A Card In Hand

Chapter 93: Let the Battle Begin!

Silver Shadow’s fingers trembled with excitement.

He struggled to control himself.

“An awakening from the ancient bloodline? To witness the legendary bloodline appear before me, I hardly know how to express my feelings! But no, I must control myself…”

Silver Shadow slowly descended, floating towards Li Ao who was in the midst of a furious eruption.

On another part of the battlefield.

Fuxi and Tie Zheng also roared with excitement.

They ignored the two enemies in front of them, peering far away at Li Ao’s explosive form, their voices involuntarily echoing his roar.

This was Li Ao!

This was the demon king who crushed all abnormal geniuses on the trial platform of the rookies’ unlimited challenge!

This was the person whom the Ironclad Family had been waiting for, who knows how long! He would never fall in any battle. His talent, ‘Tempered Steel,’ only made him stronger as the battle raged on, unstoppable…

“Even the thunderous heavy punches can’t bring him down? How old is he? How could a teenage rookie grow to such an extent?” The impostor Fuxi revealed a look of fear.

“Is this kid really the one the family has been waiting for? I never thought he would actually appear!”

The impostor Long Tai was incredulous.

Li Ao, amid the energy pillar, underwent a sublime transformation.

His body’s wounds healed instantly.

A twenty-meter-tall silver giant merged perfectly with Li Ao.

The battered steel armor on his body instantly transformed and donned a brand new set of silver armor.

Li Ao, also floating in mid-air, seeing the descending Silver Shadow, waved his hand, and a pair of perfectly awe-inspiring silver wings slowly extended from his back: “I’ve kept you waiting, the warm-up is over, let’s have a real fight now!”

However, Silver Shadow did not launch an attack immediately but stared at Li Ao for a long time without saying a word.

Until Li Ao became puzzled by his gaze.

Silver Shadow then waved his hand, “Not yet! You know, I haven’t met such an interesting young man in a long time, I’m afraid I can’t help myself, and I might just kill you outright! If I kill you, it wouldn’t be good to explain to that old guy! So, even though I am the first guardian of the outer space, I’ll also wait for you in the inner space… In front of that old guy, then I can take action and kill you, then there would be no problem!”

“Is that so?” Li Ao raised an eyebrow. He did not doubt that Silver Shadow was far above him, but he believed even more in the power of his own bloodline and talent, which were the best materials for refinement here.

“Young man, I advise you not to rush to the inner space too soon, because you are still far from ready, and I really don’t want to kill you too easily.”

“Do you see?”

“My hands are trembling…”

“This is excitement, I am too excited, it’s been too long since I’ve seen a young person with a talent as explosive as mine!” Silver Shadow tried hard to control his trembling hands due to excitement: “Even though I can’t wait to kill you, I don’t want to eat an unripe fruit. Mature a bit more, you still have a long way to go!”

Silver Shadow acted as if taking a deep breath, yet being just a soul-body, he did not need to breathe.

It was just a habit from his lifetime.

Through this suppression.

The excited Silver Shadow finally calmed down.

His silver palms slowly raised, conjuring ten sparkling silver stars, and then, like a child scattering candies into the sky on a holiday, casually tossed them around the perimeter of the bloodline trial ground.

The silver stars he scattered grew larger and larger as they flew.

Falling to the ground.

Together with the spatial rules of the trial field, they transformed into enormous clusters of starlight fog.

“Practice well here, my divided star souls, each will possess one-tenth of my combat power. I hope you like them, haha! I’ll be waiting for you in the inner space. Next time we meet, I promise to go all out and beat you to death!”

The silver shadow emphasized his promise by lightly tapping Li Ao with his finger before he disappeared invisibly: “I’ll wait for you! No matter how long it takes, I will wait!”

Li Ao was sure he had encountered a deranged lunatic from the Ironclad Family, not knowing whether it was thousands or tens of thousands of years ago.

Li Ao had not entered the Bloodline Trial Field in his previous life.

He had never encountered this person.

He did not know how many years ago this silver shadow was a predecessor of the Ironclad Family.

From the previous battle, Li Ao realized that this guy must have been a super genius with incredibly powerful bloodline powers and explosive talent while he was alive.

Who knows how he died.

Perhaps he was killed by an even more terrifying ancestor during a bloodline trial.

Or maybe he died in battle outside, his soul undying, and he entered the Bloodline Trial Field through some means and stayed until now.

Such a prideful and talented predecessor, probably only by completely defeating him, could one learn his name, right? A direct collision of monstrous talents? What an interesting duel!

And even after defeating this guy… there was an even more terrifying old guy waiting for him!

That old guy was probably ten times stronger than the silver shadow.

The Bloodline Trial Field.

The opponents in the challenge were harder than the last, and the battles seemed endless, which was perfect for him.

The battle intent in Li Ao’s eyes boiled like flames.

He felt too many regrets in his previous life for not visiting such an exciting family bloodline trial field.

Fortunately, he could make up for this regret in this life.

Old guys, your era has passed, since you so desire it, I will defeat you all and completely fulfill your last wishes!

The clusters of starlight fog on the ground gradually faded and vanished.

