Solanky drew his dagger and raised it to block the incoming attack.
CLANG!
The collision between the two weapons sent the Bloody Sea Sect disciple rolling across the ground, while Solanky merely took a single step backward.
The disciple quickly regained his footing, his hands trembling violently. It felt as though he had struck an indestructible wall. Gritting his teeth, he charged toward Solanky once more, but Nokopolie suddenly raised a hand.
"Stop. You're no match for him."
The disciple halted immediately and retreated.
Nokopolie slowly stepped forward, his eyes fixed on Solanky.
"Finally, a worthy opponent. I admit I underestimated you. Now show me what you've got. Don't hold back, because I certainly won't."
The moment he finished speaking, Nokopolie burst forward at an astonishing speed, reaching 40,000 meters per second.
Solanky was genuinely surprised. According to the intelligence stored in his wristband, the fastest speed an ordinary God Emperor could reach in the God Realm was six million meters per second, while within special trial grounds and restricted spaces, the limit was around 15,000 meters per second.
As Nokopolie closed the distance, he made a clawing motion with both hands. A pair of sinister clawed gloves materialized around them.
Solanky couldn't help but admire Nokopolie's fighting style. Every movement reflected pure ruthlessness.
Nokopolie slashed toward Solanky's chest.
Solanky intercepted the attack with his dagger.
Nokopolie struck again with overwhelming force, driving Solanky back another three steps.
A savage grin spread across Nokopolie's face.
"Good. Now I can unleash my Bloody Claw Technique without restraint."
Despite the pressure, Solanky remained calm. He deliberately chose to play along because he wanted to witness the true combat techniques of the Bloody Sea Sect's greatest genius.
Nokopolie activated his Bloody Claw Technique.
Instantly, his aura exploded.
His strength rose to ninety-five thousand times that of an ordinary God Emperor, while both of his arms swelled to twice their normal size.
A thick scent of blood rapidly spread across the battlefield.
Without hesitation, he charged again.
This time, his speed climbed to 95,000 meters per second.
His claws tore through the air relentlessly.
Within the span of two breaths, he launched over two hundred slashes toward Solanky.
Countless claw marks appeared across Solanky's clothes, while the earth beneath them was shredded into deep trenches.
Nokopolie smiled wickedly before stomping heavily on the ground.
The earth shook violently as though struck by a massive earthquake, sending clouds of dust soaring into the air.
Seizing the opportunity, Nokopolie lunged forward to deliver the killing blow.
A faint smirk appeared on Solanky's face.
"I've been away for quite some time," he said calmly. "I almost forgot that after becoming a God Emperor in the God Realm, one can fully control the elements."
He slowly raised his head.
"Well... playtime is over. My turn."
The instant Nokopolie's claw reached him, Solanky turned and grabbed his wrist effortlessly.
The surrounding Bloody Sea Sect disciples froze in disbelief.
Nokopolie struggled violently, trying to free himself, but his expression quickly changed.
He could clearly sense Solanky's aura rising.
His strength climbed to one hundred thousand times that of an ordinary God Emperor.
A sinister smile spread across Solanky's face as Nokopolie continued struggling in vain.
Without warning, Solanky delivered a devastating kick.
The impact launched Nokopolie like a cannonball into the distance.
The remaining Bloody Sea Sect disciples immediately realized the situation had become hopeless.
Without exchanging another word, they fled in every direction.
Unfortunately for them, Solanky had no intention of allowing anyone to escape.
He formed a series of seals.
Instantly, enormous rocks erupted from the ground, sealing every possible escape route.
At the same time, the sky became covered by an enormous layer of thick ice.
Several disciples immediately flew upward, intending to break through the frozen barrier.
Before they could even approach within ten meters, they sensed terrifying lightning concealed inside the ice. Strange engravings rapidly spread across its surface, forming an enormous array.
One disciple who was half a step into the God Emperor Realm ignored the danger and charged directly toward the barrier.
Seeing this, Solanky merely smiled.
The moment the disciple came within three meters of the barrier, the engravings lit up brilliantly.
The array rotated once.
A massive bolt of lightning descended from the sky.
Before anyone could react, the disciple was instantly reduced to ashes together with all his treasures.
The remaining Bloody Sea Sect disciples abruptly stopped in terror and retreated.
With his world-defying magic, Solanky could seamlessly fuse magical energy with the surrounding elements, dramatically amplifying their destructive power with almost no effort.
Watching all of this, Nokopolie was completely stunned.
He could no longer understand why Lord Zenom had gone to such lengths to eliminate Solanky, even promising any reward they desired in exchange for his head.
Nokopolie crashed into a massive boulder before finally coming to a halt.
