Chapter Ninety-Four: Crisis

“You...” Benfield stared at Qian Kun and the others in fury and shock. After a moment’s hesitation, he gritted his teeth and said, “Fine. I concede. You win this time. I’ll give you the golden badge. But there are so many of you, and I only have one golden badge. How do you intend to divide it?”

Reis Jing waved a little impatiently. “Benfield, spare us the nonsense. Leave the golden badge and get lost. As for how it’s divided, that’s our concern, not yours.”

With a cold snort, Benfield flipped his hand, took out the golden badge, and threw it away. Then he left at once with his two companions.

Qian Kun stepped forward, picked up the badge, and casually tossed it to Reis Jing. Smiling, he said to Mosi, “Mosi, without Reis Jing’s deterrent this time, Benfield probably wouldn’t have given in so easily. How about letting Reis Jing have this badge?”

“I have no objection,” Mosi said with a smile, shaking his head. Qian Kun was willing to part with it; what reason would he have to be stingy? Besides, he and Reis Jing already had a fairly good relationship. Otherwise, he would not have let Linley off so easily before when he discovered that Linley had learned to use the gravity dimension, nor would he have been so courteous to him.

Reis Jing caught the golden badge almost reflexively. Hearing this, he could not help grinning. “Your name is Qian Kun, right? You really are straightforward and decisive. I’m set on making you this friend. How about we form a team? If we join hands, we’ll be able to run wild across the planar battlefield.”

“Form a team? There are so many of us. Could that still count as a team?” Qian Kun shook his head with a smile. “I think we should forget it. If all of us travel together, we’ll stand out too much. I’m afraid it will be hard to find targets to hunt in the future. Who would not run the moment they saw so many of us?”

Reis Jing froze, then thought about it and nodded repeatedly. “That’s true. How about this, then? Let Linley, Bebe, and the rest of us go together. The three of you go your own way, and we’ll split up. That way we won’t be too conspicuous.”

“That arrangement sounds pretty good. With Linley following a great expert like you, I can rest easy,” Qian Kun said to Reis Jing with a smile and a nod.

Reis Jing immediately grinned. “Don’t worry, Qian Kun. With Linley and the others following me, there’ll basically be no danger. My mother is a sovereign after all. Even a perfected Highgod would have to give me some face.”

“That may not be so certain,” Qian Kun thought sourly to himself, though on the surface he still smiled and nodded in agreement.

Thus the seven of them parted ways, splitting into a three-man team and a four-man team, each beginning their own journey of battle across the planar battlefield.

In the blink of an eye, five hundred years had passed since Qian Kun and Linley separated. As for what Linley and the others had gained, that need not be mentioned for now. Qian Kun, Mosi, and Gaea had truly reaped little over these five hundred years. Between them, Qian Kun and Mosi had obtained only two golden badges each.

That had been possible only because Qian Kun’s wind-type divine clone had broken through to the level of a Highgod, causing a surge in the laws of heaven and earth that drew several people to them. Qian Kun and Mosi swept them all away in one fell swoop and obtained a full three golden badges. The remaining badge had come only by chance.

“These commanders on the planar battlefield are all as shrewd as foxes,” Qian Kun muttered as he boredly wandered across the barren land of the battlefield.

Mosi shook his head. “Enough, Qian Kun. Stop complaining. In truth, our efficiency in obtaining badges is already very high. Many commanders, even after participating in several planar wars, still might not collect enough commander badges to trade for ten.”

“That’s true. Together, the two of us could even exchange for a sovereign artifact,” Qian Kun said with a nod and a smile. Then he added, “Still, this is dull. Rather than wandering about aimlessly, we might as well find a place to rest.”

As he spoke, Qian Kun had reached a small, low hill. He stamped his foot, and at once the ground beneath them and the hill ahead began to tremble. Soon, a subterranean passage appeared. Qian Kun called to Mosi and Gaea, then went in first, descending deep into the hill’s interior, where they discovered what looked like a vast estate.

