Chapter 343 — Shi Jin vs. the Void Emperor

Without outside forces, the Void Sandalwood still counted as Monarch-level; outlandish as its strength was, it was still a Monarch. But if it borrowed the relic's power, it would be no different from the Reverie Butterfly blowing itself up with legendary resources; that would no longer be its own strength.

Of course, natural energy, the kind that drifted free through the natural world, was still permitted.

"Elemental Sovereign." Facing Void Sandalwood, Ji Feng summoned his own beast.

The Elemental Sovereign—a creature of many attributes. A mid-tier overlord species Elemental Sovereign bore three attributes; a high-tier overlord species bore four!

Ji Feng's humanoid Elemental Sovereign was wrought of red, cyan, and gold, wreathed in the power of fire, wind, and light—an exceedingly rare three-attribute beast.

At the sight of it, Void Sandalwood shook its head in boredom.

In the next instant the Elemental Sovereign vanished, becoming a beam of light that reappeared beside Void Sandalwood, a searing blade of flickering light already condensed in its hand and slashing down.

At the same moment, an elemental oscillation rippled across the blade, setting the surrounding space unstable; the air keened, and through that oscillation it shackled the stability of the space around them—restraining Void Sandalwood's Void Stealth.

Boom!

The wind-blaze light blade split Void Sandalwood clean in two—but the figure twisted like an afterimage.

"Here." Having slipped aside with ease through the Space Deception effect of his near-perfect Space Mastery, Void Sandalwood appeared beside the Elemental Sovereign and swept out a slash of his own; a black space blade came screaming in.

The Elemental Sovereign did not dodge either. As the space blade struck its body, its energy began to swell, and with a "boom" it exploded—a partial self-destruction.

A vast elemental oscillation burst outward beneath Void Sandalwood's momentarily stunned expression, and then a delighted smile spread across its face as its twin blades whirled.

Hummm!!!

Beneath the violent blast, tides of energy rolled and space warped; the endless waves of power seemed to be devoured by a black hole, vanishing in an instant. In the sky an elemental core re-formed, gathering its stored natural energy into a brand-new Elemental Sovereign, which turned with its beast tamer to gaze gravely at Void Sandalwood, untouched by the elemental eruption.

"It's useless." Within the twisting space, Void Sandalwood danced its twin blades in calm rhythm.

The next moment, space blades appeared out of thin air around the Elemental Sovereign, and in a flash its elemental body was torn apart.

Only the elemental core, at the very last instant, turned into a beam of light and fled far away.

"So it really can't be hit—" Ji Feng's brow furrowed at the sight.

The records said that since the Void Emperor's Ruins appeared, nearly a hundred top-tier masters had fought Void Sandalwood, and not one had managed to wound it. Ji Feng had doubted that—but now he had finally witnessed Void Sandalwood's agility for himself.

"Again."

Relying on its Myriad Affinity talent and the Heart of the Elements skill, the Elemental Sovereign had stored a hundred million units of energy within its body beforehand. Because that energy could only be drawn out little by little, never exceeding its own limits in a single draw, it could not greatly boost the Sovereign's attack power—but it did let the creature combine its skills into something close to "infinite energy," and for an elemental being, infinite energy was much the same as an undying body.

The Elemental Sovereign entered a state of prolonged endurance, and through that endurance Ji Feng kept maneuvering against Void Sandalwood.

But within a few minutes, failure after failure made Ji Feng realize that Void Sandalwood was merely playing with him out of boredom. From first to last, crushed beneath its superior skill, the Elemental Sovereign remained within its opponent's rhythm. He tried using his talent to let the Sovereign draw on the natural energy within the ruins, but the fire, wind, and light natural energy was far too thin—and besides, the enemy's Magic-Ban Domain opened almost instantly, cutting off everything.

"Could you take this a little seriously?" Ji Feng demanded, watching Void Sandalwood drift backward through the air, blades held behind its back, strolling leisurely under the Elemental Sovereign's relentless assault.

"So eager to lose?" Void Sandalwood said flatly. "You've got some skill, I suppose. I'll play with you a while longer."

"Let me think—your strength probably ranks third among the challengers who've come in. Not bad." Void Sandalwood flickered out of sight and appeared beside the Elemental Sovereign, casually loosing a space slash; the next moment the Sovereign's body collapsed again, only its core barely escaping. Ji Feng asked with utmost seriousness, "Who are the other two?"

"A woman beast tamer with a big white dog and a cyan phoenix—she'd be second."

"And an old man with a fire dragon—first."

At that, Ji Feng instantly knew who they were. One was none other than Lu Heng, seventh in the Sequence; the other was an elder of the top-tier masters in the Ancient Kingdom of Donghuang.

The old elder was one thing, but hearing that Lu Heng—his own defeated opponent—was judged stronger than himself in Void Sandalwood's eyes left Ji Feng baffled. Still, his duel with Lu Heng had been years ago, at the National Tournament; how strong Lu Heng was now, he had no idea.

"Aren't there any stronger beast tamers?"

Void Sandalwood seemed to have tired of playing. This time it gave the Elemental Sovereign no chance to recover; before its movements could even be glimpsed, the elemental core that came flying out was already cracked.

Boom!

The elemental core was smashed down beside Ji Feng, and his expression changed.

"Even Master Yan lost to you, so maybe there's no one left." Having lost—and lost while being crushed the whole way—Ji Feng gave up struggling.

The Master Yan he spoke of was the old man with the fire dragon. In his youth, Master Yan had been hailed as a super-genius with the makings of a titled legend, hardly inferior to the current top five of the Sequence. But while he was a top-tier master, a disaster had left him gravely wounded; his strength could advance no further, and he had halted at the sixth-tier Beast Taming Space.

A top-tier master like that could be seen as what these geniuses would become after decades of accumulation at the same stage: his physical stamina had declined, and his beast-taming talent might not add much more, but his experience remained. And even he was no match for this Void Emperor's beast. For a moment Ji Feng could not think of any way this ruin could be cleared.

"Ah, each generation is worse than the last. Now the master's sons—those were real strength."

Bored, Void Sandalwood expelled Ji Feng and said, "Rest a while. Then send in the next one."

...

"Once you're inside, focus on trading pointers. That mantis is stubborn, but who knows—maybe."

Outside, Feng Jin, Dr. Chen, and the others were advising Shi Jin, who was about to enter the ruins.

No one thought Shi Jin could defeat Void Sandalwood. No one thought Ji Feng could either.

It had been days now; the Donghuang Association had long since gauged Void Sandalwood's strength, and it was simply beyond any top-tier master alive.

"I think we could use the Beauty-Mantis Stratagem—have your Fantasy Butterfly conjure up a pretty Void Sandalwood and seduce it," little Fang Lan suggested from the side.

Shi Shuo's face went black at that. Aren't you supposed to be a top student? Is this what fills a top student's head?

Your parents have barely left, and you're already getting full of yourself?

"No one's ever tried that one before! We tried the gourmet approach—no good—but this might work," Heavenly King Zou said approvingly.