He coughed up several mouthfuls of blood.
The Bloody Claw Technique immediately collapsed.
Its greatest weakness was that the user could not afford to lose blood while maintaining the technique.
Ignoring him completely, Solanky disappeared.
His figure shot toward two fleeing Bloody Sea Sect disciples.
His speed instantly reached three times the speed of light, making him appear as nothing more than a fleeting blur.
Moments later, every fleeing disciple had been slain, either by a stab through the chest or a clean slash across the throat.
From Nokopolie's perspective, all he saw was a rapidly flashing figure.
Yet somehow...
That figure no longer resembled Solanky.
Instead, it looked like a terrifying baboon-like monster drenched in sinister energy.
A faint smile appeared on Solanky's face.
Everything was proceeding exactly as planned.
The instant Nokopolie lowered his guard, Solanky had secretly planted an illusion within his consciousness.
"Because he refuses to believe someone like me could possess such strength," Solanky thought, "it was easy to replace my appearance with that sinister baboon lurking within the illusion."
"I need to finish this quickly. If I remain in the trial grounds for too long, it will attract unwanted suspicion."
He slowly raised both hands.
The enormous ice barrier overhead unleashed countless bolts of thunder and lightning.
The corpses of the Bloody Sea Sect disciples were instantly engulfed and reduced to ashes.
Solanky turned his gaze toward Nokopolie.
A thoughtful expression appeared on his face.
He knew killing Nokopolie directly would be troublesome.
As the most outstanding disciple of the Bloody Sea Sect, Nokopolie undoubtedly carried a fragment of his sect master's spiritual consciousness. The final moments before his death would almost certainly be witnessed by the sect master.
After pondering for a moment, Solanky rose into the air and landed atop the massive ice barrier.
He sat cross-legged and closed his eyes, searching through the inheritances of the Ancient Devil-Gods.
Soon, he discovered a sinister technique known as the Forbidden Bewitching Arts.
The Forbidden Bewitching Arts resembled the Great Bloodline Taboo but was far more sophisticated and infinitely more sinister.
Its knowledge flowed directly into Solanky's mind.
Closing his eyes, he activated the blood essence he had left behind within the hidden space.
The inheritance explained:
"The Forbidden Bewitching Arts can only be practiced by beings possessing the bloodline of Source Gods or by world-defying magicians who have perfectly merged the paths of bloodline and magic.
The technique uses the caster's blood to forcibly bind the victim. Once the victim falls under an illusion, blood is drawn from them and divided into two seals.
One seal is placed upon the victim's consciousness, while the other is mixed with the caster's blood. The role the victim is to play is spoken into this blood.
The mixed blood must then be dissolved within water or ice saturated with lightning, or allowed to drift away beneath a thunderstorm.
Once completed, the victim becomes eternally loyal to the caster unless the enchanted blood is recovered and returned to the victim within four hours, or the caster personally destroys the spell."
Long before slaughtering the remaining Bloody Sea Sect disciples, Solanky had secretly drawn Nokopolie's blood without him noticing.
He immediately began casting the Forbidden Bewitching Arts.
The stolen blood was divided into two portions.
He mixed one portion with his own blood.
The other was transformed into invisible vapor that drifted silently through the air before descending onto Nokopolie's forehead.
The blood merged seamlessly into his skin.
For a brief moment, an intricate bewitching symbol appeared before disappearing completely.
A satisfied smile crossed Solanky's face.
The first stage had succeeded.
He then pressed the blood mixed with his own onto the frozen barrier.
At that exact moment, Nokopolie suddenly leaped into the nearby lake.
Within the illusion, Solanky had already dictated the entire sequence of Nokopolie's final actions.
He would believe he was being relentlessly pursued by an unknown horror and would desperately flee until he reached the lake.
Four hours later, as Solanky remained seated atop the barrier, the enchanted blood finally dissipated.
Almost immediately, countless creatures hidden beneath the lake surged upward.
Having intentionally lowered all his defenses until his body was no stronger than that of an ordinary mortal, Nokopolie was instantly devoured.
The enormous ice barrier gradually dissolved without leaving a single trace.
Solanky silently watched the lake.
Moments later, blood slowly surfaced from its depths.
Nokopolie was completely dead.
Solanky formed another series of seals, erasing every trace of his presence from the battlefield.
Without another glance, he flew toward the portal leading to the Third Forbidden Space.
As he traveled, he carefully suppressed his aura to the level of a half-step God Emperor.
He knew that the moment he left the forbidden space, his wristband would reconnect to the sect's network, automatically recording his cultivation and transmitting the data to the various sect masters.