Chapter 1134: One Halberd Rampaging The Nine Heavens
Xiao Qingtian responded: "Very well, I will witness your ultimate arts."
Li Qiye looked at him and smiled: "Your opponent is not me for my opponent is the Soaring Immortal Sect."
He didn't bother to look at Xiao Qingtian after saying this: "Guo Gu, slay him."
"If Sacred Teacher wants his life, he won't live to see the light of dawn." A lazy voice came about. Someone appeared before Xiao Qingtian.
No one saw how he arrived there; it was as if he had been there the entire time.
It was a young man with a lackadaisical appearance. However, this didn't affect his aura.
No matter where he stood, he would give others the feeling that he was equal to the heavens. This world would topple because of him!
"It's South Emperor, the Era Evader from the Mysterious Bamboo Mountain!" Someone shouted after seeing him.
Even Xiao Qingtian was shaken to see South Emperor. He had heard of the young emperor's fame before and knew exactly just how great the guy was.
"You are South Emperor, one of the ten grand eonic geniuses?" The prime general was very cautious before this young man ahead of him.
South Emperor freely smiled and said: "Ten grand eonic geniuses? That is flattering me too much. In my opinion, if the list contains twenty eonic geniuses, then I can be on that list."
Although such words sounded quite humble, people took deep breaths after hearing this. How many geniuses have appeared across the ages? Among them, how many would dare to claim to be among the top twenty? However, South Emperor did so in such a relaxed manner — this was enough to show his confidence.
Xiao Qingtian became very serious. As the prime general, he was a battle-hardened veteran. Even though he had never seen South Emperor before, he immediately knew just how terrifying the young man was from looking at his style.
"Clang—" Xiao Qingtian slowly unsheathed his saber. It was a blade as white as snow and as bright as the stars. With it in his hand, he could sever all things. He was alone in this cosmos; everything else became meaningless.
The spectators felt insignificant before this saber because it could end all things. Even Godkings felt a bit breathless before it.
"Prime general, one saber to rampage throughout the heavens." A Godking in the distance saw this saber and felt a chill. This person knew that he was no match for Xiao Qingtian.
"Wonderful, to be able to cultivate the dao of the saber to this level. It is not enough to just call you the prime general." South Emperor smiled leisurely and reached out: "Halberd, come!"
"Buzz!" The Sky Piercer Halberd flew out of the Mysterious Bamboo Mountain. It crossed the world and fell into the hands of South Emperor. 1
"One halberd to rampage throughout the nine heavens!" An ancestor who came from the Barren Earth recalled a legend the moment he saw South Emperor wielding the halberd. It was a legend that would excite all listeners.
It told that there was a genius in the Mysterious Bamboo Mountain. As long as the halberd was in his hands, he could rampage throughout the nine heavens and no one could surpass him! Who would have thought that this genius turned out to be South Emperor?
The ancestor was startled before this sight. In a split second, it was as if he saw an Immortal Emperor. It was a pity that he couldn't take the last step to become an emperor.
With the halberd, South Emperor suddenly changed completely. He was no longer carefree and relaxed for he had become a pillar supporting the sky. He exuded a violent aura as if he was the only person left in this world. Thus, no one could surpass him. He stood there among the earth and all the other geniuses had to retreat before his presence.
"Nine Heavens Rampaging Thrust." South Emperor gently lamented: "Across the long years, is there still someone who can withstand the ultimate strike from the Sky Piercer?" 2
This was an extremely domineering statement, but everyone who heard him right now was silent. He truly wasn't bragging.
Back then, he was the arch-rival of Empress Hong Tian. Although he gave up from competing for the Heaven's Will in the end, no one dared to look down on him.
South Emperor stared at Xiao Qingtian and slowly said: "I have always been unarmed after the battle back then, but today, you are worthy of seeing my halberd."
He could be described as someone who held the nine heavens in disdain, but he did not show such contempt in this battle against the prime general. It was a showing of respect.
