Daoyan was neither particularly handsome nor tall. He looked much like an ordinary person, somewhat thin and frail, with gentle features. His offensive power was not particularly strong.
That was the conclusion Xu Changqing had reached through fighting Emperor Daoyan.
If Xu Changqing judged Emperor Daoyan through the eyes of someone who had read about him in his previous life, then among the many Great Emperors, Daoyan was the weakest.
Yet he was also extraordinarily difficult to kill, especially with his Golden Immortal Robe protecting him like a turtle shell.
Even when Xu Changqing used Heaven's Will Saber Art, he had only left a deep mark without splitting it apart.
"Clang, clang..."
Xu Changqing moved swiftly, slashing at Daoyan from time to time. Unfortunately, Daoyan's turtle shell was simply too hard.
The two moved so fast that afterimages appeared. Sparks flew whenever they collided, accompanied by dull impacts.
They occasionally fought hand-to-hand, but Xu Changqing was still at a slight disadvantage. Though his physical body was incredibly strong, Daoyan wore an Immortal Gold Battle Robe. Punching him was no different from scratching an itch.
In an instant, Xu Changqing had already slashed more than a hundred times, yet he had still left only shallow marks.
"Your offensive power isn't enough," Daoyan said with a smile, looking at Xu Changqing with calm eyes.
Relying on his Immortal Gold Battle Robe, he did not take the initiative to attack. Simply standing there gave Xu Changqing a headache.
He was not afraid of opponents with powerful attacks. What annoyed him were opponents who had maxed out their defense—ones he simply could not kill.
With his old temperament, he would have wanted to curse. He's fucking tanky.
"Since that is the case, I can only go all out." Xu Changqing's indifferent voice spread out as white mist rose from his entire body, and faint ripples covered the whole Silver Arena.
The Supreme Heartless Body was activated, suppressing twenty percent of the opponent's Great Dao power, as well as all of the opponent's saber arts and defensive power.
Daoyan frowned slightly. He raised his hand and released one purple rune after another, only to find that they were no longer as dazzling as before.
When he activated the Immortal Gold Battle Robe, he discovered that the divinity within it had been suppressed by some kind of power.
His strength had been limited to eighty percent, while the divine spirit within the Immortal Gold was bound by chains of Great Dao Laws.
This is unfavorable for me!
In an instant, Daoyan concluded that the battle was beginning to turn against him. He did not know what method Xu Changqing had used to suppress all of his power.
"Among all Great Emperors, you rank as the weakest. We proved Dao from within, while you... proved Dao with External Objects. That alone shows that your offensive power is limited. Though you have a turtle shell protecting you, there is still a limit!"
Xu Changqing stared coldly at Daoyan. His saber momentum surged violently, and a terrifying hurricane of Saber Intent made his white hair stand on end and his robes flap wildly.
He gripped the saber hilt with both hands, aimed the tip at the Silver Arena, and stabbed down fiercely. With a clang, brilliant sparks burst where the saber tip struck the arena.
Boom!
Countless dark-red long sabers tore through the Silver Arena, their tips aimed at the sky as they slowly rose.
"You say I am the weakest among Great Emperors? But as you said, I am merely the weakest among Great Emperors. Great Emperor, Great Emperor—I am still a Great Emperor. No one can judge a Great Emperor. No matter how stunning you were in your youth, you never reached the realm of a Great Emperor."
Daoyan was not angered by Xu Changqing's words. Instead, he spoke with a smile, calm as though he were discussing something insignificant.
Becoming a Great Emperor was itself a form of strength. No matter how weak one was, one was still a Great Emperor.
"Besides, emperors do not meet emperors. How can you know without fighting?" Daoyan's tone gradually turned cold. His gaze was no longer peaceful, but sharp enough to make one's skin sting.
The Ancient Life Tree in his hand swept violently toward Xu Changqing.
Boom!
The emerald Ancient Life Tree erupted with endless, brilliant runes, directly destroying Xu Changqing's saber momentum. The unstoppable runes transformed into dazzling sword forms.
