Emperor Blesswood's body plummeted to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. However, the white-robed immortal empress's actions didn't stop as she swung her brush in a wide arc. White ink splashed out, painting the sky and land.
"Stop, Voidink!" Emperor Infinity shouted as twin lights, one of dark and one of light, shot toward the empress of the Buzhou Immortal Sect.
Zhang Cuiying, one of the three grand elders of the Buzhou Immortal Sect, flicked her brush, and two blots of ink shot forth. They clashed against the twin lights but only caused them to dim. After flicking two more times, she finally dissolved the twin lights.
However, at this point, Emperor Infinity had already neared her. He slapped toward her with his left hand, his palm shrouded in dark light.
Zhang Cuiying retreated and took out a scroll. She unfurled it to reveal a painting of heavenly soldiers. Just as she formed a hand seal, Emperor Infinity's figure blurred and suddenly appeared in front of her, slamming his palm forward. She didn't have time to dodge, so she used the unfurled scroll to block.
Once the dark palm slammed into the scroll, it didn't tear and held strong, but Zhang Cuiying was sent flying back, forced by the attack and using the force to distance herself. She resumed forming her hand seals.
After finishing the final hand seal, the scroll in her hand released an intense silver light. The painted heavenly soldiers started leaping out of the paper, each one wearing silver armor and exuding the aura of a true immortal.
Voidink Scroll - Immortal Soldiers Descent
Halfway through, Zhang Cuiying discovered something wrong. For every four immortal soldiers, a fifth should have come out of the scroll, yet she could still sense a qi drop as if they had come out.
At this time, Emperor Infinity raised his right palm, which shone a bright white. An alternately colored version of the Voidink Scroll appeared in front of him, and from it flew black-armored soldiers. They numbered only a quarter of Zhang Cuiying's, but she finally knew where the excess energy went.
Her eyes narrowed, but she didn't stop the technique. Of the original one thousand soldiers, only eight hundred came out. But, the eight hundredth soldier still exuded the aura of an immortal monarch, the commanding general of the Voidink Scroll soldiers. In contrast, Emperor Infinity's two hundredth soldier still only exuded the aura of a true immortal.
The army of eight hundred strong immediately formed a gigantic war formation without notice or any need of preparation. It formed a ten thousand meters tall emperor war formation, the Voidink Emperor War Formation. The land trembled as its foot sunk into the ground.
The Voidink Emperor War Formation took a step forward and stopped, not because it wanted to, but because something snagged its leg. Out of nowhere, a tree branch had enraptured the Voidink Emperor War Formation. The tree branch grew into a gigantic tree with golden bark and silver leaves of three thousand meters in a few breaths.
Zhang Cuiying moved to cut down the tree, but Emperor Infinity stopped her. While he entangled her, the golden tree continued to grow until it surpassed the Voidink War Formation and completely encapsulated it within its branches.
A moment later, there was a giant explosion of qi that blew harmlessly in the wind. Emperor Infinity no longer entangled her and allowed her to retreat into the distance.
Zhang Cuiying furrowed her brows but otherwise showed no reaction. She raised the Voidink Scroll and collected the remnant qi from the destroyed Voidink Emperor War Formation. It wouldn't restore all the qi lost, but it would salvage some, not that she could reuse it immediately.
She stared as the golden tree started to shrink until it formed a man in the prime of his life wearing black and white robes. Although he appeared young and full of vitality, he exuded a greater aura of death.
He was Emperor Blesswood. Zhang Cuiying had thought she sealed him, but Emperor Blesswood broke out using a forbidden technique that boosted his strength and restored his youth, but as a price, he would undoubtedly die.
Zhang Cuiying raised her brush and started writing numerous words in the air in quick succession. Both Emperor Infinity and Emperor Blesswood started taking action. Emperor Blesswood pointed his finger at Zhang Cuiying, launching several seeds at her, while Emperor Infinity unleashed nine rays of light.
When the spells reached her, Zhang Cuiying had finished writing. Her words spurted ink and transformed into eight Ink Incarnations. Three of them were struck by the seeds, causing trees to sprout and crush them in their roots during their growth. The rays of light destroyed two Ink Incarnations and injured a third.
However, that still left three. Under her command, the three Ink Incarnations charged at Emperor Infinity and Emperor Blesswood. Both of them unleashed spells upon one of the Ink Incarnations, but not the third one. When the last Ink Incarnation reached a hundred meters of them, it exploded into a massive tidal wave of ink that covered the sky.
"Careful, if even a little bit of the ink touches you, a sealing script will cover your body for a brief moment," Emperor Blesswood said, having already experienced this.
"Let me take care of this," Emperor Infinity said. His left palm turned black, while his right hand turned white. Simultaneously, his left eye exuded a black light, and his right eye exuded a white light.
He waved his hands together, causing the lights of black and white to trail behind his movements. The light expanded and covered both Emperor Infinity and Emperor Blesswood in a sphere resembling the taiji symbol. And not a moment too soon as the ink tsunami washed over them.
Upon contact, the ink transformed into runic symbols that covered the taiji sphere. However, the black part of the sphere absorbed the ink before it could spread far, while the white portion spat out white runic symbols that countered the ink.
Zhang Cuiying's attack couldn't deal any damage to them, but Emperor Infinity frowned. "Not good. She's trying to stall. As long as you fall, the situation would fall to her advantage."
Emperor Blesswood agreed. "Let me charge out. I've broken out of her sealing before, I can do it again."
"Alright, but be careful," Emperor Infinity said.
The ink tsunami had blocked their immortal senses. If Emperor Blesswood charged out, he would likely be met with an attack or trap. Still, Emperor Blesswood decided that waiting for the ink tsunami would result in a worse situation for the two.
