Chapter 548: Two Dead, Two Injured, One Severely Disabled (Two-in-One)

The moment she saw Zhou Mian "charging up his ultimate move," Song Huien understood his intent.

They were both ancient foxes; there was no point in playing tricks on each other.

So the next second, Song Huien charged straight toward Shalike.

It looked like she was taking the initiative to tank a Ninth Tier.

In reality, she just didn't want to fight Yan Jing.

You had to be kidding.

Their opponent hadn't even used that Piano ability from before, yet he had already withstood two of Zhan Cangtian's killer moves and nearly made Zhan Cangtian stumble. Not to mention, this time was clearly different from the last.

Last time, this guy didn't have smoke billowing around him! He didn't have a seat underneath him! And he didn't have a tree behind him!

Hum.

Dark light bloomed around her. Song Huien spoke softly to Shalike, who was rushing at her once more:

"Have you forgotten our past friendship? Have you forgotten that you once suffered a serious injury? Someone severely wounded you—yes, that very person sitting in the seat."

Swish.

Sand and gravel slashed down vertically like a dagger blade right in front of Song Huien. Her expression shifted, and she shot backward.

The coarse sand scraped past her cheek as it fell, cleanly slicing off several strands of her white-gold, wheat-like hair.

"Fuck!"

Her hair was the part of her body she was most proud of. Seeing large swaths of it fall, Song Huien couldn't stop herself from cursing. But before she could say another word, Shalike was upon her again.

"Stun!"

She spoke, but it still didn't work.

The dagger in Shalike's hand scraped directly across her arm, tearing open a bloody gash.

Song Huien confirmed it.

The man before her had no real consciousness; he was more like a puppet under Yan Jing's control.

This was going to be a problem.

Fine beads of sweat broke out on her forehead.

Most of her methods were designed to target an opponent's consciousness. With them rendered useless, this battle was going to be difficult.

"Myriad Gold."

She spoke again. A speck of golden light bloomed in front of her, transmuting Shalike's conjured sand and gravel into mere dust.

This was an ability she had specially constructed to counter Shalike.

Song Huien held abilities tailored specifically against every Ninth Tier existence in the Great Prison, even Mu Tian.

Though they wouldn't necessarily play a decisive role.

But while the Shalike across from her had lost his consciousness, he still retained his combat instincts. Seeing his conjured sand lose control once more, he immediately changed tactics, summoning wind and sand while rapidly closing the distance to Song Huien.

The greatest weakness of Song Huien's Language Pathway was her inability to cast multiple spells simultaneously.

She only had one mouth. She could only ever have one.

The mouth that spoke the Language couldn't be any other mouth—it had to be Song Huien's original one.

Normally, Song Huien could have used debuff abilities to fight a delaying action.

But now that she couldn't apply debuffs, she was forced to choose one of two options to deal with Shalike's dual-pronged attack.

"Haste!"

She cried out anxiously, wanting to rely on a self-buff to open up the distance.

But her physical body was simply too weak in comparison.

The very next instant, Shalike caught up to her again and delivered another slash.

This time, Song Huien failed to dodge and took a solid hit to her shoulder.

Blood splattered.

"Damn it."

Song Huien began to panic and shouted to Zhou Mian.

"Zhou Mian, let's swap!"

"Shut up, I'm charging up."

Zhou Mian wore a cold expression. As if to prove his words, the weird energy surging around him flared even more fiercely.

Those marine creatures grew increasingly solid, and the surrounding air felt as if it had become damp and viscous. Visible water mist condensed in the air. "Fuck your charging!"

Song Huien couldn't hold back her furious cursing, but a second later, a falling blade cut off her tirade.

Left with no other choice, she could only scramble to defend herself once more.

On the other side, Zhan Cangtian forcefully weathered the thousands of threads and finally fought his way in front of Yan Jing.

"War!!!"

He let out a furious roar, and a massive phantom emerged around his body.

It was a figure clad in iron armor and wielding a battle axe, standing nearly ten thousand zhang tall. The moment it appeared, it brought an indescribable sense of oppression. An immense gravity descended upon this patch of heaven and earth, forcing every existence in the vicinity to sink downward.

Zhan Cangtian's eyes flashed with golden light, and materialized blood vitality billowed around him. His entire frame looked a size larger than just moments ago, and a fluorescent red glow surfaced on his skin.

Clearly, he had also brought out his trump card.

"Kill!!!"

He roared furiously once more. His right wrist flipped the iron halberd, its sharp blade glinting with cold light. In his left hand, he materialized a dark, rust-mottled iron axe. Its handle was dozens of meters long—thicker than a millstone—and its axe head was even broader, obscuring nearly half the sky. Held high, the coercion it radiated seemed to surpass even that of the void-piercing halberd.

The moment that iron axe appeared, Yan Jing felt a powerful downward draft whip up around him.

It was the air itself growing heavier.

Not just the air—Yan Jing felt his own body grow heavier as well.

