Chapter 200: Ambush on All Sides
Translator: Ash Editor: Artythekid
Among the 2,000 contestants, the vast majority turned somewhat vigilant from the sudden screams. They faintly felt that something wasn't right, so they didn't take any rash actions.
However, the terrifying part of Li Yao's trap was that as long as a few people opened fire, even if they numbered in dozens, it would cause a chain reaction. It was just like a snowball that grew bigger and bigger as it rolled, only to finally turn into an avalanche that was impossible to contain!
At the west side of the jungle, two Iron Fist Club members and two Chaos Edge Hall members were in a stalemate.
Right in between them was a jade chip placed upon a huge piece of bluestone and a paper crane dancing in the air.
Just last month, a huge fight had broken out once between the four over a training field. During the confrontation, unbeknownst to everyone, the Chaos Edge Hall's side had suffered a small loss.
The current situation was the so-called "when enemies come face to face, their eyes blaze with hatred." The four were like four bulls, ruthlessly staring at each other.
When they heard the screams, the four simultaneously shivered. Their pupils constricted to the size of a needle tip.
The Chaos Edge Hall members were the first to launch an attack. Two swords were drawn out of their sheaths and emanated a sharp sword aura akin to that of a poisonous snake.
"Attaboy, you have joined hands with Li Yao!"
The Iron Fist Club member yelled and ruthlessly punched at his own chest, activating his spirit tattoo to the extreme. He was suddenly enveloped in a layer of weak flames and his iron fist directly charged towards the sword aura.
At the south side, north side, and east side...
Flames of war rose in every part of the jungle, turning the jungle into a tempestuous sea of fire in the blink of an eye.
Even if many people were pretty clear that the screams at the beginning were all a trap laid down by Li Yao...
Since both sides had already begun fighting, they had no choice. All they could do was attack first and seize the initiative!
Under a towering tree, just as a member of Iron Fist Club picked up the jade chip, a beam of sword aura thrust right towards his heart from across the tree. The light armor burst forth with dazzling beams of blood-colored brilliance, protecting the wearer. However, although the attack was no longer fatal, the armor released an incomparably painful current, causing its wearer to twitch uncontrollably and foam at the mouth before fainting on the spot.
The Chaos Edge Hall member smiled as he came out from behind the tree. Just as he bent down to take the jade chip from the hands of his victim, a howling gale suddenly came crashing down on his head.
An Iron Fist Club member with his body covered in a metallic gloss came crashing down as his knee fiercely hammered his opponent’s spine.
The Chaos Edge Hall member's light armor burst forth with a light red brilliance as an electric current coursed through his spine in the blink of an eye, preventing any damage but causing him a tremendous amount of pain. Although he was not dead, he had suffered an "irreversible chronic injury," rendering him immobile. All he could do was lie flat on the ground while waiting to be rescued.
The Iron Fist Club member who had jumped down from the tree had not even taken a breath before two Chaos Edge Hall members who were enveloped in murderous auras walked out of the mist from the opposite side...
All around the jungle, intense small-scale encounters started at the same time. Screams, sounds of fighting, bombardments, and explosions enveloped the whole jungle.
And due to the restrictions imposed by the terrain along with the line of sight obstructed by the mist, whenever the contestants from the two sides found each other, they would often find themselves very close together.
Following which, it would turn into a fight to the death, with only one side making it out alive. There would be no other ending.
Therefore, the fatalities in this year's match were way higher compared to previous matches.
In a short period of thirty minutes, over 300 contestants had been struck down and 400 contestants had suffered irreversible, chronic injuries and lay incapacitated.
Even the 100 members of Chaos Edge Hall who were guarding the base could not hold themselves back.
From the beginning, the Chaos Edge Hall's overall strength was inferior to the Iron Fist Club’s. If the Chaos Edge Hall was lacking its 100 members, it would simply be a one-sided massacre.
Eventually, only thirty people were left to defend the base.
The remaining 70 people charged into the bloody battle happening in the jungle without a shred of hesitation. However, many of them were struck down in just a few minutes.
The well-designed battle plan that Zhao Tianchong and Lu Tieshan had devised prior to the match had been completely disrupted.
There were no instances of tactics that could be seen. The match was uglier than all the matches from the past few decades. It was by far the clumsiest battle.
The maker of this catastrophe, Li Yao, was calmly wandering amid the branches, just like a python.
He wore a camouflage uniform with a double-sided pattern.
One side could simulate the trees, shrubs, and grasses, while the other side could simulate a variety of rocks' patterns.
Along with the camouflaging technique perfected through hunting in the Wasteland, he could remain invisible while hiding amid the branches or rocks.
As Li Yao observed the battles one by one through the Demon Beast Detector with rapt attention, continuous lines of information appeared one by one.
"Zhou Zhongping, Iron Fist Club freshman, 3rd level Refinement Stage expert. Specialties: Golden Fists, Mystique Cold Exercise. Temperament: Bold and unrestrained, walks on the path of head-on collision. Weak points: Center of gravity is unstable, the left knee was once seriously injured."
"Ching Mingyuan, Chaos Edge Hall freshman, 3rd level Refinement Stage expert. Specialties: Red Dragon Spearmanship. The long spear has a chain hidden inside and can separate, allowing it to extend to a dozen meters in the blink of an eye. Attack range is very large. Weak points: Defense is weak.
"Fang Xinghui..."
"Zhou Junzhi..."
