With the power of all five elements, although Ye Zichen faced sky supremes, they couldn’t do much against him.
If the lightning didn’t electrocute them, the rain arrows pierced them. If the rain arrows didn’t pierce them, the fire burnt them….. In short, the once-proud sky supreme experts currently seemed a bit pathetic.
Their subordinates’ sorry state didn’t surprise Chen Jiannan and Yin Hu; the Dao of the Five Elements was on the same level as the Daos of destruction and immortality. This level of power was only to be expected.
However, the true strength of the Dao of the Five Elements was its limitless versatility. The elements could fuse to produce countless different results. Fortunately, Ye Zichen had just barely crossed the threshold, and hadn’t reached the level of freely fusing the elements. If he had, those sky supremes’ fates would have been even more tragic.
“All of you, retreat.” Chen Jiannan and Yin Hu ordered their subordinates back.
Jackdaw waved the other demons over as well. “Everyone, gather around.”
The demons, who hadn’t participated in the initial scuffle with Ye Zichen, were in comparatively good shape. They made no attempt to take Ye Zichen’s life, so he didn’t target them directly. When Ye Zichen attacked the humans and yao, they simply defended themselves from the resulting shockwaves. None of them had suffered any major injuries.
“Your Excellency, the humans and yao have taken action. Are we still going to wait?” said one of the demons.
Jackdaw laughed indifferently, “If they want to fight, go ahead and let them. I absolutely refuse to gang up on a weaker opponent. You guys ought to thank me; if I’d sent you out earlier, you wouldn’t be any better off than the humans and yao. You might have even suffered heavy injuries.”
“But he might very well be the one who slaughtered our three thousand demon kings!”
“So what if he killed them? It’s just a few thousand demon kings. They hadn’t even become supremes yet; they’re not worth bothering about,” said Jackdaw with a cold snort. “You just sit tight and watch. If the Xuan-Yuan Sword falls into human or hao hands, then we can go out and fight for it. If neither of them can take that kid, I’ll give him time to recover, then challenge him to single combat. The Dao of the Five Elements! I’ve never fought such an opponent before.”
Under Chen Jiannan and Yin Hu’s orders, every last human and yao expert retreated. Ye Zichen was nothing but an earth supreme. At first, they saw him as nothing but a toy to dispose of as they wished, but this mere toy had brought them an enormous surprise.
They carried the wounded off to the side, then looked at their leaders.
“And here I thought you two would hold out a while longer,” said Ye Zichen, his eyes glinting coldly.
Those two were the true “final bosses.” Then there was the leader of the demons, the “hidden boss” who’d yet to appear. He glanced at Jackdaw, only to discover that the demon showed no signs of entering the fray.
Just now, when the yao and humans surrounded him, the demons hadn’t gotten involved either.
“Does he want to let the others duke it out first, then swoop in and seize the treasure?” Ye Zichen frowned and thought to himself.
Chen Jiannan hefted his divine sword and approached Ye Zichen, but he stopped about fifty meters away. His blade started crackling with dimly discernable lightning. When Ye Zichen examined it more closely, he saw that the sword’s handle was emblazoned with the name “Xiao.”
“Are you from the Xiao Family?” Ye ZIchen furrowed his brows.
“So, even someone like you knows about the Xiao Family,” said Chen Jiannan with an arrogant snort. “That’s right, I’m a member of the Lightning Emperor’s Xiao Family. Xiao Hu is my master. I’m his first and eldest student.”
“I didn’t realize the Xiao Family included people with other surnames as well.” The world was awfully small indeed. He’d just butted heads with Xiao Hu in the lower lands, and killed his student in front of him. He never would have guessed that the very next member of the Xiao Family he ran into was also one of Xiao Hu’s disciples.
“Why shouldn’t they?” Chen Jiannan laughed coldly, and the lightning coating his blade grew even brighter.
“I have to admit it: you’ve given me quite the surprise. I assumed you were just proficient in a few elements. To think you could use all five! Your Dao of the Five Elements is quite a threat to our subordinates. You injured so many sky supremes as a humble earth supreme; you ought to be proud of yourself. However, your journey ends here!”
“Tell me your name. You chose the Dao of the Five Elements, so you’re worthy of me remembering your name,” said Yin Hu from off to the side.
“If I tell you my name, I’m afraid one of you will explode,” said Ye Zichen with a wanton grin. He touched his finger to his lips. “My glorious name is Ye Zichen. The people of the Lower Lands know me as Grandmaster Ye!”
As soon as the words left his lips, Ye Zichen smiled playfully at Chen Jiannan. As expected, the moment he heard the name “Grandmaster Ye,” Chen Jiannan’s expression contorted.
However, after a moment, Chen Jiannan took hold of his emotions. “So, it was you.”
He hefted his blade and pointed it at Ye Zichen. “This is perfect. I’ll seize this chance to get revenge on my junior apprentice brother’s behalf.”
Not even Yin Hu could predict what happened next. Chen Jiannan swung his crackling lightning sword at Ye Zichen, but it didn’t fly straight. Ye Zichen was completely on edge, but he nevertheless dodged it easily.
“You think that was enough to avenge your junior apprentice brother? Your master, Xiao Hu, was on site when I killed him, but not even he could save his apprentice. As for you…. You’d best quit dreaming.”
“At the time, there was an expert from the Northern Divine Mountain present; Master’s hands were tied. But now, there’s no one here to save you. All that awaits you is death.”
“Are you certain?” Ye Zichen let out a confident laugh and stretched as if utterly unconcerned. “How about we make a bet? If you can’t kill me here, you become my dog.”
“You think you’re funny, huh?” After learning Ye Zichen’s identity, Chen Jiannan fury grew until finally, he could no longer hold himself back.
Back under Xiao Hu’s tutelage, he and Xiao Zhan had been good friends. When he learned of his younger apprentice brother’s death, he immediately wanted to go out and seek revenge, but his master ordered him to fight for the Xuan-Yuan Sword instead.
By perfect coincidence, he ran into just the man he was looking for! He absolutely had to kill him!
His sword’s lightning reached the skies, forming a connection with the nine heavens and interfering with Ye Zichen’s thunder and lightning.
His sword acted as a lightning rod, drawing electricity to himself.
The electrical energy gathered and condensed….
“Tch tch tch, that looks way tougher than my lightning,” Ye Zichen muttered inwardly. He walked the path of the Dao of the Five Elements; his thunder and lightning out to be the purest of all, but now Chen Jiannan’s explosive lightning seemed far superior to his.
Apparently, his comprehension of thunder and lightning was flawed, with too many missing details.
“Burst!” Chen Jiannan let out a low roar. The lightning exploded upon his command. The sight of it set Ye Zichen’s hair on end.
However, before it struck, he scratched his head and laughed gleefully, “Ta ta for now!”
