âBoom!â
After the First Prince succeeded in activating one altar, another dazzlingly resplendent pillar of holy light with a dragon image in it, connecting the ground to the sky, appeared in the Ancient Yan Emperor Tombâs core region.
No matter where one was in the entire Ancient Yan Emperor Tomb, one could see the light pillars clearly.
Of the eight altars in the core region, only six remained.
The princes who were still on the way became even more anxious, forced to speed up significantly.
------
After six hours, the Ninth Princeâs group finally reached the core region.
At this time, the Ancient Yan Emperor Tombâs core region was already incredibly chaotic.
Seven altars had already been activated. Countless ferocious beasts rushed in from all directions.
Some princes and guests mixed with the ferocious beasts, attacking the princes who already occupied altars.
Xiao Chen looked around. He noticed that aside from the First Prince, the Eighth Prince, and the Thirteenth Prince, the princes who occupied altars had other princes attacking them.
This was expected. After all, those three princes were the strongest. No one would take on a tough bone to chew, given a choice.
âRuler Great Dao?â
When Xiao Chen noticed the First Prince Wang Feiâs Great Dao, he felt slightly stunned and surprised.
The Ruler Dao was not a Great Dao ordinary people dared to cultivate.
Without sufficient fate and Luck, one could not bear the banner of the Ruler Dao. It might even end up pulling one down.
However, once it reached Great Perfection, it could not be underestimated.
This person is indeed ambitious, but Iâll ignore him for now.
Xiao Chen entered deep thought as his eyes quickly swept over the other altars.
âAre we attacking another princeâs altar or fighting for the last remaining altar?â Qin Zhuolin asked the Ninth Prince and the others after withdrawing his gaze.
The last unactivated altar had seven princes gathered there; the competition was fierce.
However, if one attacked an activated altar, one would also have to face pressure from the ferocious beasts.
There were only two choices before them, each with its own pros and cons. The Ninth Prince thought that he should listen to everyoneâs opinion first.
Wang Yan looked at the Heavenly Book Scholar and Xiao Chen, waiting for them to speak.
Why Xiao Chen? That went without saying. The strength that he displayed had solidified his position among the Ninth Princeâs guests, placing him at the core.
On the other hand, the Heavenly Book Scholar could read the fate of all. He could accurately grasp the strength of the various princesâ Luck. The Heavenly Book Scholar was the best at choosing the weak and avoiding the strong. A bright gleam came from the Heavenly Book Scholarâs eyes while he gave off an unfathomable aura. It felt like the residual might of the Heavenly Dao, mysterious and incomprehensible.
âAside from the Second Prince, the princes occupying the altars all show flourishing Luck without any signs of decline. However, the Third Prince, the Fourth Prince, the Seventeenth Prince, and the Eighteenth Prince are already targeting the Second Prince. If we attack the Second Prince, we might face an alliance of five princes.â
After further thought, the Heavenly Book Scholar said, âXiao Chen, I lean towards snatching the remaining unactivated altar. What do you think?â
Xiao Chen nodded. âI have no objections.â
After listening to the suggestions of the other guests, Wang Yan made up his mind. He said calmly, âLetâs follow Chang Jiâs suggestion, then.â
âWhoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!â
Just as Wang Yanâs eight were about to take action, a group of people arrived from the side. It was the Seventh Prince Wang Xu and his guests.
[TL Note: In the raws, the Seventh Princeâs name is Wang Yun, but a different Yun from the Fourth Prince. To avoid confusion, I changed the Seventh Princeâs name from Wang Yun to Wang Xu, where Xu means to permit or allow, the same meaning as the original character Yun. The Yun character for the Fourth Prince means cloud.]
The Seventh Prince Wang Xu ranked quite high among the princes in strength. His accumulations were better than the Ninth Princeâs. His guests were all Great Perfection Sovereign Emperors.
âNinth Younger Brother, you came at a good time. Are you interested in working with me to attack Sixth Elder Brotherâs altar?â Wang Xu asked with a smile.
In the Seventh Prince Wang Xuâs opinion, the Ninth Prince Wang Yan did not possess the strength to become the crown prince and would be eliminated in this round.
Thus, Wang Xu issued an invitation to Wang Yan, offering an opportunity to benefit from this round. There should not be any reason to reject.
âSorry, Seventh Elder Brother, I do not have any intentions of working with others for now.â
Wang Yan decisively rejected the invitation. He did not explain further, leading his group to the unoccupied altar.
Wang Yanâs group rushed off, leaving behind a stunned Wang Xu.
