Chapter 933 The Reckoning (10)
“That’s impossible! How!?”
Nie Renlong shouted, his voice replete with shock, frustration, and incredulity.
“You know where I come from, then you should have guessed that this is not my first time facing this diabolical Cuirass. I’ve killed Xenoses deadlier and stronger than you. And yeah, you heard me right. It’s ‘Xenoses’. That’s what we call that so-called Cuirass of yours.”
Li Mu drew menacingly closer.
“Y-You—” Nie Renlong trembled uncontrollably, clawing his way backward with mounting panic, “That’s impossible! Y-You’re really—”
“That’s why I’ve been saying this: you’re a fool,” said Li Mu. “You guessed rightly that I’m a ‘spy’ from the other world. That was what you said that time, no? Then you should have guessed that I’ve killed my fair share of Xenoses, right? What you have there is just something you just created. It isn’t even perfect yet. And you think that’s going to defeat me?”
“That’s impossible! You can be all-powerful if you want, but right here, the laws of Nature are different here! It would limit your powers! There’s no way you would have this kind of power!” Nie Renlong exclaimed from inside the wide-open jaws of the Xenos armor. “That cannot be! Even your Imperial Lord was here! He tried and still, he failed too! There’s no way that the likes of you could—”
“What?!”
Li Mu’s stare betrayed an imperceptible hint of astonishment.
What Nie Renlong just said was a revelation of the highest degree.
But even the slightest stir would not have escaped Nie Renlong’s sharp eyes. He quickly noticed the minuscule change in Li Mu’s expression and realized the truth. “How dare you lie to me!?” he roared, “So I was right! You are only here by chance! After all, this world is right where both galaxies meet, and the boundaries are no longer clearly defined like before. I see… You know less than you care to admit, Li Zhiyuan… Kill me and your end won’t be far as well; I’ve spread news about you as far as I could.”
“As if I would believe that sort of piffle,” Li Mu snorted, “If what you say is true, then you would be waiting for reinforcements. The fact that you’re willing to stake so much means that you’re trapped here yourself. There’s no way to get any message out.”
Li Mu did not wait for a response. He just attacked.
Nie Renlong placed so much faith in his Xenos cuirass. He did not think he would lose even when it was completed.
“No. Wait,” Nie Renlong gasped for air after another round of walloping by Li Mu, “You’re so powerful! C-Could it be!? Could it be that you’re an Imperial Lord who has come here for a second foray?!” The Xenos armor was already showing signs of crumbling, which partly contributed to Nie Renlong coming up with this speculation.
“Whatever. Just think of whatever you want,” snorted Li Mu dryly.
Despair and anger inundated Nie Renlong’s gaze.
“Why?!
“Why am I fated to encounter such a monster?!
“The last time Molderad had an Imperial Lord from the Infernal Warp, a war erupted in the galaxy, ravaging several star systems, and nearly causing the dissolution of this galaxy itself. That caused the Rumbling Gale Imperium in the South to move deeper into the galaxy to prevent being caught up by the chaos the Imperial Lord had wrought. But why am I facing the second coming of another Imperial Lord of the Infernal Warp again!?” Nie Renlong lamented quietly.
“Why!?”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Li Mu’s superior strength gave him all the upper hand he needed.
The deluge of blows chipped off the Xenos armor piece by piece. In the end, it could no longer maintain its form and it dispersed, leaving only Nie Renlong exposed while the remainder of the armor disintegrated.
“Come.”
Li Mu exerted some form of psychic force on the obsidian liquid alloy substance, summoning it to him where he condensed it into an orb the size of a tiny ball barely the size of a man’s fist. It spun and hovered very gently in his grasp.
Li Mu was genuinely interested to know more about this liquid alloy substance since it could merge with anyone to create an outer layer of armor around its wearer.
“Give that back!” The bloody form of Nie Renlong lunged, clawing at the ball.
Li Mu responded with a heavy punch at Nie Renlong to send him tumbling backward again. “I’m afraid it’s mine now.”
