“Ling Shen King?”
“He’s the youngest core royal of our Grand Ling Ancient Kingdom?”
Zimeng Marquis and the other Great Sovereigns were visibly stirred.
Aside from Heavenly Sovereigns, no one would ever underestimate a core royal at the Great Sovereign level.
On almost every local battlefield, a core royal at the Great Sovereign stage represented the highest combat power.
“Ling Shen.”
Chijue King calmly looked at Ling Shen King. “You’re the junior here. I’ll let you make the first move.”
“In that case, I’ll go ahead.”
Ling Shen King didn’t stand on ceremony. He raised his right hand and unleashed a punch forward.
The force of this punch was completely restrained, yet wherever it passed, time and space seemed to shrink away, carrying an aura of death and silence.
“Hmm?”
Chijue King’s expression shifted slightly.
He had allowed Ling Shen King to strike first not out of carelessness, but because he was adept at defensive techniques.
Letting the other party attack first wouldn’t really put him at a disadvantage—if anything, it let him probe Ling Shen King’s strength.
But that first punch actually put pressure on Chijue King. Even without going all out, Ling Shen King’s opening move was this powerful?
Chijue King felt an ominous premonition.
Flames blossomed around him—one lotus after another unfurled. Ling Shen King’s punch shattered more than ninety thousand fiery lotuses before its force finally dissipated.
“Hahaha, excellent!”
Ling Shen King laughed loudly. “Chijue, let’s fight up above. There are too many restrictions here.”
A clash between two core royals would have too much collateral impact, affecting all the peak Great Sovereigns fighting below—without distinction.
If they fought here, both would be too constrained.
“Fine.”
Chijue King nodded.
Whoosh!
The two of them vanished from the battlefield.
Moments later, two terrifying auras collided violently at a much higher plane of time and space.
Below, even the peak Great Sovereigns split some of their focus to watch. The collision between core royals was far fiercer than anything the ten-odd peak Great Sovereigns could produce.
“No need to worry about Lord Chijue anymore.”
Qingfen Marquis quickly transmitted a message to the other peak Sovereigns.
Unless something unexpected happened, Chijue King and Ling Shen King would be locked in battle for a long time—neither likely to win or lose quickly.
So, this war would still come down to the outcome between the peak Great Sovereigns.
“Brother Redleaf, can you hold off that one?”
Qingfen Marquis looked at the burly peak Great Sovereign.
It was this burly Sovereign who had nearly overwhelmed them earlier—if not for Chijue King’s timely intervention, things would’ve been dire.
“Leave it to me.”
Redleaf Great Sovereign nodded.
The only reason that burly Sovereign had succeeded was because they hadn’t been on guard.
If Redleaf Great Sovereign kept a close eye on him, it wouldn’t be so easy for him to unleash that killing move again.
“Sixth Brother…”
At the rear of the battlefield, Chisong King was watching closely.
As the commander of this war, he had a sharp sense of the battlefield situation and knew that as long as Ling Shen King couldn’t break free, his side would most likely hold the line.
'Lingwei, if this war becomes a stalemate, I wonder how long you can hold out…'
Chisong King thought to himself. Lingwei King had launched this massive war at great cost; if there were no significant gains, it wouldn’t last much longer.
The other royal contenders of the Grand Ling Kingdom certainly wouldn’t want another competitor in the mix. If Lingwei King got bogged down on the front lines, it would open up opportunities for them.
...
Lin Yuan was also watching the core battlefield, especially after Ling Shen King and Chijue King revealed themselves. The shockwaves from their clash were an eye-opener.
“They really are powerful—beyond peak Great Sovereign.”
Lin Yuan observed carefully. The fighting style of powerhouses in this Source World was quite different from those in the Chaos Void.
Especially among the core royals, their battles revolved around bloodline talent—drawing out the strength deep within their ancestral blood and unleashing power on par with, or even exceeding, that of chaos-evolved laws.
'No wonder they say core royals are almost unable to break through to Heavenly Sovereign…'
Lin Yuan reflected. He now realized that neither Ling Shen King nor Chijue King was following the path of chaos evolution.
Their power relied entirely on their own bloodline.
But the bloodline had its limits. Without comprehending chaos laws and the path of evolution, there was no way to become a Heavenly Sovereign.
To be precise, the so-called Great Sovereign core royals weren’t really Great Sovereigns; they had simply mined their ancestral bloodline to a certain extent.
'So this is why the Heavenly Sovereigns look down on the royals?'
Lin Yuan mused. For a Heavenly Sovereign deeply versed in chaos evolution, every core royal was just a brute—profound laws shallow, relying solely on innate talent for their strength.
'Of course, core royals could also study the laws, the path of chaos evolution—but compared to developing their own bloodline, it’s just far too slow.'
He looked out toward the battlefield.
Ordinary royals still tried to comprehend laws, since their bloodlines couldn’t support rapid progress past the Great Sovereign stage.
But core royals?
Given the choice, they’d rather keep digging deeper into their bloodline—that brought faster gains.
Even with the boost from countless Seeds, it still couldn’t compare to their bloodline power.
'Hm? It looks like Ling Shen King is even better at using his bloodline than Chijue King?'
