Chapter 998

“Hahaha! Xu Jingming!

I don’t know if you’re mentally impaired or just ridiculously overconfident.

But... thanks! I’ll take this gift!”

Allen’s roaring laughter nearly tore through the dome.

After the Black Feather General handed the decision to Xu Jingming, he had already given up.

But he never expected things to turn this surreal—Xu Jingming actually accepted!

He leapt up and landed directly on the arena.

BOOM—!!

The arena area was unaffected by the battle prohibition zone; brilliant, ultimate golden flames erupted from his body.

The extreme heat of hundreds of millions of degrees twisted the air within a hundred meters.

“As repayment—”

Twelve flame divine rings appeared behind him as he looked down at Xu Jingming with arrogant, boastful tones: “I’ll make you exit with dignity in ten seconds!”

“Ninth Rank! Allen has truly broken through to Ninth Rank!”

“SSS-rank ability ‘Solar True Fire’—combined with the Supreme Lord’s own transmitted top-tier elemental weapon, ‘Flame Divine Rings’—this power is insane!”

A wave of gasps erupted across the square.

Though his rank was only Ninth Rank Lower, the aura radiating from Allen was stronger than that of some Ninth Rank Upper energy users!

Yet as the target, Xu Jingming’s expression remained utterly unchanged.

BOOM!

The alloy ground sank under his combat boots as Xu Jingming leapt upward.

His towering figure crossed dozens of meters and slammed onto the arena like a cannonball.

CRACK—!!

Chaotic lightning shattered the flame domain; black electric arcs writhed like ten thousand furious serpents.

When Xu Jingming’s aura exploded, its overwhelming pressure plunged the entire square into sudden silence!

“Ninth... Ninth Rank?”

A voice from somewhere broke the silence, followed by countless shocked exclamations.

“Ninth Rank! Xu Jingming has broken through to Ninth Rank too?”

“Monster! Too much of a monster! I remember he was only Eighth Rank Lower before entering the Void-Piercing Tower!”

“In less than two months, he broke through an entire major rank! Is Xu Jingming really this monstrous?!”

“......”

Dozens of eyes fixed on Xu Jingming.

Allen had lingered at Eighth Rank Peak for over half a year; his breakthrough to Ninth Rank was only natural.

But what kind of situation is this for Xu Jingming?

Breaking through a major rank in two months? Even cheat codes aren’t this brutal!

Blood Sword in the Great Xia team also widened his eyes, wondering if he was dreaming.

“Ninth Rank? That’s impossible!!”

Allen’s pupils shrank to needle points; his entire worldview collapsed.

We both have SSS-rank abilities—how come your breakthrough speed is so much faster than mine?

“What? Only you’re allowed to break through, not me?”

A wry smile appeared on Xu Jingming’s lips.

The Ultimate Radiance Thunder Rings slowly materialized behind him; each rotation caused the void to tremble violently.

“You!!”

Allen’s face flushed crimson and then pale with humiliation.

But he couldn’t think of any retort, so he merely sneered: “So what if you broke through? I’ll still crush you!”

“I’ll return those words to you verbatim.”

Xu Jingming raised one finger, as if stating an undeniable fact: “Ten seconds. I’ll make you exit with dignity.”

As his words fell, the crowd erupted again.

Wasn’t that exactly what Allen had just said?

But Allen said it under the assumption that Xu Jingming was only Eighth Rank Middle.

Now both are Ninth Rank—and Xu Jingming still dares to say it? This is sheer audacity!

“Arrogant! Too arrogant!”

“True, but... why do I feel kind of thrilled?”

“Heh, fine if he wins—but if he loses, he’ll be utterly humiliated.”

“.......”

Amid the crowd’s murmurs,

A transparent energy shield rose around the arena, enclosing the circular battlefield with a diameter of one kilometer.

Black Feather appeared in midair above the arena and spoke:

“Trial Battle—I am the judge!

The match ends when either party loses consciousness or surrenders.

Prepare yourselves. Countdown: 3... 2... 1... Begin!”

The moment the match began, Allen’s twelve Flame Divine Rings blazed simultaneously.

BOOM!!

Brilliant golden flames surged skyward; SSS-rank Solar True Fire surged like a tidal wave.

Had it not been for the energy barrier, that terrifying heat would have roasted every Ninth Rank and below energy user within ten kilometers into charred corpses!

Yet the next instant—

Black lightning erupted from the ocean of golden fire.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!!

Black thunder clashed and devoured golden flame.

Both were SSS-rank abilities, but Chaotic Divine Thunder clearly surpassed in power.

Like a colossal sword cleaving heaven, it ripped the fire sea apart; three-quarters of the arena were now filled with black lightning.

Allen’s Solar True Fire was forced to retreat into the remaining quarter.

“Looks like your ability isn’t that impressive.”

Xu Jingming rose from the thunder sea, his body wreathed in black lightning as he entered Thunder Storm Mode.

The SSS-rank spear was already gripped in his hand.

In the next flash of black lightning, he surged toward Allen like a bolt of lightning!

“Die! Crimson Fire Phoenix!”

Allen sneered.

Brilliant golden flames coalesced into a massive fire phoenix, then slammed toward Xu Jingming!

Crimson Fire Phoenix—a Fire-type SS+ combat technique.

His most mastered technique, cultivated to Master-level proficiency.

“Can fireflies compete with the moon?”

BOOM!!

A colossal Thunder God phantom appeared above Xu Jingming’s head.

Behind him, the Ultimate Radiance Thunder Rings spun wildly as a vivid black thunder dragon materialized out of thin air.

“ROAR—”

With a piercing dragon’s roar, the thunder dragon and fire phoenix collided violently.

Thunder and flame intertwined; the air warped and twisted under the extreme energy fluctuations.

To the spectators, this didn’t look like a technique—it looked like two living mythological beings!

“Such terrifying energy! Even a fraction of this power could erase me!”

“Horrible! The power they’re unleashing against each other feels stronger than some Ninth Rank Upper Law Saints I’ve seen!”

Everyone in the square was utterly stunned.

Impossible to imagine—this apocalyptic scene was created by two young men who had just broken through to Ninth Rank!

Yet as the crowd was lost in awe of this terrifying power—

The fire phoenix on the arena let out a mournful cry, shattered by the thunder dragon, and vanished into a shower of flames.

“My Crimson Fire Phoenix!” Allen’s face darkened.

As a Ninth Rank Law Saint, his most powerful technique was certainly not just the SS+ Crimson Fire Phoenix.

But he knew Xu Jingming was deadly not only at range but also in close combat.

He couldn’t afford to spend more time casting techniques, so he used the phoenix merely to buy time.

Yet he never expected the phoenix to be shredded in less than a second!

And now, Xu Jingming was less than seven hundred meters away.