"It is my honor." Xiao Qingtian held his saber with both hands and slowly moved it vertically in front of him. When his body pulsed, the entire world pulsed. A portal seemed to be appearing as his voice echoed across the world: "Saints from the Soaring Immortal Sect, it is time for you to grace this battlefield!"
"Clank!" With that, he cut through the void and illuminated the nine continents. Under this slash, everyone felt their soul leaving their body and their strength being sapped from within.
"Well done." South Emperor laughed before this attack. He stepped once and immediately soared into the far horizon. He watched the snow-white slash approaching and slightly shifted his halberd back.
"Boom!" A huge star cracked in the sky before more exploded with blinding flashes.
His halberd began to dance; the whole sky was pulled in by its rhythm. This area turned into a black hole and, with the halberd's rotation, it slowly turned into a vortex.
The saber slash cut the spinning black hole and severed it right away. A terrifying scar was left in the sky.
"Clank!" Despite the blade managing to cut the vortex, the halberd's momentum didn't stop. It thrust forward through time itself, a thrust capable of killing deities. Even Godkings would feel their knees giving in.
Xiao Qingtian crazily shouted: "Die!" He lunged towards the sky with his saber ready to stop South Emperor's Sky Piercer!
The two peak existences fought in the deep recesses of the sky. Even though their battlefield was very far away from the Space Trample Mountain, the horrifying force still loomed over the world. Countless cultivators in the Mortal Emperor World were alarmed and found themselves lacking in the face of this power.
"A top-level fight!" A powerful Virtuous Paragon opened his heavenly gaze to look at the distant battle. At this time, many people were very curious, but they didn't dare to go up there and watch.
"Buzz!" At the same time, a huge portal emerged above the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect. An immortal light spewed out from it.
People could faintly see divine peaks inside the portal. There were countless swaying trees and blooming lotuses. Immortal birds were flying with springs surging like waterfalls and pouring down from the sky.
"Is that the immortal world?" Many people were shocked after looking through the portal and felt that they were simply frogs at the base of a well. This alone was enough to let them imagine how great the world behind the portal was.
"No, that's the Soaring Immortal Sect." A God-Monarch who came to watch the fun paled and murmured: "The Soaring Immortal Sect is coming, they want to descend to the Mortal Emperor World. It hasn't appeared during the three generations ruled by the Black Dragon King, so it looks like they have finally lost their patience."
"Buzz—" Many Soaring Immortal disciples equipped with armor flew out from the portal in the sky.
"Scram as far away as possible in my presence!" Li Qiye's eyes turned serious. He slightly waved his right palm and the triangular building immediately rushed to the sky.
"Pluff! Pluff! Pluff!" It decapitated the first group of disciples that exited the portal.
"So untethered! This is simply enraging the Soaring Immortal Sect!" Regardless of how many disciples were descending, they were all beheaded one by one. The spectators were shocked to see each head flying. This was not just a massacre, it was a direct mental suppression.
For eons, how many people would dare to kill the disciples of this sect? But now, Li Qiye was doing so in such a blatant manner. This scene was too domineering.
"Bang!" Eventually, powerful characters from the Soaring Immortal Sect finally descended. Six God-Monarchs came out with six imperial weapons to immediately fortify the area, stopping the triangular weapon in its tracks. It allowed the other disciples to come down to this world.
The six God-Monarchs shouted: "Who dares to be so impudent?!" They looked incredibly young. A guess would put them at around thirty, yet they were very powerful and aggressive.
An ancestor muttered: "This behemoth is way too strong. Even the oldest of these God-Monarchs was still born during the Difficult Dao Era."
Everyone knew that in present times, no one in the Mortal Emperor World has become a God-Monarch at such a young age. Even geniuses born during the Difficult Dao Era had yet to reach this level!
Anyone would be moved to see these young God-Monarchs. If the sect could send out God-Monarchs this easily, what level would an ancestor have reached?
"Reaching God-Monarch from that generation… no lineage in the nine worlds has the capability to produce such disciples." Many sect masters became envious, even the ones from imperial lineages.
The generation they were referring to was the young ones who were born during the Difficult Dao Era. No one from this generation has become a God-Monarch in the nine worlds yet.
