Translator: Lordbluefire Editor: Lordbluefire

  The tiny devil sword in her palm shifted to her fingers as she grabbed it. Flicking outwards, Qin Wentian instantly felt a stifling pressure boring down on him. This sword seemed to originate from the void, aiming directly at his sea of consciousness, rushing within it. That devil sword was still in Lu Xuejia’s hands, but it seemed as though it was already right in front of him.

  "Careful!" Juyu acted the moment Lu Xuejia flickered her fingers outward. A black-colored seemingly indestructible shield appeared before Qin Wentian, shimmering with the power of darkness.

  "Kacha!"

  Only to see that the powerful devil shield was shattered into pieces and that sword intent hasn’t dispersed at all, continuing on its way towards Qin Wentian.

  At this moment, the ancient characters around Qin Wentian all congregated together, transforming into a gigantic palm imprint that protectively blocked the path before him. The sword intent landed, causing piercing sounds to ring out. Lu Xuejia took another step forward, causing the devil might to grow more intense as the sword penetrated through, aiming for Qin Wentian’s head.

  A phantom of the divine turtle instantly covered Qin Wentian, but the layers of protection were easily penetrated. This sword might was simply too fast and strong, Qin Wentian now, could only lift his hands and blocked it before his face. When the sword intent slammed into his hands, the might of it had already weakened a lot. A brilliant light then radiated from his hands, forcefully dissipating the sword might after it left a bloody wound.

  "For experts who gained control of a trace of immortal-king might, even if they are not top-tier geniuses, one cannot underestimate their attacks." Qin Wentian mused silently. This attack by Lu Xuejia was extremely terrifying. The power contained within that sword was sufficient to kill ordinary peak-level immortal or devil-foundation experts.

  Dropping his hands down, Qin Wentian’s gaze turned even more terrifying. At this moment, he began to treat this battle seriously.

  However, Lu Xuejia was frowning. That overwhelmingly powerful strike of hers should have been a sure-kill technique. Yet, it actually failed to take Qin Wentian’s life. This made her extremely bewildered.

  Although she was bewildered, Lu Xuejia was still a devil general that has experienced countless battles. Sword lotuses started to manifest around her, and when her palm pressed forth again, all the devil energy sword lotuses started to bloom, wanting to annihilate everyone who was within its boundary.

  In that instant, the battlefield was filled with the lotuses, one couldn’t even manage to see Lu Xuejia’s silhouette.

  "I will destroy her attack, I will leave the one-hit sure-kill to you." Qin Wentian spoke to Juyu. For the other protector, he was helpless before Lu Xuejia’s attack. Under the absolute disparity between their strengths, he was completely useless.

  And although Juyu was bewildered as to why Qin Wentian was so confident, since he has already spoken, she would do her best.

  Qin Wentian advanced forward, his perfect saint-grade immortal-foundation appeared in the air as immortal energy shrouded him entirely. The ancient halberd in his hands had the ability to penetrate through all destructive might. As he stepped out, he unleashed a strike augmented by the power of God’s Hand. The halberd was like a dragon, invincible. With that strike, dragon roars filled the skies as a black dragon of absolute destruction manifested in the air.

  "ROAR!" With the roars of the dragon, the sky collapsed. The dragons also radiated the light from ancient runes of destruction, intent on shattering everything. The ancient halberd then slashed forth with indomitable might, aiming for Lu Xuejia.

  Lu Xuejia’s countenance turned incredibly unsightly to behold. She could feel that there was a towering heavenly might contained within this strike, and it actually filled her with a strong sense of dread. Lu Xuejia gritted her teeth, a straight-up black-colored sword light emitted from her, transforming into an extremely powerful gigantic sword that stabbed towards the demon dragon.

  Huge rumbling sounds rang out. The sword and demon dragon were both trembling from the impact. Lu Xuejia pointed at the demonic dragon in the air, wanting to destroy it but at this very moment, Juyu, the devil general of Qin Wentian had arrived. Her palms slammed mercilessly into Lu Xuejia’s body, wanting to annihilate her.

