Chapter 1: War of the Gods

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

“Dear friends, welcome to the Arena of the War of the Gods!”

The War of the Gods tournament was the largest of its kind since it first started. After going on for three months, it had finally reached the grand finals! The winner of the War of the Gods tournament would walk away with a spokesperson contract worth 50 million issued by the organizing party! He would also represent the entire Chinese community of participants to take part in the International War of the Gods meet, where the most advanced technologies of humankind converge, the Capsule of Revitalization!

“Let us welcome the two finalists of the War of the Gods!”

As the host of the tournament fervently announced the finalists, two shadows slowly and steadily emerged into the battle arena. This ancient Roman style arena was filled with the laws of space and spanned almost infinitely. It could house a crowd of nearly a billion spectators!

“He possesses the world’s one and only Asian [Heritage Set] and one of the 12 [Heritage Treasures], [Broken Blade]. He has never appeared in any technical tournaments and yet he is the leader of the top city—the City of Light! The guardian of the Chinese nation! With an armor drenched in a pool of fresh blood, he conquered. Let’s all shout his name—the Battle Emperor, Fu Sheng!”

“YEAH!”

The thunderous roar of the crowd was filled with life and seemed to almost split the Earth as it was.

“Battle Emperor! Battle Emperor!”

“Battle Emperor, Fu Sheng! Number one!”

“The best warrior of the century, the strongest and most ferocious, my idol!”

In the midst of all the uproar, Lin Jie slowly entered the battle arena with steady footsteps. A pool of fresh blood caused the sunlight shining down to appear bright red. As it got reflected back, it seemed to make the sun appear bright red as well.

“Who is the Battle Emperor’s opponent? That’s right. He is the contending champion of the past seven tournaments, the number one, the Elemental Sword Emperor—Baili Changcheng!”

“YEAH!”

“Baili Changcheng! Baili Changcheng!”

“The Elemental Sword Emperor is an unbeaten [Sword Artist] who is highly and technically skilled. He will definitely win!”

“Since the Battle Emperor decided to take part in this tournament, I am sure he has the confidence to bring it back home! I think Baili Changcheng is sure to lose this time.”

“Ha, Baili Changcheng is already the widely accepted number one fighter. Any move he makes is as if it is a hex. He will definitely destroy this ‘Battle Emperor’ Fu Sheng!”

Both warriors’ fans started trash-talking to each other in a bid to win some favor for their idols.

“HAHA! What a joke! Haven’t you heard of their legends? The Battle Emperor, Fu Sheng, and the King of the Sword, Baili, were sworn brothers for seven years. They conquered the most dangerous of places and earned themselves the name of the two strongest warriors of The New Age. Fu Sheng possesses the Heritage [Broken Blade], the strongest weapon of the century. Legend says that if its locked abilities were unleashed, it could even kill Gods! On the other hand, Baili Changcheng possesses the [Coldless Winter], also a top class Legendary longsword. Coupled with his [Heritage Set] passed down from generations ago, this fight between the two is difficult to predict.”

“Look! Look! The Battle Emperor is about to reveal his blade!”

The arena immediately turned silent, as everybody held their breaths and waited for the eruption of the final battle. The spectators looked on fervently at Lin Jie, looking forward to the moment he would reveal the Heritage sword, [Broken Blade]. However, the longsword that Lin Jie slowly pulled out was instead a pure and flawless ice crystal longsword!

“The [Coldless Winter]!”

The entire crowd was dumbfounded. Why did the Elemental Sword Emperor’s weapon appear in his hands?

Baili Changcheng looked at Lin Jie pulling out the [Coldless Winter] and kept his hands at his back. He stood with his chest upright and said, “Do it.”

Lin Jie paused for a moment. “If not for our family, I would not have been standing here with you. Your dream is to become a world champion. I have never forgotten.”

Lin Jie’s [Coldless Winter] emanated waves of chilling air and thrust straight towards Baili Changcheng’s chest! The [Coldless Winter] stabbed right through Baili Changcheng’s Sub Legendary armor. The chilling air conjured into a layer of strong ice crystal on his armor and its explosion was imminent!

“Baili, thank you,” Lin Jie whispered.

“You’re welcome, my dear brother.” Baili Changcheng lowered his head to look at the longsword thrust through his chest. No one could see the expression on his face at that moment.

That scene startled Lin Jie, stirring a sense of danger in him. ‘Oh no, something is wrong!’

Baili suddenly grabbed onto the [Coldless Winter], and the ice crystal slowly started melting. The armor had already morphed into something else! It was actually one of the 12 [Heritage Treasures], the [Heritage Armor]! He had made use of an illusion ability to alter the look of his armor, fooling Lin Jie’s eyes.

“Power of the elements, [Ice Explosion]!”

Baili suddenly started counterattacking. With a flick of his palm, the [Coldless Winter] ended up in his hands!

