Chapter 1339: The Great Merit of the Power of the Dao
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Gao Cheng shot out like an arrow leaving the bow, fighting with his life.
When Gao Cheng arrived in front of Lu Zhou, Lu Zhou casually pushed his hand out, launching a palm seal. Now that he had 14 Birth Charts, he was strong enough to deal with Gao Cheng who was heavily injured after losing a Birth Chart.
Bang!
The collision generated a horizontal wave of energy that swept out with the might of a mountain. Although it was just the collision of the attacks between those with more than 10 Birth Charts, it was not something ordinary cultivators could withstand.
The soldiers who were watching on top of the palace walls were instantly cut in half. Meanwhile, the palace wall was just like tofu when faced with the energy from the collision.
The remaining soldiers threw their halberds aside and hastily retreated as they looked at their fallen comrades who had been cut in half.
The buildings outside of the palace wall were not spared as well and were also cut in half.
Cultivators flew into the sky one after another.
The patrol teams rushed to the top of the palace wall while thousands of palace experts and tens of thousands of royal guards gathered from all directions, ready to fight.
Gao Cheng cackled maniacally as his astrolabe as his remaining Birth Charts shone dazzlingly. “I’ll hold him back! Your Majesty, I’ll only be able to serve you until this point!”
Lu Zhou frowned. “You want to self-detonate?”
Lu Zhou’s Hundred Tribulations Insight avatar burst with divine power before he launched a palm seal.
Bang!
Gao Cheng was pushed back. When he was about 100 meters back, a loud explosion shook the entire place. He had chosen to self-destruct.
The Ultimate Formation shook from the explosion as well.
Lu Zhou brought out Unnamed in the form of a s.h.i.+eld and held it up in front of him as he was pushed back. He only came to a stop after being pushed back 1,000 meters. His arms were numb, and his blood and qi surged in his body.
Gao Cheng was a Free Man, after all. Although he was injured and had lost a Birth Chart, it would be foolish to underestimate him.
Lu Zhou felt a sense of danger at this moment. He found that he could not move. His Dantian’s sea of Qi and Eight Extraordinary Meridians seemed to be paralyzed at this moment.
The force of the explosion was too great. All the cultivators in the formation could only pa.s.sively defend against the explosive force.
If it were not for Unnamed, Lu Zhou would have lost a Critical Block Card. When this thought appeared in his mind, he suddenly remembered he had Critical Block Cards as well.
At this moment, the projection of the emperor of Great Qin said with a smile, “If I don’t kill you now then when should I kill you?”
After resisting the force of the explosion, the 49 swordsmen gathered themselves and got into their positions again. They controlled their flying swords and attacked from all directions. Unfortunately, they still were not able to find the real emperor of Great Qin. The energy swords only pierced through his projections.
At this time, one of the projections swooped down toward Lu Zhou.
Upon seeing this, Lu Zhou did something unusual. He withdrew all his vitality energy and protective energy before sealing his Dantian’s sea of Qi. He only left himself with a trace of vitality energy to maintain his descent.
Three projections pa.s.sed through Lu Zhou’s body one after another.
“Brother Lu!” Qin Renyue was puzzled when he saw this. However, there was not much he could do since he was entangled with the three elders of Mount Li.
While Lu Zhou was descending, he saw his Critical Block Cards swiftly decreasing.
Critical Block Card -1
Critical Block Card -1
He only had 120 Critical Block Cards. After more than half a breath, almost half of them were gone.
When Lu Zhou landed safely on the ground, the emperor’s confused and trembling voice rang in the air. “F-fake body? It can’t be! How did you do it?”
At this time, energy seals shot out from Lu Zhou’s body in all directions. The full might of 14 Birth Charts were immediately released.
The projections of the emperor returned to their positions high up in the sky.
Countless eyes were filled with shock as they stared at Lu Zhou.
Lu Zhou ignored the emperor. Instead, he called out, “Whitzard.”
Whitzard, who was next to Little Yuan’er, understood its master’s intention immediately. It puffed its cheeks before spitting a light orb.
Swoos.h.!.+
The light orb landed on Lu Zhou, removing the paralyzing effect. Then, another light orb landed on him, restoring most of his divine power.
Bang!
At this moment, the three elders of Mount Li released the power of their Birth Charts. Like a meteor shower, they landed on Qin Renyue’s astrolabe.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Qin Renyue’s astrolabe creaked and caved in slightly.
Qin Renyue used the power of the Dao and moved backward.
Bang!
The remaining power of the Birth Charts. .h.i.t the ground, creating a huge pit.
Meanwhile, Yu Zhenghai and Yu Shangrong, who were fighting a two-on-one battle, felt a strong pressure and had no choice but to retreat.
Only Mings.h.i.+ Yin had the advantage at this moment.
