He Wushuang remained unmoved and threw a punch like an unrivaled demon lord. Divine marks flashed across his fist. This was no divine ability, but the tangible manifestation of strength pushed to its utmost limits-the very embodiment of strength reaching the divine.
A force that could destroy everything came crashing down!
Radiant light burst from the young man and woman as they met this world-annihilating divine fist head-on!
Boom...
Both sides fell back at once. Even with his extraordinary talent, He Wushuang could not shatter the will embodied in their divine fists.
Neither side won this exchange!
Mysterious, ancient divine marks rippled across the young woman's fist, carrying the true runes and aura of undying, imperishable strength!
The young man was likewise surrounded by eerie fluctuations of deathless, indestructible power!
He Wushuang frowned, then understood.
The Indestructible Scripture! It was said that the Heavenly Horned Ant Clan had obtained this scripture of the Great Dao through a stroke of fortune. It was a supreme body-refinement art. Once mastered, it rendered the flesh immortal and indestructible. Combined with the clan's innate gifts, it raised their strength to even greater heights. Fully grown, they could fight Immortal Kings even without entering the ranks of kings themselves!
He Wushuang could no longer remain calm. He gazed at the pair with excitement written all over his face. Such a heaven-defying secret art was truly terrifying. Everyone knew that Immortal Kings ruled heaven and earth, looking down upon the rise and fall of eras, unmoved as countless worlds changed around them. Perhaps only another step forward could stir them, for they were simply too powerful.
Those who had not become kings were ultimately mere ants. Only those who truly entered the ranks of kings stood at the center of the stage.
Yet whether in the Nine Heavens, the Immortal Domain, or the Foreign Realm, the birth of an Immortal King was far too difficult. Prodigies could not do it, first-generation talents could not do it, and even members of Emperor Clans struggled to cross that threshold. Only true children of an era could enter those ranks. According to the records, even the most glorious eras had produced no more than a handful, while some had produced only one or two. That alone showed how difficult becoming a king was!
To think that his opponents could fight kings through this art was almost unimaginable. Their race's innate advantages certainly played a part, but the contribution of the Indestructible Scripture could not be ignored.
"I'll be taking your art!" He Wushuang declared confidently!
"Of course. Once I send you down below, I certainly won't be stingy. I'll burn a copy for you! So please, die!" the young man offered generously.
"Hahahahaha..." Arrogant laughter rang through heaven and earth!
"You aren't the only ones with trump cards. My realm's body-refinement arts are no less formidable!"
As He Wushuang finished speaking, his entire being began to ascend. His hair rose without a breeze, each strand wrapped in golden radiance, translucent and gleaming. He spread his arms like a god awakening!
"Come! I'll send you on your way!"
No further words were needed. With every movement, the divine power unleashed by both sides leveled mountain after mountain, then reduced them to ash!
Heaven and earth darkened, and the sun and moon lost their light. They fought from one ancient land to another, the most dazzling figures on this battlefield! Every strike surpassed the Self-Slaying realm!
"Ha ha ha...! I am He Wushuang, peerless beneath heaven! I grant you defeat and death! Peerless Emperor Fist! Die!"
His divine fist struck like a pillar of heaven. The young man and woman were blasted away, streaking across the sky like falling meteors before crashing into the earth with a tremendous tremor.
The two staggered to their feet. Even their Heavenly Horned Ant bodies were now on the verge of breaking apart. The young man's armor was gone, the bones of his right hand lay exposed, and precious blood glowing with radiant light covered his body.
The woman's body was also split with wounds. She had blocked that ultimate punch for her younger brother, and her body had nearly exploded. Fortunately, they were Heavenly Horned Ants. Any other race would have burst apart!
Even so, her condition was terrible. Cracks spread across her body like a spiderweb, with golden light flickering deep within them-the gleam of precious blood.
A rain of blood fell from the sky. It was the weeping of a world whose fortune had suffered defeat!
