Chapter 55 - 53: Emergence of the Immortal Treasure (Part 2)
Chapter 55: Chapter 53: Emergence of the Immortal Treasure (Part 2)
And this wasn’t even the two Grandmasters taking action against them; it was merely the result of a gale sweeping over them as they tried to force their way into Tianwu Tower.
The Grandmasters had yet to make a move, yet they were already all but wiped out!
Despite their numbers, they were the weakest of the three factions.
Without a doubt.
They were out of the game!
Or perhaps... they were never qualified to be in the game to begin with...
And to think they had deluded themselves into believing that as Absolute Peak First Grades, they could challenge a Grandmaster and seize the fated Immortal Treasure.
A Grandmaster hadn’t appeared in three hundred years.
So much so that ants like them had forgotten how terrifying a Grandmaster truly was.
"Xu Han."
The Celestial Strategy King’s voice rang out.
"What is it?"
The one-armed Xu Han turned to look at his ally, only to see a palm striking toward him. He was sent flying straight toward the white-haired man in the Purple Robe and the two First-Grade Demon Fiends who were approaching them.
"I am a Great Zhou Guardian God. I cannot die, so you will die here in my place."
"The Celestial Strategy King was never here."
"It was you who forged the Black Dragon Armor, plotted a rebellion, and tried to frame our Great Zhou Dynasty!"
The Celestial Strategy King fled.
He betrayed his ally with a single palm strike.
He led two National Guardian First Grades in a frantic escape.
They fled for a long time.
"I’m never coming back to this Great Liang."
They were ecstatic to see the Palace Gate in sight, their escape to freedom seemingly assured.
Just then.
A figure leaped down from the top of the Palace Gate wall, blocking their path.
A graceful young man under the moon, clad in a Profound Robe, with black hair and eyes that shone like stars.
"Why that palm strike?"
The young man asked.
"Get lost!"
"What sewer rat is this? You dare block my path?"
One of the First Grades roared, his True Essence flaring and forming a giant palm, intending to crush this suicidal brat who dared to stand in their way.
The Celestial Strategy King’s eyes flashed with a cold, mocking light.
’Perhaps this man is one of Great Liang’s First Grades.’
’But since when does any random nobody have the right to block our path?’
’There are levels even among First Grades.’
’One Absolute Peak First Grade, one Peak First Grade, and one regular First Grade. Even if we’re fleeing like beaten dogs with our spirits broken, no one under heaven short of a Grandmaster is qualified to block our path. Not even if Great Liang’s two Absolute Peak First Grades, Xu Han and Zhang Gui, were resurrected.’
"I didn’t actually want to kill you."
The young man sighed softly. From within his body, the sound of sinews and bones resonating to their limit rang out.
BOOM!
That First Grade expert exploded into a mist of blood.
"Ah!"
A shriek.
The Peak First Grade’s courage shattered for a second time.
’To obliterate a First Grade without even appearing to move... could the person before my eyes be another Grandmaster?’
’After the Great Yu, aside from the two Grand Ancestors, Grandmasters vanished from the world. Where did a third one come from?!’
"The one I want to kill is you."
Su Chen stood with his hands clasped behind him, a Sword Box on his back. He looked at the Celestial Strategy King as if he had just done something utterly insignificant.
"He did me the honor of calling me Master Su. And one of my people isn’t someone you can just scheme against."
CRACK!
The bluestone tiles shattered and the ground caved in as a colossal, silver-armored figure lunged forward. The Celestial Strategy King attacked with a sneer. As he threw his punch, purple lightning gathered on his Silver Armor, making the very air shriek.
"A measly Second Grade dares to play tricks? You castrated dog, Su Chen! Just because you topped the Martial Arts List once, you really think you’re the number one First Grade in the world?"
"This King will see you dead!"
BOOM!
Even a Peak First Grade would have been crushed by such a punch. Su Chen was sent flying backward, the tiles beneath his feet obliterated as he crashed through countless buildings before being blasted into a thirty-meter-high palace wall.
The palace wall collapsed, burying him in a heap of brick and rubble.
"Pah."
"Wind Snow Little Grandmaster? You’re nothing."
"The sun is out, there’s no wind, no snow. Your Wind Snow True Intent is worthless right now."
"Let’s go."
"He’s already dead."
The Celestial Strategy King retracted his fist and walked toward the Palace Gate, speaking to the last National Guardian First Grade, who was frozen in shock.
’This battle was a complete failure.’
’We lost three thousand Black Dragon Armor and two First Grade experts. I have no idea how I’m going to explain this to my Imperial Brother...’
The Celestial Strategy King was worried. But he didn’t actually need to worry about how to explain things, because he was going to die here.
"C-Celestial Strategy King... Your Highness, he doesn’t... he doesn’t seem to be dead..."
The dignified National Guardian First Grade, a Peak First Grade expert, didn’t move. He didn’t dare to move. His voice trembled as he pointed behind the Celestial Strategy King.
BOOM!
"Hm!?"
The Celestial Strategy King’s scalp went numb. At that moment, the immense Qi and blood in his body, his very True Essence, trembled. An indescribable terror surged through his heart.
In that instant, he felt as if he were back on the battlefield at Tianwu Tower, facing those two Grandmasters again.
He tried to move, but his body was stiff and slow, his Qi and blood seemingly frozen solid.
An Absolute Peak First Grade, and he was actually being suppressed.
This wasn’t Wind Snow True Intent.
It was Momentum!
A far more terrifying Momentum!
TAP! TAP!
Footsteps approached from behind.