Zhan Cangtian was truly using his killing move. This was an ability he had saved for Mu Tian; now that Yan Jing stood in his way, he had no choice but to unleash it. Yan Jing raised his hand, and endless threads coiled toward Zhan Cangtian.

But this time, before they could even get close, those threads snapped simultaneously, as if someone had forcibly torn them apart from the middle.

Yan Jing's eyes flickered.

In the end, he still didn't use the Praying for Death Evolution.

Of course he could use it.

But things hadn't reached that point yet.

He didn't want his true opponent to see this ability.

Finally, with a thunderous roar from Zhan Cangtian, the giant axe and the battle halberd slashed down together.

Two streaks of dark light tore through the sky as the blades moved. The air masses that had gathered above were neatly cleaved in half. The lightning contained within them danced wildly, raining down in all directions.

The sky itself was ripped open with two massive gashes.

It was severed by this axe strike like a cake, evenly sliced into three pieces.

Chaotic mist spilled from the rifts. From a distance, it looked as if the very heavens had been shattered.

Zhan Cangtian panted heavily, his entire body dripping with sweat.

This was his strongest move.

Bar none.

Because this was the move reserved for Mu Tian.

In his mind, it should have been several of them attacking the Great Prison together, followed by Mu Tian taking action and forcefully suppressing everyone else, right up until he delivered this axe strike.

And amid the crowd's shock, Mu Tian would die beneath this very axe.

If Mu Tian died beneath this axe...

It would insult neither Mu Tian nor the axe.

In his plans, absolutely no one else should have been the target of this strike.

But Yan Jing's appearance had completely ruined all of that.

He gazed in Yan Jing's direction, not relaxing his guard in the slightest.

Having reached this point, if he still underestimated Yan Jing, then his title as a battle maniac would truly be a hollow joke.

Yet Yan Jing's figure was nowhere to be seen in his field of vision.

He craned his neck.

On the left, nothing. On the right, also nothing...

Then...

"A very nice ability."

Pitch-black spikes pierced into Zhan Cangtian's back. The agonizing pain struck him like a bolt of lightning, causing his heart to jerk violently and his eyes to widen in shock.

Behind him, Yan Jing, seated upon his throne and wearing the Crown, wiped away the blood mixed with grit from the corner of his mouth.

This was Shalike's ability.

Crown - momentum of victory: Accumulates the momentum of victory for you, grants you the courage to stand unyielding even when facing a Deity, and records the final ability of the opponent you defeat, usable once a day.

"It's mine now."

The spikes impaled straight through Zhan Cangtian's chest, blooming into withered, decaying flowers.

Zhan Cangtian still wanted to struggle, but Yan Jing simply blinked.

Zhan Cangtian's entire body froze, locking in place as if he had been reduced to a monochrome photograph.

In an instant, countless spikes riddled his chest and neck, turning him into a pincushion.

Those sharp spikes conjured phantoms in the air. The moment one pierced him, another immediately followed, countless afterimages lashing out across the sky.

It only stopped when a streak of blood from the center of Zhan Cangtian's brow vanished into the Crown atop Yan Jing's head.

Yan Jing turned his head, looking toward Zhou Mian and Song Huien in the distance.

The two of them happened to be looking at him at exactly the same time.

The commotion Zhan Cangtian had caused was simply too massive; it was impossible for them not to notice.

It had to be said, it was an absolutely near-perfect strike.

Even with Shalike's ability, dodging it completely had been impossible.

Yan Jing had even layered the second level of Fear Stance, the Fear Bird Stance, and the Crown's Peerless—three separate enhancements to strengthen this ability—yet he had still been injured.

The sheer force of that axe strike had obliterated more than half of the sand and gravel, no matter how tiny the grains were.

Yet Zhan Cangtian had still lost.

Right now, Zhou Mian and Song Huien wished desperately they had never witnessed this scene.

As their eyes met, the corners of Yan Jing's lips curled up, while cold sweat broke out on Song Huien's and Zhou Mian's foreheads.

"Wait, wait a minute..."

Song Huien spoke, hoping to beg for mercy, but Shalike was already charging her again.

Zhou Mian gritted his teeth viciously.

"I surrender."

He halted his energy gathering.

He truly wanted to surrender.

Shalike's death could perhaps be rationalized.

But Zhan Cangtian was dead too.

One death was an accident, but what about two?

He had no desire to be the protagonist of the third death.

"I surrender too!"

Song Huien yelled.

"I yield! Don't kill me! We're truly surrendering! You can have whatever you want!"

She rattled off several sentences in a row, her expression incredibly desperate.

However, catching sight of Bai Chen's figure appearing behind Yan Jing, Zhou Mian instantly understood Song Huien's true intentions. She only appeared to surrender, but she was still using her powers; every word was a calculated attempt to lower Yan Jing's guard.

He straightforwardly dispelled the power gathering in his hands and raised his arms.

