127: Chapter 127 Team Invitation

He created a miracle for the entire competition field that no one could match.

Yet, with his physical body overdrawn, mana exhausted, and injuries accumulating, he ultimately reached his breaking point.

During yet another encirclement by a triple-arrow barrage, he barely dodged two arrows, only to be savagely grazed in the waist and abdomen by the third golden arrow beam!

Puchi—

A large amount of blood gushed out; flesh tore open, and bones were damaged.

With new and old severe injuries compounding, under the healing-prohibition domain, his condition instantly collapsed.

It was precisely this brief moment of stiffness!

The two marshals, one wielding a spear and the other a blade, lunged forward simultaneously, their golden light of slaughter instantly sealing off all escape routes.

The momentum of the killing blow was fully formed.

A flash of helplessness and determination crossed Feng Ling's eyes; he couldn't hold on any longer.

The power of a single person could ultimately not contend with the systematic suppression of the Third Floor.

He no longer fought to win, pouring all his remaining spiritual power into completely overdrawing and detonating his [Thousand Flows Wind Treading] secret technique.

A cyan stream of light pierced through the void; braving the sky full of slaughter, he forcibly crashed through the boundary of the Third Floor's domain, his body falling heavily like a bird with broken wings.

Bang!

Covered in bloody wounds and with a withered aura, Feng Ling fell heavily onto the ground of the Second Layer, completely losing the strength to fight again.

...The entire venue fell silent for a moment.

Immediately after, two completely different mindsets exploded in the hearts of all the Contestants.

The ordinary Contestants at the bottom level felt complete despair.

"Even Feng Ling was defeated..."

"A prodigy possessing top-tier family secret techniques and extreme speed still suffered a miserable defeat while attempting to clear the level alone."

"The Third Floor is simply not a domain that a single person can touch!"

Ordinary people completely abandoned all fantasies of reaching the top levels.

But!

The crowd of top-tier prodigies and veteran strong teams who had been lying in wait for a long time had no fear in their eyes, only extreme heat and excitement.

They saw through the core essence of the Third Floor.

Feng Ling's defeat was not because the Third Floor was unbreakable, but because it was unbreakable by a single person!

Locked arrows could be dodged at the limit, the marshals' attacks had traceable patterns, and rule suppression could be shared.

As long as top prodigies joined forces, with a division of labor for containment, kiting, crowd control, and damage output to share the hunting pressure, there was a complete opportunity to steadily break through the Third Floor Throne!

In an instant, countless top teams scanned the venue, one after another starting to look for the best teammates, preparing to team up to assault the Third Floor.

Several renowned top prodigies immediately locked their gaze on Lin Yan, who stood silently in the crowd.

Everyone knew that this seemingly low-key youth had unfathomable hidden strength and was the most suitable candidate in the venue to serve as the core of the assault.

Several of the most top-tier teams in the competition stepped forward almost simultaneously.

The leading prodigy had a steady temperament, and his tone was objective and sincere, without a hint of arrogance:

"Lin Yan, Feng Ling might already be the fastest person in the competition, yet even he couldn't hold on for a hundred breaths alone."

"The mechanism of the Third Floor has already locked out the possibility of a solo clear."

"Our team consists of top-tier players in the top fifty of the leaderboard; we have kiting, crowd control, and damage absorption covered—we are just missing an absolute core."

"I represent the whole team in inviting you to join forces to assault the Third Floor; all skill resources can be prioritized for you."

The captain of another strong team nearby followed up, his tone determined:

"Looking at the current situation, if you want to step onto the Fourth Floor, you can only do so by teaming up."

"We don't ask for decision-making power; we only need your combat strength to anchor us, and the whole team can follow your command."

"This is the only path to the top for everyone right now."

The last prodigy added calmly, stating the default rule at the bottom of everyone's hearts:

"No one can go against the grand trend of the Third Floor alone; rather than resisting it hard, it is better to join forces to break the situation."

