Chapter 1246: Quasi-Triple Crown
The two crowns above Li Jingzhe’s head exuded endless amounts of pure energy. Above the crowns was a faint and illusory image of yet another crown! It was a mythical and ancient crown, giving off an indescribable aura of royalty and supremacy. This crown represented the pinnacle of strength in this world. Even though it was illusory, it represented that Li Jingzhe had already touched upon it and reaching completion was simply a matter of time.
He was on his way to becoming a Triple Crowned King.
In the absence of a Heavenly Emperor, a Triple Crowned King was invincible. The worldly natural energy in the surroundings trembled. One could faintly see the energy transforming into manifestations of spirits, kneeling down to worship Li Jingzhe.
The roaring tremors in the background were like an ancient melody that heralded the emergence of a new Triple Crowned King. Everyone was completely taken aback at this point, whether it was Qin Jiujie or the other powerful figures that were watching this scene from afar.
"A triple crown? How's that possible?!" Qin Jiujie muttered incoherently. His eyes were filled with doubt. Just a year ago, Li Jingzhe was publicly acknowledged as being a Single Crowned King. Half a year ago, he had surprised everyone when he stepped forward as a Dual Crowned King in the Spiritual Resonance Cave.
After all, Li Jingzhe had not made any moves for more than ten years. The renowned Dragon Fang King was like an elderly retiree, spending the rest of his days in the woods. He had handed over most of the Dragon's Fang Lineage affairs to the four Hall Masters. No one had heard much about him in the Heavenly Origin Divine Continent.
Thus, who would have expected that he would suddenly appear in the Spiritual Resonance Cave as a Dual Crowned King?
Originally, Qin Jiujie thought that Li Jingzhe had been hiding his strength on purpose. However, he had truly underestimated the degree of which he had hidden his power.
He was on the cusp of becoming a Triple Crowned King!
Although his third crown was still incomplete and he was, strictly speaking, just a Quasi-Triple Crown, it still signified that Li Jingzhe was already one step ahead of him. Qin Jiujie's heart was filled with mixed emotions.
It signified he had already embarked on that last step to bridge the gap.
In the giant pit below, the half-dead Qin Lian was also staring in disbelief. Li Jingzhe had hidden himself well over the years. A Quasi-Triple Crown King.
If not for the incident with Li Luo, the Dragon Fang King would still be hiding this fact today. One day, when he finally revealed his true strength, he might have already truly entered the ranks of the Triple Crowned Kings.
Qin Lian was terrified. This old man was truly unfathomable.
In Abyssal City, many other Dukes were also discussing this reveal of power. They watched the elderly figure in the sky with eyes of respect. The old man gave off such an authoritative presence that the Duke Bergfrieds in their bodies were trembling in fright.
At this point, they finally understood why Li Jingzhe dared to cause trouble in Abyssal City alone.
Even though Qin Jiujie had made an appearance, he had no intention to hold back.
After all, he had the power to do what he wanted.
"Li Jingzhe, I've always thought that Li Tianji was the closest to becoming a Triple Crowned King in the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li. Who would have thought... Everyone has underestimated you," Qin Jiujie said in a low voice. He did not mention anything else about threatening Li Jingzhe to retreat. After all, Li Jingzhe had revealed his Quasi-Triple Crown here. He knew that Li Jingzhe would not back off until he'd collected all the interest for the debt owed.
Li Jingzhe looked back at him indifferently. He did not waste any more effort talking to Qin Jiujie. He raised his bamboo staff and lightly brought it downwards in the air in front of him.
An instant later, a shocking draconic roar resounded in the air. An enormous golden dragon whose end couldn’t be seen emerged in the sky. When it opened its maw, all the worldly natural energy within hundreds of miles flooded in.
At the same time, the stalk of golden thunder bamboo that was thousands of feet tall and connected the skies and the earth blasted out an endless amount of thunderbolts.
Additionally, an azure wind swept across the sky, howling fiercely like a primordial storm ravaging the world.
All the worldly natural energy in the surroundings was being absorbed by Li Jingzhe and Qin Jiujie. Now that Li Jingzhe had revealed his Quasi-Triple Crown, he gained control over a greater portion of the worldly natural energy.
Qin Jiujie stared at the golden dragon, thunder bamboo, and azure wind that had materialized in the air. These were the three resonances that Li Jingzhe possessed. Now that he was approaching the level of a Triple Crowned King, all of them had risen to the upper ninth-grade. Qin Jiujie sighed in his heart. He could gradually sense that he was losing influence over the worldly natural energy around them. This additional step truly signified a vast difference between their strength.
If they really went up against each other in single combat, he knew that he would be greatly disadvantaged.
As such, Qin Jiujie placed his palms together. A beam of light flew out and landed on the Blackwater Divine Transformation Formation.
