Chapter 1430: Sword Strikes the Heavenly Court (First Update)
Outside the Lingxiao Hall, all was quiet. After a moment, footsteps sounded, gradually fading into the distance.
The Kai Emperor sat motionless, still closing his eyes, not opening them. The Heavenly Sovereign Hao’s injuries had not yet healed; even with the help of the Taigu Ancient God, he dared not confront him directly.
“In the Heavenly Court now, there are three Heavenly Sovereigns remaining: Yan Tianfei, Hao Tianzun, and Gong Tianzun. Hao Tianzun has retreated, but when he returns, it will be with all three Heavenly Sovereigns joining forces.”
The Kai Emperor thought silently to himself: “The Mu Heavenly Sovereign said that Yan Tianfei has the help of the Taiji Ancient God, and Hao Tianzun has the help of the Taisu Ancient God. He insisted that I must severely wound Gong Tianzun. He really thinks highly of me.”
His right hand rested on the hilt of the Wuyou Sword, seemingly without force, but veins had already begun to bulge. He heard footsteps—a woman’s footsteps.
His little finger had already curled, gripping the sword hilt, followed by his ring finger, middle finger, and index finger.
Outside the Lingxiao Hall, Gong Tianzun stepped inside. Her pupils contracted sharply, her gaze falling on the headless body of the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor and the head that had fallen to the side.
On the imperial throne, the Kai Emperor opened his eyes, pressed his thumb against the sword hilt, and drew the sword with a clang. The sword’s cry instantly shook the Lingxiao Hall.
The moment the Wuyou Sword was drawn, his form had already arrived before Gong Tianzun. His first strike was directly the Thirty-Five Heavens of the Sword Dao!
Thirty-five supreme sword domains exploded in an instant. Within the Lingxiao Hall, sword light filled the hall where the gods once paid homage to the Heavenly Emperor, as if it had been packed to bursting!
The next moment, surging, overwhelming sword light pierced through the Lingxiao Hall.
At that time, countless gods and demons still lived in the Heavenly Court. At the same moment, they all raised their heads as if by unspoken agreement, turning in unison to look toward the Lingxiao Hall.
In their dazed eyes, thousands of beams of sword light burst forth from the Lingxiao Hall, which symbolized the supreme authority of the Heavenly Emperor.
That sword light was unstoppable, piercing through the Lingxiao Hall and shooting out from every direction. The stunning sword light sliced through the sky, leaving behind deep, unfathomable spatial rifts!
Boom—
From within the Lingxiao Hall came the thunderous roar of divine abilities erupting in conflict. Gong Tianzun, bearing dozens of wounds, rapidly retreated from inside the hall to the outside!
At that moment, the sword light that had shot out from the hall and pierced the sky actually tore through thirty-five layers of void. In each of those rifts, which reached directly into the thirty-fifth layer of void, stood a phantom of the Kai Emperor, sword in hand, charging out from the thirty-fifth layer of void!
Those were the sword imprints of the Kai Emperor!
He had imprinted his sword dao into the thirty-fifth layer of void. The sword light that had just burst from the Lingxiao Hall was not merely a random thrust into the sky; it was also a trigger for the sword imprints in the thirty-fifth layer of void!
Thousands of beams of sword light had flown out from the hall in all directions, and now these sword lights triggered the sword imprints in the thirty-fifth layer of void. Each beam’s power was even stronger, even more astonishing, as they converged from all sides to strike the rapidly retreating Gong Tianzun!
Gong Tianzun mustered all her strength to defend, but she only managed to block a hundred or so beams before a divine sword pierced through her back and emerged from her chest with a sharp *chi* sound!
Gong Tianzun spat blood, gritting her teeth and fighting desperately, but more sword lights pierced through her.
Before her, the Kai Emperor walked out of the Lingxiao Hall, holding the Wuyou Sword. His face showed no change in expression, as if the strike that had wounded Gong Tianzun was merely a casual act.
The Lingxiao Hall had become riddled with holes, dilapidated and ruined.
His dao realm was profound, unparalleled, having long surpassed the Great Emperor of old. In his later years, the Great Emperor had relied on sacrificial power to stack his divine consciousness up to the ultimate void of the Great Luo Heaven. In terms of dao realm, the Great Emperor’s comprehension had long been left far behind by the Kai Emperor.
