Chapter 980: Imperial Sovereign Authority

It was a gaze that contained a mysterious power!

The gaze of the broken face could invade heaven, earth, and the void. The gaze of gods could affect all living beings and entities.

The gaze of an Imperial Sovereign could sever the ancient from the modern. When combined with the individual authority of a specific Imperial Sovereign, it could unleash strength akin to that of a god.

After all, Imperial Sovereign was like a heavenly mountain in the system of cultivators. It was a sublime pinnacle. In the early part of that level, it was possible to fight with gods. Those at the peak were equivalent to the Flawless God level!

Although Floating Fiend was only in the early level, his arrival was still like that of a god. And now, Floating Fiend’s gaze had its own unique authority, which caused Xu Qing’s head to spin, and filled his soul with a suffocating sensation. It was a type of suffocation that didn’t just relate to his breathing.

When it appeared in his soul, it was almost like a will of erasure. It was loneliness, darkness, and despair.

Xu Qing shivered from head to toe. All of the types of godly authority in his void soil, even the faint lineaments, began to flicker with bright light. And his fleshly body shone as if with mercury. His every asset fought back against the gaze, all while he fell back at top speed. He sent out his god perception, using sound to achieve speeds similar to teleportation.

At the same time, he took out Flame Phoenix’s feather. His plan was to send a message.

Unfortunately, that was when a cracking sound rang out. It was as if an extremely sharp and incomprehensibly domineering pair of shears had cut off his every connection to the outside world. Mind spinning, Xu Qing put the feather away and accelerated as he fled.

***

In that private chamber in the Vivifiend holy land, Floating Fiend himself sat there cross-legged with a dazzling pair of shears floating above his head. The shears seemed ancient, as if they had seen the passage of immense amounts of time. They pulsed with that sensation of age, as well as a terrifying might.

Floating Fiend slowly rose to his feet, ultimately standing to his full height of 300 meters. That action caused the cosmos to rumble, and great winds to sweep about. A hundred years before, he, who possessed royal Vivifiend blood, and was at the peak of Smoldering God, chose to go into a deadly session of seclusion in an attempt to break through to the level of Imperial Sovereign.

The news quickly spread among all the terrestrial-level holy lands, and countless people paid very close attention to the matter.

The reason was that Imperial Sovereigns... were lords unto themselves. Those who succeeded in that breakthrough were

as rare as phoenix feathers or qilin horns

. The Vivifiend holy land was no exception.

Among the terrestrial-level holy lands, the Vivifiend holy land had been on the decline for a long time. For years, they had been relying on the fact that their patriarch was a peak Imperial Sovereign simply to stay afloat. On many occasions, they were backed into a corner and couldn’t do anything.

There was nothing more important to the Vivifiends than Floating Fiend and his session of secluded meditation. If he succeeded, then the Vivifiend holy land would rise to a higher level of prominence.

If it weren’t for the fact that the decree to come to Revered Ancient had been impossible for them to defy, they wouldn’t have come at this time. Even though they were given no choice, and came, the fact remained that Floating Fiend’s session of meditation was still the most important thing to them. That was one reason why they hadn’t done anything dramatic, and hadn’t caused any trouble for outsiders.

What was more, Floating Fiend, who had been in meditation for a hundred years, had no idea what was going on outside his meditation chamber. In past years, he had only been disturbed once, and that was to tell him that the holy lands had received orders to go to Revered Ancient. As for Revered Ancient itself, everything he knew about it was based on old information.

As of now, the fluctuations of the death of his only blood-related child caused a reaction both physically and in terms of karma, shaking him out of his slumber.

It was hard to say whether that was good or bad.

It could be good, because the reality was that it had actually been years since he stepped past the threshold leading into Imperial Sovereign. Unfortunately, his energy and might had been thrown into a state of primal-chaos, as if he had been sent into reincarnation.

Because of that continuous cycle, he couldn’t wake up. It was something no one could help him with. He had to rely on himself to struggle through successfully. Only if he woke up could he successfully complete the breakthrough.

It was something virtually all Imperial Sovereigns had to deal with. It was also an experience that led to them forming their personal authority. That so-called authority was substructurally different from godly authority.

Normally speaking, it was something exclusive to Imperial Sovereigns, although it was possible, though rare, for certain spectacular chosen to do the same thing as a Smoldering God. For some, the process of acquiring authority happened in an instant. In other cases it took a hundred years or sometimes more than a thousand.

Thus, when the fluctuations appeared, they tugged on him, provoking killing intent and fury in his blood. That, in turn, resonated with his authority, and caused him to wake up.

