Chapter 203: The purge operation begins!

Has he survived the beast tide?

Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

This brat must have exploited some loophole!

Seventh Elder, this is unfair; this brat alone has taken four top-grade resource points, instantly gaining twelve points—this violates fairness!

Yes, we suggest the elders revoke his qualification!

Such opportunists don't deserve to be the Divine Son of the Divine Temple, let alone become its future Palace Master!

Revoke his qualification and, according to the Divine Temple's rules, expel him!

Elder...

Below, most of the Divine Temple's disciples began to clamor at this time.

On the high platform, several Divine Temple elders now lowered their eyes, utterly unmoved.

They have clearly entrusted this Divine Son selection to Qi Shaoyu; at this moment they won't speak at all.

At the edge of the platform, Qi Shaoyu stood silently, watching the many clamoring disciples, a faint cold smile appearing on her face.

She could tell that those shouting to cancel Fang Xu's candidacy were mostly fellow sect brothers of other candidates.

It was obvious that Fang Xu's sudden gain of twelve points made them sense danger.

They didn't know exactly how Fang Xu managed to survive this beast tide and earn points.

But one thing is certain: having occupied four top-grade resource points, in the upcoming settlement period Fang Xu will gain another twelve points, then twenty-four… and even more.

And as the second stage continues, Fang Xu's points will far outstrip everyone else's at that time.

Then, during the third stage, he could simply forfeit to save himself without needing to compete.

As long as he survives to the end, the Divine Son position is very likely to be his.

Although Fang Xu is a disciple of the Ascension Society, Qi Shaoyu indeed leans toward him in her heart.

But she is now not only the president of the Ascension Society, but also an elder of the Dark Divine Temple.

When it comes to the Divine Temple's interests, she still has a bottom line.

Unlike those people below, when Fang Xu previously occupied those four top-grade resource points, they all gloated, thinking he would die in this beast tide.

Back then, why didn't we see them object, claiming Fang Xu violated the rules?

Moreover, the Divine Temple's Divine Son selection has no rule forbidding one person from occupying multiple resource points.

If you're capable, you could have your guards each take one.

But Qi Shaoyu never said that to the crowd.

After all, on the surface we still need to give these people some face.

The Divine Temple now needs unity.

"Do you all think Fang Xu is taking advantage of a loophole?"

Interrupting their clamor, Qi Shaoyu spoke.

Everyone silently looked at the platform, waiting for her to continue.

"Fang Xu's current situation is no different from that of my Dark Divine Temple in the Heavenly Mystic Realm, is it?"

"Mountains exhausted, waters drained, at the end of the road..."

"Do you all consider exploiting loopholes a disgrace?"

"Using one's wisdom to rise from weakness, winning through ingenuity—isn't that exactly what my Dark Divine Temple urgently needs now?"

Her words awakened some people.

Put bluntly, to this day the entire Dark Divine Temple has become the target of hunting by all major sects of the Heavenly Mystic Realm, being beaten down like rats in the street, while inside the temple some disciples of certain sects still consider themselves superior.

After all, the current pattern of the Heavenly Mystic Realm—one sect, one temple, two gates, two schools, three immortals—has already solidified.

The Dark Divine Temple is an existence that towers over the two gates, two schools, and three immortals.

Once, the Dark Divine Temple was the overlord of the entire Heavenly Mystic Realm.

They think a skinny dead camel is still bigger than a horse, and that even if the Dark Divine Temple has declined, it remains noble.

They consider any underhanded tactics beneath them.

Over these years, the disciples lost by the Divine Temple have mostly been arrogant ones who don't know how to conceal themselves.

Take Xuanji and Xiangling, for example—those who know how to hide themselves have come to no harm.

In light of this, Qi Shaoyu has long wanted to change the Divine Temple's current state.

This is also why the Ascension Society she founded can appear openly in public view without people realizing it is actually a part of the Dark Divine Temple.

The Immortal Island is besieged not because its identity was exposed, but because something on the island has attracted envy.

Qi Shaoyu had also obtained intelligence about this matter beforehand.

Finally, the Immortal Island's escape from its original sea area was also one of Qi Shaoyu's covert measures.

Some have awakened, while others remain obstinate.

They do not agree with Qi Shaoyu's view, nor do they believe that handing the Dark Divine Temple to Fang Xu could restore its former glory.

Furthermore, among them, some sects care not about the Divine Temple's survival at all; they only value the Divine Temple Palace Master's supreme authority.

In their eyes, only by grasping that supreme authority in their own hands can their sect or family quickly rise.

Even further, some have already conceived another idea in their hearts.

They intend to fatten their own sect and family by leveraging the Dark Divine Temple's power.

When the time is ripe, they can completely abandon darkness for light and turn against the Dark Divine Temple.

