Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
At a place very, very far from the Nine State City, a place at the border of four states: Summer, Eastern, Qi and Feng, lied a tranquil, quiet village, free from disturbance from anyone else.
That village was none other than the Tombkeeper Village. What differed between then and now with the place was that all dwellers of the village had moved out and settled in the Holy Zhi Palace instead. After the incident with the village previously, many from holy lands attempted to explore the Nether Sword Mound still, yet none of them were able to achieve anything as they were reluctant to risk themselves going deep with the place.
At the moment, with the exception of some who would occasionally visit the place just to check things out, the Tombkeeper Village had essentially been thoroughly rendered a ghost village.
Countless graves lied within the forbidden ground that was the Nether Sword Mound, nested within the quiet mountains at the end of the village. Swords were stabbed throughout the graveyard, symbolizing the entire place itself being buried.
The depths of the mysterious forbidden ground was where the Chess Saint perished. There seemed to be a terrifying fissure in the sky with a pair of blood-colored sword eyes seen there. Immensely terrifying sword aura seeped from within the pair of eyes, basking a frail body sitting cross-legged beneath.
The frail body belonged to a girl who looked to be 16 years of age. Sword will coursed throughout her body and holy light of swords emanated from her.
The swords all over the place stayed motionless for her alone.
The girl was none other than Yaya, who had elected to stay behind in the Nether Sword Mound, to watch over her parents’ grave.
Her appearance seemed to have changed somewhat throughout the past year. There were fewer hints of childishness on her and her plain looks had turned to become more chiseled. All that, coupled with the light of swords coursing about her, made her shine with a mystical gleam, causing her to look rather holy.
Her appearance and bearing changed considerably.
However, the most apparent change about her was her plane. Within the short span of a year, she had actually advanced considerably, breaking through from her pinnacle Noble Plane state into near the level of a magi, as indicated by her aura. The speed of her advancement was unnaturally quick, just like how she came to be at the pinnacle of Noble Plane at 15 years old, a fact that went against conventions.
Her eyelashes twitched, as if she had sensed something at the moment. Her eyes opened and light of the swords streaked past, turning into a screen and an image manifested before her eyes.
A war was seen happening within the image—the war that had erupted at the Nine State Platform at the moment.
The image seemed to have been delivered by the village chief’s holy sword. She first saw the village chief, and then the target of her vengeance—the sacred king—in the image. Her eyes turned bone-chilling cold at the sight of him.
The number of people grew within the image, and she seemed to catch sight of Ye Futian among the crowd, who had turned into an enormous demon ape. However, she was nonetheless able to see the ape for what it was despite its form.
“Brother,” Yaya muttered silently. Her eyes went cold seeing how imposing and regal the sacred king looked. Boundless sword will shuddered within the space she occupied. Tens of thousands of swords rang in resonance and the air howled, as if the swords were attempting to break free of their shackles.
…
Countless at the Nine State City looked up at the sacred king, who looked impossibly sharp and intimidating.
The sacred king was the sovereign of the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty and held the title of sacred king, which naturally meant that his powers were beyond mortal comprehension and far above the old village chief and Douzhan.
“Do you think you could stop me?” The sacred king asked with cold eyes, glaring at the village chief. The golden phoenix shone brilliantly high in the sky.
The sacred king had been training for ages and had climbed the Sacred Ladder once. He was no longer at the first plane of Saint Plane.
The power difference between a single plane level at Sage Plane had already been one near impossible to bridge. It was more so in the case of saints. Furthermore, his talents had already been unnervingly exceptional, which meant that he was definitely above the village chief in terms of powers. The village chief, on the other hand, had only been a sword servant who had been following the Sword Saint of the Void. What he was at the moment, he probably owed it all to the Sword Saint of the Void.
As for Douzhan, he had only broke into Saint Plane mere moments ago, meaning that there was definitely no way he could have rivaled the sacred king.
“Douzhan, leave.” The village chief knew how powerful his opponent was when he saw the sacred king walking out of the sword matrix completely unscathed. He was only able to buy time to have Sage Douzhan leave. He was versed in the art of space manipulation. Even if there was no way for him to win against the sacred king, he would probably have had no problems getting out in one piece.
