Cedric Gilt gave a cold sneer inside. This crowd was nothing but a mob. Tug at them a little, and they would split apart on their own.


    Once they fought until their heads were cracked and blood was everywhere, the Tribunal could step in and clean up the mess.


    By then, it would take almost no effort at all.


    "Since no one has any objections, then..."


    He had not even finished speaking when a sudden stir broke out from the bottom of the chasm.


    "A crystal! A huge emberstone crystal!"


    Every gaze snapped toward the bottom of the pit at the same time.


    At the very center of the Pyre Chasm, resting quietly atop thergest piece of zed rock,y a massive emberstone crystal.


    It stood taller than a man.


    Its whole body was crimson, and golden veins flowed across its surface like a sun that had frozen solid.


    Everyone''s breathing turned rough.


    The fire-aspect spiritual power inside that crystal was enough to raise a True Immortal Realm cultivator by a minor realm.


    "It''s mine!"


    The first one to charge out was a beast-race warrior at True Immortal Realm Level Two.


    He turned into a streak of light and shot toward the bottom of the chasm, his eyes burning with heat.


    A beast-hide cuirass hung over his body.


    His muscles were knotted thick, and a huge bone axe was clenched in his hand.


    The whole man looked like a savage beast that had slipped its leash.


    "In your dreams!"


    A Demonic Cultivator shot after him right on his heels.


    ck demonic aura wrapped his whole body.


    His face was blurred inside it, with only a pair of blood-red eyes shing through the darkness.


    He was fast as a ghost.


    Even though he movedter, he arrived first, reaching the crystal almost at the exact same time as the beast-race warrior.


    "It''s mine!" the beast-race warrior roared, swinging the bone axe straight at the Demonic Cultivator''s head.


    The Demonic Cultivator let out a coldugh, shed aside to avoid the bone axe, and at the same time drove a palm into the beast-race warrior''s back.


    The ck demonic aura mmed into the beast-race warrior''s body and started eating through his flesh and blood.


    "Aaagh..." The beast-race warrior let out a ragged scream, whipped around, and struck back.


    A blinding burst of light exploded from the bone axe.


    That was the beast race''s bloodline power—wild, violent, and brutally fierce.


    The two of them crashed into a fight right beside the emberstone crystal. More people charged in.


    One cultivator from the Wandering Cultivators Alliance rushed up. He was at True Immortal Realm Level One, looked to be in his fifties, sported a pointed goatee, and wore a robe that had been washed until it was nearly white.


    Taking advantage of the chaos, he snatched up a fist-sized emberstone crystal, stuffed it into his robe, turned, and ran.


    "Stop right there!" Another wandering cultivator chased him down, grabbed him by the cor, and shouted, "Hand over the emberstone crystal!"


    "I got it first!"


    "I saw it first!"


    The two of them rolled into a brawl.


    There wasn''t a shred of cultivator dignity left in either one. They looked like two beggars fighting over scraps.


    Elsewhere in the mess, a Demonic Cultivator slipped in with a sneak attack, dropped one of the celestial cultivators with a single sh, and ripped the emberstone crystal from his hand.


    That celestial cultivator fell into a pool of blood.


    Even at the end, his eyes stayed wide open. He still couldn''t believe a demon had actually daredy a hand on a celestial.


    "Have you demons lost your minds? You dare touch one of my celestials?" Cedric Gilt roared from the edge of the pit.


    "The Pyre Chasm belongs to no one! Whoever grabs it, keeps it!" the demonic cultivator shouted back without even turning his head.


    Cedric Gilt''s face went hard and dark.


    But he still didn''t move. He was waiting-waiting until everyone had beaten each other down enough, then he would sweep them all up in one.


    A beast-race woman warrior plunged into the fray. She was a True Immortal Realm Level One, tall and powerfully built, with war paint drawn across her face.


    By herself, she drove back three wandering cultivators, seized three emberstone crystals, then threw her head back andughed.


    "Hahaha! Glory to the Skywolf Tribe!"


    Herughter hadn''t even finished echoing when a Demonic Cultivator struck from behind and drove a de straight through her shoulder.


    The woman warrior cried out sharply.


    The emberstone crystals flew from her hand and scattered across the ground, and the people around her swarmed them empty in an instant.


    "Bastard!" The woman warrior roared, spun around, and threw herself at the one who had ambushed her.


    The melee at the bottom of the pit only grew more vicious.


    Some people snatched up emberstone crystals and stuffed them straight into their Storage Rings.


    Others stopped bothering with the crystals and went after other people''s Storage Rings instead.


    Some struck from the shadows in the middle of the chaos. Some threw together temporary alliances, only to turn on each other an instantter when the split came out uneven.


