A strange situation now transpired on the battlefield. Under Ye Futian and Hua Jieyu's joint efforts, the battle seemed to have stalled. Yu Sheng had not yet made any moves, and these four cultivators were already in trouble.

They seemed to find themselves in an extremely embarrassing situation. Not only were they unable to break through the defense of their opponents, but the sound of the guqin also had a noticeable effect on their diminishing combat effectiveness.

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If Ye Futian's performance of the Divine Requiem before was not enough to threaten them, it was because his realm was lower. But now, it was Hua Jieyu who was playing with her powerful mind. Hers was connected with Ye Futian's so that she could express the mood of the Divine Requiem perfectly. Not to mention Ye Futian gave her the divine guqin Yearning to play.

The atmosphere was so charged that in just a few short moments, the vast and endless void seemed to be shrouded in desolation. The cultivators of the Heavenly Mandate City below who had been watching the battle in the sky now found an unimaginable sense of sadness in their hearts.

Across the endless void, the sound of guqin softly blanketed the land below and entered the Heavenly Mandate City. Although the strength of the rhythm that reached the city was on the weaker side, it could still cause countless cultivators to fall into that sorrowful spirit until many of them began to cry uncontrollably.

And in the middle of the battlefield, these four cultivators from the Ancient God Clan, who were already affected by the mood transmitted by the guqin, were now under unimaginable pressure. When they were attacked by Ye Futian before, their emotions had inevitably altered. A myriad of imageries began to appear in their minds, and gradually, their mentalities were held hostage by their emotions.

There was a sense of grief that came from the bottom of their hearts. This sense of grief seemed to originate from inside out, from their hearts and their spiritual souls. They involuntarily thought of memories that had long been hidden in their pasts.

They could clearly feel that their grip over the Great Path in the surrounding heaven and earth was weakening.

Ye Futian could see the changes taking place on these cultivators, and he knew very well how powerful was the Divine Requiem. Although this power was invisible and its destruction could not really be detected outright, Hua Jieyu's telekinesis prowess coupled with divine guqin was more than enough to trap all of them with no turning back—it was only a matter of time.

Ye Futian's outstretched hand was moving continuously, caressing the invisible strings, until each beating note hit the soul directly, causing the listeners' spiritual souls to quiver. Although it was not enough to injure the others, it was chipping away at their will little by little until they finally collapsed and surrendered to that despair.

They walked forward, and an even more terrifying aura bloomed from them. Under the lingering divine light, the shadow of Haotian the Great behind Hua Junmo pressed down again, blasting out an apocalyptic Haotian Mudra. Nonetheless, cultivators from the Divine Prefecture could feel something was not quite right.

"Hua Junmo seemed to be affected," someone whispered.

"Well, no one is exempt from the effects of the Divine Requiem. This Haotian Mudra was unleashed little too prematurely and does not have the momentum it did before." The discernment of these top figures was extremely astute, and they could calculate the power of the attack in a single glance, discerning the level and mental state of the person who released the attack.

Ye Futian was unmoved. As the strings were plucked, mighty Sword Will was gathering as numerous divine swords rushing up against the momentum, hitting the Mudra in the midst of that terrifying storm. Horrific rumbling sounds were heard as the Mudra oscillated, bursting little by little until the swords had turned into a storm, stabbing madly until the Haotian Mudra was pierced, then completely exploded.

Hua Jieyu focused her attention on the Divine Requiem while Ye Futian was conducting a series of guerrilla warfare at will. The two cooperated so perfectly that it seemed that the four top figures from the Divine Prefecture could only react passively.

"The combination of the divine guqin and the Divine Requiem is truly powerful. This guqin is the relic of Shenyin the Great, integrated with the soul of the Great Emperor; I guess it can be regarded as divine weaponry from the Great Emperor," said Wang Mian. He then looked at the other three. "If this is really the best you can do, I am afraid we won't be seeing anything. More likely, we will all be defeated here and now by the sound of the guqin."

Hua Junmo, Pei Sheng, and Jiang Qingfeng were clearly aware of the point he was making. They looked at the couple playing the guqin and saw Ye Futian's silver hair dancing in the wind while Hua Jieyu sat cross-legged, playing meticulously. If this were not a battlefield, it would be a most beautiful scene to behold, just like a painting.

Boom! Rays of divine light shrouded and drowning them. In their eyes, a certain transformation was happening again.

Their strengths were still climbing. The aura from each of the four cultivators was becoming more frightening, and their willpower was getting more aggressive, resisting the will of the Divine Requiem.

"Are they going to release their aces before the real battle?" someone whispered in amazement.

"It's not that they don't want to fight a decisive battle. It's just that under the sound of the guqin, they are all greatly affected. Even if they fight, they will be under someone else's control. The weakening of their own grasp over the Great Path is fatal. They can't break down Ye Futian's defense, and for them to continue being submerged in this mood, it will only get worse so that their hands are forced."

"With the buttress from the divine power, their will invariably become stronger. Instead of being consumed by this tug-of-war and gradually falling into disadvantage, it is better to go all out and fight." Many people saw the situation clearly. If these four continue to fight against Ye Futian under such conditions, eventually, their strength would be weakened. It would affect the outcome of the battle, thus weakening their positions.

Under the halo of the divine power, Hua Junmo was undergoing a certain transformation. The face of a deity appeared above the firmament as Hua Junmo's figure left in a flash and levitated into the air. Strands of horrific aura penetrated through his body. It was as this force was becoming stronger. Hua Junmo himself seemed to have turned into a god. It seemed as if he was the incarnation of Haotian the Great, descending into the world, oppressing this corner of the sky with all his might.

Soon, Pei Sheng of Infinite Mountains and Jiang Qingfeng of the Ancient Royal Family of Jiang also underwent some transformation. Under the lingering divine light, each one of them was like some kind of deity.

Wang Mian floated high into the sky. The golden divine light enveloped the boundless void. Then, the light released from his body seemed to swallow up the infinite power between heaven and earth. As he waved his hand in the air, a piercing divine glory appeared inside his palm, and a golden divine spear manifested. It seemed to be the sharpest divine weapon in the world, but the entire Great Path of this space seemed to be refined by it as well. At this time, above Wang Mian, many stormy matrices were gestating above the firmament.

Boom... Golden light of destruction came down as a series of terrible cracks appeared in the space. It was no longer the same attack he unleashed previously. There was a great difference in the strength of the two attacks.

"It's not too late to hand over the corpse of Shenja the Great Emperor. I can still let you go." Wang Mian lowered his head to look at Ye Futian, who was down below. His tone still carried an icy arrogance, as if he was the final arbiter of this world.

But Ye Futian smiled sarcastically and retorted, "But am I not the one who has whatever it is that you want?"

At the same time, when Yu Sheng saw the cultivators in the void, an astonishing Demonic Might erupted from him. Then, a divine item flew out from him, and in an instant, that monstrous Demonic Will rushed straight into the sky!