Unknown to the rest, who just witnessed such an unbelievable battle, Ye Tian was actually on the verge of death. The light within his soul spark dimmed to the point where it could extinguish any time. His blood was flowing slower with every breath he took. His hearing dulled until he could only hear the sound of echos that seemed to be delayed one after another, and his eyes started becoming blurry. The only thing he could see clearly was an endless tunnel with a pinch o f light at the far end. His heart beat slowed down until it could only be heard every few seconds, then tens of seconds, then until it was only faintly beating once per minute.

On the verge of death, Ye Tian wasn't scared of dying nor did he feel any anger or resentment. He only questioned himself about things he cared about.

"Am I a failure?"

"Did I let everyone from the village down?"

"Will my sisters live peacefully with the Xue family?"

"Can the others survive and escape from this place?"

These thoughts could only revolve within Ye Tian's mind. He forced himself to smile, but within there was a sense of deep regret.

Xiang Jiao fused high-grade potions into his chest, but there was no glow, which was a sign of healing, that exuded from his body. Worried that the high-grade potion wasn't enough, Fang Meng instructed Ma Qian to form a healing spirit formation. Lin Yang and the rest tried a different method where they transferred their own Qi towards Ye Tian in hopes of a reaction, however, not a single change occurred.

Ye Tian's soulless state lasted for half an hour before the blue pearl started blinking a few times.

"Dum.....dum.....dadum...dadumm."

"Oh........." deep inside the treasure mountain, the gigantic boulder finally spoke even though it was just a single word.

"Out of all places.....," he continued.

Ye Tian's soul spark begun to spin slowly churning out red strings of blood until it continued to spin rapidly. His heart started beating faster, his blood started to circulate even faster that caused Ye Tian to recover slowly. Even his stab wounds and openings were recovering rapidly, replacing it with new skin and flesh. It wasn't until Ye Tian's body showed signs of glow, a magical item was thrown out in the air towards Ye Tian.

The magical item quickly fused with Ye Tian's body, passing through different areas until it reached the center of the soul spark, where the blue pearl resided. What came out of that magical item was a burning phoenix spirit that spun around Ye Tian's soul spark before merging itself with the soul spark. Once it merged, the burning phoenix transformed into a drop of the ancient phoenix's blood, causing his soul spark to illuminate like a raging fire. The single drop was enough to merge with Ye Tian's blood, causing a change in the color of his own blood. The merge increased the speed of his blood circulation, which in turn sped up his healing process.

That magical item was actually thrown out by Xue Mei. No one knew what its effects was except for the Xue core family, but Ye Tian's crew could sense that this precious magical item was something that would benefit Ye Tian instead of endangering his life. For that reason, they had a new appreciation towards Xue Mei.

However, the remaining groups did not bother to stay further, taking advantage of Ye Tian's immobility at this point. After reaching the border of the ninth stratosphere, many found out none of them could pass through. The quick-thinkers frowned as they realized why the last three stratospheres was called the "Battlefield" level. Everyone had to battle each other, until one clear winner stands on top. Hence, the winner could pass through the border of the ninth stratosphere and enter the peak stratosphere.

The elite groups from different sects, clans, and empires battled one another until a few left were standing. Those that have lost had been teleported back to the base of the mountain.

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It took about another half an hour, before Ye Tian opened his eyes, fully recovered after climbing back to life. He could see, besides his group, the Xue family and the mysterious group still stood there. After introducing each other, the group found out that the Xue family had members from the Star Alliance school that were related to old man Ji, who Ye Tian met during his journey to Destiny City. From this affiliation, many could realize that the Star alliance school were allied with the Xue family.

Without further delay, everyone continued to proceed, but Ye Tian and Xue Mei stayed behind temporarily. Before Ye Tian was about to leave, he asked something to Xue Mei.

"Lady Xue....How are they doing?"

"Better than I expected. They haven't even mention you ever since you left."

"....hehe....I guess it's supposed to be like that then. That magical item, what was it? How can I repay you?"

"It's nothing of high value. I wouldn't throw away precious items to a person I barely know."

"Well, I guess you're right. But I still owe you this debt. How about I give you these in return."

Ye Tian had mixed emotions - he was heartbroken after hearing that his sisters seemed to forgot about him, the other was a feeling of relieve that his sisters would be in good hands of the Xue family. Ye Tian handed out a martial scroll that he got from Fang Meng's place. In fact, he handed out three martial scrolls, one for Xue Mei, and the other two were for his younger sisters. When Xue Mei looked at one of the martial scroll, her phoenix eyes widened to a shocking state.

"How.....how did you get this?"

Ye Tian only smiled playfully and told her not to tell anyone else, even his younger sisters, that these precious ancient martial scrolls came from him. Having no desire to discuss further, Ye Tian moved towards his group. Xue Mei stood there for a moment, only to see Ye Tian's back within the setting sun. She didn't really know why she gave that precious magical item to Ye Tian that was exclusively for the Xue family members with the highest talent. If her father had heard of this, even he would've gone mad. But the three martial scrolls she received were also precious items that could benefit the younger generations of the Xue family.

With the arrival of Ye Tian's group, the remaining elite members from various groups were easily wiped out, only leaving the Xue family and the mysterious group left. The Xue family had no intention to go further after seeing the combat prowess of Ye Tian's group. They knew they would lose even if they had twice the numbers. But the primary reason was that they were wary of the mysterious group, and should Ye Tian's group in need of help, they were more than willing to do so to kindly repay the debt.

The woman from the mysterious group could sense the Xue family's defensive stance. She clasped her hands and bowed to the Xue family, signaling that they weren't here to fight. She then turned to Ye Tian, and threw out a pendant with the symbol of a leaf on it.

"Friend, my name is Xu Yi, we wish to invite you and your friends to visit our place when you have the time. This pendant is a map to get you to our place. You can also show the guards this pendant when you have arrived. They will know where to take you."

After Ye Tian scanned the pendant, indeed, a map was included followed with detailed instructions on the directions of the place. Ye Tian clasped his hands towards Xu Yi.

"Lady Xu Yi, my name is Ye Tian. Thank you for your invitation. I will definitely come to your place someday."

The rest of the mysterious group also clasped hands towards Ye Tian's group, then disappeared forfeiting the competition, which probably wasn't their objective to begin with. Only the Xue family were left.

"Brother Ye Tian, if you have the time to come to destiny city, please come to the star alliance school. I can show you around the city. If you'd like to join us, there is no doubt our patriarch will accept you all as his personal disciples," one of the members said.

"Thank you. I will come to look for you if we come there."

"Sister Mei, we should leave now and report this to our elders."

The Xue family bowed in respect. Xue Mei and Ye Tian stared at each other for a brief moment, but it seemed like it lasted for a lifetime. The mysteriousness of Ye Tian intrigued Xue Mei. On the other hand, Ye Tian would always be grateful towards the Xue family. Without any further delay, the Xue family quickly forfeited the competition and disappeared.

"My slaves, even though I'm the strongest, I will offer you all a fair chance. You have two choices. We can battle it out or play rock, paper, scissors."

"Screw you Ye Tian! We ain't that dumb!"

Suddenly, a golden gate appeared in front of them embedded with the character "Sanctuary" on it. A light of rainbows seeped out once the gate opened along with an ancient voice.

"My young friends, today I will make an exception. I will allow all of you to enter. Whatever you find inside will be yours."

Will this gate lead to an abundance of treasures or an abundance of traps?