Chapter 2163: Cruelty
"Heartless Young Master." Lin Feng showed a strange expression upon hearing Jin Zhen's words. He hadn't even stepped into the Nine Heavens Gathering yet, and he was already being asked to fight Heartless Young Master?
He knew that the rule for this round was that the victor had the qualification to fight three consecutive battles, while the loser was directly eliminated. Therefore, if he fought Heartless Young Master, one of them would inevitably fail to enter the Nine Heavens Gathering.
Heartless Young Master's expression was also quite peculiar. Both he and Lin Feng came from the Qingxiao Continent, and although he had always been absolutely confident in his own strength, facing Lin Feng at this moment gave him a strange feeling. Lin Feng shouldn't be someone who couldn't even step into the Nine Heavens Gathering.
Lin Feng shared the same thought as Heartless Young Master. He believed that Heartless Young Master, with his Three Thousand Heartless Threads and Three Thousand Slaughter Techniques, would be too great a pity if he couldn't even enter the gate of the Nine Heavens Gathering.
Therefore, Lin Feng raised his gaze and looked toward Jin Zhen. When Jin Zhen had come to invite him, the three of them had spoken very smoothly, always adopting a posture of recruiting him. Of course, at that time, Jin Zhen needed him because he didn't want any accidents. He wanted his alliance to be undefeated, so he had invited Yu Qing to sit in command, and also invited a King Body and Lin Feng. This way, it would be foolproof, and no matter who they faced, there would be no situation where the alliance lost.
But now the situation was different. Lin Feng was already within his alliance. Now that it was time to discard people, he unhesitatingly chose to sacrifice Lin Feng. If only two people could enter the Nine Heavens Gathering in the end, those two would definitely be him and Yu Qing.
"For this first battle, you go." Lin Feng said calmly, as if returning Jin Zhen's words to him. Hearing Lin Feng's voice, Jin Zhen's pupils slightly condensed, and a cold light flashed in his eyes. In his eyes, within this alliance, only he and Yu Qing were the best ones to remain. If it came to the point of discarding someone, even the King Body Dugu Bubai would have to be discarded.
Yet Lin Feng, at this moment, said to him the same words he had said to Lin Feng earlier, telling him, Jin Zhen, to fight Heartless Young Master.
The surrounding people all looked over, showing interested expressions. It seemed there were some problems within this alliance. In the previous battles, if the alliance won, it was a win, so who fought whom didn't matter. But now the rules were different. Within the alliance, even if the alliance won, an individual's loss was still a loss, leading to elimination. This way, how could the alliance not have problems?
"We forfeit this round. It counts as Lin Feng's loss." Jin Zhen looked toward the Golden Mountain expert in the void and said slowly. That person looked over, but then Lin Feng said, "I agreed to form an alliance with you, but I didn't agree to obey your orders. Senior, in the Golden Mountain alliance rules, there is no such clause, is there?"
"Indeed, there isn't." The Golden Mountain expert looked at Lin Feng and nodded slightly.
"Since that's the case, Jin Zhen has no right to command me." Lin Feng said calmly.
"But in your alliance, someone must come out to fight. You can decide together as an alliance."
"How do we decide? Jin Zhen and Bing already know each other, so they naturally share the same opinion. I'm at a disadvantage from the start." Lin Feng said calmly.
"Then what do you think should be done?" The Golden Mountain expert asked.
"Let's say this alliance admits defeat in this battle. But as for who should bear this defeat, if anyone thinks it should be me, they don't need to fight Heartless Young Master. They can fight me directly. If I lose, then this defeat counts as mine. If I win, the defeat counts as theirs." Lin Feng said lightly, then continued, "Or, I am willing to withdraw from this alliance and become an independent person."
"Nonsense. How can the alliance be withdrawn from as you please? What do you think this alliance is?" Jin Zhen stepped toward Lin Feng. In an instant, terrifying finger force shot forward, and the entire void seemed to freeze into gold. Lin Feng only felt an extreme sharpness piercing toward him, as if it would bore a hole through his head.
"And what do you think this alliance is, that you can say whatever you want?" Lin Feng also stepped forward. With a thunderous explosion, his finger also shot out. Strands of terrifying holy spirit swords gathered at his fingertip, condensing into a sword technique, and clashed with the other's fingertip, as if trying to tear the void apart.
"Whoosh!" Yu Qing and the others retreated, causing everyone's pupils to contract. An internal conflict had actually broken out. It seemed Heartless Young Master's prestige was indeed formidable.
Lin Feng wasn't afraid to fight Heartless Young Master. He simply felt that this wasn't the stage for him and Heartless Young Master to clash. Not only did he think so, but Yu Qing, the First Lord of Yu Xiao, probably thought the same, which was why he showed no intention of fighting. Even the Nine Heavens First Lords wanted a magnificent collision with each other, but this wasn't their stage yet. They felt they shouldn't clash so early, so Yu Qing didn't even consider the possibility of fighting Heartless Young Master in this battle.