  Lu Xuejia turned pale as she screamed loudly, "I concede!"

  As the sound of her voice faded, Juyu retreated. Despite Lu Xuejia fusing with the sword diagrams, she was still severely injured by that palm strike as she coughed out several mouthfuls of blood.

  Her aura weakened as her countenance turned ashen. Inclining her head and staring at Qin Wentian and Juyu, a grimace could be seen on her face. To think that when the two of them joined hands, they could actually injure her so badly.

  She, Lu Xuejia, initially wanted to improve her ranking in this battle. Never would she have imagined that her rank would fall to #14 instead.

  Qin Wentian’s eyes were calm as he stared at Lu Xuejia. He then turn and spoke to Juyu beside him, "Let’s go back."

  Juyu nodded lightly as the two of them prepared to depart.

  Lu Xuejia stared at the back of Qin Wentian as she coldly spoke, "If it were not for you two joining hands, I would definitely have killed you."

  "I already said it before. Since you were so cowardly to abandon me because of your fear to face off against the third-ranked general, you have already lost." Qin Wentian didn’t turn back. His words caused Lu Xuejia’s heart to be filled with reluctance.

  "Even now, I still believe in my choice," Lu Xuejia knew what sort of person the third-ranked devil general Zong Yan was. Although she was defeated, she didn’t regret giving up on Qin Wentian. Her state of heart wouldn’t be wavered.

  Being able to climb up to her current position, she has experienced too many things and suffered many defeats before. But as long as she was alive, everything could be gained back. This was the conviction of experts on the devil path.

  Everyone stared in shock at the two of them. Qin Wentian’s strength was actually strong enough to restrict Lu Xuejia. In that case, it wouldn’t be an easy thing to eliminate his devil general Juyu from the battlefield this round.

  If they wanted to eliminate Juyu, they first had to defeat her protector.

  Huang Hanling didn’t feel that it was unexpected as he watched this scene. If Qin Wentian was too weak, there would be no meaning at all. Since Qin Wentian was able to become a legend in the sacred academy, he naturally would have some capabilities.

  The battles next were extremely interesting. Although Juyu originally was the last-ranked general, there was actually no one else who dared to challenge her.

  Everyone had personally watched as the ninth-ranked devil general Lu Xuejia fell from grace. If they wanted to challenge Juyu, most probably, only those generals who ranked before Lu Xuejia, would have a chance to succeed.

  "When are you prepared to act?" The third-ranked devil general Zong Yan stared at Huang Hanling beside him as he asked. Zong Yan had no doubts with regards to Huang Hanling’s strength. Despite Qin Wentian being very strong, there was no problem if Huang Hanling wanted to kill him.

  "There’s no hurry. Allowing him to pass is simply because I want his life. Since he will die sooner or later, just let him enjoy himself a while more. After all, only then would there be meaning to killing him." Huang Hanling laughed in a low voice. He then continued, "In addition, devil general, don’t you feel that it would be an extremely interesting matter for the previous last-ranked general to be able to reach the top seven now?"

  "Let him continue climbing up. When he stands at an unprecedented peak, wouldn’t it be more fun if he fell into the abyss of despair from there?"

  Zong Yan shook his head and laughed. He didn’t feel that this was very interesting. Strength was everything on the devil path, Juyu has already advanced to a point where she shouldn’t be at. She should be eliminated now as she was not qualified to be part of the top seven.

  But since Huang Hanling wanted to play, just let him play then.

  Because no one challenged them, Qin Wentian and Juyu actually continued advancing smoothly. Juyu could reach the #7 rank because of her protector’s strength. But everyone was clear that that was her absolute limit.

  Juyu understood that herself as well.

  "For the next round where we determine the top seven, devil general can only have one protector. Generals will fight generals while protectors will fight protectors. If two battles were lost, that party would be eliminated, if a team won one out of two battles, they can temporarily still remain on the battlefield. For example, if we clash against third-ranked Zong Yan and you defeat his protector but I’m defeated by him, my ranking would still be behind him."