Each had a form similar to the silver shadow.

But atop their heads.

Flames of soul fire burned incessantly.

Clearly, these were the star soul avatars specially created by the silver shadow.

Whether it was an intentional division at the time of creation or if it was their natural disposition according to the spatial rules, these star souls had numbers on their backs, arranged from one to ten.

After being born, the star souls did not immediately attack Li Ao.

They seemed to possess no intelligence.

But their combat instincts knew the best way to suppress the enemy.

These star souls floated lightly into the air, seeking those broken giants whose bodies were shattered and could no longer fight. Their palms emitted silver soul waves, directly reassembling the shattered black giants…

On the battlefield.

Those black giants, whose bodies were broken and limbs severed, began to merge with each other under the aid of their soul energy.

The direction of evolution for the shattered black giants after fusion can take two forms.

One results in an even larger black giant, with heights exceeding ten meters, mostly ranging between fifteen and twenty meters.

Their combat power has increased more than tenfold due to the fusion enhancement.

The other evolutionary path results in a smaller body; from a height of several meters, they condense into black and red giants about three meters tall.

These black and red giants are clad in armor.

They wield various heavy weapons.

Moreover,

Each black and red giant commands a black and red war beast.

“This is cheating, isn’t it? There’s such a move?”

Fuxi felt this was the ancestors bullying people. It’s not that you can’t test the descendants, but why create an entire legion? Isn’t it just bullying the fewer with more? You’re already much stronger than your descendants, and now you’ve created a giant legion. Are you afraid that we descendants die too slowly?

“Once we defeat the two impostors, we also want to challenge that legion!” Tie Zheng’s blood was thoroughly ignited.

“Ha! You think you can?”

The fake Fuxi sneered and shook his head: “Let me give you a piece of despairing news. The entire family’s training ground is filled with old guys like us. Even the weakest among us had king-level strength in life… I’ve been dead for over two thousand years, and these two thousand years have been very boring for me. I’ve spent every day studying the family’s bloodline power. What makes you two rookies think you can defeat us? By what? Your naïveté? Fatso, let me teach you something—what seems like useless fat can sometimes be the most terrifying thing. Watch and learn!”

The faket Fuxi casually scooped out a lump of flesh from his stomach and threw it to the ground.

The flesh rapidly darkened and swelled, transforming into a black, octopus-like monster brimming with tentacles and suction cups. It thrashed wildly, reaching for Fuxi.

Tie Zheng, in his frantic efforts to assist the overwhelmed Fuxi, smashed through a black tentacle.

Meanwhile, the faket Long Tai teleported behind him, kicking him dozens of meters away: “Foolishness. On the battlefield, you must always keep your eyes on your enemy. A moment of laxity, even for a second, could cost you your life!”

Fuxi was tightly bound by the black, octopus-like creature.

Struggling.

To no avail.

He seemed doomed.

Suddenly, a spark of inspiration flashed through his mind.

After all, he was the champion of a big-eater contest, having even out-eaten the great devil Li Ao!

Want to kill me?

I’ll bite you even in death!

If I can’t beat you, I’ll eat you. I must eat you!

With determination, Fuxi frenziedly bit at the black tentacles binding him.

Despite the tentacles being so tough that they made his teeth ache, he vowed to eat his foe, to take as many bites as he could before his last breath, trying his best to devour his enemy…

“Ouch? You like my flesh that much?” the faket Fuxi sneered, making a charging gesture, as a black, iron-clad rhinoceros, cloned from the dark flesh, thundered towards Fuxi, sending him flying into the air.

Fuxi felt as if all his bones were shattered, the pain was unbearable.

When he slammed back to the ground.

He found that except for his mouth, he could no longer feel any other part of his body, and he couldn’t help but greedily bite at the black tentacle around his neck again.

He bit off a piece.

Fuxi didn’t bother to chew and hurriedly swallowed it.

Whether it was the intense pain causing a hallucination, he wasn’t sure, but swallowing a piece of the monster’s flesh seemed to make him feel slightly better.

The faket Fuxi laughed heartily: “Interesting, fatty, I like your spirit of eating to death, ahahaha… By the way, have you ever played pancake tossing? You know, the kind that gets tougher the more you toss it. It hasn’t been lost to time, has it? How about I treat you to some pancake tossing? I miss those days when I used to toss it dozens of times before eating!”

He reminisced while directing the black monster to repeatedly slam Fuxi into the ground with its tentacles.

Thud, thud, thud, thud…

After a long beating.

The faket Fuxi pointed, and the black monster stopped, leaving the battered Fuxi to muster his last strength.

He fiercely bit into the tentacle before him, tore off another piece, and struggled to swallow it down. Then weakly, he replied to his adversary, “The taste of pancake tossing is not bad, I like it!”

On another part of the battlefield.

The stars of the fighting spirit surrounded Li Ao from all sides.

Not only were they stationed in all eight directions, but one also soared into the sky and another burrowed into the ground, attacking Li Ao from every conceivable angle without a blind spot.

Waves of silver shadows surged from all directions.

Li Ao punched back.

Facing the rain of punches coming from above, below, left, and right, he focused on one direction, charging forward with all his might…