The four guards were seriously injured to begin with after losing their Birth Charts to Qin Renyue. With Mings.h.i.+ Yin’s sneak attack, they lost another Birth Chart each.
A strong Primal Qi storm began to brew again before sweeping out.
Yan Zhenluo, Lu Li, Kong Wen, and the others formed a human wall and stood in front of Little Yuan’er and Conch.
Buzz!
The chaotic Primal Qi slowly eroded their protective energy.
At this time, Little Yuan’er brought her Nirvana Sash out and ignited it with her karmic fire before using it to s.h.i.+eld everyone.
The light from the karmic fire attracted the emperor’s attention. After taking a look, he said to Lu Zhou, “I’m really jealous of you.”
Lu Zhou raised his head and said through voice transmission, “It’s time to end this.”
An advanced and enhanced Reduction Card appeared in Lu Zhou’s hand.
“You’re right. It’s time to end this.”
Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+
At this highest point in the sky, the projections converged before merging into one.
Lu Zhou was not sure if the fusion of the projections was the real emperor of Great Qin so he could not rashly use the Reduction Card.
At this time, it was as though white dragons were swimming in the sky as the emperor attacked the 49 swordsmen.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The 49 swordsmen got into formation to defend against the attacks, but soon enough, they fell down one after another.
Meanwhile, Qin Renyue tossed his astrolabe out to help his men, but the elders of Mount Li got in the way once again. They attacked his astrolabe in a frenzy.
At this time, the white dragons swooped toward Yan Zhenluo, Lu Li, Qiong Qi, Little Yuan’er, Conch before a few swooped toward Mings.h.i.+ Yin, Lu Zhou, and Qin Renyue.
In just a breath, the area within the Ultimate Formation was completely occupied by the white dragons.
“It’s not a fusion-grade sacred relic, but an infinite-grade sacred relic?”
When the four elders of Mount Li saw that Qin Renyue was distracted, they hastily manifested their astrolabes and released the powers of their Birth Charts again. Their powers converged into a line and shot toward Qin Renyue and his astrolabe.
Bang!
Qin Renyue was sent flying back. He felt his qi and blood surging as the blood rose to the back of his throat. Fortunately, due to his rich combat experience, he could still react accordingly. He put away his astrolabes as he flew back before he released palm seals and rode on the momentum.
Meanwhile, the 49 swordsmen were completely knocked out of the sky by the emperor.
Lu Zhou held his astrolabe up to block the white dragon heading his way.
The emperor said in a deep voice, “Formation, freeze!”
At this moment, the white dragons froze everything and everyone in the formation.
“The law of s.p.a.ce?” Qin Renyue was frozen as soon as his voice fell.
Everything stopped.
Lu Zhou was also frozen. When his divine power rose, it was prevented from surging out. His Dantian’s sea of Qi had frozen as well. Only his Hundred Tribulations Insight avatar was moving; it raised its hands up to the sky, trying to mobilize the divine power.
This was the strongest power of the Dao that Lu Zhou had seen so far.
The emperor said, “What do you think? Everyone’s now in an independent s.p.a.ce.”
Everyone was isolated from each other. It looked as though they were floating alone in a dark and infinite void; there was no one else but themselves.
The emperor continued to say, “I’ll use 10,000 years of my life to activate the Ultimate Formation’s greatest power! I’ll let all of you have a look…”
The emperor appeared in each person’s independent s.p.a.ce.
…
Yu Zhenghai struck with his palm but failed to deal any damage. Instead, he was sent flying back by a palm seal. As he flew back, a mysterious surged out and shrouded him.
“Great Void energy? You have the Great Void energy?!” the emperor exclaimed in shock.
Yu Zhenghai did not respond to the emperor. When he regained his footing, he continued to attack with his energy sabers.
“Just a projection?” Yu Zhenghai frowned when the emperor’s projection vanished. He continued to search for a way out.
…
The Ultimate Formation was ineffective against the Great Void energy.
It took a lot of vitality energy to maintain the Ultimate Formation in the first place. The emperor knew he had to be quick. The longer this dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for him.
…
In Yu Shangrong’s independent s.p.a.ce.
The emperor launched a palm seal again.
The result was the same. The Great Void energy shrouded Yu Shangrong as he flipped in the air elegantly before summoning energy swords to slash at the emperor’s projection.
“Great Void energy again?!” The emperor’s heart was burning with rage as he had no choice but to leave.
…
As per the law of conservation, all energies had a source and destination.
In fact, not many people knew that the Ultimate Formation was also known as Return to the Void Formation.
As one might have already guessed, the destination of the energy of the Ultimate Formation was the Great Void. All roads in the formation led to the same destination. The source and the destination were the same. Hence, the formation was powerless against the Great Void.
…
When the emperor went to Little Yuan’er and Conch’s independent s.p.a.ces, the results were the same.
