BXBX NOVEL Chapter 400: The Final Battle (Middle)
Chapter 400: The Final Battle (Middle)
Translator: Minotauruz
As the number of people joining the fray outside the heart of the Arcane Realm increased, the battle crept closer to its climax. Even though the Chi Clan’s elites were incredibly strong, they were still unable to deal with the increasing number of enemies. After all, they were no longer merely facing Yu Wanrou and her following of men. The eight great sects had also joined the fray after hearing of the whereabouts of the map of the Arcane Realm.
Thus, Ye Xiuwen’s faction began to struggle more and more.
Meanwhile, within the heart of the Arcane Realm, it took Jun Xiaomo three full days of investigation without rest before she finally understood how to disable the formation array surrounding the entrance to the Arcane Realm.
She retrieved five sharp, pagoda-shaped spirit tools from her Interspatial Ring and placed them on the five corners of the heart of the formation array. Once she did so, she clapped her palms together and began to suffuse her energy through the spirit tools.
Instantly, five beams of light converged between the spirit tools and shot straight into the sky above.
Under the effect of this brilliant light, the surrounding smoke and mirrors began to slowly disperse...
Shortly after Jun Xiaomo began this process of dispelling the formation array, she began to feel discomfort in her body, and the light shooting into the sky weakened immediately.
It couldn’t be helped – she was still with child, and its existence alone continually depleted the energy within her body. How could she possibly sustain such levels of output of energy over a protracted period of time?
No! Martial Brother Ye and the others are still outside. If I give up now, everything is going to go to waste!
As she thought about the number of forces who were glaring covetously at the heart of the Arcane Realm, Jun Xiaomo gritted her teeth, steeled her heart, and immediately increased the output of her energy. In that instant, a majestic, oppressive energy exploded and flourished from her body.
The brilliant beam of light shooting into the sky grew brighter and brighter. The bright light first punctured what appeared to be a minute rift in the sky. Then, slowly, the rift opened wider and wider, and the smoke and mirrors around faded away slowly into nothingness.
Jun Xiaomo’s strength had run dry by this point. Her eyes blacked out, and she collapsed onto the floor...
Ye Xiuwen and the others were already tired and weary by now. Yet, the only thought that remained in their heart was nevertheless to protect the entrance to the heart of the Arcane Realm so that she would not be attacked from all sides as soon as she appeared once more.
Just then, someone suddenly cried out, “Look there! The heart of the Arcane Realm has finally appeared!”
This cry was almost akin to a “pause” button, casing everyone to halt their attacks immediately and turn their gaze to the empty space behind Ye Xiuwen and the others.
Nobody knew when it had appeared, but what was originally an empty, barren land was now the foundation for an imposing, majestic palace. The towering main gate to the palace was already wide open, as though it were welcoming its guests from afar.
“It’s truly the heart of the Arcane Realm!”
“We’ll be able to seize ownership of the Arcane Realm once we reach the center of the palace. Let’s go!”
In an instant, everyone ignored Ye Xiuwen’s faction and the Chi Clan members and charged straight into the palace, hoping in their hearts that they could seize ownership of the Arcane Realm for themselves.
“Damn! Why haven’t we seen Xiaomo yet?!”
Ye Xiuwen could hardly care less about the Arcane Realm. Instead, what he desired to know were where his wife and child was, why the palace had suddenly appeared, and why Jun Xiaomo had vanished.
“Could Miss Jun still be inside?” Old Man Chi remarked aloud as soon as he thought of the only possibility that occurred to him.
“Then let’s hurry in and look for Xiaomo.” Chi Jingtian acted immediately, dashing straight towards the entrance of the palace as well.
“Stupid brat! What’s the hurry? Come back here!” Old Man Chi tried to grab hold of Chi Jingtian, but he only managed to only grab the corner of his sleeves. Chi Jingtian had shot off far quicker than he had expected.
Practically everyone was dashing madly towards the entrance to the grand palace right now.
Practically everyone was salivating as they dreamt of being the first person to enter the heart of the grand palace.
Then, the unexpected occurred – the group of people furthest ahead of the race suddenly let out a shrill shriek as their respective bodies burst into flames. In the blink of an eye, they were completely reduced to ashes.
Everyone behind the first wave of people immediately paused in their steps, trembling in trepidation as they looked at the ashes on the ground that were living beings just moments ago, and thanking their lucky stars that they had not been part of the first wave.
That said, they were caught in yet another bind right now. If they were going to burn up as soon as they drew close to the palace doors, how could they possibly enter the palace?
Thus, the various factions began to gather their forces just meters away from the door to the palace as they examined the dark entrance anxiously, wondering how they should go about dealing with the sudden twist in the situation.
It was as though someone was dangling an incredibly tempting but poisonous cake right in front of their eyes, so no one dared to take even a single bite out of it.
