t [V5C156 – A Distance Within Reach]
The Nangong combat vehicles hundreds of meters away were struck with sparks flying out in all directions. Those with thinner armor couldn’t take a single barrage and would go up in flames after a couple of rounds. A continuous line of fire was ignited from one side of the Nangong defense line and quickly spread all the way to the other.
The Nangong family experts tangled up with Duan Hao’s unit simply had no time to react. In the end, they only managed to stop the rounds heading toward the command vehicle and the mobile artillery around it. None among the dozens of armored transports and combat vehicles at the van survived, and countless soldiers were blasted into the air.
After a wild salvo, the autocannon in Blackmoon’s hand clicked loudly—it turned out that she had used up all the ammunition. Blackmoon immediately jumped down from the gunner’s seat and escaped into the distance. She had just left when the Nangong family’s retaliatory cannon fire arrived, blasting apart the Primordial Beast along with the heavy autocannon on top.
The Nangong family’s casualties in this artillery battle were quite significant. Nangong Zhen who had been paying attention to the battle turned ashen, and his brows knitted tightly together.
He was in the process of chasing after Song Zining with a mad flurry of attacks, but the latter’s spear was unexpectedly tenacious despite flickering like a candle in the wind and wouldn’t go down no matter what he did. Moreover, the Three Thousand Flying Leaves Domain would pop up from time to time—apparently, it was never completely suppressed since the beginning. This indicated that Song Zining’s domain was far superior to Nangong Zhen’s Evergreen Domain at the same realm.
Qianye had been moving alongside Nangong Zhen all this time and restricted a third of his combat strength at the very least.
Coldness suddenly flashed through Nangong Zhen’s eyes as he turned to launch an explosive punch at Qianye. The power behind this blow was even greater than when he was pursuing Song Zining!
“Die, Junior!” Nangong Zhen didn’t just let out a simple roar but actually spat out a wisp of origin power which blasted toward Qianye’s chest in a bid to kill him in one blow.
However, Nangong Zhen hadn’t expected Qianye to remain so calm in the face of his abrupt ambush—the latter seemed to have neither the intention to retreat nor to evade. He slashed at the incoming fist instead, poised to meet the attack head-on!
Nangong Zhen’s heart sank as East Peak appeared with a world-splitting momentum.
Their origin powers were the first to connect before the collision of the fist and sword. The two origin powers tangled together with an explosive rumble—a continuous cycle of growth and annihilation ensued which transformed into flames, lightning, wind, and thunder.
They were actually evenly matched!
Nangong Zhen was shocked out of his wits. He hurriedly poured more strength into his fist, allowing it to pierce through the elements and smash heavily on East Peak’s edge.
Clang! The resonance of clashing metal echoed throughout the battlefield. Song Zining, who was the closest to them, was pushed back a dozen or so meters with the greater half of the leaves around him destroyed. In the distance, the actions of Nanhua and the two Nangong champions paused for a split second, only continuing their battle after the moment of absent-mindedness.
To the side, Blackmoon was running frantically and gunning down the enemies behind. However, the sudden impact threw her headfirst onto the ground, and it took her quite some effort before she managed to clamber up in misery.
Since even these experts were affected, one could imagine how much worse it was for ordinary soldiers. The all-elite Dark Flame unit only suffered violent falls, but many Nangong soldiers collapsed with blood flowing out of their mouths and noses, never to get up again.
Nangong Zhen stood tall without the slightest movement and only stared at Qianye with cold eyes. The latter slid back ten meters but appeared relatively calm and only stretched his body before pointing East Peak at Nangong Zhen again.
Nangong Zhen’s thoughts revolved at lightning speed. He had originally thought he would be able to smash East Peak to bits with a single fist. Unexpectedly, the unassuming blade was completely unharmed and even left a deep groove on his glove. Meanwhile, the origin power he had spat toward Qianye’s chest—a power capable of piercing through a high-level fighter—evoked no response from him at all.
This fist embodied the full extent of Nangong Zhen’s rank-suppressed power. Any more than that and he would’ve broken the limit and attracted the attention of Sky Demon’s will.
While Nangong Zhen was hesitating, Qianye had already started activating his origin power, and it was gradually speeding up. A boundless vortex appeared over his sea of origin power, and this vast, omnipresent power grew ever more distinct with the stirring of the Profound Combatant Formula. East Peak trembled and droned along with the gyration of the ocean vortex—it was like a screaming gale, a bestial roar.
Nangong Zhen was shocked to find the aura on Qianye’s body growing more and more bizarre. It seemed as though he were facing not a human, but instead the heaven, earth, and oceans.
This feeling made him tremble ever so slightly.
What Nangong Zhen couldn’t afford to ignore was Song Zining’s predatory gaze. The latter’s spear arts would unfold in a torrential attack momentum and increase in power with every blow—there was no easy way to unravel the assault apart from suppressing it with absolute power—that was the reason why the Song clan’s Fueled-Fire Spear was famous throughout the world for an entire millennium.
The corners of Qianye’s lips moved at this moment, and a smile actually appeared therein. His smile, amidst the vast energy of the heaven and earth, contained a hint of mysticism.
East Peak’s screams became more and more resonant. The words that actually escaped Qianye’s lips was: “Playtime’s over.”
