Everyone watched on as Wei Qing and Sky-Propping Violet-Lightning Roc battled Lin Hao and the Cloudspark Mosquito. Lin Hao didn't differ much from Lin Sheng in strength. However, he was still in peak condition, while Wei Qing already had one fight.
Hence, Lin Hao chose not to fight him head-on, opting to grind him down instead. His mosquito, as a poison type, had the terrain advantage; the Heavenly Pattern Barrier had trapped the poisonous gas it was releasing, affecting Wei Qing.
However, Wei Qing was a dauntless powerhouse. Lightning flickered everywhere within the arena, forcing the mosquito to take evasive maneuvers.
“Despicable! Lin Hao, despite your age, you're still so cowardly!” Wei Qing’s voice boomed.
Lin Hao sniggered, sticking to his tactics to grind Wei Qing down, the poison gas taking up more and more space by the minute.
“Cowards don’t deserve to fight me!” Wei Qing shot towards his roc in the sky, which unleashed its spiritsource ability a heartbeat later. Countless lightning bolts converged around him, shrouding his very form with a deadly might.
“Fall!” Wei Qing, now a war-god of lightning, hacked downwards with enough momentum to split apart heaven and earth.
The fierce attack stirred up the audience, and everyone got onto their feet to watch.
Lin Hao had nowhere to escape. A minute later, he was struck by the roc’s spiritsource ability and crumpled over. With such an opportunity at hand, Wei Qing sliced off one of the mosquito's legs.
With that, Lin Hao's defeat was set in stone. He quickly crawled to his feet, but he had a smug expression on his face. “So you’ve beaten me a nineteenth time. But so what? Can you defeat my third brother in the state you’re in?”
A clan prospered or declined based on their people.
Lin Hao had been utterly routed, while Wei Qing looked very impressive. It was embarrassing, sure, but so what? Apart from Wei Qing, there was only a Wei Tianxiong at sixty percent strength.
However, Lin Hao’s side still had his third brother, Lin Rong, as well as Yueling Hong and the Lightning Seigneur himself!
After two consecutive battles and a poisoned body to boot, Wei Qing and his lifebound beast were gasping for breath, their faces purple.
“Lin Hao has been defeated. Yueling Clan, send in your next member,” the Vermilion Bird King announced.
Honestly, Wei Qing’s strength had shocked the upper echelons of the country, who had previously believed he was on par with Lin Hao and the rest. However, now he had defeated two in a row!
Unfortunately, victory looked impossible, now that the third person had appeared.
“Lin Rong, Lightning Manor.” A lanky old man dressed in refined clothing appeared in front of Wei Qing. Despite his advanced age, he possessed shocking power. Of his generation in the Lightning Manor, he was second only to the Lightning Seigneur.
“Wei Qing. Your performance today hasn’t embarrassed the Wei Clan. However, you may leave,” Lin Rong said blandly, a lance covered in lightning held in his hand.
“I definitely didn't embarrass the Wei Clan. The embarrassing ones here, however, are you lot, a bunch of cowards who are taking turns!” Wei Qing roared with laughter.
“It’s all in accordance with the rules. You're strong, true. But will that stop you from losing?” Lin Rong smiled.
A five-coloured bird flew up behind him. This was a matured Penta-Coloured Darkthunder Bird, the evolution of the Tri-Coloured Darkthunder Bird. Lightning of five different colours danced across its body, letting off hair-raising crackles every time two differently-coloured bolts met.
“Die!” Lin Rong leapt onto his bird, hoisting his lance to point it at Wei Qing. His mount cawed loudly as it charged down the Sky-Propping Violet-Lightning Roc.
Spiritsource ability: Penta-Coloured Lightning!
All of the lightning on the Penta-Coloured Darkthunder Bird’s body gathered, before crashing down on Wei Qing’s position. Thunder rumbled repeatedly as five lightning bolts, each a different colour from the rest, descended.
In response, the roc’s feathers lit up as a giant electrical net formed above Wei Qing, staving off this first spiritsource ability.
However, the opponent had a full seven abilities!
Lin Rong proceeded to strike out with his spear, using a strange yet domineering heavenly-ranked battle art. The lightning on the spear writhed about like a dragon.
A deafening metallic screech rang out as weapons clashed. Li Tianming’s hearing was distorted for a whole minute, and even after the aftermath of their opening blows ended, his eardrums were still in pain.
“The Heavenly Will stage really is strong!” Li Tianming felt his thirst for this stage increasing.
The current developments were worrying. Lin Rong had enough power to face Wei Qing head-on, but Wei Qing had already fought two people and was currently suffering from the Cloudspark Mosquito’s poison.
Four different blurs could be seen colliding with each other again and again, as if the Heavenly Pattern Barrier was a cage with four fierce beasts inside fighting.
It took a full minute for Lin Rong to break the stalemate, when Wei Qing was finally no longer able to hold on with just pure fighting spirit.
The Darkthunder Bird swept past, knocking away Wei Qing and his roc.
“Die!” With such an opening, Lin Rong swooped in and ran his lance through the roc’s head.