“ARRGGHH!” Nie Renlong fell into a deep state of frenzy at this defeat—both his failure to conquer Li Mu and losing his Xenos cuirass—after centuries of meticulous planning just for the one objective to break away from the confines of this world’s sphere. Just when he thought success was at hand, the precipitous fall from grace had robbed away every ounce of sanity in him.
“YOU AND I ARE GOING TO HELL TOGETHER!”
He activated something else—eldritch magic that controlled the five columns of surging blood—and the flow of blood in all five columns grew stronger and more violent with the force of a breaking dam. The sanguine-colored ruby hanging in the sky throbbed and shook like an engine that was on the verge of breaking down. It began to split and crack everywhere with thin and tiny web-like strands spreading in a jagged manner all around its surface with a deadly force; an energy of indescribable proportion and volume that, as it erupted from inside the massive ruby, sent a shock wave that rocked the whole region, rendering mountains and hills so wobbly that they shook to their very foundations. Some failed to withstand the shock wave and they tumbled down into a heap of fallen rocks and a plume of fumes rolled upwards into the skies amid a sheet of dust that rumbled in all directions, sweeping far and wide.
But that was not enough for the blood-red humanoid form of Nie Renlong, who thrust a finger at the damaged ruby as if he was willing it to recharge and another blast—one bigger than the one before—detonated in the sky again.
“Oh, no!”
An astounded Li Mu knew how dangerous the detonation was.
“QUICK! THE ENCHANTMENT!”
He barked sharply to everyone below.
Next, he delivered five successive strokes with his saber—each faster than its predecessor. The five blows—five huge energy scythes—easily ripped through the columns of blood before crashing into their respective magical circles, destroying the demonic ritual all in one fell swoop.
But it was too late. Another shock wave with a greater megaton yield burst into the skies.
There was nothing else he could do. Li Mu hovered just over Mount Divinity and projected every iota of his power into creating a wide and large shield just over the Creed of Divinity stronghold that kept the stronghold safe from the hails of deadly force threatening to pulverize everything in its path.
The acolytes of the Creed of Divinity all assembled in the courtyard to witness the destruction that was only being thwarted by the single man in the sky.
The man in white who was putting forth every shred of strength, power, and resolve to keep them and the stronghold safe.
What doubts in them that he could be a Xenos—or a demonic being from another world—here to extirpate all life on Molderad instantly evaporated.
“If the rumors were anything to be believed, then why was he going to such lengths to protect the Creed of Divinity?
“If anything, it was Nie Renlong and the things he did that looked more like the handiwork of a monster. ”
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
Pulse after pulse of destructive force battered at the shield.
Nie Renlong self-detonated himself, using everything at his disposal—his powers, his own life, the lives of the five greatest champions he slaughtered, along with the lives of the rest of the Great Five coalition that he butchered in one single night—as fuel to the cataclysmic explosion that could not only lay waste to Molderad but also rip the entire continent apart. Even Li Mu himself couldn’t fully resist the force of the catastrophic eruption; as he tried his best to keep the shield up, the shock wave was crashing down on him. Underneath, the courtyard of the Creed of Divinity stronghold was inching closer and closer as he sank further down…
“A cornered rat, huh? What a stupid blunder. I should have dealt with him when I had the chance just now.”
Li Mu muttered to himself under his breath, grinning weakly at himself.
“This really was a misjudgment that would cost me dearly. ”
The supernova of deadly force dyed the entire sky red, casting the entire earth in a reddish hue as if someone had just spilled red paint all over the beautiful tapestry of Mount Divinity.
Meanwhile, Li Mu could feel his veins, his tendons, and his nerves all screaming in pain.
As Li Mu sagged further down, he reeled with dread and despair that the people and the stronghold below might not be able to escape the fate of doom. All of a sudden, the huge weight trampling down on him vanished. Like a tide that had finally receded, it was gone.
Li Mu finally enjoyed a deep breath of fresh air and consolation.
