Chapter 467: Arrival
A grand array fit to serve as the sect-protecting array of a top-tier great sect!
And the semi-immortal artifact Yaoguang carried on him, the Great Dao Golden Book?!
Wasn't this lineup exactly the same as the one the Penglai Dao Lord had used, taking advantage of the Heavenly Dao Sect's sect-protecting grand array to kill the Abyssal Ruins Dao Lord?
Worse still, only the Penglai Dao Lord had taken part last time. This time, not only would the Penglai Dao Lord arrive within moments, but the Central Heaven Dao Lord and several Dao Lords on good terms with him would follow close behind.
This is bad! Thinking that, the Dao Lord decided on the spot. Withdraw!
His body seemed to turn into void itself as he tried to get out of this level 15 array and vanish from the region entirely.
But Yaoguang had chosen the Ten Hells Dragon-Imprisoning Array, which focused entirely on containment, precisely because it could hold the Unchained Dao Lord long enough.
The instant he sensed the Dao Lord trying to leave, he pushed the grotto-heaven power that carried the array to its utmost, and with the Eight Desolations Mirror resonating alongside it, he set the Great Dao of void shuddering until the void throughout the region turned violent and unsettled.
The Unchained Dao Lord was only able to remain in that void-traveling state for a few moments before he was shaken out of it.
"This array..." The Unchained Dao Lord realized at once that his opponent had been preparing for a long time. It was as if every arrangement had been laid down in advance, just waiting for him to show up.
It followed that the Penglai Dao Lord, the woman considered strongest in the North Sea, had to be racing this way as fast as she could.
Under those circumstances, the Unchained Dao Lord had no choice at all but to unleash an assault of overwhelming force, break this sect-protecting grand array, and break Yaoguang, who was presiding over it.
"Golden Book Venerable, Yaoguang, the two of you are courting your own deaths!" With a low growl, his body fused with the Great Dao, and the Unchained Dao Lord raised his arms toward the sky. Visible void power gathered above his head and took the shape of a supreme divine sword towering into the clouds, one that could shatter the sun, the moon, and all things with ease.
"Sword Opening of Heavenly Gate! One strike to break ten thousand worlds!"
Almost as soon as the Dao Lord finished condensing that overwhelming Void Sword, Yaoguang's figure flickered and appeared directly in front of him. The Wandering Dragon Sword flew through the air, controlling the void's power, and three Void Swords rolled up one after another, slashing at the Dao Lord's body in wave after wave.
The Void Sword was said to leave nothing unbroken; it was the strongest Dao Technique in the void Dao for attack and for breaking arrays.
Amplified by the Torrent of Time, three of them coming at once were more than even the Unchained Dao Lord dared to take head-on, whether or not he wore high-grade Dao Artifact battle armor. The colossal sword he had just formed, the one towering into the clouds, had to be turned aside to block the attacks.
But no sooner had he wiped out those three Void Swords than two more came down.
The Unchained Dao Lord's expression did not change, and the colossal Void Sword swept out again. This time, the power of the Ten Hells Dragon-Imprisoning Array erupted, and the void turned to water, putting up a resistance stronger than anything he had felt before. Even that colossal sword was slowed noticeably.
By the time the giant sword shattered the two Void Swords Yaoguang had unleashed, two more were already falling.
"This fast?" The Unchained Dao Lord felt something was off.
Swinging the sword to meet the next pair, he suddenly thrust out a hand and clenched it hard at the spot Yaoguang occupied.
It was the Great Universe Hand, a technique with one of the widest reaches in the whole void Dao.
It was derived from the Great Dao of void, and it collapsed space for a couple hundred kilometers around, making it flow and gather in the Unchained Dao Lord's palm like water.
But the space inside the Ten Hells Dragon-Imprisoning Array had been heavily reinforced, and not even the Great Universe Hand could draw it into his palm in an instant.
Yaoguang seized the opening, slipping clear of that stretch of space with a Void Flicker, then turned his hand back and unleashed two more Void Swords.
"You think you can run?" the Unchained Dao Lord said.
The Unchained Dao Lord swung his void greatsword and smashed the two Void Swords apart; they were weak, yet impossible to ignore. Having dealt with the incoming attacks, he reached out again for the patch of void where Yaoguang now stood.
This time, as his hand closed, the Void-Sealing Tower's power poured out, and the might of that top-tier Dao Artifact swiftly locked down the space around Yaoguang. Even if he immediately took out the Heaven-Sealing Stele, Yaoguang could not stand against that force.
Yet just as he was about to fall into the Unchained Dao Lord's hands, the power of the Two-Realm Ruler surged out, and he used that brief moment to cast Void Flicker again and pull himself free.
"A futile struggle!" the Unchained Dao Lord mocked.
Seeing the Great Universe Hand do nothing to Yaoguang, the Unchained Dao Lord quickly changed tactics. With the Void-Sealing Tower locking down the space Yaoguang stood in, he pointed a finger toward Yaoguang.
Heaven-Rending Sword Finger!
This was the void Dao's most adaptable technique, best suited for fighting someone stronger than oneself. Its power was not great, weaker than both the Void Sword and the Great Void Disintegration Technique, but it struck with terrifying speed.
When a Dao Lord used it to pick off a Void-Shattering cultivator, it did not matter whether the target was an ordinary one or the first name on the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings. Every hit was a kill.
Just like now. The Unchained Dao Lord's finger attack shot out so fast that even Yaoguang couldn't fully react, and its force shredded the void around him.
Violent spatial storms, which generated horrific twisting power, ground away at Yaoguang's body. That kind of force should've easily shredded a Void-Shattering cultivator, and even a defensive Dao Artifact, into powder.
