The audience outside erupted into an uproar. Within just a few minutes from when Pei Yan finished withstanding the heavenly tribulation, the situation had reversed once more! On stage, Pei Yan, as if an old master playing with children, effortlessly nullified the three attackers’ assaults and severely injured one, leaving him sprawled on the ground.

If one had to name who had the most complex emotions, it must be Pei Yan’s many friends in the audience of the Investigation Hall! Since the competition started, their emotions had been like a roller coaster ride, going up and down. Now, finally seeing Pei Yan gain control of the situation, the atmosphere in the audience stands relaxed a bit.

Just at this time, Elder Lin, who was on his way to the Daoist Realm platform to announce his withdrawal from the competition, returned to his side’s camp. Facing the juniors who approached him, Elder Lin smiled slightly and said, "It looks like Pei Yan has the victory in hand, but we still can’t let our guard down. We just received intelligence that the Blood Slash and Blood Race’s joint strike team has reached the perimeter. It’s estimated that they’ll launch an assault when the competition here is about to have a result and things become chaotic!"

"The fish took the bait? Over there?" Ye Ruozai asked with a slight frown.

"Yirong Pavilion!"

"Do we need support from our side?" Wang Wenze asked urgently.

"No need, we have prepared enough manpower at both places. Comparatively, Yirong Pavilion has more personnel since all three of them are there! We should still focus on Pei Yan’s safety and ensure victory in the competition first before dealing with the Blood Race issue." Elder Lin turned to look at the arena, speaking calmly.

On the stage, Pei Yan walked up to Di Xin, who was lying on the ground gasping heavily and trying hard to heal his own injuries, and leisurely said while looking up at the cliff he had erected with his powers, "You believed me when I said five minutes? Did those five minutes give you the courage to attack me? If I said half an hour, would you have cowered in the corner trembling? I really don’t know whether to call you stupid or cute for believing the numbers that come out of an enemy’s mouth."

Bam! Bam! Bam!

A series of crackling sounds came from the sky, the spatial barriers between the broken layers of the arena were shattered. The Sea of Blood that had pooled in the other half of the venue was tipped over, forming a scarlet waterfall due to the arena’s height difference, and at first glance, it was astonishingly magnificent.

Along with the scarlet waterfall, two rapidly flying figures were also descending. Without looking, Pei Yan already knew who these two were.

"Faster than I anticipated." Muttering to himself as he turned his head slightly, Pei Yan slid his toe underneath the not fully healed body of Di Xin, lightly flicked him upwards, and then delivered a high kick, causing Di Xin’s body to soar into the air along with a splash of blood. Pei Yan twisted his body and aimed another high kick at the falling body.

Bam! Di Xin fainted without even letting out a groan, his body shooting up like a ball, directly flying towards the two who were launching their attack from above.

Having taken in this scene with his own eyes, Nero felt a chill in his gut, secretly sighing at Pei Yan’s ruthless methods. Despite the weak camaraderie within the same sect, he couldn’t just watch someone die. Helplessly, he reached out a hand to catch the incoming body of Di Xin, thus having to slow down his own descent.

Simultaneously with kicking away Di Xin, Pei Yan’s spinning motion didn’t stop. After making a full turn on the spot, he released dozens of steel needles from between his swaying arms.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh! The sound of steel needles breaking through the air resounded. Dodging such fast-moving hidden weapons was a piece of cake for Nero and Ivan. The two easily evaded the steel needle attack with a slight movement of their bodies. Ivan was just about to mockingly retort when he noticed his descending body had come to a halt, suspended in mid-air.

Having experienced this before, Ivan didn’t need to look back to know what had happened. He looked down at Pei Yan with a sinister grin and said, "This petty trick! You think you can trap me a second time after it worked on me once?"

The moment the words left his mouth, he used his source energy to exert force, causing all the steel needles pinned to his shadow to fall out, pulled away by his source energy. Regaining his freedom, Ivan’s body resumed its downward plunge.

"Break the prison, cut the shadow!"

He raised his hand, aimed at the faintly visible shadow, and flicked gently. A crack formed on the wall reflecting Ivan’s silhouette, as if his hand shadow and his body were severed and separated.

"Ugh—ah!" Just as Ivan was about to mount another attack, he was struck by a sudden blow. His body tumbled from mid-air, crashing to the ground. At the junction of his right arm, just as the shadow portrayed, was a deep wound that exposed bone, with flesh and bone separated. Ivan clutched his shoulder, howling in agony.

Nero, who also broke free from the shadow’s restraint and landed with Di Xin in tow, had no time to check Ivan’s injuries. He casually placed Di Xin aside to let him self-heal, then looked up at Pei Yan in anger, "You’re toying with us!"

"Hey, hey, hey! That’s not fair to say!" Pei Yan said, waving his hands at Nero with a look of grievance, "I was holding back!" Pei Yan’s mouth curled into a sly smile as he continued, "Did you want me to just slit his throat in one go? My heavens! You’re really cruel to your teammate, you know that? Oh! I get it now!"

Pei Yan made a ’eureka’ gesture by striking his palm with his fist and pointing at Nero with a laughing expression, "You’re trying to kill two birds with one stone, aren’t you? Using me as a knife to eliminate your rivals? You should’ve said so earlier, I’m a very agreeable person! Okay, I’ll grant you this wish. Tell me, how do you want your companions to die? Quick and painless, or more torturous? Hahaha, if you choose the latter, I can give you a discount!"

The arena echoed with cold laughter, even the friends who had fought alongside Pei Yan all the way couldn’t help but shiver as they watched him perform this deadly comedy on stage, finally understanding Engineer Li’s words about triggering the darkness within one’s heart.

"Pei Yan! You’ve pushed us to this brink, do you really think such a cheap provocation will work on us?" Nero said as he adjusted his breathing, getting himself into optimal condition for the fierce battle ahead.

"Provocation?" Pei Yan sighed, shaking his head with a hint of sadness, "Nero, I’m just trying to be considerate of your thoughts, really. You took my kindness and made it sound so awful, I’m truly heartbroken!"

"Finish your healing quickly, this lunatic I can’t handle alone for long!" Without paying mind to Pei Yan’s feigned act, Nero whispered to the two beside him.

"Understood!"

"Who are you calling a lunatic?" Pei Yan’s questioning voice rang out simultaneously with the response, even more terrifyingly, the voice was closer than Ivan and Nero’s voices!

"Damn it! I’m talking about you, lunatic!" Nero cursed, spinning his body to send an elbow strike toward the direction the voice had come from.