In the Undead Dao Court, the three Dao Lords—no, the two Dao Lords—burst into joyous laughter.
Seeing the cyber martial artist Kristine be the first to be eliminated, Chen Xu and the Lord of the Crafts Sect both laughed, while Li Taiji sat there looking thoroughly disgruntled.
“That doesn't count! It doesn't count! That cyber martial artist didn't lose to that bear Druid; she lost to you, Fellow Daoist Chen! If not for the arena you created, Fellow Daoist Chen, that final explosion would have definitely blown that giant bear away, and maybe even taken everyone else on the stage with it!”
“Hahaha, Fellow Daoist Li, you couldn't be more wrong.” The Lord of the Crafts Sect stroked his beard and smiled, defending Chen Xu. “This arena is public property. The bear Druid could use it, and so could anyone else. It doesn't belong to just one person.”
“What kind of logic is that, Fellow Daoist Tie? Aside from that bear, who else has the ability to resonate with the earth and manipulate rock and soil?”
“Hahaha, Fellow Daoist Li, you said it yourself: resonating with the earth is a skill in its own right! Since your fighter's skills were inferior, there's no need to act like a sore loser. Surely, as the grand Martial Dao Lord, you aren't so stingy that you'd begrudge us a mere handful of celestial gourd fallen leaves?”
“Hmph!” Li Taiji snorted angrily, reached his left hand into his right sleeve, pulled out a handful of celestial gourd fallen leaves, and slammed them onto the table.
“Hahaha, look at you, getting worked up again!” The Lord of the Crafts Sect and Chen Xu smiled at each other.
Watching the two celebrate, Li Taiji couldn't help but grumble. “Don't celebrate too early, you two. There can only be one winner. One of you will be joining me shortly! Actually, wait. If that bear wins the championship, then neither of you wins!”
At this thought, Li Taiji's eyes lit up again, and his expression instantly shifted. “Watch the match, watch the match! Damn bear Druid, you'd better put some back into it! Use those spikes provided by Fellow Daoist Chen to skewer them all like kebabs!”
Chen Xu and the Lord of the Crafts Sect shook their heads and returned their attention to the arena.
On the stage, Huanfeng and Dio swept away their obstacles with thunderous momentum, securing their spots in the top three.
Next came their cooperation to eliminate the Daoist of Clan Corpses, who looked like a tough nut to crack.
Dio glanced at the lightning on Huanfeng's bear claws, raised his hand, and cast a Blizzard.
Magic shot from the tip of his staff, and a massive cloud condensed in the sky above. Within the clouds, wind and snow raged as they drifted toward the horde of zombies belonging to the Daoist of Clan Corpses.
Faced with this biting wind and snow, the zombies didn't care at all; in fact, they even seemed rather comfortable.
But soon, Dio swept his staff horizontally and cast another spell.
A heatwave swept across the ground as flames erupted from the earth. The fire and frost clashed, melting each other and generating plumes of steam.
The zombie horde still didn't budge. To them, the ice and snow above and the ground fire below were no different from a light tickle.
Having finished his setup, Dio temporarily put away his staff and looked at Huanfeng.
Huanfeng sniffed the moisture in the air and immediately understood Dio's plan.
With that, the giant bear dropped onto all fours and charged toward the zombie horde.
Dio spun his right hand, lightly tapped his calf with his staff to cast a buff spell, and then broke into a sprint to follow him.
Yes, Dio did not choose to teleport; he chose to run on his own two feet. After all, aside from some talent in academic research, he possessed no natural advantage when it came to his soul. He couldn't do what Chen Xu had done back then, using epic-tier mental strength at the Transcendent Rank to cast Teleport as naturally as breathing.
Thus, Dio could only run and rely on his own physical body to catch up. Fortunately, he didn't slack on physical training in his daily life, and he would occasionally extract some experimental vampire blood to improve his physical constitution.
Faced with Huanfeng's charge, the zombie horde quickly gathered. Leaving behind about a dozen zombie guards around the coffin, the rest of the zombies all swarmed forward.
“Form the array.” At the command of the leading ancestor zombie, the zombies quickly took their positions according to the instructions.
Bound by bloodline, with the zombies serving as the array cores, the Yin Baleful Spirit-Extinguishing Array was formed!
“What a malevolent aura.” The rushing Huanfeng frowned. He leaped violently about fifty meters in front of the zombie array. In mid-air, he swiped his claws in turn, unleashing crackling bolts of lightning.
“Mighty Thunderbolts!” Huanfeng pushed his bear paws forward, sending rolling thunderbolts crashing into the zombie horde.
“Not good! Scatter, quickly!” The ancestor zombie realized something was wrong and immediately ordered them to scatter.
However, it was already too late.
The moisture in the air was dense. Once the lightning struck, it quickly propagated along the water vapor, directly shocking the entire group of zombies.
Lightning was a pure yang force, the very thing zombies feared most.
Under the strike, a large number of zombies collapsed, twitching on the ground and spewing black smoke from their mouths. Only a few of the older, high-generation zombies managed to endure the blow by relying on their deep cultivation, but their current state was barely any better.
Huanfeng pressed his advantage. The giant bear crashed through them like a runaway train, sending the zombies flying in all directions.
