Volume 1, Chapter 163 – Heaven-Man

In the aftermath of the clash between the powerhouses, Shi Lan did not look back. Leading her hundred riders, she covered a hundred zhang in an instant, galloping madly.

Glancing once at the warship in the sky, Shi Lan asked silently,

“Samsara, who was it that made a move just now?”

The ten-thousand-zhang claw that had appeared above the warship, and that terrifying clash with the finger-qi, were unmistakable signs that an even more frightening existence had arrived on the field.

“It was Jiyun fighting a member of the demon race. I suggest you leave here as quickly as possible. The aftershocks of those two’s battle up there will definitely draw other Heaven-Man experts or powerful demon race cultivators. I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to keep you safe with so many experts around,” Samsara replied quickly.

Shi Lan hesitated slightly, then gritted her teeth and did not change direction, still charging toward the warship. This stretch of territory near the human race’s side was not without top-tier experts. The warship might actually be safer.

Besides, once she left the battlefield, the charge of fleeing in battle would become a certainty, and the outcome for her would hardly be any better.

Feeling the terrifying waves of power rolling in from behind, Shi Lan’s jaw clenched even tighter. This situation where she could be crushed to death at any time, and that all-too-familiar sense of powerlessness…

…

“Boom—crack!”

It was as if boundless power was contained in the golden-haired man’s body. Every lash of the bone whip in his hand shattered a section of the void, leaving behind pitch-black holes.

Lei Wuji’s expression was solemn. The thunder seal in his hand erupted with incomparable, terrifying might, turning the thousand-zhang area around them into a sea of lightning. World-destroying thunder poured down without end.

Overbearingly destructive lightning and vast righteous qi were both kept hundreds of zhang away by the bone whip, unable to draw even half a step closer.

Even with a Myriad Phenomena Realm expert and a great scholar joining forces, they still could not suppress the golden-haired man in the slightest. He had even seized part of the initiative. His strength was truly horrifying.

A pillar of blood and qi rose into the air in the middle of the battlefield, linking heaven and earth.

Bai Weiyang drove every ounce of strength in her body to its limit. Holding a four-chi jade sword horizontally in her hand, sword shadows flickered in her eyes. Her black hair whipped about, her aura sharp and unrestrained, like a heavenly sword leaving its sheath.

“Hiss—”

The thousand-zhang sword shadow was almost solid, emitting a faint azure glow as it cleaved through the void, as if cutting heaven and earth in two. Even high in the sky ten thousand zhang above, its razor-sharp aura still tore apart a vast stretch of grassland, throwing up piles of dark soil and shredded grass!

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Divine Martial Heavenly Astral Sword Qi!

The Bai clan’s clan-guarding supreme sword art, pointing straight at the Human Emperor’s Dao!

“Zheng—”

Right on the heels of the thousand-zhang sword shadow, another wave of sword song rang out. Tens of thousands of strands of sword qi appeared one after another, forming a sea of swords. A terrifying aura of slaughter soared into the heavens!

“Cut!”

Bai Weiyang let out a piercing shout.

The countless sword shadows crashed down from above, tearing the firmament apart and completely drowning the golden-haired man.

The arrogance on the golden-haired man’s face eased a little. A hint of gravity flashed in his eyes and his expression became solemn. Golden light blazed over his entire body. He looked like a war god wreathed in golden flames as the bone whip swept out in arcs, lashing toward the myriad strands of sword qi!

Thousands of strands of sword qi were smashed apart in an instant by the whip shadows, and terrifying ripples of power swept out in all directions.

Killing intent flashed in Bai Weiyang’s eyes. Sword qi rang out together as tens of thousands of sword beams flared, weaving into a sword net with no blind spots, forming a gigantic cocoon of death that dropped down over the golden-haired man’s head!

…

High above, tens of thousands of zhang up in the sky, countless razor-sharp astral winds strong enough to shatter top-grade artifacts howled and crisscrossed, rampaging freely.

Even martial artists of the Heavenly Astral Realm whose bodies had been developed to the limit could not reach such heights. Their astral qi shields, along with their bodies, would be torn apart by the astral winds.

A blue-robed figure stood with his feet on the astral winds. When those fierce astral winds reached his side, they became obedient and gentle, like a soft spring breeze, completely losing their ferocity.

