"How could I possibly be setting you up, Father..." Lin Qian almost stumbled at his father's words, feeling it was a rather unique experience hearing such a statement from Emperor Lin. "Rest assured, in this Joy Arena, victory is guaranteed."
Emperor Lin glanced at Lin Qian and replied in a slightly annoyed tone, "If that's the case, why don't you go down and fight?"
"There's a saying: 'Rely on heaven, rely on earth, and rely on your father.' With you here, Father, there's no need for me to get involved." Lin Qian responded nonchalantly to his father's question.
Hearing this, Emperor Lin let out a helpless chuckle. "You cheeky boy. Very well, leave it to your father."
With that, Emperor Lin turned to face the Yun family's platform in the distance. "Just as well, I have some old scores to settle with them."
As Emperor Lin finished speaking, the blue light circle he was standing in grew significantly brighter.
In the next instant, Emperor Lin's figure vanished from the blue circle and reappeared on the wide metal road below the island.
The smooth, expansive metal road was devoid of obstacles, purely designed for the two sides to engage in direct combat.
A red glow appeared at the opposite end of the road, revealing the figure of a Yun family member.
Since no one on the Yun family platform had voluntarily stepped into the red circle, the Joy Arena had randomly selected a member from the Yun family and pulled them onto the metal road.
This Yun family soul warrior, however, was only at the Eighth Stage Awakening Realm—a mere hero-level combatant. Against Emperor Lin, who was already in the Transcendence Realm, he stood no chance.
Still, a transparent barrier remained between the two combatants, slowly thinning.
"You have thirty breaths until the duel begins. Crush him!"
The ethereal female voice rang out again. Emperor Lin's expression grew serious as he summoned his core components and soul artifacts, which floated around him.
Weapon Armament!
Just like Lin Qian, scarlet-gold thunder surged around Emperor Lin. A pitch-black spear materialized in his hand, gripped firmly.
The spear's shaft was as black as Lin Qian's Thunder Night Sword, but the spearhead gleamed with a sharp, scarlet-gold brilliance.
On the Yun family platform, the members watched gravely. The eldest of them spoke, "It seems that stepping into the red circle designates the chosen fighter. What that voice said is true—if no one is selected voluntarily, someone will be chosen at random. It turns out this so-called Joy Arena forces one-on-one battles, negating any advantage we might have in numbers."
"Even if it's one-on-one, Emperor Lin is no match for us. We deployed all ten of us only to prevent interference from others," another elder from the Yun family added.
As seasoned Transcendence Realm soul warriors, they had absolute confidence in their abilities and believed that dealing with Emperor Lin would be an easy task.
With that thought, the tension on the Yun family platform eased. Completing the mission assigned by the old family head would bring them substantial rewards upon their return.
Meanwhile, on Lin Qian's platform, Yun Yunyan's eyes still held a trace of worry. She turned to her son and asked, "Qian'er, are you sure everything will be alright? Those Yun family elders are powerful Transcendence Realm experts. I'm not certain your father can defeat them all by himself."
"Mother, don't worry." Lin Qian looked over at the relaxed expressions of the Yun family elders on the opposite platform and smirked. "Powerful or experienced, it's all a joke in front of a 'pay-to-win' player."
"Pay-to-win? Player?" Yun Yunyan was completely confused by Lin Qian's words, unable to understand his strange terminology. "Qian'er, you're speaking nonsense again like you did when you were little."
"When I was little? Did I talk nonsense?" Lin Qian asked, momentarily stunned as he looked at his mother in bewilderment.
"Of course you did. You kept muttering things like 'I've transmigrated, I've transmigrated.'" Yun Yunyan found her son's childhood ramblings amusing. "At the time, I kept wondering what on earth you meant by that."
"..." Lin Qian rubbed his forehead, suddenly remembering the confusion he felt after realizing he had transmigrated to this new world. Even by the time he was three or four years old, he hadn't fully processed it.
After all, waking up in a completely unfamiliar world after death was a shock too great for his former life as a reclusive gamer to handle in a short time.
If it weren't for the hardships he faced on Prison Island, his mentality wouldn't have been tempered to its current strength.
And if it hadn't been for the appearance of a vast empire under his command, he might never have truly realized that he was now an emperor, no longer an ordinary player from his previous life…
No, a whale player.
"Begin!"
At that moment, the ethereal female voice echoed again. The translucent barrier between Emperor Lin and the Yun family soul warrior disappeared.
In an instant, Emperor Lin's hands tightened on the spear. He spun the spear around his waist before thrusting it forward with great force.
The spear, fully charged with scarlet-gold thunder, unleashed a torrent of power from the spearhead like a raging thunderstorm, surging across the metal road in the blink of an eye.
The opposing Yun family member was instantly engulfed by the river of thunder, their body completely obliterated.
As the thunderstorm dissipated, the Yun family warrior had vanished without a trace, annihilated in a single strike from Emperor Lin.
Standing still with his spear, Emperor Lin's expression was indifferent, as if what he had just done was a mere trifle, not worth mentioning.
"Emperor Lin certainly lives up to his reputation," one of the Yun family elders on their platform remarked as he watched the battle unfold below.
"But in the end, he will die here. His injuries haven't fully healed yet," another Yun family elder added, gazing at Emperor Lin. "Now, let me take the next turn."
"Indeed. We'll definitely be able to kill Emperor Lin."