Chapter 1004: Chapter 1003: The Stature of the Sword Emperor (Part 1)_1
The Witch Queen Divine Hall was spacious yet elongated, and in the middle section, two powerful streams of energy clashed against each other, only to be immediately dissipated by the great array, causing no significant damage.
"Shenzong, you presume to be a high monk of the Wheel of Law Temple, yet you massacre the innocent without restraint. Today, I demand your blood debt be repaid in blood!"
The third Great Witch Servant stood outside the battleground, loudly scolding with a triumphant smile on his face, "You have a deep connection with the Kirin, and we suspect he is the traitor who sneaked into the Witch Queen Divine Hall. Once we capture you, he won’t have it any easier!"
Although using the Kirin was a plan set early on by the five Great Witch Servants, it was, to put it nicely, always a different story to the outside world, and it’s perfect to use the mad old man as an excuse.
"Utterly shameless!"
The mad old man laughed in extreme anger, turning his hand into a palm that covered the sky, but before his palm force could solidify, it was blocked by the unbreakable light of the battle array.
"Witch Soul Upheaval, your fate is in my hands, not in Heaven’s."
The Great Witch Servant, standing at the center and controlling the array, spread his hands towards both sides, and strands of golden thread-like light burst forth from his body, connecting with the other forty-nine Witch Heavenly Guards.
In an instant, all fifty shouted in unison. From all directions, they launched long-range attacks at the mad old man - there were Sword Qi, blade lights, fist shadows, and mace glares, to name just a few.
Apart from the Great Witch Servant being a top-notch Heaven Realm Martial Emperor, the other forty-nine were at least Earthly Realm Martial Emperors. Now, by linking their auras through the battle array, their power had greatly increased, and the sheer pressure was enough to subdue most Heaven Realm Martial Emperors.
Even the four outer Great Witch Servants, who had heard of the Witch Soul Upheaval Array, were witnessing it for the first time and thought to themselves that they would be obliterated within two moves if they were in his place.
"Blinding Heaven and Earth Club!"
The mad old man’s expression changed slightly, showing that he also knew the array was not simple. He brought his arms together, and a growing gray shadow of a club appeared, sweeping across everything as he spun.
For a moment, vigorous energies crashed like waves upon the shore, with debris from the sky constantly colliding, clashing, and shattering.
After the thick club shadow pierced through several layers of Vigorous Air, it was also steadily weakened. What’s more shocking was that those Vigorous Airs, which had already dissipated, instantly returned to their original state, joining the surrounding attacks in a fierce assault.
Bang bang pound.
A figure rapidly retreated, his frail body wobbling several times before stabilizing, and a surge of blood red flooded his old face.
"Shenzong, today I will take your head to honor the majesty of the Witch Queen Divine Hall!"
The Great Witch Servant coldly shouted.
Above his head hung a drop of deep, pitch-black blood. Waves of energy dissipated from it, causing the Witch Queen Divine Hall to continuously roar as an invisible force was drawn from the stone gate into the Witch Soul Upheaval Array, incessantly strengthening the array’s momentum.
"Kill!"
The second, more terrifying wave of attacks came.
"Strike Heaven Subduing Demon Club!"
The mad old man’s beard and hair flew wildly, his veins bulging on the surface of his arms under his tattered clothes. The club shadow was halved in size, but its power surged, striking forward with intense killing intent, dyeing the entire Witch Queen Divine Hall blood red.
"Such terrifying killing intent..."
Outside the Witch Queen Divine Hall, masters from both the Ancestral Temple and the royal family were shaken. Some of the weaker Void Origin Realm Martial Emperors felt their very souls tremble due to the diffused red light.
Shenzong of yesteryear, though hailing from the Buddhist sects, detested evil, was hot-tempered, and comprehended the Slaughter Martial Way. His hands were tainted with untold amounts of blood.
More than six hundred years of confinement only removed the killing intent from Shenzong’s demeanor, but the deeper layers were further ingrained into his bones and blood. When someone stirred up this aspect, it invoked a killing god even more fearsome than that of six hundred years ago!