That was, so long as he was able to last until Sage Douzhan left.
“Leave?” A sarcastic look was seen in the sacred king’s eyes. He had been there at Nine State City to eliminate Douzhan, Ye Futian and all who were with them, so as to destroy the Barren State once and for all. However, he fell into the trap laid by Ye Futian and ended up having many of his forces crushed instead.
The Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty was at a disadvantage in the battle fought between the sages. There was simply no way the sacred king would have allowed to Douzhan to leave under such state of affairs.
The sacred king shook his arms and slivers of boundlessly dazzling holy light shot from behind him. A dazzling, elegant and huge demonic beast shot into the air. It was a true golden phoenix, shooting for the skies and merging with the shadow of phoenix high in the air, which had been a manifestation of his Life Spirit.
His Life Spirit took a very solid form at the moment.
The sacred king lashed out all of a sudden. He grasped at the air and boundless, terrifying rules of the great path’s power flowed about. He manifested right before the village chief and an enormous golden phoenix emerged, lashing out with its claws and shrouding the surrounding air with its impervious might.
The village chief burst with a strong, blinding light, disappearing from where he stood right there and then. It was the power of the great path rules of space. His silhouette appeared right beside Douzhan, intending to leave the battlefield with the former sage.
Yet at that very moment, the golden phoenix in the sky cried and lashed out with a pair of claws below. A storm of rules of the great path whipped up right there and then, with the air seemed to be at verge of collapse as destructive powers were everywhere around them.
The holy sword hovered in the air and rang. The sword diagram appeared and sword aura in the air coursed in a frenzy as they filled the sky with maniacal offensive powers out to tear everything apart.
“Voom.”
The enormous golden phoenix flapped its wings and boundless golden feathers shot at the space below in an instant. Great Path Rules shot down together with the feathers. Every single feather turned to beams harboring immensely destructive powers.
The sacred king stepped forward, appearing before the phoenix and he extended his arm, attempting to lock both of his targets in the storm.
The village chief grew worried as swords in the air rang in resonance. He saw the attack from above and evaded. In an instant, the swords in the sky zipped above and clashed with the incoming attack, crushing the killing feathers raining downwards. He took the sword diagram and headed straight for the sky, charging at the phoenix’s shadow and intending to penetrate its body.
The golden phoenix closed its wings and opened again. Every single feather unleashed turned into the sharpest blade to be found in the world, as they cut through space and headed for the swords. The phoenix’s claws were lashed out straight at the village chief’s head as well.
While there was no doubt that the great path powers of space were powerful, but being of inferior level meant that the village chief was doomed to lose in a straight up fight against the sacred king.
At that moment, the sacred king himself walked and headed towards Douzhan. Blazing fire rules of great path manifested and shrouded the entire place, burning the space they occupied up. He glared at Douzhan and said coldly, “If you had refuse to make it past your divine catastrophe, you wouldn’t this catastrophe in your hands to deal with now.”
He extended his hand as soon as he finished, with frightening powers coursing in his hand.
Douzhan’s eyes were completely calm as Great Path Rules coursed about him. His physical body had became saintly and the battle form he took was that of the Great Path. Even the sacred king’s flames of the Great Path were unable to easy singe him.
“My mind is whole and therefore I’m able to become a saint. Regardless if I end up surviving the war or perishing in it, the Barren State would emerge as victors in this war and the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty would become history.” He burned his battle form of the Great Path as soon as he finished, bringing all the potential he had within his body, unleashing all powers within as he stepped forward and walked towards the sacred king.
One had nothing to fear once one held their beliefs firm. The calamity outside the Holy Zhi Palace determined the course of the latter half of the sacred war, and the Barren State was able to turn the tables.
A blinding light was seen bursting in the air. Douzhan’s regal, god-of-war-like battle form charged at the sacred king, making all who witnessed it shudder.
Douzhan stayed true to his title.
