53: Chapter 53: The Battle for the Token

Xiao Ran hid behind a cluster of jagged rocks a hundred feet away, not making a move rashly.

He was observing.

The Xuan Yin Cult and Hundred Beasts Villa were both top-tier Sects in the Northern Region, and their strength was not weak.

Among them, the Xuan Yin Cult possessed power that could even rival the Eternal Night Demon Sect.

Of course, that wasn't the key; more importantly, Xiao Ran wanted to see how these people discovered the fragments and how much they knew about them.

"Senior Sister Youyue said this item might be related to the core Legacy of the Ancient Battlefield. We must bring it back!"

The leading female Cultivator of the Xuan Yin Cult said coldly.

"Bullshit! We found this token first!"

"Is your Xuan Yin Cult trying to rob us because you failed to find it?"

A Hundred Beasts Villa Disciple roared.

"The strong prey on the weak; how is that robbery?"

The Xuan Yin Cult female Cultivator stopped wasting words. The five of them formed hand seals simultaneously, and Xuan Yin Cold Qi converged into a thirty-foot-long Ice Python, lunging at the three from Hundred Beasts Villa!

"Fight to the death!"

The Hundred Beasts Villa Disciples grit their teeth, and three Yao Beasts pounced at the same time, entangling with the Ice Python.

But the difference in strength was obvious.

In less than ten breaths, all three Yao Beasts were frozen solid, and the three from Hundred Beasts Villa spat blood as they collapsed to the ground.

The Xuan Yin Cult female Cultivator sneered and stepped forward, about to collect the token.

A grey-black finger blast pierced through the air!

"Who?"

The female Cultivator retreated in alarm as the finger blast grazed her cheek, exploding into a deep pit on the ground.

Xiao Ran walked out slowly, his expression calm.

"The token, I'll take it."

"Eternal Night Demon Sect... Xiao Ran?"

The Xuan Yin Cult female Cultivator instantly recognized Xiao Ran's attire and appearance, her face changing slightly.

Although the Demon Son ranking battle was only held within the Eternal Night Demon Sect,

every major Sect in the Northern Region had an intelligence network. The news of Xiao Ran's three consecutive victories and his feat of fighting a Nascent Soul while at a lower stage had already spread.

"Demon Son Xiao, my Xuan Yin Cult obtained this item first..."

The female Cultivator tried to reason.

Xiao Ran shook his head: "I said, I'll take it."

As soon as he spoke, his figure moved!

The Guixu Demonic Light unfolded, turning into a thirty-foot grey-black Domain that enveloped the five female Cultivators!

"Xuan Yin Body Protection!"

The five women simultaneously unleashed their protective cold Qi.

But within the Guixu Domain, the cold Qi was frantically devoured and decomposed, and their protective spiritual light quickly dimmed.

"Retreat!"

The leading female Cultivator shouted decisively. The five of them retreated at once, turning into five streaks of ghostly light and fleeing.

They didn't even want the token anymore.

"Holy crap, they ran fast."

Xiao Ran was stunned for a moment. He hadn't expected these people to value their lives so much that they would flee without even a fight.

He didn't pursue them.

Instead, he walked over to the token and picked up the third fragment.

The moment it touched his hand, the combined token in his robe vibrated slightly, giving off a strong sense of attraction.

Xiao Ran pressed the two tokens together. Light rose again as the Fusion continued.

This time, the thickness of the combined token increased again. Seventy percent of the strokes of the word 'Fallen' were now clearly visible, and the intensity of the spatial fluctuations doubled, pointing to a more specific direction.

It was still Southeast, but it favored a specific coordinate.

"If I collect a few more, perhaps I'll see the complete guidance..."

Xiao Ran put away the token and looked at the three dying Hundred Beasts Villa Disciples on the ground.

He thought for a moment: "Since you three won't survive anyway,"

"you might as well let me complete my mission!"

Xiao Ran immediately harvested their heads.

In the Ancient Battlefield, there were no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends.

There were only interests and survival.

And his current goal was very clear: collect all the fragments to synthesize a fallen immortal token.

As for how many people would eventually fight for those nine spots...

"Bring it on."

Xiao Ran looked toward the southeast, Battle Intent rising in his eyes.

"Let me see just how many surprises this Ancient Battlefield... is hiding."

His figure transformed into a streak of light and disappeared into the horizon.

...

Meanwhile, throughout the Ancient Battlefield.

Similar struggles were playing out in dozens of different places simultaneously.

