Chapter 1096: Slaughter an Imperial Sovereign with One Fatal Blow!
In a prison of gods in the Fifth Star Ring, divine abilities and magical techniques rumbled loudly.
In the distance, Little Shadow was in the form of a great tree that was currently twisted up around a crystalline treasure tree. The two of them were fighting back and forth, each hoping to suppress the other. Little Shadow had taken shape and was locked in combat with the figure that had come out of the treasure tree. Thunderous booms rang out constantly.
Further away, the authority of erasure eroded the 33 Taboo Formations. And within that area, Xu Qing’s shield, formed from treasure light, flew forth to seal the ghost gate in the dome of heaven. The shield came from Grand Emperor Netherflame. It contained the power of a black lotus, and erupted with netherworld flames that covered an area many times larger than the shield itself. When it hit the ghost gate, both objects shook violently.
Down below, the shears, formed of blade light, pulsed with a Grand Emperor’s aura as well as dazzling light as it viciously cut through the karma of the incense.
Finally... The Emperor’s Sword in Xu Qing’s hand radiated prismatic and dazzling light. Xu Qing himself shot forth with momentum to sever heaven and cleave the earth. It became a towering killing intent that was focused directly on the Imperial Sovereign. At that moment, Grand Emperor Swordsage’s words echoed in Xu Qing’s mind.
“I used Earth Treasury years ago to cut down a vicious killer who was proficient in the dao of earth. The sword move focused on the releasing earth energy to replace the will of the earth with the will of the sword. It takes earth energy and turns it into sword energy. Then it converges to make an earth sword!”
Xu Qing’s powers of understanding had long since struck astonishment into the heart of Master Seventh, as well as the hearts of the Heir Apparent and his siblings. Something similar was happening now. Only a moment before, he had gained enlightenment of Grand Emperor Swordsage’s first sword stance.
Xu Qing knew nothing about the Fifth Star Ring, and he was facing a very competent Imperial Sovereign. Therefore, he didn’t hesitate.
The Emperor’s Sword glittered as the power of Earth Treasury spread out, shaking everything. The surrounding swamp trembled, as did the minor worlds in the bubbles. Streams of energy began to rise up from the ground, and from the minor worlds. It wasn’t the nutrients being generated by the minor worlds. Instead, it was the earth energy being pulled out by Earth Treasury and turned into sword energy. More and more of it.
The swamp vibrated and the minor world bubbles began to tremble with increasing intensity. Countless streams of smoke headed in Xu Qing’s direction.
All of this takes a bit of time to describe but actually happened in the time it takes a spark to fly off of a piece of flint. At that moment, it looked like Xu Qing’s Emperor’s Sword gathered an infinitude of energy streams.
Together, they formed around him in the shape of an astonishingly large sword! He was in the middle of it! It was almost as if Xu Qing himself had become the sword! Sword might raged, shaking the sky, causing the lands to quake, and causing the swamp that was the god prison to seethe like the sea.
Shaken to the core, the Imperial Sovereign fell back at top speed. But then the sword of earth energy shot forward with heaven-shaking, earth-shattering power and indescribable quickness! It shot right toward the Imperial Sovereign! Nothing could stop it!
I want that sword technique! The Imperial Sovereign didn’t give voice to his thoughts. But as they filled his heart, and as his pupils constricted, he unhesitatingly summoned a vortex into his left eye.
A dao lineament appeared, and authority erupted! The first thing to happen was that a flowing river of red mist appeared outside of him. The river of mist was the manifestation of his authority. As the dao lineament stirred, the river swept out into the open.
An instant later...
Xu Qing could sense transformations to his surroundings. The air in front of him seemed to be resisting his movement, forcing him to slow down. Earth Treasury responded with increasing momentum, but... the force of resistance also increased in kind. In fact, it got so powerful that it became like a protective shield for the Imperial Sovereign. Not only did it slow Xu Qing down, but also, it opposed his sword energy.
If that were all there were to it, it might not matter much. But though the energy in the area formed a force of resistance against Xu Qing, it actually did the opposite for the Imperial Sovereign. It reduced the force of resistance against him, and reduced the energy flowing against him. In other words, Xu Qing was moving slower and slower due to this outside force, while the Imperial Sovereign was actually speeding up to an astonishing level.
