The Steward Demonic Emperor

Chapter 1166: Sword Energy Storm

Proofreader: Papatonks

Bam!

Baili Yutian roared as he pushed, giving it his all. Zhuo Fan’s right arm shone redder, swinging the blade and making both of them fall back.

Zhuo Fan went back twenty steps while Baili Yutian slided just as many. The two then snapped into action, meeting in the middle again. 

The audience was dumbstruck, with Baili Jingwei the most affected, “No way, there’s no way he can stand up to the Patriarch! How did he gain such power?”

“Look!”

Baili Jingshi patted his shoulder, pointing at the sky.

Baili Jingwei shook, his mouth agape. The others noticed it too and were now looking blankly.

Bali Yuyu and Danqing Shen were looking at the baffling scene like it was the stuff of dreams. It made not an ounce of sense!

The sky was split cleanly in two. One bird approached the dividing line and as it flew under it, its head got looped off.

A human did that, a human had cut the sky in two.

[T-this can’t be happening!]

Looking closer at the dividing line, it was right where the two had separated. The two had given their all, and while neither budged, the sword energy shot into the sky and cut it instead.

The audience found the two even more monstrous. 

[Just how far are they on the path of the sword to cut the heavens?]

Gulping hard, they only held fear for them.

[This isn’t humanly possible!]

Baili Yutian ignored the weird looks, grinning, “Ha-ha-ha, it’s great that you survived and came to meet me. Let’s settle our promise from a hundred years ago!”

“The winner goes to Devil Mountain, reaching new heights. While the loser will become a stepping stone, stuck in this place!”

Whoosh~

Waving the demonic sword, Zhuo Fan turned cold, “That’s why I’m here, to return there as the best in mortal domain and challenge higher beings!” 

Baili Yutian did the same with no qualms, shouting, “Good, but I’ll be the one reaching it while you will make me grow in this fight. I’ll be the winner!”

Baili Yutian laughed, filled with thirst for battle. Zhuo Fan smiled, his aura flaring.

The empire’s Sword Kings were startled, recalling Murong Lie’s words.

[Patriarch isn’t here for Sword Star Empire, but to answer the challenge. Zhuo Fan worked hard to ruin the empire and unite the lands, but seeing the Patriarch, even he put aside the empire’s fate, fighting just for the sake of it.]

[Is this the world of the strong, unsullied by the mundane?]

They saw it now through a different light. 

[That’s why Murong Lie said we’re unlike the Patriarch. This proves it…]

Hu~

A wind passed, drifting a ruined leaf and letting it float down between the two, giving start to their second clash. 

Only this time, the two turned into specters, fading in and out as they struck. The air was thick with energy, like something was wrapping around them.

“One With the World, the kid reached this state as well!”

Baili Yuyun cried out. When the Invincible Sword cut down the 9th level spiritual beast, he showed the same effect.

He thought only the Patriarch could reach it, but now, a hundred years later, Zhuo Fan had caught up.

[The kid is a monster not even the Patriarch can compare with…]

Bang~

The divine swords met, the only moment when their figures were remotely visible. They then clashed left and right, and all over the place, the constant ringing of metal deafening to the audience as the air looked to be torn asunder.

The dumbstruck onlookers were left agape. This level of skill went beyond anyone’s comprehension, even a Sword King’s. They couldn’t even see the moves.

They finally understood the difference between a Sword King and the Invincible Sword. It wasn’t just power, but also understanding. Yet Zhuo Fan had enough of both to meet the Invincible Sword at every turn.

Bang~

As they clashed, the rest of the people there couldn’t even catch a shadow, only hearing the resulting explosions and seeing the fracturing air.

Worry crept in as sweat poured down. It didn’t look like an all out clash like the first one, but it was still terrifying at their level. None had any idea where the two would meet next, the unknown danger looming over their heads like death. 

Even Sword Kings were powerless, flinching at the clashes.

Danqing Shen’s group wiped their brow at the tearing sound, knowing it to be reality breaking around them.

The two powerhouses walked the furthest on their paths to reach the Dao, making anyone weaker unable to feel what they were doing.

Whoosh~

The two popped into sight just then, their eyes met and laughed at the cracked air.

“Good, I did not think a kid like you would have such deep insights into the Dao. We’re both treading this path, our senses beyond human comprehension. There’s no winning in this aspect so let’s just stop.” 

Baili Yutian shouted as he waved and the rest sighed with relief, too soon though, “Let’s test sword insights now. We shall see if my understanding of the Sundering Sword Art and yours of the sword can match!”

Baili Yutian shook and the sky crackled with purple lightning, booming everywhere. Baili Yutian pointed the Sundering Sword at the sky and the lightning flocked, releasing dreadful power that swallowed the world around them as devastating sword waves flew in every direction, a sword energy storm. 

“Humph, my Sundering Sword Art is one of destruction. Anything will crumble beneath it, to ashes. Nothing in creation can stop my sword!”

“Oh? Since you trained in destruction, I trained in devouring.”

Smirking, Zhuo Fan shook and blackness oozed out of the world’s crevices, it blended with the cracks in the sky, swallowing everything into a complete abyss. 

The heavens now looked ghastly. One side purple and another pitch-black, monstrous. As the growls began, the people shook with fear, their imagination going wild thinking of the savage creatures that might pounce on them from the darkness.

Looking at it another way, the two’s mastery of world energy was at a tie, with each slicing half of the heavens for themselves.

This never happened in the history of the five lands, that of someone able to take control of any piece of the sky from the Invincible Sword.

The audience paled, with the Sword Kings’ faces twitching.

[Using swordsmanship as a contest means drawing on the world’s energy to turn the world into a battlefield. Anything in that domain will be destroyed. To make it worse it’s between the Invincible Sword and Zhuo Fan of all people.] 

[The Invincible Sword’s Sundering Sword is one of utter destruction, erasing anything it touched. Zhuo Fan’s power is still unknown…] 

The moment they started going at each other, not even a Sword King was confident he or she could outlive that. 

The people’s hearts sank, sighing in misery. 

[Sirs, it’d be better off if you just kept to the previous style. Sure, we couldn’t see you, but at least we had the highest chance of us surviving it.]

[While we can now see what you’re doing now, but what’s the point when the scope is so large that it includes us as well? Where are we supposed to hide?]

The audience wallowed in despair at their fate.

Rumble!

The two fighters went off once more, with purple sword waves slamming down and leaving nothing behind but dust. The unlucky soldiers died before even screaming.

Baili Yutian showed no remorse even as his own countrymen, loyal soldiers, died from his errant strikes. He just hacked with the Sundering Sword, unleashing even more sword waves at Zhuo Fan’s black sky.

“Zhuo Fan, take this! Star Severing Sword, Hero’s Demise!”