Divine Axe

Xie Yuan suppressed his surging Blood Qi, looked up at the Right Dharma King and Martial Transmission Elder looming above him, and said:

"What a move—while the mantis stalks the cicada, the oriole waits behind. The Right Dharma King truly has a fine scheme. No wonder you are the most adept at scheming for advantage in Heaven Beyond Heaven."

A slow smile spread across his face.

"Still, if Ji Hong were holding the Divine Axe, perhaps I would fear him somewhat. But now, he is dead."

Xie Yuan slowly rose into the air until he faced the Right Dharma King at eye level.

"And what can you do with that axe?"

The Right Dharma King's smile gradually faded, his expression turning cold.

"How arrogant. Let me see whether you truly have the strength to be so insolent."

Before his words had faded, he swung his axe!

A dazzling arc of axe light split toward Xie Yuan in an instant, but Xie Yuan merely curled his lips. Compared to before, this axe light was as different as heaven and earth.

With a flash, he evaded the blow and then waved his hand.

The Mountains and Rivers Cauldron shot toward the Right Dharma King's head with a whoosh, its heavy, congealed air suppressing him. The Eight Trigrams Lotus and Illusion Dream Heavenly Crystal hung high on either side, their black-and-white dreamlike light blanketing the battlefield and gradually blurring Xie Yuan's figure.

Under the augmentation of the True Shadow Candlestick, Xie Yuan's Spiritual Sense had reached an extreme. It had even gone a step beyond the peak of the Grandmaster realm, drawing closer to the limit—between the Heaven and Earth Twin Bridges and unity of heaven and man, nearly touching the realm of enlightenment.

With such Spiritual Sense, coupled with perfected secret arts enhanced by the Eight Trigrams Lotus and Illusion Dream Heavenly Crystal, no one in the Grandmaster realm could break through them.

If it had been Ji Hong, relying on the advantage of an unparalleled divine weapon refined like a natal artifact, he might still have been able to break Xie Yuan's secret arts. But though the Right Dharma King held the Divine Axe, how could he unleash the power of a divine weapon without refining it?

Moreover, divine weapons possessed spirits. The Divine Axe had received the Ji Family's worship for a thousand years, yet now it had fallen into the hands of the Right Dharma King, who had destroyed the Ji Family and been stained with Ji Hong's blood. It constantly sent out waves of resistance, forcing the Right Dharma King to exert strength merely to hold it.

Xie Yuan brought forth every Black Heaven Book, then stepped back. His figure vanished into the void as though he had disappeared from thin air, impossible for anyone to detect.

The Right Dharma King's axe struck empty air. His expression turned grave as his eyes swept the surroundings like lightning, while his Spiritual Sense ceaselessly covered the hundred-zhang space around him.

Yet the air was utterly still. He could not see a trace of Xie Yuan.

Suddenly, Xie Yuan appeared soundlessly above his head. The Dragon Soul descended from the heavens, piercing toward the crown of his head.

The Right Dharma King sensed it instantly and raised his axe to defend himself. Yet the Divine Axe seemed to have thoughts of its own, dragging his right hand downward at that very moment.

His expression changed drastically. He could only thrust out his left hand, sending a solid giant palm imprint to block Xie Yuan's spear.

Bang.

After exchanging one move, the Right Dharma King gave a muffled grunt and suffered a small loss.

The problem was not serious, but Xie Yuan had already vanished again, leaving all his counterattacks with nowhere to land.

This was only the beginning.

Seeing this, the Martial Transmission Elder no longer cared about saving face and intended to come assist.

But at that moment, streaks of white light swords rose from the ground. Ethereal yet vast, majestic yet sharp, they were like the flying swords of immortals.

The Martial Transmission Elder's expression shifted slightly. With a solemn face, he became entangled with the light swords.

Situ Qin continued plucking her qin, fully displaying the power of the Immortal Score and holding the Martial Transmission Elder back.

With no one interfering, Xie Yuan and the Right Dharma King were now thoroughly locked in a one-on-one battle.

The two displayed their abilities in full, and dazzling radiance erupted across the sky—gold and crimson intertwining, blue and white crisscrossing like ribbons.

