Against the Gods - Volume 08 - Cloud's End Mirage
Page 42
Even though extinguishing Fen Juechen’s soul took far more effort and energy than he had anticipated in the end, the final result was just as he had expected. He had seized control of Fen Juechen’s body after it had devoured him and after that, he had spent a few days merging the strengths of Fen Juechen and Xuanyuan Wentian.
No, to be exact, it was the merging of Xuanyuan Wentian, Fen Juechen and Ye Mufeng’s powers!
Because Fen Juechen had initially devoured the devil soul of Ye Mufeng. The power that he had obtained before his devil blood had awoken had all come from Ye Mufeng but even when he had fought with Xuanyuan Wentian, he had still not been able to fully absorb Ye Mufeng’s power.
Xuanyuan Wentian’s own strength had already reached the pinnacle but now that he had also obtained Fen Juechen’s and Ye Mufeng’s power, devil blood which had not fully awakened was flowing in his body and a devil soul which could maximize the power of said devil blood dwelt in his sword. So in the few days after that, he could feel his own power explosively increasing at an incomparably crazy pace each and every day.
It explosively increased to the point where even he, who had been a Sacred Master for a thousand years, had not dared to imagine.
Even though it had been a short ten days, his powers had yet to be completely merged and the devil blood in his body was far from completely awakening but the inconceivably strong power that had welled up in his body gave him a resolute belief that the current him had grown so strong that no one would be able to rival him… Even if it was the Illusory Demon Realm’s Little Demon Empress, whose own power had grown by leaps and bounds and who also seemed to have finally touched upon the way of the divine.
So after he had found out that the Little Demon Empress and Feng Xue’er were both in the Snow Region of Extreme Ice, he decided to pay them a visit personally.
Given Xuanyuan Wentian’s original temperament, he would definitely not make any casual moves unless he had absolute confidence. This could clearly be seen from the fact that he did not hesitate to wait one thousand years just so that he could definitively choose the day of the Thirteen Star Alignment just so he could obtain the Heavenly Sin Divine Sword.
If it was the original Xuanyuan Wentian, he would definitely choose to finish consolidating and merging his power and fully awakening his devil blood before moving to realize his ambitions. But under the influence that the darkness profound energy had wrought on his personality, he could not wait to move even though it had only been ten short days after he had obtained the power of the devil gods.
Xuanyuan Wentian had indeed clearly noticed the influence on his very nature but he did not try to control it. Instead, he reveled in this change.
However, even though he had a high estimation of the Little Demon Empress’ strength, it turned out that he had still underestimated her a lot.
“This sovereign has already become a devil god… How can I lose to a mere mortal!!?”
Xuanyuan Wentian’s face turned sinister as the black light around his body began to swell as tens of pitch-black sword beams soundlessly appeared in the air behind him… Under the influence of the darkness profound energy, his originally colorless sword beams had turned black.
A sinister edge instantly pierced the Little Demon Empress’ spiritual perception. Her eyes flashed and the sea of fire which filled the skies was abruptly and swiftly pressed down from above. The dark light which had been entangled with the flames for a long period of time was immediately torn apart like a black-colored curtain as the overflowing sea of flames hurtled towards Xuanyuan Wentian’s head.
“Wh… What!?”
Even though he was being suppressed, Xuanyuan Wentian had definitely never dreamed that his power would be so abruptly torn apart. The sword beams which still hovered in place were immediately swallowed up by the sea of fire as his entire person was pulled into the sea of Golden Crow flames.
“AAAHHHHHHH!!”
Xuanyuan Wentian gave a furious howl as an enormous black-colored barrier opened up around his body, firmly pushing the Golden Crow flames outside its boundaries. But in the next instant, he heard a long cry that caused his very soul to fiercely shudder as the fiery figure of the Golden Crow which left a long trail of fire in its wake dove out of the voluminous sea of flames to explode against his dark barrier.
BOOOM!!