Along with the sound of a sword being drawn.
"For three years, the wind and snow have fallen on Great Liang. For three years, I have tempered my sword with my very being. Only now have I comprehended the first sword of the ’One Sword, Three Transformations’ taught to me by the Sword Immortal in my dreams."
"Ordinarily, I wouldn’t need this sword to kill you. Unfortunately, with no wind and no snow today, I cannot unleash my Wind Snow Sword at seventy percent of its power."
"Consider it your honor to die by this sword. After all, it was prepared for Emperor Jianwu... for a Grandmaster."
Su Chen’s voice was low.
In that instant, myriad sword-shadows converged into a single, brilliant sword-light that shot hundreds of feet into the sky, as if to compete with the bright moon for radiance.
"No!"
At this moment, the terror reached its peak.
Driven to the brink of madness, the Celestial Strategy King burned his True Essence and lifeblood. His body withered as he poured all his power into his Thunder Silver Armor, erupting with his most brilliant, ultimate power.
Now skeletal and gaunt, wreathed in Thunderous Purple Lightning, he threw a vicious punch toward the sword-light—a desperate, all-or-nothing bid for survival!
At that moment, even the two Grandmasters locked in combat at Tianwu Tower turned their heads to look in this direction.
Their minds were in turmoil.
’Since when did Great Liang have a third Grandmaster in hiding?’
’This is the Microscopic realm... a Microscopic Sword Stance! Could this be the Grandmaster I sensed in the Imperial Palace before? No, that’s not right. If a Grandmaster were using a Microscopic Sword Stance to kill someone, how could the attack be so weak?’
’Someone who has mastered a Microscopic Sword Stance would be a powerhouse even among Acquired Grandmasters. A single sword strike should pierce a thousand feet, enough to cut through the Imperial Palace itself...’
’Unless...’
’The one wielding the Microscopic Sword Stance isn’t a Grandmaster, but a First Grade expert?’
The two Grandmasters breathed a sigh of relief. If that was the case, they no longer had to worry about a third party waiting to ambush them.
After all, if it truly were such a powerful Grandmaster, the two of them combined wouldn’t be able to withstand a single blow!
Then, their hearts were once again seized by astonishment.
’A First Grade who can already wield a Microscopic Sword Stance and touch upon the path of a Grandmaster... what kind of monstrous talent is this! This is without a doubt a peerless prodigy, destined to become the strongest of Grandmasters.’
They had no idea that Su Chen was, in fact, merely Second Grade.
Of course, he was the only one of his kind—the strongest Second Grade in the world.
Outside the Imperial Palace.
Su Chen’s figure flashed past the Celestial Strategy King, who was still wreathed in Thunderous Purple Lightning. The Dust-Washing Sword, glowing with an azure light, was already sheathed in the Sword Box on his back.
"This sword strike is called... Burial Star!"
As the words fell.
BOOM!
The Celestial Strategy King crashed to the ground. He and his Divine Armor were shattered, reduced to nothing but scattered fragments.
He hadn’t been seen in three years.
Now, he had reappeared to slay an Absolute Peak First Grade with a single sword strike under the moon.
"Spare me!"
"Spare my life!"
The last National Guardian First Grade dropped to his knees and began kowtowing relentlessly. Gone was the high-and-mighty arrogance he had arrived with, replaced by a face streaming with tears and snot.
If he had known.
If he had known the Great Liang Imperial Palace was filled with such monsters, he would never have come, not even on pain of death.
This Wind Snow Little Grandmaster was the same age as Xu Han, only around thirty, yet he was an Absolute Peak First Grade! No, he was even more terrifying—a being beyond an Absolute Peak, who could slay them with his sword.
"Do something for me."
"And you can live!"
A brocade box was placed before him. He kept his head bowed to the ground, not daring to look up, and listened as Su Chen spoke.
"Just give this to Xu Han."
"Yes."
Terrified, the Great Zhou Peak First Grade scrambled to his feet, grabbed the brocade box, and rushed back toward the battlefield at Tianwu Tower.
The battlefield at Tianwu Tower.
It was indeed a terrifying place.
But compared to this Wind Snow Little Grandmaster, it was nothing.
At Tianwu Tower, the two Grandmasters were keeping each other busy. But here, Lord Su of Great Liang was completely unrivaled...
"As expected."
"That sword strike was still too much for me."
Su Chen stood atop the gatehouse, gazing toward the battlefield at Tianwu Tower. He kept his hands behind his back, but his right arm—the one he had swung the sword with—trembled slightly, its surface covered in a spiderweb of Fissures.
’The Microscopic realm is, after all, something only a Grandmaster can truly master. It’s not a power a First or Second Grade can wield so easily.’
"If only there were wind and snow tonight."
Perhaps.
Perhaps the heavens heard Su Chen’s silent plea.
The silent night.
The temperature plummeted.
A blizzard swept in, blanketing the sky.
No!
That’s not right!
The wind and snow weren’t falling from the sky. They were coming from...
BOOM!
At that moment, the hundred-zhang-tall, nine-story Tianwu Tower, forged from refined iron, exploded. The mournful cry of a Giant Whale echoed out, carrying with it a blizzard of wind and snow. A terrifying pressure rose from the deep abyss beneath the earth.
A terrifying frost radiated out from the deep chasm where Tianwu Tower had stood, instantly sweeping for hundreds of miles, freezing nearly the entire Imperial Palace and the Imperial City solid.
Great Liang’s meager national providence could no longer suppress it.
The long-lived Exotic Beast that cultivated an Immortal Technique had been unleashed upon the world!