Pieces of information like waterfall continued to fall from above the Demon Beast Detector.
This was precisely the reason why Li Yao wanted the combat details of all 2,000 contestants.
The Demon Beast Detector could distinguish between two extremely similar demon beasts, so it goes without saying that identifying a person based on his or her appearance was a piece of cake.
The latter was truly very simple. In the Star Glory Federation, the facial recognition technology was very mature. It was applied in wide variety of public places. Li Yao only had to tweak the Demon Beast Detector a bit before inputting new data, turning it into a "Combat Scouter".
And his purpose was to seek the important figures of both sides using this very Combat Scouter.
"It's gonna be you!"
When the Demon Beast Scouter found a 4th level Refinement Stage Iron Fist Club freshman, Li Yao's eyes lit up as he sneaked up to the canopy behind him and hid there silently.
Only after the target had continuously struck down two members of Chaos Edge Hall and was panting for breath did he silently slide down the tree and closed in on the target.
Amid the dark mist, Li Yao made himself look like the shadow of the target as he moved closer.
Only when the distance between the two was less than a meter did the target suddenly became vigilant.
Just when he was about to turn his head, the target felt a prickling sensation on his neck as an electric current ruthlessly swarmed into his throat, rendering him incapable of even shrieking, no matter how much he wanted to. His eyes turned wide as he clutched his throat. He knelt down before lying paralyzed in the mud.
Before he even hit the ground, Li Yao had long since disappeared, becoming one with the jungle once again.
"Well, this kid is quite ruthless whenever he attacks. He eliminated a 4th level Refinement Stage cultivator so silently that the target, even in death, didn't get to see so much as his shadow!"
Sitting in the VIP room, the Devil Fist Sect elder, Bai Mushen, who found Li Yao unworthy of a single glance a moment ago, straightened up and was somewhat moved.
The Hundred Saber Alliance vice president, Long Wenhui, slightly smiled:
"This is the third 4th level Refinement Stage freshman eliminated by him. It seems he is trying to level the playing field for both sides so that the Iron Fist Club and Chaos Edge Hall remain in conflict for a longer period of time. This is the best way to inflict heavy casualties on both sides."
"Look, he is attacking once again. This time, it's a 4th level Refinement Stage freshman from the Chaos Edge Hall. This freshman is also baffled."
"Oh, why are you so surprised, huh? He has already eliminated three Iron Fist Club experts, so obviously he is going to eliminate one or two Chaos Edge Hall experts, in order to keep the balance! Or do you truly believe the words of an 'evil expert,’ do you think he will sincerely work with the Chaos Edge Hall?"
Long Wenhui looked quite self-complacent as he disapprovingly said.
Bai Mushen turned solemn as he slowly said:
"If this keeps on, the conflict between both sides will only grow more and more intense. If their experts aren't killed by the conflict, then they will definitely be assassinated by Li Yao. In the end, maybe he will truly pave a road of blood. Let's see how Zhao Tianchong and Lu Tieshan are going to deal with this!"
Zhao Tianchong and Lu Tieshan were part of only a few people who remained clear-headed.
The moment the sounds of fighting and shouting resounded, they immediately realized that it was all Li Yao's plot.
Lu Tieshan burst into shouting:
"Zhao Tianchong, you've to think clearly. Li Yao will not sincerely team up with you for sure. He will definitely think of ways to weaken our power so that a delicate balance is always maintained between our sides, in order to ensure that we cause maximum fatalities to each other!"
"If you and him team up, I am absolutely sure that at the end of the day, you will be definitely be chewed up by him to the point that not even slag would remain!"
Zhao Tianchong silently pondered this for a moment before his eyes burst forth with a knife-sharp glare as he promptly came to a decision:
"For the sake of this plan, we can only cut our losses!"
"The conflict has already started, and in the end, we aren't army commanders and our fellow students aren't well-trained soldiers. There’s no way we can bring everyone back under control."
"All the people here are the strongest core members. We should team up and head towards the north, quelling as much as conflict as possible. If we come across one we can’t stop, we should just bypass it and save some time!"
"Any jade chips we find en route should be equally distributed. Each person must get his share!"
"We have to seize every minute and every second to reach the canyon as quickly as possible and intercept Li Yao!"
"We have to set a trap at the canyon and let Li Yao experience the taste of ambush from all sides!"
Both sides had deeply felt the dreadfulness of Li Yao. So, without hesitating for a moment, everyone immediately began to move.
En route, if they reached a relatively mild conflict with both sides’ members only lightly injured, both leaders would team up to calm the combatants down and then move on.
If they encountered a conflict in which both sides were locked in a fierce struggle and had members who were laden with injuries lying on the ground, they would run by as fast as possible.
As for the fights happening in the distance, they had no time to stop them.
It only took them forty-two minutes to reach the canyon, and the people from both sides had formed a hybrid force of 185 contestants.
Even though their group was relatively small, they were the strongest and most capable core members from both sides.
Moreover, they could survive in any kind of chaos; most of them had relatively stable temperaments, shrewd thinking abilities, and they would not easily fall into a trap.
In addition, the smaller the number, the better the leadership Zhao Tianchong and Lu Tieshan could display, decreasing the chances of both sides falling into chaos.
Furthermore, the canyon region wasn't obstructed by the mist; the visibility was quite clear, allowing anyone to easily catch everything within a range of two kilometers.
"Li Yao, now we have 200 or so members tightly blockading the canyon. Let's see if you still have some way to sneak past us!"