73: Chapter 73 Crimson Flames

The opponent in the semi-finals is Crimson Flame.

Shen Ye received the intelligence sent by Qin Shu after the quarter-finals ended.

SSS-rank Talent: Civilization Devour; Kingdom Attribute: Endless Battlefield.

Since the start of the National Competition, Crimson Flame has devoured his opponent's civilization every round—Wind Elemental, Lava Giant, Frost Giant, Sword Spirit, Star Spirit; Crimson Flame has devoured the dependents of all these opponents that Shen Ye has defeated.

More importantly, he defeated Cang Ming in the quarter-finals and devoured the ancient warriors in his Initial Divine Domain.

Cang Ming's Initial Divine Domain was the only ancient God King ruin inheritance among the National Competition contestants; each of those ancient warriors possessed demigod-level combat power, and now they have all become part of the Endless Battlefield.

Two days ago, after Cang Ming's Initial Divine Domain was devoured, Teacher Cang Yue stood on the viewing platform holding a miniature sand table for a long time, and finally packaged all the data of the ancient warriors Cang Ming had lost and sent it to Shen Ye.

Shen Ye forwarded the intelligence to Gu Qinghan, then sat cross-legged, sinking his consciousness into the Land of Gods and Demons.

The twilight glow of the Twilight Spirit Spring was thicker than before the National Competition.

The Temple of Holy Light and the Abyss Throne had both broken through to Rare High-grade last week, the daily production of Four-Winged Angels and Succubi had increased several times over, and the faith reserves of the Twilight Apostles were nearing the trigger condition.

Chen and Ye stood by the spring, the twilight glow circulating between them.

Chen's voice was very soft, but every word was clear: "Crimson Flame's Devouring Law directly converts the opponent's dependents into a part of the Endless Battlefield. But the core of twilight energy is restoration—restoring twisted power to its original form. Devouring is distortion, while twilight is restoration. We counter him."

Ye took over, abyss patterns slowly circulating at her fingertips: "But there is law monitoring on the National Competition arena. Master cannot summon angels and succubi at the same time—once the secret of the dual kingdom is exposed, the consequences will be unimaginable. I will condense the energy of the Primordial Abyss into the shape of a sword, and then Chen's holy light will be attached to the surface of the blade. Externally, it can be explained as a light-type technique from an ancient inheritance."

Shen Ye held the twilight longsword formed by the fusion of light and darkness; the blade trembled slightly in his palm, and Chen's holy light and Ye's abyss flowed endlessly on the edge.

He nodded and withdrew his consciousness.

Early the next morning, Shen Ye went to the Wanxiang University Law Analysis Laboratory.

Lin Tianyin was using her Eye of Law to analyze the energy fluctuations when Crimson Flame devoured Cang Ming's ancient warriors in the previous round.

On the hologram, Crimson Flame's Devouring Law was dismantled into an extremely complex law network, with devouring nodes spiraling inward, all nodes eventually converging on a core law structure.

She marked an extremely subtle law fracture zone with a red circle at the core position.

"The essence of the Devouring Law is transformation—forcibly reorganizing the law structure of the opponent's dependents and weaving it into the law network of the Endless Battlefield. But there is an extremely short 'blank window' in this reorganization process—after the opponent's dependent law structure is stripped but before it is re-woven into the Endless Battlefield, the devoured dependent law is in an ownerless state during this period."

She pushed up her glasses, "If you cover the devoured dependents with twilight energy within this window, the Restoration Law will take effect before the Devouring Law. It's not about confrontation; it's about who is faster."

Shen Ye placed the twilight longsword condensed in the Land of Gods and Demons on the laboratory table.

The twilight glow flowing on the surface of the longsword was dismantled layer by layer under the holographic scan of the Eye of Law—the fusion ratio of holy light and abyss, resonance frequency, energy density, all data were clear at a glance.

Lin Tianyin stared at the hologram for a long time, then called up the resonance frequency data of the twilight crystal of the Founding Tower of Wanxiang University for cross-comparison.

"The energy frequency of your twilight longsword perfectly matches the activation frequency of the twilight crystal of Wanxiang University. The twilight energy of this sword is stable enough to be used to resonate and activate the crystal on the spot. The opportunity for verification will be after the final. In addition, the crystal resonance frequencies of the other three universities are different, and you need to go and activate them separately."

