“It’s you!” The voice gained an edge of surprise and fear.

Lu Yun turned to see a young man appearing out of nowhere and looking at him with shock.

“Oh?” Lu Yun paused. He, too, recognized his opponent. Before they’d set foot on the path through the Blood Sea, the young man had offered to team up with Lu Yun and Qing Han, and Lu Yun had agreed.

However, his band didn’t have enough courage to follow Lu Yun in the end. Who would’ve thought he’d make it to the third round!

“I didn’t expect you to still be in the perceived void realm!” the young man said. “Please excuse me.” He turned and vanished into the distance.

Caught off guard, Lu Yun snorted and shook his head at the youth’s retreating back. “That wasn’t cowardice. He knows himself well.” He’d progressed further into the perceived void realm, but he still wouldn’t be Lu Yun’s match.

Shockwaves of battles traveled in from the distance. Many cultivators launched furious clashes upon encountering one another, marking this third round as a different beast altogether.

Although contestants were to eliminate each other in order to survive in the Sovereign World as well, the third round was much crueler. Only thirty-six people would be left standing in the end! More importantly, one would earn rewards from the Sovereign Ranking through eliminating other cultivators. The more cultivators one eliminated, the greater the rewards!

Laying low and preserving strength was no longer an option.

Preventing elimination by doing so would also bar one from obtaining fortunate opportunities, the precise reason why cultivators were participating in the Sovereign Meet. The difference between this gathering and the Dusk tournament three years ago was night and day!

Those who’d exceeded the ten lords during the second round hadn’t been preserving their strength, per se. They’d simply been keeping quiet about their gains.

After entering the third round, no one was going to pull their punches anymore. Everyone was embroiled in battles as far as the eye could see, and every living being in sight was an enemy. Even those from the same sect or clan fought each other fiercely. No one was willing to fall behind and have opportunities that should be theirs slip through their fingers.

Soon, Lu Yun joined in the fray as well.

His opponent was an unravelled void realm cultivator. At this level, he’d gained insights into heaven and earth and tapped into nature’s power to strengthen himself, allowing him to breathe in tandem with the world. Every move he made brought about great power. He carried no treasures on him, but his iron talons left cracks on the arena beneath his feet and had almost torn Lu Yun in half just seconds ago.

“I am Lü Li of the Mist Heavenly Palace. Well met.” The man urbanely greeted Lu Yun with a cupped fist salute after a singular exchange. His long hair was bottle-green, and there was a fine piece of emerald-colored jade embedded between his eyebrows.

Lu Yun sucked in a deep breath at the sight of the torn arena, his face slightly pale. If the attack had landed, he would’ve been killed right then and there.

“Lü Li of Mist Land...” Lu Yun’s gaze darkened. “I’d thought Lü Guhong was the greatest genius of Mist.”

“He was. I never would’ve surpassed him if he hadn’t died.” Lü Li maintained a mild smile throughout his response. “The fact that this dao brother managed to evade my blow means neither of us will be able to defeat the other anytime soon. Since that’s the case, I will take my leave.”

He turned and walked away from their clash without hesitation.

“That’s true, this elimination battle was designed for the strong. It’s smarter to hunt down the weak rather than have the strong wasting their time on each other.” Lu Yun chuckled heartily. “But so what? The will of the immortal dao sent the Sword of Dao to Qing Han as a trap, and she almost fell for it. That’s enough for me to consider the will of immortal dao as my enemy as well!”

His smile turned vicious. “I’m going to do just the opposite! I’m gonna go after the big fish!”

Swoosh!

He disappeared without a trace.

……

“One.

“Two.

“Three!” Violet lightning shot out from the Thunder Lord’s body, killing all cultivators in his sight. He was simply too powerful, having reached peak unravelled void realm back in the Sovereign World. After returning to Destiny City, he’d incorporated heaven and earth into his body and ascended to the returned void realm.

Although he’d then met his death at the hands of a dao immortal, resurrection from the Life Glyph had returned him with all his strength and cultivation intact. He yet remained at his peak.

The Thunder Lord’s true form was a violet thunder beast, born with the gift of manipulating thunder and lightning. Although his species didn’t belong to the golden or silver bloodline, they were a premier bloodline as well.

The gold and silver bloodlines had sworn fealty to Levitating Island, while the violet thunder beasts were the top tribe of monster spirits in the ten lands.

Violet lighting crackled around the Thunder Lord, wreathing the monster spirit in a cloud of high voltage electricity. In only a dozen breaths of time, dozens of cultivators from various factions were rendered to ashes.

Since cultivators couldn’t use their treasures here, enormously talented monster spirits like the Thunder Lord could almost sweep through them unchallenged.

Representatives of the ten lands in Destiny City were grinning so broadly that their faces threatened to split. Not long into the third round, the Thunder Lord had already killed more than a hundred cultivators.

“As long as he doesn’t encounter the other returned void realm cultivators, the Thunder Lord will be able to sweep the competition and become one of the thirty-six sovereigns!”

“The ten lords dared declare themselves as lords due to being confident in their superiority. While some others might have ascended to the returned void realm in the second round, they chose to slink in shadows instead of taking a stand. Their lack of spirit makes them unworthy!”

The ten lords had been killed in Destiny City as a result of jealousy and resentment. Now that they’d come back to life and returned to the Sovereign Ranking, they demonstrated great flair and poise.

The Thunder Lord wasn’t the only outlier, as the other nine lords had been going on a killing spree as well, acting as confidently as they had back in the Sovereign World.

Bam!

A sudden rumble descended from the sky.

“What?!” The Thunder Lord called out in shock. It felt as if a great mountain had slammed into him, dropping him from the sky and burying him into the ground, leaving a Thunder Lord-shaped dent in the arena.

He gaped at the figure drifting down in the air, his eyes wide with disbelief. Nearby cultivators were stunned as well. They’d been bracing themselves to be eliminated, but someone had then knocked the domineering Thunder Lord out of the sky!

Fever-pitch emotions boiled over in Destiny City.

“Shame! A curse on you for sneaking up on him!” the monster spirit immortals from the ten lands snarled angrily, but there was nothing they could do.

Bam!

Another explosion rang out. The figure landed and stomped on Thunder Lord, prompting roars of anger and pain as his meridians shattered and his body cracked like porcelain.

“Fight me head on if you dare!” Thunder Lord forced out with his last breath.

“You’re more than welcome to do so after we leave this arena. But this is the end of the road for you here.” Lu Yun put more strength into his right foot and crushed his quarry to death.

The Thunder Lord’s body slowly dispersed, then he re-emerged among the monster spirits from the ten lands. Their elites hurriedly formed a protective circle around him, lest the same thing happened to him again.

“Bastard!!” the Thunder Lord’s snarl rang in the area.