Chapter 1296: I’ve Disliked You Since The Beginning

“Oh, fine. I guess it’s time for me to step up!”

It was at this moment Li Qingping took a step forward. When he did so, the sun and moon suddenly winked out, and the stars shifted here and there. At the same time, a river of fate that spanned the nine firmaments manifested in the sky.

Two men slowly surfaced from the river of fate. One man wore a white robe that was purer than snow. He rode a black donkey in reverse and carried a plum blossom branch in his hand. He looked beautiful and romantic.

The other man wore a robe as dark as the night and stood on top of a divine dragon. He wielded a sword with starlight as the handle and the sun and moon as the blade. He looked mysterious and cold.

Both men’s faces looked similar to Li Qingping, though their aura were many times stronger.

“Sa... Sages?!”

Everyone was wearing a stunned expression. It was because the black and white men in the sky were Sages.

It was questionable whether they were alive or real, but there was no doubt that they were Sages.

In short, Li Qingping had summoned two Sages as his

opening move

. Was this the true strength of the champion of the Earth Champions Ranking?

Hell yeah! This is more like it!

Still, isn’t it a bit

too much

to summon two Sages to beat up a spent Ye Qing?

“Dao Friends...”

Li Qingping saluted to the two Sages first before pointing a finger at Ye Qing. “Please beat him up for me!”

“As you command, Dao Friend!”

The two Sages returned the salute before dashing straight toward Ye Qing.

Things went exactly as everyone imagined. Realistically, there was nothing Ye Qing could do against two Sages even if he was perfectly healthy. Naturally, they utterly wiped the floor with him.

It was like watching two brawny men beating up a child.

Li Qingping called out again, “Make sure you don’t kill him, Dao Friends! I just want him beat up!”

Everyone: “...”

I had no idea you’re this kind of person, champion! It takes but one cut to end Ye Qing’s life, but you choose to humiliate him instead! Don’t you think it’s too much?!

It wasn’t long before the crowd realized that something was strange, however. The two Sages were definitely beating the shit out of Ye Qing, but every time they landed a blow, Ye Qing’s energies would grow denser, and his eyes brighter.

The hell? What is this, an S&M play?

Not only that, every time Yue Wanfa, Haotian Chengxing and Xuanyuan De tried to kill Ye Qing, the two Sages would quietly neutralize the attacks on his behalf. It made no sense whatsoever.

“No, wait a second. The Mad Lord’s aura... it’s different now!”

A moment later, some of the crowd recognized that something had changed again. It was because Ye Qing’s aura had become incredibly profound as if it was merging with this corner of the world; as if it was forming a connection with the Great Way and fate itself.

What was the saying again? The profound beyond profound was the gate of all profoundness!

“Is he... breaking through?”

“Is the Mad Lord... planning to become a Half-Sage?!”

“I get it now! The reason the Mad Lord set up the heroes’ arena and challenged everyone is to facilitate his breakthrough through their strength!”

“Haha... What a man! What a man!”

Countless people cried out in astonishment.

“We cannot allow him to become a Half-Sage. Imperial Princum Chengxing, Young Lord Xuanyuan, the Earthly Sovereign Bell is one of the inheritances of the three sovereigns. It can fall into either one of our hands as it would just be another competition between the three sovereigns, but it is a different story if it falls into the hands of an outsider! Do you agree?”

Even the crowd realized that Ye Qing was making a breakthrough, much less Yue Wanfa, Haotian Chengxing and Xuanyuan De. That was why the blood was draining away from their faces. Ye Qing was hard enough to deal with at the Great Grandmaster stage. If he was allowed to become a Half-Sage, then they would lose their last shot at killing him and taking the Earthly Sovereign Bell.

Yue Wanfa didn’t know about his peers, but there was no way he would allow this to happen no matter what.

“Aid me, Imperial Princum Chengxing, Young Lord Xuanyuan! Let us slay this cur together!”

Yue Wanfa yelled again while performing a hand seal, “Unbounded heaven and earth, borrowing laws from qian and kun, I request that the immense power of gods and demons be imbued within me...”

Yue Wanfa made a pressing motion, and an invisible yet consuming vortex suddenly appeared at the center of the battlefield.

