Chapter 220: The Imperial Mansion Emerges!
"So this is the Emperor Realm soul?" Jiang Yun felt the vast soul power within his body and spoke with a sigh.
This time, his greatest improvement wasn't his cultivation, but rather that his soul power had thoroughly entered the Emperor Realm. The enhancement it brought was the most direct and noticeable.
"Next, I should begin planning for the path to Heavenly Sovereign..." Clenching his palm and feeling the immense power within his body, Jiang Yun gazed into the distance, as if seeing through the Azure Nether Tower to the turbulent situation outside. A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes.
"This is the location of the Ancient Emperor's Mansion. This place was once Jia Nan Academy, a subordinate force of the Lei Clan, and also the former academy of Jiang Yun of the Pill Tower. However, yesterday, a great commotion came from this place. By the time our people arrived, this place was already emptied of people and had transformed into a sea of magma."
Outside the former Jia Nan Academy, within a bank of dark clouds, Nihility Devouring Flame gazed into the distance at the magma sea beneath his feet. The terrifying heat made the surrounding air appear distorted.
Listening to his subordinates' report, the coldness in his heart grew even deeper.
"What—"
"Moved away completely overnight? It must have been the work of a Dou Sheng!"
"It seems that brat from the Pill Tower knew this was the location of the Ancient Emperor's Mansion before we did. When both sides clashed, this place was destroyed, and they moved ahead of us."
"In that case, doesn't it mean the Pill Tower and those three clans also know? Then haven't all our efforts been for nothing?"
The subordinates' report not only shocked Nihility Devouring Flame internally but also caused the group of Hun Clan experts he had brought to cry out in repeated alarm.
"Not necessarily that they knew this was the Ancient Emperor's Mansion's location. It's also possible that the brat, fearing our clan would investigate his origins, acted against Jia Nan Academy and took precautions in advance," a somewhat hesitant yet hopeful voice rang out from within the crowd.
Hearing this, the crowd's buzzing discussions came to a halt. Their eyes looked hopefully at Nihility Devouring Flame. Although they knew the likelihood was very small, their clan's thousand-year grand scheme was on the verge of success, and they couldn't afford not to be cautious.
Nihility Devouring Flame swept his soul power over the surroundings. After a moment, he focused and said, "There are no traces of those fellows from the three clans and the Pill Tower here."
"Oh no—"
"Lord Nihility! The forces around the Clan Head are unprecedentedly weak right now! The allied forces must be going to besiege the Clan Head!!!"
Suddenly, a panicked voice rang out from the crowd, causing everyone else to fall into panic as well. Hun Tiandi was the leader of the Hun Clan. If the three clans knew his forces were currently thin and set an ambush for him, then everything would be over.
It was no wonder that just a slight anomaly caused such worry among the crowd.
"What are you panicking about?! With what strength does Hun Tiandi possess? If he were fighting Gu Yuan, wouldn't I sense it?!" Sensing the panicked emotions behind him, Nihility Devouring Flame roared angrily. At the same time, a terrifying pressure descended upon the crowd, forcibly calming them down.
Having physically calmed them down, Nihility Devouring Flame turned his head to look at the magma sea beneath his feet. His soul power probed inside, passing countless lizardmen and heading towards the depths.
Thud.
At a certain moment, his soul power sensed an extremely stable space. The sturdiness of that space exceeded anything he had ever seen.
In the void, within Nihility Devouring Flame's pitch-black eyes, black flames danced. He licked his blood-red lips, a fiery heat flashing through his eyes. He murmured, "Finally found you..."
"Hmm?" Suddenly, Nihility Devouring Flame's gaze turned towards the distant horizon. He spoke coldly, "They indeed knew!"
In the distant sky, space writhed violently. Sky-covering figures surged forth, streaking across the sky, bringing world-shaking sounds of rushing wind as they swept towards this place at furious speed!
At their head was precisely Xiao Yan.
"Emperor Realm soul!" Nihility Devouring Flame stared intently at the leading figure of Xiao Yan, his eyes carrying traces of disbelief. The Hun Clan had spent a thousand years, expending who knew how many resources, just to push him to the Emperor Realm soul.
Yet this Xiao Yan, in merely half a month's time, had broken through to the Emperor Realm soul. And that cultivation of his... Everything, everything about this reeked of something bizarre.
This matter made Nihility Devouring Flame feel a faint unease in his heart. His intuition told him that the other party exuded an aura both familiar and terrifying to him. This was precisely the source of his inner disquiet.
Nihility Devouring Flame had detected Xiao Yan, and Xiao Yan naturally had also sensed him. His expression solemn, he watched the figure within the black clouds and let out a long roar, "On guard!"
"Notify the allied forces—the Ancient Emperor's Mansion is at Jia Nan Academy!"
As Xiao Yan's voice fell, the experts who had followed him—naturally no ordinary individuals—instantly formed battle arrays and stood ready, watching the surroundings warily. At the same time, someone took out a spatial scroll and tore it open to transmit the message.