“You there. Apply an Invisibility Talisman on yourself and try it out.” One of the Limitless Sect’s Sect Elders instructed his disciple.
His disciple stammered, “Are...are you sure? You...you want me to go?”
“Are you going to disobey your master?” The Sect Elder glanced back threateningly at his disciple.
It was not his place to disobey his master. Left with no other choice, the Limitless Sect disciple applied an Invisibility Talisman on his body as he made his way towards the entrance with trembling.
At the beginning, he dared not walk in at all, and he simply paced about at the front of the door. However, as soon as he thought about the ways in which his master was going to punish him if he disobeyed his master’s instructions, he bit the bullet and took the first step.
Nobody could see where the disciple with the Invisibility Talisman was. Thus, as soon as they noticed no reaction whatsoever at the palace door, they immediately concluded that an Invisibility Talismans was effective in circumventing this issue. Just like that, everyone began to retrieve Invisibility Talismans from their Interspatial Ring, thinking to apply them to themselves as well.
However, before they could do so, they heard a shrill shriek echo out from the palace doors. In the very next moment, they saw a fireball appear in mid-air, and they could vaguely make out a person struggling within the fireball. Within moments, the person was reduced to nothing but ashes.
Thus, everyone who had just taken out their Invisibility Talismans immediately returned them to their own Interspatial Rings.
Ye Xiuwen and the rest witnessed this sight as well. However, Ye Xiuwen chose to turn a blind eye to everyone around. Instead, he simply walked to the front of the palace doors, retrieved an Arctic Spirit from his Interspatial Ring and placed it directly in his mouth.
This was done pursuant to Jun Xiaomo’s earlier instructions to him – if he ever encountered a door that would immolate a person as soon as he drew close, he would be able to circumvent the problem by placing an Arctic Spirit in his mouth as he passed through the door.
Naturally, this was information that Jun Xiaomo had learnt from others in her previous life, and this information had finally come in handy.
Just as Ye Xiuwen walked towards the main door to the palace without any hesitation, the sprightly old man grabbed his shoulders and held him back, “Are ye looking to die?!”
The old man glared at his own disciple as he barked.
Ye Xiuwen shook his head and responded placidly, “I trust in Xiaomo.” As he finished speaking, he walked straight towards the palace doors.
“Argh, this buffoon. That Jun brat hasn’t even been here before, so how can ye listen to everything she says so easily? Ye must be possessed!” The sprightly old man huffed in frustration.
Chi Jingtian walked to his side and patted the sprightly old man’s shoulders, “Don’t worry. If Xiaomo says that you can circumvent the obstacle this way, it must be right.”
As he finished speaking, he also retrieved an Arctic Spirit and placed it in his mouth before making his way straight towards the ominous-looking palace doors. Rong Ruihan followed closely behind him in the same manner.
Just as everyone thought that the three brave souls were going to be consumed by fire, a miracle happened – they managed to pass through the palace doors completely safely, and they vanished into the darkness of the palace in an instant.
“So, it works like that. Let’s give it a shot quickly!”
News of their methods quickly spread like wildfire throughout the factions that had gathered outside the palace doors. In an instant, cultivators from several other factions did the same thing and placed an Arctic Spirit in each of their mouths as they charged straight into the palace doors.
That said, not all of the factions gathered outside the palace doors had prepared an Arctic Spirit in their Interspatial Rings. Relegated to the sidelines by their circumstances, these factions simply continued to gaze blankly at the doors with resignation.
Unless they could discover a second way to overcome the palace doors’ defensive mechanism, they had no choice but to give up on seizing ownership of the Arcane Realm for themselves.
Under Yu Wanrou’s intent pleading, one of the men beside her finally relented and handed her an Arctic Soul.
“It’s only going to get more dangerous inside. Wanrou, are you sure you want to do this?” The man asked with some uncertainty in his heart.
“I’m certain!” Yu Wanrou declared with determination.
This was her only remaining shred of hope. As long as she could seize ownership of the Arcane Realm, she would most certainly be able to restore her position as the queen to be served by the rest of the world. Thus, she had to give it her all no matter what the case was.
As soon as she thought about these things, she glanced resentfully at the following of men behind her.
She could tell that their attitudes towards her had grown far colder than before as soon as she lost all access to her spiritual waters.
I’m going to make these men beg for my forgiveness once I manage to seize ownership of the Arcane Realm!
Just like how Yu Wanrou’s following of men had earlier cautioned, the number and magnitude of strength of the traps and the formation arrays only increased as they drew closer to the heart of the palace where the heart of the entire Arcane Realm was located.
