Chapter 1150: ATM

Yun Che felt an immense surge of frustration and disbelief.

The voice of Eternal Heaven had made it perfectly clear: only the one thousand profound practitioners who emerged victorious from the upcoming second round of preliminaries would be granted entry into the Eternal Heaven God Realm. The remaining nine thousand, along with the fifty million profound practitioners eliminated in the first round, would all be expelled!

He had just barely scraped through the first round, resorting to a method so despicable and shameless it could only be called cheating. He had expected to finally relax, but the voice of Eternal Heaven delivered yet another crushing blow.

Yun Che couldn't believe what he was hearing!

It was one thing for over fifty million profound practitioners to be denied entry into the Eternal Heaven Realm—after all, it was a supreme King Realm, not easily accessible. But to make it into the top ten thousand, to be personally hailed by the voice of Eternal Heaven as "the pride of the Eastern Divine Region" and "the future of the Eastern Divine Region," and still be denied entry—that was unacceptable!

At that moment, if anyone from the Eternal Heaven God Realm had been standing before him, even the Eternal Heaven God Emperor himself, Yun Che would have been sorely tempted to strike them.

They had announced early on that the battlefield would be within the Eternal Heaven Pearl, but it turned out that participants entered not with their true bodies, but as projections… Why wasn't that mentioned again?

And that elimination from the first round meant expulsion from the Eternal Heaven Realm… Why wasn't that stated sooner?!

And elimination from the second round also meant being thrown out…

Why couldn't they have said that earlier!!!

If he had known all this beforehand, he would have simply ignored the Profound God Convention and walked confidently into the Eternal Heaven Realm with Mu Bingyun. He wouldn't have had to deal with any of this nonsense!

As Yun Che cursed inwardly, a beam of light descended from the sky. His vision went white, and when it cleared, he found himself in an entirely new world.

The land here was flat and parched, stretching out vast and empty, with only faint, low mountains visible in the distance. The air was calm and still, devoid of any wind. There was no trace of profound beasts, no roars, either near or far.

"Young cultivators, welcome to the second battlefield," the voice of Eternal Heaven slowly resonated, making Yun Che grind his teeth. "To reiterate, the rules here are identical to the first battlefield. Your initial Soul Pearls reflect your accumulated achievements from the first battlefield."

"However, you will only have three days here. The final number of Soul Pearls you possess after three days will determine your ranking in the second battlefield."

The mention of "three days" caused many profound practitioners to frown deeply or feel their hearts clench. This limited time would undoubtedly lead to extremely brutal battles. In just seventy-two hours, every moment would be critical, every instant a struggle for dominance.

"The battlefield has now opened. Young cultivators, who carry the future of the Eastern Divine Region, use everything you possess to forge your ultimate destiny!"

The ethereal voice lingered in the sky for a long time before finally dissipating.

And with that, the second round of preliminaries officially began.

Compared to the fifty million participants of the first round, this battlefield of only ten thousand seemed remarkably small. Yet, no one doubted that its intensity and stakes far surpassed any of the initial battlefields.

Unlike the first battlefield, where all participating profound practitioners initially appeared in a safe main city, here, they seemed to have been randomly teleported to various locations across the battlefield.

The moment the battlefield's opening was declared, countless surges of profound energy erupted across the landscape as participants immediately began searching for and locking onto prey. Only Yun Che remained standing there, motionless and dumbfounded for a long time.

Because here, he was at the absolute bottom of the hierarchy. More accurately, he was someone who had no business being there at all. He wouldn't be able to hunt any prey on this battlefield. Conversely, anyone could easily make him their prey, hunting him down without the slightest effort.

"What am I going to do this time?" Yun Che gritted his teeth. Having come this far, he couldn't possibly accept leaving empty-handed. Yet, by normal, legitimate means, there was absolutely no way he could break into the top one thousand in this battlefield, which was reserved for peak cultivators.

Unless he used the same method again!

But Wu Guikang… according to the rules, Soul Pearls could only be plundered from the same person the first time they were killed. Even if he could coerce him into compliance again, it would be useless.

Then, Yun Che's eyes suddenly lit up. He had thought of someone else…

Huo Poyun!

Huo Poyun had achieved an astonishing top 100 ranking in the first round of preliminaries. If he could maintain that performance in this battlefield, then towards the end, when his Soul Pearls were at their peak, he could allow Yun Che to kill him once. Losing thirty percent wouldn't knock him out of the top thousand, and it would likely pull Yun Che into the top thousand as well.

But immediately, he shook his head, the light in his eyes fading. While Huo Poyun outwardly appeared gentle and easygoing, Yun Che knew deep down that he harbored profound dignity and pride, especially when it came to the profound way. If Yun Che ever asked for his help with something, Huo Poyun would undoubtedly go all out without hesitation. However, if it involved such shameless cheating, he would absolutely never accept. Especially since he considered Yun Che a friend, he would be even less likely to allow Yun Che to use such methods for victory. He would only be deeply disappointed and heartbroken, and would rebuke him. And Yun Che, unfortunately, couldn't explain the true reason to him.

Wait!

Yun Che's eyes lit up once more…

He suddenly realized: this was the second battlefield, a completely different world from the one where he had previously killed Wu Guikang! If he were to kill Wu Guikang again, it would count as the first kill in *this* world! The voice of Eternal Heaven had specifically mentioned that while the rules of this world were the same as before, they had undergone a "reset"! This meant that the "established fact" of him having killed Wu Guikang once in the previous battlefield simply didn't apply in this new one! Therefore, if he killed Wu Guikang again in this battlefield, there was no reason he wouldn't obtain Soul Pearls!

