The Aque Clan

As the leading fighters on both sides stopped in the centre of palace hall, Yaan was finally able to take a breath, look around and properly assess the field. He had been battling none stop, swept up with the Ghu Clan's momentum, and not given the chance to take a breather thanks the ferocity of their enemy. Now that he looked around, he was briefly stunned by the scene all around him.

The injured and the dead could be seen all around, lying there in a sea of red. It was truly a gruelling battlefield. At this point, almost nobody was completely uninjured, and everyone was exhausted to the point that they felt light headed.

The bulk of the dead were those at the Innate Qi Realm, but there was also no lack of Qi Temple Realm casualties. Some of the deceased even belonged to prestigious groups, including the Ghu Clan…in a battle such as this with dangerous spells and valuable treasures being thrown about crazily in every direction, it was far too easy to make a simple mistake, and these mistakes often proved to be fatal.

Yaan was better off in this regard because his body was naturally very resilient. Even if he was caught up in the crossfire of a powerful attack, he was unlikely to be killed. He was also able to use Vital Recovery Pills constantly to accelerate his restoration rate. Qi refiners could not do this, since rapidly using those pills could cause them to suffer from even greater injuries.

Yaan felt wary right now. He was breathing heavily and covered in wounds, including some bones fractures in various places throughout his body. He quickly swallowed another recovery pill, but since he'd used too many in a short period of time, they were beginning to lose their effect.

Glancing to the side, Yaan once again tried to read Ghu Lin's expression. Unfortunately, he was as unreadable as ever. Whilst he was also clearly tired and slightly pale-faced, his eyes remained serene, showing no trace of his inner thoughts.

Just as Yaan was taking this chance to catch his breath and recover, Ghu Lin shouted out an order, causing Yaan's expression to darken.

"Everyone, charge now whilst the enemy is exhausted!"

"We're all exhausted too!" Yaan turned to the side sharply and almost growled out.

From a strategic point of view, it made no sense to throw themselves back into the battle when half of their side was on the brink of collapse. All this would achieve was increasing the casualties experienced by both sides.

Yaan held onto a thin thread of hope that the Ghu Clansmen would ignore Ghu Lin's insane command. So long as they all ignored it, then the Ghu Clan guests would also follow suit.

The Ghu Clansmen were not truly loyal to Ghu Lin, they were all a self serving bunch…but Yaan had underestimated their tenacity.

Even though their bodies were screaming with pain from the strain and exhaustion, and despite barely being able to stand, every single surviving Ghu Clansman was ready and willing to battle on! It seemed that the 'training' they were forced to endure during their youth tempered these demonic clansmen into true monsters…especially when it came to war.

Oftentimes in war, even when your muscles screamed at you to stop, even when your lungs burned and your head was spinning, even when you barely had the strength to lift your weapon…you still needed to fight. Even on the verge of death, you needed to battle on, and if you failed to rise to the occasion, you would lose your life in the chaotic frenzy of slaughter that was war.

Even mortal warriors would eventually come to understand this fact. In fact, during the brink of a gruelling war, all competent warriors would realise this truth - pain was temporary, but death was not. The only way forwards was to battle on.

This thought swept through everyone's minds as Ghu Lin's command stormed into their ears.

Yaan's eye flashed as he noticed a faint, barely visible golden ripple, spreading out across the crowd. The rippled passed through enemy and ally alike. He glanced at Ghu Nadda and saw that he had noticed it too, his expression was also extremely dark right now.

In this opportune moment when tensions were running high, Ghu Lin cast a well-concealed spell to sweep through the battlefield and influence the emotional states of countless cultivators.

The spell's effect was not strong, but it was able to ever so slightly rouse the spirits and bloodlust of everyone on the battlefield, pushing forth their desire to battle. Like this, the masses accepted the decision that they must continue on.

Perhaps in normal times, when they were not under such immense life and death pressure, then more people would have noticed it. In truth, at least a dozen individuals realised what had happened, but they were all equally helpless to prevent the coming frenzy. The leaders of both sides were swept up in the momentum of their own followers, forced to follow the secret machination set in place by one man; Ghu Lin!

Once again, the battle raged forth. Both sides were forced back into the sea of violence.

CRASH!