"You are right. My offensive power is limited, but I have the Ancient Life Tree as my weapon, enough to make up for my shortcomings." Daoyan rapidly closed in on Xu Changqing.
The Ancient Life Tree in his hand was an Immortal Divine Medicine, though not a complete one—merely a branch.
"If you were at your peak, you could fight me for several thousand exchanges. But now, you only have eighty percent of your strength. What do you have to fight me with?!" Xu Changqing did not care much about Daoyan's offensive power.
Dark-red long sabers rose densely from the ground, eventually forming an encircling Heavenly Net around Daoyan.
With a gesture from both of Xu Changqing's hands, the long sabers floating around him and above Daoyan all shot forward at supersonic speed.
"It is useless," Daoyan said calmly.
The Ancient Life Tree swept horizontally, then lashed forcefully in every direction. The Immortal Gold Battle Robe emitted several dazzling lights, blocking the Bone Sabers.
Clang, clang...
The ancient tree bloomed with radiance and transformed into countless green leaves. Three thousand green leaves soared into the sky, creating a spectacular scene. Green collided with dark red, sparks spraying everywhere as a dense rain of sparks fell from the sky.
Daoyan forcefully hurled the Ancient Life Tree in his hand toward Xu Changqing, piercing through space.
Meanwhile, he sprinted forward while forming hand seals, dense ancient characters appearing from the void.
He pressed his palms together. With a boom, Dao Sound thundered. Then Daoyan pulled his hands apart, and a black hole appeared before him. Countless dazzling substances shredded space as an enormous spaceship slowly emerged.
Xu Changqing froze. Good heavens, he could even fight like this? Summon a spaceship?
Construct a spaceship from the mysteries of the Dao?
Boom!
A brilliant blue radiance erupted from the tail of the spaceship as it charged directly toward Xu Changqing.
Xu Changqing held the Bone Saber in his right hand, crouched slightly, then leaped fiercely into the air and hovered there. Divine light bloomed from his eyes as he gripped the saber hilt with both hands and slashed at the spaceship.
Shhk!
Milky-white saber light covered the entire arena, blazing with incomparable brilliance. Only a soft sound was heard before Daoyan's spaceship was instantly cut into two, turning into specks of starlight that vanished from the arena.
Yet that strike also exposed an opening. Daoyan was extremely fast; the moment Xu Changqing finished slashing, Daoyan had already arrived before him.
Azure light bloomed from the Ancient Life Tree. Veins bulged across Daoyan's hands as some divine radiance blazed like two suns, and the ancient tree smashed toward Xu Changqing.
Bang!
A figure streaked through the sky and crashed directly into the Silver Arena.
Seeing this, Daoyan dove down as well. After all, he had been the strongest of an era, so he would not be defeated so easily. No matter what, he was a Divine Prohibition Expert.
"Emperor's Fall!"
Xu Changqing's indifferent voice spread out. Daoyan suddenly discovered that everything around him had turned blood-red, while a pungent smell of blood filled the air and flooded his mouth.
Mountains of Corpses and Sea of Blood rose and fell around him. Countless Bloody Rivers intertwined, corpses piled into mountains that stretched as far as the eye could see like the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, resembling the mountains of Guilin.
Thousands of streams of lava erupted from the ground and shot into the sky. The heavens were dim, like the twilight of the gods.
A shattered Purple-Gold Bell floated upon the sea of blood, while a creature with only half a body lay not far away.
Beside a shattered Five-Colored Stone was the hazy head of a woman. A green Ancient Pagoda was broken apart, and beside it lay a noblewoman dressed in Swedish clothing.
A white-haired man knelt on one knee atop the tallest mountain of corpses. Before him lay the corpses of various Great Emperors, while his white hair draped down beneath the bodies, already stained blood-red.