In fact, he moved so fast that he was easily able to avoid the Earth Treasury sword move. In an instant, he was right next to Xu Qing, his eyes glittering with greed as he reached out to grab The Emperor’s Sword. He moved with outstanding accuracy, and craftily timed his action perfectly. He didn’t give Xu Qing any chance to make a counter move. He grabbed the sword!
Yet before a feeling of exultation could arise in his heart, the sword he had grabbed became illusory. In fact, the Xu Qing in front of him also turned illusory. The Imperial Sovereign’s face fell.
My perceptions have been altered?
Before the Imperial Sovereign had a chance to react, Xu Qing materialized in the distance, and Earth Treasury erupted.
A moment ago, he had used the perception altering abilities of the Heir Apparent. He had three chances to use that ability, and had just used one of them. The Imperial Sovereign’s perceptions might not have been as easily altered had it not been for his greed toward The Emperor’s Sword, and Xu Qing had taken advantage of that. That gave him the opportunity he needed.
Unfortunately, the time in which the perceptions were altered didn’t last long. What was more, this Imperial Sovereign’s authority was very unique. As a result, Xu Qing’s mind didn’t have enough time to rely on Earth Treasury to kill him. Even though he managed to use his trump card, Grandpa Ninth’s sword energy was telling Xu Qing that yet another unexpected twist might be just around the corner.
Unfortunately, he had no idea if his opponent had another trick up his sleeve, or another trump card to unleash. He needed to confirm whether or not he could create an opportunity to get some distance between himself and his opponent.
The reason was that he wanted to get in a fatal blow! He didn’t just want to seriously injure this opponent. Most importantly was that he couldn’t allow this person to escape.
Considering all of those things, he made a snap decision. The Emperor’s Sword erupted, but instead of targeting the Imperial Sovereign, he took advantage of the moment of opportunity he had created to use Earth Treasury to target the land itself! Put more precisely, he was targeting... the minor world bubbles!
He was dealing with a competent opponent, so the first thing he needed to do was distract him. Only if this opponent was distracted would it be possible to identify a way to launch a fatal blow on him. And the best way to distract a guard was to start destroying the thing he was supposed to be guarding.
That was why, though it seemed like this sword move had been targeting the Imperial Sovereign, his actual goal had been to target as many minor world bubbles as he could. Sword energy descended. Lands crumbled. And large numbers of minor world bubbles in the swamp were slashed.
One by one they split apart! The heavens in the minor worlds shattered. The cultivators filtering the energy had no time to wake up, and one after another, they were destroyed in body and soul. Without skies in their worlds, the living beings there awoke as if from dreams. Meanwhile, the gods imprisoned in the worlds were thrown into great chaos.
And of course, the absorption of spirit energy decreased dramatically. The vortex in the sky that was sucking in the spirit energy was instantly affected.
“How dare you!!” shouted the Imperial Sovereign. Face falling, he instinctively looked up at the vortex, his heart filling with trepidation. No matter how much he wanted to, he just wasn’t fast enough to stop Xu Qing. Something that normally wouldn’t have been possible with him here was happening, and all of it was because of that sudden change to his perceptions moments ago.
The spirit mine was collapsing. The vortex was taking in far less spirit energy. And his heart was starting to pound. Seeing what was happening to the mine he was in charge of guarding caused killing intent to explode within him. He howled, and the dao lineament in his eye stirred again.
His dao lineament was unique and terrifyingly powerful. However, it hindered the cultivation, and every time it was used, there was a cost. What was more, if you used it on a large scale... that cost was terrifying. Therefore, it wasn’t something he would even consider outside of extreme circumstances. Right now, he was out of options.
He lifted his right hand and then pushed it down toward the ground. Authority power surged, forming a force of resistance, which became defenses for him as well as a crushing force. It covered the entire crumbling spirit mine, causing the crumbling to slow down significantly. As a result, his skinny frame became even more emaciated, and his eyes shone with cold light.
Unfortunately, he didn’t dare to do much further. His authority couldn’t be used on the spirit mine for much longer. He needed to end the fight quickly and fix the minor worlds. If the vortex above was affected for much longer, he would face severe consequences.
Gritting his teeth, he ignored the cost he would have to pay to use his authority and pointed at Xu Qing. Authority erupted once again.
