Chapter Ninety-Seven: Ants in the Circle of the Way

A piercing cry rang out as Donggong Qianxue descended slowly from the air, resuming her true form. She appeared unchanged from before, still the unrivaled beauty of the Spring and Autumn Sacred Kingdom.

“So you still wanted to kill Young Master Chen? Courting death!”

Donggong Qianxue snorted coldly, her delicate body still radiating a terrifying aura.

She drew a long breath and, after forcing herself to steady her emotions, turned to look at Chen Changsheng on the ice staircase.

“So Young Master Chen invited us to eat divine medicine hotpot not only for our sake, but had already been arranging this grand banquet for me all along. If not for that fireborne immortal phoenix, I truly would have aged to death just now, with no chance of survival at all.”

She spun this thought out in her own mind and let out a soft sigh. “Young Master Chen truly deserves to be called a sage beyond the world. He sees through everything. Without the slightest sound, he had already arranged all things.”

To be one of his chess pieces was simply too fortunate.

“My heavens, Hua Wenzhen is dead? He was struck down by Donggong Qianxue with one claw, body and soul utterly erased. Is this real?”

“Just a moment ago he had only just won the right to enter the Sacred Domain, and the next moment he was gone. Even that Tree of Rings was shattered. That was the sacred treasure protecting the nation of the Sacred Kingdom of Baidan.”

“Donggong Qianxue was clearly already aged to death, and yet the instant the Tree of Rings was destroyed, she was reborn at once. It was like a dream.”

“…”

After a long spell of silence, the area around the ice battle platform erupted into a roaring uproar.

“Aaaah! Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

Hua Manlou came to himself and trembled with rage, letting out a furious howl to the sky.

Hua Wenzhen was his son, and now, in the blink of an eye, both body and soul had been annihilated. Worse still, the sacred treasure protecting their nation had also been shattered.

Hua Manlou was on the verge of madness.

The experts of the Sacred Kingdom of Baidan beside him were all shaken with fury as well. Whether Hua Wenzhen lived or died could be set aside for the moment, but the Tree of Rings was their nation’s sacred treasure.

Now that the treasure had been destroyed, the fortune of their kingdom would change forever, and from this point onward it would inevitably decline.

“Fairy Dantai, just now you already declared that my son had obtained the qualification to enter the Sacred Domain, and could even be considered half a man of the Sacred Domain.”

Hua Manlou shouted toward Dantai Wushuang in the air, “And yet, in the blink of an eye, the princess of the Spring and Autumn Sacred Kingdom killed him, and even destroyed our national treasure. How is this to be dealt with?”

At this moment, Dantai Wushuang sat upon the back of the snow-white exotic beast, her full bosom rising and falling violently as she stared down in shock at Chen Changsheng on the ice staircase below.

At the very moment Hua Wenzhen had charged at Chen Changsheng, Chen Changsheng had done nothing at all, and Hua Wenzhen had suddenly begun spurting blood from every orifice. Even the Tree of Rings had shattered in an instant.

Terrifying. Far too terrifying.

She drew in a sharp breath.

When Chen Changsheng had earlier spoken of the secret of the Ring Flower, she had merely assumed he was broad of knowledge. Only now did she understand that he was in truth a supreme powerhouse.

Looking down at him, she even felt an uncontrollable sense of her own insignificance, like that of an ant.

She, after all, was a strong cultivator from the Sacred Domain, and her cultivation had already broken through into the Perfect Dao realm.

Her heart trembled wildly.

“Fairy Dantai, my son long ago obtained the qualification to enter the Sacred Domain, and now the princess of the Spring and Autumn Sacred Kingdom has killed him. How is this to be handled?”

Seeing Dantai Wushuang fall into silence atop the snow-white beast, Hua Manlou could only raise his voice once more.

“Oh.”

Only then did Dantai Wushuang return to her senses. She withdrew her gaze from Chen Changsheng and forcibly suppressed the surging emotions in her chest, then gave Hua Manlou a faint shake of the head.