“M-My true qi! My true qi is vanishing!”

“I’m losing spiritual power too!”

“My stamina is fading from me!”

After the vortex appeared, everyone on the Unbounded Platform, no, the entire East Radiance Mountain suddenly found themselves rapidly losing vigor, true qi, astral qi, and spiritual power. Everyone was weakening by the second.

On the other hand, Yue Wanfa’s presence was growing increasingly intense and vast. In just the span of a few breaths, he had surpassed the level of a Half-Sage and become almost as strong as a Sage.

Haotian Chengxing and Xuanyuan De exchanged a glance with each other. They nodded.

Haotian Chengxing wiped her forehead and caused a crack to take form. Behind the crack was a space that felt as vast and infinite as the universe itself.

The next moment, the infinite universe slowly became erect. It was no universe. It was a mirror.

The mirror was vast and boundless, infinite and immeasurable. Even the so-called infinite universe was just a part of the mirror.

“I humbly request the Clear Sky Mirror to grant me the stars’ immense power. I humbly request the power to subjugate the evils and restore justice to the heavens.”

As Haotian Chengxing chanted, the stars shook violently in the sky. Then, a ray of golden light descended from the mirror and landed on Haotian Chengxing.

Haotain Chengxing had been fairly exhausted from all the fighting, but the light instantly rejuvenated her and granted her immense power. For a time, it was as if she was the one true sovereign above the heavens and below the earth.

Compared to Yue Wanfa or Haotian Chengxing, Xuanyuan De’s gesture was a lot simpler. He simply bowed his head three times to the east, and an endless amount of purple qi immediately flooded in from that direction. It entered his body and made him as strong as Yue Wanfa and Haotian Chengxing.

Now that they were ready, Yue Wanfa, Haotian Chengxing and Xuanyuan De attacked Ye Qing at once.

“Hahaha... Did you ask for permission before you act?”

However, something unexpected happened. Yuan Zhantian, Bai Huaxian and Hei Qihe abruptly stopped fighting against Ye Qing and charged Yue Wanfa, Haotian Chengxing and Xuanyuan De instead.

“What is the meaning of this?” Yue Wanfa exploded.

“What does it look like? We’re kicking your ass, of course!” Yuan Zhantian laughed boisterously while throwing a devastating punch at Yue Wanfa.

“The three of you covet the Earthly Sovereign Bell too?!” Yue Wanfa yelled.

“Spit! Why would I care about a whatchamacallit bell?” Yuan Zhantian snorted. “I just don’t like you, that’s all.”

“The Earthly Sovereign Bell is a treasure that impacts all of humanity! How can you be so narrow-minded as to give succor to the enemy?” Xuanyuan De rebuked him with a deep frown.

“So it’s ‘doing good to humanity’ if the Earthly Sovereign Bell falls into your hands, but ‘giving succor to the enemy’ if it’s in anyone else, is it?” Yuan Zhantian taunted while fighting against Yue Wanfa. It was clear that, despite Yue Wanfa’s boost in power, the Earthly Sovereign Hall successor wasn’t really able to pressure Yuan Zhantian.

“You spoke my mind, Brother Yuan.”

Mei Qihe rushed Xuanyuan De while playing his qin. “There is none I dislike more than hypocritical people like these.”

Bai Huaxian and Haotian Chengxing did not even bother to debate with each other. They simply said, “Fight!” and clashed against one another.

Suddenly, the joint attack had turned into a series of duels. The situation on the Unbounded Platform was chaotic to say the least.

The crowd was cheering and clapping their hands though. Since the beginning, Yue Wanfa, Xuanyuan De, and Haotian Chengxing’s arrogance had irked them greatly. If they were strong enough, they would’ve entered the battlefield and given them a good walloping as well.

Besides that, they finally understood why Li Qingping, Bai Huaxian, Mei Qihe and Yuan Zhantian had, despite their pride and dignity, chosen to attack Ye Qing together.

As it turned out, they weren’t gunning for the Earthly Sovereign Bell. They were really helping Ye Qing in making his breakthrough!

This was how a top ten genius of the Earth Champions Ranking should act!

The cheering was louder than ever before.