Rules

Xu Mu looked up toward the stands above, but even with his perception, he still couldn’t see the figure there.

He had no idea whether this person was real or something else entirely.

He raised the red longsword in his hand and slashed at the barrier in the distance.

Screech!

A harsh metallic scraping sound rang in everyone’s ears.

Xu Mu was somewhat surprised. His weapon had actually failed to damage the barrier in front of him.

The formation this time was clearly of an extremely high grade.

Only by finding the formation’s weakest point could they possibly break out.

For now, however, he decided to listen to what the person above had to say.

“Let me make one thing clear first. Some of you are constructs created by the formation.”

The golden-armored old man standing high above them smiled. “From the moment you entered this place, everything you did—how you fought, how you spoke, your actions and mannerisms—was copied by the formation.”

At this, Xu Mu saw the people gathered at the distant exits begin to stir, but their voices couldn’t carry over.

“Besides the people created by the formation, some of you are also wearing other people’s faces.”

The golden-armored old man continued speaking.

Xu Mu and Zhong Ci exchanged a glance.

Then Xu Mu looked around at the others. There were people wearing his own face as well.

“One final piece of information. When the real person is attacked, the person wearing that individual’s face will suffer the exact same injury.”

The golden-armored old man let out a sinister chuckle.

Xu Mu immediately turned to Zhong Ci. “So if you’re injured, I’ll suffer the same injury?”

“I don’t know whether that’s true.”

Zhong Ci shook her head.

“There’s only one way to find out.”

Xu Mu looked at her.

After hesitating for a moment, Zhong Ci grabbed her arm and pinched it hard.

“Stop!”

Xu Mu spoke at once. Looking at his own arm, he quickly said, “I felt it. The formation is pinching my arm too, like a pair of pincers.”

“Thank goodness. If you hadn’t removed the formation from me just now, Dorothea would’ve been injured and killed, and I would’ve had to die with her.”

Tian Yunchu let out a sigh of relief and turned to Xu Mu. “What are you waiting for? Hurry up and break the formation on yourself.”

“Not yet. Let’s first see what this person is trying to accomplish.”

Xu Mu continued staring at the elevated stands.

The golden-armored old man smiled and said, “Leaving this place is simple. The exits of each ship will serve as separate teams. You’ll fight on the arena, and the winning team may choose any one person to join its side. The strong will only grow stronger. In the end, whichever team remains on the arena with no one daring to challenge it will win and be allowed to leave.”

Xu Mu looked around at the ten positions and realized that each exit represented a different ship.

But something about the old man’s explanation didn’t make sense. Normally, the purpose of a formation was to reduce the number of people and prevent outsiders from entering in large numbers.

Yet according to his rules, every time the strong won, they would gain another person.

In the end, their numbers would only grow larger, which went against the formation’s original purpose.

Xu Mu surveyed the surroundings. Some of the exits had more than ten people gathered around them.

The smallest group was the one led by Li Hongdou, which consisted of only two people.

He had no intention of acting first. He decided to wait and see.

“Everyone, take a look at those beautiful women around the arena. If you win, you can choose one of them. I’m sure they’ll be grateful to you.”

The old man in the elevated stands continued, “Because if your ship loses three times in a row, it will sink.”

At that moment, beams of light resembling stage spotlights began appearing at the exits surrounding the arena.

The light revolved around the exits before finally stopping at one of them.

It was the position occupied by Li Hongdou—the team with the fewest people.

Apart from her, there was only one middle-aged mixed-race man whom no one recognized.

The two of them were automatically transferred onto the arena.

“All right, now it’s time for the challenge. If no one issues a challenge within ten seconds, the remaining nine teams will each suffer one defeat, and the team on the arena will be allowed to choose someone.”

The old man in the stands continued speaking.

“Xu Mu, should we go up?” Tian Yunchu asked softly.

“Don’t rush. Someone else will definitely go first.”

Xu Mu gazed calmly ahead.

As soon as he finished speaking, a group of people began walking toward the arena.

It was the largest team, consisting of more than ten people. Xu Mu had seen some of them before—they were the mixed-race people who had been with Tian Yunchu earlier.

There were simply two more old men among them now.

Tian Yunchu looked toward one of the old men above. He wore a black cloak, and the same golden sun emblem was emblazoned on his back.

“Elder Xia!”

Tian Yunchu pointed at the goateed old man. “That’s Elder Xia from our Celestial Clan!”

“Don’t be nervous. He might not be the real person. The woman over there is my companion as well.”

As Xu Mu spoke, he drew his red longsword and slowly began cutting at his waist.

He hadn’t understood the purpose of the formation at first, so he had left it in place.

Now that he knew it was a negative status effect, he naturally had to remove it.

Crack!

As the formation weapon cut through it, a dark-red formation first appeared around Xu Mu’s body. Then the runic patterns began to fracture and vanish. Finally, his true figure appeared before them.

Only after Zhong Ci confirmed that the person before her really was Xu Mu did she relax slightly.

Tian Yunchu also seemed a little off at that moment. Still, the Xu Mu standing before her was quite handsome—at least much better-looking than the other men.

The people on the arena appeared to be talking, but Xu Mu and the others couldn’t hear them.

After a brief exchange lasting only a few seconds, they suddenly collided.

Of course, only three people were truly involved in the battle: the two old men and Li Hongdou, who was disguised as an old man.

The moment their powers erupted, the others nearby were blasted away.

However, the arena was only a hundred meters in diameter, so their bodies instantly slammed into the barrier outside it.

They stuck to it like flies slapped against a wall, unable even to fall down.

Xu Mu watched the battle above. Li Hongdou was clearly no match for them. She was currently only at the second stage of the Boundary-Breaking Realm.

Having her lead the way was, in plain terms, a compromise. She was stuck at the third stage of the Boundary-Breaking Realm and didn’t want to completely fall out with the Inner Realm.

But Elder Xia of the Celestial Clan was at the sixth stage of the Boundary-Breaking Realm.

Besides Elder Xia, the other old man was at the fifth stage.

Even if Li Hongdou was exceptionally capable of fighting above her level, she still couldn’t defeat them.

Xu Mu shouted toward Li Hongdou, “Senior! Surrender!”

But Li Hongdou couldn’t hear him at all. She gripped her twin swords and desperately fended off their attacks.

Just as Li Hongdou was about to be killed, the other old man suddenly redirected his attack and thrust it toward Elder Xia’s back.

Whoosh!

His hand was shaped like a claw. It pierced straight through Elder Xia’s back, with his fingertips protruding from the front.

“Damn it!”

Elder Xia glanced back at the old man who had ambushed him. Golden blades, each twice the height of a person, burst from his body.

“Slash!”

Clang!

With a deafening boom, the golden blades instantly sliced the ambushing old man apart.

The old man immediately transformed into formation energy and dissipated.

Li Hongdou didn’t hesitate. Taking advantage of the opening, she charged toward Elder Xia.

“Elder Xia!”

Tian Yunchu burst into tears when he saw this.