  For the next round where the rankings of the top seven were determined, in truth, Juyu’s path has already came to an end.

  "This means that even if I can defeat all the protectors, as long as one of the devil generals defeats you, your ranking would still be behind them? Does this also mean that……"

  "It means that since I’m already at the last rank of this round, even if you win all the battles and I can’t defeat any of the generals, I will still be ranked #7. Unless……" Juyu directly spoke.

  "Unless what?" Qin Wentian asked.

  "After a protector defeats all protectors, they can represent their devil general to fight against the other generals. Unless you can defeat the devil generals as well. This is also the reason why someone as powerful as the third-ranked devil Zong Yan also wanted to find a powerful protector. He needs his protector to block those aiming for him, while also testing out the strength of the first and second-ranked devil generals.

  Juyu slowly spoke. But she knew it was impossible for Qin Wentian to fight against the top six generals. Even if he could win against all the protectors, she had no intentions of asking him to do this.

  "When I invited you to be my protector, I also didn’t expect that I could reach this step. The devil sect emphasizes on strength, even if one’s protector is strong, the devil general also needs to have a compatible strength-level with his or her protector before they can sit on their seat in a stable manner. The higher you bring me up, the more shaky my seat would be."

  Qin Wentian could understand somewhat. But he asked with a puzzled look on his face, "In that case, doesn’t that mean that there’s no meaning even if I help you to improve your ranking?"

  "Nope there’s some meaning to it. At the very least after the ranking battles, I can still receive many benefits." Juyu replied. Qin Wentian nodded. If that was the case, things are still not too bad.

  For this coming round, their opponents were the top six ranking generals. Their strength made it so that they have secured their ranks for a very long time. Most probably, it would be hard for any to touch their position.

  Although Lu Xuejia was injured, she was still watching the battle. The Juyu and Qin Wentian right now, seemed so tiny and inconsequential in front of the top six generals.

  Next for the top six ranks, even if it were the protectors of the devil generals, none of them would be weak.

  The sounds of footsteps rang out. Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, the first person who walked out was actually the protector of the third-ranked devil general Zong Yan, Huang Hanling.

  He stared at Qin Wentian as he coldly laughed, "Who would have thought that I would encounter you in the devil sect. What a pity, although you have reached this step, you still have to die. I heard that in the adjudication battle, you are a very important character on the side of the Evergreen Immortal Empire. Wouldn’t it be funny if you die here today?"

  Huang Hanling was thinking that if he brought Qin Wentian’s head back, what expressions would experts of both sides make?

  "Do you believe that you are very powerful?" Qin Wentian stared at Huang Hanling as he asked.

  Huang Hanling laughed when he heard these ridiculous words, "Maybe you haven’t managed to have a glimpse of the gate leading to the immortal king realm. Although those who could enter the sacred academy are all geniuses, it doesn’t mean that their cultivation bases are strong. It is not important if you are strong or not, but it wouldn’t be too much trouble for me to kill you. Remember this, the name of the person who kill you, is Huang Hanling of the Nine-Emperors Immortal Empire."

  As the sound of his voice faded, Huang Hanling’s immortal-foundation was released. It was a king-grade immortal foundation that shimmered with emperor light, manifesting the silhouette of a human emperor.

  "Huang Hanling, after you finish him off, help me to kill his devil general as well. The last-ranked devil general shouldn’t have managed to climb so high up. Since she did so, there’s no need for her to exist any longer." From the back, Zong Yan coldly commanded.

  "I’m willing to do the honors." Huang Hanling laughed as he replied.

  Qin Wentian stepped out. Stretching his hand, an ancient halberd materialized from the destructive energy. He stared at Huang Hanling as he spoke, "A pitiful low-grade trash from the Nine-Emperors Immortal Empire. If I can’t settle you within three strikes, this incident would be a humiliation for I, Qin Wentian!"