"Nihility Devouring Flame, a dignified nine-star Dou Sheng—don't hide your head and show your tail like some cowardly rat!" Gazing directly at the space where the Hun Clan was located, Xiao Yan spoke coldly.
"Heh heh, what a sharp-tongued brat!" Nihility Devouring Flame stepped out from the void. His gaze swept faintly over the alert allied forces, finally looking at Xiao Yan indifferently.
"Nihility Devouring Flame, don't even think about obtaining the Emperor-grade Prototype Pill!" As Xiao Yan's words fell, he raised his palm, then gently waved it down. Instantly, from the allied forces behind him, countless powerful auras erupted. Cold, sharp gazes locked onto the Hun Clan's great army.
"Brat, I'm very curious. How did you all learn that the Ancient Emperor's Mansion was here?" Seeing this, Nihility Devouring Flame wasn't in a hurry. Instead, he looked at Xiao Yan with a playful interest and asked.
Xiao Yan watched him coldly and did not answer. This matter still had suspicious points and many questionable aspects; it wasn't suitable to spread.
Seeing that Xiao Yan had no intention of answering, Nihility Devouring Flame spoke indifferently, "Was it that brat Jiang Yun who told you? Do you know that he is not a person of the Dou Qi Continent? He told you this precisely to make our two sides fight each other so that he can reap the fisherman's benefit."
"Xiao Yan, he is the one with sinister intentions! Don't be fooled by him!"
Nihility Devouring Flame's words stirred ripples in Xiao Yan's heart. Was it truly information passed on by Jiang Yun? And was it really as Nihility Devouring Flame said—did he have other schemes as well?
This thought was fleeting. No matter what schemes the mysterious Jiang Yun had, during the time he had spent with Jiang Yun, he was absolutely certain that Jiang Yun was not a bad person. At the very least, compared to the Hun Clan, Xiao Yan would absolutely not waver or abandon his current primary objective because of a few words from Nihility Devouring Flame.
Instantly, Xiao Yan's gaze became sharp and fierce. He suddenly extended a section of his slender finger, fair as lustrous jade, and began slowly tracing in the void. A string of exceptionally profound and abstruse runes immediately appeared in everyone's line of sight.
Suddenly, the entire stretch of heaven and earth seemed to freeze solid at this moment. An aura of annihilation, as if transmitted from the very depths of the Nine Serenities, swept forth like a hurricane!
"Xiao Emperor Codex: Withered Death Finger!"
Accompanied by Xiao Yan's great shout, the solidification of heaven and earth lasted for an instant before abruptly shattering. The thick black clouds far up in the sky also began to churn rapidly at this moment. Faintly, it seemed as if something terrifying was about to burst forth from the clouds.
"Nihility Devouring Flame, receive my finger!"
Xiao Yan stared at Nihility Devouring Flame. The terrifying soul power in his mind attached itself to the attack in the sky at this very moment. In an instant, the energy fluctuations within the cloud layer were filled with an aura of majesty, giving rise to an irresistible thought.
"Bang!"
As Xiao Yan's voice fell, the pervasive black clouds rapidly split open. A giant finger, a full thousand zhang in size and completely pitch-black, burst through the clouds, then rapidly descended from the sky.
The single finger pressed down towards Nihility Devouring Flame.
The enormous pitch-black finger was permeated with an extremely terrifying aura of annihilation, as if all life would be reduced to dust under this single finger.
The finger descended from the sky. Along its path, the void space shattered and split open, directly revealing spatial rifts each spanning a thousand zhang.
"Xiao Emperor Codex?"
"Withered Death Finger?"
"What distant memories... That fellow Xiao Xuan really taught you everything..."
Nihility Devouring Flame gazed at the descending pitch-black finger from afar. A trace of reminiscence flickered through his eyes. Xiao Xuan had been just like this back then, wielding the Xiao Emperor Codex single-handedly, nearly wiping out the Hun Clan's upper echelons. What a pity...
"What a pity! Xiao Xuan failed. Now, you will fail just the same!"
As his words fell, Nihility Devouring Flame's palm fiercely clenched across the void. Instantly, black flames surged in the sky. A pitch-black giant flame palm descended from the heavens, slamming viciously towards the giant finger.
"Boom—"
The great battle erupted in an instant. Several stern shouts came from within the Hun Clan's great army. Immediately, countless black chains permeated with black mist shot forth from the army, crisscrossing each other. In the blink of an eye, they transformed into an inescapable net that shrouded towards the three clans' side.
The three-clan allied forces also each employed their own methods. Vast pillars of Dou Qi light incessantly bombarded the chain grand array. Bursts of blood-curdling screams erupted, and the black mist on the chains rapidly thinned.
In the Black-Corner Region, experts and powers who sensed the commotion over here were all frightened out of their wits. Watching the Black-Corner Region split apart, each and every one of them rapidly retreated into the distance, terrified that if they ran too slowly, a single stray energy wave from either side would erase them from existence.
