the Substitute Lotus Seed?

Normally, to defeat him, the first thing you must do is withstand his sword. Only after blocking his full-force strike is there a chance to win. I have to say... this Red-Crowned Crane King's obsession with the sword might even surpass that of the Sword Saint Demon Emperor himself. Without a doubt, even if he fails to reach the top three in this Battle for the Throne, he is destined to inherit the title of Sword Saint Demon Emperor in the future. Judging by the power he just unleashed, once the throne is vacated, there's hardly any question he will take it. The Red-Crowned Crane clan has a worthy future leader.

The Sword Saint Demon Emperor was standing on the platform reserved for Emperors, halfway up Council Mountain. At the moment the world changed color, a rare smile appeared on his face.

Once Zixuan comprehends the Judgment Sword, his future achievements will definitely surpass my own.

The Red-Crowned Crane King, Qiu Zixuan, had secluded himself on Sword Saint Sacred Mountain for thirty years, where he comprehended the World-Sundering Sword. He had only recently emerged. When he did, the sky itself changed color, shocking the entire Ancestral Court. That was what had earned him the fifth seed ranking. And he fully lived up to that rank; his very first match stunned the court.

Qiu Zixuan had now returned to the VIP pavilion and taken his seat.

Though he only ranked fifth, even those seeded above him now looked grim. Because in the second round, the draw wouldn't protect the seeds from facing each other. Could they withstand the World-Sundering Sword of the Red-Crowned Crane King? If they could, they might win. If not, they'd die. Could they take that chance?

It was a headache. Nearly all the contestants, even the most powerful ones, now felt troubled.

Just then, a divine consciousness transmission reached Tang San's ears.

"Clan Leader Jin, will you sell me the Substitute Lotus Seed? I'll pay double."

The voice was, unmistakably, Ning Chen'en's.

Tang San was momentarily stunned, but then he understood. Ning Chen'en wanted to use the Substitute Lotus Seed to deal with the World-Sundering Sword!

Tang San gave a wry smile.

"Brother Ning, do you really think the Substitute Lotus Seed can let you live after being hit by that strike? You'd better think about how to defend against it more directly. That sword has already begun to incorporate the fundamental laws of nature. If he strikes with full killing intent, I doubt even the Nirvana Rebirth of the Immortal Flame Phoenixes could allow them to survive that thing. The problem is that it directly severs divine consciousness. Even if your body can be rebuilt with the Substitute Lotus Seed, if your divine consciousness is completely severed, you'll wake up dead."

Ning Chen'en fell silent. After quite a while, his voice came again. "

Thank you for your advice, Brother Jin. I was wrong."

Tang San sighed inwardly.

This guy's terrified, isn't he? If he really ends up facing the World-Sundering Sword with that attitude, there's no way he'll win.

Ning Chen'en undoubtedly had the strongest defense of all people here, apart from the Emperors. The combined toughness of the Adamant Nymph Emperor's direct bloodline and the Golden Mammoth bloodline was no joke. Yet he still came asking to buy the Substitute Lotus Seed from Tang San. That clearly meant he had no confidence in his own defense!

Tang San actually believed that while the World-Sundering Sword was indeed incredibly powerful, cutting through Ning Chen'en's defenses wouldn't be easy; it would likely be difficult for the crane to deliver a killing blow. But the terrifying part was that the sword didn't just cut flesh; it cut divine consciousness. If the body survived but the spirit was destroyed, the target was dead all the same. That was why Tang San had warned him.

In another VIP pavilion, Mei Gongzi's expression was equally grave. That World-Sundering Sword had triggered a deep sense of danger within her. Could she counter it with the Asura Sword? She asked herself, but her answer left her disappointed. She knew she couldn't concentrate all her power into a single strike the way Qiu Zixuan had. And in the face of such a sword, evasion was impossible. One could only clash head-on.

Her once-unwavering belief in certain victory was shaken in that moment.

This alone showed just how terrifying Qiu Zixuan's World-Sundering Sword truly was.

"The third pair of contestants, please come to the platform." The clear voice of the Rainbowglaze Nymph Emperor sounded once again outside.

What followed was that... the second match had been so shocking that even by the time the third one concluded, everyone was still too preoccupied to fully focus on it.

The third match itself held little suspense. Competing were the Scorching King, Nan Kemeng, and the leader of the Golden-Winged Great Roc clan, Lu Pengkun[1]

Their battle was actually quite spectacular, with gigantic crimson sunflowers unleashing waves of blazing fire pillars, while Lu Pengkun displayed incredible flight speed and sharpness. However, the difference in power was too great.

Scorching King Nan Kemeng had grown even stronger since Tang San encountered him back at the Firedawn clan. Under the boost of his domain, the nearly endless Sunfire beams blanketed the entire arena. Though Lu Pengkun was as fast as anyone could physically be, he couldn't get past the overlapping flames. In less than fifteen minutes, he conceded.

Flying was allowed in battle, but not beyond the height of Council Mountain. Yet the Scorching King's flames reached even above those heights, making escape impossible even for a Golden Roc.

Among the ten seeded contestants, the Blue Gold Tree clan's Grand Elder had ranked this Scorching King tenth based on various intel and battle records. Naturally, he had been selected as an official seed from the beginning.

All these rankings were carefully determined by the Grand Elder using all the information that was publicly known about the contestants. Whether any of them had hidden their true strength, and how much of it they had hidden, was another matter entirely.

In the following matches, no more seeded players appeared, but the battles remained fierce. Contestants used every trick available. The brutal clashes left the arena so heavily damaged that after each bout, it needed full repairs. When the destruction was particularly severe, the earth-attribute Golden Mammoth Demon Emperor had to personally intervene to restore the arena in time for the next match.

Mutual destruction became common. Besides the first fight between the Golden Wolf and Golden Leopard Kings, where even the winner was eliminated due to injuries, two more matches ended the same way. With evenly matched opponents, the battles pushed both sides to their limits. The losers were near death, while the winners were severely injured, unable to recover in just one day. Unless, of course, they had a Blue Gold Fruit of the Great Demon King level—the very reason Tang San had sold them for such astronomical prices. They could be absolute game-changers.

Although the female contestants weren't competing today, none had left. They stayed to observe. They would only face the male contestants when the final six remained, but even so, they needed to gauge the strength of the male competitors.

At last, it was time for the battle between numbers thirty-three and thirty-four.

In the resting room, the Blue Gold Tree elders had grown visibly tense. After witnessing so many brutal matches, they now felt extremely anxious.

The Grand Eder opened his mouth as if to speak, but in the end, said nothing. Jin Miaosen, on the other hand, couldn't hold back.

"Big Brother, if it's impossible, just concede. There's no shame in the Blue Gold Tree clan admitting defeat."

Tang San looked at her helplessly and said, "So all I said after the first match was for nothing?"

Jin Miaosen chuckled sheepishly. "Not at all. It's just that strength isn't built in a day. Our Blue Gold Tree clan isn't going to become powerful overnight. Let's be realistic. Safety first. You're the pillar of our clan. It's because of you that we even have a chance to rise. So no matter what, you must come back safe. Winning or losing doesn't matter, does it? We're here mostly just to participate anyway, right?"

1. If you think this sounds a lot like

kunpeng

, that's because it's the same word, but with the characters switched. The clan's name is actually "golden-winged

dapeng

(大鹏)," but we decided to go with Great Roc instead. This novel is hardly Chinese-themed apart from character names, and the word

peng

(鹏) is in fact often rendered as "roc" due to its similarity with its Middle-Eastern counterpart. ☜