Chapter 436: Heavenly Might [V5C143 – A Distance Within Reach]
Nangong Yuanwang’s expression was shrouded in an austere and baleful intent. Even the Nangong family’s rank-ten champion couldn’t endure the pressure and had long since knelt on the ground.
Although the young man before him possessed abnormally condensed origin power, it was clear that he had yet to form an origin vortex and step into the champion realm. But unexpectedly, he was able to stand straight without falling. This left Nangong Yuanwang—an illustrious decades old expert—without any face.
This person couldn’t be left alive! Killing intent flashed through Nangong Yuanwang’s eyes as he extinguished all thoughts of capturing the person alive. Without further hesitation, he raised his right fist and attacked from afar.
The howling of the wind in the vicinity changed slightly as his fist shot out. It was as though the origin power of heaven and earth was gathering on Nangong Yuanwang’s fist—a head-sized ball of green light blasted at Qianye.
Qianye noticed that the ball of radiance was formed from countless beams of green light despite being hundreds of meters away. Although the brilliance was formed from origin power, it was almost tangible and possessed astonishing might.
The green light ball arrived before Qianye at lightning speed. However, Qianye wasn’t forced to retreat as people had expected. Instead, he took a step forward, lowered his back, and shot a fist toward the incoming green light. His entire body was suffused with intense sanguineous brilliance as he moved to meet Nangong Yuanwang’s blow head-on!
A dazzling ball of light lit up the entire airship port. Even Nangong Yuanwang had to squint his eyes and couldn’t see clearly behind the light.
The intense radiance shifted from white to green. Countless green threads soon fanned out in every direction and enveloped half the airship port.
These green light threads possessed extremely terrifying cutting power. Whether it was the human body, armor, or even origin guns and blades, it flitted over everything without the slightest bit of hindrance. Even the thick hull armor of the military battleships was filled with deep interweaving scars.
The hundreds of elite Nangong private soldiers were petrified on the spot, their final expression of terror frozen on their faces. Moments later, they collapsed like sand castles and shattered into hundreds of fragments—even their weapons were no exception.
Thus, a green, fan-shaped land of death appeared on the airship port.
However, there was one person still standing at the tip of the fan!
Nangong Yuanwang’s pupils contracted rapidly, and his right fist somewhat trembled. He could hardly believe his eyes; he gazed fixedly over yonder with long green beams shooting out of them.
Qianye stood straight and tall, his face, fist, and body covered in interlacing lines of blood where the green light had cut him. However, his eyes were glowing as blue as the vast, bottomless ocean.
Qianye finally moved as he gathered his fist slowly—this movement caused his tactical jacket to fall apart piece by piece. The green light threads had cut it into dozens of pieces.
Nangong Yuanwang let out a long internal sigh, and his gaze eased up quite a bit. No matter who that brat was, it was impossible for him to block his ultimate move: Green Sky Severance. Even though Nangong Yuanwang could only utilize an equivalent of rank-twelve in origin power at the moment, ordinary young experts like Nangong Xiaoyue weren’t capable of contending against him at all.
However, Nangong Yuanwang’s eyes immediately twitched after seeing Qianye actually draw his right fist back; he didn’t shatter into pieces halfway as the former had expected.
Qianye’s entire body seemed completely unimpeded by the injury, so much so that he was even revealing a mocking, cold smile. The bloody lines all over his body were beginning to produce some drops of blood, but he didn’t continue to bleed out. Instead, the bloody injuries were even fading away gradually.
Not just Nangong Yuanwang, but all the fortunate Nangong survivors couldn’t believe their eyes. Could this person have really taken on Nangong Yuanwang’s earth-shattering attack?
A muffled rumble rang out like thunder at this moment as a pillar of fire shot into the sky behind Qianye. A military battleship behind him had been struck by the Green Sky Severance, and the damage had finally extended to the fuel chamber, causing it to explode.
Qianye’s earlocks flew wildly within the scorching winds and raging flames. With eyes as cold as ice, he pointed a finger toward Nangong Yuanwang from afar.
Facing such provocation, an absolutely furious Nangong Yuanwang roared thunderously, “Junior, you are too arrogant! I must blast you to death here and let you understand the meaning of heavenly might!” With that, he raised his hand, and his aura shot up immediately.
At this moment, the entire heaven and earth suddenly quieted down. All sounds were lost, and even the dancing flames seemed to have been frozen in place as an indescribable feeling suddenly assaulted everyone’s hearts. From Nangong Yuanwang and Qianye all the way to ordinary technicians, everyone felt an ineffable entity open its eyes and gaze toward them.
Everyone looked up at the sky simultaneously.
An incomparably large vortex had appeared in the grey Iron Curtain at some point which actually covered hundreds of kilometers. A single amber-colored eye slowly opened at the center of the maelstrom and gazed at the ant-like existences below.
The eye was entirely amber in color and possessed neither pupil or whites. However, its frosty contempt for all living beings was a fact known to all.
Nangong Yuanwang’s expression changed drastically. He let out an odd cry as his figure vanished abruptly, and in his place was now a dozen or so Nangong family private soldiers. The men were in a daze as they gazed at each other, bewildered as to how they had appeared therein.
While they were at a loss, the eye in the sky had already gazed toward them. The soldiers suddenly exploded and turned into a lingering bloody mist which soon faded into nothingness. It was as though the ten-odd elite soldiers never existed in the first place.