When it came to the bad parts... they were the fact that his son had died, and also that his authority had some flaws thanks to him waking up earlier.

Regardless of anything, though, he was now an Imperial Sovereign. Opening his eyes, he peered through the void, opened karma, and searched the sensations of the heart.

As he had said, he... saw Xu Qing. He wasn’t familiar with the outside location, but based on earlier information, he could tell that they had arrived at Revered Ancient. He didn’t know the identity of the person who had killed his son. But he didn’t need to. It didn’t matter who the culprit was. As of this moment... he was dead-set on killing him.

That was the only way for him to repair his mental state, and fix the flaw in his authority. It was related to his dao!

That was especially true considering that, though he had used the treasured shears that had once belonged to a Grand Emperor of his species to sever the culprit’s connection to the outside, the culprit had already used some gruish concealment technique to go into hiding. Therefore, Floating Fiend didn’t hesitate at all to take a step forward.

When his foot landed on the floor of his meditation chamber, ripples spread through heaven and earth, shaking all providence. He vanished.

Because of the tug of the bloodline and the coordinates his gaze had locked onto, that single step was all it took to arrive within Xu Qing’s 500 kilometers of hell. His presence gave the natural laws a master, and made all magical laws servants.

The heavenly daos of Revered Ancient were influenced by the will of Revered Ancient, and they resisted the holy lands which had left so long ago. However, an almighty Imperial Sovereign... would be welcomed in any location. After all, years ago, the heavenly dao had been created to be in subjugation to cultivators.

Therefore, when Floating Fiend arrived in the 500 kilometers of hell, the natural and magical laws acknowledged allegiance to him, and almost became an embodiment of his mind. His will became the will of heaven. His spirit became the spirit of heaven. If he wanted a location to be sealed, that location would instantly be sealed. If he wanted to exterminate Xu Qing, then killing intent would erupt in Xu Qing’s area.

The killing intent was a manifestation of the will of heaven, and that was controlled by Floating Fiend’s thoughts. It was impossible to perceive. Countless streams of invisible killing intent gathered, but because of Floating Fiend’s will, they became corporeal.

***

In front of Xu Qing appeared a bright-red skeletal finger with five digits. The moment the finger appeared, everything around it seemed to solidify. Even thoughts were weighed down. The sea water no longer rippled. The only thing that could move was the killing intent.

In an instant, it weighed down on Xu Qing, whose heart was racing as he fled at top speed, all while fused with the sound in the area. In that location, the sea water exploded, heavenly will exploded, and killing intent exploded. Terrifying pressure and horrifying killing force bore down on Xu Qing with unstoppable, unblockable momentum.

Little Shadow wailed. The god vine cracked. Moonlight shattered. Sound authority dimmed. Ninedawns. The Grand Darkheaven Armor. Everything else was completely useless.

The finger was like a foreordained doom as it descended upon Xu Qing.

RUMBLE!

Every defense he had ceased to be functional. All divine abilities and magical techniques shattered. It was as if none of his assets were meaningful in any way.

Mountain-toppling, sea-draining force raged through his soul and body with the intention of destroying and crushing it. He was to be destroyed in body and soul! Rumbling filled Xu Qing as he was sent tumbling off to the side like a leaf in the wind.

Yet he didn’t collapse!

As a result, Floating Fiend’s eyes glittered. “Oh, I see.”

Although Xu Qing’s body hadn’t collapsed by the attack of an Imperial Sovereign’s finger, he was coughing up mouthful after enormous mouthful of blood. Cracks spread out across his fleshly body, out of which seeped immortal mercury like fresh blood. The cracks weren’t because of the Imperial Sovereign’s finger. They had always existed within him, a result of the broken face’s flesh, and had been held together by the immortal mercury.

They were where the seals within Xu Qing were located. The Imperial Sovereign’s finger wasn’t capable of destroying his fleshly body, but... it was already showing it might be capable of doing something to the immortal mercury that was holding it together.

Xu Qing’s body hadn’t completely fused into one. That was why Master Seventh had told Xu Qing that his fleshly body could defend against anything under the Imperial Sovereign level.

As his body cracked apart, pain swept through him like a storm, overwhelming his senses and threatening to topple his mind. Xu Qing trembled from head to toe as unimaginable torment filled him. But what really made his eyes go red was the splitting sensation in his soul. A feeling of deadly crisis rose up within him.