He had taken over control of the formation.
With the formation under his control, he immediately activated hundreds of times more power than what Qin Lian had used earlier. Endless amounts of black water gushed out and covered the whole sky above Abyssal City.
Qin Jiujie waved his sleeve. The gigantic Nine-tailed Heavenly Wolf leapt onto the black water. In the next instant, the black water enveloped the Nine-tailed Heavenly Wolf and formed a suit of armor around its body. At the same time, a ferocious flame lit up around the chest of the Nine-tailed Heavenly Wolf.
This was not all. Terrifying amounts of thunder energy fell from the sky, creating countless thunder runes all over the blackwater armor.
Right now, the Nine-tailed Heavenly Wolf had fire resonance energy bolstering its core, a suit of blackwater armor, and was further imbued with thunder power.
Qin Jiujie had pushed all of the resonant power in his body to its maximum. All of it contained source origin energy.
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Wolf stood in the sky like a herald of the apocalypse. Its fiendish cries sent chills up the spines of the numerous Dukes in the city.
They would definitely die in a single bite if they were forced to fight this frightening beast.
However, they could tell that Qin Jiujie was borrowing the power of the defensive ward in order to fight back against the Quasi-Triple Crown Li Jingzhe.
Li Jingzhe retaliated at this point. The huge body of the golden dragon slowly coiled up. The void cracked open as it continued to writhe. At the same time, the thunder bamboo in the sky shrank rapidly and landed between the two horns on the golden dragon's head. As the thunderbolts followed it, it took the form of a lightning horn. Azure wind swept across the sky, and the scales on the golden dragon gained an azure shine. The power of source origin similarly imbued each and every one of its scales.
The golden dragon let out a long roar before it dove downwards. The void was swiftly destroyed everywhere it passed, and deafening booms could be heard dozens of miles away.
The majestic city shook violently as the gold dragon swooped downwards.
Everyone was dumbfounded. If not for the defensive ward, the whole city would have been eradicated the instant the golden dragon descended.
On the other end, the fully equipped Nine-tailed Heavenly Wolf let out a heaven-rending howl. It jumped into the air and charged towards the golden dragon directly. Everyone watched without batting an eyelid.
Bang!
An energy shockwave that was beyond comprehension swept across the field as soon as the two clashed. It was so loud that everyone blanked out momentarily from the deafening noise. Even upper ninth-grade Dukes felt their ears ringing.
This shockwave swept throughout the entirety of the World End's River Region.
Everyone could hear it.
Then the worldly natural energy in the World End's River Region began to boil over.
The golden dragon and the heavenly wolf gradually dissipated in the skies above. Terrifying energy waves continued to radiate from the point of collision.
When the aftershock subsided, everyone in the city could see that the area above the Blackwater Divine Transformation Formation was devoid of anything. All the black water that had originally filled the sky had evaporated in the blink of an eye.
Qin Jiujie's hands that were holding onto the Extreme Thunder Heaven Burning Truncheon trembled a little. Then fresh blood fell onto the truncheon.
These droplets of blood rolled down and transformed into crackling thunderbolts, tiny flames, and multiple miniscule wolf manifestations.
He waved his hand, and the droplets of blood disappeared instantly. His expression was full of gloominess. Clearly, he had been injured in the clash.
Fury then began to burn in Qin Jiujie's eyes.
He looked coldly at Li Jingzhe but did not say anything.
Suddenly, strands of energy began to rise up within Abyssal City. They interweaved together, and the people on the ground could faintly feel a terrifying presence coming from them.
All the elites in the city were shocked at this sight. They looked into the depths of the city, and a deep crack could be seen running through the ground. The Blackwater Guardians from the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qin were residing within it.
This was the source of the new presence.
This was a force that could rival even a King's might.
Furthermore, that was not all.
Mysterious light began to shine out from the back of Qin Jiujie. Majestic figures slowly appeared from the rays of light.
At this moment, another mighty energy wave swept across the area.
They were... the other Kings from the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qin.
The commotion was so large that the rest of them had come to the rescue.
"Li Jingzhe, do you really think you are invincible just because you've gotten close to becoming a Triple Crowned King?" one of the new arrivals coldly said. "Audacious! You might as well die here today!"
The Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Qin was clearly enraged at this point.
Li Jingzhe grabbed onto his bamboo staff and looked back at them indifferently.
Before he could say anything, the void behind him began to shake as well. At the next moment, four majestic figures walked out from the void.
"If you want to slay a King from the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li, I hope you have also prepared a dirge for yourself."
The remaining four Lineage Chiefs from the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li had made their entrance! Everyone within the city scratched their heads in confusion.
This incident had clearly been blown out of proportion. Could it be that these two Heavenly Emperor lineages were going to wage a war in the World End's River Region?