A beam of fire shot towards the sky. The dark barrier had successfully blocked that fiery golden-colored figure but it had quickly turned thin. Xuanyuan Wentian could scarcely believe his widened eyes and once his eyes stretched to their absolute widest, his dark barrier was forcibly melted away and the golden-colored figure crazily rushed towards him. The surrounding flames zoomed in on him as well, causing him to be completely engulfed in the sea of fire.
“AAAHHHHH!!”
Xuanyuan Wentian gave a miserable cry as his entire body was swallowed up by the Golden Crow flames and he became a human torch which was fiercely flung through the air!
Rrrmb!!
Xuanyuan Wentian flew for more than five kilometers, the dreadful impact causing tens of kilometers worth of glacier to instantly and completely crumble away. The Little Demon Empress’ figure flashed towards him, two delicate ice-jade hands lightly danced in the air as one Golden Crow flame lotus after the other hurtled down at him like golden-colored meteors, mercilessly bombarding the deep crater in which Xuanyuan Wentian lay.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom…
Chapter 846: Devil Sword, Lightless Eternal Night
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom…
The golden-colored flames devoured all the darkness as pillars of fire shot towards the heavens and even the sky itself was being fiercely distorted. The sharp cries of the Golden Crow blanketed the heavens and the earth while Xuanyuan Wentian’s miserable cries of pain were mixed in as well.
Feng Xue’er was hovering high in the sky, she focused on protecting all the people around her while also paying attention to what was happening behind them. Her tense expression finally began to loosen as a cry of joy rang out from her throat, “Big Sister Little Demon Empress has won… She pummeled Xuanyaun Wentian with such force that he did not even have the strength to counter-attack!”
Feng Xue’er’s words were undoubtedly a welcome spring shower which refreshed and soothed the terror in everyone’s hearts. Their feet slowed as they looked towards the south. The southern skies were blanketed in golden light and they could scarcely even see any darkness lingering. Even the darkness energy in the air that caused them discomfort and disquiet had clearly weakened by several times.
“That’s great… that’s great!” Murong Qianxue yelled emotionally as she hugged Yun Che tightly.
“Hahahaha.” Number One Under Heaven breathed a heavy sigh of relief before letting out a great laugh, “What did I say, the Little Demon Empress is someone who has inherited the strength of the gods themselves, so how could there be anyone in this world who could be her match?”
“Phew!” Number Seven Under Heaven patted her chest before patting her stomach which had now clearly begun to protrude. She smiled merrily as she said, “Little baby, you don’t need to be afraid. Everything is fine now, the Little Demon Empress has already fiercely beaten the villain into the ground.”
“Xuanyuan Wentian was practically more terrifying than Duke Ming and he was even more vile. The Little Demon Empress was thoroughly enraged and she will definitely burn Xuanyuan Wentian into fragments of ash,” Xiao Yun said as his brows twitched and he said in a voice filled with suspicion, “Xuanyuan Wentian admitted that his body was Fen Juechen’s body and his profound energy aura is also remarkably similar to that of Fen Juechen’s… So what exactly is going on here?”
“This particular point has indeed exceeded the boundaries of our understanding,” Number One Under Heaven said as he pondered the subject. Now that the danger had been dealt with, the pace at which he was fleeing had slowed down a great deal. Now, his attention had begun to focus on other areas which had
completely mystified him, “However, I have heard of something similar before in myth and legend. It was an extremely dreadful “possession” technique that would allow one’s soul to invade another person’s body. After that, that soul would become the new master of that body, wiping away the original will that controlled it. Just now, what we saw was Fen Juechen’s body but it was being controlled by Xuanyuan Wentian’s will… If we definitely have to explain it, perhaps it truly is that terrifying kind of ‘possession’.”
“So that means that Fen Juechen… has already completely disappeared?” Xiao Yun asked with widened eyes.
“His body is still around but his soul has already been wiped away. So it is equivalent to disappearing,” Number One Under Heaven said in a low voice. At the same time, he discreetly glanced in Xiao Lingxi’s direction…
As expected, he saw Xiao Lingxi softly bite her lips as her eyes began turning slightly red but she stubbornly refused to make a sound.
