The Great Ruler (Web Novel)

An intense atmosphere filled the large hall as Mu Chen and Tang Mei’er locked their gazes onto Xia Hou’s figure. As chilling intent was gushing from their eyes, boundless Spiritual Energy started to undulate from their bodies, warping and distorting the space around them.

If the groups were to be compared to their own, Xia Hou’s group was undoubtedly the strongest. However, if Mu Chen’s group and Tang Mei’er’s group were to join forces, they would no longer be in a disadvantageous position against Xia Hou’s group. At that time, if an all-out brawl was to start, it would be difficult to tell exactly which side would come out on top.

The other groups that were scattered around the large hall watched on with heated gazes. They knew that these groups from three from the five Great Spiritual Academies would not hold back when fighting. Once it began, the intensity of their fight would definitely exceed their expectations.

As the other groups watched on, Xia Hou darkly stared at Mu Chen and Tang Mei’er. A moment later, he said in an indifferent tone, “It seems like you two intend to join forces against my Saint Spiritual Academy?”

Hearing his words, Tang Mei’er retorted with a charming laugh, “Heh, what about it? Could it be that Captain Xia Hou, who just loves to take advantage of others’ misfortune, is finally feeling wronged?”

Simply giving a chilling grin in reply, an expression of ridicule flashed across Xia Hou’s face as he replied, “You can’t be thinking that by joining forces, you’ll be a threat to us?”

“You aren’t the only one here with back up.”

Hearing this statement, Tang Mei’er’s expression froze, before immediately turning around to face the group from the Martial Spiritual Academy. After all, among all the groups present, only the group from another one of the five Great Spiritual Academies could pose a threat.

Zhou Yuan, who had been carefully sizing up the other groups in his surroundings, was also startled by Xia Hou’s reply. Furrowing his brows, he stared right back at Xia Hou. “The only thing on my mind, right now, is to find the group that killed my comrade. I can’t be bothered to join in with you all.”

Upon hearing this, Xia Hou simply gave a somewhat ambiguous smile in return.

“Haha, Captain Xia Hou should be referring to us, am I right…?”

A soft laughter abruptly rang out, echoing in the large hall. Everyone’s expression changed as they quickly turned towards its source. Five shadowy figures had appeared at the humongous entrance of the large hall, and the leader of that group was exactly the black-robed youth with the pale-white face, laughing as he swept his gaze over the crowd in the hall.

Mu Chen glanced at this group, and his expression froze. This was the same mysterious group as the one they had crossed hands with earlier.

“Trash, you’ve finally shown up!”

Just as everyone noticed this group, Zhou Yuan had let out a roar and explosively shot forward with a crazed look in his eyes. His Broken Mountain Pole exploded through the air, carrying a frightening amount of force as he viciously swung it down on the black-robed youth.

“Hehe, Captain Zhou Yuan is really impulsive.” The black-robed youth chuckled, swinging a palm out in response. Torrents of green Spiritual Power swept forth, forming a huge palm that was withered and solid, just like the bark of an ancient tree.

Boom!

The huge wooden palm heavily collided with the Broken Mountain Pole, and rampant Spiritual Energy waves spontaneously spread out.

Bang!

As the Spiritual Energy attacks collided, Zhou Yuan’s body trembled, before fresh blood spurted from the hand grasping onto his weapon, and his figure miserably flew backwards. The ferocity that was present in his eyes earlier had been replaced by shock.

This black-robed youth had actually passed his Spiritual Energy Disaster!

Crash!

Shocked voices rang out throughout the large hall, as the other groups stared at the mysterious group. The young leader of the group had actually reached a level comparable to Xia Hou!

Mu Chen furrowed his brow as his expression froze. In the brief exchange he had earlier with the black-robed youth, the latter had no intention to have an all-out fight, and hence did not display his full strength. However, in this moment, he did not hold back, thoroughly demonstrating his full ability.

“These scoundrels!”

Zhou Yuan hastily retreated, with his groupmates supporting him. Even though his anger had not waned, the shock he experienced had pulled him out from his mindless rage. They had lost a groupmate after being attacked by this mysterious group, but with just a single move, he clearly understood that he stood no chance against them in a head-on clash.

A strange atmosphere had permeated the large hall ever since this mysterious group appeared.

“Haha, my name is Zhen Qing, from the Wood Spiritual Academy…”

The black-robed youth grinned at the other groups scattered around the large hall, before his gaze stopped on Mu Chen, and he cupped his hands in greeting.

“So, Xia Hou, it seems that you’ve already been in cahoots with them, huh? Planning to join forces and wipe out the rest of us?” Tang Mei’er gave a cold laugh. “However, even if you do so, there are still so many other groups here.”

The situation had changed too quickly. While Tang Mei’er and Mu Chen’s group had originally held an overwhelming advantage over Xia Hou’s group, the appearance of the tyrannical group from the Wood Spiritual Academy completely reversed the situation.

With two experts who had passed their Spiritual Energy Disaster, they had an extremely frightening lineup!

Xia Hou stared at Tang Mei’er with a glint in his eye. While she appeared delicate and charming, her tone and words did nothing to hide her anger, nor her intentions. With a single statement, she had caused all the other groups to start taking precautions against Xia Hou’s group. After all, if they joined forces with the group from the Wood Spiritual Academy, their strength would be off the charts…

“Haha, Captan Tang’s words sure are vicious…”

Not bothering to wait for Xia Hou to respond, Zhen Qing replied with a cold smirk filled with ridicule and disdain. Sizing up the other groups present in the large hall, he murmured, “Indeed, I want to take down all of you… all the treasures in this ancient ruins belong to us, including those in your grubby hands.”

Boom!

