Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Rumble!

The Nine-leaf Sword Emperor wept with wild joy, burning his Immortal Body from the neck down as the price to unleash a Youming-bound Divine Soul Dao Sword. With one sword he tore apart layer after layer of End of Dharma Sword Dao Law Net, then frantically fled into the distance, no longer caring about anything!

All talk of breaking through in desperate straits, of counter-slaughtering a powerful foe, vanished in that instant; only an extreme yearning for Life and for future ascension to Immortality remained.

"Fellow Daoist,"

"I must ask you to stay."

Jiang Ding’s voice was faint.

The green-clothed youth placed his hand upon the sword hilt.

Hum!

The Starry Sky shuddered!

The Three Thousand Heavenly Dao, the Time River surged in restlessness; heaven and earth’s light and shadow, the matter and Cause and Effect of countless worlds all froze, then madly reversed backward, turned back; the upright heaven and earth themselves inverted, time flowed in reverse, turning back to but a moment before. Time shifted from now back into the past!

This was the Supreme Great Sun Ancient Emperor, using the End of Dharma Path as his foundation, wielding the Sword that Severs Past and Future!

An utterly terrifying shadow of death descended as foreordained, covering the entire Endless Starry Sky, like an invisible vast net drowning that lone blade of grass that was fleeing in madness!

"Kill!"

"We both wield the Eight-character Immortal Scripture—you cannot kill this Emperor!"

The Nine-leaf Sword Emperor let out a shrill, hoarse howl.

In that moment, he even abandoned the head of his Immortal Body; the essence of his Immortal Soul completely merged as one with the Divine Soul Path—Divine Soul Path is Nine Leaves, Nine Leaves is Divine Soul Path.

All, all of everything, transformed into a single Divine Soul Sword, like the very first birth of Life when heaven and earth first opened, in the primordial chaos of heaven and earth.

Whoosh!

That one primordial heaven-and-earth Divine Soul Sword cleaved toward the aeons of time!

Endlessly terrifying visions surfaced between heaven and earth. Two Eight-character Immortal Scripture Forbidden Zone Sword Emperors fought for their lives, even burning their Immortal Bodies; this single sword shook ancient and modern alike. It was the most pinnacle battle of the Human World’s living beings in countless billions of years, the battle closest to Immortality. The terrifying ripples it released caused even the Forbidden Area Ancient Emperors to feel unknown fear and horror.

In the instant when time intersected with that primordial heaven-and-earth Divine Soul Sword, heaven and earth fell silent.

In that moment, time was in utter chaos.

At times, heaven and earth showed scenes of the future; at times, they showed histories of the past; even images of the cosmos and heaven and earth first opening, Pangu cleaving heaven and earth apart, would flash and vanish. The Time River plunged into extreme chaos; all kinds of Great Dao between heaven and earth lost order, rules fell into disorder.

No one knew how long had passed.

When everything calmed, all the Ancient Emperors only felt a faint, ghostly blue light flash and disappear.

Between heaven and earth, only a single green-clothed youth with a Longsword at his waist remained.

He swept his gaze around heaven and earth; the various Emperors bowed their heads, the Forbidden Area Ancient Emperors all avoided his eyes, not daring to meet his gaze. Heaven and earth were completely silent; no one was willing, at this moment, to provoke this strongest existence in the Endless Starry Sky.

Heaven and earth slowly returned to calm.

...

Supreme Great Sun Heavenly Palace.

"What a pity."

"To let Nine Leaves escape this calamity—my sword is still not sharp enough..."

Jiang Ding sighed softly.

A tremendous war machine was missed.

The slaughter between two Eight-character Forbidden Area Ancient Emperors should never have led to true life-and-death. Even if his Immortal Scripture stood at a higher height, he had still not reached the Seven-character Immortal Scripture. If the Nine-leaf Sword Emperor had devoted himself solely to fleeing, he simply would not be able to catch up, nor could he find a sure-kill war machine.

But this battle for the Nine-leaf Sword Emperor was different!

The Nine-leaf Sword Emperor was too deranged. When the situation was clearly unfavorable, he did not choose to flee and make the rational choice; instead, he erupted with all his foundations in a frenzied slaughter, hoping to complete a breakthrough amid ten deaths and no life, to reverse-slay his opponent, to complete a thorough accumulation of Immortal-path advantage for the Golden Era.

Battles of ten deaths and no life that ended in victory—he had likely succeeded many times in the past.

