Chapter 81: The Illusionary Battlefield’s Destruction

The Earth Spirit Peal entered Qing Yun’s sea of consciousness. She stopped all her movements, her delicate body trembling as a twinkling greenish black light appeared in her eyes.

Qin Yu took advantage of this opening and swiftly sealed all twelve of Qing Yun’s acupuncture points with lightning-quick actions.

This time, even if she was being controlled, she’d still have to first break through her sealed joints. Therefore, it was already useless for the old man to control Qing Yun.

Once Qin Yu succeeded, the Earth Spirit Pearl rapidly flew back out and returned inside Qin Yu. It was too weak to move, and if it acted again, it will probably be completely wiped out.

“Bastard!”

The old man was forced to relinquish his control over Qing Yun’s body and he chased after the Earth Spirit pearl that ran out and rained curses on it.

Qin Yu’s soul had long left his body and was outside waiting for him.

The old man had just finished cursing, and before he could take his next move, a large hand suddenly grabbed his neck. Right now, his spirit was barely alive and without his helpers, he wouldn’t be able to withstand a single blow from Qin Yu.

“What do you want to do, let go of me!” The old man howled furiously.

Qin Yu grinned evilly, “You think I would possibly let you go? Old bastard, your death is imminent.”

“Wait, wait!” The old man shouted loudly, his voice tense, “Think carefully, do you really want to kill me? The Martial Examination’s array is in my hands. If you kill me, the Illusionary Battlefield’s array will be destroyed.”

“If it’s destroyed, then it’s destroyed. What’s it got to do with me?” Qin Yu sneered coldly, contempt in his voice. What bullshit Martial Exam, it was just one huge farce.

Seeing that Qin Yu was not taking any further action, the old man’s voice eased a little. “Killing me won’t bring you any advantages. I advise you to give yourself an escape route. Otherwise, once Sire arrives, it’ll be your death. No, it’ll be the death of your entire family.”

“Are you threatening me?” Qin Yu’s killing intent surged. The thing he hated most was others threatening him, more so if they dragged his family in.

“You can think of it as such.” The other replied coolly.

“Hehehe…” Qin Yu laughed evilly, “I’ll tell you this, whoever threatens me or my loved ones will all die, and you’ll be the same. Die!”

“No!” The old man released a wretched howl.

Snap! A loud snapping sound echoed crisply in the air as Qin Yu clenched his teeth and exerted force, his hand squeezing the old man until he burst apart, breaking into fragments that gradually disappeared into the earth. The moment before he completely faded away, a furious voice sounded in the sky: “Qin Yu, this old man will remember your name! You just wait, I swear I’ll destroy your entire family! I swear!”

The voice roared, echoing in the sky.

“Hmph.” Qin Yu snorted disdainfully as his soul returned to his body.

Suddenly, a thump came from beside him. Qing Yun’s body fell limply on the floor.

“Qing Yun.” Qin Yu called hurriedly, dashing to support her. However, he had only taken a step when he felt his head spin. All the strength in his body seemed to have been sapped away.

“What happened?”

Everything happened so suddenly that he had no idea what was happened as his entire body fell on the floor with a thump, causing a cloud of dust to fly up.

In fact, the reason was very simple. This was precisely the price he had to pay for using his soul so recklessly just now. His body was simply too weak.

His soul and body were linked together. After using so much power from his soul, he needed to use the energy in his body to balance and restore his spiritual energy. Normally speaking, the soul’s power was far weaker than the body’s, so even if it was injured, it could recover by taking energy from the body and the body wouldn’t be too badly affected.

However, Qin Yu was different. His soul’s power was far stronger than his body’s so once he used it, the burden would become too heavy for his body to support.

If it was just used for a short time, a certain degree of overuse could barely be supported by his body. But earlier, his soul was not only out for an extended period of time, the intensity of its usage also surpassed what the body could bear. So after his soul returned to his body, the energy his soul absorbed from his body was far from enough. Under this situation, it would be a miracle if he was still alright.

……

“There’s no movement inside, should we go in and take a look?”

Outside, the people who were all hiding and watching secretly from the sidelines discovered that the sounds of fighting inside the hall had stopped and the wretched green light had faded away. This caused a few of the braver ones to want to adventure inside. Perhaps, there were some good things to scrap pick.

However, they had just got up and were about to enter when the floor underneath their feet trembled violently. Bang! Boom! A series of explosions could be heard everywhere, from both the sky and the earth, growing louder and fiercer.

“What’s happening? An earthquake?” Somebody asked loudly.

“Quickly, look inside the hall!” Somebody looked in the direction of the hall and shouted.

Qin Yu was inside the hall, lying unconscious amidst the ear-deafening rumbles. Around the great hall, the earth ruptured, forming a series of densely cluttered small cracks. Trees toppled over and mountains collapsed.

“I-is the apocalypse coming?” Countless people jumped with alarm as the ground below their feet split apart, becoming covered with cracks. They jumped with fear, running away in all four directions and screaming madly.

However, not just Qin Yu’s hall was like that. There were several hundred halls with the same situation. As time passed, a terrifying crack started to grow in the sky above the hall. Many shook with fear as they watched the skies split apart. The destruction was just about to start.

Luosang City, the City Governor’s Residence.