However, Xu Qing had been in a lot of potentially deadly situations in his life. He wasn’t unfamiliar with circumstances like these. And he knew that in a moment like this, he needed to stay clear-headed. Forcing himself to just endure the pain from his body and soul, he gritted his teeth and unleashed the godly authority of sound. Instantly, he merged into the sound and shot off into the distance.

I need to get out of here and figure out a way to send a message!

Unfortunately, an Imperial Sovereign had come in person. Even if Xu Qing was stronger than he currently was, he would have limits. Therefore, though he fled within sound, as Floating Fiend’s gaze descended....

Floating Fiend’s cold voice swept out.

“Erase.”

It was the power of Floating Fiend’s authority! The words he spoke caused all sound within the 500-kilometer area to vanish. Those sounds weren’t being taken away. They weren’t being controlled. They were being erased! All sounds ceased to exist.

Because Xu Qing was within the sound, if he didn’t break free, he would also be erased. Therefore, he had no choice but to emerge from the sound.

The moment he appeared, a huge bright-red hand appeared over his head. The hand had seven fingers with five digits each, and looked extremely gruish, like something straight out of the Yellow Springs.

It covered the sky over Xu Qing, becoming his world as it dropped down to grab him. Before it even landed, it created an intense pressure that caused more cracks to appear on Xu Qing.

Again, immortal mercury flowed like blood, and he felt more than ever like his body might collapse. His soul grew weak from the pressure, and the sensation of potential death became like a tidal wave crashing into him. Blood sprayed out of his mouth, and his eyes became even more bloodshot. At that critical moment, his eyes gleamed with determination. Without any hesitation, he performed a double-handed incantation gesture and then swept his hands out in front of him.

The fluctuations of detonation rose up within the 500-kilometer area. Xu Qing had set up this area to deal with the giant and the dragon chariot, and had filled it with a large amount of godsource, which was intended to make his godly authority easier to use. But as the self-detonation fluctuations spread out, the entire 500 kilometers of hell noiselessly erupted.

Areas throughout it where Xu Qing had set up godsource began to explode one after another. There were hundreds of those areas, and every one that detonated added to the terrifying effect. After they all exploded, they created a shocking tempest with Xu Qing in the middle. All of it shot toward that huge hand!

Because of the authority of erasing, there was no sound in the area. But the tempest still contained violet moonlight and the power of taboo poison, which made the huge tempest even more dominant. It grew larger and larger, until it was like a godly volcano erupting on the seafloor, unleashing heaven-defying force that slammed into the Imperial Sovereign’s hand.

The hand faltered in midair. The tempest was resisting it!

But Imperial Sovereigns were like gods, so no matter how grand that tempest was, it could only give it a moment’s pause.

In the end, the hand kept dropping. It slammed into the seafloor. The seafloor in the 500-kilometer area shattered as a huge crater opened up.

However, the clash of the two types of power did a bit to ease the authority of erasure. And because of that, there was now a bit of sound present. It started minutely, but quickly expanded.

That was exactly what Xu Qing wanted: sound.

The moment the sound came to exist, he ignored his injuries and used the sound to shoot off into the distance. Blood sprayed out into the water. Immortal mercury flowed into the void. Wherever the sound went, it left behind a streak of red and silver.

Within the sound, Xu Qing was starting to lose consciousness, but he kept fleeing. The direction he was going led toward where he knew the approaching dragon chariot was.

***

Far off in the Holytide Region, in the region controlled by the Garmentfolk, Erniu lay snoring in a pile of colorful clothing. Each item of clothing was a woman’s garment, and they were all clustered close to him. Clearly, the Garmentfolk had been very welcoming, and he had made plenty of friends that he was close enough to that he could slumber alongside them. That one particular glove lay on his chest, the fingers all curled up....

Suddenly, Erniu shivered and opened his eyes.

As he did, the surrounding pieces of clothing also woke up one after another, and floated up into the air. That included the glove. All of them were now floating in front of him as if asking if something was wrong.

Erniu shook his head. He looked confused. “No, it’s nothing. I just had a bad dream. In the dream, little Ah Qing was trying to tell me something. Hunh. What a weird dream.”

Upon hearing that, the articles of clothing flew back and forth in what seemed to be a comforting manner.

“You’re right,” Erniu said. “Maybe I’ve just been getting too exhausted lately. Are you going to keep massaging me?” He licked his lips. “Alright, I guess I’ll go back to sleep. You just keep up the massage.”

With that, Erniu lay back down excitedly. An instant later, he sat back up.

“No. No way. I need to take a trip back to South Phoenix. It really feels to me like something big is happening. Are all of you going to miss me? Or will you come along?”