Imperial God Emperor

The next moment, the sound of the void being torn rang out once more.

Like a painting being torn, the void barrier at where Jiang Xiaohan was burst open together with her body. She once again felt the excruciating pain of her body being ripped apart.

Having bathed in lightning, Ye Qingyu once again stepped out from a fissure in the void.

A horrific shredding force circulated within the terrifying pitch-black fissure and seemed as if it wanted to devour everything. Yet, Ye Qingyu remained totally undisturbed and walked within the void like a demon god.

The terrible lightning strikes caught Jiang Xiaohan off-guard and submerged her once more.

Black Demon qi billowed.

Jiang Xiaohan's body was shattered and dissipated, drifting into an insubstantial plume of smoke.

The next moment, however, she formed a new body as the Black Demon qi in the distance surged.

"What kind of technique are you using?" Jiang Xiaohan was shocked and exasperated. The demonic sound rang out again as the Black Demon qi trembled together with the universe. Countless streaks of Black Demon sword light swept toward Ye Qingyu like a torrential storm, trying to rip him apart.

"The [Secret Void Manual]." Ye Qingyu's stentorian voice caused the surrounding Black Demon qi to flip and recede like rolling waves.

He grabbed in the air at random.

His five fingers turned completely into a body of purple light, which contained an inexplicable Dao essence, and tore down a patch of the void barrier. It shielded his body. Purplish ancient hierograms gleamed scintillatingly. The void barrier had turned into a huge shield, blocking before his body.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Ear-deafening booms rang out.

All the sword lights of the demon qi were directly blocked by the void barrier shield, rippling wave-like and glittering on the surface of the shield.

Ye Qingyu did not hide anything.

His combat skill was called the [Secret Void Manual]. Like the earlier Ice Bloodline secret, it was from a section on the titled demon gods in the Bronze book [The Fiendgod Titled Chart].

The [Secret Void Manual] was from an erstwhile age of demon gods. It was a manual of talents and magical abilities from a divine race which was adept at manipulating the void. It was said that, once mastered, one would be able to shuttle through voids at will and tear through them to kill - the foremost occult technique among the divine assassination techniques.

In recent years, Ye Qingyu's yuan qi cultivation had been increasing constantly. After unlocking the vast amount of information in the [Fiendgod Titled Chart], he could read and comprehend its many techniques. Beyond those he had taught Bai Yuanxing, Jin Ling'er, Lang Yong, Li Rui, and the rest, he had also learned many other occult techniques which he had never displayed. It did not mean that he had not practiced or mastered them.

So far, even Ye Qingyu had lost count of how many occult techniques he had mastered from the Bronze book [The Fiendgod Titled Chart]... it must have been plenty.  

Given Ye Qingyu's comprehension power and the mysterious power of the nameless breathing technique, no technique would prove too difficult for him to employ.

The [Secret Void Manual] was one of these occult techniques.

In his fights with opponents, Ye Qingyu would usually refrain from using the techniques in the [Fiendgod Titled Chart], as he was determined to strike out his own path on the martial road and thus had to avoid developing a dependence on the chart.

But in a place like the [Fallen God Abyss], Jiang Xiaohan, who had mastered the Black Demons' magical abilities, would be like a fish in water. She could borrow the power of the heavens and the earth and become near-invincible, and thus Ye Qingyu could not confront her directly. The most suitable way was obviously to employ the void walking and attrition techniques of the [Secret Void Manual].

His decision was not wrong.

His two walks on the void had injured Jiang Xiaohan badly.

"The Secret Void Manual? I've never heard of it. Which sect does this skill belong to?" A piercingly cold murderous intent gleamed in Jiang Xiaohan's eyes as she displayed a combat pose.

Everywhere across the sky, the Black Demon qi was contorting. It turned into two several-kilometer-long gigantic Black Demon Dragons, covered with black spikes, with fiery black flames in their eyes. They were like ferocious beasts from hell, enveloped with black demon fire on their entire bodies, roaring angrily as they soared toward Ye Qingyu, winding around to kill him.

"Scram!"

Ye Qingyu bellowed, a dragon roar emerging from his open mouth.

Two streaks of Supreme Ice Flame spouted out from his mouth. In a flash, they had expanded, growing rapidly in size and ending up as two giant Divine Ice Dragons, roaring and gliding up to meet the Black Demon Dragon.

Roar! Roar!

The dragons howled repeatedly, shaking the heavens and the earth.

Four giant, magic dragons clashed and coiled madly about, their huge bodies striking one another. Their chill and demon qi rubbed against one another as they tried to kill. The scene was as terrible to behold as in a mythical war: huge ice boulders flying and splintering, black demon qi constantly exploding...

Finally, the giant Ice Dragons turned into ice flakes all over the sky.

The Black Demon Dragon was dying. It held out with its last breath and finally turned into a black mist, dissipating.

"Haha, so your strength can be exhausted! But within the Fallen God Abyss, my power is inexhaustible. Brother Qingyu, how much longer can you last?"

Jiang Xiaohan's smile blossomed like a flower.

But on that absolutely pretty face and smile, there was a chilling killing intent that bit into the bones.

"Just try it. Then you'll know."

Ye Qingyu looked calm and a fiery flame blazed in his eyes. In them were an yin and a yang: the absolute yin of the Ice Flame, the absolute yang of the Lightning, from which engendered countless profound mysteries.

"The Annihilating Eye."

Two streaks of light, one silver and one purple, burst out from Ye Qingyu's eyes. They were like two light pillars or cannons which could annihilate every substance in the world, hurtling toward Jiang Xiaohan in an instant.

