The Human Emperor

Bang!

Fist and sword clashed. The black-robed monk had come with a furious momentum, but upon first contact with Wang Chong, he turned ghastly pale and flipped backward in the air, barely managing to dodge Wang Chong’s vicious Sword Qi. But even so, as the bolt of Sword Qi shot past, it still left a shallow cut across the monk’s bald head.

The monk grimaced. In the organization, he was an extremely powerful expert, but in front of Wang Chong, he couldn’t even take a single blow. If he hadn’t reacted swiftly just now and chosen to dodge, his head would have been separated from his body.

“Daring to show off a low-tier art in front of me!” Wang Chong coldly snorted, and the monk’s ears went red in shame.

Wang Chong proceeded to ignore the monk, and used the Greater Void Step to lunge at the leader, the so-called High God.

To shoot the man, shoot his horse, and to capture the underlings, capture the king. Only by first killing the High God could he resolve this battle.

“Life Execution!”

Without the slightest hesitation, Wang Chong brought the index and middle fingers of his right hand together and fired off a bolt of Sword Qi with enough force to penetrate steel.

Ever since Su Zhengchen had given him that night of instruction in the Su Residence, Wang Chong had ascended by leaps and bounds in his understanding of the sword. This Life Execution was not as vast and grandiose as before, in fact appearing simple and plain. But this only reflected that it had been washed of all impurities and been returned to its original nature.

Despite its power being condensed, it was much faster and more powerful. This was why Wang Chong was still confident despite losing the Origin Immortal Sword. His Subtle realm cultivation and his understanding of the sword made it so that while he didn’t dare to say that he could take on anyone, he was confident enough to say that the number of people who could contend against him was very small.

But suddenly—

Boom!

As the bolt of Sword Qi flew forward, it cut through space like it was cutting through a tree, the upper and lower halves seeming to be displaced, a reflection of its incredible speed. But Wang Chong’s determined strike had missed. Through some unfathomable method, the High God had vanished.

“Heh, not bad! You’ve even learned the Greater Void Step, and to such a proficient level! Even some Immortal Envoys wouldn’t be able to beat you.”

The High God’s voice was drifting here and there, coming from every direction. When the voice stopped speaking, the High God appeared in a flash of light on a tree branch several dozen meters away from Wang Chong.

“So fast!”

Wang Chong’s pupils constricted, and he couldn’t help but grimace.

Greater Void Step was the fastest movement technique he knew, and when pushed to the limit, it made one impossible to track using the naked eye. Wang Chong was only able to keep track of his foe’s movements when they used this technique through the world of energy.

This sort of technique was one in ten million in this world, but to Wang Chong’s consternation, the man in black before him had used a technique that was even faster. And this movement technique truly left behind no trace. Wang Chong had already made many attempts to pin down his true location, but he still couldn’t tell just how he had managed to move.

“Heh, put those delusions out of your mind. You’re no match for me. The Greater Void Step was simply a technique we granted to those Immortal Envoys. This god is the Tianfu Divine Lord of the Six Stars of the Southern Dipper. Your Greater Void Step isn’t even on the same level as my Starlight Step.”

(TN: Of the Six Stars of the Southern Dipper, the Tianfu Star is the First Star. In western astronomy, it is the star Phi Sagittarius.)

The black-robed High God—or perhaps one could call him the Tianfu Divine Lord—had a domineering gaze that seemed to look right through Wang Chong.

Wang Chong said nothing, but his expression grew increasingly solemn. The situation was already extremely grim for him. The Origin Immortal Sword was sealed, and his foe had a much faster movement technique. Without these two advantages, Wang Chong was in an extremely passive position.

Starlight Step! What technique is this? Just how many arts do these men in black have? It’s like they have an endless supply of top-class techniques!

Wang Chong’s body tensed as he warily eyed his foe.

Wang Chong had been fighting against these men in black for a very long time and thought he had a deep understanding of them. But after the framing of Zhang Qiantuo in the war of the southwest, there had been the Goat, Deer, and Tiger Immortals, and now there was this Tianfu Divine Lord. With each encounter, Wang Chong found these men in black more and more mysterious.

Their resources were simply bottomless, and it was impossible to fathom just how massive their faction truly was.

