Chapter 622: Sea Saint's Attack

"Please note, when your opponent attacks, do not attempt to fight back. If detected—you will be punished."

An Ze subconsciously glanced upward when he mentioned the punishment.

"Furthermore."

"The target selection moves clockwise, based on the number you roll."

"For example, if you roll a three,"

An Ze pointed at Yan Jing in the center of the group. "You would count three spaces to your right."

"One—" An Ze pointed at Sea Saint beside Yan Jing.

"Two—"

His finger swept to the left, pointing at Xue Shi.

"Three."

Finally, he landed back on Sea Saint.

"That concludes the rules. Now—the game officially begins."

An Ze waved his hand, and a dice cup fell into his palm.

"I will roll first to decide who starts."

He looked at Xue Shi. "If it's a one, you begin. And so on from there."

Clatter! The dice cup began to shake.

Once the tumbling stopped, he lifted the cup.

One.

Exactly one.

It seemed Xue Shi's luck was quite good.

"We start with you."

An Ze placed the dice cup back on the ground.

Xue Shi picked it up. She lifted the lid for a brief glance before she started shaking it.

Of course, she could control the roll at will, but the problem was—

As the cup rattled, she realized something was wrong.

Another force was trying to seize control of the dice.

She looked toward Sea Saint nearby, sensing the source of the weird energy.

Yet she couldn't block it or call a halt.

The rules only stated that a player couldn't defend during an attack; they never forbade interfering while an opponent was rolling.

Boom!

Xue Shi's hair whipped wildly as violent weird energy surged around her. A blood-red lion materialized behind her and lunged at the dice cup in her hands.

In an instant, the lion swallowed the cup whole.

Immediately, she felt Sea Saint's weird energy vanish from it.

"Heh."

A smirk touched her lips.

Finally, she opened the cup.

Two.

According to the turn order, Her target locked onto Sea Saint.

Next came rolling for the number of attacks.

She cast a wary glance at him.

Naturally, she wanted to roll a six.

But her opponent clearly wouldn't give her that chance.

Clatter, clatter!

The dice tumbled again.

Unexpectedly, Xue Shi felt no resistance this time.

Soon, the cup stilled, and the dice stopped moving.

A number slowly revealed itself.

Six.

Joy flared in her chest.

She knew he had done it on purpose.

He wanted to let her attack freely, purely to humiliate her.

However—

She was no pushover.

In Xue Shi's palm, a flame-like bloodline power pulsed violently before sublimating to its absolute limit, transforming into raw steam.

The crimson, formless vapor flooded every inch of the surrounding space. Merely brushing against it would cause severe burns; even the most powerful Ninth Tier cultivator would have to be on guard.

But her opponent wasn't in the Ninth Tier.

He was in the Tenth Tier.

Thus, she knew this wasn't enough.

She reached up and wiped a finger across her brow.

A blood-red seal slowly surfaced, and the weird energy around her boiled over once more.

The initially formless steam flames materialized into sprawling clouds. They expanded for miles in a split second, painting the entire sky in brilliant red hues.

Rumble!

The flames fully erupted. The clouds blanketing the sky rapidly retracted, condensing onto the back of her hand.

She knew that even after tapping into her bloodline origin, taking him down directly would be a tall order.

Because of this, she hadn't planned on knocking him out right from the start.

For her, as long as she could force Sea Saint to reveal some of his abilities for Yan Jing, she would consider it a success.

And to achieve that—

She never intended to launch her attacks one by one.

Six consecutive strikes.

Delivered all at once.

That would force out his abilities.

That was her plan.

Bang!

Xue Shi threw her punch. The compressed clouds on the back of her hand erupted, cascading downward like curtains of fire to completely envelop Sea Saint.

Under the terrifying heat, the air entirely warped. Space shuddered, skewing everything in sight.

A sharp sensation of rapid dehydration prickled across Yan Jing's skin.

It was far more intense than what he had felt the last time he fought Xue Shi.

Yan Jing kept his face calm.

It was an absolutely fearsome strike.

But that was all it was.

Against an opponent like Sea Saint, it still wasn't enough.

And just as he anticipated—

A second later, massive volumes of white mist billowed up around the engulfed Sea Saint.

Seawater.

Endless seawater poured out from between the fiery clouds, utterly quenching the blistering vapor.

Sizzle—

Steam rose into the air.

