Chapter 1047: Finally Close to Emperor
Ao Jiao turned her head back and looked at the electric cocoon. She sighed, “I just knew that this fellow would not advance to quasi-Emperor peacefully.”
Her figure flashed as she landed beside the electric cocoon while hugging the Lunar Shadow Saber. Then, her body slowly turned darker and eventually vanished from the air as if she did not exist.
“Buzz!”
The three quasi-Emperors of the Southern Sea Divine Dragon Palace wore black dragon robes. They withdrew their auras and landed firmly on the desolate island. A look of excitement appeared in their eyes when they saw the nearby electric cocoon.
“What a fellow! The news that Leng Shaofan sent is indeed accurate. This Xiao Chen is really on one of the deserted islands within two hundred and fifty kilometers. Furthermore, he even picked this time to make a breakthrough to quasi-Emperor,” the young quasi-Emperor on the right carrying a saber on his back said softly.
The electric light cocoon was the mark of a lightning-attributed cultivator breaking into quasi-Emperor. This matched Leng Shaofan’s news. There was no need to guess further; it was definitely Xiao Chen inside.
“Haha, if we can obtain the Sea Monarch Crown and offer it to the Dragon King, it will definitely be a great contribution.” The tall and skinny, black-haired youth on the left showed a similar irrepressible joy in his eyes.
Only the white-haired old man in the middle maintained a calm expression. He remained silent and looked around, appearing very careful and cautious.
The old man held up a finger, and a cold sword Qi shot out from his fingertip. The moment the sword Qi shot out, frost immediately covered the ground. Clearly, his will of ice already reached an extremely high level.
The crystalline sword Qi looked very solid. When the sunlight landed on it, it lit up with a boundless glow that made the flashing sword Qi look like a beam of light flying out of the old man’s fingertip.
“Clang!”
When the sword Qi struck the electric cocoon, it gave off a crisp clanging sound. The electric light flickered, and the cold sword Qi turned into mist and disappeared.
The huge electric cocoon did not budge at all, not even showing the slightest crack.
This result stunned all three of them at the same time; clearly, they found it extremely incredible.
The quasi-Emperor with a saber on his back was thunderstruck. “What a strong electric cocoon! Just how much accumulation did this fellow have before making his breakthrough to quasi-Emperor?”
“I’ll go and shatter it!”
The tall and skinny quasi-Emperor had a fiery temper. He immediately stepped forward, preparing to charge over himself.
The white-haired old man said gravely, “Ping Jun, be careful.”
“Haha, Old Cheng, don’t worry. He is now at a crucial moment. Even if he is aware that we are trying to kill him, he can’t do anything. He will definitely die today,” the quasi-Emperor named Ping Jun said nonchalantly between howls of laughter.
Indeed, that was so. If Xiao Chen gave up on breaking through to quasi-Emperor now, wasting his effort was a minor thing. The bigger problem was the rebound of his Heavenly Sage Laws, which would cause him significant internal injuries.
With a weakened body, surviving against three Small Perfection quasi-Emperors would be impossible.
However, if Xiao Chen did not give up, he would be a sitting duck, passively getting attacked. Likewise, this would result in death.
Both advancing and retreating seemed to lead to death; there was no clear route for survival.
Just by passing one word, Leng Shaofan managed to push Xiao Chen into dire straits from several tens of thousands of kilometers away. This person’s schemes could be said to be unparalleled.
Unfortunately for him, there would always be a chance for survival, no matter how small. This chance for Xiao Chen lay with Ao Jiao.
Ping Jun’s figure flashed as he moved, a red light flickering on his body. The clouds in the sky churned, and a gust blew. The Heavenly Laws in his body sent out a horrifying amount of energy that converged on his entire body.
As Ping Jun’s figure moved quickly, it became one with the world. Then, he suddenly attacked, sending out a punch.
The force of the attack seemed to carry the weight of the world.
This was the strength of quasi-Emperors. Having returned to nature and become one with the world to form Heavenly Laws, they could use the power of the world with every move.
It looked like that horrifying punch would strike the electric cocoon. If that berserk energy really hit the electric cocoon, it would surely shatter.
Xiao Chen, who was within the electric cocoon, would not have any means to continue. He would only be able to stop his breakthrough and suffer the backlash of Law Energy.
However, in the time it took for a spark to fly, a resplendent saber light flashed in the air, flickering for an instant.
A bolt of Divine Lightning appeared in the sky. Dark clouds filled the sky, and darkness covered the land for kilometers around.
Before Ping Jun could react, this saber light chopped down on his body. He could not dodge or defend.
“Damn it!” Ping Jun roared ferociously. At the last moment before the saber light chopped him in half, he landed the punch on Ao Jiao.
“Ka ca!”
The Divine Lightning turned into a Thunder Roc. As the saber light chopped down, Ping Jun’s body separated into two halves. Then, when the electric light exploded, it instantly blasted both halves into powder.
With Ao Jiao’s sudden attack, the Small Perfection quasi-Emperor Ping Jun was not even left with a corpse after the saber strike.
The sudden change caught the white-haired old man and the other black-haired youth off-guard. They did not even have the opportunity to try and rescue Ping Jun.
The punch that Ping Jun threw before he died caused Ao Jiao significant injuries. Her body seemed to turn somewhat illusory, unlike initially, when she appeared no different from a normal person.
However, Ao Jiao continued to grasp the Lunar Shadow Saber tightly as she glared coldly at the two in front. She stood guard by the lightning cocoon, not even moving half a step away from it.
“Item Spirit?”
“A quasi-Emperor-level Item Spirit!”
When the two saw the situation and looked at the Lunar Shadow Saber in Ao Jiao’s hand, their eyes gained a fervent light.
