Chapter 65— "CHEN MOVES AND THE THREE DIVINES"
The arena did not go quiet.
It held its breath.
Flas scorched half the battlefield. Frost glittered across the other. Broken stone and shattered barriers marked where Epic-tier cultivators had fallen one after another.
The announcer’s voice rang out, sharp and amplified.
"—CONFIRD UPDATE FROM THE FIELD!"
Spiritual screens flared above the arena, replaying decisive monts.
"ALL SEVEN EPIC-TIER MBERS OF VERMILION PHOENIX ACADEMY—ELIMINATED!"
A wave of shock rolled through the stands.
"ALL FIVE EPIC-TIER MBERS OF AZURE DRAGON ACADEMY—ELIMINATED!"
The cheers faltered—then returned even louder.
This was no longer a team battle.
This was a clash of the absolute elites.
Only the Divine-tier combatants of Vermillion remained.
And the pressure multiplied instantly.
On the Vermilion side, three figures stood untouched.
Rong Yueran — calm, radiant, fla halo coiled like a living crown.
Shen Tianyi — eyes burning with skyfire, heat distorting the air around him.
Liang Huoyan — phoenixheart pulsing visibly beneath his skin.
Opposite them—
Chen Stood.
Rong broke the silence and attacked first.
Rong Yueran’s flas did not rely burn.
They judged.
Each surge of Divine fla carried an oppressive will, as if the fire itself decided who deserved to stand and who should be erased. The air scread as heat condensed into visible waves, bending light and cracking stone.
Chen Wulian felt it imdiately.
This was no longer pressure.
This was execution.
His knees sank an inch into the arena floor.
Cracks spiderwebbed outward from his boots.
"Still standing?" Rong Yueran asked, genuine curiosity slipping into her voice. "Most captains would have already collapsed."
Chen spat blood onto the scorched ground and laughed.
"...Yeah," he said hoarsely. "I get that a lot."
She stepped forward.
With every step, the arena temperature spiked again.
Chen’s Earthly Beastification flared to its limit—stone-like patterns crawling up his arms, his muscles swelling as qi roared through reinforced ridians. The ground beneath him thickened, layers upon layers of earth-aspected energy stacking defensively.
But even so—
The heat was breaking through.
Rong Yueran raised her hand slowly.
Immortal Fla condensed into a spear-shaped construct, its core white-hot, edges shimring crimson and gold.
"Let’s see how much your foundation can really take."
She threw it.
The spear didn’t fly.
It appeared.
Chen crossed his arms instinctively.
Impact.
BOOOOOOM—!!!
The explosion flattened a section of the arena, dust and molten stone blasting outward. Defensive formations flickered wildly, elders activating ergency suppression arrays to keep the arena intact.
Chen was driven backward.
Ten ters.
Twenty.
He dug his heels in, roaring as he forced earth qi upward, forming a jagged ramp that slowed his slide.
His arms shook violently.
Bone scread.
But he didn’t fall.
Rong Yueran’s eyes narrowed.
"...You’re anchoring yourself to the arena itself."
Chen lowered his arms, chest heaving.
"Captain’s job," he said. "If the ground gives way, everyone falls."
She smiled then.
Not mocking.
Respectful.
"Good answer."
She vanished.
Chen’s instincts scread.
He slamd his foot down.
"EARTH VEIN—LOCK!"
Pillars erupted around him just as Rong Yueran reappeared at his flank, flas tearing through stone like paper. Her kick landed squarely against his ribs.
CRACK.
Chen flew sideways, slamming into a half-lted wall.
He coughed violently, vision blurring.
Rong Yueran didn’t pursue imdiately.
She watched.
Waiting.
Chen forced himself upright, back scraping against broken stone.
"...You’re holding back," he said.
Rong Yueran tilted her head. "So are you."
She was right.
Chen clenched his fists.
For the first ti since stepping into the arena, his hesitation surfaced clearly—not fear of her strength, but fear of what he would beco if he stopped restraining himself.
He exhaled.
Long.
Slow.
"...Fine."
Earth qi surged again—different this ti.
Denser.
Darker.
Not just reinforcent.
But control.
The battlefield responded.
Stone re-aligned. Cracks sealed. Terrain subtly shifted, forcing Rong Yueran’s fla flow into narrower paths.
Her eyebrows lifted.
"Oh?"
Chen pushed himself fully upright, blood still dripping, posture steady.
"I’m not here to overpower you," he said quietly.
"I’m here to hold you."
Rong Yueran’s flas flared higher.
Her smile widened.
"Then show , Captain."
The ground trembled again.
And for the first ti—
Rong Yueran adjusted her stance.
The fight had truly begun.
Chen Wulian stood at the front.
Battered. Bleeding. Breathing hard.
But still standing.
Behind him, Bai Qianlan and Ouyang Xue’er fought desperately to keep formation intact. Illusions flickered and shattered under Divine pressure. Frost walls ford and cracked almost instantly.
From the opposite side.
Ling Yifan felt it.
This was no longer sustainable.
The two remaining Vermilion Divines were overwhelming the field.
If this continued—
Azure Dragon would collapse from pressure alone.
Ling Yifan made the decision in a heartbeat.
He turned sharply.
"Split," he said.
Long Hao already understood.