Though the battle was fierce, the situation was clear. The Right Dharma King had no answer to Xie Yuan's Heaven Concealing Art, and he was repeatedly deceived by the Heaven Illusion Art's falsehoods made real. He had already suffered many losses.

He wished to display the might of the Divine Axe, only to discover that the divine weapon not only refused to obey him, but actually hindered him. It was like a second Mountains and Rivers Cauldron, weakening him instead.

The Right Dharma King was now riding a tiger and unable to dismount. He could neither unleash the Divine Axe's power nor bear to hand it to someone else, caught in a dilemma.

Yet Xie Yuan's spear allowed him no carelessness, while the axe at his waist stirred restlessly, vaguely giving him an ominous feeling.

After several dozen more exchanges in the blink of an eye, the Right Dharma King was struck twice more by Xie Yuan's spear and suffered light injuries. Though his profound cultivation meant he would not be seriously wounded so easily, he could not keep enduring this bloodletting tactic. Having fought for so long, he quickly made a decision.

If I keep holding this axe, I may very well fall here.

Having made up his mind, he flicked the Ji Family's Divine Axe toward his subordinates at the edge of the battlefield with a whoosh.

At the same time, Xie Yuan silently thrust a spear from his side, only to hear the Right Dharma King snort coldly.

"I was waiting for you!"

The Right Dharma King circled his palms, ignoring the spear entirely as he drove a palm strike toward Xie Yuan. It was indeed far faster than before!

His palm struck Xie Yuan, only for the force beneath it to fall empty.

Another illusion? The Right Dharma King raised a brow and sneered.

"I knew it!"

He pointed two fingers toward where the Divine Axe had been thrown and abruptly struck out with his palm.

A layer of violent force suddenly exploded around the Divine Axe. It was a palm force he had planted in advance!

If Xie Yuan went to seize the axe now, he would certainly be hit by that palm.

Yet contrary to the Right Dharma King's expectations, Xie Yuan was not there. The instant the Right Dharma King launched his attack in that direction, Xie Yuan sent a sword thrust from behind him!

The Right Dharma King's heart tightened. With no time to withdraw his palm, his body tensed, and a burst of blood-red light erupted to forcibly block the sharp sword behind him.

The sharp sword met the light shield but achieved nothing.

The Right Dharma King was slightly puzzled.

If he had used his spear for that move, I would have been injured again. But his swordsmanship is far weaker than his spearmanship. Why use a sword for a sneak attack?

He had not figured it out, but in the next instant, he learned the answer.

Borrowing the force of his aura, Xie Yuan activated the Fleeting Light Shadow Sword, and his speed instantly reached its limit.

In the blink of an eye, he caught up to the Divine Axe that had been thrown away, seized it, and casually slashed the subordinate still trying to snatch it with his sword.

Holding the axe carved with golden runes, he smiled.

"The Dharma King is truly generous! Many thanks!"

A bluish-green flush rose across the Right Dharma King's face as he shouted.

"Let me see how you use it!"

He flashed toward Xie Yuan, only to see Xie Yuan directly swing the axe. He could not help but scoff.

"That axe is exceedingly difficult to use!"

Yet with a single swing, Xie Yuan unleashed dazzling golden light, wielding it incomparably more smoothly than the Right Dharma King had.

The Right Dharma King was greatly alarmed. He hurriedly stopped and dodged the axe light.

Grasping the Divine Axe, Xie Yuan's spirits soared. He sent axe light filling the sky, suppressing the Right Dharma King until he retreated step by step!

The Divine Axe was entirely different in Xie Yuan's hands than it had been in the Right Dharma King's.

He had originally specialized in axes. He had chopped wood a hundred thousand times, and after mastering Splitting Mount Hua, he had already reached the pinnacle of the axe path. Even wielding the Divine Axe now caused him no difficulty, let alone with the assistance of the Ten Thousand Weapons Candlelight Shadow.

And the Divine Axe had a spirit. It only remembered the Right Dharma King, who had killed Ji Hong. When Xie Yuan wielded it against the Right Dharma King, he found that the axe was exceptionally obedient.

Clearly, Ji Xuan and the other Ji Family members had never been familiar with the Divine Axe at all.