A tremor passed through Xu Qing, and he suddenly felt like he was being suffocated. The surrounding spirit energy, the air... and all gasses and energies were being extracted and turned into a powerful pressure that crushed down onto him. Shocking and ugly red bumps appeared all over him. He suddenly felt like he was going to be ripped to pieces. Yet he didn’t look flustered.
The opportunity I’ve been waiting for is almost here.
Xu Qing looked at the Imperial Sovereign, then suddenly extended his right hand. Within him, the dao of extreme space stirred.
During his days in that minor world, Xu Qing had contemplated his memories of what happened in the Primeval Sea passageway, including the operations of space. Others who experienced the same thing might not have gained much enlightenment. But to someone who already had the power of space within them, the scenes in that vortex were akin to a wise Master imparting a daoist magic. They told him how space could be manipulated.
An instant later, as Xu Qing’s dao of extreme space was unleashed, the area around him distorted wildly, as if they were being stretched out infinitely.
Next came cutting and isolation!
He cut out space and isolated authority. And as a result, the area for about 30 meters around him became a border. And then an irregular shape appeared in front of Xu Qing, like a section of a grid. That grid piece was unique and independent, and it was under the control of Xu Qing’s dao of extreme space.
More grid pieces appeared, all connected to each other, until there were a hundred of them, all reflecting Xu Qing, who was in the middle. All energy was being absorbed... but each of the hundred grid pieces was essentially an additional world.
Things had turned around. Xu Qing looked up at the Imperial Sovereign.
“Your authority of energy can rip things apart,” he said calmly. “But no amount of ripping can compare to the detonation of space itself.”
A sound like shattering glass rang out in all directions. The one hundred grid pieces shattered, and a spatial tempest picked them up and sent them swirling around Xu Qing. Some of them swept out in all directions, negating the Imperial Sovereign’s attempts to save the spirit mine.
Even as he raged in fury, the rest of the fragments shot toward him. The dao lineament in his eye shone with greater brightness.
“I can’t believe it! That’s the dao of space!”
Shaken, he lifted his right hand and pointed toward the dome of heaven. Suddenly, warmth and coolness appeared at the same time everywhere. The interaction between warmth and coolness then created a huge wind. Thunderous rumbling sounds built on each other, until it was like heavenly might. It slammed into the spatial tempest. A deafening boom swept out in all directions.
Heaven and earth were thrown into chaos. The spatial explosion and the heavenly might created absolute chaos. Everything blurred. Within that blurriness, the wind screamed.
Blood oozed out of the corners of the Imperial Sovereign’s mouth. After unleashing the dao lineament of his authority, the time was approaching in which he would have to pay the cost. However, the killing intent in his eyes had not diminished.
The huge wind was causing trouble for Xu Qing as well. His flesh was being peeled off him, and blood was spraying everywhere. But his gaze was as sharp as ever.
At the critical moment, his dao of extreme time erupted. As the power of time surged, a majestic sundial locked onto the Imperial Sovereign. Time turned, and the moment in which blood began oozing out of his mouth was frozen in place!
Killing intent surged in Xu Qing’s eyes. He had found the moment to launch his fatal blow. He lifted his hand, and the power of Fishing the Moon in the Well rose.
The dome of heaven became the surface of a well. The world became rippling water. The Imperial Sovereign stood on the water, with all of his magical techniques reflected below him.
The sundial locked onto his body. The well locked down his soul. He was thrown into the exact mental chaos that Xu Qing had wanted to create within him....
This was the moment Xu Qing had been waiting for!
A heaven-shaking, earth-shattering sword energy erupted. It was Grandpa Ninth’s sword energy, and it could kill Imperial Sovereigns. A sword appeared that caused the sky to dim and the lands to quake. All of the swords in the various minor worlds of this god prison began to tremble in resonance.
Then they shot out of their respective worlds, swarming forth to merge into Grandpa Ninth’s sword energy, causing its majesty to increase.
Power was building. And the killing force was building too. After only a few breaths of time passed, a killing intent filled the world, something in which the sword was paramount.
It slashed toward the Imperial Sovereign. Heaven fell. The sword fell. Killing intent fell. Something intense and domineering replaced all of the Imperial Sovereign’s senses.
It was inescapable. It was unavoidable. It was unstoppable! Sword energy fell. Body and soul were shattered. He was killed in every respect!
One fatal blow!!