As the two sides collided, it was exactly as Yaan had predicted. People lashed out crazily in their desperation, whilst many lost their lives in their carelessness. The dead stacked up on both sides, though the seasoned Ghu Clansmen were slightly better off. That said, all others on the Ghu Clan side, including their guests, allies and pawns, were in a miserable state, just like their opposition.

Any stray attack could lead to a severe injury, and at this point, everybody had already overused recovery pills to the extent that they were no longer showing much of an effect.

All of this was caused by one man…Ghu Lin!

Even now, he didn't seem to care about the losses on his own side. Even as his own clansmen died, he still remained indifferent.

Still though, though he knew that Ghu Lin didn't care about the lives of his comrades, Yaan felt that something was seriously wrong about this situation.

Ghu Lin himself was also showing signs of exhaustion, so why did he insist on thrusting himself into the midst of a chaotic and dangerous frenzy where his own life was placed in jeopardy? No matter how much Yaan thought about it, he couldn't think of a good reason, which was making him feel more and more uneasy.

Bang!

Suddenly, Yaan's train of thought was cut off. He narrowed his eyes and cleared his mind for now, he had no luxury to worry about Ghu Lin when there was a more immediate threat before him…the leader of the opposition, the Aque Clansman, Aque Li.

Yaan had only learned Aque Li's name recently, but he knew about the Aque Clan. This clan was one of the few groups in the Ghu Province which was currently lead by an Origin Soul Realm powerhouse. The Aque Clan was a group that could compete with the remaining three clans in the Greenwood Mountain Range. Since they were located on the Western coast of the province, not far from the inheritance site, they often sent disciples to compete in the inheritance. This year, they had hidden themselves well, blending themselves into the masses. This was likely an attempt to catch the Ghu Clan off guard at an opportune moment.

Aque Li was forced to reveal himself in order to rally the others to gather together. He used the premise of 'leaving the inheritance' to band everyone together peacefully.

Almost nobody would willingly enter the 4th trial, since nobody had returned alive from that trial ever since the inheritance's discovery 1,800 years ago!

Either the 4th trial was an absolute death trap, or it took countless years to complete the inheritance as a whole, or, the exit to the inheritance was in some far off land, making it impossible for anyone to return to the Ghu Province.

Regardless, Aque Li managed to rally together those who were unaffiliated to the Ghu Clan under his banner. Whether it was his identity as a young prodigy of the Aque Clan, or his power as a 5th Layer Qi Temple Realm cultivator, he certainly possessed the qualifications to lead these people.

Yaan narrowed his eyes as his eyes quickly darted around him.

It was true that as a body temperer, Yaan had many advantages over the Qi refiners in the 3rd trial, but even so…why did it look like he was about to be the one to fight against Aque Li head on?!

Sure, he was strong in this place, but Ghu Lin was obviously a level stronger! Ghu Lin was at the 6th Layer Qi Temple Realm, he was the strongest player in this trial, whilst Aque Li not much weaker than him, he was at the 5th Layer…he was Ghu Lin's natural opponent, right?

Not to mention that Ghu Lin and Aque Li were both young prodigies from their respective opposing clans, whilst Yaan was just some unknown outsider!

Yaan briefly glanced at Aque Li's expression as the middle-aged man raised his staff, casting a strange spell and summoning a miniature tsunami which charged towards Yaan. Yaan saw a hint of confusion and doubt as on Aque Li's face as he glanced at Ghu Lin, alongside a hint of wariness.

This actually made Yaan feel relieved…for a moment, his heart lurched as he had the thought that perhaps Ghu Lin and Aque Li had actually teamed up against him in secret! Luckily, the Aque Clan and Ghu Clan had an even worse relationship than he realised, such an alliance was basically impossible.

As the torrential wave reached him in seconds, Yaan's expression became serious. He didn't have the luxury to worry about others right now…Aque Li was targeting him with his full strength, and he was not an opponent that Yaan could take lightly.

Ghu Nadda's corpse puppets rushed in from the sides, attempting to close in on Aque Li whilst he was focussed on Yaan. But then suddenly, harpoons shot out from the wave, penetrating two of the corpse puppets and completely destroying one of them. Yaan only saw Ghu Nadda's shocked expression as he hastily pulled back, before Yaan was forced to confront this intense attack by himself.

