Chapter 537: Battle
Translator: Yukidaruma Translations Editor: Yukidaruma Translations
As they spoke, the First Prince’s pitch-black clone put his palms together. As he did so, the entire sky turned dark. It was as if the entire world was changing as the First Prince’s movements changed.
‘What a powerful aura.’ Fang Xingjian was taken aback. ‘I mustn’t let him continue on.’
Thinking of this, Fang Xingjian did not give the First Prince the chance to display his full power. He disappeared entirely, sending streams of Infiltrating Void slashing out.
Bang bang bang bang! Sounds of air explosions kept occurring around the First Prince, but they were not able to sway the his clone’s body.
Fang Xingjian sent sword slashes down incessantly, but he could only feel that the First Prince’s pitch-black clone body was like a legendary Divine Remains Equipment, sturdy and tough yet also soft and flexible. It also contained an aura of darkness, despair, and degradation, as if it was a black hole that was about to be created, absorbing and engulfing everything, and bringing absolute despair to the mortal world. Just like that, it continued to absorb his sword intent.
Tyrant shouted out in astonishment, "That’s the Yama Sacred Physique 1
! It’s the greatest art of the Ancient Path of Hell! It can turn materialized will into special body structures and is said to be imperishable even in the face of calamities!"
Being able to materialize their wills, Divine level experts could naturally utilize their wills in various ways. Examples of this were Li Shuanghua’s Nine Heavenly Windthunder Tribulation which she had comprehended herself, or the Ancient Path of Hell’s legendary physique—the Yama Sacred Physique—which had been passed down for generations.
Through the tempering of one’s will, the Yama Sacred Physique condensed the materialized will into a special structure, forming an extremely powerful body.
"It’s useless, Fang Xingjian. I attained the Divine level after having reached four tiers of perfection. Even if you were to be ten times as powerful as you are now, there’s no way that you’ll be able to slash through the Yama Sacred Physique which is condensed using my will that is as tough as steel. Today, I’ll let you know how great a difference there is between a Divine level and a Demigod!"
As he spoke, black will gushed out wildly from the First Prince’s body. It was if dark clouds had covered up the sky, then the black will came down as a huge hand that had an area of several hundreds square meters.
Terrifying power exuded from the huge hand, bringing along with it an aura of despair, terror, blood-thirst, and brutality. The cries and howls of women, men, the elderly, and children seemed to be ringing incessantly in everyone’s ears.
Then as the First Prince put his hands together, his will made simple movements, and the entire world was engulfed in darkness like they had been brought from the mortal world to hell.
"Take this! Overturned Hell!"
A gigantic pitch-black palm came down from the skies, pressing down on void space. Countless twisted light rays appeared, then hints of cracks started to form as Fang Xingjian emerged. He had been forced out from the spatial gaps by this palm.
To be able to incessantly stretch and twist space, forcing spatial gaps to reveal themselves through the tremors… how terrifying was this power? Moreover, this attack also came with a will impact of plummeting into hell and the extinction of the mortal world.
Faced with this descending palm, Fang Xingjian’s eyes squinted like that of a cat. Streams of cold light flashed in his eyes, and his sword finger moved about, activating the Light Pursuit sword ripples. In that instant, several million sword ripples slashed out, creating explosions in the atmosphere and lashing out at the huge black hand. Endless sparks were created, and the slashes formed large areas of fire clouds in the sky at rapid speed.
However, as the millions upon millions of sword ripples kept slashing out endlessly, the situation was if an ordinary Knight had used a steel sword to knock against a great boulder. Other than creating sparks all over the place, there were no other effects.
‘What a sturdy martial will. If my martial will is like wood, and Li Shuanghua’s martial will is like a rock… Then the First Prince’s martial will that formed the Yama Sacred Physique is just like the Heaven's Volition Sword Intent, being at the level of steel.’
Faced with the huge black palm that was gushing out toward him, Fang Xingjian let out a furious bellow and finally performed the fourth sword in the Five God-Slaying Swords—the All-Conquering sword.
In that instant, streams of black lines, containing demolition sword light, cut across the air, and many physical particles had their connection cut off. Wherever the black lines passed by, everything was destroyed and the world shattered.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh . A few sword slashes landed on the huge black palm, but it was not as effective as how the All-Conquering had been in the past, being able to cut through everything.