"Have we lost?"
The young man did not weep, yet tears of blood fell unbidden. This sorrow came from the Great Dao of heaven and earth, a lament his body voiced instinctively. The Nine Heavens had lost. The heavenly Dao was weeping, and the realm's fortune was singing a dirge.
"He's simply too strong. It's enough to make you despair! He will certainly become an Immortal King in the future. Even together, we're no match for him! He was right. Though we belong to one of the strongest races, we still cannot call ourselves invincible! How can someone like him exist?" the woman said, her voice trembling with lament.
"Yu, you!"
"I hate this! Our vengeance is still unfulfilled, we don't even know whether Father is alive, and our little brother hasn't been born yet! I never even had the chance to see him before Mother was ambushed and killed. Sob, sob!" Tears fell from the woman's eyes.
"Ah, are we truly going to perish in defeat like this? Oh, Nine Heavens!"
The young man sighed as well!
He could not accept it. To be defeated in physical strength, their greatest advantage-how could he possibly accept that?
How would the Nine Heavens face this in the future?
And the Foreign Realm clearly could not have only one leading figure. Their opponent had already admitted that quite a few such figures had been dispatched.
Chapter 9: Intervention
It had to be said that someone like He Wushuang truly defied heaven. Even when Shi Hao returned to Immortal Ancient in a dream and fought him, he could gain no advantage!
He was worthy of being someone who would one day enter the realm of peerless kings. If not for Shi Hao, he could have been called unrivaled across past and present-a protagonist through and through!
Though he had not been born into an Emperor Clan, his talent was extraordinary and unmatched. He was a central figure of his era!
Were Emperor Clans powerful? Extremely! To ordinary cultivators, the gulf between themselves and Emperor Clans was an uncrossable chasm!
But were Emperor Clans necessarily the strongest? Not always! They possessed exceptional talent and were powerful from birth, already far ahead of others. Most importantly, they possessed the bloodline power of kings. Once they unleashed the inherited royal arts engraved in their blood, few could oppose them!
Yet this brought both benefits and drawbacks. The benefit was that they could quickly reach the Extreme Dao, or even the Immortal Dao. A few could even become Quasi-Kings, but they could never truly become kings.
Once they had exhausted their bloodline's potential, it became a burden. Only by severing that bloodline and breaking through their limits would they have a chance to become kings!
The further they cultivated through their bloodline's power, the more traces of the king became engraved within them, and the harder those traces were to sever. In the end, they could only drown in the long river of history.
By contrast, those from ordinary races who displayed world-shaking talent had an easier path to becoming kings.
He Wushuang was undoubtedly such a person, a peerless prodigy of his generation. The bearing and strength he displayed overshadowed every Emperor Clan member of his age! An Zhuo fell far short in that regard. Though An Zhuo's strength far surpassed that of ordinary King Clan and Emperor Clan members, making him one of the Foreign Realm's leading figures, he relied more heavily on An Lan's bloodline and ancestral arts.
Still, rather than saying He Wushuang was exceptional, it would be better to say that every Immortal King had displayed the aptitude of a king in their youth, crushing cultivators of their own generation! All the more so for He Wushuang, who would become such a supreme king in the future!
And Number Ten had even slaughtered multiple Emperor Clan members single-handedly.
Perhaps the outcome of this battle was only to be expected. In the future, people would say that this king had dominated an entire region in his youth, looked down upon all beneath heaven, fought many alone, and stood peerless, having slaughtered countless prodigies and Emperor Clan members!
On the battlefield.
Watching He Wushuang approach through the void, the young man and woman burned their flesh and divine essence for one final gamble. Unfortunately, their wounds were too severe, and their divine power was exhausted.
He Wushuang said nothing more. He had already witnessed his opponents at their strongest, and they truly belonged among the strongest races in the world! Unfortunately, they had encountered him. An ordinary Emperor Clan member or another leading figure would probably have long since become dry bones beneath their fists!