This is the name of Lu Bu's weapon, popularized by him in fiction. Dynasty Warriors was one of my favorite series growing up. I recommend playing this game and then reading the Three Kingdoms. It was a bit of a dry read however, especially in English. The Vietnamese version was fine, but I found myself skipping a lot of the poetic verses and songs; I probably read it 5-10 times already, skipping the sad sections. Maybe Chinese readers appreciated the poetry more than I did. ↩ Here is another difficulty with titles and phrases in translation. The problem lies in flow/grammar versus a proper sounding title. In Chinese, there is no distinction in this particular case. The name sounds good and works just fine when used in the narrative. If we were to describe the halberd and the emperor in the legends, then "One halberd to rampage throughout the nine heavens" fits better. If we were to use this name as an attack, which it is in this case, then "Nine Heavens Rampaging Thrust" is better. ↩Chapter 1135: Benevolent Armament
"Ah!" A shrill scream echoed as a huge body fell from the sky.
"No!" This miserable scream came from the Azure Mysterious Ancient Kingdom.
All eyes turned towards the battlefield at this kingdom. Virtuous Paragons activated their heavenly gazes and gasped with perspiration after seeing this scene.
A pale paragon exclaimed in horror: "The divine beast guardian of the Azure Mysterious Ancient Kingdom has been killed!"
Meanwhile, the six God-Monarchs guarding the area stopped the offense from the triangular building. One of them shouted at Li Qiye: "Junior, kneel and accept your death!"
Li Qiye laughed and said: "All of you are far too lacking to demand such things."
With that, he channeled the triangular building once more.
"Boom!" The building sprayed out endless bright particles. They instantly came together to form a generator. With a deafening blast, the particles shot at the sky-high portal like an erupting volcano.
"Ahh!" The terrifying particle rays rendered many Soaring Immortal disciples into ashes.
The six monarchs had been relying on their six imperial weapons to protect their portal from the onslaught of the building. However, they were unable to withstand it this time. Any disciple who came out was instantly annihilated. If it wasn't for the imperial weapons protecting them, these six monarchs would have been blown to smithereens as well.
"Who dares to act so unbridled!" Another loud shout came about. Three matchless figures flew out of the portal. The suppressive auras of Godkings swept through the world.
Three Godkings have arrived, and one even had an Immortal Emperor True Treasure.
"Boom!" They unleashed an attack capable of stopping the particle beam from the triangular building.
"Such young Godkings!" People were astonished to see the newcomers. All of them were middle-aged men and not white-haired ancestors.
The three of them working together to use a true treasure made the crowd gasp. It was truly scary to see Godkings this young.
"Junior, accept your death!" The three empowered the true treasure again with their gazes fixated on Li Qiye.
Their thunderous shout caused countless people to tremble. It was difficult for many sects to have even one Godking, but now, the Soaring Immortal Sect sent out six God-Monarchs and three Godkings in one go. Just how strong was this sect?
"Still not enough." Li Qiye smiled and opened his mind.
"Clank!" A pardon decree flew out and floated above his head.
"Boom!" The abandoned ancestral ground of the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect shot out a ray of light into the sky. It resembled the opening of a door.
"Clank—" Items flew out from the abandoned ground and gathered near Li Qiye.
In the blink of an eye, Li Qiye disappeared. All of the pieces assembled together to form a huge man of steel that appeared before the crowd. With a hum, the triangular building immediately opened and turned into a huge pair of wings before latching onto this steel man.
"Clank!" This metallic being now had two wings. Like two engines, they spewed out a torrent of bright particles.
"I should increase the power a bit." The metallic being opened its mouth and Li Qiye's voice echoed from inside.
"Boom!" An imperial pond suddenly emerged from the ancestral ground with lightning pulsing inside. The lightning running through the water that was refined by an Immortal Emperor poured into the metallic being's frame.
"Boom!" Afterward, the being exuded a terrifying light that encompassed the entire world.
Each beam of light spanned for thousands of miles. This made this metallic contraption even bigger. At this second, it was no different than the master of this world. Each of its gestures could annihilate everything.
