Chapter 297 - 239: Moving Ghost Gods

SWISH!!

Amidst a flurry of Gang Blades, a figure leaped from the wreckage of the ship. His chest was caved in, and he was bleeding from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. His face was a ferocious mask of pain, yet his body paradoxically brimmed with vitality.

East Mountain Good Horses!

This was the Neon expert whom Zhao Xuanqi, using the special Purple Fire Bomb provided by the Three Elders, had focused all his power on injuring at the very start of the battle. And now, he had actually recovered his ability to fight!

In that instant, it was as if everything had returned to square one. All of Zhao Xuanqi’s efforts seemed to have been for nothing!

Atop the Holy Ring Bell Tower, the consuls of the Five Nations, who were watching the scene through their spyglasses, couldn’t help but let out a collective gasp.

They knew that with the severity of the injuries East Mountain Good Horses had sustained, it should have been impossible for him to recover his combat strength so quickly. This had to be the work of An Yuan Wuyan’s ability.

The power of the Flower Seed could affect others, not just the user—this was a piece of intelligence they hadn’t possessed before. With this revelation, An Yuan Wuyan’s threat level had to be raised even further!

However, now was not the time to dwell on that. In the current situation, Zhao Xuanqi was already having immense difficulty dealing with Furukawa Naoto and An Yuan Wuyan, to say nothing of a revitalized East Mountain Good Horses returning to the fray.

The man was trapped in a fatal predicament, with no hope of turning the tables!

In their hearts, they had already made a grim prediction: once Zhao Xuanqi was dead, An Yuan Wuyan and his men would turn on the other Divine Land experts. With no one left to stop them, the fate of Jinmen would be sealed.

The next step would be to consider how to negotiate with the Neon Nation and protect their own countries’ interests in the Divine Land as much as possible.

「On the battlefield.」

BOOM!!

East Mountain Good Horses abruptly channeled his Force and shot forward. Sound Waves vibrated from his palms, creating ripples in the air. Then, with a sudden exertion of power, the ripples instantly transformed into terrifying Gang Blades.

In that moment, his Physical Ability erupted to its absolute peak.

The power of the Flower Seed was indeed miraculous, but it couldn’t possibly heal his injuries in an instant. His current state was more akin to that of a dying man experiencing a massive adrenaline surge, his damaged bodily functions temporarily restored to their peak.

He didn’t actually have long to exert this power, but this short burst was enough to decide the outcome of the battle!

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!!

Countless Gang Blades erupted instantly, coordinating with An Yuan Wuyan’s attacks to envelop Zhao Xuanqi, sealing off all his escape routes.

SCHLICK! SCHLICK! SCHLICK!!

In less than ten seconds, over a dozen gruesome blade wounds appeared on Zhao Xuanqi’s body, crisscrossing all over him.

His clothes were shredded by the Gang Blades, revealing large flaps of peeled-back skin and flesh from which blood spurted. He looked utterly wretched. Furthermore, many of the gashes were located at crucial nodes in his musculature. Had it been any other expert, their muscle Power Generation and flexibility would have been severely compromised.

Fortunately, Zhao Xuanqi possessed the body of a Holy Beast. As long as his limbs were not severed, even the most grievous physical wounds could not affect his power output in the short term. Otherwise, his situation would have been even more perilous.

Not since his battle with the heir of the Western Border Wu Family, shortly after he first arrived in Jinmen, had he been so grievously injured, so cornered, and in such peril.

Three masters working in concert, their Divine Transformation abilities stacking, multiplied the threat they posed exponentially!

Under their combined assault, Zhao Xuanqi’s situation grew increasingly perilous. His complete defeat seemed only a matter of time.

In the middle of the exchange, An Yuan Wuyan met Zhao Xuanqi’s gaze, intending to convey a sense of mockery. But upon seeing the expression on Zhao Xuanqi’s face, a strange feeling crept into his heart.

He saw that not only was there no trace of panic or fear on Zhao Xuanqi’s face, but he was actually wearing a faint smile.

’He seems to be... enjoying this process?!’

’Why? He’s on the verge of defeat, he might even die right here and now, so why would he have that kind of expression?!’

A sense of confusion and doubt arose in An Yuan Wuyan’s heart... along with a faint, creeping unease.

This feeling caused him to intensify his attacks, not relaxing in the slightest, even though victory seemed to be within his grasp.

’I have to completely eliminate any possibility of Zhao Xuanqi turning this around!’

An Yuan Wuyan’s perception was not mistaken. Right at that moment, covered in crisscrossing gashes and dripping with blood, with powerful enemies pressing in from all sides, Zhao Xuanqi was indeed in a life-and-death crisis.

But Zhao Xuanqi was, in fact, enjoying the process.

Life reacts to the face of death in many different ways.

When most ordinary people face this moment, their hormone levels spike. This causes their muscles to become extremely tense and their heart rate to increase dramatically, making their bodies tremble uncontrollably. Their minds fill with fear and despair, often going completely blank. Some even experience nausea and dry heaving. They lose perfect control over their bodies, which can lead to a loss of bladder and bowel control.

Trained experts and fierce warriors, on the other hand, can use this hormonal surge to squeeze out their bodies’ maximum potential, putting up a desperate fight in their final moments. However, limited by their physical constitutions, the increase in their Physical Ability, even when fueled by desperate courage, is ultimately finite.

But Zhao Xuanqi’s reaction was different from both. The closer he got to a life-and-death moment, the more his hormone levels spiked. For him, this brought not tension, but relaxation—a state of ultimate relaxation.

The sensation was like that of a person, exhausted after a long day’s work, soaking in a bathtub full of hot water. His pores opened, his entire body felt light from the inside out, and his brain released a flood of dopamine, making him feel utterly comfortable and euphoric.