Jiang Xiaohan stirred up the Black Demon qi and turned it into a huge shield, trying to block out the rays from those lights. Yet, within an instant, the silver and purple lights had bore two holes through the shield and through her body...

"Ah... and what power is that?" She was stunned, feeling her body breaking down and disintegrating. It was almost impossible to reassemble it again.

Ye Qingyu stood erect on the void, his eyes opened wide and gleaming with a divine radiance. Everywhere he stared, the light annihilated everything and was absolutely unstoppable.

"The incarnation of the Black Demon!"

Jiang Xiaohan's long hair started to drift in the air, her half-annihilated form desperately flashing: one flash and it divided into two, two flashes and they divided into four... It kept on splitting into newer, magical doppelgangers. Within the blink of an eye, she had turned into ten thousand doppelgangers, every one a spitting image of another, impossible to tell apart.

The divine radiance from Ye Qingyu's eyes kept on sweeping, disintegrating these numerous Jiang Xiaohans into smoke and dust.

After ten breaths, the divine light from his eyes began to dim.

As Ye Qingyu's eyes blinked, the eyeballs in his sockets seemed invisible. They had been subsumed into the purple and silver lights and his eyes seemed like two bottomless pits--wormholes into the mysterious realms of the boundless universe, thoroughly bizarre and terrifying.

The flame was like a fluid circulating within his eyes.

"Ha ha ha, I'm right in expecting Brother Qingyu not to last." Jiang Xiaohan's voice rang out again. The surrounding Black Demon qi billowed, engulfing the heavens and the earth. It seemed not to have dwindled.

Ye Qingyu's expression was solemn.

In this environment, Jiang Xiaohan was really in an invincible position. No matter what kind of combat skill or technique a person used, it would be almost impossible to kill her.

This was the reason why, despite the Black Demon Emperor having disappeared for so many years and despite no more martial emperor emerging from the Black Demon race, they could stand firm in the Alliance of Domains. In a place like the Black Demon Pool, any expert who could master the black demon occult techniques to the extreme would be almost invincible--unless a martial emperor could first destroy the Black Demon Pool.

"Brother Qingyu, you are very strong indeed. If you don't die, I'm sure you have a slim chance to become an emperor. Unfortunately... " Jiang Xiaohan tittered lightly and regret could be seen in her eyes. She looked to have the situation under control. Standing above all, she swept her gaze down below her. "Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to live. Otherwise, you will be a hindrance to my path as an Empress!"

She stared at Ye Qingyu without the former mocking expression on her face.

Her pretty, elfish eyes began to turn progressively icy. Jiang Xiaohan's thoughts turned and numerous black demon qi congregated, protecting her heavily within. The Black Demon sword in her hands started to draw on the Black Demon power all across the sky.

Boom!

Ye Qingyu's facial color changed and he kept on retreating.

Although it was the same stroke, he still felt that he could not counter it.

"Walking on the void!"

Ye Qingyu's figure trembled a little and he disappeared from where he was a third time.

Jiang Xiaohan's Black Demon sword struck the air and cleaved into the Fallen God Abyss, forming a gigantic fissure on the ground directly.

Smoke and dust filled the air.

Gravel flew all around.

Ye Qingyu's figure and aura remained untraceable.

"Ha ha, I'd like to see how far you can hide... " Jiang Xiaohan sneered and her sword turned suddenly. She slashed into the Black Demon Grass herbal field, looking as if she would destroy this entire patch of grass.

Rip!

The sound of cloth tearing resounded.

A void had torn, also rending the giant Black Demon Sword. The huge vortex gravity from the ripped space-time fissure, derived from the power of the Law and great Dao, had devoured the remaining Black Demon sword and its terrifying sword aura.

Ye Qingyu stood before the Black Demon Grass field, his figure tottering. He opened his mouth to spew out a series of blood arrows.

Although his Secret Void Manual had managed to counter Jiang Xiaohan's strike, this headlong collision had caused him to be injured again. His bones had fractured and his muscles had torn; he had sustained grave injuries.

"So pitiful... " Jiang Xiaohan snickered, her eyes full of pity, as if they were looking at a pheasant fallen into the water. "Let's call it a day."

Her elegant, small, jade-like hand waved gently. Her five fingers closed into a grip and the streams of demon qi turned into a gigantic magic Demon Sword, its aura stronger and its power even more frightful than before.

From her point of view, the outcome was clear. Ye Qingyu was at his wit's end.

However...

Ye Qingyu was seriously injured but the corners of his lips suddenly arched upward.

His originally distinct figure blurred gradually like an illusive green mist, becoming very unreal, like a faded watercolor painting.

Then, the coldness of an autumn brook spread in from her lower abdomen.

A hand blade emerged from Jiang Xiaohan's abdomen without any warning.

Five fingers like knives.

A silver flame blazed on it.

The flames blazed on, revealing Jiang Xiaohan's shocked countenance. She bowed her head with difficulty, an expression of incredulity on her face. She wanted to turned her head back but at this moment, heard an icy snicker resounding in the heavens and the earth. It chuckled as if it was mocking life itself...

Watching the countless, pale, silvery figures flashing frantically and encircling to kill... these figures were like a mist, like flowing light, like a mad gale, like flowing smoke, like the appearance of a fiery planet, like a drifting fog surging on...

The flickering light and shadow darted in from every direction, arriving to kill, amidst all those icy snickers!

The Shadow Flowing Kill!

A strike to kill!

Jiang Xiaohan was not the only one who could reproduce identical figures outside her body. She was not the only one who could pass off the unreal for the real. Ye Qingyu could do the same too.