He Wushuang unleashed his divine fist once more!
Am I going to die? But I still want to fight! How can the Nine Heavens sink into ruin like this? I cannot accept it! How hateful!
At that moment, the young man shed tears. These were tears of his own sorrow, welling up from the depths of his heart in grief and lament!
Just as the two were about to perish beneath the Peerless Emperor Fist, a sudden change occurred. Ripples spread through the void, and a fair, jade-like hand reached out, appearing before them as though it had crossed the distance between space and time.
The hand curled into a fist, extending like an invincible streak of divine radiance to strike the incoming, world-shaking divine fist.
Boom...
Divine power spread through this Ancient World in rolling waves!
He Wushuang stared at the young man emerging from the void and could not help freezing for a moment!
He was a handsome young man who seemed to take everything in stride. His ink-black hair fell to his waist, his sword-like brows were sharp, and his dark eyes seemed to hold all the stars in the heavens. His entire being radiated a world-shaking edge, like a divine sword!
The young man and woman stared at the newcomer with wide eyes.
The woman covered her small mouth with her delicate hand, afraid that making a sound might shatter this illusion-like sight!
What had they just witnessed?
A peerless demon-lord-like figure whom the two of them could not defeat together, a powerful foe certain to become a king in the future, had his divine fist casually blocked by someone equally young! Had the cultivation world already become so unfamiliar?
Looking at the two before him, covered in wounds yet refusing to retreat even half a step, Lin Yue was filled with emotion. This clan had not failed the Nine Heavens. They had fought to their very last member-how could they be allowed to vanish like this? Since I'm here, I should do what little I can.
Besides, I need some precious blood too. Ahem...! Of course, demanding repayment for a favor... but this is the blood of the extremity of strength, after all! I want it!
At that moment, Lin Yue seemed to be slowly discerning his own heart and becoming part of this world. Even the divine power within him was nearly bursting free, about to carry him into the Self-Slaying realm.
Have I already come to understand myself? Lin Yue understood!
Though I'm a traveler from another world, all I ask is a clear conscience! Since I'm here, let me do something for this era. I dare not claim I can save everyone, but at least I can remain true to my heart. Let's make this a magnificent fight!
"You've already done enough, my friends of the Heavenly Horned Ant Clan. You have not failed the Nine Heavens, nor your clan of supreme strength. You are the pride of the Nine Heavens. Though you've lost, please do not lose heart. From ancient times until now, no one has been able to call themselves invincible, nor has anyone dared claim they would never lose! Many fall along the path of the Great Dao. Only those who rise against the current can reach the summit. After this, you will surely climb even higher. Leave the rest to me!"
"S-sorry for the trouble, fellow Daoist!"
The young woman had yet to recover from her shock, and her tongue stumbled over the words!
"Who are you? With your talent, you certainly shouldn't be unknown in the Nine Heavens!"
He Wushuang spoke calmly, unshaken by the fact that his opponent had blocked his strike!
This was not praise for his opponent, but absolute confidence in himself. Anyone who could block his peerless killing strike had to stand on the level of an Immortal King's son! With war now raging between the realms, such a person should not have remained unknown!
In other words, his meaning was: If you can block one of my punches, you have every right to be proud and make your name known throughout all worlds!
"Brat, state your name! My master never slays nameless vermin!"
The Blood Phoenix Lion, who had been absent for quite some time, had run back when he saw the battle end. Now, seeing Lin Yue appear, he jumped out again with a contemptuous expression. Even two Heavenly Horned Ants, members of the strongest race, could not hurt his master in the slightest. One more person would only be another dish served up to him!
"Oh! Listen carefully, little lion. My name is Lin Yue. Lin is written with two trees, and Yue is the Yue of growing stronger with every battle. Make sure you remember this name. It is the name of a supreme emperor who will one day resound throughout all heavens and worlds and overturn reincarnation! I fear that one day, you won't dare speak my true name, or even inquire about it. So while you still have the chance, be sure to engrave it firmly in your memory!"
