Chapter 223: Liyu Is Dead!!!!

Chapter 222

Shi Tian’s attack...the Thousand Wind Execution...rained down upon the ground, descending with overwhelming force and covering the vast battlefield in a terrifying storm of destructive wind.

The moment it touched the ground, everything within its range was caught in the hastening waves of destruction; the stages were shredded apart and turned to dust, while the ground beneath them was torn open, crushed, and obliterated beneath the relentless force of the attack, with countless fragments of stone and debris being swept into the air before being reduced to even smaller particles by the terrifying wind.

Even the protective arrays that the referee had put in place to save the disqualified participants were not spared, as the powerful protective domes groaned and creaked, and krrrrk! Spiderweb-like cracks instantly spread across the surface of the protective barriers, causing the entire domes to shake violently and tremble as though they could collapse at any moment.

Those protected within them stared in horror, only then realizing one crucial thing: if they had not been safely protected beneath those barriers, or if they had taken even the aftermath of that attack head-on, they would have been completely incinerated, erased, and left without even a corpse behind.

That alone went to show just how terrifying Shi Tian’s killing move was, because to be able to instantly incinerate and erase anyone below the Core Stage with nothing more than the destructive force of its aftermath was something truly beyond the norms...an attack that surpassed what most people could even imagine, and precisely why it was called the Devil Killing Move.

Within the protective dome, Li Yuexin stared at the scene outside with her heart racing wildly, her breathing uneven and her chest rising and falling rapidly as she looked through the protective barrier at the battlefield that had already been swallowed by dust and destruction.

She had been too caught up in her thoughts earlier to properly understand or realize what had happened, knowing only that an attack had descended...an attack so powerful that it had been able to leave several long, terrifying marks across the protective array created by a referee who was a Bronze Core expert.

Just thinking about that was enough to tell her exactly what kind of terrifying destructive force Shi Tian’s final attack carried, and the fact that even a Bronze Core expert’s protective array had been damaged by the aftermath alone made her wonder what kind of power the attack itself contained.

Li Yuexin’s heart raced even faster as fear filled her and dread followed closely behind, though it was not fear for herself or dread for her own safety, but rather for Liyu, who had been the target of that attack.

If she had not seen wrong, all the lightning barriers and defenses that Liyu had set up were completely meaningless before Shi Tian’s attack, having been shredded apart, torn through, and destroyed by the wind that the attack carried alone, while the true destructive force of the Thousand Wind Execution had not even reached him at that moment.

That realization made Li Yuexin’s heart sink as she wondered if Liyu could really have died from that final attack, causing her body to tremble while the image of Liyu’s corpse suddenly surfaced in her mind...his body lying beneath the destruction, his blood scattered across the ruined battlefield, and his once-confident figure reduced to nothing.

"No..." Li Yuexin immediately shook her head, refusing to think about it because there was no way he would die like that, and he needed to survive, must survive, and do what he must do, which was all she could think about as her hands pressed tightly together while she stared forward.

The thick dust raised by the Thousand Wind Execution had completely obscured her vision so that nothing could be seen beyond the protective barrier, leaving her to only wait for the dust to clear, for the result, and to know whether Liyu was still alive.

Li Yuexin was not the only one waiting for the dust to clear, however, as the entire arena was waiting with every single pair of eyes locked onto the battlefield, and the atmosphere that had previously been filled with excitement and roaring cheers had become strangely quiet because everyone wanted to know the outcome.

Some people had already chosen to believe that Liyu was dead, reasoning that surely there was no way he could have survived against such a terrifying final attack and wondering what else could possibly have survived that, while others, especially Liyu’s die-hard fans, desperately chose to believe otherwise.

Liyu must have survived because he had not come such a long way only to die just like that, having overcome too many obstacles, defeated too many opponents, and shocked the entire arena too many times, making them wonder how someone like him could possibly end here.

At least that was what they wanted to believe, hoping that once the dust cleared he would still be standing and somehow, against all odds, take the victory in the end, but no one knew or could see through the thick veil of dust, leaving all of them to only wait.

The dust continued to hang in the air before beginning to thin little by little, the thick cloud slowly dispersing and visibility gradually improving so that bit by bit the battlefield began to reveal itself, causing everyone’s eyes to widen as the dust finally cleared and they saw the result of Shi Tian’s killing move.

The result was that everything had been eradicated, destroyed, and gone; the stage was gone, the ground had caved in, and the outer layer of the battlefield seemed to have been completely erased, leaving behind a horrifying scene of devastation that bore no resemblance to the battlefield that had existed moments ago.