Shen Ye put away the longsword.

"Win against Crimson Flame before the final."

Lin Tianyin's action of pushing her glasses was a beat faster than usual, "You already have a plan."

On the day of the semi-finals, the Wanxiang University Main Arena was packed.

Bai Ye sat in the first row of the stands, and Teacher Cang Yue sat opposite him, holding the miniature sand table.

Qin Sese leaned against the wall carrying a stone spear, and Qin Youyou's ancient war spear lay across her knees.

Gu Qinghan sat in the corner, her fingers tapping lightly on the data board, pulling up the recording of Crimson Flame devouring Cang Ming's ancient warriors in the previous round—she watched it over and over, the frame-by-frame replay of the law network reflected in her ice-blue eyes.

Su Wanqing stopped Shen Ye at the exit of the contestant passage and handed him a tube of spirit plant essence.

"Drink it, it can stabilize your spirit fluctuations in a short time and prevent the Devouring Law from planting a brand in your body."

Shen Ye drank it in one gulp and stepped onto the central battle platform of the Wanxiang University Main Arena.

Opposite him, Crimson Flame had already unfolded his Kingdom Projection—the Endless Battlefield.

The blood-red wasteland was boundless, and countless flags stood on the wasteland, each flag representing a civilization he had devoured.

Shen Ye recognized a few of them—Wind Elemental, Lava Giant, Sword Spirit, Star Spirit, and the newly erected ancient God King ruin flag; Cang Ming's ancient warriors were walking out from under that flag.

Crimson Flame stood in the center of the Endless Battlefield, his face handsome, and the law echoes of all the civilizations he had devoured circulated on his blood-red battle armor.

When he spoke, his voice seemed to have several layers of law echoes overlapping.

"I have devoured all your previous opponents. I know all your tactics, including Yan Shan."

Shen Ye unfolded the Land of Cultivation.

Jin Lin, Mu Sheng, and Daoist Quan were in the front, Yan Shan was in the middle, Hou Tu knelt in the depths of the Body Refining Cave with his hands on the ground, and Tie Chui and Qing Ye were in the back.

Xiao Zhi's Spirit Synchronization Net covered all dependents.

The referee raised his hand.

Both sides unfolded their Kingdom Projections.

The referee's hand fell.

Crimson Flame launched the attack first.

The Endless Battlefield spread out beneath his feet, and all the devoured dependents surged out simultaneously.

The S-shaped trajectory of the Wind Elemental, the frontal crushing of the Lava Giant, the arc insertion of the Sword Spirit, the law manifestation of the Star Spirit, the demigod-level charge of the ancient warriors—five civilizations, five tactics, launched an attack on Shen Ye's dependent array simultaneously under Crimson Flame's spirit coordination.

Jin Lin, Mu Sheng, and Daoist Quan leaped into the air at the same time.

The multiple guidance system was fully deployed—Jin Lin's Three Dragon Sword Radiance diverted the S-shaped trajectory of the Wind Elemental, Mu Sheng's Guidance Vines bent in advance along the arc insertion of the Sword Spirit, and Daoist Quan's spiral water silk laid out a guidance net in the charging direction of the ancient warriors.

The three types of guidance forces superimposed, temporarily dispersing the first wave of coordinated attacks of the five civilizations.

Crimson Flame's mouth twitched.

He activated the Devouring Law at the same time—not targeting a single dependent, but the law structure of the entire Land of Cultivation.

He wanted to devour Shen Ye's kingdom directly.

The blood-red Devouring Law surged from under the Endless Battlefield, spreading along the law-reinforced stone slabs toward the Land of Cultivation.

In the recording that Gu Qinghan played back repeatedly before the match, the Devouring Law network spiraled inward, and all energy flows converged toward the same core law structure—and the "blank window" marked by Lin Tianyin was the very next instant after the core law structure was touched.

Shen Ye withdrew all dependents and unfolded the Land of Gods and Demons.

Twilight mist permeated from the Kingdom Projection, covering the entire battle platform.

A low exclamation sounded from the stands—this was not the power of the Land of Cultivation.

The twilight longsword condensed in Shen Ye's hand.

