Divine Emperor of Death

Contrary to Davis's assumptions, Schleya nodded her head.

"Except the immortal version of my Blood Pledge Worldheart Manual, I know everything, every technique the Blood Pledge Villa has to offer, even the one I used is something the Blood Pledge Villa's people rarely ever used."

"How come?" Davis blinked, "Disciples, even successors wouldn't usually receive such benefits unless they reach the Ninth Stage."

He understood that wicked path people wouldn't usually heal other people, but how did she have all the techniques?

"I don't know. Maybe the Villa Master wanted to conquer me at my strongest as he knows I'm going to kill him for what he had done. Other than that, I couldn't think of any reason."

Davis's lips twitched.

"I see. It's like a game to you wicked path people. Twisted enough, but you don't need to worry about getting sullied by that Villa Master. Even if you fail once or twice, I'll be there to aid you."

"…"

Schleya bit her lips, her neck coming to possess a deep shade of red before she shook her head.

"Don't. You're taking away my life and death instincts, allowing me to relax, which will dampen my will and rust my claws."

"What the…?" Davis became flabbergasted before he felt like he had had enough, "I've been meaning to ask, but why are you so fixated on life and death battles?"

Schleya lowered her head clenched and unclenched her fists, repeating those movements as though she was hesitating before her lips moved.

"Because… because that's what forces everyone's hands to kill…"

Davis's lips parted before he smiled.

"You're so kind."

"I'm not!"

Schleya's crimson eyes wavered as she heard his gentle words before she took a step aside and left, appearing to go to a lonely corner again.

Davis watched her leaving back before a soft feeling encroached his arm.

"I told you. My eyes know what they're looking at." Mingzhi had her arms wrapped around him as she smiled, causing Davis to pat her head.

"Mingzhi's eyes for measuring people is unparalleled."

Mingzhi proudly grinned as she placed her two fingers before her right eye.

"If only I had an evil eye to accompany my adventures like Evelynn has, how cool would it be… sigh…"

"Haha."

Mingzhi deflated like a balloon after realizing reality, causing Davis to chuckle while the others had a hard time understanding why she would desire an evil eye. On the other hand, Evelynn pouted, inwardly complaining that her third eye wasn't evil.

Davis had whispered to her many times that it was cute, even mystically beautiful.

=============

Time passed.

It was already night and going to be midnight soon enough.

There were a total of two hundred and forty competitors, and two hundred had already fallen, experiencing defeat and sometimes, humiliation. They thought they were elite geniuses, basking in glory but never saw that there were geniuses above them until they entered the competition and saw the situation for themselves.

The women of Drake Blackburn all won their matches, bringing immense glory to the Dual Lotus Manor. People were astonished to see Vast Seas appear on Lora Ren, Elayne Bluestone, Amber Will, and Jade Sua. However, the quality of their Vast Seas certainly didn't reach the likes of Zestria and Schleya as far as people could tell.

From the Soul Palace, Threelotus also won her battle. People were shocked to see her Peak-Level King Soul Stage Cultivation practically compared with a Low-Level Emperor Soul Stage Cultivation. Despite her opponents being powerful in terms of prowess, she suppressed all of them, disallowing them to use their prowess as much as they could.

The people all mused that this kind of genius could only appear because the Emperor of Death took over the Soul Palace.

Moreover, a dark horse appeared, appearing to belong to no one as a vagrant cultivator yet representing the Alstreim Family as chosen by the Emperor of Death during the time of having to select the participants. Back then, the people thought that the Emperor of Death was amusing to recruit him even before he stepped onto the Sea Measuring Formation. They thought that he was having fun, but now, they understood why because the Emperor of Death's powerful senses had picked up on his specialty way before anyone could sense it.

Other than them, victors from the Dragon Families, Heaven Mandate Temple, Astral Light Sect, Vast Sky Palace, Emperor Sword Sect, Jade Lotus Valley, and other prominent powers emerged. Clearly, the ability to nurture geniuses became clear that the hegemons possessed a huge advantage over it.

Unfortunately, the Zlatan Family wasn't able to win a single battle because the Emperor of Death killed their geniuses, and the Law Sea Stage Experts had been crippled. They only had their Martial Sage Stage Cultivations to use, but it wasn't enough against geniuses who possessed Abundant Seas.

For the first time in their lives, they were experiencing such humiliation in a competition, but Klade Zlatan and Lezella Zlatan, the current Patriarch of the Zlatan Family, and his wife didn't seem abashed or humiliated, maintaining an indifferent decorum.

From their point of view, just being allowed to attend the competition was alone a blessing as each day, the scene of Grand Elder Ragnar Zlatan being hung atop of the city to dry out like an abandoned corpse remained visible to their eyes whenever they looked up, reminding them that they have been spared by the Earth Dragon Queen and the Emperor of Death.

What else could they ask for as they have been subordinated, or to speak plainly, enslaved?

There were eight more battles left in the first round of the Eighth Stage Segment.

Two more battles took place, and the winners walked out with cheers welcoming them while the losers dejectedly lowered their heads.

On the forty-third battle, Bylai Zlatan's name appeared on the ranking projection, causing her to finally step up.

"This will be the last battle for today. The remaining battles will take place tomorrow."

Honorable Elder Julian Kruse announced as he saw the competitors fly towards the battle stage.

Davis saw Bylai Zlatan leave without saying anything, and then he noticed something different about her golden robe but couldn't particularly tell what it was. Nevertheless, he cast a glance at her four opponents and saw that of them were worth anything just from sensing their undulations.

His Alstreim Family didn't have the luck of meeting someone from the Emperor Sword Sect or the Vast Sky Emperor Palace from Zestria's battle. Otherwise, he would've asked Bylai Zlatan to take special care of the opponent.

He hadn't seen Ellia battle today but knew that she would battle tomorrow from the arbitrator's words.

From the place he stood, just looking at her face filled with complex expression was alone aching. They had exchanged numerous glances already, but whenever he tried to establish contact for more than two seconds, that white witch would always appear on her facial expression that Davis became able to tell when they switched out because Ellia's gaze towards him was obvious as it could be while Myria's gaze towards him was as annoyed as it could be.

Clearly, Myria didn't want him speaking with Ellia, but…

'Well, tomorrow… tomorrow would be the last day you'll be having control over Ellia like that…'

Davis let out a confident smirk before he lowered his head, looking at the battle stage where Bylai Zlatan flew into position. Her opponents also took battle poses, their bodies turned towards her as they seemed to be wary of her from the get-go, appearing to not look down on her even though she was still a slave, but by this time, if they weren't wary of her, people would call them stupid as most of the participants from the Alstreim Family were anything but ordinary.

The crowd momentarily became silent before a commanding voice echoed out.

"Let the battle begin!"