A quasi-Emperor-level Item Spirit. With such a Sub-Divine Weapon, if it advanced into a Divine Weapon in the future, it would most likely rank in the Divine Weapon Ranking.
Even if such a weapon did not rank in the Divine Weapon Ranking, it would still be a precious Divine Weapon that surpassed other Divine Weapons.
“Haha! Not bad, I want this saber,” the black-haired youth said with a faint smile. “The Azure Dragon King is really a human-shaped treasure trove. He has an extraordinary amount of good stuff on him.”
“You want it? Are you qualified?”
Just at this moment, cracks appeared in the deep-purple lightning cocoon, and a voice came from within.
“Ka ca! Ka ca!”
The lightning cocoon shattered, and a bright electric light surged out, forming a huge pillar of purple light soaring into the sky.
Xiao Chen stood in the light, dressed in white. A wind blew everywhere and clouds gathered. He was one with the heavens; with a thought, he could stir up winds and clouds.
His gaze was like lightning as he stared at the two before him with the aura of a king looking down on everything under the heavens. Lightning seemed to shoot out of his eyes.
A huge pressure drew expressions of horror from the white-haired old man and the youth. They could not help retreating two steps.
Ao Jiao revealed an expression of joy. Xiao Chen succeeded. After twelve years on the road of life-or-death fighting, he is finally close to the title “Emperor.”
“Attack together!”
The white-haired old man and the black-haired youth saw that Xiao Chen had successfully broken through to quasi-Emperor and could pressure them with just a gaze.
These two knew that if they did not team up, they would not have any chance of victory. Hence, they steeled themselves and charged over together with cold war cries.
Within the pillar of electric light, Xiao Chen quietly watched the two fly over. He remained motionless like a mountain, standing tall like an aged tree. Then, he moved his hands and welcomed his enemies.
These three quasi-Emperors were all one with heaven. Their every action carried the power of the world.
As the three released their moves, their surroundings turned illusory. The earth and sky spun. The distant sea and the nearby mountain seemed like apparitions, appearing and floating around them.
The fighting methods of quasi-Emperors were very different from those of regular cultivators. By raising their hand or foot, they could stir up the winds and clouds. With every move they made, they could bring out the power of the world.
Such a scene was not a mysterious phenomenon nor an illusion. It was a natural marvel that resulted from driving the power of the world.
Figures flickered as the three quickly traded moves—exchanging a hundred moves in moments. Xiao Chen dealt with the attacks as they came. His hands flashed like lightning, appearing illusory, as he blocked the many strikes sent by the black-haired youth and the white-haired old man.
After a hundred moves, an explosion suddenly resounded. The desolate island below the three could not endure their use of Heavenly Laws and the power of the world.
“Boom!” The island vanished from the vast sea. An enormous spinning black vortex appeared on the water, swallowing up the surrounding seawater.
The three landed in the vortex, and seawater rushed around its sides, giving off rumbling sounds nonstop. However, the expressions of these people did not change. They were not concerned at all as they continued to fight at lightning speed.
The aftershocks generated by the exchange, the power of the world driven by the Heavenly Laws prevented the black vortex from filling up. Hence, the vortex expanded, reaching a diameter of ten kilometers.
“How many Heavenly Sage Laws did he accumulate for his breakthrough to quasi-Emperor?!”
The black-haired youth and white-haired old man were increasingly fearful. They had been quasi-Emperors for dozens of years already. The power of the world that their Heavenly Laws could drive should far surpass that of the newly advanced Xiao Chen.
[TL Note: In the Kunlun Realm, youth seems to be defined as under forty. However, I’m guessing that this youth is not truly a youth but just someone who maintained youthful looks as a result of cultivation.]
However, even though Xiao Chen fought one against two, the power of the world that he drove was even greater than that of the two added together.
From the very start, Xiao Chen suppressed them.
The vortex could not be filled. With the three descending, it continuously deepened. Then, it reached the bottom of the sea with a ‘bang’ before widening into the surroundings.
If seen from the sky, it looked like a bottomless hole had appeared on the calm sea and was closing up rapidly.
“Boom!”
The seawater crashed in explosively. At the instant the hole closed, a pillar of water shot up and scattered the clouds. It looked like it pierced the sky.
Three figures leaped out of the pillar of water. They were the three who had been fighting and just stopped.
In this short period, both sides had exchanged thousands of moves. They fought from the ground to the bottom of the sea, then from the bottom of the sea to the clouds. This was a truly remarkable battle between quasi-Emperors.
The black-haired youth and the white-haired old man appeared to be in sorry states. Earlier, when the seawater merged back, the three all exposed some openings.
However, the one who grasped the openings was Xiao Chen. Even though he attacked later, his blows landed first. He punched the two in the chest, severely injuring them. Even now, they were in pain.
“Let’s go. He gained the advantage. We cannot stop him!” the white-haired old man said sullenly.
The two turned to leave. Earlier, when exchanging thousands of moves, they had exhausted themselves. Now, they were injured. If they did not go now, they would definitely not be able to later.
Xiao Chen said calmly, “Wanting to come and go as you please? How can it be that easy? Ao Jiao, saber!”
Ao Jiao smiled faintly and sheathed the saber. Then she turned into a beam of light, entering the saber before the saber flew towards Xiao Chen.
Ao Jiao was the Item Spirit of the Lunar Shadow Saber. However, she did not like staying in the saber most of the time. Hence, the true might of the Lunar Shadow Saber, the sharpness of a Sub-Divine Weapon, rarely showed itself.
Xiao Chen stretched out his hands. The instant he grasped the Lunar Shadow Saber, he drew it. An unparalleled sharpness surged out, raging through the surrounding space.
Clanging resounded everywhere, filling the place with boundless saber intent.