All the Cultivators who obtained fragments gradually discovered that a single fragment had limited use, but after multiple fragments merged, they would reveal guidance toward a certain direction.

The clever ones had already begun consciously searching for fragments.

Large forces began to gather their manpower, preparing for a large-scale sweep.

The first climax of the Ancient Fallen Immortal Battlefield,

the battle for fragments, had quietly begun.

No one knew how many fragments would ultimately be needed to synthesize a complete fallen immortal token.

But everyone knew that the more fragments they held, the closer they would be to that legendary Immortal-Demon Inheritance.

The bloody feast had only just begun.

...

The third day since the Ancient Battlefield opened.

Xiao Ran stood atop a half-collapsed ancient pagoda, overlooking the wasteland below.

In three days,

he had traversed three thousand miles of the Bone Wasteland, encountered seventeen battles of varying sizes, and obtained nine token fragments.

Now, all these fragments had been merged into a fist-sized, dark red, heavy token with eighty percent of the word 'Fallen' fully visible on its surface.

Holding the token in his hand, he could clearly sense the stable spatial fluctuations contained within.

His goal pointed toward a valley three thousand miles to the southeast; the intensity of the fluctuations was now more than ten times what it was when he first got a fragment.

"At this rate, it will take at least dozens more fragments to make the word 'Fallen' completely visible."

Xiao Ran calculated in his heart.

And this was only one-ninth.

If he wanted to collect all nine complete fallen immortal tokens, the total number of fragments required... would likely be an astronomical figure.

"No wonder White Bone Scholar said that no one has ever collected all nine; this simply isn't a task that can be completed by acting alone."

Xiao Ran put away the token and looked toward the southeast.

During these three days, he had also gradually grasped the situation within the Ancient Battlefield.

The struggle for fragments had entered a white-hot stage.

Forces large and small began to band together, and Loose Cultivators also formed temporary Alliances.

For a single fragment, free-for-alls involving dozens of people would break out at the slightest provocation.

And top-tier forces like the Eternal Night Demon Sect, Supreme Dao Palace, and Heavenly Sword Sect displayed terrifying dominance.

They didn't participate in the scattered skirmishes on the periphery at all, instead directly occupying resource points where fragments appeared densely, conducting sweeps as a Sect unit.

According to intelligence Xiao Ran intercepted along the way,

the other seven Demon Sons of the Eternal Night Demon Sect had already split up, each leading a portion of True Disciples to establish four strongholds in the inner regions of the Ancient Battlefield, scouring day and night.

White Bone Scholar had once sent a message asking Xiao Ran to meet up with him,

but Xiao Ran ultimately refused on the grounds of acting alone.

His thinking was simple: he had to obtain enough chips before meeting up with the other Demon Sons.

Only then would he get a share of the final Treasure Trove.

The Eternal Night Demon Sect was like this, and other Sects were naturally the same.

The Supreme Dao Palace, led by Ling Jianxin, had occupied the Sword Tomb area to the southeast.

That place was originally the ruins of an ancient Sword Cultivator Sect, and the frequency of fragment appearances was extremely high.

Li Changsheng also chose to act freely to accumulate chips.

The Heavenly Sword Sect headed straight for the Burial Sword Valley in the western part of the Ancient Battlefield, where it was said there might be an ancient sword Dao Legacy.

First-rate Sects like the Xuan Yin Cult and Hundred Beasts Villa operated in the border zone between the periphery and the inner region.

They collected fragments while avoiding direct conflict with the top-tier forces.

As for Loose Cultivators and small Sects... most were struggling on the periphery.

Occasionally, someone with good luck would pick up a fragment or two, but often before they could even warm it up, someone would kill them and seize the treasure.

The cruel Laws of the Ancient Battlefield were displayed vividly during these three days.

"However... this also means that the real struggle has yet to begin."

A sharp glint flashed in Xiao Ran's eyes.

Currently, all parties were still in the stage of accumulating fragments, and although there was friction between them,

most were exercising restraint to avoid all-out war.

But once someone synthesized a complete fallen immortal token, or the fragments in a certain area were completely scoured...

Then, the hunting of holders and the fighting between forces would become inevitable.

"I must collect as many fragments as possible before then."

Xiao Ran's figure turned into a grey-black streak of light and sped toward the valley in the southeast.

The valley indicated by the token was named Mist Valley according to the map.

It was shrouded in grey-white mist year-round, making it difficult for Divine Sense to penetrate, and was one of the famous dangerous lands in the Ancient Battlefield.

But precisely because of this, it was very likely that there were still unscoured fragments there.