As soon as those words came out, the whole place fell dead silent, then exploded into an uproar. Below the stage, spectators from the other planes were stunned, excited, disdainful, amused—every kind of emotion tangled together and burst out. On the other side, in the Investigation Office seating area, Pei Yan’s teammates all rolled their eyes in unison, stamping their feet with their hands hanging by their sides, and after a long sigh could only lament in their hearts: just as we feared. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Standing opposite Pei Yan, Ivan was stunned for a second when he heard this, then immediately felt the anger of being looked down on. But that anger quickly turned into delight. He forced himself to suppress the excitement in his chest, afraid Pei Yan would regret it and back down, and instead chose to advance by retreating, sneering mockingly: "Hehehe! Pei Yan, anyone can talk big. One against three—you’ve got to be joking, right? There’s still time to take it back before it really happens and you’ve got nowhere to climb down from!"

"Whether I have a way to climb down is none of your damn business!" Pei Yan said, then raised his head to the sky and shouted, "I just want to ask one thing—me going one against three like this, is that against the rules or not? If I beat these three today, does that mean my Investigation Office wins this final match?"

Once that question was asked, the venue went quiet again. Everyone was waiting for the Immortal Palace to respond. Time trickled by under the tense atmosphere. The Immortal Palace elder in charge of maintaining order on-site was at a loss for a moment. A one-versus-three in a relay was already asking to be screwed; demanding the opponents all come up at once—this kind of madman really had never appeared before.

Knowing this matter was critical and afraid a wrong decision might affect the higher-ups’ plans, several Immortal Palace Stewards could only brace themselves and personally go to ask Spirit Lord Lin Ruxue how to handle it. Before they could go upstairs and enter the private room, a figure drifted out from inside the building. When they saw who it was, they finally let out a breath of relief, knowing they wouldn’t have to worry about this anymore.

"My master says that as long as you can win one against three, the form doesn’t matter. But my master also said she hopes you’ll act within your limits and not act rashly just because of a promise you made earlier. Your existence will be far more important for the cooperation between several major planes to come; there’s no need to risk your life here."

Pei Yan looked up at the woman hovering in midair as she spoke to him. It was Lin Xunrou, the one he had saved that day. After listening to her, Pei Yan gave her a very gentlemanly cupped-fist salute, then smiled and said, "Many thanks for the concern of Spirit Lord and Fairy Lin. Since my debut I’ve cherished my life more than anyone; risking my neck is something I absolutely won’t do. It’s just that dealing with these small fry really doesn’t warrant so much anxiety."

When he finished, the smile on Pei Yan’s face vanished. He turned to the Blood Slaughter group and shouted loudly: "Today I, Pei Yan, formally challenge Blood Slaughter Nero, Ivan, and Di Xin to a simultaneous life-and-death battle! We settle this on the ring—fight to the finish, no retreat, no mercy! What are you waiting for? Isn’t this what you’ve been wanting all along? Get up here!"

As Pei Yan’s provocation rang out, Lin Xunrou’s body drifted away from above the ring. At the same time, two figures from the Blood Slaughter side stepped slowly onto the stage. One figure walked up to stand beside Ivan, who was already on the ring, while the other stepped out from the crowd, came right up to Pei Yan, and snickered: "Pei Yan, you really never fail to surprise me. I thought this match would just end like this, but I didn’t expect you’d go insane to this degree. One against three at the same time—I don’t know if you’re that confident or if your brain’s just snapped!"

"Whichever it is, you still have to face me, don’t you? Nero, haven’t you been waiting for a fight with me this whole time? Same here. But you really disappointed me, because as the matches went on, I found you seemed to have lost the guts to fight me. It’s fine." Pei Yan said, slowly lowering the visor of his helmet as he mocked, "Today I’ll give you the courage to fight me—bring those two dogs by your side and come at me together!"

"Do it! Don’t hold anything back! Go all out and see if you can take me down!" The moment his visor snapped shut, Pei Yan spread his arms wide and issued another provocation.

"That’s exactly what I had in mind!" Responding to Pei Yan’s taunt, Nero completed his bloodline evolution in an instant. He had no intention of giving Pei Yan any breathing room; from the very first moment the fight began, he was going to unleash absolute power and crush his opponent completely.

Their fists collided in midair—Nero, who had evolved his bloodline by devouring countless strong foes, versus Pei Yan, who had absorbed endless resources and technologies from multiple planes—their first clash of raw power!

The air boomed between them as if it exploded. Nero’s body skidded backward, announcing the winner of the opening exchange: Pei Yan, whose strength was clearly a cut above. And in the instant they clashed, the ring’s automatic defensive Array activated in sync. On top of that, Lin Ruxue, having already expected this match to be on a scale greater than any previous one, issued orders to deploy more manpower to reinforce the ring’s defenses, while the ring itself began relentlessly expanding outward.

The audience seating automatically shifted backward as the ring expanded. Engineer Li, whose eyesight was already poor and who had no abilities, could now only rely on a telescope if he wanted to clearly observe the fight. Ever since Pei Yan made that decision on stage, the anxious Zhao Yuanhu had been standing at the edge of the platform, head lowered, lips moving nonstop in prayer for Pei Yan.

Seeing her like this, Engineer Li put down the telescope, patted her shoulder, and said with a smile to console her, "Don’t worry, Pei Yan will be fine. He’ll definitely win this match just like all the others."

"Engineer Li, I’m not trying to call you out or boost the enemy’s morale at our expense. It’s just that you’re not a combatant, so there are things you don’t understand. Those three from Blood Slaughter aren’t pushovers. No matter what dirty tricks they used, they’re still the plane with the most matches fought and the highest number of eliminations in this tournament. They’re not really the small fry Pei Yan called them. Pei Yan’s being way too impulsive and reckless this time. Even if he wants to win this fight, he could’ve just followed the rules and taken them one by one. That would’ve put way less pressure on him." Jiang Feiyang, standing to the side, sighed when he heard Engineer Li’s words and spoke with regret.

"Hehehe, Xiaojiang, you’re right! I really am not a combatant and can’t truly feel how strong those three are. But I do know just how powerful Pei Yan is after the modifications. Judging by what I know and the performance of the other side in the previous matches, I say this victory will be Pei Yan’s!"

"Oh!" Engineer Li’s words let everyone present relax just a little. Ye Ruozai cut in at this moment: "Pei Yan might also not be acting on a whim. Aside from the still-unknown Ivan, Di Xin is undoubtedly the weak link among the three—not just in terms of strength, but also because of his fight with Gu Chu just now. Even though the defensive Array has healed his injuries, taking that kind of severe damage is a brutal strain on both body and mind. He can’t possibly have fully recovered this fast. Making him go up right away without giving him more time to rest and catch his breath—if I’m not mistaken, Di Xin will be the breakthrough point in this battle."

Just as his words fell and before anyone could respond, they all felt a violent tremor underfoot—the ring battle had actually spilled beyond the stage!