“The methods of your human race are indeed somewhat marvelous. If we hadn’t fought, this sovereign wouldn’t have been able to tell this is only an avatar. And with just an avatar, you actually managed to hold this sovereign off for so long,” the blue-robed man said with interest.

“This old man has tempered this avatar for over a thousand years. I didn’t expect it still wouldn’t be able to withstand your arts,” the white-robed old man said with a slight shake of his head. Several terrifying cracks marred his body, yet not a drop of blood flowed.

“This sovereign can see that you’ve nearly comprehended the laws of life and death. If your true body were here, this sovereign might have to concede three points to you. Unfortunately, you’re only an avatar…”

At this point, the blue-robed man suddenly glanced down at the ground, letting out a soft sound of surprise. “I didn’t expect there to be a Human Emperor bloodline descendant with such pure blood here. This trip really wasn’t wasted.”

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A streak of blazing white finger-qi pierced the void, like a pillar that reached the heavens, stabbing down to kill.

“You’d best rein in your thoughts for now,” the white-robed old man said lightly.

“Very well. I’ll cut down this avatar of yours first, then go claim that Human Emperor bloodline descendant’s life!”

With a soft shout, the blue-robed man’s aura burst forth in a surge of azure light. Behind him, a massive azure hawk slowly emerged, radiating a terrifying pressure.

The hawk was lifelike. Though it was only a phantom, it seemed almost real. Its supreme might suppressed all movement within tens of thousands of zhang.

Even the howling sound of the razor-sharp astral winds vanished without a trace.

The hawk spread its wings, its eagle eyes locking firmly onto the white-robed old man, as a chilling killing intent welled out.

What a pity I don’t have a single supreme divine weapon in hand. Otherwise, how would I be reduced to such a sorry state? Jiyun sighed to himself, forced to face his enemy bare-handed.

Right now, Jiyun wanted only to stall until other Heaven-Man experts arrived to support him. After all, there was a Demon-Suppressing Marshal stationed in this region. Once reinforcements arrived, this Heaven Demon would not easily escape even if he wanted to.

Before the hawk behind the blue-robed man could swoop, a spatial rift suddenly opened in the middle of the battlefield, and a black-clothed man strode out of it.

The black-clothed man’s aura was slightly unstable. His long hair hung down to his waist, draped over his back. His strong frame radiated a distinctive wildness.

Sensing the surging demonic qi pouring off the black-clothed man without the slightest concealment, Jiyun’s expression changed at once. Another Heaven Demon!

He had never imagined that the demon race’s reinforcements would arrive first. Though the black-clothed man’s aura was a bit unstable and he seemed to have only just stepped into the Heavenly Demon Realm, he was still a peak-level great powerhouse.

“Venerable Cang,” the black-clothed man said with a slight bow. Though they were both Heaven Demons, his posture was very deferential.

“Go and kill those few troublesome humans down below and that Human Emperor bloodline descendant, and destroy that warship while you’re at it. Leave things here to this sovereign,” the blue-robed man said with a wave.

The black-clothed man nodded in immediate assent and vanished into the space around them.

Down below, the golden-haired man in the midst of battle no longer looked as composed as before under Bai Weiyang’s utmost efforts. The golden wings on his back had shed countless feathers and were on the verge of collapse.

Bai Weiyang’s sword qi surged without end, pressing within a hundred zhang of the golden-haired man. He had no intention of giving him any chance to catch his breath; he was determined to cut him down with his sword.

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A terrifying killing intent suddenly pressed down from above the three of them. Bai Weiyang looked up, eyes tightening.

A pitch-black palm print spanning several thousand zhang punched through the firmament and came crashing down!

A force of spatial power completely locked down the void within the palm print’s range. An invisible wall of force pinned down Bai Weiyang and the other two so tightly that even moving a single finger would take an enormous amount of effort.

Despair flashed in the eyes of Lei Wuji and Lin Yusheng. Bai Weiyang stared blankly, his heart full of nothing but regret…

The golden-haired man seized the breathing space, a cold smile curling at the corner of his lips. With a beat of his wings, he shot several thousand zhang away, leaving the battlefield.

“Bastard!”

Seeing Bai Weiyang and the other two about to be crushed to death under the palm, Jiyun let out an angry roar. He tore open an invisible path in the void above his head, and surging vital energy poured down like an ocean, flooding into his avatar.

