Hearing Shan Li's words, the soul evolvers under Kang Rong's control were very surprised.
Usually, Shan Li was quiet but very proud of himself and except for Kang Rong, to whom he had an unpaid life debt, he was not willing to lower his head to anyone. He even did not give a good face to the strongest soul evolver under Li Yuan, the other leader of the North Camp. However, that same Shan Li was now trying not to fight against the young man in front of him, a young man who was clearly barely 20 years old.
What did this mean? The soul evolvers and Kang Rong realized that things were much more complicated than they thought.
Although they had somewhat expected it when they saw how a single glance from the young man in black armor was enough to make the bodies of two soul evolvers explode into a bloody mess, only now did they realize that their lives were in real danger.
At this point, the twelve soul evolvers did not dare to offend the group of three people in front of them easily and obediently backed off. After all, the black-armored youth had already told them that they could all live and work for him without losing their privileges in the future as long as they did not become his enemy.
Even a small squad of ten other soul evolvers who had just arrived at the battle zone did not stupidly jump into combat after seeing the situation inside the courtyard.
Kang Rong naturally noticed the change in the attitude of those who were usually willing to do practically anything to please him and his face sank. However, there was nothing he could do about it at this point.... Because he was just an ordinary person with no real power.
Shangguan Bing Xue gave Shan Li a sidelong glance and her eyes flashed with a hint of disdain. This man clearly didn't know Bai Zemin's personality or otherwise he wouldn't be wasting his breath saying such meaningless words.
Indeed.
Bai Zemin shook his head and took a step forward as he said indifferently, "As I said before, today you have to die, and since I decided to kill you, then naturally you will die."
Shan Li narrowed his eyes and a hint of coldness flashed in his gaze, "Although you are strong, you are too arrogant... That arrogance might be the reason for your downfall today."
After saying these words, Shan Li took a step forward and the murderous intent exuding from his body began to increase. The faces of some of the nearby soul evolvers turned pale and they quickly stepped back as they looked at him in fear.
Murderous intent in light novels might seem like a fantasy, a false lie. However, those who had killed a certain number of living beings actually possessed such an aura. The so-called murderous intent was actually the danger in the form of pressure that an individual could impose on others.
However, the murderous intent only worked on those who posed a lesser danger than the one who released such pressure.
Bai Zemin's expression remained unchanged. He emulated Shan Li and took a step forward. His dark eyes stretched into a slit as he released all the pressure in his body boosted by his own Mana.
Bang!
The surrounding wind seemed to burst outward like an air bullet and Shangguan Bing Xue and Nangong Lingxin were forced back with slightly pale faces.
The soul evolvers and Shan Li looked at the seemingly invisible but faintly scarlet glowing aura surrounding the black-armored youth and their expressions turned quite ugly; especially Shan Li's expression, it was as if he had accidentally eaten a live fly.
"To you, maybe I'm being arrogant." Bai Zemin spoke as he took another step forward. His voice was chilling to the point where comparing him to a demon from the legendary hell would not be an exaggeration, "However, there is a woman who knows me better than anyone else since this world went to shit who always thinks that I underestimate myself too much."
Shan Li began to feel the pressure on his body increase for every step Bai Zemin took forward. Instead of wondering what he meant by what he said, what Shan Li was wondering in alarm was how many living beings this young man had killed!
In fact, the number of living beings that Shan Li and Bai Zemin was similar... At least that was until Bai Zemin made over 100,000 mutated spiders explode into a blood mist in the forest before fighting the Second Order Archaic Bear.
As for Shangguan Bing Xue, she knew by instinct that the person Bai Zemin was talking about was Lili. After all, everyone knew that the two of them were incredibly close.
"Perhaps, the reason I underestimate myself is because I am comparing myself to other unknown existences..." Bai Zemin continued walking and only stopped when he came face to face with Shan Li. Their heights were quite similar, so their eyes were practically aligned, "However, if I compare myself to you, then you are like a naive and innocent child who stupidly thinks he can defeat an experienced adult. Completely nonsense."
Shan Li narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "If you hadn't approached me... If you had prevented me from approaching you, then maybe you could have a 50% probability of victory. However, now that you are in front of me, you can only die."
After saying this, Shan Li's eyes opened abruptly and a pale gray rune that was deeply engraved in his soul flashed as he activated his skill.
Bang!
Rumble...
The ground sank heavily downwards and the concrete seemed to take a huge hit as it exploded into hundreds of small fragments that were soon turned into dust.
Bai Zemin's body also sank heavily downward and the weight of his equipment suddenly seemed to abruptly increase several levels. In fact, his back began to curve slightly due to the weight of the greatsword behind him and he seemed to be making a great effort to stand on his feet.
