Extreme Spirit Chaos Technique

Chapter 386: Chapter 378: Xuanling Empire vs. Flame Dragon Empire

"Caesar Empire! Next!"

When Elder Bai shouted twice to no response, he repeated himself. However, there was still no reaction from the Caesar Empire’s Void Seats.

Everyone looked over, only to find the Caesar Empire’s other contestants staring at Guo Zijie in absolute terror. Guo Zijie himself had collapsed onto a Void Seat, gasping for breath. His face was so swollen his features were unrecognizable, yet it was still etched with palpable fear as the medical team frantically treated him at his side.

"Caesar Empire! Is anyone else going to fight?"

"Fight?"

The contestants from the Caesar Empire finally snapped out of their stupor. The remaining five all looked down toward Mu Chen. At that moment, Mu Chen was also looking up at them with a warm smile, revealing a flash of pearly white teeth.

At the sight of this smile, the five remaining members of the Caesar Empire all shuddered. They turned to look at Guo Zijie, who was still bruised and swollen even after the medical team’s healing, then exchanged a glance and shook their heads in unison.

"We forfeit!"

’Fight? What a joke! That guy down there is a complete madman! How can such a monster exist? It’s one thing that he’s strong. It’s another that he beats people up without even using Primordial Power. And it’s yet another that his smile is like a Demon’s. But he only hits the face, and he did it for an entire hour! A battle like that isn’t just humiliating, it’s crushing to your self-esteem! Even the strongest among us, Guo Zijie, was beaten so badly his own mother wouldn’t recognize him. Fight? Fight my ass!’

"We forfeit!!"

Imagining their fate might be the same as Guo Zijie’s, and fearing that Elder Bai might not have heard them, the men shouted again in unison. Their voices thundered across the entire Peak of the Holy Mark.

Normally, if an empire announced its forfeiture so loudly, it would have been met with scorn and mockery. But now, not a single empire present laughed at the Caesar Empire. They were all thinking the same thing: ’If we were the ones facing the Xuanling Empire right now, would the result be any different?’ The answer was a resounding no. Nothing would change. They would also forfeit without a moment’s hesitation.

At this moment, when everyone looked at the Xuanling Empire, the reverence in their eyes was gone, replaced by fear—complete and utter fear. The feeling was incredibly satisfying for everyone from the Xuanling Empire. More satisfying than they had ever felt before.

Di Cang’s face was flushed, unable to hide the joy bubbling up from deep within. When he looked at Mu Chen now, he no longer saw a junior. Instead, his gaze held respect. You read that right: the respect of a powerful Martial Venerable for a master of the Martial Sect realm.

"Hahaha! What a Xuanling Empire! What a Mu Chen! Beautifully done!" From the seats for special empires, Long Yuan threw back his head and boomed with laughter, his great, red-bearded mouth wide open. His mood was every bit as ecstatic as that of the Xuanling Empire’s delegation. Although the Flame Dragon Dynasty was one of the Four Great Dynasties, with national power on par with the other three, it invariably brought up the rear in this imperial competition. It was an eternal, unchanging fact.

It was a matter of the Dynasty’s reputation. While the Flame Dragon Dynasty was powerful on the grand scale, this narrow failure implied that they had no talent worthy of the great stage. Having been suppressed for so long, Long Yuan, a man of the Fire Attribute, could only swallow his pride and endure. He had endured for decades. Even a man of his fortitude had moments where he could barely control his temper. But now, a massive dark horse had emerged right under his nose. And this dark horse wasn’t some High-class Empire, but a Low-level Lower Empire he had never even heard of! The effect of this contrast was more satisfying than landing a heavy slap across the faces of the other three dynasties.

"Now my Flame Dragon Dynasty will have two empires entering Holy Tomb Mountain! Haha, this feels great! Truly great!"

Long Yuan’s unrestrained gloating finally angered the recently defeated Sacas. He glared at Long Yuan and growled, "Long Yuan, this is the arena on the Peak of the Holy Mark. You’d do well to show some restraint!"

Long Yuan grinned. "Now, Sacas, you’re being a little unreasonable. When the imperial tournament was held in my Flame Dragon Dynasty, you gloated and mocked me plenty. Now that my Flame Dragon Dynasty has knocked off your ’eternal first place,’ you won’t let me return the favor? That’s not very sporting of you!"

"Hmph!"

Sacas could only respond with a cold snort. Long Yuan wasn’t wrong in the slightest; in fact, he was even sparing his feelings. Sacas recalled how, when the tournament was held in the Flame Dragon Dynasty, he had viciously humiliated them on the spot. More than that, he had been outrageously cocky. He had no leg to stand on now.