"Boom!" The gigantic hand of the being reached out to the skydome and caught a star then crushed it completely.
"Yes, this is the power!" Li Qiye's voice echoed across the nine heavens! He was truly enjoying this power.
"This is…" At the Heavenly God Sect, Li Shuangyan and the other disciples were surprised to see this scene.
They had seen this gigantic being before at the lost civilization. There were many iron men like this in that place.
However, the girls had a deep impression of these creatures after digging so many out. The huge metallic being ahead was different from the iron men back at the forgotten world.
The other iron men had their own life. Despite having a body made out of metal, they were definitely living creatures. Or at least, this used to be the case.
However, Li Qiye's metallic contraption didn't have its own life. It was just an armor of sorts with a behemoth size!
The girls were right about this. This was not an iron man from the Machine World, it was simply a set of armor. In the past, Li Qiye found a broken set of armor. After referencing the divine blueprints from the lost civilization, he mended the armor and turned it into this contraption that resembled an iron man.
"Benevolent Armament!" A Godking from the soaring sect was shocked to see this. He recalled a particular legend while glaring at the metallic being: "You are the descendant of Immortal Emperor Min Ren?" 1
"It is fine for you to think so." Li Qiye's laughter came from the huge metal creature.
Someone murmured after hearing this: "Benevolent Armament? What is that? I've never heard of it before."
"Benevolent Armament!" A God-Monarch at the end of his lifespan murmured: "I might have heard of this before. It had appeared once in the legends. Back during his toughest battle, Immortal Emperor Min Ren put on this armor. However, no one saw it again afterward, so it was treated as a rumor from then on."
"Defend!" The Godkings from the soaring sect were quite alarmed at this moment. They crazily roared as immortal mountains flew out from the portal. The mountain formation formed a huge fortress. It was solid to the point of being impregnable.
"You all are only fledglings." Li Qiye laughed again inside his metallic armor. The armor placed its hands together.
The particles coming from its palms turned into a huge cauldron and instantly melted this area of space.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The mountain formation was instantly destroyed.
"No!" Miserable screams resounded. The six God-Monarchs were instantly melted. More bellows ensued as two Godkings slowly melted away.
"Bang!" The last Godking used his longevity blood to activate the Immortal Emperor True Treasure. It tore apart the fabric of space and dragged his wounded body back to the Soaring Immortal Sect.
"Bang!" Another loud blast came out. The steel hands crushed the portal. Even the boundaries of this space were melted. If the Soaring Immortal Sect wanted to return to the Mortal Emperor World, they would need to find another method. Otherwise, returning would be an impossibility.
"Eternal exile!" Li Qiye shouted. The steel armor tore open the void again and opened different temporal layers. With buzzing noises, it banished the Soaring Immortal Sect forever. The immortal sceneries in the sect were nowhere to be found.
"Eternal exile." A big shot gasped and murmured after seeing this: "The Soaring Immortal Sect has suffered a great loss this time. The space they used to enter the nine worlds has been banished forever. They have to start over from the beginning if they want to come back. It will require a lot of Immortal Emperor Refined Jades to rebuild this space-time path."
This scene was so shocking that the entire world went silent. Who could stop a sect with five emperors once they were here?
But today, Li Qiye didn't only massacre countless disciples, he even killed six God-Monarchs and two Godkings. The biggest loss was his banishment of the sect's path to the nine worlds. If they wanted to return, they must pay a huge price. And even then, it would still take a long time.
"Clank—" The huge armor left Li Qiye's body. Pieces fell down to the ground one after another.
"Boom!" The triangular building landed on the Heavenly Crow Peak as if nothing had happened.
Li Qiye was still Li Qiye. He stood in that same spot with his usual nonchalant attitude.
However, a lot of people were shivering. They were awed and terrified by Fiercest. Even Godkings wouldn't dare to oppose him.
"Benevolent Armament." Gu Tieshou became absent-minded. He never knew that Cleansing Incense had such a thing. They had never heard of their patriarch, Immortal Emperor Min Ren, creating this imperial weapon before.