Wang Xu only startled awake after a while. âDamn it! Ninth Brother is not giving me face. This is going to be somewhat difficult.â
Wang Xu looked around and muttered to himself, âSixth Brother hid himself well. It would be challenging to take over his altar by ourselves. The other altars are also not easy to attack.â
A skinny, old man at the side chuckled and said, âSeventh Prince, since that is the case, letâs not target the princes who occupied altars already. We should just wait here and rest, then go in to snatch the benefits after the Ninth Prince and the other princes have tired themselves out fighting each other.â
Wang Xu said softly, âHumph! Thatâs fine as well. Since you want to be stubborn, let me see how strong you are. Letâs go. Letâs not follow them; avoid them for now.â
---
Hundreds of colossal lava beasts surrounded the last unactivated altar. Lava formed the mountain-like bodies of these beasts, releasing huge surging flames.
The seven princes composed two factions, fighting a chaotic battle. No one wanted to give up on this final altar.
However, the victor could not be determined quickly. There were simply too many princes there, deterring those who came from choosing this altar.
If a newcomer occupied this altar, that person would suffer these seven princesâ combined assault. Just thinking about it induced a headache.
The leaders of the two factions were the Second Prince and the Fifteenth Prince.
They had other princes helping them, making victory a struggle. Furthermore, the colossal lava beasts added to the chaos.
While the two sides fought a free-for-all, a scarlet war banner descended from the sky.
âBoom!â
The Scarlet Blood Pirate Kingâs might in the war banner erupted, spreading out in all directions. This forcibly parted the princes and guests fighting.
Xiao Suo slowly descended, grasped the Scarlet Blood War Banner, and looked coldly at the surroundings.
âNinth Younger Brother?â
âNine Elder Brother?â
The two leadersâthe Second Prince and the Fifteenth Princeâboth felt stunned. Clearly, they did not expect the low-profile Wang Yan to take such an unusual action, not working with the other princes to attack the occupied altars and challenging them instead.
However, the situation did not permit them to overthink. After Xiao Suo used the Scarlet Blood War Banner to part the princes, a Golden Crow image made of Solar True Flame descended from the sky and charged over.
âBoom!â
The Golden Crow image instantly scattered the many colossal lava beasts around the altar, forcefully carving a path of blood.
Wang Yan quickly followed behind, using this opportunity to soar into the air and fly to the altar.
âDamn it! Stop him! Stop him!â
The several guests of the seven princes immediately erupted with startling killing intent, all of them charging towards Wang Yan. They wanted to stop him from climbing the altar.
âSenior Feng, I leave it to you,â Hao Kai said to Senior Feng, who was beside him.
âGot it.â
Senior Feng showed a grave expression as he formed hand seals with both hands, activating a killing move that he laid on the Ninth Princeâs body from afar. In that instant, gales burst out of the Ninth Princeâs body.
The guests charging towards the Ninth Prince remained blocked outside.
After the first wave of attacks got blocked, Wu Meng, Qin Zhuolin, and the Heavenly Book Scholar made their moves at the same time, landing behind Wang Yan.
âWhoosh! Whoosh!â
Hao Kai and Senior Feng arrived at the two sides of Wang Yan, shielding him.
Xiao Suo used the Scarlet Blood War Banner below to block the remaining guests.
Immediately, nothing stood in Wang Yanâs way as he walked towards that fiercely burning altar.
âIt is not that easy to get to the altar!â
The Second Prince felt enraged. Then, he tried to draw his Yan Imperial Sword.
However, the instant he grasped the sword handle, a bone-chilling killing intent assaulted him, pulling his gaze away from Wang Yan.
At some point, a long-haired cultivator wearing silver armor with dragon motifs and carrying a saber on his back had appeared.
Two corpses lay at this personâs feet. Earlier, these people tried to stop this person but ended up dying.
The Second Prince felt a chill run down his back. He did not know how these two died, had not even noticed that they died.
The hand grasping the Yan Imperial Swordâs handle trembled slightly. Just as the people responsible for his safety, who were beside him, were about to make a move, he shouted, âStop!â
The Second Prince felt that even if the two people beside him took action, they could not stop this dragon-armored bladesman.
Xiao Chen reached up, grasped the Tyrant Saberâs handle with his right hand, and formed the Buddhist sectâs Seven Kill Seal with his left hand, making his killing intent strengthen sevenfold.
Even more terrifyingly, this explosive killing intent spread into the surroundings like flowing water. However, none of it touched that person at all.
This person became like the lotus flower not retaining water or the sun and moon never remaining in the sky forever.
The Buddhist sectâs Seven Kill Seal made the killing intent seem both substantial and insubstantial at the same time, putting huge pressure on oneâs mind.
To the Second Prince, the area around the dragon-armored bladesman seemed like a boundless hell, pitch-black and horrifying. However, that person appeared like clean, pure water, not containing any impurities or filth.
Strange, too strange.
As Xiao Chen walked over step by step, the Second Prince felt a mountain-like pressure, sweat continuously pouring down his forehead.
The Second Prince could not draw his Yan Imperial Sword.
âForfeit or die. You choose.â
The dragon-armored bladesman stopped and drew his saber by one centimeter. âClang!â A dazzling saber light like the blazing sun appeared, so bright that the Second Prince did not dare to look directly at it.