Chapter 960: The Karma is Severed
The sky was still. The world of mortals was peaceful.
The wind blew for a few breaths of time, then faded away. It was almost as if there had never been a wind to begin with. In the canopy of heaven, the painting of stars turned into a host of scintillating vortexes that spun noiselessly. They would remain there for a time, a reminder of the epic battle that had just taken place.
The holy lands were gone.
The gods from the Netherworld Chasmcorpses, Northfate Kings, and Redland Nobleplexuses were now aware that it wasn’t possible to stop the empress from succeeding. Thēy chose to leave, casting complicated, fearful glances at the projection of the Grand Emperor as thēy did. Although thēy still weren’t very pleased, and wished thēy could interfere, thēy had no idea of knowing what would happen if thēy took action.
Sunfire, Moonfire, and Starfire had lived up to the deal. Thēy looked at the Grand Emperor in the dome of heaven, and traces of reminiscence could be seen on thēir faces. It seemed likely that what they were thinking about, however, wasn’t the Grand Emperor in front of thēm, nor anything to do with Revered Ancient’s current state of affairs. Perhaps thēy were thinking of the North Immortal Emperor World, and the North Emperor.
Everything was quiet.
All gazes, including those of the empress, the gods, the government officials, and the commoners in the imperial capital, and even the streams of divine will hidden in the area, were focused on the spectacular figure in midair who had just used his final sword move in stunning fashion.
In that moment of silence, the Grand Emperor slowly turned around. His ancient eyes took in humankind and the world of mortals. He sighed softly. Then his body of destiny gradually began fading away. He blurred, until there was only an outline remaining, within which was Xu Qing’s fleshly body. That fleshly body floated down until it landed on the War Drum of Humankind.
During the process, a blurry soul shadow stepped out of Xu Qing, then floated up into the air. It was the Grand Emperor’s soul. It was fading away, never to return. He had safeguarded humans for tens of thousands of years. He had fought countless battles and killed innumerable gods. Today... he was tired.
Exhaustion slowly spread out from his soul.
His life force had actually been extinguished many years ago, leaving him to exist in clone form down to this day. Now, his life was truly reaching its end. Fatigue had set hold in him many years ago, and had only grown stronger over time. He could have had unlimited longevity. He could have existed at the heights of glory. He could have avoided becoming so exhausted.
To do all that, he just needed to put himself above his people. But instead, he chose his people over himself.
Sometimes people make critical choices that lead to dead ends. Whether those choices are correct or not, they can’t be undone. The only question is whether they will regret those decisions.
The Grand Emperor laughed. It had been a long time since he laughed.
I don’t regret any of it, he thought in his heart. He had lived among humankind, defending them and slaughtering gods. That was a much better life than running away to beyond the heavens to flounder on death’s door.
With such thoughts in his mind, the Grand Emperor looked at the imperial capital, the region, and all human lands. In the end, he focused on two people.
One was Xu Qing, whom he had chosen to bear his sword going forward. He had no intention of trying to force Xu Qing to do anything. However he planned to continue onward, he would be free to do so. The sword... could slaughter and kill whoever he wanted it to.
The kid has so much karma attached to him.... His past and future alike will probably leave him more exhausted than I am.
The second person was the empress. As a young woman, she wept while being devoured by Dark War. She had also paid an enormous price for the sake of humankind, and it had struck the Grand Emperor to the core. It made him think of his own daughter, who had been devoured by a god. Thus, he had saved her.
Not all rulers of humankind are such good people.... But at least, upon my departure, she is good.
Anticipation could be seen in the Grand Emperor’s eyes as he looked at the empress wreathed in godfire. He wanted to see what explosive result would occur when a peak Imperial Sovereign used destiny aura to convert from the dao of cultivators to the dao of gods. Would she reach the peak of Flawless God, or would she... take a step into the Altar God level??
The ancestral edicts from the holy lands prohibited humans from becoming gods. He had respected those edicts. That was why he had never attempted godly ascension for himself. But what would his people do after he left? When he was no longer around, who would continue to safeguard humankind...?
The Grand Emperor didn’t want to consider such questions anymore. He wanted his last moments to be spent in one final act of protection for his people. Therefore, he would try to catch one more fish....
An instant later, as his soul shadow faded, the empress’ expression flickered, and Xu Qing’s eyes opened.
A figure appeared behind the Grand Emperor, moving in a blur to launch a devastating blow.
“I’ll send you on your final journey, Swordsage!”
It was none other than Yu Liuchen! Hē had not truly departed, but had instead been hiding in the hopes of finding an opportunity. And when hē found it, hē took advantage of it! As the faces of all onlookers flickered dramatically, Yu Liuchen’s hand descended.
The Grand Emperor’s facial expression didn’t change, though. He simply threw his hand behind himself.
