I overestimated you

"Little phoenix, let me see how powerful you are!"

Yuangeng spoke, his Dao voice rolling like divine thunder beyond the nine heavens. Every word swept forth like a river of stars as ultimate Dao laws thundered. Dense lunar essence immortal light became pitch-black mist, instantly shrouding the entire Ancient World.

The Immortal Ancient Method emphasized communion with the world beyond oneself, naturally granting extraordinary control over it. Omnipresent lunar essence laws eroded the myriad Daos of this Ancient World, fundamentally transforming the very nature of the God-War Ancient Battlefield.

Both the Undying Heavenly Emperor and the Qilin Emperor, who watched from afar, could clearly sense the changes in this world's fundamental laws. Originally, the God War had left this place steeped in death, decay, and filth. But after the cleansing of the lunar essence laws, every impurity dispersed, leaving only the purest "death" between heaven and earth.

From the perspective of the lunar essence great Dao, everything in existence could be divided into yin and yang. Lunar essence naturally represented the yin aspect of all Daos. Weakness, cold, annihilation, death, darkness... all were facets of the yin of the myriad Daos, and all could be subsumed into the Dao of lunar essence.

This was the lunar essence death Dao!

Facing the Undying Heavenly Emperor, Yuangeng brought out some of his true abilities for the first time in ages to test this Five-Colored Phoenix.

"Woooo..."

At that moment, a long cry like a giant whale's rose over the boundless black ocean. At Yuangeng's will, the pitch-black Great Kun leaped out of the sea steeped in death. Its mouth opened like a gateway to the Nine Hells, ready to swallow the Undying Heavenly Emperor.

"Arrogant!"

The Heavenly Emperor refused to yield. Heavenly light flickered between his brows, and an equally towering Five-Colored Immortal Bird appeared out of thin air. Its colorful plumage shone brilliantly, its immortal feathers dazzling. Two magnificent five-colored wings spread like a pair of Five-Colored Heavenly Blades tempered millions upon millions of times, meeting the giant Kun head-on.

Having cultivated from the end of the Mythological Era to the present late Ancient Era, the Undying Heavenly Emperor had spent over a million years painstakingly cultivating in this world. His bloodline truly belonged among the highest ranks, and his talent was extraordinary. He had never severed his own cultivation, and both his methods of attaining immortality and prolonging life had long since reached the pinnacle.

The Undying Heavenly Emperor was confident that even in the supremely glorious Mythological Era, his current strength would have stood at the very summit. Apart from the Netherworld Venerable and Emperor Venerable of those days, who could still have fought his present self, all other venerables and emperors were merely clay chickens and straw dogs.

Thus, facing Yuangeng, the Undying Heavenly Emperor was exceptionally confident. He met Yuangeng head-on without hesitation, both to probe the depths of his strength and to suppress this arrogant ancient being.

What the Heavenly Emperor unleashed was no longer the trivial scuffling of before, but one of the forbidden techniques he had created over the past hundred thousand years. It suited him perfectly and could best unleash his mighty phoenix power.

Boom!

The Five-Colored Immortal Bird collided with the pitch-black giant Kun. The undying, indestructible phoenix great Dao clashed with the utterly pure death of lunar essence. The black ocean, spanning countless trillions of miles, overturned, as though even the barrier between this universe and the Immortal Domain would be punched through.

At the instant of collision, the Undying Heavenly Emperor felt the lawless, heaven-defying Dao resonance of death in all its depth. His Dharma manifestation seemed bound by hundreds of millions of chains of death. However it struggled, it was inexorably dragged into the abyss of death.

The clash between their Dharma manifestations lasted only an instant. The phoenix great Dao proved no match for the profound mysteries of Yuangeng's lunar essence death. The Five-Colored Immortal Phoenix was pinned beneath the pitch-black giant Kun, and black seawater formed from pure death submerged its Dao body until it vanished completely.

Splurt!

The outcome made the Undying Heavenly Emperor cough up a mouthful of five-colored blood. The backlash of the clash between their Daos struck his own body, leaving this exceptionally handsome man aghast. He had never imagined that someone with his noble bloodline from the Immortal Domain would lose a direct confrontation against a cultivator at the same level.

"Nothing more than this. Merely at the Quasi-Immortal level."

In the distance, Yuangeng's figure appeared atop the giant Kun's towering head. He had gotten serious. He had traveled far along the path of lunar essence death, visiting the Burial Domain many times in years past to experience that world's pure death. Only then had he developed lunar essence death to this height.

Screee!

