Chapter 1939 - Kill Him!

Packed tightly together and accelerating at different speeds, the divine steeds had scarcely begun their advance before collisions became unavoidable.

"Out of my way!" a furious voice roared behind Liu Wuxie. A powerful divine steed bore down on him, determined to smash straight through his chariot as its operator refused to waste time going around.

Liu Wuxie sensed danger even before he turned his head. One sweep of his hand awakened the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot's runes in a blaze of light. Sunlight scattered across its sword wings in a dazzling array of colors, evoking a peacock spreading its tail.

The sword wings beat once. In a maneuver that scarcely seemed possible, the chariot rolled over in midair, slipping clear just as its pursuer thundered past. A hair's breadth separated the two constructs.

Spectators below watched in complete disbelief. Many unleashed their movement techniques and raced alongside the contestants, determined not to miss a moment.

"He dodged the Nanmen Clan's Skybreaker Wasp?!" startled voices cried. The Skybreaker Wasp was built to attack, and it had already sent several divine steeds flying off the course.

"There's something special about that little divine steed. I never thought it would survive the Skybreaker Wasp's attack."

Only moments ago, many spectators had pictured Liu Wuxie's Twin-Winged Battle Chariot breaking apart under the impact. None had expected it to turn as freely as a bird in flight.

Twenty cultivators operated the Skybreaker Wasp. Its strongest occupant stood at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Realm, while even its weakest had attained the Divine Immortal Realm. With such a formidable crew, it undoubtedly possessed the strength to finish among the tournament's top three.

"He actually escaped our Nanmen Clan's Skybreaker Wasp?" Nanmen Qing exclaimed, his face darkening. Seeing Liu Wuxie emerging unscathed plainly grated on him. ℯℯ𝘭.

"Elder, shall we finish him?" a Divine Immortal disciple of the Nanmen Clan asked. After all, it was humiliating to allow such a diminutive divine steed to escape their charge.

Liu Wuxie maintained a steady pace, neither competing for the lead nor allowing himself to fall behind. Although the Nanmen Clan’s Skybreaker Wasp had overtaken him, it remained only a few dozen meters ahead.

Meanwhile, the spatial suppression tightened until it reached thirty times the pressure of the outside world. Every divine steed labored beneath that crushing burden. Even the Cloudbreaker Warship, the swiftest of them all, lost speed as its energy reserves dwindled.

"Kill that brat!" Nanmen Qing commanded, determined to destroy Liu Wuxie's Twin-Winged Battle Chariot.

Beyond the crystal windows, spectators pointed at the Nanmen Clan's vessel, their faces showing little respect for the Skybreaker Wasp.

The earlier charge had angered Liu Wuxie, but he had allowed the matter to rest. In a competition between divine steeds, some collisions were inevitable. What happened next, however, pushed his patience beyond its limits.

The Skybreaker Wasp's rear opened to expose more than a hundred poisoned needles, every one aimed at him. A simultaneous volley would surely damage the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot.

His shortage of materials had forced Liu Wuxie to rely on celestial forge runes to keep the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot operational. Any damage would force him to abandon the tournament and his chance of winning the Asura Blade fragment.

"You're courting death!" Liu Wuxie roared. He might have dismissed the first collision, but there was no mistaking this second charge for anything but a deliberate attack.

"What does the Nanmen Clan think it's doing?" people demanded from below. The spectators had an unobstructed view of everything happening overhead.

"The Nanmen Clan has always thrown its weight around. They deliberately rammed those other divine steeds," a Divine Immortal remarked. "Watching this little one escape must have bruised their pride."

"What a waste. Small as that divine steed is, its agility is extraordinary."

Many spectators shook their heads, already mourning the fate awaiting Liu Wuxie.

"Why pity him? He's a Spirit Immortal. Entering this tournament was practically suicide."

News of Liu Wuxie's cultivation had already circulated through the crowd. No one believed his immortal energy could sustain him for the entire course. Many watched him with undisguised scorn, certain that he had grossly misjudged his own capabilities.

"Open fire!" a voice thundered from the Skybreaker Wasp. Hundreds of poisoned needles shot toward the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot as arrows were loosed in a single volley.

Curses erupted from the occupants of the two divine steeds behind Liu Wuxie as they saw the barrage racing toward them.

Most contestants had entered merely to join in the excitement. Their constructs could not compare to those of the major powers in either offense or defense, leaving them helpless against the oncoming needles.

Liu Wuxie immediately drew upon his mastery of spiritual arrays. The chariot’s sword wings folded inward, shielding his exposed head. Without a roof, he would have been dangerously vulnerable to the barrage.

Needles hammered against sword blades in a rapid metallic clamor. Cracks raced across several swords, pushing them to the brink of shattering. Under the relentless impacts, the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot trembled and almost dropped from the sky.

The two divine steeds behind Liu Wuxie fared worse. Their defenses fell far short of the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot's sturdiness.

Several poisoned needles punctured both constructs, forcing their occupants to steer toward the ground.

Slowly, the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot spread its sword wings again. A few swords had shattered, but the rest of the construct remained intact.

