Chapter 489 - 124: Rongyang Monarch
As Wang Ping subconsciously wondered who it was, he felt a scorching heat wash over him.
The sky to the north was dyed fiery red. That blinding, crimson light suddenly converged into a single point, a point like a newborn sun descending upon the earth from the Cosmos.
The moment this "sun" appeared, Wang Ping saw the vast northern lands crystallizing at a visible rate. A layer of raging fire clung to the world.
"You bastard, you’ve thrown the world into such chaos!"
The voice came again, filled mostly with fury and a hint of disappointment. His voice was direct—one might call it forthright—but for a Fourth Realm Cultivator, "forthright" was not quite the right word.
As the furious voice drew closer, so did the flames burning across the world. From Wang Ping’s perspective, it was as if the world was already ending, the great fire devouring every material thing in his sight.
Xiao Shan Lord glanced at Xia Yao below, who was struggling to compose herself on the altar, and at the half-dead Emperor Yuanding. He formed a spell with his left hand, and a puppet radiating a metallic chill materialized beside him. Then, he pointed his right hand toward the distant "sun."
Dozens of miles away, a golden barrier materialized out of thin air between heaven and earth, blocking the flames from spreading toward him.
THUD.
Seeing the golden barrier, the man didn’t slow in the slightest, instead crashing straight into it. The massive sound was accompanied by a furious roar that made Wang Ping’s head throb.
The intense heat instantly vaporized the downpour. The scorching water vapor had just formed when it was washed away by the torrent still pouring from the clouds above. Yet the high temperature persisted, and the falling rain was vaporized anew.
This cycle repeated for several breaths until the golden barrier was actually shattered. The blocked flames were like a flood bursting through a broken dam, surging toward the Imperial Palace with even greater ferocity. The ground turned directly into magma. As the scorching aura drew near, the illusion of the Imperial Palace under the clouds vanished as if it were dry tinder meeting a blazing fire.
"Calm your heart and quiet your mind. If you cannot, use a Divine Technique to seal your desires!" Emperor Yuanding sensed Xia Yao’s anxiety and offered a timely reminder.
As he spoke, the golden light around him rippled outward, dispersing the hot steam around the altar.
Hearing this, Xia Yao glanced up at Jiangcun in the distance, his form illuminated crimson by the great fire. She then decisively retracted her gaze, formed a spell with both hands, and invoked a Divine Technique to commune with heaven and earth. She used the world’s indifference and rationality toward all things to suppress all the desires and negative emotions of her human nature.
Just then, Ao Bing rode a cloud to a position above the altar. He chuckled as he looked at the billowing smoke stirred up by the distant flames and said with a smile, "Fellow Daoist Rongyang is as bold as ever, but this altar absolutely cannot be destroyed."
As he spoke, he waved his hand gently. There was no fluctuation of energy, merely a single thought from him, and all the Fire Spirit Qi in the Imperial Palace area completely dissipated. The water vapor vanished into thin air.
He also revealed the newcomer’s identity.
It was Rongyang Monarch, one of the two current Chiefs of the True Yang Sect!
"You disgusting water loach!"
Rongyang Monarch’s tone was filled with utter disdain for Ao Bing. As his words faded, his figure came to a stop several hundred zhang below the clouds. The flames burning across the world rapidly converged into his body, and the rampaging Fire Spirit Qi vanished without a trace, leaving behind a stretch of crystallized, scorched earth.
Yu Lian complained in the Spirit Sea, "What a repulsive aura. Rumor has it that Rongyang Monarch despises evil like a mortal enemy. I thought his spiritual nature would be benevolent, but I never expected it to be so violent."
Wang Ping felt the strength of the barrier before him and looked toward the now-dazzling Rongyang Monarch beneath the clouds. He replied to Yu Lian, "He may despise evil, that might be true. But what do you think he considers ’evil,’ and what does he consider ’good’?"
Yu Lian fell silent. She quietly slipped out of his sleeve and tilted her head back to look at the man standing beneath the clouds.
