Blood in the Valley

Guluo's gaze was dark and venomous as he stared at Xiao Chen. "Since you've agreed to the decisive battle, we will fight to the death when the time comes!"

"Words are useless." Xiao Chen nodded, then seemed to think of something. "I'm facing ten of you alone. I can't possibly engage you head-on. But if I were to wage a guerrilla war across the entire Dragon Island, the front would be too vast. How about this—a compromise. We choose a closed valley for the battle."

But heaven knew whether he truly dared not face them directly.

In Guluo's plan, he had wanted to fight Xiao Chen head-on, but hearing that Xiao Chen seemed ready to flee and fight, he felt very uneasy. When he heard the compromise, he immediately agreed. In a closed valley, the Revenge Alliance could easily trap and catch their prey.

Xiao Chen turned to face the observing alliances and called out, "We will decide this in a closed valley—not too large, not too small…" He quickly made his meaning clear.

Dragon Island's mountains rose and fell, and valleys were never scarce. Soon a suitable site was found. The valley stretched three to four li in both directions. Within, the trees were lush and green, full of life—not a bad place for a battle to the death.

The various alliances deliberately chose a valley with sparse trees, so that the dense foliage would not block their view of the magnificent battle. Standing atop the valley, one could clearly see everything within. This seemed somewhat unfair to Xiao Chen, who had claimed he did not want a direct confrontation, since reasonable terrain cover was important for a lone fighter.

The battle had already begun. Xiao Chen's actions stunned everyone. He did not employ guerrilla tactics at all—he charged straight at Guluo and his men.

At this moment, Xiao Chen was wreathed in blazing divine radiance, like roaring flames. His entire being seethed with soaring battle intent. Killing aura filled the forest, shredding the leaves into a rain of green fragments that drifted down through the air.

An awe-inspiring, overwhelming presence! A scene that struck fear into the heart!

The two sides collided. From several meters away, Xiao Chen raised his hands like blades, dazzling and radiant. He swung them fiercely. Two peerless edges, like brilliant rainbows, streaked through the air and in an instant swept across the neck of a member of the Revenge Alliance. The man's head shot upward, spinning more than ten meters away, as a fountain of blood spurted two or three meters high.

Absolute shock!

From the very first moment, Xiao Chen had slain an expert from the enemy camp. He was like an invincible demon of slaughter, his black hair dancing wildly without wind.

Guluo, the Spiritist Li Lingfeng, and the Spellmaster Carter all launched ferocious attacks. Waves of energy, brimming with boundless killing intent, surged toward Xiao Chen.

He left an afterimage in his original position and vanished swiftly. Then from another direction, he blasted out a dazzling radiance. A huge swath of trees shattered in an instant, and the terrifying light drowned that area.

Mortal-Shedding Fifth Heaven! This was an overwhelming advantage, making Xiao Chen as fearsome as a war god.

The two foremost experts on Guluo's side vomited blood and retreated. One of them had barely taken five steps backward when his body suddenly split apart, shattered in an instant! The other, after retreating seven steps, collapsed, his bones snapping throughout his body. Even in death, his eyes were filled with horror.

It all happened so fast. In the short time since the clash began, Guluo's side had already lost three men. This was a terrifying result—one man challenging an entire alliance, and from the outset he dominated them all.

A commotion arose from atop the valley. Everyone was shocked. Xiao Chen was like a god of slaughter, wielding an overwhelming, terrifying power.

Within the valley, Xiao Chen reined in his Fifth Heaven power—a fleeting display—and smoothly transitioned to the Mortal-Shedding Fourth Heaven. Almost no one noticed the shift in his strength, believing that Xiao Chen had always been at the Fourth Heaven.

"Everyone, stay together! Don't split up!" Guluo shouted. At this moment, a chill crept into his heart. Xiao Chen was too fearsome. Choosing to fight in the valley—this was a trap!

It wasn't that Xiao Chen dared not fight head-on; rather, he was afraid that if he displayed his deterrent power, Guluo and the others would flee in fear, making it hard to annihilate them. The alliances watching from the valley rim now understood why he had chosen this terrain.

And indeed it was so. Xiao Chen now possessed the power of the Fifth Heaven; he had no fear of the Revenge Alliance! But for now, he displayed only the Fourth Heaven. He would keep an air of mystery, saving a "surprise" for his opponents when necessary.

Guluo stood with his sword, its blade-light flickering. With no scrolls remaining, he could only rely on his true cultivation. The Spiritist Li Lingfeng floated in the air, cyan light swirling around him as he pushed his spiritual power to its limit. The Spellmaster Carter also hovered in midair, chanting continuously as savage curse-energy attacks were about to descend.

At that moment, Xiao Chen vanished. He shifted positions rapidly through the forest, beginning to eliminate those outside the three main experts. He decided to first deal with the weaker cultivators, then focus on the airborne Carter and Li Lingfeng.

Guluo, Carter, and Li Lingfeng began to attack with all their might, unwilling to be picked off one by one. Carter finished his incantation, and terrifying bolts of lightning rained down, chasing Xiao Chen. Simultaneously, a wave of energy blades fell like a meteor shower, blanketing the area.

Xiao Chen shifted and exchanged positions, leaving trails of afterimages on the ground as he evaded the barrage of curse-energy attacks, all while pursuing the remaining cultivators.

A Spiritist possessed innate spiritual power, which through cultivation could develop into various extraordinary abilities. At this moment, Li Lingfeng was using a powerful psychic force, attempting to immobilize Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen did feel restrained. His body grew heavy as a mountain, nearly impossible to move. His actions became agonizingly slow. If not for the protective divine flames dancing around his body, he might have been torn apart by Carter's meteor-like energy blades.

"Aah—!" Xiao Chen let out a roar. His entire body shook, and the mysterious force binding him vanished. The Spiritist Li Lingfeng in the air suffered backlash, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

His power was indeed formidable, but the man he attempted to restrain was a cultivator at the Mortal-Shedding Fifth Heaven—two tiers above him.

Within a mere quarter of an hour, Xiao Chen had slain six cultivators of the Revenge Alliance. Apart from Guluo, Li Lingfeng, and Carter, who still faced him on the field, only one other cultivator had fled deep into the valley.

Now it was time to settle his grievances with Guluo.