Runes covered all of Gu Yang’s body, light flowing through them. His aura had exploded, and Long Chen felt as if he were being stared at by a wild beast.

There was no need to doubt Gu Yang’s strength. But that arrogant will that came from the depths of his soul would not permit him to retreat even half a step. It wouldn’t let him even think about retreating.

Despite knowing that he wasn’t a match for him, even if he were to die under his hands, he wouldn’t be permitted to retreat. That caused Long Chen to grumble inside.

He knew he couldn’t beat him, and yet he wasn’t permitted to run. Just how silly was that kind of behavior? But he knew that if he were to force himself to retreat, his Dao-heart would suffer a setback. Perhaps, that single setback would lead to ruin, forming a heart-devil.

Since he knew he couldn’t retreat, then he would risk it all. Taking a deep breath, his FengFu Star suddenly became still. He was about to summon the FengFu Battle Armor.

“Galewind Slash!” Suddenly, a huge wind blade slammed down at Gu Yang.

Gu Yang let out a smothered shout and was directly sent flying by that terrifying wind blade. That wind blade overflowed with power and cut a huge scar into the land.

A graceful figure appeared in front of Long Chen. With her hair and clothes fluttering in the breeze, the current Tang Wan-er really did look like a goddess.

“Give Gu Yang to me. You go protect everyone else. As long as we endure for a bit longer, we’ll win.”

Focusing on Gu Yang, she clapped her hands together and a wave of spiritual qi surged out of her. Wind blades filled the air around Tang Wan-er.

Those quickly revolving wind blades were like hundreds of flying flowers cutting apart space. At the same time, a longsword appeared in her hands.

That was a longsword formed from her wind blades. That terrifying wind energy caused the space around the longsword to constantly warp.

The runes atop the longsword shone brightly as if they had been bestowed with life. A continuous roar came from it, overflowing with battle intent.

That was the current Tang Wan-er’s peak state. She was truly like a beautiful battle goddess as she stood there.

Long Chen nodded; handing Gu Yang to her was the best option. Of everyone present, only Tang Wan-er had the qualifications to fight against Gu Yang on an even level. He rushed back towards their faction.

Gu Yang looked at Tang Wan-er. “You really refuse to join hands with me?”

Tang Wan-er didn’t reply, merely staring at him icily. The wind blades around her body spun quicker, ready to attack at any moment.

Gu Yang snorted, “Since you fail to appreciate my kindness, don’t blame me for being merciless.”

The runes covering his body once more lit up brightly. A faint gold light appeared over his fists as he punched at her.

The wind blade in her hand hacked down, smashing onto that fist, causing a heaven-shaking explosion.

The ground beneath their feet immediately cracked into pieces. Both parties were sent flying back, but while being blown back, Tang Wan-er also shouted out.

“Wind Pierce!” The wind blades around her body all merged together, forming an arrow that shot at Gu Yang. It reached him in just the blink of an eye.

Gu Yang was startled and instinctively punched out, smashing that huge arrow into pieces.

The arrow did break into pieces. But it didn’t explode; instead, it split into countless smaller wind blades.

Once those wind blades separated, they were immediately like bees attracted to honey, slashing down on Gu Yang. An ordinary person would be directly cut into pieces of meat by those thousands of wind blades.

Gu Yang was also given a great fright, not expecting Tang Wan-er’s attack to be so flexible. Furthermore, Tang Wan-er’s wind blades were incredibly powerful. Even he was unable to let them cut down on him.

“Vajra protecting the body!” Gu Yang roared and raised his fists to block. The light from his body suddenly soared, making him shine like the sun. Those countless wind blades were immediately disintegrated by that light.

Ling Yunzi smiled in the distance. “This Gu Yang really is powerful. For him to have awakened his ancestral mark two years ago, his talent really is not bad.”

Tu Fang nodded, “Gu Yang is definitely powerful, and his talent is exceptional. His body coincidentally meets all the requirements of his ancestral bloodline. However, his talent itself isn’t higher than Tang Wan-er’s. Tang Wan-er is merely suffering because she has just awakened her ancestral mark and still can’t use the ancestral mark properly.”

“Who do you think is stronger?” Ling Yunzi lightly sipped his tea.

“At the present moment, Gu Yang is a bit stronger. But half a year later they might be even, and within one year, Tang Wan-er will definitely surpass him,” Tu Fang confidently predicted.

Ling Yunzi also nodded, “One year from now is also coincidentally the opening of the Jiuli secret realm. This group of children arrived at just the right time to enter it.”

Tu Fang smiled somewhat bitterly. “The Jiuli secret realm is said to have come from ancient times. It opens once every hundred years, and the opportunities within are limitless. But at that time, both the Righteous and Corrupt paths’ disciples will all enter. That’s definitely a desperate struggle. I wonder just how many people will die inside.”

“Danger and opportunity exist together. What expert’s path is easy? Fighting against the Corrupt path is absolutely necessary. For all the commoners trying to live under the heavens, the only option is to massacre them.” Ling Yunzi watched those fighting disciples as he said that. “Ah, it seems a good show is about to start.”

