Chapter 1734: Falling Moon (4)
The Yue Shen Realm, one of the Four Eastern Domain King Realms—its power, its level, was by no means comparable to ordinary planets and star realms.
To destroy a King Realm within the span of a few breaths was, by common understanding, an utterly impossible feat.
Even at the time when the Evil Infant, who had erupted with power beyond the bounds, waged a prolonged and brutal war against the various God Emperors, it had only managed to shatter the Xing Shen Realm... and had absolutely not annihilated it so completely.
Amid the dispersing moon dust, the vast rumbling and the collapse of space continued on, accompanied by a cosmic storm that spread across a vast star region, sweeping up countless innocent planets, lingering without end.
For that was the demise of a King Realm!
From its resplendent moonlight, to its scattering moon dust, to its transformation into dim gray ashes... the Yue Shen Realm darkened before Xia Qingyue's eyes like a fading dream, and with it, the originally crystalline, profound purple light within her gaze was also carried away.
Whoosh—
The cosmic storm swept in, causing the hair and robes of the three to flutter wildly in chaos. In the distance, a great number of stars deviated from their trajectories, some fragile small planets directly shattered, turning together with the Yue Shen Realm into drifting, scattered dust.
To destroy the Yue Shen Realm in such a manner required a power of which no one in this world was more aware than the Yue Shen Di... yet absolutely no one would believe that such power could exist in the world.
A power capable of directly destroying even a King Realm—as for the people within it, aside from the Yue Shen themselves, there was almost no possibility of survival.
And if one were at the very epicenter of the power's eruption, even a Yue Shen would be annihilated to ashes.
"Beautiful... to... look... at?"
Her ear caught Yun Che's low mutter.
Back then, bathed in the dying light of the Lan Ji Star's destruction, she had spoken those very three words to Yun Che in a faint, airy voice.
Today, he returned to her a picture of destruction even more desolate and beautiful, and gave her back the same three words... only now, every syllable was as sinister as the whisper of a vengeful ghost, and between clenched teeth carried an almost bursting sense of glee.
Gently, Xia Qingyue closed her eyes. A layer of deathly pale spread from her cheeks down to her snow-white neck. The jade fingers holding the Purple Que Divine Sword trembled faintly, and from her lips came a light murmur as ethereal as a dream: "Fate... is it truly... so impossible to resist..."
"Fate? Hahahaha..." Though it was an extremely soft murmur, Yun Che heard it clearly, and he laughed coldly in mockery. "No, this is retribution! You personally destroyed everything most important to me... how could I not... return to you a gift of equal magnitude!"
Looking at Xia Qingyue's expression, which was struggling to suppress pain, Yun Che's features twitched and trembled with excitement. All these years, he had dreamed of this moment in his sleep.
Now, at long last, this day had come. And the deep-rooted, extreme hatred he held for Xia Qingyue was finally vented with immense satisfaction.
"Do you know how much painstaking effort I put into sending you this great gift, and how great a sacrifice I made?"
Yun Che grinned with a sinister smile. "Those demon crystals condensed from the corpse aura of ancient true demons are treasures that can never be regenerated! How precious they are! Yet I bestowed them all upon your Yue Shen Realm... Hehehehe, when you descend to the Nine Nether Hell, you must not forget to be grateful!"
As black light flashed from both his eyes and his body simultaneously, the Heaven's Calamity Demon Emperor Sword appeared in Yun Che's hand. With the "Yama King" activated, a death-defying killing intent from the Northern Domain's Demon Lord locked firmly onto Xia Qingyue.
Qianye Ying'er's golden eyes turned a deep gloom. Golden light flickered at her waist as she swept out the Oracle, and the dark aura radiating from her body silently linked with Yun Che's raging dark profound energy, joining together to form an even heavier oppressive darkness that descended again upon Xia Qingyue.
What had buried and destroyed the Yue Shen Realm was precisely the Eternal Dark Demon Crystals from the Eternal Dark Bone Sea.
Eternal Dark Demon Crystals were condensed from the yin aura of the bones of ancient true demons, containing an extremely high level and density of dark aura, but they were also extremely volatile. The slightest external touch would cause them to erupt.
Even the Three Yan Mo Ancestors, powerful as they were, had never dared to approach them, let alone touch them.
