First Clash with the Ruthless Great Emperor

Xu Changqing put away the spaceship and stood upon the Starry Sky, his white hair drifting behind him. His face was expressionless, his hands clasped behind his back as he quietly looked down at the woman in white.

The woman in white put away the tattered Five-Colored Altar and stood silently atop the river of blood. Her white robes were stained crimson as she faced him in silence.

Neither spoke. They merely sized each other up.

"Boom!"

The next moment, without any warning, the battle erupted.

This was their first exchange.

Perhaps it was because they had gone too long without encountering an opponent, or perhaps because they had been lonely for far too long. They wished to spar, and to defeat the other.

But more than that, they had not met an evenly matched opponent for some time. Their self-created Dao techniques and all their insights had nowhere to be put to use.

Both radiated equally matched auras. The Saint's Pressure alone made this world tremble. This was a living world.

As for the mountain of corpses behind her, those had been people who pursued her, only to be slain by her instead.

They had all been guardians of the altars. To travel the Emperor's Path, one had to use the altars along the way to cross the Starry Sky, unless one possessed precise Emperor's Path Coordinates.

The woman in white's black hair streamed behind her, her white robes fluttering fiercely. She raised a jade-like hand as Chaos Qi circulated in her palm, a purple river of stars flowing within it as though it contained All Heavens and Myriad Worlds. She struck toward Xu Changqing with a single palm.

"Boom!"

The void was shattered by her palm. Countless corpses turned to ash and vanished. With a single strike, heaven and earth were thrown into turmoil, while the Starry Sky trembled without end.

They were both Saints, yet far stronger than ordinary Saints.

She had become a Saint some time ago. After all, much time had already passed since she had severed Dao.

A white radiance surged around Xu Changqing's body. Mist seeped from his pores, making him seem Ethereal and Immortal, while white ripples spread outward.

With one step, a miniature black hole instantly appeared beneath his feet. Dense Dao patterns, visible only to him, stretched from beneath his feet all the way to the woman in white.

"Buzz!"

Xu Changqing vanished from where he stood. With a boom, when he reappeared, he was already before the woman in white, throwing out a punch of his own.

Brilliant light erupted, dazzling beyond measure, directly meeting that jade-white palm.

"Boom!"

The aftershocks shook the world, destroying heaven and earth. Fist intent shattered the heavens, Palm Reincarnation!

At that moment, their fist and palm collided, yet neither retreated a single step.

The woman in white's brows furrowed slightly, surprise appearing in her autumn eyes. She discovered that her strength had been suppressed to eighty percent.

Defeating Xu Changqing had already been extremely difficult, but now her strength was being affected by some inexplicable force.

Even the circulation of her Great Dao Laws and origin had become sluggish, as if a series of uneven pits had appeared in a smooth Great Dao chain.

Before she could think further, she did not withdraw her palm. Instead, she twisted it sharply and chopped sideways at Xu Changqing's neck.

Buzz!

Waves of Chaos Qi rose from that jade-white palm, sharp as a Chaos Heavenly Saber. The instant it swept through, the void was torn apart, and the icy killing intent caused the surroundings to begin freezing.

Xu Changqing leaned backward, his fist turning into a palm as he directly seized the woman in white's arm. Her skin felt icy and smooth beneath his grasp.

His five fingers curved slightly as they clamped down on her hand. Her hand visibly reddened, and that tender, jelly-like hand sank inward beneath his grip.

Whoosh!

A fierce gale swept past Xu Changqing's neck, sending his white hair flying wildly behind him. After evading the strike, he gripped the woman in white's jade hand tightly and pulled.

Her entire body was yanked directly before Xu Changqing.

"Thud!"

Xu Changqing clenched his left hand into a fist, blazing light bursting from it as he smashed toward the woman in white's flat abdomen. Yet she blocked it with her left hand.

Her arm was numbed by the Immense Force. The woman in white reacted swiftly; her right hand was tightly clamped down and difficult to free.

Her left foot retreated slightly, then her body twisted. Using her left foot as a pivot, she spun sharply, driving her right leg with her waist as she launched a side kick at Xu Changqing.

A one-hundred-and-eighty-degree side kick shot toward Xu Changqing's temple from an exceptionally tricky angle. Her white robes slid downward from inertia, revealing a large expanse of fair, tender skin.

White light formed into a crescent arc.

Xu Changqing had no choice but to release the woman in white's hand. Dense silver Dao patterns appeared beneath his feet, eventually outlining a black hole. He took one step forward and instantly vanished.

They stopped at the right point. Their Close Combat had only been a test.

Their combat experience was equally seasoned. Neither exposed even the slightest flaw, nor gave the other any opportunity.