Compared to this, what they had experienced in the past was simply child's play.
In the great battle between the two sides, Xiao Yan, compared to last time, seemed able to draw upon much less of the power of heaven and earth. In his battle against Nihility Devouring Flame, he was completely at a disadvantage.
Rip—
Two spatial rifts suddenly descended. The great armies of the Gu Clan and the Hun Clan appeared one after another.
"Nihility Devouring Flame—"
Seeing Xiao Yan at a disadvantage, Lei Ying and Gu Lie showed considerable discernment. Instantly roaring, they shot towards Nihility Devouring Flame. The four instantly erupted into an even more intense battle.
At this moment, the sky above the former Jia Nan Academy was densely packed with gathered figures—practically the full strength of both sides.
Both sides were now blind with bloodlust. Everyone knew this was the final battle, concerning the life and death of their clans. There was absolutely no room for compromise.
Not only was battle raging in the sky, but ten thousand zhang away from the battlefield, Gu Yuan and Hun Tiandi were engaged in a startling duel there.
A scalp-numbingly terrifying energy fluctuation rippled wantonly above everyone's heads. Some of the weaker individuals within the armies even began to turn pale on the spot, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.
"Gu Yuan, you cannot stop me today!"
Hun Tiandi, his hair disheveled, looked at Gu Yuan calmly. His large hand, pristine as white jade, gently fell, carrying a terrifying force capable of shattering mountains, filling seas, and obliterating an entire ancient realm.
"Hun Tiandi, I will not let you succeed!" Gu Yuan struck back with an equally full-force palm.
As they exchanged blows, a cold gleam flashed in Hun Tiandi's eyes. With a wave of his sleeve, four aged figures shot towards Gu Yuan. As they flew, their entire life force suddenly began to swell violently.
Hun Sheng Tian and the other three actually intended to use self-destruction to block Gu Yuan's advance.
"Hun Tiandi!"
"You madmen..."
Gu Yuan instantly sensed the anomaly. He glanced coldly at Hun Tiandi, cursed under his breath, tore open a spatial rift, and dodged the four's suicidal attack.
The self-destruction of late-stage eight-star Dou Shengs—even he couldn't ignore it.
"Heh..." Seeing this, Hun Tiandi sneered coldly. His figure flickered and shot towards the battlefield where the two armies were clashing.
"Boom—"
Behind him, a deafening explosion rang out. In the sky, brilliant luster gleamed like another blazing sun. The blinding, intense light enveloped the entire Black-Corner Region...
An indescribable destructive shockwave swept across the sky in all directions. The great plains of the Black-Corner Region were, in an instant, reduced to ashes under the terrifying energy impact.
Hun Tiandi's arrival instantly made the hearts of the three clans' people leap into their throats.
Hun Tiandi swept an indifferent glance over the battlefield. With a wave of his hand, a dazzling cluster of light flew out from his storage ring and hovered above his head. Faintly, within the cluster of light, a mist of light rippled, finally transforming into an illusory, aged figure.
As that aged figure appeared, the energy of this entire stretch of heaven and earth seethed because of it. A pressure, akin to the sovereign of heaven and earth, descended from the sky.
"Tuo She Ancient Emperor!"
Gazing at that elder with a head of dazzling, colorful long hair, Xiao Yan, Lei Ying, and the others' expressions instantly turned solemn. They spoke in deep voices. In this world, the only one who could possess such an imposing aura was probably that legendary Tuo She Ancient Emperor.
"Boom!"
Raising Tuo She Ancient Emperor's Jade, Hun Tiandi fiercely pressed a palm down towards the magma sea below. The thunderous rumble resounded across heaven and earth.
In the magma sea below, an abyss several thousand zhang wide instantly appeared. Rumbling, crimson magma continuously poured into that abyss.
Several breaths later, in the magma sea below, towering waves suddenly surged forth. A giant whirlpool, a full several thousand zhang in size, slowly took shape on the magma sea's surface. At the very end of that whirlpool, it seemed as if something was about to emerge. Faintly, a peculiar fluctuation rippled across heaven and earth.
The sudden change occurring above the magma sea also drew the attention of quite a few people. Their faces immediately showed expressions of shock.
"The Ancient Emperor's Mansion—"
In the distance, Gu Yuan, who had been outmaneuvered by Hun Tiandi, reappeared somewhat disheveled. Seeing the Ancient Emperor's Mansion about to emerge, a flash of excitement surged through his eyes. His figure flickered and shot towards the battlefield.
"Hun Tiandi!"
Gu Yuan looked at the figure controlling Tuo She Ancient Emperor's Jade. A cold gleam flashed in his eyes. He took a single step, spatial fluctuations rippling, and appeared behind Hun Tiandi. The energy tide of heaven and earth surged and churned, finally transforming into a giant tidal palm that furiously swatted down towards Hun Tiandi.