However, they didn't know that it wasn't an imperial weapon created by Immortal Emperor Min Ren, it was an armor modified by Li Qiye that required a huge amount of lightning essence to power it up. Moreover, this lightning essence must be refined by an Immortal Emperor in order to be effective.
I would translate Min Ren as Benevolent now. Benevolent Immortal Emperor. Min = Wisdom/Bright while Ren = Mercy/Humane. ↩Chapter 1136: Sweeping Through The Opposing Horde
The entire vicinity fell into a lull. The spectators found it difficult to regain their composure. Many of them were still slack-jawed to the point of their chins almost hitting the ground.
A bystander eventually murmured: "So domineering…" In fact, there was no other word to describe this besides "domineering."
Perhaps one could use "invincible" or "tyrannical" as substitutes, but "domineering" was still the most appropriate.
To directly banish the pathway of the Soaring Immortal Sect… Outside of Immortal Emperors, it was likely that no one else had ever accomplished a task of the same magnitude.
Even a Godking that traveled from far away had to exclaim: "Fiercest alone is enough for this generation. The rest are unnecessary and can't reach the apex."
At this second, everyone understood that no one else would try to compete for the Heaven's Will against Fiercest. Whether it was sweeping through the contemporary or soaring up above the nine heavens or even controlling myriad dao, Li Qiye has established an unsurpassable record. Since the start of time, it was likely that no one in the younger generation had done so much before.
"Is, is he really Immortal Emperor Min Ren's descendant?" After hearing the Godking from the soaring sect, some people became suspicious and felt that this was highly likely!
In fact, even the upper echelons of Cleansing Incense glanced at each other. They all knew that Immortal Emperor Min Ren's descendant was Su Yonghuang. She had performed the ancestral recognition rite.
But today, even they felt skeptical about Li Qiye and his relationship to their patriarch.
This was not to say that Su Yonghuang wasn't qualified to be the emperor's descendant. On the contrary, she was quite suitable in both her cultivation of the Solar Physique as well as her own talents, not to mention her ability at leading the sect.
It could be said that among the previous sect masters of the sect, she could be listed among the top five. Thus, no one had ever doubted her roots.
However, Li Qiye was too heaven-defying. His performance made people question his relationship to the emperor. In the past, there was the matter of seeing the emperor in his dreams, and now, he could wear the Benevolent Armament.
If Li Qiye declared to be the imperial prince at this moment, the son of Immortal Emperor Min Ren sealed through time, no one would doubt him at all.
"Boom!" A loud blast echoed across the entire Mortal Emperor World at this time, lighting up the world. Everyone saw an extremely shocking scene. Bu Lianxiang was controlling her galaxy to assault the imperial formation in the deepest location of the Azure Mysterious Ancient Kingdom.
She tore apart the earth and a divine light escaped from inside. The capable spectators saw her dragging out the kingdom's underground treasury. This was an extremely stirring spectacle.
In a short amount of time, the kingdom's cry could be heard by all. It was swallowed by despair; sad lamentations were heard everywhere.
She had killed their divine beast guardian and also several of their ancestors along the way. After taking the treasury, she didn't uproot the entire kingdom. With another stomp to crush the spatial void, she returned back to Li Qiye's side.
Many people murmured to themselves: "It is over for the Azure Mysterious Ancient Kingdom. It is no more…"
Despite not killing to the very last child, Bu Lianxiang had severed its ancestral ground. This meant that even if the kingdom wished to rebuild their land, it would be more difficult than reaching for the heavens. Moreover, with their treasury robbed, it meant that they had lost their treasures and manuals. Even if the kingdom wasn't divided by others in the future, it was likely that they would still lose all of their imperial laws.
Sect masters were looking at Bu Lianxiang in fear after realizing what she had done to the ancient kingdom.
She annihilated a lineage with two emperors this easily. Even if she wasn't an Emperor Assailant, surely she wasn't far off. Who would dare to oppose such an existence?
"Rumble!" More explosions shook the sky and more screams came from the Space Trample Mountain. The once supreme and unreachable mountain was on the verge of collapse; it could fall at any time.
