Chapter 1306: Playing with the Lion Clan

"Damn it, why can't I move my legs? I still have all my strength!"

The White-Maned Lion felt a surge of fury. He scanned his surroundings, noticing that the other lions in his group were similarly entangled by negative effects.

"It's no use; don't struggle anymore. My clones have inflicted a slowing effect on you, and you won't recover within an hour. Furthermore, as time passes, your instinctive fear of me will gradually intensify, eventually reaching an irreversible state."

The Black Tortoise clone began to play a god-like role, standing in the void and observing his prey gradually become entangled by various negative states, ultimately losing all desire to resist.

Soon after, the second wave of phantom clones arrived. What was different this time was that the Black Tortoise had integrated its true body among them.

"Don't attack him! Dodge these illusory phantoms! Don't let yourselves be enveloped again!" the White-Maned Lion quickly warned. All the lions immediately ceased their attempts to fight back.

Unexpectedly, in that very moment, one of the raging lions was directly pierced by a sharp dagger. Its life force rapidly drained away, and it ultimately collapsed to the ground.

"Heh heh, unfortunately, you've been chosen by death. And I am your death!"

The Black Tortoise clone seemed to revel in the role of controlling others' fates, and he perfectly achieved this through the power of his cultivation technique.

By leveraging the raging lion warriors' fear of his clones' negative effects, he merged his true body into these phantoms.

This allowed him to deliver real strikes to a chosen "lucky" target. It was clear from his recent action that his combat method was highly effective.

As expected, the Black Tortoise clone not only played the role of a grim reaper but also brought a new wave of pressure and a more severe blow to the twenty raging lion warriors.

Witnessing their fellow raging lion warrior fall so ignominiously to the Black Tortoise clone's ambush, the warriors erupted in a furious rage.

However, they seemed unable to find the perfect strategy to counter him, as they simply could not distinguish which of the Black Tortoise clones was the true body.

"Warriors, unleash your greatest strength, because your game time is likely running out. Now, I shall begin the second round of judgment."

A defiant smile played on the Black Tortoise clone's face as his true form once again vanished. Another wave of illusory phantoms materialized, appearing before each of the raging lion warriors.

"It seems that merely dodging and fearing him won't help us escape his attacks," the leading White-Maned Lion immediately advised. "But we must not harbor fear. Even when facing these phantoms that inflict negative status effects, we cannot retreat, or we will never achieve victory."

The leading White-Maned Lion immediately offered this guidance, providing the best direction for the warriors around him.

Unfortunately, the rules of this game were already firmly in the Black Tortoise clone's hands. Even when facing the enraged raging lion warriors, the Black Tortoise clone could avoid reinforcing his true body, instead constantly using newly generated clones to keep his opponents occupied.

Sure enough, after several successive attack rounds, the remaining dozen or so lion warriors were utterly exhausted, their desire for battle completely gone. All they wanted now was for the duel to end as quickly as possible.

"Don't torment them like this anymore. Deliver the final, fatal blow. End this round quickly and begin the next."

Xu Yang directly sent a soul transmission focused on the Black Tortoise clone. From Xu Yang's perspective as the leader, these raging lion warriors also had their limits.

If the Black Tortoise clone continued to torment them relentlessly, there was a high possibility that the raging lion warriors would choose a painful self-destruction, aiming to severely wound the clone in return.

This was because Xu Yang had already set rule limits for this battlefield, effectively restricting the maximum power that could be unleashed within it. This meant the Black Tortoise clone's ultimate burst potential was also constrained.

If each individual raging lion were to unleash their ultimate energy as a sacrifice, the combined power of their self-destruction would undoubtedly be capable of severely damaging the Black Tortoise clone.

By doing so, the raging lion warriors could maximize their numerical advantage, while the Black Tortoise clone, with its limited energy, could at most instantly kill two raging lion warriors in a single round.

As expected, Xu Yang's fear finally materialized. Just as the Black Tortoise clone began to conjure the illusory phantoms for the final round, the White-Maned Lion bared its ferocious fangs and let out a low, guttural roar.

At that same moment, the dozen or so exhausted raging lion warriors around him swiftly moved closer to his position.

The lions' formation clearly indicated their intention to unleash a wave of ultimate power, making the Black Tortoise clone pay for its arrogance.

"Humans, you presume to do as you please in our desolate Northern Tundra battlefield simply because you possess powerful cultivation techniques," the White-Maned Lion roared. "Such arrogance is the beginning of your demise. The Raging Lion Clan can be killed, but never humiliated. The way you've shamed twenty of our warriors is a sin for which even ten thousand deaths would not atone."

Following this, immensely powerful beast-tribe flames ignited around the White-Maned Lion's body. These flames were the ultimate power generated by burning their very life force.

Even Leader Xu Yang could not precisely judge the exact intensity these flames could reach.

As expected, once the White-Maned Leader made this self-sacrificing decision, all dozen or so raging lion warriors gathered around him made the same arrangement.

"Heh heh heh, this time, it's finally our turn to use the rules."

The concentrated flames of life quickly filled the entire edge of the battlefield in a very short time, completely sealing off all movement space for the Black Tortoise clone. This preemptively crushed any possibility of the clone using formations to create an advantage for itself.

Indeed, the Black Tortoise clone's brow furrowed, and a hint of hesitation appeared on its face at that moment.

"It seems I still underestimated these lions' desire and determination to win. As expected, if the beast tribe is truly pushed to its limits and their bottom line is crossed, they will genuinely not hesitate to burn their own life force to severely wound an opponent. This is quite rare among human cultivators, as they generally value their lives greatly and would never resort to such a self-destructive act unless absolutely forced. But for the beast tribe, intangible dignity is far more important than individual life."