Amid an eruption of deafening roars one after another, the entire Witch Queen Divine Hall trembled and swayed.
The many Witch Heavenly Guards watched in horror at the blood-covered, hunched old man.
With his hands as clubs, his left arm twisted to a full 180 degrees in the collisions, and with his right arm’s veins ruptured and bones broken, he still smashed his surroundings brutally again and again. Amidst the splattering blood, his eyes remained indifferent.
The mad old man’s momentum was surging.
He was gravely injured, with bent legs and a sunken chest, but like a blood-soaked tiger or lion in the heat of the battle, every pore of his body exuded boundless killing intent.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
The Great Witch Servant roared in anger, his eyes bloodshot, unclear whether it was out of rage or fear. The forty-nine Witch Heavenly Guards exerted all their strength, frantically venting their Vigorous Air.
With each heavy clash, the mad old man flew around like a kite with a broken string, spitting chunks of his liver, barely reacting before another wave of Vigorous Air attacks hit him.
"Shenzong, you are undoubtedly doomed. Stop your futile resistance!"
The fourth Great Witch Servant stood at the outskirts with a pale face, shouting loudly.
"A bunch of spineless rats, aspiring to take my life! Even if Heaven claims my life, it will never be by the likes of you vermin!"
The mad old man’s eyes were bloodshot with rage. When both his legs and arms broke, his body became a club: indestructible, earth-shattering, unbeatable, furiously thrashing against the enemy on all sides.
Boom!!!
Vigorous Air was savagely swept aside, pressing the great array of the Witch Queen Divine Hall inward by hundreds of meters. The concentrated force of the array had nowhere to vent, creating a suffocating atmosphere and, except for the four Great Witch Servants, dozens of Witch Heavenly Guards on the periphery panicked and retreated.
All were greatly shaken.
And at that moment, both the Ancestral Temple and the royal family masters outside the Witch Queen Divine Hall also retreated because the mad old man’s movements had pulled the fight out of the divine hall and onto the grand square.
"Witch Soul Upheaval Array, and it still hasn’t killed him after so long?"
Min Yunshu’s pupils constricted, witnessing the formidable power of the once-great killing god.
"You’re nothing but a spent force. See how long you can remain insolent, Witch God Eight Methods·Extinction!"
The blood of the Witch Ancestor burst into brilliant light, and the Great Witch Servant, with both hands stretched out, absorbed a portion of the power from the forty-nine Witch Heavenly Guards, transforming it into a seal within his palm. As he struck with this seal, all colors of heaven and earth faded away, leaving only grey and oblivion.
The sixth method of the Witch God Eight Methods possessed the power to ward off gods and ghosts at ease, on par with the Sky Ranking killing moves. Throughout thousands of years, only the Great Witch Servant had mastered it. Under the enhancement of the Witch Soul Upheaval Array, aside from the Forbidden Martial Emperor, no one could stand in its way.
In a critical moment, a Buddha statue sculpture burst forth from the crazy old man’s embrace, radiating a gentle Buddhist glow, which dispelled part of the seal’s power. Still, a greater portion assailed the crazy old man.
Crack!
In the sight of all present, a severed arm flew across and immediately crumbled into pieces. The crazy old man, having lost his left arm, spouted blood continuously, yet his body bathed in the Buddhist light.
A terrifying event took place.
The wounds on his body began to heal, his depleted energy swiftly replenishing. The blood formed stains which flaked off in chunks. From fierce and violent, the crazy old man’s expression turned peaceful, like a bloodthirsty beast for which killing had become the most natural instinct.
Everyone, including the Great Witch Servant, felt a sudden chill in their hearts.
A light breeze blew silently.
An extremely chilling feeling rose in people’s minds.
"Bad news, he’s about to break through, everyone, strike with all your might, kill!"
The Great Witch Servant screamed desperately.
But before people could react, in the face of an increasingly dense aura of slaughter which numbed their entire bodies, the crazy old man lifted his remaining right hand, slashing down with a transient shadow of a stick.
Clang!
