Chapter 249 - The District of Sky Demon
Shen Lian stood on the rooftop, but he was not only on the rooftop. He was one with the temple, the far away sunset, and everything in the world.
He zoned out of being "me", and the world stood out in contrast. Yanxu seemed out of place.
This was not something that could be achieved with just any supernatural power or Dao technique; it was "force".
Despite the extremely advanced state that Shen Lian was at, he felt uncomfortable still. That was when he finally realized what a scary character Yanxu was, and how his capabilities were beyond his imagination.
This force that blended in amidst the heaven and earth did not affect Yanxu at all, it was as though he did not exist in the heaven and earth, and hence there was no need to be extracted from it.
He turned into a Sky Demon and traveled between the three realms. Things were always going the way he wanted them to. Shen Lian had never encountered such a difficult opponent before; he was unpredictable and was in command of an array of secret techniques. It was hard to guard against him.
Earlier, it was merely the invasion of some negligible demonic thoughts. If it was not for the fact that his spirit was as alert as that of deities, he would have fallen prey to Yanxu's technique.
Shen Lian stood at the high ground while Yanxu was standing down below. He should be able to see his every move and even the smallest action would not be able to escape Shen Lian's eyes. However, Shen Lian did not feel like he had the upper hand at all.
He was merely looking at what Yanxu had decided to let him see, and the real Yanxu was not visible to him.
Shen Lian stopped waiting, and yet he could not leave. He needed to wait until the battle between the Empress and Huang Longzi had come to an end.
Yanxu seemed to know what he was thinking and smiled, "Little Lian, you can still escape if you leave now. Why are you still staying put? There is nothing more precious than your life. It can't be you are trying to replicate what my Senior Apprentice-Brother did?"
Shen Lian was slightly angered when he mentioned Zhang Ruoxu. He was never like that, but at that moment, he could not hold back and he did not want to hold back.
The sound of the sword could be heard amidst the night breeze, it sounded like a tragic ancient tune.
The last ray from the setting sun faded away, and night had fallen as accompanied by the sound of the sword.
The world fell into darkness, Shen Lian included.
Shen Lian heard a long sigh. That was when he understood that it was not easy for him to leave from the moment Yanxu had spoken.
Good thing that he was not planning to escape. Despite that, he was not infuriated, but he felt the dark abyss of his heart. It was bottomless.
The sword gleam traveled in the dark sky, and it was just as the stars that shone brightly in the night sky; it pierced through the night sky and brought forth endless killing vibes.
However, Shen Lian sensed that the sword gleam did not manage to slash away anything, not even the demons summoned by Yanxu.
If his guess was right, this was an impressive supernatural power known as "The District of Sky Demon" that was part of the Free Form Incarnation. It was akin to a place of enlightenment of the holy deities.
This was similar to the space created by Zhao Xiaoyu that he was trapped in back then, and he only managed to escape from it due to his success in cultivating the Taixu Strategy.
He was a lot stronger than back then, but Zhao Xiaoyu was incomparable with Yanxu.
"Little Lian, you are a lot like me. Regardless of how treacherous the situation is, it will never be a hopeless situation for you. However, I really want to see how you would escape from my District of Sky Demon today," Yanxu's voice was right in front of Shen Lian. At that moment, any cultivator would have slashed at it mercilessly.
However, Shen Lian retracted his sword gleam and protected himself with it. The sound of the sword swirled around him, and an insect with cow horns rammed onto the sword screen. It was shattered into pieces and emitted poisonous gas. Though, the sword aura blocked it out.
All of these were visible to Shen Lian under the sword gleam.
The flying insect with cow horns had the face of a human. Shen Lian could even see its resentment right before it was shattered into pieces. This was known as Sky Demon Insect and that was not its only form. It had a human face due to the gathering of the resentment of spiritual beings, and Shen Lian perceived it as a human face because he himself was a human. If he belonged to another species, he would have seen something different.
That could not have been the only Sky Demon Insect. Another Sky Demon Insect appeared. Rather, it was the previous Sky Demon Insect that was shattered into pieces; its remnants regrew in the wind, and it was rebirth anew. It was a flying insect with cow horns and had black wings. It had the l.u.s.ter of metal, and it rammed hard into Shen Lian's protective sword gleam.
Shen Lian could feel clearly that the Sky Demon Insect had gotten slightly stronger as compared to before.
Still, he killed the new-born Sky Demon Insect mercilessly. More remnants appeared, and they were all blocked out by the sword screen. A massive group of Sky Demon Insect appeared, just like how the human minds would conceive distracting thoughts late at night. The harder one tried to avoid the distracting thoughts, the more they would appear.
Shen Lian continued slashing with his sword gleam, and he allowed for the dense group of flying insects that were getting stronger to ram into his weakening sword screen with their cow horns. He was completely surrounded by the flying insects, and he seemed like a giant cocoon. However, this cocoon was the purest of black, and it blended into the night.
Initially, there was still sword gleam emitting from within the cocoon, but it had disappeared in the end, as it was sealed off by the cocoon. The only difference was, the black cocoon could not stop the sound of the sword.
It was just as how the running water in the Qingshui River had never stopped flowing.
The darkness masked overall auras, and the battle between Shen Lian and Yanxu did not take place in the real world.
In the vast wide world, the Qingshui River flew with grandeur and continuity.
However, the water was not flowing downstream this time. There was a golden dragon there, and it was emitting endless strong aura into the rolling river water; at the same time, it absorbed all of the words of spell. At that moment, the river water started flowing against the current and charged at the yellow dragon upstream.
"I sacrificed myself because of my great ambition, and I dare to revamp the world."
Without great ambition, one could not change the world and create new sceneries.
The Empress was not just helping Shen Lian, she had finally understood the Indestructible Immortal Body. It was precisely because it was indestructible, so it could serve as an aid to attain supreme Dao fruit.
Without sacrificing oneself, there would not be a state of Dao that was as pure as this and there would not be power to change the sun and the moon.
Even though the river flowed in reverse, but her heart was pure. All the living beings in the thirty-thousand-miles river basin shared the same sentiment; all they wanted was a safe harbor, the bestowment of the Empress and the Indestructible Immortal Body had become a protective measure for the spiritual beings in this area.
Zuo Shaoqing stood up and unsheathed his long sword. Maneuvering his sword gleam, he charged at the yellow dragon.
"I'm willing to assist the River God to kill this demonic spirit."
Jiang Shuijie too had directed his sword gleam and charged at Huang Longzi with no reserve.
"I'm willing to assist the River God to kill this demonic spirit."
Countless sword gleams followed each other; they seemed like soldiers of the River God and had repeated the same line. It echoed throughout the heaven and earth, and the power of the heart made the dragon, Huang Longzi, roared miserably in order to mask its fear.
He could not understand how these people still managed to stand up, and how they could turn into sword gleam and attacked him.