Chapter 1304: Chapter 1302: Uncle and Nephew
"Little lad, this old man has arrived late."
As countless mourned the death of Shi Xiaole, a bald old man appeared in the sky, holding a blue crescent blade, his expression one of agony and desolation.
It was the elder from the Meng and Shi clans.
"Little lad, you managed to defeat a Supreme Lord without being one yourself. I, Oblivion Blade Ancestor, have lived for so many years and yet, I refuse to be outdone by you."
Oblivion Blade Ancestor was not an exceptionally famous figure, but a select few knew that his blade skills were almost no less formidable than those of the Blade Slaves Sect leader. His low profile, compounded with his status as one of the Nine Heavenly Aliens, meant he lingered in obscurity.
After the first great battle between heaven and earth had ended, most Supreme Lords hid within the Ten Great Dangerous Places, but a few were not satisfied with this and alone sought a stronger path.
Oblivion Blade Ancestor was one of them.
He couldn’t master Shi Xuanzhong’s "Dividing Body Technique," but used it as a foundation to destroy his cultivation and revert to an ordinary human, hoping that through successive breakthroughs and destructions, and by reinforcing his foundation again and again, he could exceed his limits.
For a full 160,000 years, Oblivion Blade Ancestor had, through accumulated experience and tremendous fortune, survived until this time.
He was just one step away from success, at which point he would have surpassed his past self and become an unmatched master in all of history.
However, with a formidable enemy before him, he knew well that if he did not make a move, the entire world of East Victory would be destroyed. The Meng and Shi clans, along with the other eight Heavenly Aliens, would cease to exist.
That was what he had spent his life protecting.
"Kill!"
The bald old man lifted the long blade that Shi Xiaole had given him, and charged towards the west, in an instant crossing the ends of the sky. The blue blade light poured out like a galaxy, sweeping towards the Absolute Gun Supreme Lord who was on a killing spree.
"Scram!"
The Absolute Gun Supreme Lord didn’t even look back as he casually swung his arm backward, his spear light easily crushing the blade light. The momentum didn’t stop there; it continued hurtling towards the bald old man.
A mere leader daring to provoke a tiger—to court death.
The spear light pierced the bald elder, but instead of the expected spray of blood, a formidable Sword Qi suddenly erupted, like a silkworm breaking free from its cocoon after bearing restraint for countless years, and swept through all directions.
"A Supreme Lord?"
The Absolute Gun Supreme Lord abruptly turned his head.
The blue blade light spread out in a vortex pattern.
Within the light of the blade, a majestic and heroic figure emerged. With each step, his hunched back straightened a bit more, his wrinkled skin began to smooth over, and his hair swiftly grew out, black as ink.
Bathed in the rain of light, the bald old man returned to his youthful visage, tall and remarkably handsome, with deep, penetrating eyes like two dark ocean gems capable of piercing into one’s soul.
The blue crescent blade in his hands trembled with fervor, as if rejoicing at an old friend’s return.
Shi Xiaole didn’t know that the Divine Blade he had acquired in East Victory City was, in fact, personally handed over to the Holy Monarch by the Oblivion Blade Ancestor before his self-destruction.
This was the Oblivion Blade.
"No, your aura is unstable... I get it, you forcibly merged the Spiritual Path with the martial path, elevating yourself to the Sky Origin Realm! Hahaha, by doing this, you’re completely depleting your life essence. Even if I don’t kill you, you have only the path to death!"
Coming to a realization after his initial shock, the Absolute Gun Supreme Lord burst into laughter.
"Killing you will be enough."
Oblivion Blade Ancestor said calmly.
No sooner had he spoken than he slashed with his blade. What a slash it was—splitting heaven and earth, as if it could sever all emotions and desires with a single stroke. It was a Slash of Oblivion!
"Spear Origin Defense One!"
The Absolute Gun Supreme Lord was terrified and quickly spurred all his power to vibrate his long spear frantically before him, drawing one interlocked fine ring after another, while swiftly retreating.
