Chapter 1085: A Great Distance
Yu Liuchen’s sigh contained a mixture of regret, sorrow, and envy. However, it took only a moment for hīm to notice that there was something off about his thinking. After all... this was an old enemy. There was no way he could feel envious about an enemy.
People should stay dead when they die. Who goes out and dies twice? Snorting coldly, Yu Liuchen looked away from the horizon. That said, True Gods are rare nowadays, and the God Lords are sleeping. Your story is about to end, but my story... is just starting.
***
The sky over the east of Revered Ancient was empty. Four celestial-level holy lands had been floating there before, but Grand Emperor Swordsage’s sword had destroyed three of them. Only the Devilbird holy land was left. Swordsage waved his hand to bring its downfall, and then he gave it to the empress. Grand Emperor Devilbird had escaped, and there was no sign of him.
Next, Swordsage looked to the south and started moving. The empress and Xu Qing followed. It was a distance almost too vast to cross, but with Swordsage’s towering aura, that distance seemed to contract. In the time it takes an incense stick to burn, he took Xu Qing and the empress across many regions, all the way to the south of Revered Ancient.
Soon, it was possible to see three holy lands glittering in the distance. The battlefield in the south did not look like that in the east, where spell formations had kept the lands safe.
The south belonged to the Redland Nobleplexuses, and the lands resembled a sea of flames. Fire was the most suitable environment for them. When the flames became a sea, the Redland Nobleplexuses could release the full battle prowess of their species. The fighting between them and the holy lands had been growing in intensity.
From high in the sky, Xu Qing could see that the sea of flames was full of charred corpses, collapsed buildings, and shattered magical treasures. Some belonged to the various local species, but others... belonged to one of the holy lands that had collapsed.
The south had destroyed one of the holy lands and killed one of the Grand Emperors. There had been four holy lands here, but now there were only three.
Swordsage’s arrival attracted the attention of both sides. The cultivators of the Redland Nobleplexuses looked on in shock, and then their gods ordered them to retreat. They fell back. The holy lands had their defensive spell formations activated, and their three Grand Emperors didn’t dare to come out. They had already sensed what happened in the east.
It was clear that in the face of someone with battle prowess akin to that of a Summer Immortal, both the holy lands and the Redland Nobleplexus were on guard.
Swordsage wasn’t concerned about the reaction of the Redland Nobleplexuses. His goal here was to pass on his sword techniques. And thus, he looked at the three holy lands and then spoke directly into the minds of Xu Qing and the empress.
“The second sword stance in my enlightenment of the sword is called... Rending the Void!”
Grand Emperor Swordsage lifted his right hand and pushed it toward the three holy lands with their defenses raised. The Redland Nobleplexuses reeled, the sky went dark, and the sea of flames went out.... The three holy lands floating in the air, as well as everything surrounding them, suddenly blurred.
A terrifying power seemed to come out of nowhere, filling the area and cutting it off from the outside. Then, that power erupted, as if it had extracted all the energy from that area!
Grand Emperor Swordsage succinctly explained the sword move.
“I created this sword move back when I was working with the Ancient Emperor to wage war on the other species of Revered Ancient. It’s designed to kill all enemies within a certain area. In order to maintain lethality within a large area... it’s designed to extract all of the energy within range. It turns that area into a true void.
“The force of contraction created by the void shatters everything within that range. The shattered remnants are actually sword lineaments. The infinite sword lineaments then converge into a sword that creates the sword move Rending the Void!”
As the Grand Emperor spoke, the three holy lands and everything surrounding them began to tremble. As the energy was sucked out, pressure mounted. When combined with the blessing provided by Grand Emperor Swordsage’s will, all living beings in the area were visibly astonished.
The first place where rifts appeared were in the defensive spell formations of the three holy lands. The pressure of the void caused the spell formations to shake harder and harder. More cracks appeared, until the spell formations finally couldn’t take it, and they shattered. Then the pressure of the void erupted inside the holy lands. In an instant, howls of agony rang out.
However, they couldn’t pass outside of that specific area.
Only the strongest experts in the holy lands, for instance the Grand Emperors and Imperial Sovereigns, were able to stand firm, their eyes bloodshot as they tapped into their trump cards. Unfortunately for them... there was no point.
The crumbling continued, and the rifts proliferated. Soon, those rifts started to look like sword lineaments. In the end, countless sword lineaments combined, turning into an astonishing sword. Then, in that area of true void, sword light shone, sword energy proliferated, and a sword will crushed heaven and earth.
Sometime later, the barriers dissipated, and the rubble that remained of the holy lands fell to the ground. There was no flesh and blood. The only thing that remained of the living things was dust. All life force had been taken as nutrients by Grand Emperor Swordsage, causing his battle prowess to rise again. His energy swept the area, causing the gods of the Redland Nobleplexus to back away. They weren’t willing to get into a fight.