    In the middle of the melee, the emberstone crystals kept changing hands. One fist-sized emberstone crystal was picked up by a wandering cultivator first.


    Then a demon snatched it away. Then someone from the beast race took it back. Then a celestial seized it. Then three wandering cultivators working together stole it back again. Then two demons joined forces and took it away...


    In the span of one stick of incense, it had changed masters seven or eight times.


    Screams, curses, and desperate pleas rose one after another without a break.


    Blood ran across the bottom of the pit, staining the ck scorched earth a dull dark red.


    The air was thick with the smell of blood, the stink of burning, and the scorching breath pouring off the emberstone crystals.


    A wandering cultivator at True Immortal Realm Level One had his arm hacked off


    and copsed into a pool of blood, howling.


    No one went to help him.


    Everyone was busy fighting over emberstone crystals. Someone even sprinted past him and on the way by, scooped up the crystal he still


    hadn''t had time to put away.


    A beast-race warrior got surrounded by three demons.


    He carved himself a path out through blood and steel and staggered out of the


    bottom of the Pyre Chasm covered in wounds.


    He had just dragged himself over the edge of the Pyre Chasm when his body gave


    out.


    He dropped where he was and never got back up.


    Cedric stood at the rim and watched all of it unfold.


    The smile on his face kept deepening.


    "That''s enough," he murmured.


    He raised one hand.


    Behind him, the celestial cultivators all drew their arms at the same time.


    Golden holy radiance red to life


    along the rim of the pit, like moret


    than thirty small suns igniting at once so bright it stabbed into eyes.


    "Go down there. Drive everyone out. Take every crystal."


    "Yes!"


    More than thirty celestial cultivators charged into the Pyre Chasm at the same time.


    "The Celestial Tribunal is conducting business! Everyone, back off!"


    "Anyone who doesn''t move will be killed without mercy!"


    Golden holy radiance exploded across the bottom of the pit and sted the warring forces out of formation, sending them reeling in every direction.


    Cedric moved himself.


    One palm strike sent a beast-race warrior at True Immortal Realm Level One flying.


    The beast-race warrior spun several times through the air, then mmed hard into


    the wall of the pit with a heavy, muffled crash.


    The pit wall caved in from the impact.


    The warrior sprayed blood from his mouth and cked out on the spot.


    "You!"


    One of the beast race leaders stepped forward, a True Immortal Realm Level Three.


    A wolfskin cloak hung from his shoulders, and three bloody scars cut across his face. This was Wolf Fang, a war champion whose name carried weight throughout the Skywolf Tribe.


    Wolf-Fang leveled the battle-ax in his hand at Cedric.


    His voice crashed out like thunder. "Cedric, you''ve gone too far!"


    Cedric let out a coldugh.


    "Gone too far? I already told you. The Pyre Chasm belongs to us celestials. You


    wouldn''t listen, so don''t me me for getting rough."


    He struck out with one palm.


    Golden holy radiance surged together and turned into a gigantic hand that came


    pressing down on Wolf-Fang.


    The enormous hand spread over the sky and smothered the light.


    A huge stretch of the pit floor fell under its shadow.


    Wolf-Fang gritted his teeth and took it head-on.


    A blinding blood-red glow burst from his battle-ax. It was the Skywolf Tribe''s


    bloodline power, wild and ferocious.


    Boom!


    The two forces mmed into each other and erupted with a deafening st.


    The ground at the bottom of the pit blew open into a fresh crater.


    Broken stone shot everywhere, and dust rolled thick through the air.


    Wolf-Fang was driven back several steps.


    A thin line of blood slid from the corner of his mouth.


    Both his hands were shaking.


    The flesh between thumb and forefinger had split open, and blood ran down the


    shaft of the battle-ax.


    A True Immortal Realm Level Four against a True Immortal Realm Level Three.


    The gap was too wide.


    Cedric swept his gaze around the pit.


    "Who else?"


    No one answered.


    The brawl at the bottom of the pit hade to aplete stop.


    The cultivators from every side had been driven off to one side by the celestial


    cultivators.


    They stood there with hard faces, but not one of them dared push back.


    The name of the Celestial Tribunal was not something they could challenge.


    One demon cultivator at True Immortal Realm Level Two still wouldn''t ept it.


    He stepped out and roared, "What''s so great about the celestials? We demons—"


    Before he could finish, Cedric struck with his palm again.


    Golden holy radiance mmed into the demon cultivator''s chest.


    The demon cultivator''s body flew backward like a kite with its string cut.


    He smashed into the pit wall and sprayed blood from his mouth.