In this world, only Yun Che could harness them perfectly; and only the Dustless Barrier could transfer them intact.
Because they could only be condensed from the highest-level portion of ancient yin aura, they were extremely scarce and non-renewable. Of all the Eternal Dark Demon Crystals Yun Che had collected in the Eternal Dark Bone Sea, a small portion had been given to Hong'er as food... and he had bestowed the remaining ones upon the Yue Shen Realm!
If these Eternal Dark Demon Crystals had been used separately, they could have generated profits many times over.
But! From the very moment he first touched the Eternal Dark Demon Crystals in the Eternal Dark Bone Sea, his mind had been frantically weaving together the scene of today.
A pale, faint trace of blood slid silently from the corner of her pallid lips. Xia Qingyue opened her eyes, and they were calm and cold. Purple light re-condensed within her pupils. She slowly raised her hand, and the divine radiance on the Purple Que Divine Sword also ceased its trembling, becoming incredibly still and dense.
"Let's end this."
She murmured softly, and thrust out her sword.
A single, plain thrust, yet it filled the sky with purple light. In an instant, even the wildly surging cosmic storm was severed.
Especially the purple radiance on the sword; the moment it blazed forth, the entire starfield suddenly dimmed.
Qianye Ying'er's golden eyes narrowed slightly... With just this one sword stroke's Moon God's might, Xia Qingyue's strength was already fully on par with Yue Wuyai at his peak.
The instant the purple light blazed, the Heaven's Calamity Demon Emperor Sword in Yun Che's hand smashed out violently. No dark condensation was needed; the moment the sword body lashed out, darkness had already shrouded the heavens. The fierce sword force was like a demon god descending upon the world, carrying boundless ferocity as it bore straight down upon Xia Qingyue.
Boom!
The space of the starfield split apart, forming a clear boundary of glowing purple and darkness.
But immediately, this abruptly appearing boundary was fiercely torn apart. The worlds of purple and darkness collapsed simultaneously. Purple Que Divine Power and dark demonic flame clashed and collided in chaotic, rampant frenzy.
Boom boom boom boom boom—
The collision sounds of the Purple Que Divine Sword and the Heaven's Calamity Demon Emperor Sword seemed to split the heavens and shatter the earth. From a distant star realm, it looked as if a black and a purple planet were violently smashing together in a calamity.
A Moon God Emperor and a Northern Domain Demon Lord—every single moment of a savage battle of this level was a natural disaster. Yet both of them, from the very first moment, had already unleashed their full, world-destroying power.
Boom!
The purple light swelled with might, only to be instantly devoured by darkness. Xia Qingyue's long hair swept through the void as she gracefully landed far away, a soft sigh escaping her lips: "Worthy of being the successor of the Evil God. At the tenth level of the Divine Lord Realm, you already possess the power of a God Emperor. Such progress and such a leap in the profound way—there is none like you in the present age."
"Then let this Demon Lord personally send you to the grave!" Yun Che raised his arm, and flames burst from the sword body, transforming from a crimson blaze into the Eternal Calamity Demon Flame that could burn and devour everything.
Though it was fire, rather than releasing bright light, it rapidly swallowed up all the light around it.
"Do you need help?" Qianye Ying'er interjected coldly.
She was certain that if she didn't help, not only would Yun Che fail to kill Xia Qingyue, it would be almost impossible for him to even defeat her.
In just four short years, with the empowerment of the Evil God and the Demon Emperor's power, Yun Che's progress was indeed unparalleled in the current age. But Xia Qingyue... her progress was also extremely astonishing.
It had been only seven years since she inherited the Purple Que Divine Power, and her strength had already clearly surpassed Yue Wuyai at his peak!
Throughout the history of the Yue Shen Realm... and the history of all King Realms, there was not a single person who had achieved such an exaggerated degree and speed of compatibility with an inherited divine power.
The moment her words left her mouth, her brows stiffened, and the Oracle in her hand swept out violently, dragging a surging darkness behind it.
Ding!
A beam of purple light, as if piercing through time and space, shot from dozens of miles away to instantly reach Qianye Ying'er. The moment it collided with the Oracle, countless fragments of space splashed up.