When that happens, after the Divine Temple's destruction they will thoroughly cleanse themselves and become a hegemon of one region in the Heavenly Mystic Realm.

They are well aware that, led by the Great Expansion Dao Sect, the various major forces seek to eradicate only the Dark Divine Temple.

As long as they abandon the Divine Temple, the various sects will naturally not waste effort in vain to target them.

"Elder Seven's words are a bit excessive, aren't they?"

"As the former hegemon of the Tianxuan Realm, our Dark God Temple may be in decline now, but why must we so debase our status?"

"The Great Expansion Dao Sect and the various major powers have been targeting the God Temple for years; is our temple's strength still not like that?"

"Exactly, exactly, please elders carefully consider, strip that brat of his qualifications!"

"Please elders carefully consider, if that brat ultimately seizes the God Child's position and becomes the future Temple Master, then we… we would be ashamed to associate with him!"

"Exactly! Ashamed to associate with him!"

"Some sect elders began to increase pressure on Qi Shaoyu."

"I heard that brat comes from the Ascension Immortal Association; I recall correctly, the Ascension Immortal Association was founded by Elder Seven, right?"

"In the crowd, Zhao Jie, who previously wanted to kill Yun Wan, suddenly spoke up."

"The purpose of his words is obvious: to attach a reputation of cover-up and favoritism to Qi Shaoyu."

"Sure enough, after hearing his words, the murmurs below rose again."

"No wonder, that brat is actually a disciple of Elder Seven."

"Besides, does Elder Seven also have an Ascension Immortal Association behind him?"

"The God Temple has actually fallen to this state?"

"……"

"Listening to the crowd's discussion, Qi Shaoyu wasn't angry at all."

"She clearly knew what these people were thinking."

"Since you think I harbor bias, I will now relinquish my role as overseer of this God Child examination."

"Several senior martial brothers……"

"Qi Shaoyu turned and looked at the several temple elders behind her."

"She now needs the expressions of a few people."

"If those few nod in agreement to her resignation, it would mean they do not support her reform plans for the temple."

"Even if Fang Xu ultimately obtains the God Child's position, it would still be difficult for him to act."

"If they disagree, then after Fang Xu obtains the God Child's position, we can reform the temple according to our ideas, letting it rise from death."

"Old Seven, don't be angry."

"From behind, the Second Elder chuckled and said: 'The God Child selection isn't being held for the first time; all the regulations have been made clear beforehand.'"

"If someone objects, then produce concrete evidence, or the concrete regulations of our God Temple."

"I hereby declare that whoever provides concrete evidence of Fang Xu's violation, I will be the first to agree to strip him of his God Child selection qualifications and expel him from the God Temple."

"Several other God Temple elders also nodded at this time."

"Seeing this, Qi Shaoyu breathed a slight sigh of relief."

"It seems the several God Temple elders aren't too stubborn."

"But Zhao Jie and his people below the stage all slightly changed their expressions."

"The Second Elder's words seemed to be supporting them, but in fact were a warning."

"If you want to strip Fang Xu of his qualifications, you can't just talk; produce evidence."

"You say he violated the rules, but what specific rule did he break?"

"Does the God Temple's code actually have these?"

"Zhao Jie and the others carefully recalled, but seemed not to have found any prohibition in the God Temple's code against this."

"They were somewhat indignant, knowing that trying to coerce the God Temple elders into stripping Fang Xu's selection qualifications by threatening to withdraw from the Dark God Temple was no longer feasible."

"Moreover, this matter will surely reach Fang Xu's ears after the God Child selection."

"If Fang Xu does not obtain the God Child's position, that's still fine to say."

"But if he becomes the God Child, inherits the Temple Master's position, then the sects these people belong to will likely not fare well."

"It seems some things need to be hurried."

"Just as everyone in the square harbored ulterior motives, Fang Xu here had already taken new action."

"After the second beast tide ended, combining existing forces, Fang Xu felt he could first act against some candidates."

"This selection isn't necessarily about him needing to earn many points himself."

"If he scores while also weakening his opponents, that seems like a decent method."

"After consulting with Bone Prison Breath and the Snake King, the three parties decided to immediately carry out a purge operation."

"For this purge, Fang Xu does not intend to use the Ghost Face Army; he merely lets the Golden Scale Fire Line Snake clan and the subordinates of Bone Prison Breath's ferocious beast zombies take action."

"When finally breaking through the resource point, as long as he participates, by the rules it naturally counts as him looting the opponent, and points will go directly to his account."

"Vast hordes of ferocious beast zombies rushed toward the nearest resource point."

"With light pillars guiding them, they need not waste time searching."

"On the road, encountering some ferocious beast tribes, the beast zombies directly crushed them, turning them also into zombies and adding them to the main force."