The twilight glow on the sword illuminated the blood-red wasteland of the Endless Battlefield, and the devoured dependents were bathed in the twilight, their law structures beginning to restore themselves.

The blue-gray wind radiance of the Wind Elemental faded, revealing the long-dimmed core within—before Crimson Flame devoured them, they originally belonged to that S-rank opponent defeated by Shen Ye; the blood-red devouring patterns on the Lava Giant peeled off layer by layer, the crimson magma becoming pure again; that was the fire-type giant that had once crushed countless defense lines under Gu Changming in the Provincial Tournament; the Sword Spirit re-condensed from a twisted phantom into a transparent longsword; the law radiance of the Star Spirit faded from dark red to pale gold; the gray-gold law echoes of the ancient warriors slowly calmed down in the twilight.

Crimson Flame's smile turned from confident to astonished for the first time—he tried to re-devour these dependents that were being restored, but the restoration speed of the twilight longsword was far faster than his devouring speed.

Five flags fell from the center of the Endless Battlefield one by one, and the blood-red wasteland trembled violently.

Yan Shan stepped into the Endless Battlefield.

He did not attack Crimson Flame, but walked to the first fallen flag, his right arm's Rock Pattern suddenly hardened, and he smashed his fist into the law node under the flag.

It was the same silent punch, one punch after another, until the entire node disintegrated.

Then the second flag, the third flag.

Crimson Flame roared and attacked personally—the blood-red Devouring Law condensed into a devouring spear in his hand, the tip of the spear was a mixture of law echoes of countless devoured civilizations, and he stabbed it toward Yan Shan.

Yan Shan dodged the spear tip sideways, and while dodging, his right arm's Rock Pattern smashed a punch into the fourth law node beside Crimson Flame, the spiral spiritual power conducting in reverse, disintegrating the core structure of the entire devouring network from the inside.

The Devouring Law collapsed.

Crimson Flame knelt on one knee, and the Endless Battlefield slowly dissipated behind him.

He looked down at the broken devouring spear in his hand, was silent for a long time, and then looked up at Shen Ye.

"That longsword of yours is not of the cultivation system. What is it?"

"Twilight," Shen Ye said.

Crimson Flame did not ask further, just stood up slowly from the ground, put away his Kingdom Projection, turned around, and walked down the battle platform alone.

The referee raised his hand to announce that Shen Ye had advanced to the final.

Shen Ye withdrew the twilight longsword and slowly closed the projection of the Land of Gods and Demons.

Just at the last moment when Chen and Ye were about to disappear into the Twilight Spirit Spring, Crimson Flame suddenly stopped, turned his head, and glanced at Shen Ye—his gaze passed through the twilight mist and fell accurately on the silhouette of the angel and succubus standing side by side, his pupils shrinking slightly.

He didn't speak, just pulled a faint arc at the corner of his mouth, as if mocking himself.

Then he turned and disappeared into the depths of the contestant passage.

In the stands, Bai Ye was silent for a long time, then said a sentence to the accompanying mentor beside him: "He still has a trump card."

That night, Wanxiang University Law Analysis Laboratory.

Lin Tianyin made a final cross-comparison of the twilight longsword with the resonance frequencies of the four Founding Towers; the data of the four maps perfectly matched, and the twilight crystal resonance frequency of each tower was precisely locked.

Jiang Yue simultaneously deciphered the activation sequence regarding "Four Keys Gathered" in the fragments of the Sea of Thousand Realms Mist in the Ancient Books Hall—the four keys must be activated in a specific order, and the first one is Wanxiang.

She rubbed her red eyes, wrote the final stroke in the deciphering notes, and sent the complete sequence to Gu Qinghan.

Gu Qinghan marked the coordinates, activation order, and safe routes of the four towers one by one in the encrypted channel, and added only one sentence at the end: "Drink when you come back."

Shen Ye aggregated everyone's intelligence into a complete star map; the clues of the four keys emerged from the mist of the Sea of Thousand Realms Mist bit by bit, and finally became completely clear.

He leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath.

Tomorrow is the final, and the opponent has not been announced—but for him, the meaning of the final is no longer just the ranking of the National Competition.

After the final, he will activate the first key.

The Sea of Thousand Realms Mist, he will return sooner or later.

But not now.

Now, he still has one last battle to fight.