Ye Futian was surprised. He didn’t want to join the fight at all. By watching the face-off between the Proud Son of Darkness and Princess Donghuang, he was hoping to gauge the real capabilities of the top cultivators from the Dark Court and the only child of Donghuang the Great Emperor. It seemed that Jian Qingzhu didn’t push Qi Ye hard enough to force him to exert his full strength during the previous encounter.

However, Ye Futian didn’t expect that the cold and haughty Princess Donghuang would call him out in front of everyone.

Ye Futian was curious to see how powerful Princess Donghuang was. Besides, he didn’t want to show off his ability in front of these people from the Donghuang Imperial Palace, as he was worried that they could figure him out quickly. Princess Donghuang knew too much about him already.

Qi Ye defeated Jian Qingzhu with ease, as formidable as Jian Qingzhu was. Ye Futian would face a strenuous fight if he sparred with Qi Ye. It would be impossible for him to hold back and conceal his strength, which wasn’t what he wanted at all.

But Princess Donghuang asked him herself. It would be rude and impudent if he declined her request. Ye Futian was caught between a rock and a hard place.

Princess Donghuang’s eyes fixed on Ye Futian. It was hard to speculate her thoughts based on her standoffish manner. She seemed to be waiting for his answer.

“Yes, Princess,” Ye Futian nodded and replied. He would appear insensible and ignorant if he didn’t follow her order.

Ye Futian stepped up and emitted brilliant golden light from his body. Tremendous Sword Will was condensed and released as the trumpets of the divine elephant reverberated in the void. Millions of strings of the sword came into sight in the sky and made a terrifying screeching sound.

Hundreds of thousands of swords uttered harsh and ear-piercing shrieks together.

Ye Futian hovered in midair. Numerous divine elephants stampeded toward his opponent.

Qi Ye shot a glance at Ye Futian. Although this was the first time he met Ye Futian, he had heard about him back in the Hidden Land Realm. Rumor had it that Ye Futian was the most talented cultivator in the Original Realm and was known as the pride of the Original Realm. On top of that, he obtained God’s inheritance in the God’s relic.

Qi Ye’s eyes aimed beams of light of destruction at Ye Futian as soon as Ye Futian made a move. The sky was pitch-black as a scary, swirling black hole emerged from the darkness. The black hole shot out Spears of the Underworld, each of which contained incredible destructive power.

Qi Ye moved his hand downward. The swirling storm in the dark void instantly spewed out Spears of the Underworld toward Ye Futian’s body.

Ye Futian used the divine elephants as his shield. He strode across the void with great force. Then he applied the Pinching Sword Techniques with his fingers. Suddenly, the brilliant blades of light shone through space as the strings of swords produced a deep, full sound. The immense Sword Will tore up the void and dashed against the Spears of the Underworld.

A dazzling divine sword became visible in front of Ye Futian. He pushed his hand forward and transformed into a flash of lightning. The divine sword slashed through the sky and made an onslaught on Qi Ye.

Qi Ye looked directly at Ye Futian. His eyes were like two fathomless abysses that could bring people into the endless darkness. Ye Futian’s dazzling divine sword thrust forward and shattered everything around it. However, a terrifying black hole appeared in front of Qi Ye’s body.

The black hole devoured the sword of the Great Path of Destruction and even attempted to wolf down Ye Futian along with the sword.

Ye Futian stepped back. A dark and strong air current was roaring and surging around him.

He charged forward while being covered by the golden divine elephants. With booming noise, the invisible Spears of the Underworld rained on the divine elephants. Ye Futian was pushed back by the unstoppable force.

Under ceaseless bombardment, the golden divine elephant that was shielding Ye Futian started to crack. Ye Futian jostled forward and smashed everything to smithereens with the Sword Will and his fists.

In the meantime, however, a ray of Light of the Underworld shone directly on Ye Futian from above and covered his body completely.

As Qi Ye moved his hand downward in the next moment, a dark bolt of lightning from Hell struck down and destroyed everything it touched. The area Ye Futian was standing in was buried in darkness and was about to blow out.

Bang… The golden divine elephant covering Ye Futian’s body kept cracking and disintegrating. With a deafening sound, Ye Futian fell to the ground. As he was groaning, the divine light of the Great Path of Destruction blasted on him again.

Bang! The divine elephant exploded. The terrifying divine light faded, but the Light of the Underworld was still cast upon Ye Futian’s body as if it would strike him again at any time.

“Nothing special,” Qi Ye glanced at Ye Futian and said. Then he raised his head to look at Princess Donghuang and asked, “May I ask Your Highness to try it out with me?”

Princess Donghuang darted a meaningful look at Ye Futian. Then she turned her beautiful eyes to Qi Ye standing in front of her. Ye Futian felt a little uneasy.