“Qian Kun, your mastery of the earth laws is truly extraordinary,” Mosi remarked as he looked at the exquisite underground residence, divided into many rooms.

As he spoke, Mosi went straight into one of the rooms to rest.

“Gaea, look, even Mosi is resting. Let’s go rest too,” Qian Kun said with a somewhat sly smile, rubbing his hands together.

Gaea shot him an exasperated glance, then walked into one of the rooms as well. Qian Kun chuckled and followed after her. With a wave of his hand, the door vanished and became a wall.

No one knew how long had passed when, all of a sudden, an incomparably violent fluctuation of energy swept through the battlefield from far away, yet still managed to reach Mosi, Qian Kun, and Gaea. Very soon, all three came out of their rooms.

“Such a fierce energy surge. I wonder which expert is fighting. Should we go take a look?” Mosi asked.

“Of course,” Qian Kun replied, his eyes narrowing slightly.

In truth, he had already used his divine sense to investigate and knew that the perfected wind-ascended Highgod Byar had gone looking for trouble with Linley and the others, intending to kill Bebe. On the planar battlefield, Qian Kun’s soul-will power was in no way inferior to that of a perfected Highgod, so his divine sense could cover a vast range. Still, he knew Byar would not be able to do anything to Bebe, so he had not rushed over.

But after this battle ended, another one would soon begin, and this was a battle that would likewise force Linley and the others to suffer a loss and flee for their lives.

Linley was being hunted by Wuman, with Bebe rushing over to help him, while the situation on Reis Jing and his companion Lei Hong’s side was just as miserable.

“Ha ha...” The laughter of the man leading the opposing side, Montelo of the Augusta family, echoed across the desolate battlefield. At the same time, his body shot out countless resilient threads like a spider’s web, binding toward Reis Jing. What made them so deadly was not their toughness, but their speed. Every single thread flew as fast as a burst of light.

“Montelo, if you have the ability, fight me openly and fairly. What kind of skill is there in relying on these disgusting tricks?” Reis Jing’s spear had already blurred into a phantom, smashing apart and severing large numbers of threads. Yet no matter how many thousands he destroyed, Montelo would release tens of thousands more from within his body. So long as Montelo’s sovereign power remained unspent, there was no fear of the threads running dry.

Montelo did not have the power to kill Reis Jing, but trapping him was no problem. With Reis Jing restrained, Lei Hong was in even worse shape: six people were besieging him at once. Though not all six were commanders, they clearly all possessed commander-level strength. Even Reis Jing could not withstand a six-man encirclement like that. Lei Hong was formidable, but if this dragged on, he too would be in grave danger.

Facing the sixfold assault, Lei Hong entered a state of utter frenzy. With a low roar, his body abruptly swelled, transforming into a massive man of steel-like build, over ten meters tall. His fists were like two meteors, wildly sweeping in every direction. Each punch carried terrifying power, distorting space itself; every blow even shattered space into cracks, causing the six men surrounding him to dare not casually meet his fists head-on.

Lei Hong possessed a sovereign artifact for soul defense, so he had no fear of soul attacks. As the king of the earth giants, he could absorb vast amounts of mineral essence to strengthen his flesh, making his body incomparably tough. Even if the six could punch holes through him, Lei Hong could recover in the blink of an eye.

By the time Qian Kun and the others arrived, the battle had reached its most intense moment. The silver-robed woman, Lana Sha, had used her innate divine ability to restrain Lei Hong, allowing the green-robed girl and the young man in the pale blue robe to seize the chance to reach Lei Hong’s head at the same time.

With a booming crash, fists and battle blades alike landed on Lei Hong’s head. Faced with the attacks of two sovereign artifacts, Lei Hong’s head exploded instantly. Yet bizarrely, no divine spark fell out.

At the same time, his two terrifying fists lunged toward the green-robed girl and the young man in the pale blue robe.