Bang!

A towering wave of blood tore through the surface of the sea and surged toward the sky. Amid the blood rain scattering across the heavens, two figures clashed palms in midair, then finally broke apart and fell to opposite sides.

After distinguishing friend from foe, Di Xin first looked toward his own side. He saw that although Nero looked rather battered on the outside with several damaged spots on his body, there were no signs of any serious injuries. Turning his head to look the other way, a delighted smile appeared on Di Xin’s face.

Pei Yan was like Nero, or even—judging from appearances—his surface damage was less than Nero’s. But in the eyes of these insiders, they could all tell from this exchange that Pei Yan had already fallen into disadvantage. The domineering aura he’d had before was gone; the outermost layer of protective source energy around his body had dissipated to the point of barely holding together, and the second layer, the Protective Array on his surface, was riddled with damage and was repairing itself only slowly.

Since the start of the battle, Blood Shura had finally seized the upper hand in their duel!

"You’re suppressing him in close combat?" Ivan realized this and, equally excited, turned his head to ask.

Nero didn’t answer him. Instead, he raised his head to look at Pei Yan and once again let out that unbearably grating synthetic voice in mockery: "Now you feel a fraction of the pain I went through, don’t you? How does it feel to have your bloodline drained by someone else? Hehehe, I don’t know how it feels for you, but I’m feeling damn good right now!"

As he spoke, the faceless skin of Nero’s "face" split open into a seam, from which a long, thin tongue slid out. He sucked on his own long, withered fingers, letting the sharp fingertips draw a bloody line across his tongue. When he retracted it, he savored the mouthful of blood reeking in his mouth, his tone thick with greedy excitement as he said, "As expected of a powerhouse forged from the strengths of so many factions—the energy in your body is so rich, so delicious. If I devour you, I might not need to risk offending those reclusive old monsters anymore. I can directly break through my bottleneck and complete my final evolution!"

"Ugh—ha!" After fighting desperately to break free for so long, Pei Yan finally let out a long breath. Now he understood what that layer of skin was for. Each time he clashed with Nero, every time their bodies touched, the source energy and power within him—along with the blood that clearly shouldn’t exist in his mechanized body—would all converge into a pure stream of energy, seep out from his surface, and be drawn into Nero’s body. After several rounds of combat, he actually found himself running low on source energy, losing the support for his protective source aura, and being forced to surface from the water to temporarily avoid the edge.

"I’ll just stand here. Whether you can devour me or not depends on your own skills." Faced with the mockery and his own disadvantage, Pei Yan neither got angry nor anxious. Feeling the shackles within his body starting to loosen, the only thing in the depths of his heart was joy. Forcing down that surge of delight, he feigned disdain and continued to provoke him.

"All you can do now is act tough with your mouth! Say a bit more while you can! Very soon you won’t have the strength or the chance to speak anymore." Nero shot back, then let out a cold laugh and looked toward his companions, giving the order: "His aura and stamina were already heavily worn down in that last bout. I’ll keep tangling with him in close quarters in a moment. You follow the previous plan. Once the time is ripe, coordinate with my move and take him down in one go."

"No problem, hehe! But we agreed on this already! His bloodline and source energy are yours, but the powers in his body are mine!" Di Xin chimed in, then turned a feral grin toward Pei Yan and said, "That guy’s a huge treasure trove! With him, you and I together can sweep away the Children of Origin of several major planes without any problem."

"Hehehe! So in this fight, I’m the only one who gets nothing, huh." Off to the side, Ivan listened to their conversation with faint dissatisfaction.

"It’s not time to split the spoils yet! Take Pei Yan down first. Don’t worry—once we win this, your share won’t be short by even a bit." Seeing a rift about to form at such a critical juncture, Nero hurriedly steadied the troops and barked.

"Hmph, you’d better keep your word." Knowing the gravity of the situation, Ivan could only snort coldly and compromise.

"Then let the hunt begin."

The three aligned their opinions once more. At Nero’s command, the trio launched another encirclement assault on Pei Yan. This time, with Nero’s power greatly enhanced and leading the charge, Pei Yan—caught in a three-way siege—gradually became unable to hold out alone, his decline growing ever more apparent.

This scene made those who cared about him incomparably anxious, while those who bore grudges against him felt a twinge of schadenfreude, cursing Pei Yan to lose and eagerly awaiting the moment he perished and vanished.

Perhaps the enemies Pei Yan had made and the blood debts he owed were simply too many, and the time of reckoning had finally come. After more than ten minutes of dizzying melee, Nero sensed that the moment was ripe. After issuing a mental command through secret sound transmission, he brought his palms together, ready to deliver the final blow to Pei Yan.

With a roar from Nero, the Sea of Blood on the arena surged violently. A massive black cross broke through the waves. Seeing this object, Saraf, watching from the sidelines, had his eyes fly wide—back then, it was precisely the fusion with this Divine Artifact that had led to his miserable defeat and serious injuries.

The very second after clashing fists with Nero and beginning to fall, Pei Yan sensed something wrong beneath him and immediately tried to teleport away—only to find that the surrounding space had already been sealed. When he attempted to use Prisonbreaker to slash open the seal, countless iron chains suddenly shot out from within the cross and wrapped around his body. As the chains rapidly tightened, Pei Yan was forcibly bound to the black cross.

Trapped, Pei Yan naturally refused to submit to execution. He struggled with all his might, trying to break free of the chains, only to find that this time the chains were not only incredibly tough but also searing hot. The astonishing heat penetrated his Protective Array and relentlessly burned his body. Looking up, he realized that it wasn’t just Nero standing there casting the spell—Di Xin was by his side as well.

"Hehehe! Pei Yan, how does it feel to be sealed by the combined power of two Divine Artifacts?" Di Xin stared at Pei Yan with a look of utter triumph in his eyes.

"Branding Pillar, huh? So that thing is a Divine Artifact too. You fused it with this damned cross?" Pei Yan twisted his body, head raised as he asked back.

"Such a good memory. Then you should also remember my Divine Artifact’s other function besides defense. Pei Yan, those hits you landed on me just now hurt like hell." Nero picked up the thread. As he spoke, his hands twisted and four words slipped from his mouth: "Judgment’s Penalty!"

"Ugh—aaah!" Since the start of the match, Pei Yan had always faced his enemies with an air of utter ease. This was the first time he let out such a piercing scream of agony in front of the world. A blinding light erupted from within the black cross, and the Protective Array over Pei Yan’s entire body instantly suffered massive damage. The mechanical body on his surface also showed varying degrees of destruction.

Back when Pei Yan had first fallen into disadvantage, Wang Wenze and the others watching had already been burning with anxiety. Now, seeing him so bedraggled, Zhao Yuanhu could no longer hold himself back and spoke up first: "Elder Lin, stop the match and save him!"

"Yes, Elder Lin, this can’t go on! Those Blood Shura bastards won’t let Pei Yan live!" Wang Wenze immediately chimed in.