sinovels Chapter 974 Lei Sha's Unexpected Turn of Events
Chapter 974 Lei Sha's Unexpected Turn of Events
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
On the day of the competition, the entire arena was packed with people. The stands were filled with spectators from all over. Everyone was waiting for a good show—the newly promoted senior deacon Lin Qiye versus the veteran senior deacon Lei Sha.
The seventh arena is the largest of all the arenas today. Eighteen huge stone pillars stand around it, their surfaces engraved with dark red runes, radiating an ancient and heavy pressure.
The ground of the fighting arena was not ordinary sand, but a dark crystalline rock that was extremely hard; ordinary swords and knives would not even leave a white mark when they struck it.
The stewards of the management office had already set up protective formations around the arena. Dark golden light curtains rose from the tops of the stone pillars, converging in mid-air to form a huge, semi-transparent dome that enveloped the entire arena. This was to prevent the aftershocks of the battle from injuring the spectators in the stands—a battle between high-ranking stewards was already destructive enough to threaten the lives of ordinary martial artists.
On the stands, murmurs rose and fell.
"Here it comes! The Thunder Demon has emerged!"
Someone shouted, and everyone's eyes turned to the west entrance of the arena.
A burly figure emerged from the passageway.
Lei Sha wore a full suit of jet-black heavy armor, the plates layered upon each other, each engraved with intricate dark red patterns that gleamed with a bloodthirsty light in the dim light. He wore no helmet, revealing a angular face marked with several old scars. His eyes were deep brown, with extremely deep pupils, like two bottomless dry wells.
He held a dark red giant axe in his hand, the blade of which was more than half a person's height, and the edges gleamed with a cold light.
He walked slowly, each step carrying an overwhelming sense of composure and pressure. It wasn't an aura he deliberately released, but rather the natural presence of a powerful figure who had fought on the brink of life and death for tens of thousands of years.
A collective gasp rippled through the stands.
"Lei Sha's aura has grown stronger again... Is he about to break through again?"
"His last breakthrough was about ten thousand years ago, wasn't it?"
"For a powerhouse of this level, every step forward is incredibly difficult. If he were to break through again, he would probably be approaching the threshold of becoming an Inspector."
"That Lin Qiye is probably going to be in big trouble today."
Lei Sha walked to the center of the arena, stopped, and placed his giant axe on the ground. He calmly glanced at the stands. There was no smugness, no excitement, not even a fluctuation of emotion in his eyes, as if he were participating in an ordinary routine event. But when his gaze swept over the eastern entrance, he paused slightly, and a very faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
That curve is cold.
A moment later, a figure slowly emerged from the passageway at the east entrance.
Lin Qiye's steps were equally steady, his pace neither too fast nor too slow, as if he were walking in his own backyard rather than heading towards a fighting ring where life and death were uncertain.
Another commotion erupted in the stands.
"Is that all he's dressed for? Not even armor?"
"Are you crazy? If Lei Sha hadn't been armored, wouldn't he have been cleaved in two with that axe blow?"
"Has this kid already given up resisting?"
"Or does he really have some trump card up his sleeve?"
Lin Qiye ignored the murmurs. He walked to the edge of the arena, stopped, and looked up at Lei Sha in the center. Their gazes met in mid-air, and it seemed as if invisible sparks exploded in the air.
"You've come," Lei Sha said, his voice low and steady, as if he had been waiting for this day for a long time.
"I'm here," Lin Qiye replied just as concisely.
"I thought you would try to avoid the fight," Lei Sha said slowly. "You could have feigned illness, applied for a postponement, or even risked escaping the arena. But you did none of that. You actually came."
"There's no need," Lin Qiye said calmly.
A genuine glint finally flashed in Lei Sha's eyes—not admiration, but an even stronger killing intent. Lin Qiye's composure made him uneasy. Someone who could remain so calm in the face of certain death was either a fool or truly possessed a trump card. And Lin Qiye was clearly not a fool.
"I hope your skills are as tough as your mouth." Lei Sha slowly raised his giant axe, the blade pointing directly at Lin Qiye. "Come on, let me see just how much this newcomer who killed so many of my men really is."
In the stands, the referee from the organizing office raised his flag high.
"Year-End Grand Tournament, Round One – Lin Qiye vs. Lei Sha!"
"start!"
The moment the flag fell, Lei Sha stirred.
His speed was much faster than his massive size suggested. The dark crystalline rock beneath his feet cracked like a spiderweb the moment he took off, and he charged straight at Lin Qiye like a black cannonball, dragging his dark red giant axe.
The giant axe drew a dark red arc in mid-air, carrying a terrifying power capable of cleaving a small mountain, aiming straight for Lin Qiye's waist. Before the axe blade even arrived, the sharp axe wind had already carved a deep trench in the crystalline rock ground.
