Cultivation Through Artifacts

The very moment the crimson light appeared below his feet, Khal watched as several blood-covered hands began to rise to the surface one by one, grabbing him by the leg firmly!

"Let it go!" shouted Khal and waved his Devil Fangs in a blink.

Swish!

BAM!

Several silver light flashed in a wink, slicing up the hands around his legs without mercy, yet not even a second later another dose of hands emerged, grabbing his legs once again!

"What the hell are these?" thought Khal as he felt his body sinking lower and lower into the unknown crimson abyss.

"Ha! Struggle as much as you want, but you won't be able to escape! Once grabbed and dragged into my Thousand Hell, getting away is simply impossible!" laughed the guy inwardly and watched Khal's figure sinking deeper and deeper into the crimson void.

Thousand Hell in fact was a unique type of Talent that forced enemies into a separate space and sealed them away there for a limited time or maybe eternally!

Khal obviously understood or at least felt that this was the case, hence tried to get out of the hands' grasp. But no matter how many times he slashed at the hands and sliced them up, newer ones would arise and continue to pull him down!

"I guess I have only one solution left." thought Khal as he wanted to use his Stellar Domain to stop the guy, but unexpectedly something else happened.

Just as he was about to extend his arm, a blue light flashed next to his ear, piercing a hole into the guy's forehead!

"!?" Khal watched as the guy's body slumped and like a soulless doll was blown off the bridge right into the ocean below.

At the same time as this, the hands and the crimson portal below his feet vanished, turning everything back into its original state.

"Who?" turning around in flash, Khal watched as a girl at the edge of the section stood straight, a longbow made out of blue jade pointed toward his direction.

"A bow? That must be her Talent," exclaimed Khal as he watched the girl pull her hand backward, causing a jade arrow to manifest on the bow's string.

Swish!

Letting go of the string, the arrow turned into a blue beam of light, targeting Khal's head in the same manner as it did with the previous guy.

'...' Khal stared at the approaching arrow with an indifferent gaze and raised his fan.

Clang!

A sharp metallic sound rippled inside Khal's ear as he deflected the attack, making the arrow falling into the water on his side right away.

The girl upon seeing this seemed surprised, but still pulled her hand backward and fired several more arrows at Khal.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

However, no matter how fast they were or how much she shot, Khal simply waved his hand around, deflecting all the assaults with his fan.

And as this happened, Khal watched that the bridge was soon about to attach itself onto the section and his eyes brightened up.

BAM!

TREMBLE!

"Woah!" trying to hold onto the bridge's side firmly as it literally crashed onto the section's side, Khal lost his guard for a split second and fell behind, almost falling off the bridge!

And exactly this is what the girl needed. The very moment Khal fell on his butt she shot two arrows at him, his heart!

Swish!

Clang!

Yet, that arrow of hers was also deflected as the rest, making the girl's eyes widen with even greater shock.

"How?" she was sure she shot at Khal at the right moment when his sight was blocked by his own weapon, hence he should have been already lying on the bridge cold dead, yet he wasn't!

While the girl seemed to be confused by this, Khal stood up in a flash and without further ado began to walk toward the section.

"I can't let him!" exclaimed the girl and began to fire arrows at Khal, but this time with a faster pace and with a bigger number of arrows!

However, even that was unable to stop Khal. Step by step, he approached the section at a steady pace and it was not long enough he reached its edge, only a step away from getting onto the ground.

"Stop!" shouted the girl, and in an instant her arrow lit up with blue light, emitting a powerful aura!

"A Weapon-associated Secret Art?" thought Khal as he watched the girl letting her fingers go and shot the arrow at him.

BOOM!

Like a small blue sun, blinding blue light enveloped the bridge and the proximity, melting the ground into a boiling mass in a wink!

"I... I did it!" said the girl with a smile, fisting the air happily!

"That was a great technique I'm not gonna lie." 

"!?"

Upon hearing a voice in her ear, the girl wanted to turn around and shoot an arrow, but even before she could have, her sight turned black, unknown just who killed her.

Khal looked at the girl's body falling before his feet with an indifferent gaze and a bit later glanced around.

He was standing at the edge of this new section that was quite a bizarre one. Burning trees and bushes, ash and dust-filled skies and ground, the whole sight before him seemed like scenery from an apocalyptic video.

Even the houses in the far distance could be seen burning as though some bandits just went and burnt down the whole village and its surroundings!

"I wonder what type of Beasts I can find here." thought Khal, but suddenly a screen popped up before him in the air.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Dear Cultivators! I am honored to announce that after such a long time, we can finally see the remaining FIVE Cultivators that survived until this very point!"

As Davids's voice sounded, five other screens popped up, each holding the remaining 5 Cultivator's live feed videos!

"As you can see, they are the remaining participant on this decade's Thousand Life Tournament, the TOP FIVE!"

David's sentence caused several people's celebrating roars all around the Southern Continent!

"Now then, as we have our five strongest Cultivators, let's make things even more interesting." waving his hand, the map before everyone changed and 5 red dots lit up abruptly.

They were the positions of the participants and including Khal, everyone was able to see them as clear as day!

"From now on, all the participants will be able to observe the movements of the rest, giving them the chance to hunt them down whenever they want! Also, after every 2 hours, a restriction will occur so I advise you to stay on guard!"

"Well, that is all from me, thus I wish you the best of my luck!"

Finishing his brief announcement, David's figure vanished into thin air, only leaving the map before Khal with the 5 remaining red dots on it.

Khal stared at his position in silence, but not because he was pondering but because at the other side of this section, another red dot could be seen!

And what's more, it began to move toward him at a rapid pace! It seemed whoever it was had either a powerful Movement-type Talent or had a Secret Art similar to his!