"Who lives and who dies is still undecided. Though I don't know what happened in the last era, we are now in a new one—the Era of Eternity. If your Eternal Night truly had the power to destroy all creation, then the last era's war would have already ended. There would be no need for it to drag into this one. So don't bother boasting about how powerful your Evernight World is. No matter how strong you are, a battle must still be fought on this battlefield."
Yi Tianxing spoke bluntly, showing no hesitation.
He never felt despair or defeat just because of a clown's words.
Regardless of anything else, no matter how strong Eternal Night was, it had not been able to completely conquer and destroy. A new era was already arriving, and it would only grow stronger. If Eternal Night were truly all-powerful, it would never have given the Eternal Continent any opportunity to develop. Yet even now, they had still not fully descended.
"Well said. Truly well said," the clown replied with a laugh, not showing any discomfort. "Eternal or Eternal Night—it's all the same to me. The only difference is who can bring me more joy, more amusement. This battlefield of gods and demons? To me, it's just my playground. The wails of the dying—what a beautiful symphony. It makes me want to compose a melody on the spot."
His words carried a trace of longing, as if he were always ready to play his dream composition.
"You've now asked two questions. You only have one more. Miss this chance, and don't blame me if I refuse to answer again," the clown said.
"Strategist, what do you think our final question should be?"
Yi Tianxing didn't answer immediately. Instead, he turned to Jia Xu for advice.
"I believe that our top priority right now is only one thing—how to close or destroy the Stargate," Jia Xu replied with a glint in his eyes, his tone meaningful.
The Stargate was the channel connecting Eternal Night and the battlefield. As long as it remained open, the monster legions from Eternal Night could continue to flood in, posing a deadly threat to all races on the battlefield. If Da Yi's military supplies hadn't been abundant, they wouldn't have been able to hold off the horde at the walls last night. A melee would've been inevitable, resulting in horrific casualties.
The Stargate was the root cause. Destroying it would sever the connection entirely.
This question was a sharp one—deadly and direct. It forced the clown into a corner, leaving him no room to maneuver.
"Very well, let's ask that question."
Yi Tianxing nodded in agreement. He couldn't do anything about Eternal Night's world right now—he didn't have the strength, nor was it the time for a full-scale war. But destroying the Stargate would be the best way to cut off the monster invasion at its source.
Asking the clown how to destroy the Stargate was no different from asking someone to hand over the blade that would be used to kill them.
"Hehehe… how interesting, very interesting indeed."
Surprisingly, the clown didn't get angry. Instead, he laughed even more gleefully. "You want me, a noble being of the Eternal Night Holy Clan, to tell you how to destroy the Stargate that connects to Eternal Night? I haven't heard such a funny joke in years. But, even so, why shouldn't I tell you?"
He looked playfully at Yi Tianxing and the others. "The Stargate was forged by the Eternal Night Holy Clan using star cores as the core, supplemented by all kinds of heavenly materials and treasures. Each one forms a bridge between Eternal Night and Eternity. Destroying one? Simple and not simple. There are three ways."
"Please, do tell," Yi Tianxing said with a nod.
"First, brute force. Destroy the Stargate with raw power. But to do so, you'd need strength far beyond the Fate Map Realm. Even someone in the Dharma Phase Realm can't shatter it. There's no one on the battlefield right now who can manage that."
The clown sneered. "The second method is to destroy it from within. But only beings with the aura of Eternal Night can enter the Stargate. Anyone from the Eternal Continent won't be able to pass through. So this is practically impossible too."
"Then there's the third method—pull the Stargate out from that state between Eternity and Eternal Night, and break it apart. Aside from those, there are no other options. Just those three."
He looked at Yi Tianxing with amusement, hoping to see a disappointed expression. He enjoyed watching others try and fail to destroy a Stargate. That was always entertaining.
All three methods were virtually impossible. Destroying a Stargate was almost a fantasy.
Yi Tianxing and Jia Xu understood this well. Their faces grew solemn.
The first option was off the table. If even a Dharma Phase cultivator couldn't break it, brute force was futile. The second required entering the Stargate, but they lacked the Eternal Night aura. That left only the third option—dragging it out from its semi-illusory state. No easy task.
"I wonder if my Hongmeng Heavenly Emperor Pagoda could suppress and crush a Stargate. Destroying just one earns one billion merit points. The treasures that could be exchanged for that are unimaginable."
Yi Tianxing pondered this thought silently. The Stargate might not be invincible. His pagoda was a divine treasure containing over twenty miniature worlds. Its power came from entire realms. In times of need, it could even unleash chaos energy to kill.
Jia Xu furrowed his brows. He, too, knew how hard it would be to destroy a Stargate. If it were easy, they wouldn't have been allowed to spread across the battlefield like this. The battlefield's reward of ten billion merit points said everything.
"Alright, I've answered your three questions. Now, let's play a game. It's called Wooden Man," the clown said suddenly.
"One, two, three, wooden man—no talking, no moving!"
As the words fell, an invisible force blanketed the entire battlefield—even Sunset City was enveloped.
"What's going on? That clown just said something about a game. Is he here to mess around?"
"What the hell? Wooden Man? Isn't that a children's game? What's this clown really trying to do?"
On the city walls, countless soldiers were baffled. A game on the battlefield? Wooden Man, no less? It felt like a joke.
Some ignored it. Military discipline already kept them from speaking much. But staying completely still? That was another story.
One soldier, hearing the phrase, instinctively raised his bow to aim.
Then something bizarre happened.
Without warning, bolts of heavenly lightning struck from the sky, hitting every soldier who moved.
Boom!
In a flash, hundreds of soldiers were fried to a crisp. Their protective auras and armor were utterly useless.
"All who violate the game rules shall meet this fate. Lord Clown's game is not to be taken lightly," the clown said cheerfully.
The lightning seemed to come out of nowhere, targeting violators with pinpoint accuracy. Anyone who broke the rules would die instantly.
"All units—do not move. Do not speak," Yi Tianxing commanded immediately via divine transmission.
Using divine sense to communicate avoided the restrictions of the game's spoken rules.
"This isn't just a game. It contains actual laws. Violators are considered 'out'—and the only punishment is death. That lightning… it's locking onto qi. Is this one of the clown's divine abilities?"
Yi Tianxing thought grimly. This divine ability was terrifying—if even a small number of troops violated it, an entire army could be wiped out.
"Clown! What do you want?" Yi Tianxing shouted, angered by the gleeful look on the clown's face as he watched people die.
Clearly, he wasn't playing by the rules himself.
"What do I want? I'm playing the game, of course. But you just spoke—so according to the rules, you're out. Time for the punishment."
The clown grinned.
Yi Tianxing immediately sensed a terrifying power locking onto him from above. The feeling of inescapable death loomed.
Crack!
A golden bolt of lightning tore through the sky like a serpent, lashing down toward him. This lightning contained not just destruction, but a will to kill—a divine judgment manifest from the game's rules.
The clown smiled even wider, eagerly anticipating the sight of Yi Tianxing struck down.