Wu Guikang's profound energy and ranking were both above Huo Poyun's. Even though Yun Che had plundered thirty percent of his Soul Pearls, with Wu Guikang's absolute strength, he would undoubtedly quickly rise to the forefront in this battlefield. In the later stages, if Yun Che could seize another thirty percent of his Soul Pearls, he would very likely break into the top thousand.

"Good!" With his target confirmed, Yun Che finally moved.

In this battlefield, any encounter for Yun Che would undoubtedly be a death trap. His current nearly two million Soul Pearls would quickly be depleted, and even hiding in the main city would cause them to diminish rapidly. But he wasn't worried at all.

"Broken Moon Drifting Shadow!"

As Yun Che unhurriedly advanced, his figure silently vanished into the air, his aura completely dissipating. Although his profound energy was only at the first level of the Divine Tribulation Realm, he was incredibly confident that as long as he didn't recklessly expose himself, even late-stage Divine Spirit Realm cultivators would find it extremely difficult to detect his presence.

"Although movement is very slow in stealth mode, this battlefield only holds ten thousand people. To facilitate combat, it shouldn't be too vast. Three days… I can definitely find him."

However, the actual situation proved to be far more fortunate than he had anticipated. Because after only six hours, he caught sight of Wu Guikang's figure.

His glittering, luxurious golden attire shimmered exceptionally brightly, even from miles away. Yun Che even wondered if Wu Guikang wore such a profound robe specifically to attract ridicule.

Boom! Rumble!

The boundless anger and resentment in his heart erupted violently with the profound energy he unleashed. With a wave of his hand, the earth cracked, and mountains shifted. Three temporarily allied Divine Spirit realm cultivators were ruthlessly obliterated by him simultaneously, and a large amount of white light descended from the sky, transforming into Wu Guikang's Soul Pearls.

Though his Soul Pearls greatly increased, Wu Guikang's face remained grim. The pent-up hatred in his heart was so immense that even if he were to rampage and slaughter on this battlefield for a decade, it might not be enough to fully vent it.

It's often said that great fortune follows great misfortune, but for some reason, ever since Wu Guikang stepped into the second battlefield, he had felt a persistent twitch in his eyelids—a sign he couldn't shake.

Just then, he suddenly sensed a gaze from behind. He spun around like lightning, and as his pupils slightly dilated and the corners of his eyes narrowed, he instantly saw the very person he longed to tear limb from limb:

Yun Che!

"It's… you!"

"Young Master Wu, we meet again," Yun Che said, cutting straight to the chase. "Since we are so fated to meet again, how about we make another deal?"

Wu Guikang was no fool; he could easily guess what kind of "deal" Yun Che was referring to. His anger flared, but then he suddenly sneered. "Yun Che, I already gave you a chance once. If you were smart, we could simply go our separate ways, but you insist on…"

"Young Master Wu, don't jump to conclusions so quickly," Yun Che interrupted, chuckling lightly. "To threaten someone with the same thing… ahem, to make a deal with Young Master Wu twice using the same leverage, I would never do something so unprincipled. This time, of course, it's an entirely new deal."

After speaking, Yun Che flicked his finger.

Wu Guikang reached out and snatched it. In his palm lay, astonishingly, another Profound Image Stone.

Wu Guikang's heart jolted with a sudden, extremely bad premonition. He sensed that this Profound Image Stone was not the same as the previous one. A quick scan with his spiritual sense, and his face instantly turned ashen, as if someone had plunged it into the bottom of a pot.

This was indeed not the same Profound Image Stone Yun Che had previously given Wu Guikang, but the other one of the two he had found years ago at Thunder Thousand Peak. The image recorded inside was far more scandalous than the previous one. The esteemed son of the Divine Martial Realm King was actually caught committing adultery with his own aunt, and it had been captured in its entirety. The image, the angles, the sounds—Yun Che was absolutely certain that the person who recorded this video must be a master of profound images.

Especially the… pitiably small size of it; even men from the most insignificant planets would feel a strong surge of male superiority upon seeing it.

"The son of the Divine Martial Realm King and the wife of the Black Yama Realm King," Yun Che chuckled, his eyes gleaming. "Heh heh, truly a match made in heaven, so enviable."

"…" Wu Guikang's entire body trembled like a sieve. Before, he could at least curse and sneer aloud, but now, not a single word escaped him. Blood oozed from his tightly clenched teeth.

"I'm sure someone as intelligent as Young Master Wu can already guess what I want to trade for."

If he had used the same Profound Image Stone to coerce Wu Guikang again, it would have undoubtedly enraged him, likely preventing Yun Che from achieving his goal and possibly even backfiring. But this second Profound Image Stone was far more potent than the first, viciously striking at Wu Guikang's ultimate weakness.

"So, three days from now, an hour before the battlefield closes, right here," Yun Che said, pointing to the ground beneath his feet, "I will quietly await Young Master Wu's arrival. Of course, the choice is entirely yours, Young Master Wu. How could a humble person like me possibly force someone like you?"

With that, Yun Che smiled faintly, turned, and flew away.

"Oh, and one more thing," Yun Che said, stopping abruptly a short distance away and slowly turning back. "I forgot to remind Young Master Wu: you must work extra hard these next three days. Don't you dare slack off, because if after three days, thirty percent of your Soul Pearls isn't enough to get me into the top thousand, that would be a terrible shame, wouldn't it?"

As his words faded, Yun Che sped away into the distance.

"Aaaargh!!"

Boom—

Behind him, Wu Guikang's hoarse roar of fury echoed, followed by the sound of the earth being violently ripped apart.