Xue Shi's expression darkened. She hadn't even caught his movements before her bloodline-burning strike was snuffed out.

Without pausing, she raised her hand and unleashed five rapid punches in succession.

The sky full of mist churned under the force of her fists, morphing and gathering until it condensed back into clouds.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The clouds scattered, revealing a massive, gaping hole.

Finally, Sea Saint's figure emerged from within the gap.

His leather jacket was dripping wet, and raindrops clung to his hair. Ripples of water expanded from his palms, washing over the surrounding clouds.

Splash, splash—

The sound of crashing tides echoed.

The flaming fists slammed into the surging ocean and were swallowed whole.

The thunderous momentum vanished, and the turbulent clouds died down.

Everything returned to absolute tranquility.

Sea Saint's expression was placid.

Aside from being soaked, he looked completely untouched by the barrage.

This was his true strength as the strongest candidate of the Life Heavenly Kingdom.

Being injured by someone in the Ninth Tier?

It was sheer nonsense.

But in the next second—

A fist wrapped in roaring wind tore through the air, smashing into Sea Saint's face with the speed of lightning.

Plop—

The strike never actually connected with his flesh. Instead, like a stone sinking into a pond, it kicked up a ring of spray before vanishing completely.

The air fell deathly silent for a moment.

Until Xue Shi burst into laughter.

She planted her hands on her hips. Her exhausted arms trembled uncontrollably, but the grin on her face was radiant.

"Kid, I've figured out that trick of yours, too."

It was the same little trick Yan Jing had used when fighting the Xue Family's eldest son, Xue Kai, and she had just copied it today.

All her previous punches were nothing but a smokescreen for this final strike.

A solid, physical punch thrown with pure bodily strength.

She knew he wouldn't take her seriously, which meant this punch had a real chance of landing.

And things played out exactly as she expected.

Though it hadn't dealt any actual damage, it had successfully forced him to reveal his ability.

It seemed to be some form of physical damage mitigation.

"That's as far as I can go."

After her hearty laugh, Xue Shi collapsed onto her rear, as if drained of all strength. She looked at Yan Jing beside her. "I'm counting on you."

Yan Jing's expression remained neutral. "Leave it to me."

However, as the two conversed, a terrifying surge of weird energy erupted from Sea Saint nearby.

He stared at Xue Shi, relentlessly wiping his face where the wind of her punch had struck. A thick vein bulged on his forehead, throbbing violently.

He was furious.

And naturally so.

To be hit by a bug so vastly inferior in strength, purely due to a moment's carelessness—

He couldn't find any excuses to justify it. The only way to vent his rage was to kill her.

But Yan Jing picked up the dice cup.

Sea Saint's expression grew heavy.

The man in front of him wasn't Xue Shi.

If he let this man unleash multiple full-force strikes against him, the outcome would be much harder to predict.

After all, the man's reputation preceded him: he had fought seven Mechanical Emperors single-handedly and slain three of them.

Sea Saint wasn't arrogant enough to brush that off.

Therefore, the key point now—

Lay entirely in this next roll of the dice.

Clatter, clatter!

The sound of the shaking dice cup was just as crisp as before.

Yet the atmosphere felt hundreds, thousands of times heavier.

Xue Shi watched the two men. Though neither appeared to move, she could clearly sense the extreme tension surging between them.

She knew their clash had already begun right inside that tiny dice cup.

She simply couldn't catch the details.

The gap in power between them and her was far too vast—so vast that even if she sank her mind to feel it, she couldn't pick up a single signal.

Thus, the process didn't matter.

What mattered—was the result.

Xue Shi kept her eyes glued to the dice cup.

Four.

That was the final number.

It also represented the outcome of their unseen battle.

"One, two, three, four."

An Ze's finger hopped between Xue Shi and Sea Saint, finally stopping on Xue Shi.

"Your target is this lady."

An Ze declared.

Sea Saint laughed.

He had won in the end.

His opponent's very first attack would end up as friendly fire.

As for the second attack—

Too bad, there wouldn't be a second attack.

This battle would be settled on the very first strike.

The moment it was his turn, everything would be over.

There was no way his opponent could block his full-force strike.

He was supremely confident.

But when he glanced at Xue Shi and Yan Jing, his pupils violently shrank.

Because Xue Shi and Yan Jing were also smiling.

Their bright, radiant grins were entirely genuine.

Before he could react, Yan Jing had rolled the dice again.