Using the Divine Axe now, Xie Yuan felt the power of every strike surge enormously. Proficient in axe techniques as he was, he had never used such an effortlessly effective axe!

And this was without ever having refined it. If he truly made the Divine Axe his own, how great would its power be?

Xie Yuan did not spend much time speculating amid the fierce battle. He simply swung his axe again and again, forcing the Right Dharma King to retreat without pause.

The Stove Sect elders and Grandmasters around the edge of the battlefield were all dumbfounded. They had never imagined that the Right Dharma King, whose command over the Holy Church had seemed all but certain, would have the Divine Axe taken from him in the blink of an eye and be driven back again and again!

This Xie Yuan had made both the Left and Right Dharma Kings suffer. One had already been indirectly killed by him, and the other seemed as though his defeat was only a matter of time.

The Joyous Union Elder had also been beaten into serious injury and forced into hiding, while the Martial Transmission Elder appeared to have no chance to fight back either.

Could it be that Xie Yuan truly intended to sweep away the Holy Church, the greatest sect under heaven, and sweep away Heaven Beyond Heaven as well?

The church members wanted to stop him, but as they watched Xie Yuan standing proudly in the air and chopping the Right Dharma King into a miserable state, they had the will but not the strength.

Xie Yuan had already driven the Right Dharma King back ten li, nearly chopping him beyond the main city's bounds. He felt it was about enough.

Looking at the still-unwilling Right Dharma King, he smiled faintly.

"Dharma King, this ends here.

"If you had thought to flee just now, you might have had a sliver of a chance."

As he spoke, he raised the axe.

Seeing the movement, the Right Dharma King suddenly remembered something, and his expression changed drastically.

He had possessed hegemony within his grasp, only for Xie Yuan to ruin it. Naturally, he was unwilling to accept it. Yet it was precisely that unwillingness which had made him focus only on charging blindly at Xie Yuan, ultimately bringing about his downfall.

The Right Dharma King saw the enormous axe light—an axe light even greater than before. At last, clarity returned to his gaze, and he tried to flee.

But it was already too late.

Holding the Divine Axe, Xie Yuan felt stronger than ever before.

At this moment, even a peak Grandmaster could not withstand Splitting Mount Hua.

A vast and dazzling axe light, larger than before, crashed down with unstoppable force. To the Right Dharma King, it was as if the sky itself had collapsed.

Boom!

The axe light flashed past, cleaving the Right Dharma King directly into two halves before vanishing.

Xie Yuan felt a burst of delight from the Divine Axe. Then it began to struggle, seemingly trying to leave.

"You come when you please and leave when you please?"

He chuckled, seized it directly, then summoned the Ten Thousand Weapons Candlelight Shadow and bound it tightly.

With the Ten Thousand Weapons Candlelight Shadow, he could slowly refine it afterward. Even a divine weapon would not escape his grasp.

On the other side, the Martial Transmission Elder was already standing far away, staring gravely at Xie Yuan. Not only him—even the other Grandmasters were the same.

Many had dry throats. Looking at Xie Yuan, who had just battled the Left and Right Dharma Kings, cleaved the Right Dharma King alive, and remained completely unharmed, they could not summon even the slightest will to resist.

Xie Yuan stood alone in the air, confronting a group of Stove Sect experts. For a moment, the atmosphere became rather delicate.

Yun Xing and Situ Qin hurried forward and stood beside him.

Yun Xing gave a light cough.

"Um, Family Head Xie, what are you planning to do now?"

Her tone was somewhat strange. To be honest, even she had not expected Xie Yuan to directly kill the Right Dharma King. Not only her—even Situ Qin had found it unexpected.

Having displayed every means at his disposal and seized the Ji Family's Divine Axe, Xie Yuan had become truly terrifyingly powerful.

Xie Yuan looked toward the Stove Sect members led by the Martial Transmission Elder and said:

"Does anyone still object to the choice of Fire Transmission Envoy?"

Everyone was stunned for a moment.

They had thought Xie Yuan was about to say something else. Why suddenly bring this up? Who would dare object now?

Seeing the Martial Transmission Elder silently shake his head, Xie Yuan nodded.

"Then so be it. The people's livelihood is difficult. You must not rise in rebellion."

