Chapter 237: The King and the Number One Under the Kings

Specter jolted as if struck by lightning, a frigid aura invading his entire body. He stiffened, plummeting straight down from midair.

"Commander of the Revolutionary Army, Specter. We finally meet." High upon the platform, Gongsun Quan gazed down at Specter's wretched form and spoke with calm indifference.

Specter's expression turned ice-cold. Instead of answering, he stared at his right arm, which was now entirely entangled by the power of a curse. Countless tendrils of dark energy writhed wildly across his flesh like tiny black snakes, leaving densely packed black curse marks materializing across his skin.

The curse marks continued to spread, threatening to creep up his torso.

A cold glint flashed in his eyes. Without the slightest hesitation, he activated his ability, bringing an invisible blade viciously down through the air.

Slash!

His right arm was cleanly severed. Scarlet blood threatened to erupt from the wound, but an invisible force clamped down on it, holding the spray at bay.

Specter slowly stood up straight. Scanning his surroundings from the corner of his eye, his heart sank. At some unknown point, dense, black curse marks had crawled all over the square's silver-white walls and even up to the dome. He tried reaching out with his spiritual sense, but the moment it touched those black runes, his energy was instantly devoured.

This was a trap!

High upon the platform, King Chi's amber eyes fixated on Specter. Her previously severed hand had already regenerated, its skin still as smooth as jade.

"Not a known Law, then? It seems I can finally stretch my limbs a bit." King Chi's red lips curled into a sneer, a smile as piercing and frigid as shattering ice.

The entire world seemed to freeze over at her chilling smile.

"How did you discover me?" Even backed into a desperate corner, Specter maintained his composure, shooting a piercing glare at King Chi without showing an ounce of weakness.

"The commander of the Revolutionary Army has always been an elusive phantom. If we were capable of tracking you down, the Revolutionary Army would have ceased to exist long ago," Gongsun Quan said calmly.

Specter furrowed his brows, a realization beginning to dawn on him.

"However, there is a saying about the willing victim taking the bait. If you realized this was your best chance to reach Supreme Heaven, did you really think we wouldn't realize it too? I wasn't certain you would come, but that didn't stop me from setting the stage in advance. If you hadn't shown up, it would have just been a feint, a minor waste of effort."

Gongsun Quan explained placidly. His face bore no joy of a successful scheme, only a serene indifference, as if the outcome hardly mattered either way.

A jolt of shock went through Specter. He suddenly remembered Pride's earlier warning—telling him to be careful not to die here. Even then, he had felt there was a deeper meaning behind those words. Could it be... had Pride anticipated this all along?

"What? Having second thoughts?" Gongsun Quan asked, catching the slight shift in Specter's expression.

Specter shook his head. "An opportunity like this only comes once. Sometimes, even knowing it's a trap, you have to take the risk. Besides, I should be thanking you. Your lengthy explanation bought me plenty of time to recover."

Squelch!

The sickening sound of writhing flesh echoed out as Specter's severed right arm rapidly grew back. What no one had noticed was that, right in the middle of their conversation, Specter had covertly injected himself with a Divine Healing Potion.

A syringe hidden inside his robes had floated up on its own to administer the dose.

"Don't mention it," Gongsun Quan said coolly. "You were stalling for recovery, but I was stalling for this grand array to fully take shape. This formation is at its most fragile the moment it activates—a forceful attack could have easily shattered it. I'm the one who should be thanking you for holding back."

"Enough, why waste breath on him? It's finally time for this King to have some fu—"

"Ahem!" an elder behind King Chi hurriedly coughed, lowering his voice. "Your Majesty, your decorum! Please mind your decorum!"

King Chi furrowed her elegant brows, clearly wanting to retort. But considering the audience present, she swallowed her words. Clasping her hands behind her back, she tipped her chin up slightly, her gaze once again radiating boundless majesty and domineering authority.

"Specter, surrender now, and this King will leave you an intact corpse. Do not throw your life away."

Specter took a deep breath. He knew he was likely going to die here today. Yet, there was not a shred of fear in his eyes. Instead, as if a heavy burden had finally been lifted from his shoulders, a scorching battle intent began to radiate from him.

He cupped his hands in a martial salute. "Setting aside my identity as commander of the Revolutionary Army, it is my deepest honor to cross blows with the legendary King Chi. Please, show me your strength!"

He jerked his head up, meeting King Chi's gaze with eyes like chilling lightning.

Two wildly different gazes clashed in the air—one wielding world-conquering dominance, the other surging with defiant battle intent!

The chaos engulfing the square seemed to fade away from them entirely, plunging their immediate surroundings into absolute silence.

"Are they finally throwing down?" Su Mu, happily playing the role of a bystander, secured a spot near the front row and watched with deep interest.

One was Specter, the commander of the Revolutionary Army and the reputed Number One Under the Kings. The other was nominally one of the Seven Kings, yet utterly unrecognized by the rulers of the other empires.

A clash between these two would be second only to a war between the Seven Kings themselves.

Just then, Gongsun Quan suddenly let out an admiring sigh. "Brilliant. To still have the audacity to pick his opponent in such a desperate situation. Your Majesty, I see no need for you to duel a treasonous rebel one-on-one. If the roles were reversed and you were surrounded by the Revolutionary Army, I assure you they would not bother with martial honor. Therefore..."

Specter's boiling battle intent faltered, the fierce momentum he had just managed to gather nearly crumbling on the spot.

Gongsun Quan!!!

However, King Chi was already out of patience. Turning a deaf ear to his advice, she leaped straight off the high platform, her dark gold phoenix robes snapping and dancing wildly in the wind.

Whoosh!

Golden flames surged beneath her feet, gently catching her graceful figure and suspending her steadily in midair.

Fortunately, her phoenix robes were exceptionally wide and layered, unlike ordinary skirts that were prone to accidental exposure. Otherwise, floating in the void like this, the prisoners and guards below would have gotten quite the eyeful just by glancing up.

Specter's expression was grave as he slowly levitated as well, hovering opposite King Chi in a silent standoff.

The two locked eyes for a long moment. Ultimately, it was the youthful King Chi whose patience wore thin first, and she initiated the attack. She raised a pale hand, and countless golden flames instantly erupted around her. Wisps of fire rapidly converged in her palm, hyper-compressing until they took the shape of a miniature sun.

A blindingly brilliant light exploded outward, as though the sun itself had descended to the mortal realm.

With a flick of her wrist, she sent the miniature golden sun hurtling forward. It spun violently toward Specter, radiating a terrifying heat that warped the very fabric of space.

Su Mu watched with eager fascination. As expected of King Chi, the sheer energy packed into her casual strike vastly eclipsed Chu Shang's ultimate move, Blazing Heaven's Wrath.

While Blazing Heaven's Wrath might have looked far more visually spectacular—like an actual sun plummeting from the sky—the sheer concentrated power of King Chi's strike was on a completely different level. If Blazing Heaven's Wrath was the sun, then King Chi's casual attack was that same sun compressed into a tiny sphere.