Chapter Sixty-Seven: Double Kill, Harvest

Upon hearing this, Heaven and Earth chuckled, and in the next instant, his figure blurred and transformed into a gust of wind, flying deep into the heart of the magma lake.

Within the depths of the magma lake, upon the penultimate Battle Arena, a handsome youth clad in blue robes with azure hair sensed something and looked up. When he saw Heaven and Earth solidify out of the whirlwind descending from the sky, his eyes flashed with profound hatred and fighting spirit. “You’ve finally come!”

“So eager to die?” Heaven and Earth looked at him with a faintly amused smile and asked, “What gives you the confidence to think you can defeat me?”

The handsome youth sneered coldly. With a flick of his wrist, he produced a slender, deep-blue divine sword. As he infused it with divine power, the sword began to tremble, emanating a fearsome, razor-sharp aura that caused the surrounding space to fracture with fine cracks.

“A superior divine artifact?” Heaven and Earth’s eyes narrowed slightly as he observed the sword in the youth’s hand, a hint of surprise crossing his face. But soon he shook his head and could not help but laugh. “Is this your trump card? No wonder your elder brother told me that killing you would earn me a superior divine artifact. So, that’s what he meant.”

“Kill me? That depends on whether you have the skill,” the handsome youth retorted, his figure flickering as he swept toward Heaven and Earth like a raging tempest. The superior divine sword in his hand effortlessly tore through space as it slashed down at Heaven and Earth.

A deep blue divine sword suddenly appeared in Heaven and Earth’s hand. With a seemingly casual wave, a shrill and piercing sword cry rang out, causing the handsome youth to falter for a moment, dazed. He shook his head, regaining his senses, and continued his strike toward Heaven and Earth.

Clang! The deep blue sword in Heaven and Earth’s hand parried the diminished blow, and with a sidestep, he cleaved through the space with a sword strike aimed at the handsome youth. Startled, the youth hastily dodged, yet still had his arm severed by Heaven and Earth’s blade.

The youth retreated swiftly, divine power surging within him. His severed arm swiftly regenerated anew.

“The mystery of sound? You’ve actually comprehended the mystery of sound?” the handsome youth exclaimed in surprise, staring at Heaven and Earth.

“What’s so strange about that?” Heaven and Earth replied with a light chuckle. In a flash, his single figure split into sixteen, encircling the handsome youth in the center. In that instant, all sixteen figures attacked simultaneously, unleashing dimensional strikes that spread spatial cracks toward the besieged youth. With nowhere to run, the handsome youth was about to be ripped apart.

His face twisted in horror, the youth let out a furious roar, and the superior divine sword in his hand transformed into a misty arc, shattering each spatial rift as it swept around him.

At that moment, Heaven and Earth appeared by his side. With a swing of his right hand, he severed the youth’s left hand—still gripping the superior divine sword—and with his left palm, he struck the youth’s chest. The impact sent shockwaves through the youth’s entire body as he spewed blood and was hurled from the Battle Arena, plunging into the magma below.

With a casual gesture, Heaven and Earth shattered the severed hand still clinging to the sword and claimed the superior divine artifact for himself.

“Give me back my sword!” roared the handsome youth, bursting out of the magma and charging at Heaven and Earth in a frenzy.

A flash of killing intent appeared in Heaven and Earth’s eyes, and just as he was about to act, a black shadow appeared before him, materializing into a burly man clad in black armor. He looked identical to the crimson-armored giant seen earlier, even his aura was the same—it was clearly the same person.

“Hmph!” Heaven and Earth snorted coldly, once again splitting into sixteen figures, making it impossible for the armored man to discern which was the true body.

One of the figures, closest to the handsome youth, suddenly produced a deep blue divine sword. With a misty slash, the space itself turned hazy. The sword was so swift and sharp that the youth had no chance to evade, and as he jolted awake, he felt a sharp pain between his brows—then everything went black.

With a single stroke, Heaven and Earth slew the handsome youth, then waved his hand to collect the youth’s divine spark and spatial ring before turning to look at the burly armored man, who now glared at him with fury.

“Well? Do you wish to challenge me too? If I’m not mistaken, you’re the guardian of the final arena, aren’t you? If I defeat you, what will I obtain—a superior divine spark?” Heaven and Earth asked calmly.

“He was already defeated—why did you have to kill him?” the armored giant demanded, barely concealing the anger in his voice.

“The reason is simple: he brought it upon himself,” Heaven and Earth replied airily, nearly driving the armored man to spit blood in rage.

Face flushed with fury, the giant let out a thunderous roar and charged at Heaven and Earth, like a human-shaped beast. The space around him distorted into swirling black vortexes, a dense aura of darkness surging forth, as if intent on devouring Heaven and Earth whole.

“The Devouring aspect of the Law of Darkness?” Heaven and Earth raised an eyebrow, and with a thought, unleashed an invisible binding force—the spatial aspect of the Law of Wind.

Caught by the wind’s binding, the armored man’s movements faltered. Before he could react, a blue sword light bloomed before his eyes. All he managed was an unwilling roar as a streak of black light shot from his brow toward Heaven and Earth—only for Heaven and Earth to cleave open his skull with a single stroke.

That black light also entered Heaven and Earth’s body, but he remained unaffected. “A soul attack of decent strength, but it poses no threat to me,” he remarked.

Heaven and Earth waved his hand, collecting the giant’s mid-level divine spark of darkness, but paid no heed to the spatial ring. The armored man was likely the administrator of the fourteenth layer of the Gods’ Graveyard; Heaven and Earth felt he should show Beirut some respect. Destroying one divine clone was sufficient—if he killed the other clone and the true body as well, that would be going too far.

“Hm? He didn’t come after me. It seems he hasn’t been blinded by rage,” Heaven and Earth mused, noticing that the fiery divine clone of the armored man had not reacted. Shaking his head, he tossed both the armored giant’s dark clone and the handsome youth’s corpse into the magma lake. Then, sitting cross-legged on the arena, he retrieved the spatial ring from the handsome youth, pricked his finger to bind it by blood, and began to take stock of the spoils. “Ah, as expected! This ring contains one mid-level divine spark for each of the seven elemental laws and the four supreme laws.”

After taking inventory, he scanned the area with his divine sense and found that Tarossa and the War God were still busy challenging their own arenas. Feeling slightly bored, he began to cultivate, preparing to wait for them there.

In the blink of an eye, most of the day passed. Tarossa was the first to land on the arena where Heaven and Earth sat, prompting him to open his eyes.

“So, you’ve reached this arena so quickly?” Heaven and Earth looked up at Tarossa with a smile.

Tarossa shook his head, somewhat frustrated. “Don’t mention it. The first three mid-level divine guardians weren’t that strong—I defeated them easily. But the next three were much tougher. My water divine clone barely made it past the fifth arena, and my destruction clone could only fight the sixth guardian to a draw—no hope of winning, let alone earning any reward.”

“This Gods’ Graveyard isn’t a place for bestowing rewards, but a place to temper the strong,” Heaven and Earth remarked meaningfully. “Tarossa, you must have gained much from fighting those mid-level divine guardians, haven’t you?”

Tarossa paused, then nodded. “Now that you mention it, Brother Heaven and Earth, you’re right. The battles were exhilarating. Still, I thought I was among the stronger mid-level gods, but I couldn’t even clear the sixth arena. I can’t imagine how powerful the next three guardians must be!”

“Why not try the seventh arena and see for yourself? There’s no rule saying you can’t attempt it just because you didn’t clear the sixth,” Heaven and Earth said with an encouraging smile.