There were still many powerful members of the Stove Sect, and even more ordinary followers. Those here were only a portion of them.

Though their strongest figures had already been executed, if Xie Yuan truly wished to wipe out so many Grandmasters and so many church members in one sweep, he would likely have to pay a price, and still might not accomplish it completely.

Rather than slaughter them all and provoke fierce resistance, it was better to make an agreement and issue a warning, allowing them to restrain their own subordinates. If they still dared to cause trouble, he could settle accounts then.

"But the Holy Church's mission is..."

The Martial Transmission Elder began to speak, and Xie Yuan instantly fixed his gaze on him.

Sensing the pressure in that gaze, the Martial Transmission Elder immediately fell silent.

Though his cultivation was stronger than Xie Yuan's, he did not possess the slightest confidence. Being watched by Xie Yuan was like being locked onto by someone of a higher realm, filling him with immense pressure.

"You may uphold your mission."

Xie Yuan said flatly:

"But when that time comes, I will visit Heaven Beyond Heaven again."

Among the dozen or so Stove Sect Grandmasters here, and the countless church members on the ground, no one replied.

Seeing this, Xie Yuan turned around and descended, entering the Prince of Western Peace Residence with Situ Qin without any obstruction.

Situ Qin quickly took control of the residence's formation and thoroughly reclaimed the estate. Once she confirmed that everything was safe—especially her father's place of slumber—Situ Qin let out a breath of relief.

Looking at Xie Yuan, she asked somewhat reluctantly:

"Are you preparing to leave?"

Xie Yuan sighed softly.

"Now that things here have stabilized, it is time for me to go."

Situ Qin lightly bit her lip and tugged on the corner of Xie Yuan's robe.

"Why not rest for a while? You are tired too. Rest and recover in the residence first, and you will be able to do things better after you leave. Mm, there is plenty of delicious food here too, and it has been a long time since you listened to me play the qin."

He had actually just listened to it... but perhaps it did not count amid battle.

Xie Yuan stroked Situ Qin's soft hair. Unable to bear leaving so quickly, he said gently:

"Then I will rest for one day first."

Situ Qin's eyes immediately brightened. Though she felt one day was too short, it was still better than nothing.

A brilliant smile bloomed across her face, joy filling her eyes and brows.

Xie Yuan was dazzled by the sight. Situ Qin's heartfelt smile was like spring flowers blooming in splendor; yet among all the strange flowers and rare herbs beneath heaven, not one could compare to her.

Situ Qin pulled him along.

"Come! Let's have the cooks make something delicious first. The food of Heaven Beyond Heaven is different from that outside as well..."

Eating, drinking tea, listening to the qin.

Xie Yuan spent a long-missed stretch of leisurely time with Situ Qin. He suddenly realized that it had been a very long time since he had experienced something like this, making it all the more precious.

When would the next time be?

He felt faintly wistful.

Until night fell, and it was time to rest. The two exchanged a knowing glance, and Xie Yuan saw a charm in Situ Qin's eyes that had never been there before. So the two entered a room together.

The qin music lingered around the beams, unceasing for three days.

Until the morning three days later.

Xie Yuan pushed open the door, already fully dressed.

He turned back to look at Situ Qin, who was still asleep, peaceful as a baby. A reluctant expression crossed his face, but he still shook his head, turned around, and walked resolutely away.

The world was as if immersed in fire and water, and he still bore a mission. He could not indulge in tender affections for too long. Once he set the universe right from its upside-down state and brought peace and contentment to all the people, Xie Yuan would have time to rest and recuperate.

He turned and left. Behind him, Situ Qin opened her eyes and lay silently in bed, watching his retreating back.

Yun Xing appeared again at just the right time and sent Xie Yuan out of Heaven Beyond Heaven. Before they parted, she said with a grin:

"Don't worry. I'll help you take good care of your little wife."

Xie Yuan was silent for a moment, then cupped his hands.

"Then I thank you."

He did not truly understand Yun Xing's intentions and did not know what she wanted. But for now, she was indeed standing with Situ Wan and with them.

Xie Yuan stood on a hillside outside Yun Province Prefecture and turned to look at Cloudreach Peak, visible even from here.

His next destination was Yunshan Mountain.