Ascending to Godhood: I Can Foresee All Futures

The second strike descended.

The saber’s brilliant aura surged to a length of eighty feet. Though not reaching the hundred-foot length that had once heavily injured Li Xuance, this attack was more condensed, more bone-chillingly cold. Where the blade pointed, the very twilight seemed to be torn asunder, leaving a black rift in its wake.

Zhou Chengzong’s soul nearly fled his body. No longer daring to hold anything back, he roared and violently activated a Secret Technique.

In an instant, Zhou Chengzong’s face flushed blood-red as fine beads of blood seeped from every pore. His aura abruptly surged by thirty percent.

With a flick of his single whip, Earth Fiend energy poured into it like a furious dragon returning to the sea. The body of the whip hummed and trembled, seeming to transform into the phantom of a colossal, crimson-and-black python that roared as it lunged to devour the saber’s brilliant aura.

BOOM—!!!

The sound of this collision was like muffled thunder rolling across the river and sky.

The shockwave swept out for over two hundred feet, carving a massive, bowl-shaped crater into the river’s surface that took a long time to settle.

Yet, the crimson-and-black python crumbled inch by inch under the dusky saber light. Zhou Chengzong’s all-out attack had only managed to halt the strike for a single moment.

Then, the saber’s aura, its power undiminished, continued straight for Zhou Chengzong’s face.

At the juncture of life and death, Zhou Chengzong thrust out his left palm. A Jade Talisman with a tortoise-shell pattern shattered in his palm, transforming into a shield of flowing azure light that appeared before him.

CRACK—

The Jade Talisman’s shield held for only half a breath before it was covered in cracks and exploded violently.

Though the saber’s aura was weakened by more than half, the remaining Force still slammed solidly into Zhou Chengzong’s left arm.

"Argh—!"

Excruciating pain shot through him.

Zhou Chengzong clearly heard the crisp snap of his own arm bone breaking. Looking down, he saw his entire left arm twisted at an extreme and unnatural angle. A sliver of bone, stark white, had pierced through his flesh, and blood gushed out like a fountain.

And in the split second he was dazed by the agony, a golden fist shadow broke through the pervasive mist and shot unceremoniously toward his chest.

The punch was simple and unadorned, yet it was faster than thought.

Zhou Chengzong only had time to raise his remaining right arm to block his chest.

THUD!

The muffled sound of fist meeting arm was like a heavy hammer striking a leather drum.

Zhou Chengzong was sent flying backward like a cannonball, carving a white trail over a hundred feet long across the river’s surface. He coughed up a torrent of blood that stained the front of his robes red.

Before he could even stabilize himself, Chen Sheng’s third strike had already arrived.

This strike was a return to simplicity.

There was no heaven-shaking saber aura, no chilling Evil Qi—only a streak of black light, condensed to its absolute limit, that flashed past like a meteor in the night sky.

Zhou Chengzong let out a hoarse roar and struggled to raise his only remaining arm, holding the bronze whip horizontally to block.

CLANG—!!!

The ear-piercing sound of shattering metal exploded forth.

The bronze whip—a Treasure Soldier forged from Cold Iron and purple copper that had accompanied Zhou Chengzong throughout his years in the Ning’an Martial World—was sent flying from his grasp by the force of the blow.

An peerless, immense force erupted like a volcano. The bones in Zhou Chengzong’s whip-wielding right arm were completely shattered, and he was violently struck down into the river, sending a towering column of water into the air.

Chen Sheng snorted coldly and leaped into the churning waves.

Beneath the river’s surface, the undercurrents raged.

Blood flowed from Zhou Chengzong’s seven orifices, and not a single part of his body was free from pain. Worse still, his Dantian Qi Sea had been invaded by that frigid Evil Qi, causing its circulation to become sluggish.

As he struggled desperately, a dark figure shot through the water like a fish. Five fingers clamped around his throat like a hook and forcibly dragged him out of the water.

SPLASH—

Water sprayed everywhere.

Standing on the water’s surface, Chen Sheng held the barely-conscious Zhou Chengzong in his left hand. In the palm of his right hand rested a warm, lustrous, Bright Yellow Treasure Pearl. A faint smile finally touched his lips.

’The Profound Sun Treasure Pearl. It’s finally mine.’

"Hk... hk..."

A ragged wheeze, like a broken bellows, escaped Zhou Chengzong’s throat. His face was purple and swollen, his eyes a mixture of terror, horror, and a despair that pierced him to the bone.

’I don’t understand. We’re both at the Innate realm, both numbered among the Ning’an Ten Heroes. Why is the gap between us as wide as the heavens and the abyss?’

’Three strikes. Just three strikes!’

’And I was utterly crushed, completely helpless.’

’All my grand ambitions, my promising future... they’ve all become a joke in this moment.’

Zhou Chengzong’s lips trembled. He wanted to beg Chen Sheng for mercy, but his pride kept his tongue locked in place.

Finally, he closed his eyes, his face ashen with despair.

"Relax,"

Chen Sheng’s voice, calm and emotionless, sounded beside his ear.

"You’re the Young Master of the Cyan Flood Dragon Alliance. Your value alive is far greater than your value dead."

’With him alive, I might be able to exchange him for some unexpected benefits in the future.’

’Even if I can’t, it’s still better than just killing him outright.’

Zhou Chengzong’s heart trembled upon hearing this, but he didn’t dare open his eyes, continuing to play dead.

...

"Young Master—!"

Just then, a cyan figure that had fled into the distance returned, swooping back like a goshawk diving for a rabbit. It was none other than the Cyan Flood Dragon Alliance’s Elder Liu, who had accompanied Zhou Chengzong.

He had already fled hundreds of yards away, but when he looked back and saw that the Young Master hadn’t followed, his mind was thrown into chaos.

The Alliance Leader had shown him kindness as weighty as a mountain. If his only son were to die here, how could he possibly face living on?

After hesitating for only a breath, Elder Liu gritted his teeth and turned back, determined to risk his life to hold back Chen Sheng—and even the Female Demon, Sun Siniang—to fight for a sliver of hope for the Young Master’s survival.

But he never could have imagined that what he would see upon his return was the sight of his Young Master being held up by the throat like a dead dog.

"Brat, die—!"

Elder Liu’s eyes looked ready to split from their sockets. His Profound Gang Realm Cultivation erupted completely. A faint cyan Gang Qi rose around him like flames. His long saber sliced through the twilight, unleashing a Sword Gang over a hundred feet long. Condensed as if it were solid, it tore through the air with the power to shatter stone and split metal as it slashed ferociously toward Chen Sheng.

Profound Gang against Earth Fiend should have been a completely one-sided fight.

But Chen Sheng was fearless. He tucked the Profound Sun Treasure Pearl into his robes, and his right hand instantly drew the Cold-Intimidating Treasure Saber. A tide of Nine Nether Yin Fiend energy surged forth as he slashed out to meet the astonishing Sword Gang.

BOOM—!!!

The aftershock of this collision was even more powerful than the last.