He was greatly shocked and had no choice but to withdraw his projections again. He looked at the independent s.p.a.ces in front of him in disbelief before he s.h.i.+fted his eyes to Mings.h.i.+ Yin’s independent s.p.a.ce.
There was no need to confirm anything; he was sure Mings.h.i.+ Yin possessed the Great Void Seed. After the battle at Yu Zhong, Mings.h.i.+ Yin had been exposed.
After thinking about it for a moment, the emperor decided to go to Mings.h.i.+ Yin’s independent realm. This time, he did not use his projection but went with his real self instead.
As soon as the emperor appeared, Mings.h.i.+ Yin cast his second Birth Trial ability as he said, “I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The emperor lifted his hand and blocked the attacks. He was pushed back continuously into the infinite s.p.a.ce. At the same time, he roared, “You’re truly unruly!”
Mings.h.i.+ Yin was focused on attacking. The Separation Hook in his hand attacked the emperor like a flurry of hurricanes, forcing the emperor back.
Mings.h.i.+ Yin laughed. “Is this it?”
The emperor said in a low voice, infuriated, “From the beginning to the end, I’ve never taken you seriously. Get lost!”
A white dragon shot out from the emperor’s sleeve. Its roar shook the nine heavens and sent Mings.h.i.+ Yin flying back.
Mings.h.i.+ Yin threw his head back and spat out a mouthful of blood. The Separation Hook slipped from his hand and spun in the air.
The emperor flashed and appeared before Mings.h.i.+ Yin. He asked, “You don’t think I’ll kill you?”
Mings.h.i.+ Yin chuckled and said defiantly, “Do it then.”
The emperor raised his hand, but in the end, he did not strike.
Mings.h.i.+ Yin said, “I’ve lived long enough. I’m satisfied knowing even if I die, my master will skin you alive!”
“Do you hate me so much?” the emperor asked.
“You don’t know who I am, do you?” Mings.h.i.+ Yin chuckled. “I still have to thank you for killing that old fart, Meng Mings.h.i.+!”
The emperor was slightly stunned by these words. “You know that?”
“What do you think?” Mings.h.i.+ Yin retorted before he began to attack in a frenzy again.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The emperor only defended against Mings.h.i.+ Yin’s attacks. His movements were leisurely as he said, “I won’t kill you just yet. I’ll keep you alive so you can watch when I kill your master!”
When the emperor flicked his sleeve and flew past, Mings.h.i.+ Yin could see everyone in a dark void, but they could not see him. However, it only lasted a second since the emperor vanished soon after.
…
Just when the emperor arrived in Lu Zhou’s independent s.p.a.ce, Lu Zhou raised the Golden Taixu Mirror and shone it in all directions.
The beam of golden light that had been imbued with the divine power chased away the darkness and rescued those who were immobilized because they did not have the protection of the Great Void energy.
Qin Renyue, Kong Wen and his brothers, Yan Zhenluo, and Lu Li saw the dazzling golden light soon after.
“Brother Lu?!”
“Pavilion Master?”
The golden light swept across all the projections, revealing their true nature. It did not take long for Lu Zhou to discover the emperor standing in front of him was the real deal.
“Impudent!” Lu Zhou said as he decisively crushed the Reduction Card.
When the emperor of Great Qin sensed Lu Zhou’s body was about to explode with power, he was shocked. He quickly turned into a white dragon and pounced at Lu Zhou.
The dark energy from the super Reduction Card looked as though they had surged up from h.e.l.l itself as they surrounded the white dragon.
The familiar power and palm seal that looked like the hand of Death itself appeared before the emperor again.
The Ultimate Formation was useless at this moment.
As the power of Reduction closed in on the emperor, he manifested his astrolabe.
“18 Birth Charts?” Lu Zhou was surprised by the number of the emperor’s Birth Charts.
Originally, the emperor had 22 Birth Charts. After Lu Zhou used the advanced and enhanced Reduction Card, the emperor had lost five Birth Charts. This meant he should have 17 Birth Charts; how did it become 18 Birth Charts? It was unlikely that the emperor managed to recover his Birth Chart so there was only one possibility left: the emperor had made a breakthrough in just a few days and activated a new Birth Chart, returning to the ranks of Venerable Masters. If the emperor did not lose the five Birth Charts previously, he would be the cultivator closest to being a Saint.
The emperor struggled with all his might. At this moment, he no longer had the air of an emperor. His dragon robe was torn, and his hair was disheveled. His eyes were bloodshot, and the expression on his face was unsightly.
The ink-colored hand reached out and grabbed the emperor’s astrolabe at lightning speed before it gouged a life heart out.
“No!” The emperor’s soul trembled. This hand of Death had completely subverted his knowledge and worldview. He could not resist at all and could only watch as the hand of Death gouged a life heart out.