“This has nothing to do with the Sacred Domain.”

“What?”

Hua Manlou’s body shook violently. “No, Fairy Dantai, didn’t you just say that my son had already qualified to enter the Sacred Domain, that he could be counted as half a man of the Sacred Domain?

“Now that my son is dead, how can you say it has nothing to do with the Sacred Domain?”

At this moment, his hatred for Donggong Qianxue was such that not even all the waters of the rivers and seas could wash it clean. If the people of the Sacred Domain would act, then let alone killing Donggong Qianxue, destroying the entire Spring and Autumn Sacred Kingdom would be effortless.

Dantai Wushuang shook her head. “Times have changed. When I made that declaration just now, this grand banquet had not yet ended. Only now has it truly concluded. Clearly, the final victor of this banquet is the princess of the Spring and Autumn Sacred Kingdom, Donggong Qianxue.

“Therefore, I now declare that Donggong Qianxue, princess of the Spring and Autumn Sacred Kingdom, has obtained the qualification to enter the Sacred Domain.”

She was supremely intelligent, and had long since seen that the relationship between Donggong Qianxue and that Young Master Chen was far from ordinary.

A being capable of striking Hua Wenzhen until he spurted blood from every orifice and destroying the Tree of Rings without doing a thing—just the thought of such an existence made her heart tremble wildly. How could she dare provoke it?

More than that, the princess of the Spring and Autumn Sacred Kingdom, Donggong Qianxue, was indeed the final victor of this grand banquet.

At Dantai Wushuang’s words, Hua Manlou reeled as though struck by lightning, his body convulsing.

The experts of the Sacred Kingdom of Baidan beside him all looked equally dreadful.

The entire arena fell into dead silence.

One strange gaze after another fell upon Hua Manlou and the others. Earlier, when Dantai Wushuang had announced that Hua Wenzhen had gained the qualification to enter the Sacred Domain, they had all stood proud as roosters.

And now...

They had fallen from heaven to hell in an instant.

The crown prince was dead, and even the sacred treasure of the nation had been destroyed.

Too miserable.

“Sorry, please allow me to laugh for a while. I really can’t hold it in anymore, hahahaha!”

A malicious burst of laughter suddenly rang out.

“Hahahahaha!”

The stillness in the arena was shattered in an instant, replaced by thunderous laughter.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

Hua Manlou’s face was as black as iron. Both hands clenched into fists so tightly that his nails dug into his palms, blood streaming from the gaps between his fingers.

The crown prince had been annihilated, the sacred treasure had been destroyed, and now he still had to endure the mockery of the crowd.

He felt as though his entire being might explode into dust at any moment.

“We’re leaving.”

With a sudden wave of his hand, Hua Manlou soared into the air and departed at great speed.

This matter would not end so easily.

Now that even the sacred treasure of the Sacred Kingdom of Baidan had been destroyed, what did they have left to fear?

Whoosh.

The other experts of the Sacred Kingdom of Baidan in the arena all rose into the air at once and followed Hua Manlou away.

“Very well. The grand banquet of the thirty-six sacred kingdoms of the eastern domain concludes here.”

Sitting atop the snow-white exotic beast, Dantai Wushuang watched Hua Manlou and the others depart with an expressionless face. Then she lowered her gaze to Donggong Qianxue, who still remained at the center of the ice battle platform, and said slowly, “One month from now, the four final victors of the grand banquets from the east, south, west, and north domains of the Snow-Singing Realm will enter the Sacred Domain for the final assessment.

“In addition, the four who obtain qualification to enter the Sacred Domain may each bring along up to ten relatives or close kin to accompany them.

“Of course, those relatives may stay in the Sacred Domain only temporarily and not for long.”

“Understood!”

Donggong Qianxue respectfully cupped her hands toward Dantai Wushuang. “At that time, I will certainly be present.”

Dantai Wushuang continued, “Furthermore, I grant you a sword manual as the reward for first place in this grand banquet of the thirty-six eastern sacred kingdoms.”