And yet, when those storms washed over Yaoguang, they stirred no more than a faint ripple across his skin before sweeping past him.
Yaoguang even took advantage of the moment: while the spatial turbulence tore open the Void-Sealing Tower's hold, he triggered the Two-Realm Ruler, teleported away by using void flicker, and sent down two more Void Swords without so much as a pause.
That was finally enough to make the Dao Lord's expression change. "How is this possible?!"
His Dao Technique had clearly landed on Yaoguang, and yet it seemed to have done him no harm whatsoever! It made no sense!
"You have something on you that makes you immune to damage—No, that should be impossible... A treasure that absorbs damage, then!"
The Unchained Dao Lord reacted fast, swinging the colossal sword he had summoned earlier to smash Yaoguang Void Swords, while sending out the Void-Sealing Tower and stabbing at Yaoguang with the Heaven-Rending Sword Finger at the same time.
But Yaoguang expected the attacks and refused to stay in one place. He sent out two Void Swords and used Void Flicker to vanish.
Under those conditions, even as the master of the Void-Sealing Tower, the Unchained Dao Lord found it hard to pin Yaoguang down. On the rare occasion he did, Yaoguang immediately unleashed the power of the Two-Realm Ruler and the Heaven-Sealing Stele.
With the Ten Hells Dragon-Imprisoning Array suppressing both the tower and the Dao Lord's command of the Great Dao of void, sealing Yaoguang in place had become genuinely difficult, and on the rare occasion Yaoguang was sealed and took a Heaven-Rending Sword Finger, he shrugged it off as if nothing had happened, then took advantage of the aftermath of the attack to quickly gain some distance.
Now and then the Unchained Dao Lord would try to break off and leave, and a Void Sword would slash at him point-blank.
Driven by three overlapping projections of the Great Dao of void, those swords were sharp enough that even he could not simply take them on his own body. He was forced to spend a stroke capable of cutting open the Ten Hells Dragon-Imprisoning Array itself just to shatter them.
"This..."
"The sect master is actually holding off the Unchained Dao Lord's assault?!"
The sight left Zhen Xuanyuan and Gu Li, two supreme elders, dumbfounded. This was not like last time. This wasn't the Heavenly Dao Sect headquarters. This time, they were outside the sect entirely, and Yaoguang was withstanding a Dao Lord's attacks, even tying him up so he couldn't break away.
Overall, the exchange still favored the Unchained Dao Lord. But anyone could see that despite his advantage, he couldn't shake off their sect master anytime soon, much less find enough time to break a level 15 array.
If the fight dragged on too long, their sect master, who could only defend, would eventually make a mistake and meet his end, and the array would be easily broken once the Unchained Dao Lord had a free hand.
Even if that failed, with a Dao Lord's resources, wearing a Shattering Void cultivator down to death would be trivial.
The problem was that the Penglai Dao Lord was certainly on her way, and the Central Heaven Dao Lord was also about to reach this very region. Both things were reminding the Unchained Dao Lord that he had no time.
"So... the sect master couldn't actually hold out until the Penglai Dao Lord gets here, could he?" Gu Li said, the very flow of his psychic thought slowing.
Zhen Xuanyuan said nothing. He was busy closely studying the Ten Hells Dragon-Imprisoning Array.
For an array to counter the Unchained Dao Lord this perfectly, by pure coincidence...
An outrageously bold suspicion rose in his heart! Their sect master could not possibly have baited a Dao Lord into attacking on purpose, could he? Was Yaoguang blooding his blade to lower the difficulty of the human tribulation during his future breakthrough to Dao Integration?
If that were true...
Watching the two figures trading blows at blinding speed in the void, Zhen Xuanyuan shivered. "That would be insane."
***
As time wore on and the Unchained Dao Lord still could not bring Yaoguang down, his impatience began to show.
"Yaoguang!" he barked. "Open the array and let me go, and everything is negotiable. Otherwise, I'm bringing out the reserves I prepared specially for the Dao contest. However fast the Penglai Dao Lord is, she still needs a few minutes, and once I go all in, there is no way you can last that long."
"And how am I supposed to trust you? What if I open the array and you go back on your word?" Yaoguang did not refuse outright.
"Would I, a Dao Lord, cheat one little Void-Shattering cultivator?"
"Heh. Void-Shattering or not, you're still a Dao Lord who came here to kill me."
"You don't have many options. Once you're dead, this array breaks, and by then even Penglai's arrival won't keep me here."
"The Penglai Dao Lord alone might not hold you, but what about the Central Heaven Dao Lord and his whole party on top of him? He's returning to the North Sea with several Dao Lords at his side."
"Central Heaven isn't known for movement arts either, and as for the other Dao Lords traveling with him, they aren't about to offend another expert of their own level over you."
"That remains to be seen. Still, I'm willing to open the array and let you leave, if you leave the Void-Sealing Tower behind."
"Impossible! The Void-Sealing Tower is one thing I will never hand you."
"Then you'll have to show me some sincerity, at least."
"My sincerity..." The Unchained Dao Lord was about to say something more when it hit him. "No. You're stalling!"
Terrible killing intent burst from the Dao Lord's eyes. "Playing games with me like this! All you're costing me is this one Dao contest! If you insist on seeking death, then I'll oblige you. Now, even if Penglai came in person, she wouldn't be able to save you..."
"Is that so?" A cool, clear voice cut in.
Yaoguang obligingly opened a gap in the Ten Hells Dragon-Imprisoning Array, and a graceful figure walked in on empty air, appearing inside the array.
"I'd like to see whether you really have what it takes."