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Rumble.

Still sitting on that unusual chair, Ye Zichen spoke. The instant he finished his sentence, the empty sky suddenly shook.

The immortals subconsciously tried to circulate their spiritual power and stabilize themselves, only to discover….

Their spiritual energy had completely disappeared.

“What’s going on?”

The seated major powers all tightly knit their brows. When they’d participated in past Struggles, nothing like this had ever happened.

They glanced at Ye Zichen, but found that the tremors hadn't affected him in the slightest.

He simply sat there, eyes staring blankly ahead, hands still grasping the arms of the chair.

Rumble.

The shaking stopped.

The participating immortals all let out a deep breath, but then......

Suddenly, one of them called out, “what is this?”

At around the same time, the others noticed as well: in the space to their right, an arena had materialized out of nowhere, a spiritual formation carved into its center. The lines were distinct and branched out from the center, covering the entire arena.

The Nine Incantations, Lin, Bing, Dou, Zhe, Jie, Zhen, Lie, Zai, and Qian, were carved into a grid within the formation, their surfaces glistening with brilliant green light.

Most of the immortals below the platform were here for the first time. They watched the platform in amazed curiosity, but everyone who'd been here before frowned deeply.

They had never seen anything like this.

The Struggle for the Three Realms.

Although it was called a "struggle," it was really just an awards ceremony.

Based on their Reputation Leaderboard rankings, they received the power to transform the heaven and earth, divine materials and spiritual treasures, and could even choose to improve their fortune or defy the heavens and change their fates.

At first, they'd all wondered who exactly was behind the scenes, but not even the Buddhas, who had participated over a hundred times, had ever seen them.

Also, the fact that it was called a "struggle" felt somewhat dubious......

The name implied a fight for supremacy. Even so, countless "struggles" had passed, yet there had never been any sort of competition.

But this time, an arena had appeared, as well as a chair that no one had ever seen before.

Could it be that this was the true Struggle？

The seated major powers looked at each other, then back at the two Buddhas

"Buddha, this...."

Shakyamuni and the Amitabha Buddha both shook their heads.

If they knew something, they definitely would have smiled enigmatically and said something about being unable to leak divine secrets or, alternatively, that they just "couldn't say."

This time, they just shook their heads. It seemed like they really had no idea what was going on.

"Buddha, not even you know what's happening?" said Suiren, his aged face carrying a hint of anxiety. "In past Struggles, nothing like this has ever happened. What exactly...."

"Ye Zichen is likely the only one who truly knows what's going on," said Shakyamuni solemnly. The Buddhist Domain possessed a vast collection of abstruse divine texts, yet he'd never read about anything like this.

"Brother Ye."

The other major powers' glanced at Ye Zichen. However, they could tell that, given his current situation, he currently had no means to say anything at all.

His eyes were dull and lifeless, as if he'd lost all awareness and had become the puppet of whoever was working behind the scenes.

"I'm sure everyone has already sensed it, but our spiritual power has been completely sealed," said the Flame Emperor. He shrugged, then clenched his hands into fists, unable to sense any strength whatsoever. His spiritual energy had accompanied him for so long, but no it had suddenly and completely vanished.

He was accustomed to feeling it circulate through his body, and accustomed to using it to solve all his problems.

His physical body was strong, but now that his spiritual energy had disappeared, even an ordinary villager might surpass him in terms of applying his body's strength.

"Hmph."

Just as the group was considering the situation, Yang Jian's contemptuous laughter resounded through their ears.

"It's absolutely wonderful that our spiritual power disappeared. It looks like that arena is for a martial arts competition. If our spiritual energy is gone, we're all on a level playing field. Today, I’ll take you all on. In particular, I’m going to beat the shit out of you, you, and you....."

He pointed at Shakyamuni, Amitabha, and Ksitigarbha, then snorted, "I've detested you bald donkeys from the Buddhist Region for a long time now. Today, I'm going to settle my grudge against you. Of course.... this grudge can only be settled here. You can't make trouble for me after we leave."

Yang Jian was stubborn, but that didn’t mean he was stupid. Now that everyone had lost their spiritual power, he wasn’t at a disadvantage, not even against the Buddhas.

However, it would be different after they left and recovered their spiritual power. When that happened, even a hundred of him combined would be no match for Shakyamuni.

He had to make them promise not to retaliate later, otherwise, he’d have to go into hiding for the rest of his life.

"Yang Jian, don't be brash."

"Beat the shit out of you?” “Bald donkeys?” Talking like that was extremely disrespectful.

As the leader of the Heavenly Court, the North Pole Emperor had to consider its future. If the Buddhas took their anger over this out on the Heavenly Court, it would be a major disaster.

“Brash? How am I being brash?” snorted Yang Jian. “The current situation is already clear. An area has appeared and our spiritual power is sealed. Obviously, the person behind the scenes wants us to have a fair fight. In this place, we aren’t Buddhas or Emperors; we’re all equal. Everyone should have the chance to challenge whoever they want, right?”

“Furthermore, Brother Ye still hasn’t said anything else. Obviously he’s waiting for us to understand the situation on our own. If you can’t even figure out something so simple, you’ve become emperor for nothing. Alright, that’s enough talk for now. Just wait, I’ll wallop you soon enough.”

After Yang Jian’s speech, the others were lost in thought. After a while, Shakyamuni smiled as if enlightened and nodded.

”War God Yang’s words are reasonable,” he said. “I wouldn’t have guessed that, at a time like this, he’d see more clearly than any of us. It’s admirable indeed.”

“Hey, old monk, it feels great to hear you say that. Just for that, I’ll beat you up last.”

Yang Jian laughed arrogantly, then grinned at the onlookers. He scanned the crowd, then his gaze fell on...

Ksitigarbha.

Yang Jian had carefully considered this choice. He had to win his first battle if he wanted to both boost morale and make the others fear him.

If he chose someone below the platform, he’d just look like a bully.

He couldn’t choose the North Pole Emperor; they were on the same side, after all. The guys from the Immortal Region looked hard to handle so that just left the Buddhist Region….

The Buddhist Realm was high above and gave off a profound impression.

Defeating someone from the Buddhist Realm would absolutely be the most effective. However, he wasn’t quite confident in his ability to outfight the Buddhas.

That meant he could only use Ksitigarbha to test the waters.

It was settled, so he grinned and said, “let’s start with you. Do you dare accept my challenge?”