He had once been known as Sage Douzhan. Now that he had became a saint, he could be named Saint Douzhan instead.
Indomitable and unwavering.
Douzhan’s body charged straight at the sacred king. He became incredibly regal and imposing, throwing a punch that tore through space and made their surroundings tremble as it headed for the sacred king.
The terrifying Great Path Rules in his hand coalesced and turned into a boundlessly huge golden phoenix’s shadow, heading straight for Douzhan.
Both individuals clashed head on, making the heavens tremble and all everyone was able to see was a blinding light. Both sides shone brilliantly with the holy light of saints.
A ring of light appeared around Douzhan’s body, making him look like a god dedicating itself to war. The sky trembled as both arms were brought to bear on the sacred king with thousands of light of the fist.
The sacred king became basked in boundless glitter of the saints at that very moment. The light coursing about his body turned fiery and brimming as the golden phoenix assimilated with him.
Both individuals clashed over and over within a single moment. All the spectators saw was the repeated attacks the tall, regal, imposing body of Douzhan was enduring, with every clash bringing about a terrifying tremble. Even if he had been clad in holy armor, but the attacks he was withstand came from a saint nonetheless.
Eventually, both individuals separated as a blinding flash of light was seen. Everything saw a tearing boom in the air. The holy armor was broken and blood spluttered from Douzhan’s body. However, the Great Path Rules coursing about his body quickly mended his injuries.
The sacred king’s breath was unsettling as well, as he glared at Douzhan. You’re not afraid to die, are you?
You’d still die regardless.
The extremely sharp beam coursing about the sacred king seemed to be shooting up at the sky. The golden phoenix wings behind him spread wide open, while he shot at Douzhan like meteor.
Douzhan did not back down. He glared at the beam while steadying himself in the air. His battle form of rules seemed to hae burned and all of his powers were focused on his arm. When the meteor got near, he stepped forward and did not bother to defend, throwing a straight jab at the attack instead.
“Crack…” A terrifying tearing sound was heard.
“Boom.” A terrible clashing sound was heard.
Both sides separated from each other in an instant. Many saw Douzhan’s battle form crumbled and blood dripping from it. However, it did not get destroyed outright. His body had been elevated to sainthood and became a battle form of the Great Path. His body was nigh invincible. If it had not been for the sacred king’s level being higher than his, it would have been more difficult to damage him to such extent.
The sacred king coughed and felt fluids about to spurt from his throat, but he gulped it back down. The bones at his torso fractured and his internal organs rattled. The punch which Douzhan gave everything to throw had actually managed to damage him.
“Teacher.”
At that moment within another battlefield, the fights taking place were just as intense. Ye Futian had turned the battle matrix he commanded into a boundless huge and violent godly ape, charging straight at the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty’s army and going on a killing spree. He had been paying attention to the battle at the other side while he was at it, and his mind shuddered. We still couldn’t beat the sacred king even with the village chief added to the fray?
“Boom.” The ape took a heavy step all of a sudden and many sages spit blood right there and then, as if their bodies had been suppressed by extremely fearsome power of the great path, making it near-impossible for them to move.
Ye Futian continued to charge at high speed and many mighty ones charged at him as well, intending to stop him dead in his tracks.
He extended his hand and the power of the Space-freezing Rules was unleashed. The surrounding space-time seemed to have grinded to a halt while he lifted his fist and continued to charge forward. Streaks of flashes of the fist rained down like stars and many were thrown off. They were spitting blood and some even died right there and then from completely destroyed innards.
“Some power indeed.”
The spectators watched with a terrifying fear as the extremely violent ape went on a rampage against all those who would stop it, heading at a single direction one step at a time.
That was where the core of the sacred dynasty’s army was. Zhou Huang, Zhou Ya and other offsprings of the sacred king were all there.
They were all Ye Futian’s targets.
“Any who dare stands in my way, dies.” Ye Futian’s voice was bone-chilling cold, as if he hailed from hell. The space around him was put in a lockdown with every step he took. The steps he had taken in the air seemed to become stars capable of crushing everything!