Even though it was Lin Yuan’s first time seeing such a fight, he instantly picked up on this.
—
Higher up in the void—
Chijue King looked grim, standing atop a massive lotus of flame, surrounded by layers of lotus shields.
Ling Shen King was like a giant hammer, pounding relentlessly. The great lotus shuddered with each blow—on the verge of collapse.
“Ling Shen, have you reached your peak already?”
Chijue King’s tone was tinged with disbelief.
The strength of a core royal depended on how deeply they could tap into their bloodline.
The more they unlocked, the stronger they became. To fully unleash their ancestral bloodline was to reach their limit.
At that point, they were at their peak and could even challenge a Heavenly Sovereign.
Of course, to “challenge” a Heavenly Sovereign wasn’t to match them, but it was already unimaginably powerful.
From there, the only way to progress was to seriously study the laws and step into true Great Sovereign or even Heavenly Sovereign territory.
“Hahaha—reaching the limit is really so hard?”
Ling Shen King showed no mercy, pounding away at Chijue King’s flaming lotus defense.
Right now, Chijue King posed no threat to him—the only question was how long it would take to break that shell.
“This is bad…”
Chijue King’s face darkened.
At Ling Shen King’s current level, he couldn’t even hold him back.
If that happened, it would upend the entire situation among the peak Great Sovereigns below.
If Chijue King failed to hold him, Ling Shen King could deal with the others as he pleased—it would be no contest.
—
At the rear of the battlefield—
Suddenly, Chisong King heard Chijue King’s urgent voice in his ear.
“Chisong, Ling Shen King has reached his limit—I can’t stop him. Do everything you can to have all Great Sovereigns retreat!”
Chisong King’s face changed dramatically.
'Ling Shen King has reached his peak?'
He immediately understood Chijue King’s intent.
All the Great Sovereigns needed to retreat to Qingfen City, where the city’s formation could buy enough time for another core royal of the same level from the Liyang Kingdom to come help.
A core royal at their limit—there was no way to stop such power in a straight fight.
Only with Qingfen City’s defenses could they hold out long enough for reinforcements.
“Retreat.”
“All Great Sovereigns, retreat at once!”
Chisong King immediately transmitted the order.
As battlefield commander, he could contact all the Great Sovereigns in an instant.
“Retreat?”
“Retreat right now?”
“His Highness Chisong wants us to pull back?”
Qingfen Marquis and the other peak Sovereigns were stunned.
But no one dared question the order; all the Great Sovereigns immediately began falling back toward the defensive formation.
These battle formations, even when hastily set up, could still delay even a peak Great Sovereign for several breaths.
Soon—
All the peak Great Sovereigns and many others gathered before the spatial gateway at the rear.
The gateway began to activate.
As they waited—
Everyone was in an uproar.
“Why is His Highness Chisong calling a retreat?”
“It doesn’t make sense—we’re not even losing.”
“Even if we were losing, isn’t this too sudden?”
The Great Sovereigns didn’t understand.
Lin Yuan, mingling among them, understood perfectly well why Chisong King had given that order.
He could see in higher space: Chijue King was already about to collapse under Ling Shen King’s attack.
—
Higher up.
“Hahaha—Chijue, you’ve fallen for it.”
Ling Shen King looked down at the battlefield, smiling as he saw all of Qingfen’s Great Sovereigns gathering at the gateway.
“Fallen for it?”
Chijue King’s expression changed.
“You think you can hold me?”
Ling Shen King sneered, then slammed down his right hand—completely suppressing Chijue King.
Then he stretched his right hand toward the spatial gateway, reaching for the dozens of Great Sovereigns below.
“This is bad!”
Chijue King’s face changed drastically.
Given the state of the battle, even with Ling Shen King at his peak, Chisong King’s side wasn’t necessarily doomed.
If all the Great Sovereigns could make it back to Qingfen City and its defenses, they could hold out for a while.
Qingfen City wasn’t just protected by defensive formations—it also had a teleportation array connected to the capital.
If they could just buy enough time, another core royal could be called in.
But only if everyone made it back.
Only with all the Great Sovereigns powering the defense could Qingfen City hope to resist Ling Shen King’s assault, even briefly.
If not, then no matter how strong the formation was, it would be like water without a source—unable to withstand him.
If Qingfen City fell, so would Qingfen Domain—and all the surrounding domains would be in danger too.
Rumble—
In front of the gateway—
The dozens of Great Sovereigns about to return suddenly felt the world shift. Darkness closed in from all sides, and five immense pillars appeared.
—
Higher up—
Ling Shen King looked at his right hand, which now contained dozens of Great Sovereigns—trapped like ants in his palm.
“Chijue, this war is over—you’ve lost.”
Ling Shen King laughed, and under Chijue King’s despairing gaze, slowly closed his right hand.
In that instant—
All the Great Sovereigns felt the five huge pillars come crashing down, space and time collapsing.
But—
Halfway through closing his fist, Ling Shen King’s smile froze. He stared at his half-closed hand in confusion.
Why was it so hard to close?
...
20 chapters ahead on patreon: patreon.com/David_Lord
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