Chapter 139: The Fifth Battle: Humanity Wins!

As the master of the chessboard, Bai Ze suffered a massive backlash the instant the board was broken and the malevolent energy purified!

“Puh—!”

It spewed a mouthful of golden blood, its sacred radiance instantly dimmed, its aura plummeting, its once-gentle eyes filled with exhaustion and complex emotion.

It looked at Li Mubai, then at the scroll forged from malevolent energy, and finally let out a long sigh.

“Master Mubai… your wisdom is as vast as the sea, your realm immeasurably high—Bai Ze… has lost.”

It surrendered voluntarily.

The chessboard was shattered, the malevolent energy neutralized; it could no longer fight. More importantly, Li Mubai’s method touched upon some deep principle within Bai Ze’s heart.

Li Mubai himself swayed unsteadily, barely standing, wiping blood from his lips and waving a hand: “Lucky, just lucky. Friend Bai Ze, Itachi’re too kind. Had Itachi not used malevolent energy as the catalyst, this old man would never have had the chance to test the Soul-Soothing Melody I’ve pondered for half a lifetime.”

The fifth battle is over.

No earth-shattering explosions, no gruesome carnage—only a silent clash of wisdom and a duel of Dao realms.

Yet the peril here was no less than in the first four battles!

“Fifth battle: Human race, Li Mubai, wins.”

The voice of cosmic law rang out, carrying a strange resonance—as if the pervasive calamity energy had thinned slightly because of this game.

After a brief silence, the human camp erupted in cheers as if reborn from death—this victory had come at too great a cost! Li Mubai had staked his very life to reclaim a crucial win for humanity!

“We won! Elder Li won!”

“The Celestial Mechanism Pavilion! Unrivaled in strategy!”

“The malevolent energy… it’s fading!”

Ye Ting, Lu Wujiu, and Ye Qing also exhaled deeply, their gazes toward Li Mubai brimming with respect.

This disheveled old man had turned the tide at the critical moment!

The demonic race’s side fell into silence. Bai Ze’s defeat—especially in this manner—left them stunned, even bewildered.

The spectral forms of several demon sages flickered, clearly displeased, yet unable to voice any reproach.

Immediately after Bai Ze surrendered, Li Mubai could no longer hold himself up; his body slumped backward.

Disciples of the Celestial Mechanism Pavilion, prepared in advance, rushed forward and gently supported him down.

He had won, but his spirit was drained, his soul severely wounded—he needed immediate seclusion to recover.

Bai Ze cast a deep look at Li Mubai being carried away, then at the fading scroll above the arena, a flicker of insight and complexity in its eyes, before turning and walking slowly back to the demonic race’s side.

After five battles, the human race leads 3–2, maintaining a slight advantage.

But everyone knew the battles ahead would be far more difficult.

With the top strategist Li Mubai critically injured and out, the human race had few remaining main combatants left.

All eyes involuntarily turned to the few who had yet to fight.

Jiang Xia, Du Gu Yun, Cui Jue, Ye Lingxi…

Very well, this is the sixth match: Su Wan versus the Nightmare.

After a brief respite, the sixth battle began.

“Sixth battle: Begin!”

The voice of cosmic law rang out again, shattering the silence and bringing a new test of life and death.

From the human camp, a slender figure slowly floated forth.

Dressed in a white long gown, her face delicate and gentle, her eyes clear and serene—as if untouched by the brutal atmosphere around her—she was Su Wan, the prodigy of the Su family and a master of spiritual force who had once partnered with Jiang Xia.

She drifted gently to the center of the Fallen God Arena, not radiating power like the previous combatants, merely standing still, yet a soft field of spiritual energy naturally flowed around her.

“Su family, Su Wan,” her voice was soft yet clear, echoing into every living being’s soul, “I humbly seek your guidance.”

Her appearance surprised and worried many in the human camp.

Though Su Wan’s spiritual force was formidable and strange, on a battlefield of life-or-death combat, against the demonic race’s powerful bodies and violent assaults, could her defense and endurance hold?

The demonic race, too, seemed taken aback by Su Wan’s appearance; after a brief silence, a shifting, mist-like shadow, spectral and elusive, rolled onto the arena.

Its form constantly shifted, coalescing into a twisted humanoid shape with no fixed features—only two crimson points of light in the mist, radiating a disorienting, soul-disturbing spiritual wave.

“Nightmare Clan, Nightmare… I accept your challenge,” its voice resonated directly within the souls of all present, carrying a hypnotic power that stirred the deepest fears within.

Nightmare! A rare, purely spiritual entity formed from spiritual energy and negative emotions!

Unlike Wang Liang, it possessed no formidable physical strength or defense—but its spiritual attacks and illusion-crafting abilities could trap any opponent in eternal nightmares until their soul shattered!

“It’s the Nightmare!”

“Su Wan’s spiritual force versus the Nightmare… this is pure spiritual combat!”

“Too dangerous! Spiritual battles are deadly—any misstep means annihilation of the soul!”

Gasps erupted from the human camp.

This pure spiritual duel was even more perilous than the previous physical clashes, for the loser often left no corpse—only total annihilation of body and spirit.

Jiang Xia’s gaze instantly hardened.

Though his Sharingan could pierce illusions, could Su Wan withstand the Nightmare’s all-pervading spiritual erosion? He clenched his fists.

Ye Ting, Lu Wujiu, and others also wore grim expressions.

The demonic race had sent the Nightmare specifically to target Su Wan’s spiritual abilities, aiming to destroy another human prodigy at the soul level.

On the arena, Su Wan and the Nightmare faced each other—no physical movement, yet an invisible storm of spiritual force had already clashed!

“So pure… so powerful a spiritual force…”

The Nightmare’s twin crimson lights flickered faintly, emitting a greedy mental pulse, “To devour your soul will surely propel me further!”

Before the words ended, an invisible, formless wave of spiritual force saturated with extreme negative emotions surged toward Su Wan like a tidal wave!

Fear, despair, rage, hatred—all amplified to their extremes, attempting to shatter Su Wan’s mental defenses outright!

Su Wan’s delicate brows furrowed slightly, a hint of gravity flashing in her clear eyes.

She did not resist directly; instead, she pressed her palms gently before her, layer upon layer of soft spiritual force unfolding into an invisible mental lake barrier.

“Hum…”

The negative spiritual wave struck the barrier, causing it to ripple violently, as if a boulder had been cast into a still lake.

Su Wan’s body trembled slightly, her face paling instantly—but the barrier held firm, filtering and dissolving the violent negative emotions entirely.

“Oh? Itachi can block my emotional tide? Your spiritual force is indeed formidable.”

The Nightmare, slightly surprised, its crimson lights turning even more sinister, “Then try this: The Abyssal Illusion!”

In an instant, the scenery around Su Wan changed!

The Fallen God Arena, the scorched earth, the watching crowd—all vanished.