Only after Grand Emperor Swordsage had taken Xu Qing and the empress away did a calm voice drift within the lands of the Redland Nobleplexuses. “Without a True God... it would be difficult for us to deal with a Summer Immortal.”
In a brief moment, multiple holy lands had been destroyed, and multiple Grand Emperors had perished. It was a monumental story that was already shaking Revered Ancient. Countless species were reeling in shock, and numerous gods sank into silence. The past glory of humankind was now something innumerable species were thinking about.
The tempestuous news had already reached the celestial-level holy lands that had come to the west and north of Revered Ancient. They were both terrified and astonished. The holy lands there quickly joined forces, both to activate their defenses and also issued calls for help into the starry sky beyond Revered Ancient.
At the same time, they didn’t hesitate to leave the spots they had previously occupied and group together. Having come to Revered Ancient, they couldn’t leave it. Therefore, the best path forward seemed to be to join forces. They were going to rely on their joint strength to hold fast until the earthly-level holy lands and the one and only heavenly-level holy land arrived from the starry sky.
Sadly, there was no way their plan would work without a hitch. The west of Revered Ancient was controlled by the Netherworld Chasmcorpses. The north was in the hands of the Northfate Kings. And those two species would naturally do everything possible to take advantage of the situation.
As a result, the fighting in the west and north instantly became more intense. The cultivators of the two major species held nothing back as they tried to prevent the holy lands from retreating.
As chaos reigned and the sound of slaughter grew loud, Grand Emperor Swordsage appeared in the sky in the west.
“The third sword stance I gained enlightenment of... is called Heavenly Palaces. I created this stance in the war against the other species, before Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity managed to conquer Revered Ancient. However, the slaughter it can unleash is too brutal. It can only be used to target cultivators, and damages the heavenly balance.... After the gods came, I never used it.”
Grand Emperor Swordsage looked at the holy lands up ahead. He waved his hand.
The resulting scene caused Xu Qing’s pupils to constrict. It had been shocking to see the holy lands in the east and south collapse. But that was nothing like this.
The truth was that... the Heavenly Palaces sword technique was exactly as Grand Emperor Swordsage had said. It only targeted cultivators, and it damaged the heavenly balance. And that was because... the heavenly palaces mentioned in the name of the technique were not actual palaces that existed in the heavens. Rather, they were the heavenly palaces that Core Formation cultivators created inside their own cultivation base.
Their heavenly palaces all collapsed, as if something on the outside had taken control of them. They turned into illusory swords which then blasted out from inside their bodies. It was a brutal scene. There were unending howls of agony. Fatalities occurred nonstop. Seas of swords screamed through heaven and earth, filling the holy lands in the west. It was a pure catastrophe for all cultivators who were in the Core Formation level or higher.
Those under Core Formation had no hope of surviving either, as the sea of swords wiped them all out. The holy lands themselves were also devastated by the swords. Everything was suffering destruction and extermination.
In the quiet that resulted afterward, Grand Emperor Swordsage again spoke to Xu Qing and the empress.
“It turns the enemy’s heavenly palaces into swords. Thus the name of the technique. Next comes the fourth sword technique.... Its name is Star Splendor.”
As the words left his mouth, the dome of heaven rumbled, as if heaven were being opened. The light of day then vanished and was replaced by the darkness of night. Within that darkness were innumerable twinkling stars. It was an infinitude of starlight that filled heaven and earth, becoming beam after beam of sword light.
As swords filled the world, Grand Emperor Swordsage stepped forward onto a beam of starlight. Taking Xu Qing and the empress with him, he used that starlight to go to the frozen plains in the north of Revered Ancient. In that land of pure white, starlight radiated, reflecting on the snow to create brilliance that covered all of the holy lands. From a distance, it looked like a vortex of starlight consuming everything.
Everyone in Revered Ancient was struck speechless. Countless species sank into silence. The gods simply looked on.
Grand Emperor Swordsage was the most brightly shining star there was in Revered Ancient, and he was growing stronger thanks to the vortex of starlight. Endless life force streamed into him, causing his aura to climb higher, and pushing his battle prowess toward the peak level of that of a Summer Immortal. Heaven trembled. The earth shook.
And yet, his aura of death was stronger than ever. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse. “As for the last sword stance... I’m going to use it there.”
He looked up, his gaze piercing through the canopy of heaven and into the starry sky. In the starry sky outside of the Revered Ancient mainland, five holy lands had appeared.
Four were in the lead. It didn’t matter their size or speed. They were all beyond the celestial level. They were earthly-level holy lands.
Behind them... was something that resembled an enormous heart, pulsing and emanating an incomparably terrible mightiness. That was... the sole heavenly-level holy land!
There was a tower on that heavenly-level holy land, and standing atop it was an old man in a black robe. His hands were clasped behind his back, and his face was full of wrinkles. His expression itself seemed ancient, as if he was someone who had stepped through countless years of time and had witnessed all history play out.
He was looking at Revered Ancient. Despite the great distance between the two of them, he had locked gazes with Swordsage.