"Really, I truly surrender. I'm dispelling my weird energy."

Seeing Zhou Mian deactivate his ability, Yan Jing's eyes shifted, looking as though he actually believed their words.

Acting completely oblivious to Bai Chen's presence, he took a step forward.

And it was exactly this step that gave Bai Chen the chance to close in.

The Void Pathway—the absolute fastest Pathway in this world.

Bai Chen's form could no longer be described with mere afterimages.

A mortal eye simply couldn't track his full-power sprint. Even Zhou Mian and Song Huien, who had seen him from the start, only felt a blur flash before their eyes.

"Bang!"

Yan Jing's body was sent flying.

A hit?!

Zhou Mian's and Song Huien's hearts surged.

"Don't give him a chance!!!"

Song Huien screamed. In the next second, Bai Yue also burst from concealment in the air, joining Zhou Mian to swarm toward Yan Jing.

Blinding, radiant light erupted in the sky. Tears streamed from Song Huien's eyes as she was forced to squeeze them shut.

The onslaught was more exaggerated than the most terrifying artillery bombardment. At this true moment of life and death, absolutely no one held back.

Charging up ultimate moves was bullshit at a time like this; they threw out whatever abilities they had, prioritizing whichever came out fastest.

"Bang!!!"

Yet in the very next second, the unthinkable happened: Yan Jing's body directly exploded.

Black ink splattered in all directions, and the others faintly heard the sound of tearing paper.

Meanwhile, another Yan Jing appeared right behind the three of them.

He wore a smile that sent shivers down their spines.

"Why?"

"Why did you have to force this ability out of me?"

He spoke softly as countless Fear Thorns hailed down from the sky like a shower of arrows.

It was as if time had just been robbed of a single frame.

By the time they reacted, it was already too late.

Bai Chen and Bai Yue were fast enough to at least scramble to the edge of the Fear Thorns' area of effect, allowing them to dodge the worst of it.

Zhou Mian wasn't so lucky. Caught completely off guard, he was skewered through and through.

At that moment, he finally tasted the agony Zhan Cangtian had endured. That bone-deep, excruciating pain simply defied any linguistic description.

It felt like thousands of malicious ghosts meticulously tearing apart his flesh, feasting on his organs, and hollowing out his body.

In fact, it was ten thousand times more agonizing than even that.

Yan Jing raised his hand, and endless threads fully impaled Zhou Mian's body.

In his final moment, countless transparent drops of liquid shed from Zhou Mian's chest and plunged downward. In the blink of an eye, he vanished entirely.

Zhou Mian had escaped!

Song Huien's face paled.

They hadn't stood any chance of winning to begin with. With Zhou Mian fleeing, who was left to fight?

She looked up toward the distant Bai Chen and Bai Yue, only to discover that they were dragging their injured bodies into a frantic retreat as well.

"Could I really let you all just leave?"

Yan Jing smiled. In the next instant, Zhan Cangtian's corpse, which was hovering in the air with a hanging head, suddenly jerked its chin upward.

Corpse-Sewing Garment.

"Go on. Those two were hit by Fear Thorns; they won't get far. If you can't catch them, then destroy the Sky Domain."

Receiving the command, Zhan Cangtian's corpse transformed into a beam of rainbow light, shattering the void as it vanished from its spot.

Yan Jing then summoned Xiao Xin:

"Xiao Xin, go find those two from just now. Tell them that if they hand over one of them, the other gets a way out. Otherwise, they both die."

"Yiya, yiya~~"

Xiao Xin saluted and also faded from sight.

"Commissioner Yan... this is a misunderstanding, Commissioner Yan..."

Song Huien looked at the immobilized Shalike in front of her, then over at Yan Jing's smiling face. Her back was completely drenched with sweat. She spoke in a breathless rush, flashing an obsequious smile.

Thinking back to when Mu Tian had first summoned Yan Jing to the Great Prison, she had never placed this human in her eyes. How could she have anticipated a scene like today's?

"Commissioner Yan, I can surrender. I am truly surrendering this time. Didn't you accept Weng Lingxiao's surrender as well? Right? Weng Lingxiao and I have worked together; we are quite familiar with each other, Commissioner Yan. I understand the affairs of the Great Prison even better than he does..."

Song Huien's legs completely gave way. She pleaded incessantly, stopping just short of kneeling on the ground to kowtow to Yan Jing.

Because she genuinely felt his killing intent.

"Commissioner Yan, I'm really more useful than Weng Lingxiao. Commissioner Yan, I can help you deal with Mu Tian! I have a way to handle him, I—" "Vice Warden Weng, Former Vice Warden Song here says she's more useful than you. What do you think?"

Yan Jing spoke up suddenly, interrupting Song Huien's babbling.

Song Huien froze. She looked up and saw Weng Lingxiao walking toward her.

"She's full of shit."

Weng Lingxiao wore a frigid expression, his voice even colder than solid ice.

He walked up to Song Huien and slid a knife into her throat.