He was also a distinguished Supreme Lord, but faced with the Oblivion Blade Ancestor’s slash, he saw no way to counter it.
Crack!
Crack, crack, crack...
The unyielding ring of the spear just touched by the blade light instantly crumbled, exploding in mid-air; while weakened considerably, the blade light still retained half its power and, without losing speed, struck the Absolute Gun Supreme Lord.
The latter managed to block with his spear out of sheer reflex.
Boom!
A deep crack appeared on the shaft of the divine spear. Blade Qi, passing through the long spear, violently battered the Absolute Gun Supreme Lord, causing him to burst open with flesh and blood in an instant, looking like a human-shaped blood firework, which was then immediately extinguished by the Blade Qi.
"Good!"
"Kill him!"
On the ground, the despairing people of East Victory clapped and cheered, their eyes kindling with intense hope. It turned out that the world of East Victory hadn’t yet reached its final step.
"Grandpa Baldhead!"
Yet, in a distant secret realm, nine Heavenly Aliens watched the sky, tearfully gazing at that magnificent and commanding figure.
"Uncle, why did you have to step in? The world of East Victory isn’t worth your protection!"
Shi Fu laughed bitterly.
"He’s doing it for us. If the world of East Victory falls, we will die more horribly than the people of East Victory. It’s because of us that Uncle is burdened."
Tears streamed down Meng Chou’s face as he trembled.
"Ah..."
As the Blade Qi drilled into him, carrying the force of a Supreme Lord, it caused the soul of the Absolute Gun Supreme Lord, already cracked, to suffer further and expand the existing fissures.
Without thinking, the Absolute Gun Supreme Lord turned and fled towards East Victory City, where more than two hundred Heavenly Supreme Lords were stationed. If only he could hold out until then, he could survive.
"When you slaughter others, do you realize that they are even more desperate than you?"
The Oblivion Blade Ancestor unleashed his second strike.
Boom!
Blood mist filled the sky.
The Absolute Gun Supreme Lord, now reduced to nothing but a head with a surface shattered into pieces, cried out in horror, "Stop! By dissipating your power now, you could still live even after your forced breakthrough. But if you continue to wield the power of a Supreme Lord, you will undoubtedly die!"
The third strike came down.
The remaining head immediately exploded, leaving behind a soul body full of cracks that let out a resentful and unwilling howl, trying to escape. Yet, it was imprisoned and sliced by threads of Sword Qi, unable to even self-destruct.
"If only I had known this would happen..."
With a loud bang, the soul body vanished into the sky.
The Absolute Gun Supreme Lord, dead.
Thus, the two Supreme Lords who had broken into the world of East Victory and wreaked astronomical devastation, were each slain by Shi Xiaole and the Oblivion Blade Ancestor.
Cheers erupted throughout the world of East Victory.
Without a moment’s delay, the Oblivion Blade Ancestor strode forward and soon arrived at East Victory City.
The true carnage was here. The city wall that extended for tens of millions of meters and was dozens of meters wide had already turned to ash. The pavilions and houses built within the city had all but disintegrated.
Shi Xuanzhong cradled the Holy Empress in one arm, single-handedly facing off against over a hundred Supreme Lords from beyond the heavens. His body was covered in wounds, bones broken and tendons snapped, yet he doggedly held them at bay.
Further away, the Sorcerer Lord, Saintly Love Young Master, Immortal Scholar, and even the Ancestor of the Fire Stiffs, as well as the leader of the Blade Slaves Sect, had also reached a desperate state. Some were dismembered, others split open from chest to abdomen, on the brink of death at any moment.
Raising his blade, the Oblivion Blade Ancestor swung at the Limitless Sword Sovereign and shouted, "My dear nephew, I am here!"
Clang!
The flash of the blade forced the Limitless Sword Sovereign to take it seriously, compelling him to halt his attack on Shi Xuanzhong and turn his sword towards the Oblivion Blade Ancestor instead.
"Uncle Oblivion, why must you do this?"
A glimmer of sorrow flashed in Shi Xuanzhong’s eyes upon seeing the Oblivion Blade Ancestor.
