Bang!
The Gu Clan great cultivator met him in battle, utterly shocked. He could no longer gain any advantage. It was like fighting an Emperor Clan great cultivator of the same Escape One Realm, and he even felt somewhat suppressed.
In this clash, the vast laws of the Great Dao were burned to nothing, dimming and vanishing.
The Gu Clan great cultivator spat out a mouthful of blood and staggered back several steps, his gaze suddenly turning cold.
"The Three Lives Great Method. I never imagined your Crane Clan had become so deeply intertwined with Kundi's lineage!"
After just one exchange, the Gu Clan great cultivator had recognized the peerless method He Xian had unleashed, for, like the Chaos-Quelling Art, it had earned a resounding reputation at the end of Immortal Ancient.
It was a supreme method that allowed one to fight three.
"Kill!"
He Xian gave him no respite. Inch after inch of Chaos Gold Flame rose and burned, as though holding boundless worlds within them, then pressed down together. He strode forward, his three bodies merging into one, and punched straight through the Gu Clan great cultivator's chest.
The blow sent him flying, tumbling across the battle platform and coughing up great mouthfuls of blood.
Pfft!
Bloody light pierced the nine heavens, its fluctuations shaking the world. Sadly, not a single person was watching. What a waste of this battle at the pinnacle.
"Rewind!" A desolate shout rang out.
The endless bloody light and the mournfully brilliant crimson radiance all flowed backward, reversing in an instant and reforming his body.
This was the terrifying power of mastering time. He was exceedingly difficult to kill!
"The Gu Clan, a lineage of the Ten Fiends. You really can take a beating, but this is as far as you go!"
With a thunderous boom, He Xian seemed like a celestial emperor delivering a decree. The fluctuations of his life force shook the cosmos in every direction, making the sun, moon, and stars tremble without end.
Today, he would shatter a myth among myths. He would defy the odds and slay an Emperor Clan great cultivator.
The intensity of this battle was rarely seen throughout the ages.
Both were determined to kill the other. Holding back was not even remotely possible.
Both were searching for the decisive strike that would utterly kill their opponent.
Bang!
The battle was too terrifying. By now, every blow condensed countless killing moves, and every attack could decide life or death.
All their secret arts and wondrous methods had been fused together. Within simple punches and kicks lay the most terrifying slaughter.
"Cough, cough... a freak. You're truly a freak!"
At this point in the battle, Gu Rong's will was beginning to outstrip his strength. He had used his power over time several times already, yet it could no longer keep pace with how quickly his body was being blasted apart. It had exploded seven full times.
There was no unkillable race in this world. Even the Fallen Blood Phoenix lineage would one day be ground into oblivion.
"Sleep forever in peace! Dying at my hands will be your glory." He Xian emerged from blood and fire, at the height of his power and chilling to behold. With one hand blotting out the sky, no one could change the outcome of his defiant victory now.
His body also bore a fatal wound. A long, deep gash across his torso had nearly cleaved him in half at the waist.
He truly lived up to the name of a Gu Clan great cultivator. His strength was beyond words.
"Hahaha! What a pity, what a pity. You were certain to make your name known throughout the world and claim the supreme glory of the younger generation. Why did you have to encounter me?" Gu Rong laughed loudly.
Every heaven-defying secret method had drawbacks that could not be erased.
"After this battle, your essence will be damaged, and you won't retain even a tenth or two of your fighting strength. How will you claim that supreme crown?"
"How sad, how lamentable. You have no great fortune sheltering you, and your blessings are meager."
"Utter nonsense! Nothing but the groveling words of the weak. When I was born, visions descended from heaven, the Great Dao cascaded down, and kings personally bestowed their blessings. Who dares say my fortune is meager and my Dao foundation shallow!"
He Xian rebuked him disdainfully. His flesh shone, Chaos Gold Flame burning in every inch of his body.
"As for those sheep, which of them could possibly excite me?" He Xian laughed madly.
"Hahaha! Good!" Seeing this, Gu Rong knew He Xian's Dao heart was firm and no longer tried to shake his resolve.
"Hahaha! What a monstrous prodigy!"
He was drenched in blood, yet his spirit still seemed capable of swallowing the cosmos. He would not sit and await death. The blood energy around him burned to its utmost, and the deity within him fought desperately, squeezing out every last bit of strength.
If he had to die in battle, he would die fighting to his heart's content.
He would not show even a trace of cowardice.
He, Gu Rong, was also a peerless figure, a supremely powerful prodigy.
Five hundred years was truly not old. On the contrary, he was very young, like a newborn cub.
There were no surprises!
Rumble!
With the next strike, an immense surge of power rose, terrifying beyond measure.
Gu Rong's body was pierced through, and a huge gash tore open between his brows, revealing the fiercely burning flame of his soul. His Gu Clan relied on this soul flame to control space and time. Now, his body and soul were about to be annihilated.
He Xian swung his peerless fist and struck between Gu Rong's brows. The unrivaled power that erupted blasted apart the flesh on his face, bursting it inch by inch and sending bone fragments flying.
Was it finally going to end?
Gu Rong smiled bitterly. He, too, should have had a brilliant life, sweeping aside the enemies of every age. But was the curtain truly falling now?
The full-force punch shattered the space between his brows, and even his primordial spirit was breaking apart.
He was only five hundred years old, truly so young. Wave after wave of unwillingness swept through his heart.
"How sad, how lamentable! I am the sad and lamentable one!"
"I hope you can truly rise against the tide and sit watching as eras fade into nothing, as mountains and seas fade into nothing. Father, Mother, your son will go on ahead."
Gu Rong staggered as he lifted his head to gaze at the sky. Blood flowed with every step he took. Even the ancient battle platform seemed to mourn him endlessly, resonating with his grief.
These were the feelings of the defeated throughout the ages before their deaths: unwillingness and bewilderment.
He Xian stood to one side and did not raise his butcher's blade again.
He quietly watched this desolate scene. Perhaps he would end the same way, dying miserably one day in the future amid a sea of unwillingness.
The words "Desolate Heaven Emperor" seemed to possess a demonic power, carving themselves deep into his mind.
Even his father had been struck down in a battle at the same level. Back then, Shi Hao had not yet perfected using his body as a seed; one could even say he had only just started down that path.
Suddenly, a burst of laughter interrupted his thoughts.
"Hahahaha! I don't need your pity. Everything I have is yours. Absorb it to your heart's content! Don't disappoint me!" Gu Rong stopped staggering, let out one final shout, and struck the crown of his own head, ending his own life.
All his flesh and blood, containing his Dao and methods, surged toward He Xian intact. Even that most precious soul flame still burned within it.
"Heaven Devourer!"
He Xian's expression turned cold. The victor became king, the loser a fallen foe. He severed every thread of sorrow.
He would not disappoint his opponent. He drove his Ancestral Art, Heaven Devourer, to its utmost, swallowing all the flesh and blood, including that Dao flame.
Gu Rong had entrusted the Gu Clan lineage's powers over time and space to him.
He knew the shortcomings of He Xian's self-created Ancestral Art: it had the spirit but lacked the soul, and its savage might was insufficient.
"Nine Netherworlds Suppress the World, Demon Congeals the World-devour it all!" He Xian did not stand on ceremony.
A crimson furnace manifested, gathering all the flesh and blood of this Emperor Clan great cultivator of the Escape One Realm inside.
As it absorbed his Dao and methods, rumbling sounds rang out one after another. The furnace seemed to undergo a sublimation, and all manner of symbols containing the Great Dao of heaven and earth appeared.
Within it, a candle flame still burned quietly, warping space and scorching time.