The Sky-Propping Violet-Lightning Roc gave a pitiful cry... and perished.
“Lin Rong!” Wei Qing's eyes widened. He had never expected his opponent to kill his companion of sixty years. He himself had refrained from killing Lin Rong’s brothers. For him, simply winning had been enough!
When Wei Qing charged at Lin Rong, the Darkthunder Bird blocked his way. “You can die!”
His halberd slammed into the bird's neck, decapitating it with a single blow.
“Wei Qing!” Lin Rong had never expected Wei Qing to kill his beast in this desperate situation.
Sure, Wei Qing was crippled, but so was he!
Wei Qing retreated to the barrier. “I admit defeat!”
He was covered in blood and exhausted. He was aware killing the opponent’s lifebound beast was all he could do. Once there, tears flowed down without any sign of ending as the old man took in the sight of his roc's dead body, blood pooling around it to create a sad sight..
“No!” Lin Rong was still in his optimal state. Lifting up his lance, he rushed at Wei Qing.
“Inspectors, Wei Qing has admitted defeat!” A beam of golden light flickered in Wei Tiancang’s eyes, directed at the two inspectors. Earlier on, the inspectors had immediately let them go when Lin Hao and Lin Rong had admitted defeat.
“Inspectors.” The Vermilion Bird King turned around. His voice rang out loud and clear, and everyone in the spectator stands heard it, turning around to look dumbly at the two inspectors. They knew there was bias, but there was such a thing as being too obvious.
In the barrier, Lin Rong was pursuing Wei Qing, with the latter already having lost an arm. A few more moments, and Wei Qing would die.
Jin Yixuan finally reacted. “Oh. Oh yeah. He admitted defeat! Sorry, I was too engrossed.”
With a snap of his fingers, the barrier opened.
Wei Qing finally found his chance and rushed out. Earlier on, he had already brought his roc into his lifebound space, even under Lin Rong's frenzied assault. Even though he had come out on the Wei Clan’s side, Lin Rong still attempted to give chase. However, Mu Yang was waiting and ready at the entrance. His finger jabbed out once, sending a streak of sword ki over.
“Lin Rong, retreat!”
Lin Rong instinctively blocked the attack. However, he was still forced to the ground, tumbling away from the force. When he crawled up and looked at Mu Yang, his arms were shaking.
Mu Yang was looking at him coldly from atop the wall. “Lord Inspectors, that should have been a violation of the rules, right?”
“Yes, don’t do it again.” Song Yixue said casually. And with that, the issue of Lin Rong charging out of the barrier to kill the opponent was dismissed.
“Don’t waste time. Next! Lin Rong, you can concede if you can’t fight anymore,” Jin Yixuan said.
“Yes.” Lin Rong struggled to his feet.
“Big brother, avenge me. Make Wei Tiancang die here!” When he exited, Lin Rong clenched his teeth.
“Relax. In his current state, he’s not even as strong as Wei Qing. Hah, if he doesn’t die here, you’ll be the Lightning Seigneur,” Lin Zhao sneered.
“You’re making jokes, big brother. I’ll go first.” Lin Rong closed his eyes. He had made a sacrifice for the clan.
Yueling Hong, the clan leader of the Yueling Clan, spoke up. “Lightning Seigneur. I’ll go first and expend some of Wei Tiancang’s energy. As for the killing, can you do it?”
“No problem. I’ve been at odds with him my whole life. I’ve always wanted to kill him. Although I could do it myself, the inspectors said you all need to at least fight once a day for appearance’s sake.” The Lightning Seigneur smiled.
“Yes.” Yueling Hong stepped into the battlefield.
“Sorry. I was too useless.” Wei Tiancang gritted his teeth.
“Don’t say that, elder brother. Since they did that to me, they’ll definitely try to kill you!” Wei Qing said emotionally.
“I know.” An ominous glint flickered in Wei Tiancang’s eyes. If he hadn't exhausted himself in curing the Lifesbane, Lightning Manor wouldn’t have been able to act so arrogantly here today.
“I’m tired. I’ll rest for a while. However, I’m not going. You have to return alive!” Wei Qing only had one hand left, but he used it to grip Wei Tiancang tightly.
“Alright!” Wei Tiancang nodded. He ordered one of the Wei Clan’s doctors to use whatever spirit herbs necessary to treat Wei Qing’s wounds. However, the lost arm was unrecoverable. And the most painful thing was the loss of his lifebound beast.
When Li Tianming watched that old man cry from the private room, he too gritted his teeth. Wei Jing was crying as well. However, Wei Qing himself consoled them, saying that he was fine.
“Lightning Manor!” It seemed that Li Tianming had to make Lightning Manor pay a horrendous price. Unfortunately, Wei Qing being crippled was only the start.
Li Tianming had already seen the inspectors’ concerns. If the Wei Clan was killed or crippled, he would do nothing. However, if the Wei Clan held the advantage, they would be concerned.
“We will lose today. So, we need to win tomorrow! If Uncle Yang can do it, we stand a chance…”
A flame burning in his heart, Li Tianming continued to hone his Apocalyptic-Will.