Lin Jie was shocked to the core. ‘How could there be two of the [Coldless Winter]!?’

‘Clank!’

The clash between the two [Coldless Winter] caused the one belonging to Lin Jie to shatter into pieces. As the Battle Emperor, Lin Jie’s sharpened battle instincts and quick reaction skills helped him to immediately react, as he pulled out the Heritage [Broken Blade].

However, when it came to a battle between two elites, whoever made the first move had the advantage! Lin Jie could not even find the tiniest of windows to retaliate and could only parry the incoming attacks to survive. However, [Broken Blade] was a Heritage treasure after all. Even with the [Coldless Winter] being a Legendary weapon, it could not so easily penetrate through [Broken Blade]’s defense.

After a continuous parrying of tens of strikes, Lin Jie finally saw a window of opportunity. He swung his weapon and activated its ability, [Cross of Blood]!

The [Cross of Blood] was the strongest ability of [Broken Blade] since its ban had been lifted. It required a blood price of 90% of the user’s health and could completely penetrate the defenses of the victim.

Baili Changcheng was an [Elemental Sword Artist] with expertise in both weaponry and magic; however, his health points were definitely incapable of withstanding such an attack!

“Die!”

“Die? [Heritage Shield]!”

Baili Changcheng’s body suddenly radiated with a bright light and various pieces of equipment suddenly fell into place— [Heritage Armor], [Heritage War Boots], [Heritage Helmet]…

Lin Jie’s [Broken Blade] was the top of the entire collection of the 12 [Heritage Treasures], with unparalleled power. However, Baili had equipped himself with the other 11 [Heritage Treasures]!

The [Cross of Blood] could penetrate any kind of defense. However, the defense mechanism provided by the combination of the powers of the 11 [Heritage Treasures] was able to block the [Cross of Blood]!

‘Whoosh’

A power blast exploded out, causing the ground to split apart. The entire arena exploded into smithereens and the ground cracked layer by layer, unable to withstand the impact caused by the clash of the treasures!

“Lin Jie, you lose!” The [Coldless Winter] pierced right through Lin Jie’s chest. Due to the casting of the [Cross of Blood], Lin Jie had lost a huge portion of his health. Coupled with the fact that he was recovering from the spell cast, he was completely unable to defend the thrust, as the sword pierced right through his heart.

-10296!

“The [Heritage Set]’s defense is indeed fearsome. If you had not cast the [Cross of Blood], I think I would have most definitely been defeated by you. [Broken Blade] possesses infinite potential, no wonder it is the best of all the 12 treasures.”

Baili Changcheng gingerly retracted the [Coldless Winter] from Lin Jie’s body and looked at him. “My dear brother, I hope you won’t blame me,” said Baili, in a seemingly sorrowful yet relieved tone.

Lin Jie stared at Baili Changcheng’s back as he could not imagine why his dearest brother would kill him! The Capsule of Revitalization was merely a tool to enhance his abilities, but to himself, it was the key to saving his life!

“Brother… brother…” Lin Jie let out a faint mocking laugh and upon his death, released the Heritage [Broken Blade].

“The 12 [Heritage Treasures] are finally together. They’re all mine now.” Baili Changcheng picked up [Broken Blade] and looked at Lin Jie with the eyes of a victor. He slowly squatted and shut the fiery eyes of Lin Jie and said, “Goodbye, brother. If it was not the case, I really had no confidence in defeating you. The victorious one is always right, don’t blame me.”

The War of the Gods—the loser, Battle Emperor!

The moment the results were announced, Lin Jie felt dizzy as waves of anger spread through his head. Throughout the entire month, one whole month, he had only either been competing in tournaments or training his battling skills on the Snow Mountains. After a month of grueling training, even if Baili Changcheng had 11 of the [Heritage Treasures], he had a fighting chance!

However, he had fooled himself! If he had not been fooled, he would not have used [Broken Blade]. If he had not been fooled, he would not have cast the [Cross of Blood] in desperation. If he had not been fooled… he would have claimed the Capsule of Revitalization and headed back home to save his family.

The instant before his brain stopped functioning, Lin Jie’s heart was filled with huge regret and guilt.

In order to win the grand prize of the War of the Gods, the Capsule of Revitalization, so that he could bring his mother and sister, who were in a comatose state in the hospital due to a road accident, back to life, he had been training and persevering for an entire month! His mental and physical capacity had been being drained to the core every single day, with the only fuel being the hope that his family could be saved. Yet he was completely defeated! Finally, he felt tired.

“Father, mother, sister…”

Lin Jie whimpered on, as he closed his eyes.

…

“I… I can’t accept it. Why… Why betray me? Passing me the [Coldless Winter] the previous night was actually a scheme against me… What is this all about!?”

Lin Jie whimpered, as a clear string of words sounded beside his ear.

He touched his ear. ‘Oh, would a dead person create an echo?’