Whoosh…

Yaan did not meet force with force. Instead, he actually stopped moving for a moment and closed his eyes. For a moment, it looked like he had been totally overwhelmed by the pounding weight of the fast moving water. Many people who saw this swallowed, thinking that he had definitely been crushed to death!

In a way, he really was very nearly crushed to death, yet at the same time, the situation was entirely under Yaan's control. By using his adapted variation of Flowing River Blade Art, he pierced forth with his sword and body as one. By making use of his mastered 3rd stage of this art, he was even able to split open a small portion of the oncoming tsunami, allowing him to slip through to the other side.

On top of using the Flowing River Blade Art, Yaan fused in his 3rd stage mastery of the Synchronised Pierce Art. With the 3rd stage of this sword art, he was able to overlap nine separate full power strikes, fusing them into a single strike.

With the two chained sword arts, he was able to break open the wave. A small hole was revealed, through which he could make out Aque Li's shocked expression.

As the wave rapidly began closing in on itself and the pressure bore down on Yaan yet again, he acted without thinking, and…chained a third sword art!

Cutting Typhoon Art!

As Yaan displayed one of his most complex and powerful sword arts as part of a shocking chain, Aque Li's expression changed, becoming serious. He finally recognised the robed child before him!

Of course, he didn't actually 'recognise' Yaan, nor had they ever met before, but this move was the same move used by the 'crimson robed child'. This sword art was used by Yaan to dominate the Bloody Arena. He even used this sword art to slay a Qi Temple Realm elder when he himself was seemingly at the Innate Qi Realm!

"Pentagonal formation!" Aque Li suddenly roared out loud as a gust of wind swept around Yaan's body. The surface of Aque Li's own spell, the water from his wave, was also swept up with the wind, pushed towards Yaan with a frightening force.

Just as Yaan was forced to deal with this additional difficult, four figures suddenly appeared around him!

'They're all Qi Temple Realm cultivators! And they must all be from the Aque Clan…they sure hid themselves well!'

Yaan felt his skin crawl as the situation rapidly got further and further out of his control.

He had been keeping track of every Qi Temple Realm Cultivator within his immediate vicinity since the start of the battle, but he had overlooked these four.

They all wore plain black masks to hide their faces, but that much wasn't strange. However, these masks clearly had a concealment effect over the wearer's aura, distorting their aura by a single stage…

Meaning that all of these assailants were at the 1st Layer Qi Temple Realm.

That in itself wasn't too much for Yaan to handle. The issue was that the four of them had surrounded him right as he was facing Aque Li's ferocious attack.

"Ghu Lin…we need to assist Yaan…!" Nadda turned to Ghu Lin and spoke with some worry and urgency in his tone.

"Not just yet…" Ghu Lin shook his head calmly and slowly. "Look ahead…even now, he is improving in the midst of battle. That sword art is the Cutting Typhoon Art, right?"

"Right…" Nadda nodded slowly whilst keeping an eye on Yaan.

Ignoring Ghu Lin's decision, Nadda sent out another four corpse puppets to support Yaan, one for each of the additional assailants.

Ghu Lin threw him a glance. In the end, Nadda sighed, deciding not to attack personally just yet…he did, however, use his corpse puppets to place pressure on the Aque Clan members attacking Yaan, which in turn reduced Yaan's pressure. His opponents were now warily keeping an eye on the slowly approaching corpses behind them.

As Ghu Nadda's corpse puppets were sent out, a group led by another 2nd Layer Qi Temple Realm cultivator rushed across, surrounding the corpses and forcing them to turn away from Yaan. Oddly, a small army of the surviving Innate Qi Realm participants followed behind the 2nd Layer Qi Temple Realm cultivator.

In this shockingly dangerous situation, the only hope for the weak was to latch onto the strong. Unfortunately for the weak, they quickly realised that the stronger cultivators had no intention of protecting them…they were simply being used as fodder!

So, when this 2nd Layer Qi Temple Realm young gentleman with an elegant demeanour went around assisting and protecting the countless despairing weaker cultivators, they all felt like this was a blessing sent down from the heavens. They latched onto this powerhouse, following his every command for fear that they might irritate him and get booted from the group.