All the groups were shocked upon hearing this proclamation, before red-hot fury rose within their eyes. With such a large appetite, wasn’t the Wood Spiritual Academy group afraid of biting off more than they could chew?

Even with their frightening strength after joining forces with Xia Hou, there was no way they could beat an alliance formed from every other group present!

Is this fellow dumb, or what?

Mu Chen furrowed his brows. Zhen Qing couldn’t be this reckless, right?

He turned to meet Luo Li’s gaze, only to see that they were both guarded against the situation. While they did not know much about Zhen Qing, it was impossible for a moron to become a captain of a group. Having made such a proclamation, he had to have some sort of backing; but, just what sort of backing would give him such confidence to look down on everyone with such disdain?

“Heh, such ambition, Captain Zhen Qing. But are you sure that you have the ability to take on every one of us?” Laughing, Tang Mei’er turned to face the rest of the groups. “Looks like you all are worth less than ants to him.”

All the groups wore nasty expressions on their faces. Glaring directly at Zhen Qing, Spiritual Energy started to revolve in their bodies.

At this moment, Zhen Qing had undoubtedly become Public Enemy No. 1.

“Hmph, you want to take down all of us? Come! We’ll see just how capable you are!” Finally unable to hold back, some groups shouted, while the rest echoed in agreement. The groups slowly spread out around the large hall. With the large number of groups, it truly was a powerful lineup.

However, Zhen Qing simply gave a smirk filled with ridicule, before lifting his palm. With a flash of green light, an ancient leaf-like talisman appeared in his palm, flickering with an emerald-green glow.

Mu Chen’s eyes narrowed upon seeing that talisman. This was the item that Zhen Qing had snatched away earlier.

Swish!

Forming a seal with one hand, Zhen Qing snapped his fingers. A green light shot from his hand, darting across the large hall with a frightening speed, before landing on the enormous wooden statue at the other end of the large hall under the countless shocked gazes.

Swish!

The leaf-like talisman implanted itself in the forehead of the enormous statue, as rays of light spread out from the talisman, diffusing throughout the body of the statue.

As the light rays enveloped the statue, Tang Mei’er and the rest had an ugly expression on their faces. Before their very eyes, the enormous wooden statue slowly opened its eyes. A rich green glow shone from those two eyes.

“Ladies and gentlemen, now, I shall tell you just how I’m going to wipe the floor with you.”

Zhen Qing’s smirk became increasingly disdainful. Forming seals with his hands, a boundless Spiritual Energy started undulating out, as the wooden statue started to mirror his seals. An extremely astonishing Spiritual Energy ripple started to spread across the large hall.

“Stop him!”

Mu Chen wore a grave expression as he roared. Both Luo Li and him seemed to have simultaneously charged forward.

“Haha, it’s too late…”

Zhen Qing chuckled and shook his head, before his seals froze. His dark voice reverberated around the large hall.

“Myriad Wood Realm!”

As his voice rang out, the entire hall violently trembled. All of a sudden, green light erupted from the enormous pillars in the hall, before innumerable vines exploded forth, hiding the sky and covering the earth. Within the span of a few breaths, the entire hall had been thoroughly permeated with the vines.

Ugly expressions flashed across everyone’s faces. Attempting to escape, they discovered that there was nowhere to run, as the vines flooded over, submerging figure after figure.

Boom! Boom!

Within the mass of vines, some individuals frantically revolved their Spiritual Energy, attempting to slice through the vines. However, they immediately discovered that despite appearing to be fragile and weak, the vines could not be broken regardless of how hard they tried. Also, the Spiritual Energy in their bodies was apparently being devoured as the vines squirmed around them…

The originally noisy hall had now become silent. Apart from Zhen Qing’s and Xia Hou’s group, everyone else, including Mu Chen and Luo Li, had been entirely enveloped by the green light vines.

Within the vines, all that could be seen were pairs of eyes filled with dread and fear. With no way to escape, all they could do was watch as the vines simply devoured their Spiritual Energy.

“Whew.”

Witnessing this scene, Zhen Qing coldly laughed. “Once you’re trapped in the Myriad Wood Realm, there’s no way to break free, and your Spiritual Energy will be slowly consumed and used to awaken this Divine Wood Guard…”

“Captain Xia Hou, I will take all the treasures in these ruins; as for the points, an even split. What do you think?”

“We shall do as you suggest.”

Xia Hou chuckled as he nodded with a glint in his eye. Zhen Qing’s appetite truly was ravenous, with no intention to leave even a single treasure for his group. However, with the strength that the latter currently possessed, there was not much room for debate. For someone like Zhen Qing, it seemed like the only thing preventing him from acting against Xia Hou’s group was the fear of Saint Spiritual Academy’s strength and ability.

Zhen Qing nodded, beaming in response, satisfied with Xia Hou’s tactfulness.

“Next, we only need to wait for a hour, and this place will be entirely under our control. Hmph, three of the Great Academies… their teams will be eliminated.”

Zhen Qing sat down with a smile. Suddenly, his expression turned ugly as he spun around, staring at two particular squirming vines. A frightening heat and a sharp Sword Aura were sweeping out from within the vines.

Bang!

A purple flame burst forth, and the clump of squirming vines simply turned into ashes with a poof.

Swish!

A resplendent sword light swept forth. Before its incomparably sharp edge, even these vines, made with such special materials, were sliced into fine dust.

Zhen Qing and Xia Hou looked up with grave expressions, as the many pairs of eyes trapped within the mass of vines also hurriedly looked over.

Under the countless gazes, a slender youth and a beautiful lady slowly walked out from the rays of light.

Zhen Qing’s eyes narrowed, before he heartily laughed.

“Impressive, even the Myriad Wood Realm is unable to trap you…”