"How the hell...?" the spectators murmured, staring in disbelief. They had expected Liu Wuxie to perish. The possibility that his sword wings could close around him as a shield had never crossed their minds.

Shock also gripped the Nanmen Clan. They had been certain that even Divine Will Gate's Cloudbreaker Warship would need to evade that volley. Instead, Liu Wuxie had endured the entire assault head-on.

Avoiding the attack would have been easy for him, but he had chosen to preserve his strength. The tournament had barely started, and he knew more obstacles awaited him.

The Twin-Winged Battle Chariot's sword wings suddenly flapped, sending it streaking forward like a meteor. It swept past the Skybreaker Wasp without effort.

"I'm not looking for enemies. But you insisted on provoking me, so don't expect mercy," Liu Wuxie warned.

He repaid kindness with kindness and provocation with vengeance. The Nanmen Clan had chosen to attack him, and now it would answer to his wrath.

Watching Liu Wuxie overtake them so effortlessly drove the Nanmen Clan's members into an even greater fury.

"Get ahead of him," Nanmen Qing roared. Everyone immediately set to work, consuming vast quantities of immortal stones. The Skybreaker Wasp's body split open to release a pair of wings, and its speed soared.

Each divine steed concealed a trump card, reserved for a critical moment.

Across the course, similar battles broke out as divine steeds smashed into one another. Through that turmoil, the Qilin War Chariot advanced at the same steady, unhurried pace.

Ordinary divine steeds could not so much as scratch its formidable exterior, much less drive it off course. That impenetrable defense made the Qilin War Chariot truly terrifying.

With a sudden burst of speed, the Skybreaker Wasp drew alongside the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot. Behind the crystal window, Nanmen Qing regarded Liu Wuxie with cold indifference, as though he were already a dead man.

Without warning, the Skybreaker Wasp veered toward him in another attempt to ram his chariot. Poisoned needles bristled across its exterior, ensuring devastating consequences should the two constructs collide.

Liu Wuxie made no attempt to evade this time. He sent his chariot charging directly at the Skybreaker Wasp.

Countless spectators stared in shock. "What is he doing?!" Even the cultivators operating other divine steeds along the Divine Rainbow Road could scarcely believe what they saw.

Divine Steed Manor's members had watched the clashes unfolding across the course. Nearly a hundred people operated the Qilin War Chariot, and their position afforded them a clear view in every direction.

"The Nanmen Clan has no patience. They're wasting their efforts on a mere fly this early in the race," a cultivator at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Realm remarked from inside the Qilin War Chariot. "They won't threaten us now."

The speaker was Divine Steed Manor's deputy manor lord, a man of considerable standing who held command of the chariot.

"Where the hell did that brat come from? I've never seen him before," a Divine Immortal said, frowning deeply.

"We investigated the other clans and the rogue cultivators. Only Divine Will Gate's Cloudbreaker Warship and Heavenly Rift Pavilion's Guardian Wings can threaten us," another cultivator replied.

"Keep your guard up. Hundred Blossom Manor has modified its Hundred Blossom War Chariot and greatly increased its combat strength. They have a strong chance of taking first place too," the deputy manor lord cautioned. They could not afford to relax before the very end. One unforeseen reversal might rob them of victory.

"Yes!" the surrounding disciples and mentors of Divine Steed Manor answered, bowing deeply.

Before everyone's astonished eyes, Liu Wuxie drove straight into the Skybreaker Wasp's charge instead of turning aside.

"He's throwing his life away!" people exclaimed.

Divine Steed Manor had left no ambiguity in its rules. From the moment the tournament began, each contestant was responsible for their own safety, and couldn't blame the manor for any mishaps.

The Nanmen Clan had not anticipated Liu Wuxie's retaliation. By now, the distance between the two constructs had closed so much that the Skybreaker Wasp could no longer avoid him.

The Twin-Winged Battle Chariot owed its greatest advantage to its compact body, which allowed it to perform a remarkable range of maneuvers. Larger divine steeds possessed imposing offensive and defensive capabilities, but none could rival its agility.

That agility demanded a sacrifice in defensive protection, however. To charge the Skybreaker Wasp directly appeared tantamount to seeking death.

"Sword runes, reinforce!" Liu Wuxie commanded, inscribing with both hands and fusing the resulting runes into the chariot's sword wings.

"Cloud-Piercing Pike!" Liu Wuxie called.

At that same instant, the long spear mounted at the Twin-Winged Battle Chariot's front began whirling. Then it shot forward like an arrow.

The abrupt strike took the Nanmen Clan by surprise and left the watching crowd stunned.

A piercing shriek followed the Cloud-Piercing Pike as it ripped through the air.

The spear pierced the Skybreaker Wasp's underside and tore open a gaping hole. The entire vessel lurched violently, sending disciples and elders stumbling and pitching them headfirst onto the floor.

"I want him dead!" Nanmen Qing roared, his voice reaching even the spectators on the ground.

The breach measured no larger than a fist, yet it had crippled the Skybreaker Wasp and shattered the Nanmen Clan's hopes of winning the tournament. Nanmen Qing's fury came as no surprise