Nevertheless, Ye Futian remained composed. Judging from the way Princess Donghuang looked at him, she might have figured something out.

But it was not a big deal even if she saw through his trick. After all, Ye Futian fought with Qi Ye just as she requested. She couldn’t demand him to win.

Qi Ye was the Proud Son of the Underworld, one of the most powerful cultivators of the next generation of the Dark Court.

Ye Futian had to spare no effort and put most of his skills and techniques on display if he wanted to defeat Qi Ye. Needless to say, he preferred to prevent that from happening.

He didn’t really care much about the result of the contest.

At this moment, beams of extremely brilliant divine light shone from the sky and penetrated the darkness.

The crowd immediately looked at Princess Donghuang and couldn’t help but exclaim to themselves about how ravishing she looked.

Ye Futian also shifted his eyes to that direction. Princess Donghuang was wearing a pair of divine wings of the Phoenix, splendid and large enough to blot out the sun. Every feather on the divine wings seemed to be burning with a dazzling golden light, as though it could incinerate any person it touched.

The wings cut through the Light of the Underworld as she spread them open. A giant shadow of the divine Phoenix emerged in the sky and covered the entire area.

The shadow of the divine Phoenix even appeared in her eyes. Qi Ye felt excruciating pain as if his body was set on fire when she looked at him.

“You’re not a match for me. How are you supposed to teach me a thing or two?” Princess Donghuang’s voice was cold and unfriendly. She already reached the peak of the Lower Renhuang Plane, higher than Qi Ye.

A shrill caw of the Phoenix pierced through the sky and reverberated in the space. Qi Ye was dismayed by the sound. He felt dizzy and wobbly, as though he was about to sink into Princess Donghuang’s eyes.

The dark and destructive energy surged frantically around his body, trying to summon the darkness again.

Princess Donghuang took a step forward. Glorious and breathtaking, she seemed like the only person worth attention in the entire world.

All the people fighting around them stopped and cast their eyes on Princess Donghuang. The divine wings on her back flapped and shot out scintillating divine light. The dark energy swirling around Qi Ye’s body was subdued and eventually dispersed.

In the sky, the enormous divine Phoenix uttered a caw at Qi Ye as the divine fire engulfed the space. The shadow of the Underworld behind Qi Ye wanted to resist, yet the flames slowly consumed it.

Facing the raging inferno, Qi Ye transformed into a black shadow and beat a hasty retreat back to the camp of the Dark Court. He looked quite embarrassed.

Although Princess Donghuang was at a higher plane, as the Proud Son of the Underworld, he shouldn’t sustain a crushing defeat like this. He was puny and fragile when facing Princess Donghuang’s attack.

While he didn’t exert all his strength, he also understood that Princess Donghuang didn’t either.

It was a casual sparring session for both of them. Yet he was overwhelmed by her and couldn’t withstand a single blow.

Princess Donghuang stepped back as if nothing happened. She quietly returned to her seat as the divine light around her body faded. She cast a disdainful look at Qi Ye and said, “Does the Dark Court plan to start the war right here?”

Lord of the Underworld heard her and cracked a smile, “Well played. Princess Donghuang is magnificent, indeed. You are a true heir to Donghuang the Great Emperor. Qi Ye is not a match for you. We will learn from Your Highness again if the chance arises in the future. Take care.”

Cultivators from the Dark Court all moved back into the dark space where the dark energy was churning and swirling. Their bodies disappeared into the darkness in no time.

People from the Divine Prefecture were not too excited. It was matter-of-course for them to win this battle. In fact, they were quite embarrassed since no one could beat the Proud Son of the Underworld and Princess Donghuang had to join the fight herself.

Nevertheless, it might be a good thing to show the enemy how powerful the Princess was.

Princess Donghuang was expected to reign over the world someday. She couldn’t conceal her strength all the time.

“We’re incompetent and couldn’t relieve Your Highness of your worries,” said the College Chief of the Tianshen Academy. Princess Donghuang shook her head. Even with Jian Qingzhu’s extraordinary talent, it was only normal for him to lose to the Proud Son of the Underworld, one of the seven Proud Sons of the Dark Court.

On the other hand, Ye Futian… Princess Donghuang darted another look at the silver-haired man standing below and saw that he was staring at her with his clear and seemingly innocent eyes as well. She couldn’t tell if he lost to Qi Ye on purpose.

Even so, it was highly suspicious for someone who had slaughtered high-level Renhuangs to be trounced by Qi Ye.

Many top cultivators could tell that Ye Futian didn’t put forth his best efforts during the fight before.

Why didn’t Ye Futian want to show off in front of Princess Donghuang?