One.

That was the final result.

Meaning Yan Jing could strike Xue Shi exactly once.

"Come on, let's see if you can hit the right spot."

Xue Shi laughed, her expression completely steady.

In her eyes, rolling this exact number proved her younger brother had already won.

This was exactly what they had planned from the start.

That was what she thought, and it was exactly what Yan Jing did.

While Sea Saint was still stunned, Yan Jing raised his hand.

Surging weird energy gathered into a hand chop that slammed directly into Xue Shi's neck.

There was no pain, not even a flicker of sensation. Taking the blow, Xue Shi instantly passed out, collapsing onto the ground.

Only then did Sea Saint finally realize what had happened.

He stared at Yan Jing, his brow tightly furrowed.

He never expected that their fierce, unseen struggle moments ago was actually just him falling into Yan Jing's trap.

The man had intended to target Xue Shi from the very beginning, forcing her out of the game.

That way, Sea Saint wouldn't be able to exact his revenge on her.

However—

Sea Saint sneered internally.

By doing this, his opponent had essentially handed him the initiative.

For his upcoming dice roll, regardless of the number, since Xue Shi was already unconscious...

...Yan Jing would be forced to bear the brunt of the attack.

The only variable left was the number of times he would get to attack.

But no matter what, it would be at least one.

His opponent was confident in surviving his attack, yet afraid he would target Xue Shi. That was why Yan Jing had squandered his precious first-move advantage just to knock her out.

But that was a massive miscalculation.

Sea Saint flashed a cold smile.

The outside world only knew him as the strongest defender among the Three Saints of the Life Heavenly Kingdom.

But they didn't know his offensive capabilities were equally fearsome.

As long as he was willing to pay a slight price, he was confident he could obliterate his opponent in a single strike.

Clatter, clatter!

The dice cup began to rattle once more.

This time, Sea Saint stared at the cup with extreme intensity.

He channeled nearly all the weird energy at his disposal, pushing for a near-perfect number on this next roll.

However—

A split second later, he looked at Yan Jing in shock.

An oppressive surge of weird energy, ferocious as a flood, intervened directly and severed his control completely.

"One."

The cup opened. Unable to resist in the slightest, he could only stare at the pitifully small number and begin to calculate.

He had been careless.

But he still had at least one chance.

He could only comfort himself with that thought.

Right after An Ze spoke, the weird energy around Sea Saint blossomed, flooding the area with its terrifying presence.

The surrounding air grew incredibly thick and viscous.

This was the same move he had intended to use outside Old Sin City—which was interrupted back then when Yan Jing simply left. Now, unleashing it again, it was far more vicious than before.

It was as if an entire ocean had manifested out of thin air.

Within a radius of several miles, everyone—including the crowd outside Old Sin City—found it nearly impossible to breathe.

The dense moisture fused seamlessly with the air, completely inseparable.

Every inhalation felt like briny seawater surging into their lungs and crushing their chests.

"Sea Saint is getting serious."

Someone from the Life Heavenly Kingdom muttered.

As the ones closest to the Life Heavenly Kingdom, they were the most aware of the Three Saints' sheer power.

Just this single ability alone had annihilated an entire civilization in a Second Level Domain the last time Sea Saint used it.

When the humidity in the air reached a certain threshold, the vapor would condense into a downpour, and the land would morph into a sea, extinguishing all low-tier lifeforms.

And today, Sea Saint was deploying this ability once again.

But he wasn't aiming it at the masses across the Domain.

He was focusing it entirely on one person: Yan Jing.

The sheer terror of such concentrated power was beyond imagination.

The fearsome weird energy was on the verge of solidifying into raindrops. Not a single ordinary Ninth Tier cultivator could survive under such weather.

And now, every single drop was locked onto a single figure.

The spectators outside couldn't see the situation within the city, nor could they make out who was inside.

Yet their thoughts were identical: whoever was facing that attack was doomed.

In the next instant.

The entire ocean moved.

It surged toward Yan Jing.

The corners of Sea Saint's mouth curled up.

It was over.

This was his full-force blow.

It was impossible to counter.

At the very least—a price would have to be paid.

However—

Yan Jing simply reached out his hand.

And lightly tapped the air.

In an instant, the entire ocean collapsed.

Countless raindrops scattered everywhere, drenching the wide-eyed Sea Saint, transforming into a rain the crowd found impossible to comprehend.