Dio also arrived in time. He casually threw out highly precise, perfectly sized Fireballs, landing them on every fallen zombie.
With lightning coursing through their bodies and flames scorching them, the paralyzed zombies could only lie on the ground, helplessly letting the lightning and fire consume them.
“Vile beast, do not presume to be so arrogant!” Gritting his teeth through the discomfort of the lightning coursing through him, the ancestor zombie reached behind his back, snapped, and yanked out his own spine.
Gripping it in his hand, he used his spine as a sword and charged at the giant bear.
“In ancient times, emperors used swords to slay white serpents and bring peace to the world! Today, this old man shall use his spine as a sword to fight you to the death, you vile beast!”
No one knew how much cold energy and zombie poison had accumulated in the ancestor zombie's spine, but its foul stench made the scent-sensitive Huanfeng knit his brows and refuse to get close. He could only repeatedly unleash lightning to suppress the ancestor zombie's offense, all while continuously using brute strength to tear the other zombies to pieces.
In the rear, the zombies guarding the coffin were itching to help, but they were stopped by the grandmother zombie.
The grandmother zombie looked at her husband ahead, then at the countless generations of great-grandchildren behind her, her gaze resolute.
Before long, the zombies on the field were completely cleared out by Huanfeng and Dio.
That ancestor zombie was incredibly tough, like cured meat that had been left out for centuries. Huanfeng had to expend a great deal of effort just to rip him in half.
Now, only the dozen or so zombies near the coffin remained. The process had gone so smoothly that Huanfeng felt something was slightly off.
The strength of these zombies didn't seem particularly high; only their numbers were somewhat intimidating.
Moreover, since he had been charging in front, he had expended far more energy than the mage. No, he needed to conserve his strength next and slack off a bit, letting the mage go first.
Just as Dio threw his last Fireball, he noticed that the giant bear's forward pace had slowed down. He instantly guessed the other's thoughts.
He shook his head, his evaluation of this bear Druid instantly plummeting.
The sense of danger had not yet dissipated. How did this stupid bear dare to let its guard down?
Dio did not slow down. Instead, he gathered his power as he walked toward the coffin of the Daoist of Clan Corpses. Left hand on a fireball, right hand gathering lightning, and a curse primed and ready to fire from between his brows.
Although Dio lacked outstanding innate talent, he possessed an indescribable gift when it came to intuition. Often, when faced with insoluble problems, a sudden flash of inspiration would bring him the answer.
When confronting thorny troubles or enemies, it was usually his mysterious sixth sense that guided him through. Thus, Dio firmly trusted his gut. The Daoist of Clan Corpses in front of them was definitely plotting something.
Sure enough, just as Dio and Huanfeng were about to approach the coffin, the lid violently flew off, and a terrifying, horrifying aura surged out.
Huanfeng twitched his nose and took a few sniffs. Instantly, his hair stood on end, and his entire body trembled.
“Ep-Epic? Or is it... Legendary?”
A solemn look also appeared on Dio's face.
The next moment, a dark shadow flew out of the coffin, soaring straight into the sky.
Dio and Huanfeng looked up into the sky together, staring at this... Flying Zombie!
“Ha, you've got to be kidding me. Turning from a living human directly into a zombie is one thing, but breaking through straight to a Flying Zombie?” Dio actually laughed, though it was not a happy laugh, but one of sheer exasperation.
It would have been one thing to make a mid-battle breakthrough to the Epic Rank, but what was the meaning of breaking through to a Legendary Rank Flying Zombie?
Although this Flying Zombie's state seemed off and rather unstable, no matter how unstable it was, it wasn't something a Transcendent Rank mage and a Transcendent Rank stupid bear could go up against.
“I will give you a single chance. Walk off the stage yourselves, and you may spare yourselves some pain.” The Daoist of Clan Corpses spoke through ventriloquism, his voice incredibly eerie.
Huanfeng threw his head back and roared. “How dare someone who desecrates nature talk so big here!”
Just as Huanfeng was about to raise his hand and launch a spike at the Daoist of Clan Corpses, Dio had already dropped his staff, raised both hands high, and slowly walked toward the edge of the stage.
This scene left Huanfeng completely dumbfounded. “You!”
“What the hell! Play the match properly!” In the Undead Dao Court, Chen Xu also cursed loudly. He hadn't expected the contestant he favored to actually avoid the fight and surrender.
If Li Taiji and the Lord of the Crafts Sect hadn't held him back, he would have opened a spatial gate long ago to slap Dio into the Cosmic Sea.
“Calm down, calm down, Fellow Daoist Chen. We are of the Unique Rank, Dao Lords. There's no need to get angry over a Transcendent Rank kid.”
“Indeed, Fellow Daoist Chen, calm your anger, calm your anger.”
“Calm down my ass! I'm going to go over there and slap this embarrassing piece of trash flat! A creature with no mage's soul! A disgrace to all mages! I'm going to ban his account! Ban his account!”
“Pui!” Huanfeng spat on the ground and deactivated his bear Druid form.
Since his partner had already thrown in the towel, he had no other choice but to follow suit.
Thus, the Druid Huanfeng also raised his hands and shouted at the top of his lungs. “I surrender!”
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