"Mu Ya, this Xuanling Empire... after we get back, you must reward them handsomely. Double the rewards! No, triple them! Dammit, they’ve really done us proud!"

"My Emperor, isn’t tripling the reward a bit much?" Red Wood Cliff said with a wry smile. "According to the tournament’s reward system, any empire that raises its Empire Level by one tier receives two National Guardian Elders at the Emperor Realm. If they advance an entire major Empire Level, the reward is two National Guardian Elders at the Venerable Realm. Advancing two major levels would mean four Venerable Realm Elders. In theory, rising from a Low-level Lower Empire to an Upper High-level Empire is a jump of only two major levels and nine small realms."

"But the Xuanling Empire is different. The true hierarchy of empires isn’t just High, Middle, and Low. Above them all, there is the Peak Empire. Each dynasty only has one such empire. However, by defeating the Caesar Empire, Xuanling has now been classified as a Peak Empire. That is a leap of three major levels."

"The standard reward should be eighteen Emperor Realm Elders and six Venerable Realm Elders! An force of that size would be enough to match a High-class Empire. However, considering the magnitude of Xuanling Empire’s contribution, such a reward seems almost paltry. Doubling it is already pushing the absolute limit! As it stands, the Flame Dragon Empire itself only has fifteen Venerable Realm Elders and thirty Emperor Realm Elders—and, of course, a Grand Elder of the Saint Realm."

"If we triple the reward, wouldn’t the Xuanling Empire... end up with three more Venerable Realm Elders than our own Flame Empire?! The number of Emperor Realm Elders would be even more terrifying—a full fifty-four! If they were to become an independent power, who besides the Flame Dragon Empire itself could possibly contend with them?!"

So, Red Wood Cliff laid out his concerns to Long Yuan. Hearing this, Long Yuan realized he had been rash. He gave a self-deprecating laugh. "I got a bit too excited. Let’s revise that..."

"Hmm..." After a moment of thought, Long Yuan said, "Alright, how about this: we will dispatch fifteen Venerable Realm Elders, the same number as the Flame Dragon Empire. As for Emperor Realm Elders, we’ll send thirty-five. Since the Xuanling Empire has no Saint Realm Elder, we can consider the extra five Emperor Realm Elders compensation for that."

Red Wood Cliff found this very reasonable. After all, a single Saint Realm Elder would be more than enough to completely dominate the Xuanling Empire. He nodded. "A wise decision, My Emperor. This old servant will see to it immediately upon our return."

Down by the arena, upon receiving confirmation of the Caesar Empire’s forfeiture, Elder Bai immediately announced the Xuanling Empire’s victory. With that, Xuanling had earned the right to enter Holy Tomb Mountain!

With this, the wager between Dilaka and Shan Qiuhen was settled. The Caesar Empire had plummeted from its long-held first-place position to the very bottom. The following matches would be the ranking battles among the four Peak Empires: the Flame Dragon Empire of the Flame Dragon Dynasty, led by Red Wood Cliff; the Dunhuang Empire of the Luowei Empire, led by Kristen; the Celestial Gift Empire of the Ice Emperor Dynasty, led by Ao Sha; and the greatest dark horse to rise through the ranks, the Xuanling Empire of the Flame Dragon Dynasty, led by Di Cang!

With only four empires remaining, there was no need for a drawing. After Elder Bai touched the Random Crystal with his Primordial Power, the pairings for the final battles were revealed.

"Excellent!" Elder Bai declared, putting away the Random Crystal. "The next two matches are as follows!"

"Flame Dragon Empire versus Xuanling Empire!"

"Dunhuang Empire versus Celestial Gift Empire!"

"These two matches will not be held one after the other. They will proceed simultaneously! And to allow the empires to unleash their full power, the next battlefield will be... there!"

As he finished speaking, Elder Bai gestured to Dilaka. Dilaka saw the signal and gave a slight nod. A terrifying amount of Primordial Power began to suffuse his massive hands as he spread them to his sides, and the entire Peak of the Holy Mark began to tremble violently.

The Void Seats began to descend, finally landing with a thunderous boom upon the arena area of the Peak of the Holy Mark. No, to be more precise, they landed where the arenas *used* to be. Elder Bai had already sealed the individual stages over with his Earth Attribute Elemental Power. Now, the surface of the Peak of the Holy Mark was a single, vast, circular plane, and the Void Seats settled perfectly upon it.

Meanwhile, in the sky where the Void Seats had just been floating, a fluorescent light cascaded down, enveloping the entire area they had once occupied like a glowing canopy.

"The battlefield for the next matches... is the entire sky! There are no boundaries and no time limits! You will fight until one side surrenders or is rendered unable to continue!"