It was because as Fang Xingjian landed the slashes time and time again, leaving behind countless large and deep cuts on the palm, he could sense that not only were there layers and layers of martial will stacked up, but there was also violent strength that twisted space. The twisted space that was formed made it extremely hard for Fang Xingjian’s slashes to pull through.
However, just as he was going to send out a few more hundred sword slashes out at full power to wipe out the huge palm, it suddenly exploded and scattered off in all directions. A world-shaking howl was sent outward everywhere together with seething black energies.
The sky regained its brightness, and everyone felt as if they had just survived a terrible disaster.
Fang Xingjian stood in midair, looking at the spot where the First Prince had initially been. However, the latter had already disappeared.
"Fang Xingjian, as expected of a genius I place high regard in. Your sword arts are already the best amongst all those below the Divine level. But from today onward, I’ll truly view you as an enemy. The next time I make my move, I’ll be going all out. You better watch out."
By the time his voice dissipated, the First Prince and his two subordinates had already disappeared completely.
"What a move the Overturned Hell is. Even if I slash up his martial will... When he self-detonated the huge palm, it still made me feel tremors in my consciousness with various dark and despair auras infiltrating in. And this was only one of his clones.
"Divine level experts on the path of Knights are truly amazing.
"Moreover, the First Prince’s fighting experience far surpasses that of ordinary people. Even though I countered his Overturned Hell, he immediately made his move in retaliation."
Tyrant spoke viciously, "Aren’t we killing them? Wiping out one of the First Prince’s clone would reduce a hint of his power."
"Now is still not the time to go all out," Fang Xingjian said, shaking his head, "If we go all out now, other people will just take the opportunity and reap the benefits."
The First Prince’s actual form still had to go up against the two Divine level experts, the Astral Ancestor and the Blue Sacred Moonlight. This was why he was not willing for there to be more complications to arise, and thus Fang Xingjian and the Fifth Prince had the chance to take advantage of the situation. Moreover, the overwhelming power Fang Xingjian displayed earlier when he had been fighting with the Fifth Prince made the latter even more unwilling to get distracted into having to deal with Fang Xingjian at the moment.
However, at the same time, once the First Prince successfully suppressed the Xingwu Region and went through his spoils of war gained from the two Divine level experts, his abilities would grow at a tremendous rate once again. By then, there would probably be no one in the entire Empire who would be able to suppress him.
Right now, what Fang Xingjian needed to do was continue to get stronger before the First Prince succeeded in this, thus gaining the power to go up against the First Prince. On the other hand, the First Prince also wished to fully devote his attention into suppressing the two Divine level experts. Therefore, both of them appeared to be very restricted. They both had too many enemies. Thus, neither of them were willing to go all out and use overwhelming battle prowess against the other party. They were afraid that the other princes, Divine level experts, and the people from the Terrene Shrine would take advantage of the situation.
‘But I’ve finally managed to probe the First Prince’s strength.
‘While one might not gain as many additional abilities by attaining the Divine level through the path of Knights as compared to magic prints Warriors and Mages... the great power of one’s martial will, which was converted from attaining perfection in the body’s toughness, far surpasses that of magic prints Warriors and Mages.
‘This is especially the case for those who inherited legacies such as that of the Ancient Path of Hell. The way these people utilized their martial wills is something that irregulars like Li Shuanghua can’t compare against.
‘If I activate the Heaven's Volition Sword Intent, I should be able to exchange blows with the First Prince. And if I add in the Instant sword, I might be able to have the upper hand just by a little. However, there’s a time limit on how long I can use the Heaven's Volition Sword Intent. Once the First Prince makes it through that time limit, I’ll be the one to lose.
‘Moreover, I have no idea what other secret arts the Ancient Path of Hell might have.’
Fang Xingjian finally had a better understanding of the First Prince’s abilities. He now understood that if he wished to go against the First Prince, he would need to at least first attain five tiers of perfection. Additionally, if he wished to defeat or even kill the First Prince, he would have to strive to attain the Divine level.
One day later, Fang Xingjian stayed in the Wang Clan’s study and started browsing through the various manuals which the Wang Clan had brought over from the Western Land. Wang Xiaoyan sat at the side, propping up her head with one hand as she stared at Fang Xingjian. It was as if she wanted to unveil secrets from his face.