Qianye’s eyes contracted after witnessing this scene. He was astonished by the might of the heaven and earth, but also amazed by Nangong Yuanwang’s unfathomable tricks. He was actually able to switch places with a dozen private soldiers at the moment of life and death. He really wouldn’t be able to fight head-on against this celebrated old monster if it weren’t for the Iron Curtain.
Nangong Yuanwang, at this moment, was standing among the dumbstruck private soldiers. His face was pale, his hands were trembling continuously, and his eyes were filled with terror.
Born to nobility with outstanding talents, the journey toward his current superior status had been a smooth sail. It was only at this moment in the presence of Sky Demon that he realized what it meant by “all life akin to ants”. He hadn’t the slightest intention to resist and could only do his utmost to retract his aura, hoping to be taken as an ordinary soldier.
The eye in the sky turned about and almost seemed somewhat hesitant. In the end, it slowly dispersed. Sky Demon departed like the receding tides, rumbling into the distance.
Qianye was also gazing at the sky with a complicated expression.
Now that was peerless heavenly might!
With Sky Demon gone, Nangong Yuanwang once again resumed his supreme demeanor. He waved his long sleeves with a snort, producing an invisible wave of origin power which pushed the soldiers away haphazardly and cleared a large area for him.
Nangong Yuanwang walked out from the shadows and immediately saw Qianye glancing at him with an expression of mockery. His old face burned up rather uncomfortably in both humiliation and anger.
“Junior, you dare make fun of this old man?!” Nangong Yuanwang gnashed his teeth, his hair and beard flying wildly. Wind and thunder kicked up in the vicinity as he raised his right hand. Just from the power involved, it was easy to say that this move was even more terrifying than the Green Sky Severance from just now.
However, Nangong Yuanwang’s raised hand was slow to come down. Qianye, with a cold smile, was using his eyes to point at the grey sky of the Iron Curtain. Nangong Yuanwang once again sensed that fluctuation that made him tremble uncontrollably—how could he dare act rashly?
Nangong Yuanwang was livid. In the end, his right hand fell forcefully but without the slightest trace of origin power. Instead, he roared loudly, “Brats, take him down and tear him to shreds!”
The warriors around them glanced at each other and took quite a while to realize that the elder was ordering them to charge. They hesitated momentarily, but military laws were just as stringent in private armies; how could it allow them to shrink back in the face of adversary? With several high-ranking officers shouting out orders and leading the charge, the large squad started marching forth with resounding steps.
Thousands of Nangong soldiers charged at Qianye like a tidal wave. All kinds of bullets, cannon shells, and origin shots converged into a stream of flames which poured over torrentially.
Qianye turned and ran out of the airship port with a sneer, followed by a dark swarm of private soldiers chasing after him strenuously.
The rumble of an engine approached swiftly through the night sky as an airship broke through the clouds and shot past.
Blackmoon immediately turned on the steering after Qianye had leapt up and caught the descent cable. The airship climbed swiftly and swaggered off into the dark night, leaving the Nangong family soldiers dumbstruck on the ground.
At this moment, several spiritual intents traversed the mountains and rivers to land on the Iron Curtain above Nangong Yuanwang’s head, only dispersing after quite a while.
At the expeditionary army headquarters, two long men in wide-sleeved robes were playing chess. They were the two dukes sent by the empire to oversee the military contribution rankings, Duke Ding and Duke Wei. They were the major characters who had stood as top officials for many years. The game had gone on for quite some time, but there were still a couple dozens of pieces on the board.
Duke Wei was holding a white piece in his hand but didn’t play it for a long time. He glanced out the window and said, “Sky Demon has been angered again, and that’s quite odd. Judging from the position, it’s happening at the Nangong family’s region. But with so many bloody examples before him, how can Nangong Yuanwang lose his cool like that?”
Duke Ding held the advantage on the board at this moment, and it seemed he had already planned things out in advance. “I’m afraid someone has forced Nangong Yuanwang to show his hand.”
Duken Wei laughed with an unfathomable expression. “That old Nangong’s character is only so-so, but he really does have some powerful tricks up his sleeve. Even we might have to exert ourselves somewhat if we want to take care of him. This person is quite interesting to be able to force Nangong Yuanwang into attracting Sky Demon’s attention.”
Duke Ding nodded. “True. With his level, he can only utilize the power of a rank-twelve champion under the Iron Curtain. But considering his experience and realm, even rank fourteen champions aren’t his match. That person is indeed somewhat interesting.”
Duke Wei Suddenly said, “Have you heard about what happened in the imperial court?”
This question was somewhat brainless because Duke Ding clearly knew what he was referring to. “That person has been impeached too many times, but His Majesty has always let him off lightly.”
“But it’s not the same this time…” Duke Wei wanted to say something, but he suddenly paused to play the chess piece in his hand.
Duke Ding pinched a black chess piece with great calmness and placed it on the board with a bang. “Why care about other people? It's good enough for us to know where we should stand.”
“You’re right.”
The two dukes pondered deeply as the chessboard once again fell into a stalemate.
Thousands of miles away, there was a camp set up between a river and a mountain. It wasn’t a large base, but there were soldiers going in and out continuously. All of them were busy—some were patrolling cautiously, while others were drawing water and cooking rice. From the tents in the camp to their armory and weaponry, the entire unit was well-equipped almost to the point of extravagance.
In the central tent, Zhao Jundu was deep in thought as propped himself on the table and gazed at the map.