Even with twenty percent of her strength suppressed by Xu Changqing, the woman in white was not greatly affected. She was only at a slight disadvantage.

"I will no longer hold anything back." Xu Changqing spoke calmly, staring at the woman in white whose face he could not make out.

The Ruthless Great Emperor—the most ruthless person throughout Covering the Heavens, past and present. Although she had not appeared often, she had left an unforgettable impression.

She gave people the feeling that among the trio, she was the strongest.

The Black Emperor, who feared neither heaven nor earth, wilted the moment he encountered her.

The Ancestor of Grave Robbers, who proclaimed, "At the end of grave robbing, who stands at the peak? Before me, Duan De, all graves become empty," also became meek and submissive when facing the Ruthless Great Emperor.

The woman in white remained silent for a long while. The Bronze Bracelet on her right thumb began to emit a hazy azure glow. Then, with a flash, it transformed into a Bronze Sword that she gripped tightly in her hand.

She unleashed her full combat power. The haziness around her face also vanished, revealing a breathtakingly beautiful face, exquisitely delicate, like flawless jade personally carved by heaven.

"Long time no see." After a long silence, she spoke for the first time.

She did not know how to face Xu Changqing. A Person who Transmits the Dao? An opponent? Both enemy and friend?

But one thing was certain: neither of them held any killing intent toward the other. This was merely the purest form of hegemony.

The woman in white was tall and slender, her features incomparably exquisite. Her white robes fluttered and her luxuriant hair danced wildly. Her face alone was enough to topple kingdoms and cities, and combined with combat strength no weaker than Xu Changqing's, she seemed utterly formidable.

Xu Changqing knew that the woman in white was not wearing her mask because it was not in her possession. It was at Kunlun Mountain.

When she had separated from her brother that day, he had left her a Paper Boat and a Bronze Ring. That Tattered Ghost Face Mask had been taken away.

Xu Changqing did not respond. Instead, he directly drew his Bone Saber and pointed it at the woman in white from afar. His eyes were filled with coldness, and his Battle Intent Shattering Clouds.

He began using the embryonic Divine Movement Technique he had just created. With a step, dense silver threads beneath his feet outlined a black hole, and he arrived at the woman in white's side in an instant.

"Rip!"

A vast blade radiance blazed brilliantly, tearing apart space. The earth split open, and countless streams of magma surged into the sky.

The remaining living creatures in this world were dumbfounded at the sight. Someone actually dared to attack that Female Demon!

The woman in white lowered her jade hand and turned her wrist. The Bronze Sword shifted along with her movements.

Clang!

Sparks flew everywhere. The Bronze Sword blocked the Bone Saber, but the Bone Saber had been strengthened with Immortal Gold, so its toughness was self-evident. Yet the Bronze Sword only gained a deep mark.

This Bronze Sword had been transformed from the ring, but it too was mixed with Immortal Gold.

The Ruthless Great Emperor's luck could be called exceptionally good. It was not strange for her to find Immortal Gold. After all, she would later find the Dao Integration Flower and all kinds of Divine Materials and Immortal Gold.

"Clang, clang, clang..."

Their battle grew increasingly intense. They constantly verified each other's Dao techniques, or used the other as a sparring partner to confirm their own shortcomings.

That was why they had chosen to fight.

They had not battled an evenly matched opponent for a long time, and the techniques they had created had never been tested.

They fought from the ground into the depths below, then from underground into the Starry Sky. Afterward, the Bone Saber and Bronze Sword both left their owners' hands and hovered to the side.

The woman in white formed seals with both hands. Dense runes emerged, Chaos surged, Immortal Light shone brilliantly, and the Great Dao was like countless threads, freely controlled and woven by her.

In the end, a Black Great Dao Treasure Bottle appeared above her head.

"Buzz!"

The instant the Great Dao Treasure Bottle appeared, it absorbed all the starlight. Its mouth resembled a vast abyss; one glance was enough to make one's mind unable to resist sinking into it.

Xu Changqing's expression turned grave at the sight. He pressed his palms together as the light within him continuously bloomed, and Terrifying Ruthless Blade Intent poured from every pore of his body.

He pulled his palms apart, and dense runes appeared in the space between them. The Transparent Long Saber within the Sea of Bitterness began to tremble before finally flying out.

"Crash..."

That was not all. He unleashed the Emperor's Fall Phenomenon. Dense Blood Rain fell from the sky, and this Emperor's Fall Phenomenon was even more horrifying and terrifying than before.

Within it were not only corpses and fragments of weapons, but also dense heaps of metal—a massive pile of blood-stained Wrecked Spaceships and Mecha.