"Hm?"
Chu Feng's expression shifted slightly. The lightning was still striking relentlessly, but he had noticed that Sha Hun Haotian had vanished.
Gone along with him was the vast bloodline power that had blanketed the sky.
The black flames that had blazed across the void were nowhere to be seen. All that remained were the dark clouds stretching across the heavens and the lightning still splitting downward.
It was as if Sha Hun Haotian had never existed at all.
Chu Feng swept his sleeve, and both the lightning and the clouds dispersed. The towering formation's power retreated back into the grand array.
He knew that this battle was over.
…
At the same time, in the place where the white-robed woman and the woman filled with killing intent stood, a transparent sphere had appeared floating in midair.
Sha Hun Haotian was inside it. His entire body was charred black, and blood still surged continuously from his mouth.
His injuries were severe.
But even now, the scorched skin was rapidly peeling away, replaced by healthy skin underneath. His complexion was quickly recovering as well.
Within the transparent sphere resided extraordinary power, allowing the gravely wounded Sha Hun Haotian to recover at a remarkable pace.
Before long, Sha Hun Haotian had fully recovered. The sphere shattered, and he landed steadily on the ground.
But when Sha Hun Haotian looked at the white-robed woman, there was no gratitude in his eyes—only defiance.
"This was unfair."
"What do you mean by that?" the white-robed woman asked.
"How could a normal dueling arena possibly be that vast?"
"Your Excellency created that enormous expanse on purpose—to give that Chu Feng room to escape."
"Forcing me to unleash my bloodline power extensively just to chase him down, which diminished my combat strength and gave that Chu Feng his opening."
"Even if that Chu Feng didn't understand my Sand Soul Clan, surely Your Excellency did?"
"Was that fair?" Sha Hun Haotian was truly indignant, and his tone carried the weight of accusation.
He believed that the white-robed woman had deliberately given Chu Feng every advantage.
"Sha Hun Haotian, watch your tone. Remember who you are speaking to."
The woman filled with killing intent revealed her displeasure, and invisible killing aura seeped outward.
The moment that killing aura emerged, Sha Hun Haotian's soul trembled. He calmed down considerably afterward, and even felt a trace of lingering fear.
This white-robed woman was someone even his entire clan dared not offend.
She was a legendary powerhouse.
"It was your own decision to unleash your bloodline power regardless of the cost. Can members of the Sand Soul Clan not even shoulder responsibility for their own mistakes?" the white-robed woman asked.
"I… but…"
Having calmed down, he didn't dare speak so freely anymore. Yet he still felt that had the arena not been so impossibly vast—forcing him to expend far too much bloodline power—there was no way he would have lost.
"As for your claim of unfairness—"
"This battle was indeed unfair."
"But the one who bore the unfairness was not you. It was Chu Feng."
"Because Chu Feng's combat strength was not inferior to yours to begin with, and he was still capable of raising his cultivation by another rank."
Hearing this, Sha Hun Haotian froze.
If what this lady said was truly the case, then he had stood absolutely no chance.
"Sha Hun Haotian, you have already crossed blades with Chu Feng, so you have at least some understanding of him."
"I would like to ask you this: if you were both at the same level—"
"But your bloodline power was suppressed, and your combat strength fell below Chu Feng's—"
"Do you have any method by which you could defeat him?"
Hearing these words, Sha Hun Haotian looked through the formation at Chu Feng, who still stood in the desert.
A sense of defeat unlike anything he had ever known surged into his heart.
He no longer had any idea whether Chu Feng still had cards left to play.
It seemed that from the very beginning, he had never held the advantage. And even when it appeared that he did, it was only because Chu Feng had deliberately let him see a glimmer of hope.