However, this man would never abandon them.

In a battle like this, a person's true nature would always shine through. A minority of people were able to take a step back and consider the situation rationally - they became the leaders. The majority, however, were driven by emotions, be it greed, fear, ruthlessness, or on occasion…righteousness.

The man leading the weaker cultivators was the last of these. He was not trying to kill in order to gain rewards, but was a true righteous cultivator. He cared for those who were weaker than himself, but he was also willing to do whatever it took to help himself and his allies to survive.

Unknowingly, under the elegant man's leadership, a smaller, third group had formed outside of the Aque Clan and Ghu Clan groups. However, this group naturally became affiliated with the Aque Clan group, since Aque Li had shown his clear desire to end all of this peacefully before the chaos broke out.

Yaan was unable to see all of this, and right now, this man and his horde of soldiers were simply enemies. Yaan didn't know anything about this person, his life, his personality and experiences. He didn't know that he held kindness and mercy in his heart.

To Yaan, he was just another enemy.

In war, there was no right or wrong, good or bad…only victory and defeat. And in this situation, defeat most definitely meant death.

Yaan was completely surrounded on all sides. There were multiple powerhouses within striking distance of him, and hordes of weaker cultivators just beyond them…

Just as Yaan was considering cancelling the Cutting Typhoon Art, which he had managed to sustain for longer than ever before, his eyes widened as a swarm of living corpses stormed through the crowd, leaving a trail of dismembered bodies in their wake.

The swarm of corpses reached the third group and instantly began massacring their way through the sea of weaker cultivators, causing the elegant man's expression to contort in pain and helplessness, as he watched those he had tried to save die before his eyes.

Yaan couldn't help but smile despite himself. He hadn't expected that Nadda would actually put in so much effort to protect him…for Nadda to have acted so quickly, he must have been watching Yaan carefully throughout the battle, despite having his own opponents to deal with, not to mention the difficulty of acting under Ghu Lin's keen watch.

No matter his reasons for doing this, Yaan felt a brief sense of warmth encompass his murderous heart.

All of this took a long period of time to describe, but each of these events happened at practically the same time.

Now that Yaan had Nadda watching his back, he ramped up the power of the Cutting Typhoon Art further and further. The four 1st Layer Qi Temple Realm assailants were taken aback. It was outside of their expectations that Yaan still had more power that he was yet to display!

Yaan was still using his chained sword arts to cut through the water. His blade that had executed multiple sword arts forced a hole to remain open in the wave, but this hole had now almost entirely sealed over.

This spell of Aque Li's was powerful, way too powerful! He had merely used this one spell in conjunction with his staff, yet it pushed Yaan into such a pitiful position.

Under the strain of forcing his sword arts to suddenly expand, Yaan's body burned. He wasn't thinking about anything, other than tearing apart this wave, turning it into his own typhoon.

And at this crucial moment, just as the typhoon was reaching its peak, Yaan let out a beastial roar that startled those around him.

His eyes became bloodshot and he madly stabbed forwards, using the Synchronised Pierce Art once again to forcefully keep the small hole in the wave open. He then stepped further into the wave using the Flowing River Blade Art, creating a giant hole almost two feet in width. As Yaan used these two arts, placed of wind shot forwards whilst waves rippled outwards across Aque Li's spell incessantly.

Yaan could now see Aque Li's stunned face, whilst the assailants around him finally realised that the situation was dire.

They all charged forth, activating their own treasures and spells to attack Yaan head on. They needed to reach him before his sword penetrated through Aque Li's forehead.

But their worry was for nothing.

The staff in Aque Li's hand morphed into a trident…this was not a transformation, he merely switched his weapon extremely fast!

The wave suddenly expanded, forming a circle around Yaan. Yaan was trapped within this wave, along with Aque Li and the other four Aque Clan assailants.

The four assailants acted immediately.

One clansman threw out a single pearl, which immediately exploded in Yaan's face.

The next rose her arms and chanted a few words, before dropping down her hands. A black cloud quickly formed in front of her face, which immediately collapsed into a pillar of high-pressure water.

The third member was the strangest, his body actually transformed into a giant, standing at 12 feet tall! He wielded no weapon, but his body was soaking wet and flooding the ground beneath his feet with an endless rain of water. As his form stabilised, he punched down at Yaan.

