"Where can you go when you have nowhere left to turn?"
The Heavenly Emperor's majestic voice seemed to ring directly in Seven Kill Daoist's heart, shaking his placid sea of thoughts and trembling the innate spirit-light dwelling at immeasurable heights. He felt profound dread and despair closing in, his will to fight utterly gone. He was surrounded on all sides, and all he wanted was to lower the sword in his hand, bow his head, and submit to the other party in exchange for protection.
As the thought arose, the Nether Sea Sword suddenly trembled. Rings of killing intent rippled from its unadorned black blade, cutting away Seven Kill Daoist's hesitation, fear, and despair, and shattering the time around him, frozen solid as amber.
A fierce light flashed in Seven Kill Daoist's eyes, filled with the purest, most primal intent to kill. His Dao Body turned to light and merged into the Nether Sea Sword, giving rise to a dark sword radiance that would slay all things and all under heaven. It cleaved through time and split the River of Time, bringing the flow of space and time to a halt as it slashed toward the Heavenly Emperor. He meant to cut down even the symbol of this era and destroy the very foundation of all existence.
The Heavenly Emperor stood hazily, as though separated by thousands of mountains and rivers. He calmly reached out, and specks of saber-light gathered into a single ripple of light, meeting the dark streak head-on. The two froze together in the gap between boundless chaos and the River of Time, as though they had become a vivid painting.
Suddenly, the ripple of light burst forth, piercing the dark sword-radiance and reaching into the long-vanished past. It connected to the illusory River of Time and