There was no exaggerated flattery, no flamboyant rhetoric.

Every sentence was an absolutely rational judgment of the current battle situation by prodigies in the top 100 of the leaderboard; several top strong teams stepped forward one after another, their postures sincere and full of good faith.

The entire venue's gaze gathered on Lin Yan; everyone was waiting for his reply, under the grand trend where everyone believed that only teaming up could break the situation.

Lin Yan raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping calmly over the crowd of prodigies who had invited him, his tone calm but carrying an unquestionable arrogance.

"I don't need to team up."

With one sentence, he rejected all the top teams.

The entire venue was shocked; countless people had stunned expressions, their minds shaken.

"Could it be that he wants to ascend to the Emperor Throne with the power of one person?"

Lin Yan looked up, quietly gazing at the Third Floor Throne high above, which remained silent and solemn, no ripples in his eyes.

The shackles of others had never been able to bind him.

Just because others couldn't walk a path didn't mean he couldn't.

Seeing this, the gathered heroes all sighed in their hearts, yet no one dared to have even a hint of dissatisfaction.

Being invited by several teams of prodigies in the top 100 of the leaderboard simultaneously was already the highest level of recognition in the entire competition.

After a brief silence, all the prodigies gathered their thoughts, their gazes looking back up at the Third Floor Throne high above.

The path for a single person was cut off, so they would use the power of the gathered heroes to break through the shackles of the layer!

In an instant, several fully prepared top-tier battle teams charged towards the Throne separately.

The major teams had a clear division of labor and skilled coordination; the front row absorbed damage and resisted pressure, the middle row controlled the field and kited, and the back row provided long-range output and containment, perfectly making up for all the shortcomings of a solo assault.

The terrifying suppression of the three marshals' encirclement, aura locking, and continuous healing prohibition was shared, contained, and resolved by dozens of top prodigies working together.

The unsolvable killing situation that had originally forced Feng Ling into a desperate retreat was finally steadily held off under the coordination of the top teams.

And as the major battle teams took turns probing and suffering casualties while kiting, the hidden rules of the Third Floor Throne No. 2 were also gradually fully explored and exposed.

The onlookers were trembling in shock.

[Third Floor Throne No. 2 Global Rules]

[First Rule: Abnormal Amplification—All negative abnormal status effects have their effectiveness intensity and duration doubled]

[Second Rule: Purification Ban—All purification skills, crowd-control removal items, and self-healing/dispelling effects are completely ineffective]

[Third Rule: Attack Calamity—Each time a Contestant is attacked, they randomly trigger a high-level negative status: Chaos, Blindness, Stun, Imprisonment, Overweight, Slow, Forced Knock-up, etc., any one of them]

The three rules stacked layer upon layer, the ferocity not at all inferior to Throne No. 1!

Throne No. 1 banned combat power amplification and suppressed magic-type output;

Throne No. 2 completely disabled all crowd-control removal and purification, with extremely low fault tolerance; if one was not careful, they would be controlled to death in a chain.

Furthermore, the three marshals of Throne No. 2 were all born adapted to the rules, and most of their skills included negative status effects as well as large-area AOE skills.

The entire venue was in an uproar, everyone's scalp tingling.

Beside him, Jiang Ruoxue quietly watched the scene of the gathered heroes battling fiercely in the Throne; there was not a hint of restlessness in her cold, clear brows and eyes, only complete trust.

She turned her head and spoke softly, her tone gentle yet determined:

"Most of them have already gone up; when are we going up?"

She would never question Lin Yan's judgment; no matter how turbulent the gathered heroes' teaming up was, she always believed that Lin Yan's rhythm was the only true path to breaking the situation.

Lin Yan raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping calmly over the chaotic Third Floor battlefield above, watching the heroes struggle bitterly under the Throne's rules, restricted at every step, his expression calm and waveless.

He slowly spoke:

"No rush, let's go to the First Layer first."