Everyone in the Creed of Divinity stronghold exhaled with relief too.
They have survived a crisis.
A drop of blood trickled out of the corner of Li Mu’s lips. “We survived,” he thought.
Just when he was about to dispel the energy shield and reattune his Mana, he felt a pull. A black hole had appeared where the huge explosion of the gigantic ruby earlier started and with a strange force, it was drawing him—or rather his soul— towards it.
“Teacher!?”
“Brother! What’s wrong with you, Brother?!”
Frantic cries were coming from below his feet.
Li Mu looked down and saw a most bizarrely freakish sight—his physical body had plummeted back down to the stronghold’s courtyard, much to the horror and panic of Lu Chuan and his students Shen Jia, Wan Sanqian, and the others. They rushed to catch him and were shaking his body, crying and howling at the top of their voices…
“Wait… I’m here! I’m being drawn into that black hole! So who the hell is that?!”
Li Mu couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
But the answer dawned on him the next second. It was his consciousness and his soul that the black hole had just drawn out of his body and the latter was what fell back to the arms of the people below.
“I have just been forcibly ripped out of my body…
“Does that mean that the moment to leave this place has finally arrived?”
Li Mu felt a tinge of reluctance. He would be missing them all.
“Is this Fate?
“What belongs to Li Zhiyuan must be rightfully given back?
“Let all things be set right, huh?”
He looked down again and saw the familiar faces all huddled around him, all of them in a hysteria of dismay and fright as they shook his body, called his name, and did whatever they could in their vain hopes of resuscitating the dead and empty body. “Sobs… I could even hear sobs…” Li Mu thought. “Eleven years. For eleven years I’ve been here, and I will forever remember the time that I’ve been here. I will forever remember you all.”
“Farewell, my friends…
“If Fate were to give us another chance… Let’s hope we’ll meet again…”
Li Mu quietly waved his silent goodbye to those who could hardly see him like an invisible apparition.
The deaths of the Grand Masters of the Great Five and the hundreds of thousands of champions were a heavy and crippling blow of disastrous proportions to Molderad. The Creed of Divinity was the only faction with its power base almost fully intact. No one and nothing would ever threaten the Creed ever again.
Li Mu had long ago amassed all the techniques and disciplines of the various sects and orders in Molderad, and had recorded everything in writing for future posterity, creating what could be the biggest repository of martial and combat knowledge on the continent. Given time, the Jianghu of Molderad would once again rejuvenate and thrive with preserved knowledge.
Li Mu was consoled by the fact that he had done enough in that regard.
He peered at the nearing black hole.
“What lies on the other side?” he wondered.
“It is the galaxy where all gods reside? The world we’re expected to be in after we ascended?
“Or does this lead to another unknown universe? If so, when would I be able to get home?”
Curious and apprehensive, Li Mu observed everything around him.
Below his feet, Molderad was gone, replaced by the sight of a large planet. That must be the planet where Molderad was. As he was drawn further and further away into outer space, the planet gradually became just a tiny orb and ultimately just a speck in the distance. He passed by more planets of different shapes and sizes. As the speed of his pull got stronger, everything around him turned into a blurry whirl of sparkling stars around him.
“So that planet was where the Xenoses come from? A universe as rich and bountiful as Earth, it is just as weak and barren too in some respects, with a thriving jianghu there…”
Li Mu finally understood what was going on.
The pull of Fate held Li Mu in a fist-like grip, dragging him all the way through space. On his way, Li Mu saw more planets teeming with life, starships fleeting to and fro between the star-studded universe, abandoned planets now being furnished into conveyances, and even more Xenoses flying freely around…
He passed by everything before he entered a deep warp of complete pitch-blackness. There was no light nor was there any cheer twinkle of stars everywhere. Everything felt barren, desolate, and dead.
The energy that bundled around him suddenly felt cold as if he had been thrust into a pit of ice-cold water.
Then, everything went dark, and he went unconscious.