As he did, boundless power swelled up within him, and the vortexes of stars up in the dome of heaven went wild. Deafening rumbling sounds echoed out. Apparently, everything from before was a sham, and the Grand Emperor had been waiting for this moment to snag a fresh fish!
An even more shocking tempest erupted, creating a mountain-toppling, sea-draining force that bore down on Yu Liuchen.
Yu Liuchen shivered as a massive amount of golden blood sprayed out of hīs mouth. The sword embedded into hīs chest erupted with unfathomable sword energy, which swept through Yu Liuchen, annihilating the flesh and blood that it touched. Yu Liuchen screamed in agony.
“You still have one move left? You people... what are you doing? Why aren’t you interfering??”
Hīs voice caused heaven to crack and crumble, and then hē launched himself once more at Grand Emperor Swordsage.
At almost the exact same instant that Yu Liuchen’s words echoed out, a great wind sprang up in the sky again. It was icy cold, and wherever it passed, everything turned white and filled with snow.
Clouds. Mountains. Rivers. Living beings. Even natural and magical laws were frozen by the wind. And that was because this was a Flawless wind created by a god.
It came from the godly authority of one of the Flawless Gods from the Northfate Kings.
A god approached within the wind. It wasn’t possible to see this god clearly, as if the god did not have a set shape. Within that wind, hē took the form of a huge hand that shot right toward the Grand Emperor.
From a distance, it was possible to see Yu Liuchen coming at the Grand Emperor from one side, and the god of frigid wind from the other. Both terrifying gods stretched thēir hands out. Then the air shattered as eight additional gods pierced through the air. Thēy had also been hiding this entire time, waiting... to make thēir move. Thēir goal was to acquire the life essence light from the last Quasi-Immortal to exist in Revered Ancient.
The humans present saw what was happening. The empress shivered. She wanted to do something, but wasn’t even able to move. In this final moment of the creation of godfire, she was at her weakest. There wasn’t anyone else who qualified to fly up and join in the fighting.
Xu Qing’s eyes were bloodshot. After awakening, he could sense that there was something different about himself, both his body and his soul. The sense of completeness he had experienced when striking the drum had once again appeared, and this time, it was stronger than before.
The Grand Emperor had meticulously healed him of all wounds, be they internal or external, be they visible or invisible. He was now thoroughly complete. Not just that, but the Grand Emperor had removed all final traces of himself from The Emperor’s Sword. The sword was also complete now, without any potential calamities lurking within. It was all Xu Qing’s!
In addition to that, there was a legacy in his mind.
Swordsage Style!
That was the name of the legacy.
It was the Grand Emperor's final and most precious skill. It was his mantle! It was the very same move he had used to deal with the heavenly saber earlier! It was a kindness so profound that Xu Qing knew he would never be able to repay it. And sadly, he simply wasn’t strong enough to help the Grand Emperor in this moment. But that didn’t matter. Even if he didn’t qualify, he could still bare his sword. However, that was when a placid voice drifted down from above.
“Calm down,” said Grand Emperor Swordsage. The tranquility in his voice spread among the humans, and it had the same effect as the countless years he had spent safeguarding them. They became calm.
The empress and Xu Qing alike suddenly felt at ease. Grand Emperor Swordsage didn’t look surprised at all. It was almost as if being attacked by a group of so many gods was inconsequential.
He stretched his right hand toward Yu Liuchen and began closing his fingers. That grasp caused Yu Liuchen to shiver from head to toe. Then the illusory sword in hīs chest emitted a shocking thrum as it burst out of hīm. It was the first time in tens of thousands of years that the sword had come out of Yu Liuchen’s chest.
Glittering with dazzling sword light, and pulsing with astounding sword energy, it returned to the Grand Emperor’s hand.
Then the Grand Emperor slashed the sword at the freezing hand! Sword light filled heaven and earth. The hand wasn’t remotely strong enough to offer a defense. īt was severed. Unending amounts of god blood showered down as the freezing wind shattered. The god from the Northfate Kings turned and fled without any hesitation.
The attack continued, causing every single one of the gods who had sprung out of hiding to tumble backward with blood spraying out of thēir mouths.
Unexpectedly, the Grand Emperor actually had an additional sword move left! He had left a sword in Yu Liuchen’s chest tens of thousands of years ago, and today... he took it back.
Everyone was stunned.
The gods retreated. Yu Liuchen fell back at top speed. However, hīs eyes were shining, and hīs previous shock and terror were gone. Hē looked unprecedentedly calm.
“Years ago, you held back from killing me. Now we’re even.” Hē had come to see the Grand Emperor on his way, and also to give him back his sword! Now, the wound that had prevented hīs recovery for so many years was gone. Hē turned in place, hīs red robe swishing as hē strode off into the distance. “The karma is severed now, Swordsage.... And now, farewell for all eternity.”