A Primal Qi storm began to rage in the area within the Ultimate Formation.
Lu Zhou waved his hand, bringing the life heart to his hand. This was the life heart that helped activate the emperor’s 18th Birth Chart. It had edges, glowed with a green light, and was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with energy; it was a beast emperor’s life heart.
The Primal Qi storm continued to wreak havoc in the formation, weakening the formation.
Following that, the emperor lost another four Birth Charts; he lost five Birth Charts again. From having 18 Birth Charts, he was now left with 13 Birth Charts.
Emperor Qin sat limply in the dark voice like a puppet whose strings had been cut. He lowered his head and trembled uncontrollably. The first hand of Death only taught him a small lesson, but his second meeting with the hand of Death completely pushed him into a sea of despair. To him, nothing was more painful and despairing than losing ten Birth Charts in such a short time. After a while, he said tremblingly, “Y-you’re… You’re an Equalizer!”
Lu Zhou shook his head and said, “Will you believe me if I say no?”
The emperor let out a long sigh. The despair made him face reality. “It doesn’t matter. I… lost.”
“You should be honored you lost to me,” Lu Zhou said,
The emperor laughed, but it did not take long for his laughter to turn to tears. He truly did not know if he should laugh or cry. “I’ve worked so hard! Why? Why did an Equalizer target me?”
Lu Zhou was speechless. ‘I’m really not the f*cking Equalizer!’
Nevertheless, Lu Zhou could not be bothered to explain himself. He said, “Deactivate the Ultimate Formation and withdraw the white dragons. I’ll grant you a quick death.”
The emperor raised his head at this moment and said with a sinister smile, “Indeed, I’ve lost. However, you won’t be any better. I’ve ruled a country and dominated the cultivation world. I’ve never met an opponent who’s a match for me before this. To be able to fight an Equalizer, I’ll die with no regrets today!” He laughed again before he said, “I’ve sent people to the Evil Sky Pavilion in the golden lotus domain. They’ll all be my funerary offerings!”
Lu Zhou said indifferently, “I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. Your people have all become Lu Wu’s food.”
“Lu Wu?” The emperor was stunned. His expression was strange as he asked, “What about the yellow lotus domain?”
Lu Zhou was slightly surprised. “You know about the yellow lotus domain?”
“I obtained my mystic microstones from there. That’s how I upgrade my White Dragon Jade from the fusion grade to the infinite grade. Half a month ago, a foolish fatty led more than 1,000 yellow lotus cultivators to steal my mystic microstones. I don’t care about anything from the yellow lotus domain, but the mystic microstones are mine! A few days ago, I planned to speak to you about this matter when I visited the Zhao Residence. However, you didn’t want to hear it so I sent someone to kill him!” the emperor said between bursts of laughter, “Pavilion Master Lu, will a Hundred Tribulations Insight cultivator be a match for an Eight Chart cultivator?”
Lu Zhou frowned as he silently chanted the mantra for the power of sight. He blamed himself for his negligence toward his eighth disciple.
An incomparably devastating scene appeared before his eyes. It was clearly the scene of the aftermath of a b.l.o.o.d.y battle.
Corpses and severed limbs were strewn all over the place, and they were charred black.
The city was painted black and red from the fire and the blood.
There were also corpses that hung on the city wall, dripping with fresh blood.
The sound of crying permeated the streets and alleys. Children, women, and the elderly sat around in a daze, their bodies stained with blood.
Lu Zhou did not think of himself as a particularly good person nor did he think of himself as a hero. He did not have the lofty dream of saving everyone in the world nor did he possess the virtues and character to do good in the world. However, when he saw this scene, unprecedented anger began to burn in his heart.
Zhu Honggong’s eyes could not hide his sorrow as he surveyed the city. Similar to the others, he was also stained with blood. He slowly climbed up the city wall and looked into the distance.
Lu Zhou was shaken when he saw the scene beyond the city wall.
Countless cultivators, commoners, and soldiers stood densely packed on the ground. The area within a hundred miles was filled with people!
Corpses could also be seen lying on the ground. Some belonged to humans and some to fierce beasts. They made for a stark contrast to the survivors.
At the same time, survivors of the war were still walking out of the city gates.
Zhu Honggong struggled and used his remaining Primal Qi to shout, “We’ve… won!”
For 100 miles outside the city, everyone kneeled in unison.
“Ding! Wors.h.i.+pped by 522,420 people. Reward: 522,420 merit points.”
Zhu Honggong smiled as he closed his eyes and fell.
Since Lu Zhou could only see darkness after Zhu Honggong lost consciousness, he did not see Zhao Hongfu riding on Dang Kang flying forward to catch Zhu Honggong.
Subsequently…
“Ding! Zhu Honggong has met the requirements to complete his apprentices.h.i.+p. Will you allow him to complete his apprentices.h.i.+p?”