But now was not the time for deep contemplation. Wang Chong’s hair stood on end as a vicious energy bursting with destructive power locked onto him. At the same time, he heard the Tianfu Divine Lord’s sinister voice.

“The game is over. Let me end your life now, Child of Destruction!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord immediately attacked.

Buzz!

The Tianfu Divine Lord once more eerily vanished from sight. At the same moment, Wang Chong felt an ill foreboding from his back.

“Not good!”

Wang Chong pushed his Greater Void Step to the absolute limit, turning around and thrusting a palm behind him.

Bang!

Two palms tougher than steel collided in the air. “Agh!” Wang Chong let out a shriek of pain as he flew backward. A sharp awl seven to eight inches long had been stabbed into the center of his palm. The awl seemed to be made of crystal and glistened with a starry light.

“Shameless!”

Wang Chong fiercely raised his head and stared at the Tianfu Divine Lord. Their two palms had clashed a moment ago, but the Tianfu Divine Lord had hidden an awl in his hand. The awl had stabbed into Wang Chong’s palm, and the pain from the point of penetration was almost unbearable.

“Heh, that’s just because you’re too inexperienced. This is the Star Awl of the Southern Dipper. It’s meant specifically to counter you, Child of Destruction!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord appeared several dozen meters away, and around him, space began to twist and warp. A moment later, the image of a craggy and uneven celestial object with a surface like dark glass appeared behind him.

Although it appeared dim and dark within, if one looked carefully, one could see points of light scattered within it.

“Stop struggling. Whether in strength or speed, you’re no match for me. Without the Origin Immortal Sword, you can’t even defeat my six-armed avatar, let alone my actual body.”

The Tianfu Divine Lord faintly smiled in derision. He once more attacked, vanishing from the spot.

Buzz!

The moment the Tianfu Divine Lord vanished, Wang Chong tensed his body and sent his Psychic Energy flooding out around him, covering every inch of space. At the same time, Wang Chong entered the world of energy. This was Wang Chong’s strongest ability, and time instantly slowed to an interminable crawl. Wang Chong’s Psychic Energy and Stellar Energy began to thoroughly scour the area in an attempt to find the Tianfu Divine Lord’s body.

“It’s useless…”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s voice drifted around, impossible to pin down.

Swish!

There was a soft and subtle rush of air that immediately made Wang Chong’s blood run cold.

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s attacks were unfathomable. Wang Chong could clearly hear him, but he couldn’t sense his existence, much less find his exact location. The bizarreness of this attack style surpassed every other martial art in the world.

Swish! Wang Chong immediately lunged to the side. At the same time, the dazzling Origin Immortal Stellar Energy gushed in the general direction of the danger.

“Too slow!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord spoke once more, but it came from another direction, and it seemed to be right in front of his face, spoken straight into his ear. Swish! Another awl whistled down, and a stabbing pain came from his right shoulder. This Southern Dipper Star Awl had stabbed into the Kan point of his right shoulder as swiftly as a bolt of lightning.

As the awl plunged in, an energy flew through his body, and Wang Chong sensed a layer of ice forming on his Subtle realm energy. A part of his power had been sealed and had become impossible to use.

Too fast! My speed can’t keep up!

Wang Chong clenched his teeth. Bursts of pain were coming from the penetration point, as if the awl had stabbed at his soul, not his flesh. His face had become ghastly pale and covered in cold sweat. But Wang Chong maintained an extremely calm state of mind, his thoughts orderly and unpanicked.

He didn’t know what these Star Awls were made of, but they were extremely vicious, amplifying pain by nearly a hundred times, far exceeding the pain of an ordinary sword or saber. But Wang Chong was more concerned about that unfathomable speed.

Wang Chong’s Psychic Energy combined with the world of energy had rarely ever failed him. Whether he was facing a ‘god’ or a ‘Buddha’, there was no hiding from him. But this Tianfu Divine Lord was different. However, after a few exchanges, Wang Chong was slowly beginning to understand.

His energy was primal chaos, unlike that of any ordinary martial artist, and it had almost perfectly fused with the surroundings. Not even through the world of energy could his existence be sensed, or even a human form!

This was something that had never once happened in Wang Chong’s time with the world of energy.

The power of the Tianfu Divine Lord had exceeded imagination and reached an entirely new level.