Nangong Zhen didn’t immediately understand what those words meant—or it might be better to say that he was instinctively denying the literal meaning. But at that very moment, Nangong Zhen saw a blinding light erupt from Qianye’s eyes as his entire being vanished into thin air.
Only a vast body of water remained in front of Nangong Zhen—a slowly revolving ocean.
East Peak appeared in front of Nangong Zhen immediately after it was raised—its speed had simply exceeded the limits of perception.
Shocked out of his wits, Nangong Zhe raised his fists with all his might and struck East Peak’s incoming edge. However, a boundless pressure was soon transmitted through his fists and made Nangong Zhen feel as though he were holding up a real ocean!
The confrontation between blade and fist sent Nangong Zhen flying a dozen or so meters away. After landing, he slid another dozen steps backward before coming to a roaring stop. Qianye also slid back ten meters where he stabilized himself by thrusting East Peak into the ground before spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Nangong Zhen relaxed after seeing Qianye cough up blood and also sprayed out a mouthful himself.
This exchange was simply too fast. Song Zining had just assumed a thrusting stance with his spear when the two were already a hundred meters apart.
Nangong Zhen’s face twitched furiously as he charged toward Qianye in large strides, every step taking him ten meters forward. However, he had just taken two steps when he came to a sudden halt without advancing further. That was because Qianye’s eyes had opened once again and that gaze gave Nangong Zhen a clear premonition that, should he take so much as a step forward, East Peak would appear before him once again with the momentum of the mountains and seas.
At this moment, the Nangong family’s youngest elder was already feeling the impulse to kill Qianye in one blow by exceeding the Iron Curtain’s limit. He would then try to escape the pursuit of Sky Demon’s will.
Many experts had already learned some tricks to fool Sky Demon’s will. However, no method was absolutely safe—failure would lead to a pursuit from Sky Demon’s will or even its avatar. No one below the divine champion level would survive.
It was just that, deep down, he was still a bit hesitant and finally abandoned the thought with some regret. He didn’t believe this war was worth risking his life for. Moreover, as the youngest Nangong family elder, his brilliant journey had only just begun.
However, a sudden muffled thunder rang out beyond the Iron Curtain and shook everyone to the core. Even experts like Nangong Zhen were momentarily shaken. Immediately afterward, Sky Demon’s omnipresent will emerged once again and rapidly condensed above everyone—apparently, the threshold of its descent had been reached during this short moment.
Nangong Zhen couldn’t help but cry out in shock. How did he attract Sky Demon’s aura merely by thinking about breaking the restriction? Could it be that Sky Demon’s abilities were so great that he could read people’s minds under the Iron Curtain?
But he soon discovered that the aura wasn’t converging on him. Although the aura was spread across hundreds of kilometers, Nangong Zhen’s keen perception allowed him to notice even a hundred-meter deviation.
Nangong Zhen’s pupils contracted rapidly as he glanced over.
Sky Demon’s aura was actually converging upon Qianye!
How could it be Qianye attracting Sky Demon’s aura? Nangong Zhen’s heart was wracked with doubt, shock, incredulity, and a plethora of emotions. Since the start of the battle, he had always been calculating whether or not he would attract Sky Demon’s attention. He never expected that the one to invite Sky Demon’s will would actually be Qianye. This was an absolute mockery.
Qianye shot the Iron Curtain a glance but seemed to have no intention of retracting his own aura. He continued pushing the vortex on his sea of origin power and caused it to revolve faster. The pressure on East Peak rose continuously, and its cries grew ever more sonorous.
Song Zining looked over at Qianye with resolution in his eyes. The leaves around him turned transparent as he raised his hand, leaving only the flickering patterns to indicate that he hadn’t withdrawn his domain.
“Lunatics! You’re all crazy!” Nanhua couldn’t help but cry out loudly.
At this moment, Sky Demon’s aura had already reached the critical point. A giant eye emerged upon the Iron Curtain as the incomparably terrifying will of Sky Demon finally descended, scanning the earth with its cold gaze.
It was at this time that Qianye took a step forward and appeared dozens of meters away.
A deep pit appeared noiselessly where he had been standing. All the soil, sand, and rocks there had vanished—it was as though they had never existed.
The frosty, glacier-like will of Sky Demon spread out toward every direction but was unresponsive as it flitted past Qianye. Song Zining immediately revealed an expression of joy while Qianye waved a fist through the air.
Their bet was correct!
Although the Profound Combatant Formula had attracted Sky Demon’s will, Qianye’s daybreak origin power hadn’t yet crossed over the champion threshold, and he was merely a third-rank viscount in terms of darkness origin power. As such, Sky Demon’s will naturally overlooked him, so much so that Song Zining didn’t even need to use the Three Thousand Flying Leaves art to fool it.
The giant eye in the sky spun around and swept its gaze over the entire battlefield. Both Dark Flame and Nangong soldiers clearly felt the colossal entity’s contempt and cruelty.
Meanwhile, the one trembling the most under the cold gaze of its will was Nangong Zhen.
Qianye and Song Zining glanced at one another before striding forth with a sudden shout. East Peak swept out with the force of an overturned ocean and arrived at Nangong Zhen’s lower back.
Nangong Zhen cursed loudly in his heart. Even though he had suppressed his rank with a secret art, he wasn’t quite confident in getting away with it under Sky Demon’s direct gaze. How would he dare to receive this blow? All he could do was retreat rapidly for hundreds of meters.