"Inside a high-grade resource point not far away."

"Having just experienced an intensified beast tide, this candidate and his guards were busy cleaning the battlefield and treating the wounded, not expecting greater danger to have arrived."

"Boom—!"

"Boom—!"

"……"

"Several hundred thousand ferocious beast zombies rushed this way, the earth trembling."

"Inside the resource point, Liang Xing furrowed his brows, quickly leaping onto the giant tree beside the resource point to look toward the direction of the sound."

"He comes from the Dark God Temple's Qi Huang Gate, and is considered among the many God Child candidates this time as one with relatively strong strength."

Qi-Huang Gate's power among the many sects of the Divine Palace is also considered a relatively large sect; this time coming to participate in the Divine Son Selection, Qi-Huang Gate spent a huge cost on Liang Xing, raising his cultivation to the Dharma Appearance realm, and these guards under him also consumed a large amount of heavenly materials and earthly treasures, almost all of them being at the Elementary Martial Realm.

Such strength occupies a huge advantage in the Divine Son Selection.

Report!

Young Master!

Ferocious beasts… so many ferocious beasts!

At this moment, a disciple of Qi-Huang Gate came running over in a panic, his face filled with shock.

Liang Xing calmly said: "Are they the ferocious beast groups from the surroundings?"

When occupying this resource point, Liang Xing had already sent people to scout the surroundings, having figured out the ferocious beast groups there completely.

In his view, the ferocious beasts attacking this time should be the surrounding ferocious beast groups.

Although they had just experienced a beast tide, his subordinates had suffered some damage, but dealing with a ferocious beast group should pose no problem.

No…… not!

It is a union of many ferocious beasts, the number…… the number is too many to count!

That disciple hurriedly spoke.

As his words fell, Liang Xing, who was on top of the giant tree, had already seen the movement in the forest ahead.

Countless towering trees were snapped directly, as if a colossal beast were pushing through the entire forest, charging toward the resource point they occupied!

Beast tide?!

Liang Xing was shocked.

This situation is hardly different from a beast tide.

But the beast tide just ended, right?

Does it not give him any time to rest between two beast tides?

Thinking of this, Liang Xing's expression turned grim.

Given his subordinates' current state, experiencing another beast tide would surely cause heavy casualties.

But if he now abandons the occupied resource point, he would feel somewhat unwilling.

After all, the second settlement period has already passed three hours; if he gives up, he will lose at least three points.

Prepare to meet the enemy!

After some thought, Liang Xing still prepared to resist.

At least he must endure for an hour, then consider withdrawing.

Inside the resource point, all cultivators who had just gone through a major battle stirred again at this moment.

But what they don't know is that what is charging toward them is fundamentally not a beast tide.

To be precise, it is a plunder even more terrifying than a beast tide.

After all, even if it were a beast tide, their upper-grade resource point would not simultaneously suffer a siege of hundreds of thousands of ferocious beasts.

The murky horde of ferocious beast zombies pushed forward all the way, soon arriving near the upper-grade resource point where Liang Xing was located.

After turning from ferocious beasts into zombies, they lost their spiritual awareness and some agility, but likewise became more brutal and bloodthirsty, fearless of life, death, and pain.

As soon as the two sides clashed, Liang Xing's guards quickly noticed something was off.

"Damn, these aren't ferocious beasts, they're zombies!"

"Not good, chop off their heads!"

"Everyone take note, only by chopping off their heads will they die!"

"Save me!"

"Be careful!"

"Ah!"

The entire resource point instantly fell into chaos!

Countless cultivators' miserable cries mixed with the howls of ferocious beast zombies, battle sounds, and the noises of flesh being torn apart.

For a moment, the scene resembled a hell on earth.

Liang Xing was just about to make a move.

A colorful small snake suddenly flashed past; space seemed insignificant before its speed, and the next moment Liang Xing felt pain in his arm.

Soon his whole body became numb.

Before losing consciousness, he seemed to see a human figure.

Afterward, the news that his points had been deducted by one-tenth surfaced in his mind.

Liang Xing knew that he had been plundered by other candidates.

In the entire Dark Divine Palace, it seems only the Three Corpses Sect can control corpse refining; could it be that he was attacked by the Three Corpses Sect's Shi Bu Yu?

When Liang Xing completely lost consciousness, he still did not know who had attacked him.

On the square, some disciples of the Dark Divine Palace suddenly noticed that on the huge stone tablet, the names of Fang Xu and Liang Xing both flashed briefly.

The difference is that Liang Xing's points after his name dropped by one.

Fang Xu's side, however, gained one point.

Moreover, the yellow light point after Liang Xing's name disappeared.

What this signifies, everyone understands very well. (End of chapter)