Most importantly, Liyu seemed to have vanished as well without any sign of him, as though he had been completely shredded apart and erased from existence, with only the spots protected by the referee’s arrays and the infirmary...protected by another powerful Bronze Core cultivator...remaining standing while everything else had been decimated far beyond what anyone had expected.

The destructive force had gone beyond simple devastation to annihilate everything in its path, and Shi Tian looked down at the sight below in brief silence before the corner of his lips lifted slightly and he gave a small nod of acknowledgment to himself.

He had done it, won the match, and more importantly gotten rid of Liyu, eliminating a potential future threat and making Shi Tian’s heart settle as he finally removed the troublesome existence before it could grow any stronger.

Within the protective dome, however, Li Yuexin’s entire body went stiff the moment she saw that everything had been decimated, her knees losing their strength and causing her to collapse onto them with a pale face.

The upper ground seemed to have been completely destroyed, leaving only about a meter or two deep of earth compared to what had existed earlier to reveal just how frightening the force behind Shi Tian’s attack truly was, having not merely uprooted or destroyed the ground or shattered the surface, but completely decimated it so that the earth itself had been swallowed by the destruction and the natural qi that had enriched the ground had done nothing to stop it.

Li Yuexin’s eyes trembled as tears slowly gathered in them before finally spilling down her cheeks, bringing an unbearable ache in her chest and trembling lips as she softly called out, "Brother Yu...", only to receive no response, nothing, and only silence.

Li Yuexin’s fingers clenched tightly against her clothes as she stared at the ruined battlefield and called again with more desperation, "Brother Yu...", yet still received nothing but silence, and silence alone, while her tears continued to stream down her face and the battlefield remained completely still without a figure, movement, response, or sign that Liyu was still alive.

At that moment, the terrifying possibility that Li Yuexin had been desperately refusing to acknowledge finally began to settle into her heart, making it seem that Liyu was dead.

At the seats of the leaders, Shi Gubing and Guan Ju had smiles filled with happiness stretched across their faces because they were more than happy, they were ecstatic, as the bastard Li heir called Liyu had caused them more pain, humiliation, and frustration than they had ever experienced throughout their entire existence.

Time and time again, he had escaped their grasp and overturned situations that should have been absolute, but now it seemed that all of it had finally come to an end, and the fact that they had searched for him and could not find even the slightest trace of his aura...not even a trace, nothing...was enough to make it obvious that he had truly been erased by Shi Tian’s attack.

Neither Shi Gubing nor Guan Ju was particularly astonished that Shi Tian’s final attack could erase a full-fledged Peak Foundation Realm cultivator because that was how insanely powerful the Thousand Wind Execution was, making it something an ordinary cultivator could not withstand and reducing even a Peak Foundation Realm expert to nothing beneath its terrifying destructive force.

Shi Gubing turned his gaze toward Li San and saw his body trembling, prompting a wide, stretching grin to appear across Shi Gubing’s face as he thought with a smile that today was truly the happiest day of his life and that finally that bastard is dead.

He was barely holding himself back from bursting into laughter filled with pure joy because the hatred, humiliation, and frustration he had accumulated toward Liyu had been too deep, too much, and for too long, and now all of it seemed to have been resolved with one attack.

Guan Ju naturally did not miss the opportunity to rub salt into Li San’s wound as he spoke with a tone filled with exaggerated and completely fake pity, shaking his head as though he were genuinely saddened by what had happened while the happy smile plastered across his face completely betrayed his words.

"Oh my, Clan Lord Li..." he said before pausing deliberately, "It seems that the death match is over, and your clan seems to have lost its heir. You have my deepest condolences."

His words were filled with sympathy and his expression with happiness, making it obvious that he was enjoying every second of this, yet Li San did not reply or even spare the two clan lords a glance, keeping his entire attention focused on one thing: Liyu.

He spread his divine sense to its absolute limit, sweeping across the entire area to search the ruined battlefield, beneath the shattered ground, through the remaining traces of spiritual energy, and everywhere, yet there was nothing...not even the faintest trace of Liyu’s aura, making it really seem as if he had been completely eradicated and totally erased.

But that couldn’t be, there was no way, and Li San’s hand slowly clenched into a fist with his fingernails digging into his palm as he desperately continued searching, thinking that even if Liyu had been gravely injured or his aura had weakened to the point of being almost impossible to detect, he should still be able to find something, a trace, a remnant, anything, but there was nothing and he couldn’t see a trace of that kid anywhere.

Is he really dead? The question passed through Li San’s mind clearly and completely unwanted, because he hated that thought and hated even allowing himself to think it, wondering if maybe he should have barged into the battlefield earlier or ignored Liyu’s wishes and saved him himself, but the kid had not wanted that, having trusted himself and told him not to interfere.