Currently, it was around midnight and many people were already asleep. Suddenly, a loud bang could be heard from the training pit, rousing countless people.

The city governor, Ouyang Cheng, was immediately awakened. He jumped up from his bed as he felt the room shake.

“I need a report! What was that noise?” Ouyang Cheng shouted for somebody outside.

“Sir, it’s not good. Something happened to the Martial Exam’s Illusionary Battlefield array.” Outside, a servant reported swiftly.

“Something happened to the Martial Exam’s Illusionary Battlefield?” Ouyang Cheng was alarmed and jumped off from his bed, swiftly putting on his clothes. He left his room and rushed straight for the stage.

Because it was midnight, there was not a lot of people apart from the security guards and the family of the contestants participating in the Martial Exam. However, everybody in Luosang City could hear the loud explosions reverberating from the stage. This immediately caused some meddlesome people to crawl up from their beds and push open their windows, and they stared in the direction of the City Lord’s residence in shock. Some people even felt restless and rushed there.

The training grounds in the City Lord’s residence was currently in a chaotic mess. When many of the families of the Martial Exam’s contestants saw the Illusionary Battlefield swaying above their heads, they let out shrill screams filled with fear.

“What happened?” When Ouyang Cheng arrived at the training stage, he immediately questioned one of the guards.

“Sir, this subordinate also doesn’t know what happened. Please look at the Illusionary Battlefield. I-it looks like it’s about to be destroyed.” The guard’s eyes were filled with terror as he pointed at the array in the sky.

Ouyang Chen hurriedly raised his head and his face quickly changed.

Inside the Illusionary Battlefield, the earth cracked, the space shattered, and the great hall had fallen into ruins.

“What the hell happened inside? Why is it like this?” Ouyang Chen was stunned, his mind filled with disbelief and confusion.

“Sire, what happened?” At this moment, two men dressed in King City’s clothing arrived on the scene. The two who arrived were precisely the ones sent from King City, who were in charge of the Illusionary Battlefield.

Seeing the two, Ouyang Cheng was overjoyed and asked them hurriedly: “Sirs, how did the Illusionary Battlefield become like this?”

He thought that the two knew what happened inside.

However, the disappointing thing was that when they saw the array in the air, the expressions on their faces were even more exaggerated than Ouyang Cheng’s. Shock, disbelief, confusion, and unease were all clearly shown on their faces.

“Sirs, could it be that you two also don’t know what’s going on?” Ouyang Cheng asked worriedly.

“City Lord, don’t be so impatient. We’ll go up and take a look.” After one of them finished speaking, both of them flew up without waiting for Ouyang Cheng’s response. They stared intensely at the array.

Bang! Bang! Two ear piercing noises echoed in the sky as the mirrors holding up the array shattered and fell on the ground.

“Not good.” The two’s faces instantly turned deathly pale as they stood there, stunned, watching the two mirrors drop right in front of them.

When the mirrors shattered, the grand battlefield above them suddenly warped and disappeared as the booms slowly came to a halt.

The sky returned to normal as if nothing had just happened.

“The Martial Exam’s Illusionary Battlefield disappeared?”

The training ground was quiet for a short moment before everybody finally started to realize what just happened.

“My son, he still hasn’t come out yet? What happened to him, my son!”

A woman’s ear-piercing cries pierced through the night. The next moment, the training ground became a chaotic mess as everybody dashed forward, furiously questioning the two Song and Wu officials about where the contestants were, and if they were dead or alive.

The two had no reply and could only continue to ask everybody not to be impatient. With aid from the City Lord’s guards, they escaped the scene.

……

That night, it wasn’t just Luosang City’s Illusionary Battlefield that had disappeared. It was the same everywhere else. In a single night, all the Illusionary Battlefields in Qiongxi Country had disappeared. The disappearance of the Martial Exam’s Illusionary Battlefield stirred huge waves in the country.

The next day, after daybreak, an even more shocking piece of news came. The preselections, the Illusionary Battlefield that was originally scheduled for three months time, disappeared in only one month. This meant that the preselections were over.

But if the preselections were finished, then where did the remaining living contestants go? Were they all dead?

The Martial Exam this time marked the beginning of Qiongxi Country’s destined fate.

Earlier, the death of three thousand already turned Qiongxi Country into a mess. Now, if the only thousand or so left alive were also dead, it would mean that all the contestants of the Martial Exam were dead. Without a single one alive, was this choosing the best of the best, or just genocide?

For a period of time, the whole nation was filled with seething discontent at King City, and at the grand, stately and mighty king. He was Qiongxi Country’s king and was naturally the one in charge of this time’s Martial Exam.

Drawing support from this event, the ones who were secretly scheming to steal power had already begun to stir. Because of this event, the rulership of Qiongxi Country has already become unsteady.

But the small, lucky thing was that after a few days, some good news had finally arrived. Some of the people within the Illusionary Battlefield managed to return alive. According to them, they had been sucked outside by some sort of power when the Illusionary Battlefield collapsed. However, the situation still wasn’t completely safe since where they landed at was all dependant on their own luck.

With their return, the boiling discontent of the people finally eased slightly. However, the families of those who had not returned were still anxiously waiting. Qin Yu’s mother and father were among those anxiously waiting.