How could he not tell that his uncle hadn’t fully mastered that path, but had forcibly broken through, using his life as the price? Given time, he was destined to surpass the peak!
"The day I found you at the foot of the mountain and you called me uncle, you became my nephew for eternity. How could I, as your uncle, stand by and watch you in peril without coming to your rescue?"
The Oblivion Blade Ancestor laughed heartily, slashing wildly at the Limitless Sword Sovereign.
His strength was hardly inferior to that of the leader of the Blade Slaves Sect, and after multiple cycles of destruction and reconstruction, his foundation was vastly superior to that of the past. Now having forcibly broken through, his power had reached a new level, barely holding off the injured Limitless Sword Sovereign.
"Limitless!"
Just as the Sovereign was about to kill Shi Xuanzhong, but was interrupted, the Limitless Sword Sovereign roared in fury, unleashing a black Sword Qi that brought all of time to a standstill, stretching the heavens and the earth.
"Oblivion!"
The Oblivion Blade Ancestor, too, wielded the power of the Supreme Realm. A fine layer of Sword Qi cleaved through, colliding head-on with the sword light. Alas, his Supreme Realm was still a notch below his opponent’s.
The blade light shattered, and the Oblivion Blade Ancestor grunted, a deep sword wound manifesting on his chest.
"Die!"
Without a moment for respite, the Limitless Sword Sovereign swung his sword in rapid succession, a dense swarm of sword shadows engulfing the Oblivion Blade Ancestor with an unstoppable force.
One after another, blood holes burst open; the Sword Qi ravaged the Oblivion Blade Ancestor’s physique into an indistinguishable mess of broken bones and flesh, and his soul body was struck, developing a significant crack.
"Fight!"
Blood sprayed from the Oblivion Blade Ancestor’s mouth. His life’s origin burned like a fierce fire, momentarily boosting his combat strength to a new height. Swinging his blade time and time again, he struggled to keep the Limitless Sword Sovereign at bay.
"Uncle!"
Shi Xuanzhong cried out in grief.
His wife had turned into a living corpse, more than half of the twelve holy envoys were dead, many friends had been killed on the spot, and now even his closest uncle, the Oblivion Blade Ancestor, was burning his life for him, teetering on the edge of death.
In the end, he was still not strong enough, unable to suppress the heavens single-handedly!
Shi Xuanzhong desperately rushed toward the outskirts, only to be beaten back each time by the heavenly Supreme Lords. His body was covered with innumerable cracks, as if it would split open at any moment.
"You old immortals, worthless trash, who asked for your interference!"
The Limitless Sword Sovereign sneered viciously, each of his sword blows deepening the wounds on the Oblivion Blade Ancestor’s soul body. Gradually, cracks spread across the entirety of the soul body.
"Oblivion, ultimately I could not forget my emotions, could not make it to the final step. Xuanzhong, the promise of you and your uncle roaming the stars is nullified by your useless uncle. After my death, please bury me beneath the peach tree where your aunt is buried. She must have been waiting too long."
The rain of light grew even more dazzling. In his life’s final moments, the Oblivion Blade Ancestor looked towards the hidden dwelling of the Meng and Shi clans.
The peach tree he had leaned against for many years, the one standing at the entrance of Peach Blossom Village, had also been moved there by him.
Because beneath that tree lay his wife’s body. He had intended to revive her after his breakthrough, a belief that had kept him alive through the years.
But now it was alright, at least he could reunite with his wife. Yet, will Xuaner blame me for not protecting Xuanzhong? But I did my best.
"A Blade of Emotion!"
Cling!
Carrying both the longing for his wife and guilt towards his nephew, the Oblivion Blade Ancestor unleashed the strongest attack of his life, a strike that sent the Limitless Sword Sovereign flying.
The light scatteringly faded away, and from that moment forward, the Oblivion Blade Ancestor was never seen again in this world.
"No, Bald Grandfather!"
As if by a premonition, within the mystic realm, the Nine Heavenly Aliens were suddenly wracked with a heartbreaking pain, as if something important had left them, never to return.