The rumbling of exploding flames still continued and every rumble was accompanied by a fire pillar which pierced the horizon. Number One Under Heaven glanced to the side before coldly laughing, “It looks like the Little Demon Empress has been completely enraged this time. Even if Xuanyuan Wentian had ten lives, he should have already been burned to cinders by now… Ah, to die like this is simply letting him off too easily.”
“…” However, at this point, Feng Xue’er’s smile began to slowly vanish. She looked towards the south as she muttered to herself in a suspicion-filled voice, “That’s strange… How come Xuanyuan Wentian’s aura is still around, furthermore… furthermore…”
Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom…
The Little Demon Empress shot out hundreds of Purgatory Red Lotuses one after the other, causing the ground below her, that had been eternally encased in ice, to morph into a terrifying sea of purgatorial fire that was more dreadful than any volcano that existed in the Profound Sky Continent.
If she continued like this, the entire Snow Region of Extreme Ice would completely disappear from existence. The Little Demon Empress finally prepared to stay her hand but at this moment, her long and delicate eyelashes fiercely fluttered.
The dark aura, which had clearly been buried in the sea of fire and nearly incinerated to the point where it was about to completely disappear, suddenly started to abruptly surge and spike…
BOOOOOOMM!!!!!
It was as if an erupting volcano had been wrenched off the ground, as the fire lotuses that the Little Demon Empress had sent hurtling downwards were fiercely blasted aside by the black light which suddenly flared up. Even the sea of fire that had melted the earth was blasted asunder by this black light. This black light was so deep and dense that it resembled one of the original black holes that existed in the primordial chaos. As it gradually swelled, all of the Golden Crow flames were smashed backwards with unmatched force.
In the heart of the black light stood a black-colored human figure. His clothes were shabby and most of his eyebrows and hair had been singed off. Half of his face looked completely charred and his visage was as terrifying as a devil, his body was half bright red and half black. But from his aura and silhouette, one could tell that this person was astonishingly Xuanyuan Wentian.
The pupils of the Little Demon Empress’ eyes, which resembled cold pools of water, faintly contracted.
He held a huge pitch-black sword in his hand and a pair of dark and sinister eyes had shockingly opened on its hilt. Once Xuanyuan Wentian appeared again, his aura, which had originally been nearly completely suppressed by the flames, came roaring back to life at a peerlessly terrifying pace. It directly surpassed the aura he had radiated at his previous peak of strength and rapidly grew to nearly twice as strong as it was before.
The black light that surrounded his body was so strong and resilient that it seemed like it had established its own small and independent world. Whenever the golden-colored flames, which were filled with the divine might of the Golden Crow and the boundless fury of the Little Demon Empress, approached the sphere of black light, they would be completely repelled and even extinguished at times.
The Little Demon Empress, “…”
“You… you actually…” Xuanyuan Wentian’s face was terrifying and sinister. When he opened his mouth, scorching white smoke spewed from his mouth, “Actually caused this sovereign to… look so pathetic…”
It was far from simply being a case of “looking pathetic”. When Xuanyuan Wentian had been trapped and suppressed in the Little Demon Empress’ sea of fire, forcing him to endure the blasts from those hundreds of Red Purgatory Lotuses, he could barely muster the strength to summon the Heavenly Sin Divine Sword, nearly dying in the process.
“This ruler has no choice but to admit… that I was completely mistaken about your level of strength… To think that you would actually force this ruler… to have no choice but to present the devil sword… Ssss…” Even though Xuanyuan Wentian possessed a devil body he still felt pain. Even though he was Xuanyuan Wentian, the torment of having nearly half of his body charred black by the Golden Crow flames still caused him immeasurable pain.
Before he had taken out his devil sword, he and the Little Demon Empress had relied completely on their own strength during their duel. Neither party had borrowed the power of a profound artifact or any other external power, yet it had resulted in his pathetic and miserable defeat.