This time, the crazy old man and the Great Witch Servant were evenly matched.
"Late-phase twelve degrees, late-phase twelve degrees of Slaughter Martial Way, heavens!"
Min Yunshu’s lips trembled, along with other masters from the Ancestral Temple, and even the royal experts like the Divine Light Emperor, were all dumbstruck, chilled to the bone.
Once at the level of the Heaven Realm Martial Emperor, the gap in quality between martial artists shrank even further, as experts of approximately the same level were not much different in various aspects.
And according to the norm, top martial arts practitioners reaching the initial phase of twelve degrees are mostly Heaven Realm Martial Emperors. By the mid-phase of twelve degrees, they are the top Heaven Realm Martial Emperors.
The crazy old man and the Great Witch Servant were at this level before.
But now, to everyone’s surprise, facing a dire situation, the crazy old man actually broke through in Slaughter Martial Way, reaching the late-phase of twelve degrees, and thus his strength greatly increased.
"However strong Slaughter Martial Way may be, it is not Supreme Martial Arts; you will never become a Forbidden Martial Emperor, unable to transcend the heavens and the earth, still destined to die!"
The Great Witch Servant’s face twisted, as he burst into a crazed laughter, commanding the many Witch Heavenly Guards to exchange blows continuously with the crazy old man. The fight move between heaven and earth, creating ripples in the Array System, nearly tearing down the entire imperial palace.
In the square, people retreated again and again, forced to raise their Vigorous Air to protect themselves. As for people like Min Tianliang, they almost had to flee far from this place.
In the sky, another clash of equal force, the crazy old man bleeding from his mouth and nose. The legs that were healed by the Buddha sculpture broke again into two sections, held together only by a stretch of skin and flesh.
His right hand was completely mangled, with tendons and veins exposed; although he had a resolute presence, his injuries worsened every moment!
"Shenzong, since you once saved Yan Zhenning, it is inevitable that you’re implicated with the Outer Heaven Demons. And since you risked your life for the Kirin, I have reason to suspect that he too is one of the Outer Heaven Demons! Therefore, you must die, and so must the Kirin; my Witch Queen Divine Hall must eliminate this scourge for the world!"
The Great Witch Servant said coldly, appearing like a lofty judge, in control of everything.
In fact, he had the right to say this. The crazy old man’s strength may have increased, but he could not break through the Witch Soul Upheaval Array, eventually leading to his certain death.
As for the Kirin, it had long been within his grasp.
"Madman, flaunting your power for a moment, but still bound to die by the hands of my Witch Queen Divine Hall!"
"You get what you deserve!"
The Witch Heavenly Guards saw the situation and breathed a sigh of relief. The four Great Witch Servants each sneered without pity, voicing their ridicule.
The masters from the Ancestral Temple and royal experts also found peace of mind, for if the Witch Queen Divine Hall collapsed, they would not fare well themselves.
The Divine Light Emperor called out, "Great Witch Servant, please extract from this man the whereabouts of His Majesty!"
The battle grew even fiercer.
"Submit obediently and become a dog of the Witch Queen Divine Hall, and perhaps you’ll get to see the Kirin once more."
The Great Witch Servant’s mouth held a mocking grin, clearly taking the chance to belittle the crazy old man, because as he spoke, he did not hold back at all.
The crazy old man shouted, "Dream on! Shi Ge’er possesses exceptional talent, how could he be at the mercy of vermin like you? There will come a day when he will slay you all!"
"Him? You don’t know yet..."
The Great Witch Servant secretly transmitted a message to the crazy old man. A moment later, the crazy old man let out an enraged roar to the heavens, his hair standing on end, yet this exacerbated his internal injuries.
This time, the radiance from the Buddha sculpture itself weakened, and it did not heal him anymore.
"The final strike, die!"
The blood of the Witch Ancestor swirled, shining black crystal light, and the Great Witch Servant, with a complacent smile, was about to end the life of the legendary assassin in hand.
Suddenly.
The force of the battle array rapidly flowed back towards the stone gate of the Witch Queen Divine Hall.