Behind the purple light, Xia Qingyue's figure had already pierced through the void, attacking Qianye Ying'er directly. As the Purple Que Divine Sword swung out, her posture was like the graceful dance of a heavenly divine maiden. With every flash of her figure, she left behind a round, shining purple moon.
Yun Che spun around sharply, and in his line of sight, the sky was already filled with purple moons.
His figure flashed in an instant, and the Heaven's Calamity Demon Emperor Sword, wreathed in hellish dark light, swept out horizontally, directly crushing the purple moons.
The purple moons cracked, but suddenly burst open into a blinding, sky-shrouding purple brilliance, dyeing Yun Che's vision—and the surrounding space—into a pure, deep purple.
And within this purple space, not only was his sight affected, but even his perception was suddenly twisted.
Under that strike of Yun Che's, not only was Yun Che caught in the prison of purple moons, but Qianye Ying'er was also implicated. Her perception was instantly lost, and before her eyes, it seemed as if thousands of sword lights were flickering. As she retreated sharply, a purple sword light slanted out from the purple world, aimed straight at her back.
This sword light seemed gentle and slow, yet wherever it passed, space turned to dust.
By the time Qianye Ying'er perceived it, it was already inches away.
The Purple Moon Prison—one of Yue Wuyai's techniques that Qianye Fantian had mentioned to her several times, capable of using Purple Que Divine Power to create illusions and deceive the mind.
However, this was after all her first time facing the Purple Moon Prison. And the speed and manner in which Xia Qingyue released it were vastly different from what she understood—she was caught directly!
Boom crack!
With a tearing sound, Yun Che struck with a Falling Celestial Wolf, forcibly shattering the Purple Moon Prison, and the Eternal Calamity Demon Flame was extinguished along with it. His figure then dragged a long trail of ice, and he teleported in an instant to Qianye Ying'er's side.
Pfft!
The Purple Que Divine Sword struck Yun Che square in the ribs. Purple light spread across half his body in an instant, splashing a fountain of blood into the air. At the same time, the Heaven's Calamity Demon Emperor Sword heavily smashed onto the arm holding Xia Qingyue's sword.
Although the Eternal Calamity Demon Flame had been extinguished when the Purple Moon Prison was broken, Yun Che's sword might was still terrifying. With a rumble like a thunderclap, Xia Qingyue's figure fell far away. The red sleeve of her right arm was torn apart, and on her jade-white arm was a shocking, deep blood mark slanting across it.
She did not look at her injury. Her gaze fell upon the bloody hole in Yun Che's ribs, and she spoke softly: "Yun Che, do you still remember the oath you made to me back then?"
"Hm?" Yun Che raised his eyes. He likewise paid no heed to his own injury; in his pupils, there was only killing intent.
Yan Yi, Yan Er, Yan San—he could summon them at any time. If they joined hands, they had many ways to kill Xia Qingyue... but she had to die by his own hand!
His homeland, his closest kin—all had been buried and destroyed at Xia Qingyue's hands. How could he not... kill her with his own hands to avenge them?
Xia Qingyue slowly tightened her grip on her sword, not because of pain, but because in her mind echoed the words she had spoken to Yun Che with the utmost seriousness and severity after he placed the slave mark on Qianye Ying'er:
"Qianye Ying'er is now your slave. You can use her, exploit her, vent your hatred on her, humiliate her, ravish her—do whatever you wish with her. But there is one thing you must firmly remember!"
"She is someone I must kill! My scheme to make her your slave was not because I did not want to kill her, but because I cannot kill her for now! What happens between you and her is none of my concern. But... you must never develop any feelings for her! Even more so, you must never produce any children with her! Do you understand!"
The sword strike Yun Che had blocked for Qianye Ying'er—that was a reaction that had bypassed any thought or deliberation, nearly an instinct...
And just now, the naturally linked auras between them...
"Forget it." With a very, very soft sigh, she raised the Purple Que Divine Sword high and gently swiped it through the air.
In an instant, as if a dawn light had descended from heaven, the starfield suddenly shed its darkness.
The darkness vanished, the stars vanished, the storms ceased. Only a single enormous purple moon emerged behind Xia Qingyue, turning the entire starfield into a world of hazy purple.
Beneath the purple light, the intangible space itself undulated with an eerie, shimmering radiance.