Mu Shaodi and the other two were quickly rushing inside and showed no mercy. Under the protection of several generals, the mountain was indeed powerful. However, these generals were too weak compared to the prime general, Xiao Qingtian.
These generals could stop other people, but not Mu Shaodi. This was a genius that once competed with Immortal Emperor Ta Kong!
Today, even though he was weaker than Xiao Qingtian, these other generals still couldn't compare to him.
"Mu Shaodi lives up to his fame. No wonder why he had such great accomplishments in the past." Everyone became a fan after seeing his unstoppable rampage.
"It's time to end this. You couldn't take the final step, so it is understandable that you couldn't beat Ta Kong." A shout emanated from the sky. It was South Emperor speaking.
At this moment, all the powerful cultivators were gazing at the sky to see the battle between the prime general and South Emperor.
Xiao Qingtian was indeed very powerful. It could be said that one would be hard-pressed to find someone capable of opposing him below the Immortal Emperor realm. Unfortunately, he just had to encounter South Emperor, a genius across the eons!
Despite this being the case, he still managed to hold South Emperor back for a very long time even though he was continuously pummeled back. His offense and defense could be praised as being stellar with his moves and variations.
However, such accomplishments still couldn't oppose South Emperor. Of course, no one mocked or belittled him. His accomplishments were dreams for many people. Many Godkings and Emperor Candidates couldn't reach this level.
"Boom!" At this moment, the sky trembled a bit. In an exceedingly short second, everything disappeared from the eyes of the spectators except for one object — the Sky Piercer.
It floated in the middle of the heaven and earth and continued to assail the nine realms. The entire Mortal Emperor World was being suppressed by this halberd towering in the sky.
It exuded a golden light in a sacred and unstoppable manner. It was the one and only in the nine worlds. Before this halberd, even Immortal Emperor True Treasures lost their colors. This was not to say that it was more powerful than true treasures, it was because true treasures could only unleash their real power in the hands of Immortal Emperors.
The Sky Piercer was South Emperor's true fate weapon. At this moment, he unleashed an unstoppable strike. Outside of Immortal Emperors, no one could stop the halberd even if they were wielding a true treasure.
This scene confirmed one particular notion, that there was no strongest weapon, only the most suitable one. Of course, the strength of the user was part of the equation.
"Nine Heavens Rampaging Thrust!" People recalled the legend of the past while witnessing the halberd oppressing the world. It was vividly being displayed before everyone!
"Bang!" The halberd attacked without any complex transformations. The nine worlds became dark under this halberd. Even if one wanted to escape, there was no place to hide regardless of how vast the nine worlds were. Not even the most mysterious location in this realm could hide from this attack.
One could only meet it directly and either manage to stop it or die. There were no other options.
Xiao Qingtian faced this dilemma at this time. Of course, even if he had the choice, he wouldn't have chosen escape. He was not a coward, and dying in battle was fine for someone as proud as he.
He shouted: "Open!" With a loud blast, his longevity blood dyed the saber red. At the very last moment, he used his body as an offering for the blade and mustered all of his power with every fiber of his being to slash one last time.
"Buzz—" His body began to burn. In the blink of an eye, the prime general, Xiao Qingtian disappeared. Only his saber was left in this world.
"Clank—" The hymn of the saber echoed across myriad realms. Countless other sabers suddenly emerged. The Mortal Emperor World was shrouded in blades and blades only.
"Clank!" The innumerable sabers all flew out at the same time and began to melt together into this final slash. The firmament was split in half along with the stars as if they were tofu. Meanwhile, the earth was severed into two halves with ease.
"Boom!" This realm quaked. A devastating impact tore apart the starry sky. Countless stars were instantaneously destroyed and turned into ashes.
Everything became smoke before this exchange. Time, space, power… all returned to the origin and primordial chaos. There was nothing else in this area but a chaotic mess.
"Thump!" Eventually, people could finally see the result. South Emperor was shaken and had to take a step back while the blade from the prime general was split into two halves, hovering in the sky.
As for the general, Xiao Qingtian, he was no more.