Golden bark appeared from Emperor Blesswood's skin, eventually covering his whole body, robe and all, in an armor of wood. Encased in a powerful gold-green glow that exuded yang qi, Emperor Blesswood charged out of the taiji sphere.
A portion of the white light attached itself to him, protecting him against the sealing effects of the ink tsunami. However, that protection did not last long as the ink tsunami shifted its attention from Emperor Infinity to him.
Even when the white light collapsed, Emperor Blesswood still tore through the ink tsunami. Sap poured out of his bark armor, encasing all the runic script before shedding them. Like this, he broke out of the inky waters and into the air, only to be met with a draconic roar of thunder.
Emperor Blesswood only had a split second to turn toward the source to see the Eternal Night Emperor aiming an arrow at him. Day had turned to night, and the only illumination came from the crackling arrow of lightning.
Eternal Night Emperor released the arrow, and it soared through the air. Twin dragons manifested and swirled around the arrow, but all everyone else saw was a streak of golden light.
When the arrow pierced into the distance, Emperor Blesswood still stood in the air. Moments later, blood started to leak down his chin as his hand trembled toward his chest, where a gaping hole now existed. Wrinkles started appearing all over his skin, along with spots. Simultaneously, the color faded from his formerly dark hair.
"Premeditated," Emperor Blesswood said, coughing as more blood spurted from his mouth. "You and the Buzhou Immortal Sect had long allied. The devastation at the Yangsource Sect and Goldlight Sect was also part of the agreement."
The Eternal Night Emperor smiled. "You're wrong. It's impossible for the Buzhou Immortal Sect and the Anti-Earth Alliance to ally together."
Emperor Blesswood never said another word as his body plummeted once more. Only this time, he was truly dead. His body started to degrade and disintegrate into particles of light that were absorbed by the Huang Realm.
Eternal Night Emperor nodded at Zhang Cuiying and notched another arrow, this time aimed at Emperor Infinity within the ink tsunami. However, the ink tsunami burst apart, and out flew Emperor Infinity. Eternal Night Emperor released his arrow but lacking time to accumulate qi, its power was woefully weak.
Seeing Emperor Infinity block his arrow, Eternal Night Emperor waved his arm, causing the stars in the artificial sky above to rain down starlight. Zhang Cuiying also joined in the assault on Emperor Infinity while the latter continued to dodge.
The two gave chase, removing any of the war formations that blocked them on Emperor Infinity's orders. Whatever Emperor Infinity planned, the two would stop him.
"Die!" Tai Wuling shouted. After he regained his bearings, he attacked Monarch Nine Heavens after the Buzhou Immortal Sect's immortal empress drew Emperor Infinity and Emperor Blesswood's attention.
Fire, water, earth, wood, and metal qi merged in Tai Wuling's fist as he charged at the masked monarch. His eyes widened when he saw Monarch Nine Heavens open his palm, and each finger burst out with immortal qi of the five elements.
Monarch Nine Heavens clasped his fingers into a fist, merging the five different qi harmoniously, and punched forward. When the two fists clashed, it created a zone of destruction around the two, injuring any true immortals unlucky enough to be near them.
The two seemed evenly matched for the moment, but a few seconds later, it was Tai Wuling that was sent flying back. He stared at his foe in disbelief. "How can you merge the five elements?!"
Monarch Nine Heaven placed a hand over his mask, unintentionally causing the onlookers' breath to hitch. When he removed the mask, his hair turned black, and the Buzhou Immortal Sect immortals all gasped in surprise.
"Why? It's because I used the Law of Five Phases to step into the Seamless Immortal Realm," the unmasked monarch said.
Tai Wuling stared. Monarch Nine Heaven's features were exceptionally charming, like something out of a painting, and even more handsome than Xi Tianyi's. Had Xi Tianyi not possessed those pair of bedeviling eyes, Monarch Nine Heaven's features would have won hands down.
"Hmpf," Tai Wuling increased the intensity of his glare. "It doesn't matter. After today, the name of Monarch Nine Heavens will no longer exist."
The unmasked immortal smiled, almost mockingly. "You're wrong about that. Even if by some miraculous chance you kill me, the name of Monarch Nine Heavens won't disappear. Because I'm not Monarch Nine Heavens, I'm Ba Shifang."
Tai Wuling heard the shock reverberate across the Buzhou Immortal Sect immortals, but he didn't understand the big deal.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tai Wuling asked as he felt Yang Linyin fly next to him.
Ba Shifang smiled, enjoying Tai Wuling's confusion, irritating the latter even further. "I'm a clone, and my main body is Xi Tianyi."
"Impossible!" A tremor appeared in Tai Wuling's heart. Clones were known to be weaker than the original. In his clash against Ba Shifang, he was clearly slightly inferior, and according to Ba Shifang's words, didn't that mean Xi Tianyi was at least a whole level stronger than him?
He glared. "So what? The name of Nine Heavens will still die with you!"
Ba Shifang's expression of anticipation and enjoyment faltered. He sighed in disappointment. "I thought with your character setting, you'd connect the dots by now. I'm not Monarch Nine Heavens, he should be razing the Eight Pillar Sect to the ground right now."
He saw anger in Tai Wuling's eyes, but the confusion remained. Ba Shifang sighed even more. "Have you not connected the dots? My main body is still present in the Eight Pillar Sect, and so is Monarch Nine Heavens."
A possibility that Tai Wuling didn't want to be true appeared in his mind. Ba Shifang clapped his hands. "Finally, you get it."
"You're lying!"
"Fine, let me spell it out for you. Monarch Nine Heavens never existed," Ba Shifang proclaimed with arms out extended as if he were presenting before a crowd.. "No, to be more accurate, Monarch Nine Heavens has always been my main body, Xi Tianyi's true title."
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