That said, for some strange reason, Yu Wanrou seemed to be clothed by the blessings of gods, and she was able to avoid perishing to the traps and formation arrays as she continued to draw closer and closer to the heart of the entire Arcane Realm. On the other hand, some of the men following her perished, while others were hurt and incapacitated. As time went on, the number of men following beside Yu Wanrou gradually dwindled, until they numbered not more than ten.
Fortune was sometimes a mysterious thing. As soon as these men discovered how lucky and fortunate Yu Wanrou was, they couldn’t help but stick closer to her side once more as they slowly made their way closer and closer to the heart of the entire Arcane Realm.
At the same time, Yu Wanrou’s self-belief only continued to inflate beyond belief. Deep in her heart, she began to think once more than luck was on her side, and she was the one chosen by the gods.
Finally, after three full days, Yu Wanrou and her men finally arrived at the heart of the palace, which was also the place where one would be able to seize ownership of the entire Arcane Realm.
A splendid throne seated in the center of the Arcane Realm, accompanied only by a marvelous, gleaming scepter that signified authority and status.
Yu Wanrou’s eyes brightened. Unfortunately, she quickly also noticed that there was already another group of people located not far from the throne. It was evident that they had arrived before she did!
Jun. Xiao. Mo! How could it be her?! Yu Wanrou’s eyes widened in disbelief.
That said, she soon realized the peculiar situation they were in – Jun Xiaomo was lying on the ground with a bloated stomach, almost as though she had been force fed copious amounts of water. Her forehead was drenched with sweat, and her disheveled hair was sticking all over her face.
“Ungh...” Jun Xiaomo groaned painfully as tears began to roll out of her eyes.
It’s...too...painful!
Ye Xiuwen and the others were all standing around Jun Xiaomo. One was holding onto Jun Xiaomo’s arm tightly from one side, while the other was hugging Jun Xiaomo and supporting her body so that she could feel slightly more comfortable. None of them had expected to see Jun Xiaomo lying on the floor grabbing her abdomen as soon as they entered the palace’s throne room.
After all, her pregnancy was hardly even obvious just days ago, so why did she look almost as though she were ready to give birth within the short span of three days?
Jun Xiaomo knew the answer to this question, but she was going through far too much pain to explain herself. The only thing she could do right not was to grit her teeth and fight through the pain, hoping that the pain would die down soon.
Ye Xiuwen had discovered the presence of outsiders standing nearby, but he could hardly care less about them right now. The only thought on his mind was to bring Jun Xiaomo to a safe place. That said, the palace was filled with traps and dangerous formation arrays, so where could they possibly bring Jun Xiaomo to?
On the other side, Yu Wanrou simply snorted in her heart – Jun Xiaomo truly has some terrible luck. She can’t even claim ownership of the Arcane Realm despite having arrived at the throne room before us.
Meanwhile, the Yu Wanrou’s following of men completely ignored the existence of the other group of people in the room. After all, their attention was immediately captivated by the throne and scepter of authority in the middle of the room as soon as they entered the throne room.
Then, as though a concerted effort, the men charged straight towards the throne and scepter of authority all at the same time!
Unfortunately, each of them immediately felt their hearts constrict in pain in the very next moment, and they collapsed on the ground, spitting out copious amounts of blood.
Yu Wanrou chuckled derisively, “What’s the matter? Don’t you think that the spiritual waters laced with my “secret ingredients” is just delicious?”
“You?!” All of the men glanced back at Yu Wanrou with bewilderment. Nobody had expected Yu Wanrou to have a final trump card up her sleeves!
“Truth be told, I wasn’t going to be calculative about these things if you had just chosen to serve me obsequiously. Unfortunately, all of you were well out of line when you sought to seize the Arcane Realm for yourself. Thus, I had no choice but to resort to my trump card.” Yu Wanrou explicated lackadaisically.
The spiritual waters she had given to these men were all laced with “extra ingredients”. The men would be alright as long as they did not come into contact with Kudzu Vine, whether in ground or powdered form. However, as soon as they touched these things, even if just a tiny speck of it, the poison in their bodies would be activated, and their effects would spread throughout their bodies within just a few incense sticks of time.
Yu Wanrou knew that these men had consumed quite a substantial amount of her spiritual waters in the process of overcoming the traps and formation arrays on the way to the throne room. To her mind, the more these men consumed, the higher her odds of success.
See, aren’t they all lying helplessly on the ground right now?
Yu Wanrou’s lips curled into a twisted, manic smile.
Slowly but surely, she walked over towards the throne and the scepter of authority in the center of the room. There was a semi-circular groove in the center of the scepter.
As long as she dripped a drop of her blood on the groove, she would immediately become the owner of the Arcane Realm.
A smile crept up the corner of Yu Wanrou’s lips. It was as though she could already see the day when all men were finally at her beck and call as she sat on the throne, lavishing in the splendor of her authority.