Imperial God Emperor

Hu Bugui's hair and bushy beard were as untidy as unkempt grass—he had not changed at all. His body was covered with blood splatters and his clothes were tattered, torn, and covered with patches. However, his punches fell like lightning and contained the force of the universe. His fist radiance exploded like a divine radiance that could swallow the Void whole. The experts from the Heaven Desire Demon Sect who surrounded him were not even able to block one punch from him.

His strength had surged tremendously compared to a few years ago, and a faint grey and golden defensive glow shrouded his figure. He looked completely fearless. And as the yuan qi on both his fists skyrocketed, two balls of dazzling golden light surged like fiery flames toward and collided against the mysterious terrifying black mist one after another.

"Dusk."

A strange force suddenly exploded.

Instantaneously, dusk seemed to fall upon the area that surrounded this bandit chief. The dusk qi rolled like waves and caused the surging black mist to slow down. Astonishingly, the black mist was then unable to get within ten meters of this man.

An intense battle was being fought up in the sky, two thousand meters to their west.

There was a handsome man dressed in a blue brocade robe with a beautiful purple jade flashing blindingly from his forehead. He held a long sword in his hand that looked like it was formed from the spring wind. His sword power constantly danced and tore through the Void, and he moved so quickly that an average martial artist was unable to catch up to him.

This was the young master of the Immortal God Emperor Sect, Nan Tieyi.

Rays of green sword light exploded from the tip of his sword and they were so powerful that they swept past like mighty waves and even caused faint cracks to appear along the surrounding Void.

He was up against an elder from the Heaven Desire Demon Sect. Although his title was that of an elder, he looked like he was about their master's age. He was handsome, probably in his twenties, and a trace of creepy demonic aura danced in his eyes.

"The Immortal God Emperor Sect is already almost doomed and are like a pack of cornered dogs. As their young master, how dare you come all the way here to meddle in the business of others? You're completely overestimating yourself. I really pity those idiots who remain so loyal to you!" The Heaven Desire Demon Sect elder's stance was extremely arrogant and knocked back the piercing sword qi that charged at him with his powerful yuan qi.

"The heavenly will is to uphold justice regardless of race or sect. The Immortal God Emperor Sect will not let go of anyone who fraternizes with traitors and commits vile acts within the Clear River Domain!" Nan Tieyi said fiercely and his aura soared to its highest point.

Those two people transformed into two balls of light, one green and one black, and those two balls of light collided against each other at maximum speed. Rays of sword qi spread quickly like ripples of water and mournful ghostly wails howled constantly. It was hard to tell who had the upper hand at that moment.

At the same time, the battle was even fiercer in the northern part of the Void.

The master of the Hundred Spirits Sect along with three elders from the sect were up against the experts from the Heaven Desire Demon Sect.

The disciples of the Hundred Spirits Sect were known to be famous beauties throughout the entire Clear River Domain. The master and these three elders were all strikingly beautiful. They were courted by hundreds and thousands of young, handsome men from the Clear River Domain in their youths, but now their lives were in peril. The laws of the universe were cruel and harsh. Being an unparalleled beauty did not mean that they would be protected by everyone.

They were the most powerful experts from the Hundred Spirits Sect and splendors of different colors flashed from their bodies. Their skirts fluttered in the wind and their swords moved fluidly and sparkled like glass. Dazzling splendor shot from their hands and rose with the wind. Sword radiance exploded like a hundred flowers and the sound of the swords resounded everywhere. Powerful rays of an invisible force charged at those experts from the Heaven Desire Demon Sect.

However, they were still vulnerable.

They had been battling for many hours, and as the experts from the Heaven Desire Demon Sect continued to release an endless stream of black mist that was completely unstoppable and obstructed their attacks, the elders and master from the Hundred Spirits Sect found that their efforts alone were not enough to stop the onslaught of attacks. After another thirty minutes of continuous attacks passed, they found that they were unable to completely unleash their yuan qi or recover from their injuries. Their faces were all deathly pale and large patches of their skirts were covered in blood. They looked a little disheveled and their strength waned.

In contrast, those experts from the Heaven Desire Demon Sect were aided by their own men and they seemed to derive joy from this slow and torturous process of death by depleting the women's' yuan qi. Once this mysterious black mist came into contact with the women's yuan qi, it would even release fragmented lewd moaning sounds.

On a nearby cliff—

There was a monk clad in white cassock robes who wore a bamboo hat on his head. His eyes were as deep as the ocean and his yuan qi was rich and abundant. His expression was calm and unruffled but there was an almost imperceptible trace of sorrow and gravity. Golden rays of yuan qi surged out from behind him and the rays of light kept changing to finally form a large phantom image of a Buddhist mantra. This mantra seemed to have a natural resistance against the evil and demonic qi released by the Heaven Desire Demon Sect. Its Buddha's light lit up half the sky and kept the boundless demonic qi at bay as it reinforced the Hundred Spirits Sect's defensive formation, which was on the verge of collapsing.

This was the monk from the Storm Platform who had left the secular world because of love and who had attained enlightenment—Jue Chen.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The battle was extremely fierce and intense.

At this moment, all sorts of yuan qi power scattered powerfully in all directions and collided against each other violently. Consciousness power raged and its might was like powerful stormy waves rolling everywhere. The piercing clang of swords and blades which clashed against each other were like roaring tigers and dragons in a tempest.