Li San’s heart tightened while his eyes remained fixed on the battlefield, while at the seats of the crowd the fans of the Honored One were already crying and mourning Liyu because to them the outcome seemed relatively clear...

Liyu was dead, the death match was over, the tournament was over, and Shi Tian had won...causing some of them to cover their faces as tears poured through their fingers and others to stare blankly at the destroyed battlefield, unable to accept what they were seeing as Liyu, an existence they admired who had repeatedly defied expectations and walked farther than anyone thought possible, was now gone.

At the seats of the Shi camp, Shi Lan and the other two were already on their knees with tears rolling down their faces and bodies trembling, and anyone seeing them in that state would naturally think they were mourning Liyu, but that was far from reality since they were mourning themselves in advance, knowing that now Liyu was dead they would be next, which caused their previous confidence to completely disappear and their faces to be pale as they trembled uncontrollably.

The referee wore a forlorn expression as he waited, having also been watching the battlefield with perhaps some part of him still hoping that Liyu would rise and that there was still a tiny possibility, but as seconds passed with no movement, aura, response, or trace of Liyu.

It became clear he was truly dead this time and seemed to have been completely eradicated, causing the referee to sigh heavily and say in a voice that carried across the silent arena, "It seems the death match is decided, then... After all, only one person is left alive."

His gaze slowly lifted and landed on Shi Tian, who was still airborne above the battlefield looking down at the crowd with no emotion whatsoever on his face, appearing completely calm, completely indifferent, and as if everything that had happened was already beneath his concern.

"Alright," Shi Gubing’s happy voice suddenly rang out filled with excitement, already preparing himself to dance and celebrate his long-awaited victory after waiting for this moment for far too long, and the referee nodded, stepped forward, and prepared to announce the winner.

Li San’s fist clenched tightly and his body remained completely still while he thought, This is not real. Li Yu can’t be dead. No. It can’t be. Can it? His heart refused to accept it, but then the face of that brat Liyu suddenly appeared in his mind, and Li San remembered something...earlier, what had he said? Yes, he had said it, repeated those words over and over again: Believe in me. Trust me.

Li San’s clenched fist slowly relaxed, the tension in his fingers gradually disappeared, his eyes became calm, and then he spoke in a calm voice that rang through the entire arena, reverberating across the silent battlefield: "I trust you, kid..." He paused with his gaze remaining fixed upon the ruined battlefield, and said, "So get up... And win this. Liyu..."

Following his words was absolute silence, and the referee was still about to declare Shi Tian the winner with his lips already parting, but before the words could leave his mouth...BOOM!

The ground suddenly shook violently and the entire arena trembled as if an earthquake had slammed into the battlefield with overwhelming force, causing the remaining ground to quake, dust to be sent flying, and everyone’s expressions to change as someone yelled, "What?!"

Before anyone could react, green cracks suddenly appeared across the surface of the ruined ground...one, then another, then dozens...and rapidly spread in every direction like countless veins crawling across the earth.

Kzzzt! Green light began to glow from within the cracks, at first faint and then brighter, brighter, and brighter until the entire battlefield was illuminated by a familiar green radiance accompanied by the sound of crackling lightning. KRRRZZZT!

Shi Tian, who was still airborne, suddenly stiffened and his eyes shook violently with disbelief as he recognized that lightning he had seen before...that familiar green lightning...making the word escape his lips before he could stop himself: "Impossible..."

And right at that moment...BOOM! A lightning bolt suddenly erupted from the ground, shooting upward at a terrifying speed so fast that the eyes of the spectators could barely follow it, tearing through the air and reaching Shi Tian’s face in an instant while his shocked gaze widened, and then a figure appeared within the lightning...a figure that should have been dead, that everyone had already believed had been erased, and that had vanished beneath Shi Tian’s most terrifying killing move: Liyu.

His face was bloodied, his clothes were torn, and his body carried the obvious marks of the previous destruction, yet he was alive, standing, and there was something terrifyingly calm about his presence.

Before Shi Tian could even react or his shocked mind could fully comprehend what was happening, Liyu pushed the Void Piercer forward, and PUCHI! The weapon pierced straight through Shi Tian’s chest, straight through his flesh, and straight through his heart.

Shi Tian’s body stiffened and his eyes widened as disbelief completely overtook his face while he stared at the figure before him...the impossible figure he had believed he had already erased from existence.

While Liyu’s bloodied face remained emotionless and his gaze calm, almost frighteningly calm, until the corner of his lips slowly rose into a bright grin across his face as he looked directly into Shi Tian’s shocked eyes and, with the Void Piercer buried straight through his chest, spoke: "Miss me?"