Yet this time, the Nine-leaf Sword Emperor was wrong.

He could improve in battle; his opponent could do so all the more. In the end, the gap between the two not only failed to shrink, it widened once more.

The price was death!

In that instant, this Forbidden Zone Sword Emperor really was going to die!

At the final juncture, the Nine-leaf Sword Emperor chose to die together with the Heavenly Yuan Supreme Great Sun Demon Slaying Sword Formation, using his own death to bring Destruction to his opponent’s infinite scheming, to impose the greatest loss upon his opponent.

The Nine-leaf Sword Emperor believed this to be his final elegy in the Human World.

Death was certain.

For even if the Heavenly Yuan Supreme Great Sun Demon Slaying Sword Formation shattered, the Supreme Great Sun Ancient Emperor still would not die; even if many Eight-character Immortal Scripture Forbidden Area Ancient Emperors surrounded him to kill, he would not die. So long as he fled at the first possible moment, far away, completely abandoned the Supreme Great Sun Domain, and never again came into contact or battle with any living beings, he would be safe without worry.

As long as he remained hidden for tens of thousands, even millions of years, internal wars between the many Eight-character Immortal Scripture Forbidden Area Ancient Emperors would inevitably erupt, and external pressure would naturally vanish.

This was inevitable.

The Dao struggle and hatreds between these Forbidden Area Ancient Emperors were like mountains and seas; they would certainly never remain united forever.

After slaying the Nine-leaf Sword Emperor, the Supreme Great Sun Ancient Emperor would assuredly gain a breakthrough on his Dao path, and in future Immortal-ascension struggles would obtain even more advantage!

Looked at this way, it was practically all benefit!

The Nine-leaf Sword Emperor could not see any hope of his own survival.

Yet,

In the end he truly did survive!

The Supreme Great Sun Ancient Emperor was too unbelievable—he actually cared greatly for that pile of mortals and weaklings, even willing to give up the chance to slay an Eight-character Immortal Scripture Forbidden Zone Sword Emperor!

The Nine-leaf Sword Emperor could not comprehend such behavior; he could only ascribe it to weakness.

Precisely because of this weakness, the Nine-leaf Sword Emperor managed to seize a single thread of life, fleeing in madness, surviving.

"Sword Master!"

"Great Sun Participating!"

"Ai..."

One after another, Immortal Sect Strong People, Ancient Emperors within the Supreme Great Sun Daoist lineage, Emperor Scripture Cultivators stepped into the palace, full of guilt, their heads lowered.

They had seen this battle clearly.

If not for the Supreme Great Sun Ancient Emperor choosing to protect them, the Nine-leaf Sword Emperor would already have died.

Victory had already arrived.

They were the drag and burden.

This fact dealt a considerable blow to the Dao Hearts of this large group of extremely proud and arrogant Cultivators. They were not mediocre folk, and so could not accept such a result.

"Hahahaha!"

"Fellow Daoists, why are you putting on such a little-girl display?"

Seeing this, Jiang Ding could not help but smile faintly: "Tell me, compared to the other Forbidden Area Ancient Emperors, where lies this Sovereign’s most remarkable advantage, where lies the root of my Great Dao?"

The Supreme Great Sun Ancient Emperor posed a question.

"Most remarkable advantage?"

Yuan, the Annihilation Ancient Emperor, the Immortal Gate Governor and the others were briefly stunned.

Then,

They seemed to understand.

"It is education advantage; it is system advantage."

"This is where I surpass the other Forbidden Area Ancient Emperors—and surpass them by far."

Jiang Ding did not keep them guessing, and said: "This Sovereign needs a system, needs vast numbers of Immortal Path talents. And these many talents have families, have mouths to feed, have Disciples, have Daoist lineages. Therefore, this Sovereign needs territory, needs resources. This is why the Supreme Great Sun Domain cannot be lost."

"Lose the system, lose the many talents, lose you Fellow Daoists..."

"Without you, Jiang Ding is nothing more than a mediocre Forbidden Area Ancient Emperor, ranked at the bottom among the many Forbidden Area Ancient Emperors, without any brilliance, without any distinction. Even if he holds a temporary advantage, in future battles between the Five-Word Immortal Scripture, the Four-Word Immortal Scripture, he will surely fall into a tremendous disadvantage, and be lost amidst the multitude."

"Is this a weakness?"

"Yes, this is a weakness."

"Yet at the same time, it is also the sharpest spear, the sharpest sword!"