Down below—

At the heart of the defensive mountain formation, a giant formation shield, which was as shiny as glass and was shaped like a large sky-dome, protected the remaining hundreds of disciples of the Hundred Spirits Sect.

Senior sister Shen Menghua and her junior sister Liu Ruxin led their sisters to stand on the empty land in front of the main temple. Most of them were seriously injured and their bodies were drenched in blood. As they stared nervously at the battles being fought in the Void, they felt as though their hearts were about to jump out of their throats.

Everyone was absolutely certain that the defensive mountain formation would not be able to last much longer under the continued erosion of the ghostly mist released by the Heaven Desire Demon Sect. Therefore, the battles of the few top-level experts in the sky would ultimately determine the fate of the Hundred Spirits Sect. If they were to be defeated, the consequences would be disastrous.

"Ah… My sisters, I've got to go first."

Suddenly, an anguished roar echoed in the sky.

In the northern part of the Void—

A Hundred Spirits Sect elder dressed in jade-green long skirts was completely shrouded by the black mist. Her long sword seemed to have been corroded by some mysterious force, which caused it to lose all of its spiritual power. Her yuan qi cultivation was completely suppressed, and as the black mist continued to attack, she finally lost all combat strength. In order to avoid being tortured by the vile and lecherous disciples of the Heaven Desire Demon Sect, this elder summoned up her final bit of strength to self-destruct and her blood rain filled the sky.

"Elder Cheng!"

Liu Ruxin wailed sorrowfully from within the defensive formation. Tears welled up in her eyes and soon afterward, her beautiful face was drenched in tears.

The other disciples from the Hundred Spirits Sect all supported and comforted each other, their faces all filled with grief and sorrow.

Senior sister Shen Mengyue was the only person whose eyes flashed with rage and hatred. Her entire body shook in anger and her jaw was clenched tightly.

The Hundred Spirits Sect was battling to the death, but there was nothing they could do to help.

Those who were protected by the defensive formation were disciples of the younger generation. Shen Menghua was the strongest among them, but she was only in the early Heavenly Ascension realm. They were not strong enough to resist the black mist, so once they walked out of the defensive formation, they would be immediately killed by it.

Up in the air, the intense battles continued.

In the northern part of the Void—

The golden Buddhist mantras behind Jue Chen wrapped themselves around him, and no matter how violently the black mist howled, it was unable to approach him. He held his prayer beads in his hand and continued to meditate on the mantras. Each and every prayer bead gradually expanded and transformed into a huge round ball of light. This huge ball of light then charged powerfully toward the experts from the Heaven Desire Demon Sect.

The experts from the Heaven Desire Demon Sect, whose bodies surged with evil blood black qi, were unable to break past his defense at this moment and were even forced to retreat because of the force from his prayer beads. They looked like they were on the verge of defeat.

Then, something strange happened.

A blood-colored light arrow flew in Jue Chen's direction.

This blood-colored light moved as swiftly as an arrow and carved the Void in half as though it was made of butter. The newly formed cracks in the Void brimmed with evil blood qi and it was a long while before they dissipated.

It moved so quickly that no one was able to react fast enough.

All everyone could see was a sudden explosion as the blood-colored light clashed against Jue Chen's golden light behind him. Instantly, the glow from the explosion lit up half the sky with a dazzling light. Those who were present were not able to look directly at the light at all.

In the light explosion, patches of blood slowly bloomed on Jue Chen's white robes.

These patches of blood then joined together to form a large pool of blood.

In the next instant—

The blood-colored light gathered to form an arrow again that shot toward the eastern side of the Void, like a sparrow returning to its nest. Then, it transformed into a Blood Lotus Jade and returned to rest on the forehead of the master of the Heaven Desire Demon Sect.

Hu Bugui immediately exploded in rage when he noticed what had happened and he bellowed, "Goddammit, you effeminate bastard. You are a sect master, how could you be so shameless as to launch a sneak attack on someone?"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Before he had even finished speaking, a series of dusk flames shot out as he punched out powerfully and mightily.

"Cackle, cackle. You're just a smelly donkey. How dare you pit yourself against us? You should have died a long time ago. That monk had the great fortune to die by my Demonic Blood Lotus Jade and he should treat it as a blessing that he earned from his good deeds in his past life. In fact, he should be grateful to me for sending him to meet his Buddha." The beautiful master of the Heaven Desire Demon Sect cackled evilly as his eyes flashed with arrogance.

At the same time, in the sky above the half cliff—

The evil blood qi had scattered but the golden splendor gradually grew dimmer. The faint golden light radiance slowly floated in the air like golden sand and transformed into the shape of a giant futon that gently supported Jue Chen's frail body.

Jue Chen sat cross-legged and his hands tapped out a Buddhist formation. His white robes were dyed red with his blood but there was no trace of pain or despair on his face.

"A cool breeze rises in the forest, the moonlight is as cold as silver, it is tragically difficult to meet again but since we met again..." Jue Chen's expression was calm and unruffled, without happiness or sorrow. His gaze was like water as he looked toward a specific direction in the sky and his voice turned gentle and hopeful as he said softly, "Lin Yueping, I know that you can't forget your sisters in the Hundred Spirits Sect. I came today hoping that I would be able to help but realized that I'm not strong enough. Will you blame me for my failure today? The road to hell is cold and I don't know how far along you are now, but just wait a while longer for I'll be joining you soon enough…"