Daoyan's pupils contracted. Clearly, he recognized several of the special corpses and shattered weapons lying before Xu Changqing. No wonder Xu Changqing had said that he was the weakest among Great Emperors.
"Never been defeated? Then you will be defeated this time!" Xu Changqing's cold voice came from high above.
Daoyan looked up and saw Xu Changqing standing beneath the dark-red sky, Immortal Radiance blooming from his entire body. He seemed like an immortal cast down to the mortal world, ethereal and distant.
Yet at times, he also seemed like the greatest demon in the world.
Buzz!
Xu Changqing drew out the Bone Saber in his hand, held it one-handed, and pointed it toward the sky. A glimmer of light blossomed at the tip, incomparably dazzling.
In but a moment, it illuminated this world that resembled Purgatory.
Within his Sea of Bitterness, a Transparent Long Saber began to tremble. At last, it broke free from the Sea of Bitterness and transformed into a Saber Sheath, wrapping around the Bone Saber outside.
The Sword Drawing Technique condensed the Saber Intent he had nurtured for hundreds of years into a single point, unleashing a heaven-shaking strike. Even a Divine Prohibition Expert would find it difficult to block; if not killed, they would be gravely wounded.
This was a Secret Technique he had created to counter the Jie Zi Secret. It was not yet complete and required time to nurture its Saber Intent.
Finally, he used Heaven's Will Saber Art once more, locking down every possible route of escape.
Even someone who possessed the Movement Secret Art would find it difficult to escape Heaven's Will's range of attack.
The simultaneous use of three terrifying attacks instantly brought Xu Changqing into the realm of Divine Prohibition. Daoyan also sensed an Aura of Death, a sensation he had not felt in a very long time.
At that moment, Daoyan's expression turned grave. Blue flames rose from his body as his strength continued to climb, and he quickly stepped into the realm of Divine Prohibition.
After all, he was an imprint of a Great Emperor. Though his strength was nearly the same as it had been in the past, he also possessed the Great Emperor's cultivation arts and Secret Techniques in his memories.
Crack...
At that moment, Daoyan suddenly discovered that the Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood before him had begun to crack. The white-haired man atop the corpse mountain moved a finger, then slowly and shakily stood up.
The several broken corpses and figures before the white-haired man also rose. Above their heads hung either a Purple-Gold Bell, a green pagoda, a Five-Colored Stone, or a Dragon Stele.
Daoyan's expression became exceedingly ugly. Even with the Immortal Gold Battle Robe, he would have difficulty blocking this strike.
If Xu Changqing had used only one Divine Ability or Secret Technique, Daoyan was confident it could not seriously injure him. Two Secret Techniques used together would at most gravely wound him. But three at once carried the risk of death.
Xu Changqing's three Secret Techniques were simply too terrifying.
That Heaven's Will Saber Art contained the aura of Heavenly Tribulation. It could not be seen or evaded; it was as though one had been inexplicably slashed, their Dao severed in an instant.
Moreover, that strike did not merely target one's physical body, but also one's origin, one's Great Dao Laws, and even... one's emotions.
Daoyan had noticed this from the beginning of their exchange, but the Immortal Gold Battle Robe had blocked it for him.
As for the other Secret Technique, he did not know its name.
But he had just heard Xu Changqing call that Vision Emperor's Fall.
It meant that even Great Emperors would fall.
Any one of these three Secret Techniques alone would be enough to shock the world.
By his judgment, although they were weaker than Great Emperor Secret Techniques, they were still horrifying.
If they had been created by a Great Emperor, perhaps one move alone could have cracked his Immortal Gold Battle Robe.
Xu Changqing remained expressionless as he watched Daoyan continuously unleash all kinds of Divine Abilities and Secret Techniques. Then vast amounts of runes and ancient characters fused together, transforming into nine brilliant azure ancient characters, yet his expression did not change.
Those nine ancient characters represented the Dao of a Great Emperor.
P.S. The fever had finally gone down, so I went to an internet café to write.
In a few days, the computer at home should be working again.
Before you continue