He stood there as if within the thirty-fifth layer of void, his form elusive and difficult to grasp.
When he moved, it seemed as if the sword dao of the entire world moved with him, as if the sword dao of the thirty-fifth layer of void moved with him.
This was the unclimbable, unsurpassable peak of the sword dao that the Village Chief had spoken of!
For sword dao experts, the higher their comprehension of the sword dao and the deeper their understanding of the dao realm, the more they would see a figure standing before them—majestic, towering, like a sky standing there.
There were many sword dao experts in the world, but too few had cultivated to the level of Village Chief Su Muzhe. Even fewer, a mere handful, could sense the supreme majesty of the Kai Emperor’s sword dao.
Even Qin Mu could not sense the Kai Emperor’s sword dao’s power and majesty; others were even more unimaginable.
But once sensed, it would give rise to a feeling of looking up at a towering mountain, and one would need to break the god within their heart!
Village Chief Su Muzhe had remained silent and inactive for years, precisely to break the god within his own heart, to shatter the despair and oppression that the Kai Emperor’s sword dao brought him. But to this day, he had never been able to break that inner god and emerge from the valley.
Even the once-stunning Sword God could not step out of the Kai Emperor’s shadow for a time.
At this moment, the Kai Emperor gave not only sword dao experts the feeling of looking up at a towering mountain, but everyone, including the Heavenly Sovereigns, felt the same!
In the twenty thousand years since the end of the Kai Emperor’s era, he had not sunk into decline. What had sunk was Carefree Village. The gods and demons of the entire Carefree Village, even their descendants, had lost their dao hearts. Only his dao heart remained as before, never defeated.
No fellow daoist supported him, encouraged him, or stood by him. Even his former comrades in Carefree Village misunderstood him, failing to grasp his good intentions.
Yet even so, his dao heart had never decayed, never wavered.
Throughout history, he was the only one with such a powerful and unwavering dao heart!
This was the reason he could comprehend the thirty-fifth heaven of the dao realm!
Gong Tianzun’s divine consciousness dao burst forth. Divine consciousness excelled at imprinting the void, and her divine consciousness dao was especially skilled in illusions. Layer upon layer of illusions erupted, cascading endlessly toward the Kai Emperor.
Her illusions could easily confuse Qin Mu, but they seemed utterly useless against the Kai Emperor.
For someone who had pioneered a great dao and nearly fully mastered it, illusions could not confuse their dao heart, because illusions could not confuse the sword dao, nor could they confuse the sword heart.
Gong Tianzun was struck by several more swords. Despair filled her heart, and she said in a hoarse voice: “Qin Ye, why do you want to kill me?”
The Kai Emperor did not answer. Suddenly, he sheathed his sword and turned to leave.
Whoosh—
A Guixu Abyss suddenly appeared where he had been standing, swallowing the sky and ground there. But the Kai Emperor had just left that spot, and the Guixu Abyss did not devour even a trace of him.
Boom!
A Taiji Diagram emerged, with yin and yang energies like twin dragons, fins aligned, snipping toward him. The Kai Emperor walked precisely past the front of the yin-yang scissors, causing them to snip at nothing.
The Taiji Diagram stood upright, blocking his path. The Kai Emperor drew his sword and thrust, tearing a large hole in the diagram, and passed through it.
Suddenly, an ancient bell descended from the sky, booming as it vibrated. The bell’s sound rolled forth, crushing everything.
A sword aura shot up from the top of the Kai Emperor’s head, layering upward, forming thirty-five heavens. At the top was the Yuqing Realm sword domain, a vast landscape cast like jade, supporting the bell.
The bell’s sound shook, but could not break through the thirty-five heavens.
The Taiji Ancient Gods, one male and one female, followed Yan Tianfei and appeared before the Kai Emperor. The Taiji Sand Table stood upright behind their heads, and they hesitated slightly.
The Kai Emperor held his sword by the hilt, bowing to the two gods. They returned the bow, but when they looked up, he was already gone.
“Why didn’t you two stop him?” Yan Tianfei asked, puzzled.
“Stopping him would have injured us as well.”
The Taiyin Ancient God said: “This fellow daoist’s dao realm surpasses even ours, but he is inherently deficient. Forcing him to stay would be disadvantageous for us.”
The Taiyang Ancient God said: “He is one who is about to achieve the dao. Enviable.”
Yan Tianfei’s heart shook violently.