The fourth of the group pushed both of his hands forwards, showing off eight rings, one on each finger. Each of the rings shone, creating eight runes that shot towards Yaan, then fused together just before reaching him. The fused rune collapsed, forming a single droplet of sparkling water which silently drifted towards Yaan's forehead.

All of the attacks landed simultaneously. Some were deflected by the Cutting Typhoon Art which Yaan was still managing to sustain, whilst others were only partially deflected, and others slipped through his defence and landed on Yaan's body.

Surprising, that single droplet of water created by the fourth assailant was the most formidable of them all…after the seemingly inconspicuous droplet touched Yaan's forehead, he felt it storm into his brain, and then his blood stream, where the water droplet ran rampant and began devouring his blood.

For a Qi refiner, this attack would certainly be fatal. Even for Yaan, it was seriously uncomfortable. After suffering from the destructive pain throughout his body for a few seconds, Yaan finally suppressed the droplet, but his breath was clearly laboured.

However, it wasn't all bad. Although Yaan was in serious pain right now, his opponents had not got off lightly.

He blocked two of the attacks completely, causing their casters to suffer from severe backlash.

When he partially blocked the pillar of water that descended from the black cloud, the female Aque Clansman who cast it stumbled back and became pale faced, looking at Yaan fearfully.

As for that strange attack formed by the eight rings…since Yaan failed to block it, the caster was unharmed. As the clansman was about to attack again, he stopped, staring at Aque Li silently. Without a word, he and the partially injured girl quickly pulled back and surrounded Aque Li.

Aque Li suddenly raised his trident above his head and shouted:

"Goddess of the seas, please grant me a portion of your power!"

As he began the chant, all of the Aque Clan members emerged from the woodworks, surrounding Aque Li with a deep killing intent emanating from their eyes. Aque Li stood within the centre of this inescapable encirclement…as did Yaan.

The entire Ghu Clan, following a nod from Ghu Lin, rushed across, surrounding the circle of Aque Clansmen. They all felt wary, they were not exactly sure what was going on.

After Aque Li spoke, it started to rain…in reverse. Water emerged from the ground, raining up towards the palace ceiling, until it gathered together in the form of a deep, black cloud…

The black cloud replaced a large portion of the palace ceiling, it must have been half a mile from end to end.

From the cloud, a serpent of water and lightning swam in and out ominously. When he saw this, Yaan's heart skipped a beat, worried that the serpent was going to attack him. The serpent was so terrifying that if it attacked him, he would surely die!

However, the serpent suddenly vanished into the cloud. The giant cloud was rapidly absorbed into the serpent, and then, when the serpent was revealed…everyone on the battlefield stopped. Even Ghu Lin stared up with wide, shocked eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Goddess of the Seas spell! Oh my heavens, Aque Li has actually mastered the Goddess of the Seas spell!"

It was unknown who cried this out, but apparently, this spell was quite well known…

The figure in the cloud was no longer a serpent, but a woman. She was ethereal in appearance and everyone had the illusion that she was standing countless miles above them, despite this palace ceiling being only 100 feet or so high.

She emitted a bright blue-white aura. This aura, which matched her robe and the jewelled hairband on her head, gave the woman a distinctive presence that made people want to lower their heads in worship and reverence.

Some weaker cultivators started losing their minds, wandering forwards towards the woman with a dumb and dreamy gaze. When their strain stronger-minded comrades grabbed them and snapped them out of it, they all felt horrified, now not daring to look directly at the woman whose presence was akin to a god in their eyes!

The woman glanced down with an indifferent expression at Aque Li, who was now wearing an extremely respectful expression. He was already on his knees and had his hands clasped. He lowered his head and awaited her judgement.

"What is your offering?" She spoke calmly and plainly. Aque Li didn't look surprised. He silently took out a blue stone from his spatial ring, then held it up, presenting it to the woman in both hands whilst lowering his head.

Everyone stared at this scene in utter bewilderment.

Firstly, what exactly was going on? Secondly…why had the entire battle stopped…?

No, they all knew the answer to that question. Nobody dared to risk displeasing the woman, and it felt rude to continue battling in her presence. Nobody would dare to attack, not until the mysterious woman had left.