At those words, deep fury and gloom flashed through the Undying Heavenly Emperor's eyes. He had never believed himself inferior to anyone. The Undying Heavenly Blade, forged from five kinds of immortal gold, swept across the sky. Five utterly distinct immortal radiances blossomed, protecting the Heavenly Emperor at their center.

Those were the origin arts of five kinds of immortal Dao metal. With the Undying Heavenly Emperor's talent, he had long since comprehended all five origin arts and integrated them completely. They had also merged perfectly with his Dao, becoming one.

With this done, the Undying Heavenly Emperor's aura abruptly surged. He drove the Five-Colored Heavenly Blade to its utmost limit and slashed at Yuangeng.

The Undying Heavenly Blade's name held particular meaning: "Heavenly Blade" also implied the "Heavenly Dao." As the Five-Colored Heavenly Blade descended, it was like divine punishment from the Heavenly Dao, destroying everything.

But this was useless against Yuangeng.

"Woooo..."

That same long, drawn-out cry of the giant Kun rang out. The ten-thousand-mile Great Kun struck again. Its immense body changed size freely, shrinking to a hundred zhang in length. The Dao laws of death were manifested to their utmost upon its body as it met the Undying Heavenly Blade head-on.

Boom!

The giant Kun collided with the Undying Heavenly Blade, unleashing a display of power countless times more dazzling than their first clash. Many utterly different Dao laws bolstered the Undying Heavenly Emperor's phoenix great Dao, making the blade seem like an Immortal Artifact descending into the mortal world, far surpassing ordinary Imperial Dao Weapons.

Yet no amount of variation could change the outcome. The death embodied by the Great Kun was so pure and profound. Its vast mouth, capable of swallowing and breathing out the cosmos, opened. The Heavenly Blade seemed to slash through nothingness; all its Dao radiance lost its color and could only dissipate between heaven and earth.

Bang!

Immediately afterward, the Great Kun turned and whipped its powerful tail squarely against the flat of the Undying Heavenly Blade. The five-colored blade wailed and tumbled backward through the air.

"Aaargh!"

The Heavenly Emperor growled, his voice filled with both pain and defiance. He simply could not believe it. Even after bringing out his finest techniques, he still could not break his opponent's seemingly simple Dharma manifestation. It was like an ant trying to shake a tree-he could not budge his opponent's foundations at all.

"I cannot understand it. After a million years of cultivation in this world, just what have you achieved?"

On the other side, Yuangeng appeared. Frowning, he looked down at the Undying Heavenly Emperor, thoroughly surprised by the performance of this god of the Myriad Races.

Truthfully, in terms of combat strength alone, the Undying Heavenly Emperor was far too mediocre within the realm of those approaching immortality.

One had to remember that the beings of the Shrouding the Heavens universe excelled above all at battle. The Undying Heavenly Emperor's bloodline was also incomparably noble. In the Immortal Ancient Era, it could have been called a bloodline on the level of the ten fiends, boundlessly powerful.

Yuangeng had already prepared for a grueling battle, intending to deploy lunar essence death, lunar essence ultimate darkness, lunar essence annihilation, and many other variations in succession to test his own attainments. He had never expected that a single manifestation of lunar essence death would nearly leave the Undying Heavenly Emperor gravely wounded.

"Unification!"

Facing such humiliation from Yuangeng, the Undying Heavenly Emperor's face filled with defiance. He attacked again. Light shone between his brows, and nine utterly distinct runes appeared upon his immortal platform. Each rune manifested

an ultimate Dao, yet now they united, empowering the Undying Heavenly Blade to confront Yuangeng.

"The nine secrets united?!"

In the distance, light blazed in the Qilin Emperor's eyes. He recognized several of the arts the Undying Heavenly Emperor had unleashed. They were the most precious legacy of the Mythological Era-the nine secrets!

The nine secrets united, becoming a supreme beam of light in the void. That radiance contained countless kinds of Dao resonance, bearing ultimate speed and transformation and representing the final evolution of both the flesh and the primordial spirit. Each reinforced the others as they slammed toward Yuangeng.

Whoosh!

In response, Yuangeng raised his hand. Dense death immortal light surged in from every direction. The radiance within it silenced the myriad Daos. Even the supreme art of the united nine secrets could not resist it and dissipated in midair.

"Just as I thought. I overestimated you."

At that moment, Yuangeng shook his head lightly, disappointment written across his face. He now had a clear measure of his opponent. The Undying Heavenly Emperor was barely on par with those Quasi-Immortals who had besieged him back then. He was nowhere near enough.

No wonder Immortal King Wuzhong's reincarnation would suppress him in the future. The Undying Heavenly Emperor... this Five-Colored Phoenix from the Immortal Domain seemed to have taken entirely the wrong path.