"Are you confident, fellow Daoist?" asked the young man named Yan. He was truly worried!
"Stand back! Cheer me on and watch me slay our enemy!"
Lin Yue spoke without concern, even when facing a heaven-blessed figure like He Wushuang!
Hearing this, the two exchanged a glance, then retreated together to another mountain peak.
"Do you need a rest?"
Lin Yue looked at He Wushuang and asked casually!
"Ha ha ha... I must admit, that battle was quite satisfying. But for me, it barely counted as a warm-up. What about you? Would you like to warm up first? Otherwise, you might say later that I won unfairly!"
Arrogance! Pride! Boundless arrogance! To an outsider, this would seem like excessive posturing. But to someone who had reached the utmost limits, it was only natural. Or rather, this was the invincible heart possessed by every peerless powerhouse!
What was an invincible heart? Wherever my heart led, I feared nothing. Wherever my gaze reached, no opponent could stand!
"Then fight!"
The instant Lin Yue's words fell, the Black-Gold Long Sword in his hand struck first.
He stepped forth with Yin-Yang Reversal!
A heaven-sealing, earth-quelling sword strike slashed toward his foe, carrying the power to slaughter and destroy everything!
He held nothing back.
Chapter 10: Heaven's Collapse
"Well struck!"
Facing Lin Yue's peerless sword strike, He Wushuang remained unhurried. He pressed his fingers together like a sword, and divine-ability runes extended from his jade-like fingers. He likewise unleashed a sword strike. The void shook, waves surged, and sword intent that could cleave through everything spread forth.
As the shock waves receded, the two stood facing each other. He Wushuang raised his chin slightly, his face full of confidence.
Lin Yue frowned as he looked at him.
"No need to wonder. It is indeed a sword art from your realm. It had its merits, so I took it and used it. How was it? Did it meet your standards?"
"Little He, you want to show off, do you? In that case, let's fight to our hearts' content!"
With his opponent so arrogant, how could Lin Yue not show some real ability?
Lin Yue said no more. Three strands of immortal energy coiled around his body, and like a furnace bursting open, he distorted the calm void once again. This time, however, the force was greater than before, for a fierce storm had formed between heaven and earth, sweeping in all directions!
At the center of the storm, Lin Yue's black hair danced. The instant he opened his eyes, two terrifying beams of divine light shot from them, one black and one white. These were the eyes of yin and yang, capable of seeing through all falsehood!
A battle song rang out across the entire Ancient World once more. On another mountain peak, the young man and woman of the Heavenly Horned Ant Clan watched Lin Yue, and some of their earlier worry seemed to ease.
The battle song of heaven and earth told them that Lin Yue, too, was a prodigy acknowledged by the realm's fortune, someone who had reached the utmost limits on the path of cultivation. He could fight on behalf of the fortune of the Nine Heavens realm.
Still, they dared not predict victory or defeat. His opponent was that peerless, demon-lord-like figure, far too powerful! Even their combined strength had been unable to contend with him.
"This fellow Daoist named Lin Yue can be counted among the strongest in our Nine Heavens. Yet when he attacked, I couldn't tell what kind of invincible Dao seed he had fused with. How strange! By rights, human cultivators should begin fusing with ancient seeds in the Void Dao realm!"
The woman beside him voiced her confusion.
"Could it be that he's walking that path?"
The young man was likewise startled. A guess occurred to him, and he looked at Lin Yue with astonishment in his eyes. Could someone truly have made it all the way down that path?
Lin Yue stepped forward, and the Black-Gold Long Sword in his right hand slashed toward He Wushuang. Its keen sword intent seemed to cut open the void and sever all things, crossing an endless distance to descend upon He Wushuang!
"Life-Less Yin-Yang Sword!"
Before you continue