Tang Wan-er and Gu Yang were fighting fiercely, fists and blades constantly colliding, huge gales blowing out. However, Ling Yunzi’s gaze wasn’t on them, but on Long Chen.

Long Chen had only just returned to his faction and saw that they were practically all fighting, with enemies coming from every direction. It was obvious that they would be focused on considering that they had the most flags.

“Turn the triangle formation into a circular formation. Protect the flag inside. Whoever passes through will be beaten to death by me.”

Long Chen let out a loud shout, sending the people in front of him flying with a single kick. Currently, the people around them were like the tide trying to surge over them. They urgently needed his help.

Otherwise, if this formation was broken through, all their flags would be stolen. Then, they would really have fought for nothing.

Long Chen saw that Ye Zhiqiu’s side was also being focused on by two powerful factions. They were already at a disadvantage and couldn’t afford to send any help over.

But what relieved him a bit was that although they were fighting many people, everyone really was protecting Guo Ran very well. They were like an iron shield and for a moment, they still weren’t in danger.

They had all had the advantage of the high grade Tendon Firming Pill. Their combat strength should be quite a bit higher than their opponents. Even if their opponents flooded over them, they would still be able to endure.

After all, this wasn’t a true life and death battle. No one dared to attack with their greatest strength. They could only try to knock down their opponents. That allowed them to endure for even longer.

Seeing that there was only half a foot of the incense stick remaining, he estimated that there was not even a quarter hour before it was finished. As long as they could persevere through that time, they would win.

“Long Chen, die!” Suddenly, a loud roar rang out and a chilling cold wind attacked him.

Long Chen instinctively raised his flame blade, slashing it in the direction of the voice.

A strange sound rang out as Long Chen's flame blade collided with a water blade. Steam filled the air.

“Qi Xin!” Only now did Long Chen clearly see who had come to attack him.

“Long Chen, I said I’d make you regret ever being born in this world. You’ll soon learn what suffering feels like.” A sinister smile appeared on Qi Xin’s face.

Brandishing his flame blade, Long Chen sneered, “You are unable to teach me that.”

“Hehe, you’ll understand soon. When that time comes, don’t kill yourself in regret. That would be too boring.” Qi Xin laughed darkly, the water blade in his hand slashing down on Long Chen. Blocking it once more, steam filled the air.

“It’s a bit troublesome…” Long Chen’s expression changed slightly. Water subdued fire. Long Chen’s flame blade was oppressed by his water blade and was unable to release its full strength.

That didn’t mean that his flame blade wasn’t strong, but simply that his cultivation base wasn’t high enough and he was unable to fully release the might of the blue flame.

If he also advanced to the Tendon Transformation realm, although he wouldn’t dare look down on Qi Xin’s water blade, he definitely wouldn’t be hindered so greatly.

“Hmph, let me see how long you can last.”

Spiritual qi flowed from his hand into his water blade, causing it to become much larger, at least thirty meters long. He slashed it down on Long Chen.

He wants to fight me with spiritual qi, sneered Long Chen. With the support of his divine ring, he had no need to fear that. Increasing his spiritual qi as well, he began to crazily fight with Qi Xin.

As water and fire continuously collided, steam filled the entire air. Qi waves surged out as both parties began a fight of attrition.

“Qi Xin, you still haven’t handled that trash? Then let me give you hand.” Lei Qianshang suddenly also appeared, a huge thunderforce blade appearing in his hands.

Long Chen was alarmed, quickly taking a step back. Looking around, his expression changed. Three armies were crazily attacking his faction, attempting to break through.

With those three armies’ attacks, their iron-like defense was also starting to fail. Occasionally, one of their members would be knocked unconscious, unable to fight any further.

“Everyone stand firm! Time is almost up!” shouted Long Chen. That was because he saw the incense stick was only a couple of inches tall now. The Faction Competition was about to end. At this moment, they had to continue persevering.

“Maybe you should focus on yourself!” Lei Qianshang sneered and attacked him. Qi Xin also wasn’t slower, his water blade slashing down on Long Chen.

Two Tendon Transformation core disciples had joined hands to defeat Long Chen. That slightly surprised Ling Yunzi.

“This isn’t exactly fair. Joining hands to attack others is a bit contrary to our original intentions,” frowned Tu Fang.

Ling Yunzi smiled slightly. “It doesn’t matter whether it is fair or not. Experts will never let such a word leave their mouths.

“Crying for fairness is always the helpless chant of weaklings. Experts can make everything unfair. If they wanted to, they could trample over weaklings with the most barbaric and rough methods.

“Let us see just how Long Chen will handle this unfairness. If my guess isn’t wrong, he still has something to fall back on.”

Tu Fang looked silently at Long Chen. How could a rookie at the seventh Heavenstage of Blood Condensation contend against two Tendon Transformation core disciples?

So what if he was a Divergent? In the face of strength, he could only lower his head. Tu Fang sighed helplessly.

Just at this moment, Long Chen’s eyes closed. All of heaven and earth seemed to have faded away from him, entering a state of complete silence.

“FengFu Battle Armor!”

When he once more opened his eyes, a star floated around in them.