Near the border between Yangdi and Rong.

Within the battlefield shrouded by iron-black pillars, the battle raged on.

Jiang Wang, having sent the shaken merchant caravan away, stood alone outside the iron-black pillars, observing the fight.

Not everyone had the opportunity to witness a battle of this magnitude.

A clash between powerhouses was not a street brawl. “Watching the excitement” was not a simple amusement. Without sufficient strength, an observer could easily be swept away by the aftermath of the battle.

Of course, Jiang Wang was now safe behind the iron-black pillars, enjoying a unique experience of watching a fight in a cage.

He had heard that in some black markets, there were arena fights between cultivators where people could bet on life and death, popular for their bloody and stimulating nature. But he imagined that no matter how much money one spent, it would be impossible to witness a deathmatch of this level.

For Jiang Wang, this duel between a top-tier Outer Building expert and a Divine Proximity powerhouse was extremely rare.

Especially since Yin Guan was fighting with his life on the line, holding nothing back.

Outer Building followed Inner Mansion. He could understand many of the intricacies of this battle, making it immensely beneficial.

In this ongoing fight, Yin Guan’s situation was becoming increasingly precarious.

Both of his eyes were now consumed by an eerie green glow. His handsome face was overwhelmed by extremely complex and chaotic emotions.

Resentment, fury, hatred, doubt, pain…

Jiang Wang saw countless negative emotions flickering across Yin Guan’s face. But he did not see a single emotion that belonged solely to Yin Guan himself.

Curse Art was a minor path, always so since its inception. It originated from the evil thoughts of humanity, whether driven by hatred or pain, ultimately leading to a sinister and ruthless method.

It did not even qualify to be called a “Dao,” but was merely a cruel art of harming others.

But Yin Guan of the Twenty-Seven Cities of the Lower District had no other choice.

The accumulation of the You Kingdom was all in the Upper City. With his talent, the day he went to the Upper City would be his death.

The most lethal art he could access in the Lower District was Curse Art.

He could only walk this path alone, secretly exploring and cultivating without anyone knowing.

Lacking resources and guidance, he had relied on this narrow art as his foundation, reaching the heavens, rising like a dragon, achieving Inner Mansion, and now even the peak of Outer Building!

Truly astonishing and brilliant.

In the historical records of the past, no cultivator who focused on curse arts had ever reached his current realm.

There was no path ahead of him.

To escape the fate of being devoured by the strange turtle-beast, he had willingly plunged into hell, using this sinister method as his foundation. Yet even hell would not open a door for him.

He had to forge his own path, create his own door.

He gathered a group of unyielding powerhouses to form No Hell Gate. Almost all the Yama Lords had been personally subdued by him.

In the Outer Building Realm, his power was unquestionable.

But against Yue Leng of the Divine Proximity Realm, everything seemed so powerless…

“Without reaching Divine Proximity, all is but illusion.”

This saying had long circulated in the cultivation world, its origin lost to time, but it undoubtedly represented the sentiments of many cultivators.

Watching helplessly as their lifespan reached its end, their cultivation gradually declined, their vital energies waned, slowly regressing from the extraordinary to the “ordinary”… The reason many cultivators chose suicide at the end of their lives was that they could not bear the immense gap.

As strong as Ji Cheng of the Yang Kingdom, hailed as the strongest Outer Building in Yang history at his peak. Under the secret suppression of the Qi Kingdom, he was never able to break through to the Divine Proximity. He could only watch himself weaken day by day, all hope extinguished. Finally, on the Qi-Yang battlefield, he used his own head to fulfill the fame of two young men.

To Yue Leng of the Divine Proximity Realm, how could Yin Guan’s strength be anything but an illusion?

The reason King Guang of Hell Gate was powerful was only because he had not yet fought a Divine Arrest expert head-on!

So Jiang Wang could see Yin Guan charging desperately again and again, only to be blasted away each time.

His pupils had completely turned emerald green, appearing eerie and crazed.

He was maximizing his control over negative emotions, manipulating the power of negative emotions to the limit.

But over time, that “negativity” would also corrode him.

Therefore, his strongest state of explosive power could not last long. Yet, facing Yue Leng, he could not stop.

Because once he withdrew from that state, he would no longer have a chance to even exchange blows!

Even Jiang Wang could see Yin Guan’s state. Of course, Yue Leng would be aware of it. He was even consciously prolonging this state, allowing Yin Guan to collapse on his own.

Subduing Yin Guan was not difficult, but he wanted to resolve the leader of No Hell Gate at the least possible cost.

As time passed, Yin Guan was being more and more deeply eroded by negativity. His attacks became more insane, more powerful, but also more disordered.

Yue Leng’s response became easier instead.

He had no need to fight a dying madman to the death, so he even slowed down his attacks.

Yin Guan’s movements became even more violent!

His green eyes were manic, his long hair flying wildly, and his lips began to move rapidly.

Sounds rang out incessantly, but it was not he who was speaking!

The voices of men, the voices of women, the voices of old people, the voices of children…

They were countless insane ravings.

“I curse you, curse you, curse you!”

“You deserve to die, you deserve to die!”

“Go to hell!”

“You are destined to die without a burial place!”

“I curse you all, with my flesh and blood, my hair, my life, everything I have, I curse you! I am willing to tread the Mountain of Knives Hell, enter the Sea of Fire Hell. As long as you… suffer the same pain as me!”

Yin Guan’s expression was sometimes smiling, sometimes crying, sometimes ferocious, sometimes painful.

He had completely gone mad! Assimilated by the curse arts.

He had turned into an evil being!

Yue Leng made this judgment and retreated.

Heaven, wishing to destroy someone, first makes them mad.

At this time, it was enough to sit back and watch King Guang self-destruct. There was no need to intervene and cause trouble for himself.

Yue Leng’s judgment was undoubtedly very accurate, and he made the right choice at the first moment.

But he soon discovered that he could not withdraw!

Yin Guan had clearly lost his autonomous consciousness, his entire being corroded by the power of the curse, yet he was still relentlessly attacking him. As if “attacking Yue Leng” had become an instinct of life.

Just like eating when hungry, sleeping when tired. It did not need the guidance of wisdom, it was completely the most instinctive, the most direct choice.

Yue Leng could not withdraw for a moment, but Yin Guan in his frenzied state was getting closer and closer.

Yin Guan, having “turned into an evil being,” instinctively wanted to kill Yue Leng!

The green light that had originally only enveloped his fists was now becoming more and more dazzling. Finally, it “detached” from his body, condensing into green flames on his surface, burning “coldly”.

It was an extremely cold burning, as if to burn away the viewer’s gaze, and even their soul.

Each green flame was a form of self-destruction.