The terrifying cracks on his body began to mend at a speed visible to the naked eye. His slightly hunched back slowly straightened. His snow-white hair darkened from white to black, turning pitch black in the blink of an eye.

In just a few breaths, his aged face regained its color and vitality, becoming decades younger. In place of the white-haired old man stood a handsome man who did not look even forty.

“Sacrificing world power? Quite the grand gesture,” the blue-robed man said with a raised brow, a hint of surprise in his voice.

Upon reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, one could open an independent space in the void, untouched by the laws of the Lingyang Realm. At the Heaven-Man Realm, one could further open earth, water, wind, and fire within that space, evolving it into a small world where living beings could survive.

To burn one’s small world for a short-term boost in power, as Jiyun was doing now, was utterly not worth the price.

All the more so because this was only one of his avatars. While this avatar was precious, even if it were completely destroyed, it would have almost no effect on Jiyun’s true body.

World power was different. For a Heaven-Man Realm expert, the existence of a small world was equivalent to the foundation of their cultivation. Even losing a single portion meant having to spend a vast amount of time and vital energy to slowly replenish it.

The strength of a Heaven-Man Realm expert could basically be judged by the size of their small world.

Lose a little, and your strength dropped by a little. Lose too much, and your small world might even collapse, sending your cultivation plummeting back down to the Nascent Soul Realm—a terrifying prospect.

Once his aura had reached its peak, Jiyun closed the channel. He thrust out a palm, his five fingers like five pillars holding up the heavens. His strike, launched after the fact, still arrived first, clamping down on the pitch-black giant palm and smashing it apart in one go.

The instant Bai Weiyang and the other two could move again, they rushed toward the warship without a moment’s hesitation. The battles of top-tier experts were not something they could interfere with at all.

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“Die for this old man!”

With a furious shout, killing intent surged in waves in Jiyun’s eyes, like a storm-tossed sea. The giant palm did not slow in the slightest as it grabbed toward the black-clothed man who had struck at them.

Every human prodigy was the future of the race and could not be allowed to be harmed. The black-clothed man’s attempt to slaughter human prodigies had already trampled on Jiyun’s reverse scale!

The law of annihilation collapsed the sky. Spatial laws sealed the area, pinning the black-clothed man in the void. The giant hand, like a cosmic force capable of plucking stars and seizing the moon, reached out to crush him in its grasp.

“Cry!”

The azure hawk behind the blue-robed man beat its wings and soared into the nine heavens. Strands of law power scattered, bursting open countless spatial rifts.

The hawk turned into a streak of azure light, tearing through the sky as it dove straight at the distant white-robed figure.

The massive palm print shattered as the blue-robed man’s attack arrived. Jiyun had no choice but to pull back his strike and raise a hand to meet it.

The black-clothed man broke free of the spatial lock, regaining his freedom. The terror on his face did not fade for a long time. The gap in strength between Heaven-Man Realm experts was far greater than he had imagined. In front of this man, he did not even have the qualifications to open his small world. With a single move, he had nearly been killed!

As the battle between Heaven-Man Realm great experts drew closer to the ground, the vast waves of power shattered huge stretches of grassland, leaving behind countless bottomless ravines.

Standing on the warship’s deck, Shi Lan’s eyes were filled with shock. This kind of world-destroying clash made a question rise uncontrollably in her heart: in the face of existences like these, did numbers even matter anymore?

In the blink of an eye, half a cup of tea’s time passed. The black-clothed man tried to ambush the warship several times, but each time Jiyun did everything he could to drive him back. After several exchanges in a row, cracks once again appeared on Jiyun’s body.

The blue-robed man had already been stronger than this avatar of Jiyun to begin with. If Jiyun had not now received the blessing of his world’s power, he would likely have been defeated long ago.

But as the saying went, a long defense is bound to fail. The black-clothed man finally seized an opening. Taking advantage of a moment when Jiyun and Venerable Cang were locked in a struggle, he broke into within a hundred zhang of the warship and brought his hand down in a sky-covering palm strike.

Shi Lan clenched her fists, just about to speak, when a streak of azure sword qi that pierced heaven and earth slashed out from the void, soaring into the sky!

A clear, ringing sword song echoed through the clouds.