Rongyang Monarch wore an old, deep-blue, narrow-sleeved Daoist Robe. His magnificent beard hung down to his chest, obscuring much of his face. Beneath a pair of sword-like eyebrows, his eyes glowed red. His hair was neatly tied in a topknot with a fiery red jade pin. A longsword shimmering with red light constantly floated beside him, casting a flickering crimson glow on his face. Looking up at him from below, he exuded an air of total authority.
"Celestial Fire!"
As Rongyang Monarch met Xiao Shan Lord’s gaze, he formed a spell with his left hand and pointed toward Xiao Shan Lord’s position, issuing an Imperial Decree. The fiery red longsword floating beside him immediately positioned itself in front of him and constructed an array sixty-five zhang wide. The instant the array formed, a blinding ray of light shot across the void.
This ray of fire was like Yu Lian’s ’Water Line’ magic—a crimson line that pierced heaven and earth. But this was fire, the most ethereal of the Five Elements Energy, yet here it was, manifesting as energy particles!
Its color was different from ordinary flames. It was a pure, deep red, uniform inside and out, and exceptionally bright. The brilliance it brought as it streaked through the void illuminated everything inside and outside the curtain of rain. All rain in its path instantly evaporated, stirring up an even thicker heatwave.
This time, Xiao Shan Lord did not use a Divine Technique. Instead, he conjured a talisman from the void. When the line of fire created by the "Celestial Fire" reached him, it was as if a beam of light had struck a mirror and been reflected away.
PSSSHHH.
The reflected line of "Celestial Fire" struck the ground, seemingly piercing through the earth. The area of contact turned into a pool of magma billowing with thick smoke, which hissed and sizzled as it touched the rainwater on the ground.
"The ability to obscure the heavens is truly extraordinary."
Rongyang Monarch released the spell in his hand, and the fiery red longsword once again floated beside him. He then cast his gaze toward Xia Yao in the depths of the Imperial Palace, before looking up toward Guang Zuo Taoist above the clouds.
Wang Ping, on the other hand, was completely dumbfounded. He could no longer comprehend the brief exchange between the two. Xiao Shan Lord’s methods seemed somewhat conceptual, and likewise, Rongyang Monarch’s techniques were just as strange.
"With your current cultivation, you can indeed test the higher realms. I have no reason to stop you."
As Rongyang Monarch spoke, his figure flickered. By the time his voice faded, he had already appeared at Xiao Shan Lord’s side. He stared at Xia Yao deep within the Imperial Palace and said, "But you lot are virtueless and incompetent. Five hundred years ago, I and the other Fellow Daoists of the Daoist Scripture Hall, in consideration for the common people of the world, allowed you to wield the Zhongzhou Divine Artifact for over five hundred years. Now that fate has run its course, you actually dare to dream of altering destiny. You deserve to die!"
Ao Bing flickered and appeared, blocking Rongyang Monarch’s tyrannical gaze. He cupped his fist and said, "Fellow Daoist, why must you make things difficult for a junior? As for who the Divine Artifact of Zhongzhou belongs to, that is the choice of the world’s myriad people. Let us not act against the will of heaven!"
"The myriad people made their choice long ago!"
Rongyang Monarch formed a spell with his left hand. The longsword floating beside him instantly let out a trembling hum. Then, shielding the magnificent beard on his chest with his right hand, he said coldly, "Although water overcomes fire in the Five Elements, my fire specializes in incinerating great waters!"
Ao Bing said with a smile, "After all these years, I have not yet had the chance to ask for your guidance, Fellow Daoist. Today is a rare opportunity!"
Rongyang Monarch glanced at Xiao Shan Lord beside him, then fixed his gaze on Ao Bing. "Fine. I’ll teach you a lesson first!" With that, flames converged around his entire body.
Just as the battle was about to erupt above the Imperial Palace, Ao Bing transformed into a streak of azure light and vanished into the clouds above. Rongyang Monarch glanced at the unguarded Xia Yao and Emperor Yuanding at the core of the altar but chose not to strike at that moment. Instead, he followed after Ao Bing.