Lin Feng thought the same. Moreover, Jin Zhen's attitude of treating him as a sacrifice, as if everyone was his chess piece, made Lin Feng very uncomfortable. He never liked being manipulated, especially being treated as a sacrifice. So, he erupted.
"How dare you!" Jin Zhen roared. Terrifying light pierced through everything. Lin Feng stood right in front of him, at such close range. Anyone would be destroyed under this devastating attack.
"Get lost!" Lin Feng also shouted. The killing sound pierced the other's mind. The Eye of Death directly stabbed into the other's divine thought and mind. At the same time, his fist blasted out, tearing everything apart.
"Boom!" In close combat, the terrifying fluctuation instantly engulfed both of them. Then, with another explosive sound, the crowd saw Jin Zhen's body fly backward. He steadied himself, standing in the void, and looked toward Lin Feng with an extremely cold gaze.
Lin Feng's figure appeared. He took a slight step forward, his long robe fluttering, his expression cold. "Who do you think you are, to command this alliance? Just because you're from Golden Mountain, you think you can sacrifice us and step on us to enter the Nine Heavens Gathering? But you don't have the real strength. Don't you feel ashamed?"
Jin Zhen's face instantly turned extremely ugly after being humiliated by Lin Feng's words. Especially since Lin Feng had just repelled him, it made Lin Feng's words carry even more weight.
His strength was inferior to Lin Feng's, so on what basis could he sacrifice Lin Feng? Just because he was a martial cultivator from Golden Mountain, could he enter the Nine Heavens Gathering without relying on strength?
"I'll fight this round." Bing leaped onto the battle platform, causing everyone's pupils to contract again. This woman was relieving Jin Zhen's predicament. Jin Zhen had attacked Lin Feng but was instead repelled. Clearly, if Jin Zhen insisted on counting it as Lin Feng's loss, it would be impossible to convince the crowd.
If the stalemate continued, it would be disadvantageous for Jin Zhen. So, Bing chose to step forward herself, sacrificing herself. She was originally just a foil for Jin Zhen.
Jin Zhen's strength was actually very strong. Bing still believed in Jin Zhen. She didn't know why, but Jin Zhen had been repelled by Lin Feng just now. In Bing's eyes, perhaps Jin Zhen had been careless. In fact, if anyone fought Lin Feng at such close range, the outcome wouldn't be any different. He wasn't injured, which showed that Jin Zhen's strength was indeed very formidable. Lin Feng also knew this clearly in his heart. He understood the power of his own attacks.
"You will still be the one eliminated." Jin Zhen waved his long robe, coldly sweeping his gaze over Lin Feng. Then he descended onto the pillar again, no longer looking at Lin Feng, but at Bing on the battle platform. There was always a terrifying coldness in his eyes.
Bing naturally couldn't be a match for Heartless Young Master. In this battle, she lost. No one was surprised. Her loss was only to cover up Jin Zhen's earlier embarrassment.
In the second battle, Jin Zhen stepped forward with a cold expression. His opponent was very strong, but this time Jin Zhen was clearly showing off his strength. In just three moves, he defeated his opponent and sent him flying.
In the third battle, Yu Qing made his move. Without a doubt, he won.
In the fourth battle, Dugu Bubai made his move. Three thousand six hundred divine seals condensed into a vast ancient seal, unleashing supreme pressure, suppressing the heavens, and crushing his opponent to defeat.
With three consecutive wins, this alliance had already secured victory.
However, according to the rules, Lin Feng still had to fight. Lin Feng also won this battle. This made people secretly sigh at the strength of this alliance. If not for the opponent having Heartless Young Master, they might have won all five battles.
The alliance of Yu Qing, Jin Zhen, Lin Feng, and Dugu Bubai seized victory, and all of them became qualifiers. On the opponent's side, only Heartless Young Master still had the chance to challenge three people, but that would have to wait until after the alliance battles were over.
"Jin Zhen and Lin Feng have already turned hostile. If someone still needs to be eliminated, with all four of them in their alliance being so strong, who should be eliminated?" Many people secretly speculated. The battles of other alliances continued. When this round of battles ended, including those who had achieved three consecutive wins and remained on the pillars, only forty people were left.
"From three to four hundred strong cultivators, only a mere forty remain." The crowd's pupils contracted. Those who were eliminated sighed in their hearts. Those who would step onto the stage of the Nine Heavens Gathering would be terrifying figures. However, it was on the stage of the Nine Heavens Gathering that the true competition among peak geniuses would begin.
Moreover, forty people still seemed too many to Golden Mountain, because they showed no intention of stopping. It seemed they wanted to continue eliminating. But by now, the alliances were already in disarray. Some alliances had only three people left, some four, very few had five, and many were alone—those who had reversed the situation with three consecutive wins.