Lei Sha showed no mercy with this axe blow.
He wanted to crush Lin Qiye completely with the strongest force in the first instance.
Facing this thunderous axe blow, Lin Qiye did not retreat. He took a deep breath, and the power of the Blood Demon and the Origin Qi within his body erupted simultaneously in that instant. Dark golden light exploded around him, and the black iron spear in his hand resembled a black dragon awakening, its tip piercing straight into the weakest side of the axe blade.
"clang--!!!"
A deafening clang of metal clashing exploded on the fighting platform.
Sparks flew, and shockwaves spread in all directions from the point of impact, striking the protective light barriers around the arena with a low hum. The spectators in the stands were thrown about by the shockwave, some even falling directly from their seats.
Then, everyone witnessed a scene that they could hardly believe—
Lin Qiye's spear tip pressed against the side of Lei Sha's axe blade, deflecting the trajectory of that axe strike by three inches.
The giant axe grazed Lin Qiye's shoulder and struck the crystalline rock behind him, creating a crater several meters wide with a deafening boom. Debris flew everywhere, and dust billowed into the air.
Lin Qiye stood still, without moving an inch.
The entire arena fell into a brief, deathly silence.
Then came a deafening roar of exclamations.
"He blocked it?! He actually blocked Lei Sha's axe head-on?!"
"Did I just see that right? He wasn't even wearing armor, and he blocked Lei Sha's full-force axe blow with just a spear?"
"Impossible... This is absolutely impossible..."
The spectators in the stands went wild. Those who had initially thought Lin Qiye wouldn't last a single move were now staring wide-eyed, their faces filled with disbelief. Even the gladiators watching fell silent for a moment before erupting into a heated discussion.
On the fighting platform.
Lei Sha slowly retracted his giant axe, his gaze falling on Lin Qiye. A genuine sense of seriousness finally appeared on his angular face.
"You're stronger than I thought," he said, his voice a few decibels lower than before.
"You're weaker than I thought," Lin Qiye replied, his tone devoid of sarcasm, simply stating a fact calmly.
Lei Sha's pupils contracted slightly. He smiled instead of being angry, but there was no warmth in his smile: "Very good. This is how it's supposed to be interesting to kill."
As soon as he finished speaking, he moved again.
This time, he was even faster than before. Dark red Origin Qi, like burning flames, surged from his body, coiling around the giant axe and transforming it into a blazing, dark red weapon. His eyes gleamed with a cold red light under the illumination of the Origin Qi, making him appear like a war god emerging from hell.
"Earthquake source—collapse!"
He roared and brought his giant axe down on Lin Qiye with a devastating force.
This axe strike was several times more powerful than the previous one. Even before the blade arrived, the crystalline rock floor of the arena began to crack, the fissures spreading outwards like a spiderweb. Even through the protective light barrier, the spectators in the stands could feel the suffocating pressure.
Lin Qiye's eyes finally turned serious.
He knew he couldn't take that axe blow head-on.
His foot lightly touched the ground, and he floated three zhang to the side and back like a weightless leaf. The giant axe cleaved past him, leaving a crater several zhang deep where he had just stood, shattering the crystalline rock at the bottom into dust.
Lei Sha's attack missed its mark, but without pausing, he swept his giant axe across Lin Qiye's waist.
Lin Qiye's spear touched the ground, using the momentum to spring up and flip in mid-air. Lei Sha pursued relentlessly, his giant axe unleashing a barrage of blows like a storm, each strike carrying the power of a shockwave, attempting to dissipate the source energy within Lin Qiye's body.
But Lin Qiye's movements were incredibly unpredictable. He was like a leaf fluttering in a storm, dodging the axe blade just moments before it touched him, narrowly avoiding being hit. The audience in the stands were dazzled, some even holding their breath.
In the blink of an eye, ten moves had passed.
Lei Sha's attacks remained fierce, but Lin Qiye's movements became increasingly composed. He had gradually adapted to Lei Sha's attack rhythm, reducing the range of each dodge and increasing the opportunities for counterattacks.
Suddenly, a glint flashed in Lin Qiye's eyes.
He caught a very subtle opening in Lei Sha's attack—a slight disruption in Lei Sha's breathing rhythm after a series of fierce attacks.
He seized that fleeting opportunity, thrusting his spear out like a venomous snake, the tip aimed directly at Lei Sha's left chest.
The speed of this shot was so fast that it even tore through the air with a sharp, explosive sound.
Lei Sha's pupils suddenly contracted.
He hadn't expected Lin Qiye to find an opportunity to counterattack under such pressure, let alone that his counterattack would be so fierce. He hastily parried with his axe, but it was already a beat too late.