"Oh?" Shan Li raised an eyebrow in surprise. His lips curved slightly and his arrogant voice echoed throughout, "I'm surprised that you can still stand even after being affected by my Gravity Manipulation skill... Well, although I bet at this point you can't even speak let alone move hahaha!"
Shangguan Bing Xue's expression darkened slightly as she observed from afar. Even from a distance of over twenty meters, she could feel the dreadful pressure in that part of the atmosphere. She knew that even she might be forced to kneel down as her Strength stat was not particularly high at the moment.
Nangong Lingxin was also anxious. Although she had already told Bai Zemin about Shan Li's skill, even though she had confidence in the strength of the young man she had known for only a couple of days, the situation didn't seem to look good for him.
"Shan Li, kill him!" Kang Rong ordered viciously and hatefully from a distance. "Kill him and capture those two bitches alive! I'll make sure they spit out everything they know before I make them regret being born!"
Seeing that the black-armored youth did not respond to his words and hearing Kang Rong's voice filled with urgency behind him, Shan Li silently pulled out a sharp dagger from his belt.
"We could have made a great team together, but as I said, your arrogance will one day be the reason for your downfall." Shan Li raised his dagger, crafted from the bones of a First Order beast, and as he looked at Bai Zemin, he lamented, "Unfortunately for you, that day came sooner than expected."
Then, he simply slashed downward with the intention of piercing the young man's brain in front of him. The stab seemed to be just a normal stab, however, the speed at which Shan Li's hand moved was similar to lightning.
Swoosh!
Just when most believed that the battle was over before it even began, Bai Zemin raised his left hand and caught Shan Li's wrist in mid-swing. The tip of the dagger flashed in the reflection of the moonlight, releasing a horrifying glow just inches from his head.
"What?!" Shan Li was shocked and shouted out loud, "You can still move? Impossible!"
"Impossible?" The cold voice with a tinge of ridicule echoed throughout the courtyard. Bai Zemin slowly raised his face and his eyes, which were so far being covered by part of his hair, met Shan Li's, "Not only can I move, I can also do this."
Before Shan Li could react, Bai Zemin swung his right fist at lightning speed taking advantage of the enemy's shock, and punched him fiercely under the chin.
Bang!
Shan Li's body was sent flying into the sky, flying a dozen meters high in a second.
"Lord Shan!"
"Shan Li!"
The soul evolvers and Kang Rong were startled when they witnessed this. That previous strike had resounded everywhere and even if Shan Li was still alive he would definitely not be intact, which would diminish his combat ability greatly.
Shangguan Bing Xue's expression returned to normal as if nothing had happened and she nodded to herself.
Nangong Lingxin unconsciously let out a sigh of relief and patted her generous breasts lightly. She had been on the verge of cardiac arrest before.
Bai Zemin, now relieved of the immense pressure he felt earlier, looked up to the sky and activated Blood Manipulation.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!...
The blood of the soul evolvers killed earlier suddenly glowed with a faint bright scarlet radiance. Like self-conscious snakes, the blood split into several parts and flew into the sky at full speed, hardening more and more and reaching Shan Li in just an instant.
In pain, Shan Li opened his eyes as wide as he could only to feel a dozen of blood chains wrapping around his body and limbs as they held him afloat in mid-air. His mind went blank for a moment due to the previous punch and he felt as if his brain had been smashed by a huge hammer.
Shan Li didn't know how such a thing was happening. With his Gravity Manipulation skill increasing gravity inside a certain range by a total of 28 times, the black-armored youth should not be able to move!
He shouldn't be able to move unless... Unless...
Shan Li looked down and his gaze met the black-armored youth's as he said, "Bastard... Your Strength stat is over 300 points..."
Bai Zemin moved his shoulders back slightly and made his bones creak.
In fact, Bai Zemin's Strength was considerably close to 400 points. It was precisely for this reason that he managed to resist the pressure of the skill Gravity Manipulation, which caused the weight on him to increase by a total of 28 times, and which as a consequence required 280 Strength points to fight against such an abrupt increase.
The reason why Shan Li had not died after being hit in the head by Bai Zemin's fist was because although the latter's Strength stat had not dropped, 280 of his 359 were being used to withstand the gravitational increase.
In fact, had it not been for the physical attack power of his Skullbreaker Glove, Shan Li would not have been sent flying so high. After all, Bai Zemin's fist contained less than 100 Strength points.
But all this was something no one needed to know. Bai Zemin naturally would not say such things in front of so many people as they were vital secrets for his own survival.
"Why not kill him yet?" Nangong Lingxin asked in a whisper.
Shangguan Bing Xue also furrowed her eyebrows slightly and confusion flashed in her eyes as she shook her head slightly. Bai Zemin was just looking at Shan Li as if he was waiting for something instead of finishing it. This left her confused, so she could only wait and see.
In any case, the winner was already clear for anyone to see.
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Thanks a lot to all those who use their Golden Tickets to vote for BW <3