That was also to say that, given his current power, he was not even a worthy opponent for the Little Demon Empress!
Furthermore, if not for him desperately using all of his will to release the power of the Heavenly Sin Divine Sword when he was in this predicament, he might have already been burned to cinders by the Golden Crow flames of the Little Demon Empress.
Xuanyuan Wentian had finally obtained both the power and the body of a devil god, so he thought that he was already unrivalled under heaven and he had even gone as far as to arrogantly address himself as “this ruler”. So this was undoubtedly an incomparably huge blow to his ego and a most severe humiliation for him.
A dark heaviness began to congeal in the pupils Little Demon Empress’s icy cold eyes as her long and delicate eyebrows began to tightly knit together. Even though the previous Xuanyuan Wentian radiated an aura that was powerful and bizarre enough to press down on her, it did not have a heavy suppressive effect.
However, even though the current Xuanyuan Wentian, who was gripping that pitch-black devil sword tightly, was covered in wounds and looked completely miserable and abject, this was the first time in her life that she had felt such a stifling sensation. An extremely dark, heavy and oppressive aura was soundlessly spreading across the skies and over the earth. It was as if a terrifying, world-ending storm was quietly brewing.
“Even though using the devil sword to kill you is a kind of shame to this ruler while also slowing down the rate of this ruler’s devil blood awakening… How can this ruler… spare a person… such as yourself!!?”
Xuanyuan Wentian’s howl was as dreadful as the roar of a devil. It was also in this instant that the world in front of the Little Demon Empress abruptly turned pitch-black.
This terrifying change did not happen gradually, instead it happened all at once and the sea of golden-red flames were completely engulfed by this pitch-black darkness that was as dense and thick as black ink. The Little Demon Empress did not even have time to react and now she could not even see the slightest bit of light.
A few hundred kilometers away from this scene, the place where Feng Xue’er and the rest of them were currently located rapidly turned dark. It was as if the curtain of night had abruptly fallen on them, even though it was not completely dark each person could only blurrily make out the faces that were near to them.
This suddenly descending darkness had completely engulfed their vision. It also completely extinguished the elation that had just been birthed in their hearts, throwing them into an even deeper abyss of terror.
“Wha… What is goin
g on!?”
“Could it be that… Xuanyuan Wentian is…”
“We need to move quickly!!” Xiao Yun paid close attention to Xiao Lie as he yelled in a loud voice.
“We must not make any careless moves!” Feng Xue’er yelled out anxiously. She spread both her hands wide and unreservedly released all of her power, forming a gigantic fire barrier that encompassed everyone in its radius. “If this dreadful power could directly reach us from this distance when it has just been activated, then it will only get more dreadful once it is fully activated. Not only will continuing to flee be absolutely meaningless, it will also increase the number of accidents. Everyone needs to stay within this barrier. I will use all of my power to protect everyone.”
Even though Feng Xue’er’s strength was nowhere near Xuanyuan Wentian’s it was still hundreds of kilometers away. Given that this barrier had been erected with Feng Xue’er’s Phoenix power at the eighth level of the Sovereign Profound Realm, it would be impossible to break it from such a far distance.
The world around her had turned completely dark and this was not simply any normal darkness for the Little Demon Empress felt as if she had been sucked into a pitch-black marsh. The air around her had turned extremely viscous and even trying to twitch her fingers felt exceptionally difficult. At the same time, countless icy-cold, oppressive and sinister auras assaulted her from every side, directly seeping into her heart and soul.
If Yun Che had been conscious at this moment, he would recognize it with a glance. This was the Dark Domain that Fen Juechen had forcibly unleashed at any cost when he had been defeated by Yun Che, Lightless Eternal Night!
“Little Demon Empress… Vanish… in this darkness… forever!!” Xuanyuan Wentian’s ghastly voice, which sounded like the wails of an evil spirit, rang out from the depths of this dark world, After that, a wild and sinister laugh which contained pain started ringing out, “Hahahahahahaha…”