"I’ll take Chen," Long Hao replied quietly.
Ling Yifan nodded once.
"Then I’ll stabilize the rest."
No argunt.
No hesitation.
They moved.
Long Hao stepped onto the scorched half of the arena.
The temperature spiked instantly.
Rong Yueran noticed him.
Her eyes flicked sideways—briefly—before returning to Chen.
"So you finally brought help," she said lightly.
Chen wiped blood from his mouth and laughed hoarsely.
"...Took you long enough."
Long Hao stopped beside him.
"You’re losing ground," he said calmly.
Chen didn’t deny it.
Rong Yueran raised a hand.
Flas condensed—pure, compressed, Divine fla that warped the air itself.
Chen raised his arms instinctively.
Too slow.
The impact slamd into him like a teor.
He skidded backward, boots carving trenches through stone, armor cracking audibly.
"CAPTAIN DOWN—!"
The announcer’s voice caught.
Chen coughed violently, barely managing to stay upright.
Rong Yueran stepped forward.
"Your hesitation is costing you," she said. "You fight like soone afraid to commit."
Chen clenched his fists.
Long Hao’s eyes narrowed.
"...She’s right."
Chen froze.
Long Hao continued, voice steady but sharp.
"You’re thinking about consequences instead of outcos."
Rong Yueran tilted her head.
"Oh?" she said. "Insightful."
Chen exhaled slowly.
Then—
He straightened.
Sothing changed.
The chaotic aura around him settled.
His breathing evened out.
"...I wasn’t afraid of losing," Chen said quietly.
He looked at Rong Yueran.
"I was afraid of winning the wrong way."
Rong Yueran smiled faintly.
"Then show the right one."
Chen stepped forward.
This ti, he didn’t rush.
Earth-aspected qi surged beneath his feet, spreading outward like roots.
The arena floor hardened, reinforced, stabilized.
Long Hao felt it imdiately.
Formation.
Anchor.
Chen slamd his foot down.
"EARTHLY BEASTIFICATION — SECOND STANCE."
His muscles thickened. Veins pulsed like stone veins. His presence locked the battlefield in place.
Rong Yueran’s flas flared higher.
She attacked.
A sweeping arc of immortal fla tore toward Chen—
He blocked it.
Not by overpowering it.
By redirecting it.
The ground absorbed the force. The impact dispersed outward harmlessly.
Rong Yueran’s eyes sharpened.
"Interesting."
She increased output.
Chen grimaced—but held.
Long Hao moved.
Shadows coiled along the battlefield edge, slipping beneath Rong Yueran’s blind spots. Each ti her flas surged, Long Hao disrupted her timing by severing micro-flows of qi.
Not enough to stop her.
Enough to create openings.
"Left," Long Hao said calmly.
Chen pivoted instantly.
A pillar of fla exploded where he had stood a mont earlier.
Rong Yueran clicked her tongue.
"So that’s how you’re playing it."
ELSEWHERE —
On the opposite side of the arena, Ling Yifan arrived like a falling spear.
Shen Tianyi’s skyfire rained downward in cascading arcs.
Ling Yifan intercepted.
His spear spun, creating a controlled vortex that redirected fla without dispersing it fully—minimizing backlash.
Bai Qianlan staggered nearby, illusions fraying.
Ouyang Xue’er knelt briefly, blood on her sleeve, frost barely holding.
Ling Yifan planted himself between them and the Vermilion Divines.
"I’ve got you," he said.
Shen Tianyi laughed.
"Just you?"
Ling Yifan didn’t respond.
His spear humd.
Liang Huoyan attacked from the flank—phoenixheart blazing.
Ling Yifan t him head-on.
The impact sent shockwaves through the arena.
Spectators rose to their feet.
"THIS IS INSANE—!"
Ling Yifan slid back a step.
Then another.
Then stopped.
His stance adjusted.
Perfected.
He countered.
A clean, brutal thrust that forced Liang Huoyan back for the first ti.
Bai and Ouyang exhaled together.
"Hold," Ling Yifan said. "I’ll make space."
High above the arena, Vice-Dean Rui Jin stood with arms crossed.
Beside him, Instructor i Ying watched intently.
Her expression was calm.
Too calm.
"You don’t look nervous," the Vice-Dean said.
i Ying didn’t take her eyes off the field.
"Because they’re doing exactly what they should."
Rui Jin glanced at her.
"...I didn’t think you’d return," he said. "Even after the Dean requested it."
i Ying’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"So things are worth coming back for."
She didn’t elaborate.
Below them—
Chen roared.
Rong Yueran’s aura surged.
The temperature skyrocketed.
"Enough warming up," she said.
Immortal fla condensed around her like armor.
Chen’s knees bent under the pressure.
His earth domain cracked.
Long Hao stepped fully into the fray.
Shadows erupted.
"Chen," Long Hao said. "Don’t hold back."
Rong Yueran smiled.
"Good."
She raised both hands.
The arena scread.
And for the first ti—
Chen Wulian looked overpowered.
The announcer’s voice shook.
"—THE BATTLE HAS ESCALATED TO FULL DIVINE ENGAGENT—!"
Flas swallowed the field.
Shadows surged upward.
And the clash that would decide Stage Two finally began.
[Chapter ENDS]
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