Chapter 2412 - When the Sword Hum Rings Out

The gray-robed man was called Lu Dongxing.

In the God Domain, he had another, even more resounding title: Master God Eastwalker!

But just as he was about to rush out of the city, an old man in black robes stopped him.

“You still have family and clansmen in the God Domain. Your wife, children, and grandchildren are waiting for you to return. If you go into battle, what will become of them?” asked the old man in black. “Let me go instead.”

Lu Dongxing glowered. “Let go of me!”

The old man in black was just about to say something when Lu Dongxing shoved him away without hesitation.

“Have you thought this through, Lu Dongxing!? Over the past eight years, everyone who’s agreed to do battle has either perished or been taken captive. Do you really just not care about your friends and family in the God Domain?” roared the old man.

“Who among those who’ve gone into battle before me

didn’t

have friends and family? Yet they went boldly to their deaths. Why can’t I?” said Lu Dongxing without so much as turning to look at him. “Ol’ Mo, if you really want to look out for me, get out of my way!”

He spoke with firm conviction, his voice echoing in all directions.

Everyone looked moved.

Luo Yao sighed. “Don’t try to dissuade him any further. Let Brother Lu go.”

Lu Dongxing smiled and nodded at her, then hesitated, took a deep breath, and clasped his fist. “Miss Luo Yao, it’s because we had you overseeing things in Dao_Seeking City that we’ve overcome all the perils we’ve faced thus far. All of us have borne witness to your effort and sacrifice. Please, allow me to thank you!”

Luo Yao looked at him, her gaze conflicted, then clasped her fist. “Brother Lu, take care!”

Lu Dongxing smiled, then turned to leave Dao-Seeking City. He murmured, “And here I thought I’d get to see Brother Fuyou again before I died. It’s a pity...”

His soft voice echoed throughout the city.

He shook his head, and said no more.

Meanwhile, outside the city, the vast demon army had the place thoroughly surrounded.

Except for a large clearing directly in front of the gates.

A massive beast skin drum stood at the front of the demon army. A ten-thousand-foot-tall Deathless Body Demon expert was beating it.

The sound shook the heavens, boundless and deep. Murderous intent permeated the surrounding area.

Not far from the drum, there was a figure bound to a bronze torture rack. He was a man covered in wounds and smeared with blood. His hair was tangled, and his face was obscured.

When the wind blew, his bound figure swayed upon the rack.

When Lu Dongxing left Dao-Seeking City and saw that bound figure, his expression filled with fury. The man hung like prey for all to see was Master God Tian Jing, the brother-in-arms of everyone in Dao-Seeking City, as well as Lu Dongxing’s dear friend of many years!

“Lu Dongxing? Hah! So it’s you, old man.” A chuckle emanated from the Outsider Celestial Demons’ ranks.

As the voice rang out, the beating of the drum died down. Everyone looked in the same direction. There, they saw a fair, beautifully handsome man. He’d appeared silently out of nowhere amidst the crowd.

His long hair billowed in the wind, and he stood with his hands behind his back, his bearing leisurely. He looked indescribably relaxed.

Lu Dongxing’s gaze focused. When Luo Yao and the rest of his allies saw the man from the city walls, their hearts sank, and their expressions shifted.

Demon Emperor Ming Ye, an Emperor-Level Formless Heart Demon!

He was the most terrifying Emperor-Level Celestial Demon in the army surrounding Dao-Seeking City.

Over the past eight years, two Nine-Tribulation Master Gods and seven Eight-Tribulation Master Gods had died by Demon Emperor Ming Ye’s hands.

In all of Dao-Seeking City, only three people could really fight him: Luo Yao, Wen Qingfeng, the one who’d wept and burnt joss paper not long ago, and the old man in black, “Ol’ Mo.”

However, Wen Qingfeng and Ol’ Mo could, at best, fight back. The only one really capable of holding their own was Luo Yao!

But Luo Yao couldn’t go into battle, as she was her allies’ pillar of support, and the pillar of the entire city. If anything happened to her, the city was sure to fall!

“According to the rules, there’s still time for you to retreat and send someone else in your stead,” said Demon Emperor Ming Ye. He stood in the air, gazing at Lu Dongxing. “Would you... like to swap combatants?”

It was a casual question, but his disdain for Lu Dongxing was readily apparent.

More importantly, this question contained a hidden edge! If Lu Dongxing chose to switch places with someone else, it would mean acknowledging that he couldn’t defend himself against Demon Emperor Ming Ye.

This would mean losing in terms of momentum, as well as exposing his heart’s cowardice, and that was deadly!

“I’m not afraid to die, so why would I be afraid of a wicked creature like you?” Lu Dongxing’s eyes glinted with sharp light, and he spoke with seething murderous intent. His whole body’s essence, qi, and spirit seemed to condense, and he seemed utterly unshakeable.

“Very well, then,” said Demon Emperor Ming Ye. “If you win, you can leave with that captive, Master God Tian Jing. If you lose, I’ll kill or imprison you. Which will depend entirely on my mood.”

The match might have seemed fair, but Luo Yao and the others only agreed to it because they had no other choice.

The city had been surrounded for the past eight years. If they refused to accept their enemies’ challenge, they’d have to face an all out attack!

They knew full well that the demons were just trying to pick them off one at a time. Their goal was to pay the smallest possible price for their victory.

But Luo Yao and the others could only agree, because they desperately needed to stall for time!

It was just... by now, they’d suffered incomparably heavy casualties, and nothing had happened to turn the situation around.

There was nothing more terrifying than the complete absence of hope. Although Luo Yao and her allies held on, in truth, they’d inwardly given into despair and planned for the worst.

As the crowd on the city walls pondered, the battle began.

Boom!

Demon Emperor Ming Ye was the first to strike. He raised his hand, and countless streaks of glittering silver life surged forth, condensed into a resplendent, moon-like wheel, and bore down on Lu Dongxing.

Lu Dongxing fought bare-handed, leaping into the fray.

Bang!

The two of them collided, shaking heaven and earth. The sky collapsed on all sides.

Both Demon Emperor Ming Ye and the perfectly round wheel of light around him split into pieces.

Lu Dongxing, meanwhile, let out a muffled grunt, his face wracked with agony.

But he quickly returned to normal.

At the same time, Demon Emperor Ming Ye’s shattered figure re-condensed.

“It seems your Dao Heart isn’t truly unbreakable,” he said with a faint laugh, attacking once more.

Dreamlike silver radiance flowed around him, and his hands condensed wheels of light like radiant moons as he attacked again and again.

Every time, Lu Dongxing shattered his attacks with his fists. His opponent shattered too, time and time again.

But every time, he returned to normal almost instantaneously, entirely unharmed.

In stark contrast, the longer Lu Dongxing fought, the more agonized, enraged, dazed, bewildered, and fearful he looked. Even his steely face was now pallid.

Everyone watching from Dao-Seeking City couldn’t help but worry about him.

Demon Emperor Ming Ye was an Emperor-Level Formless Heart Demon. He might have seemed too weak to block a hit in a head-on confrontation, but in truth, every time he attacked, he struck Lu Dongxing’s Dao Heart!

There was no blocking this. All Lu Dongxing could do was rely on his Dao Heart to endure it!

Defeating Demon Emperor Ming Ye meant triumphing over him in a clash of the heart! Unfortunately, although Lu Dongxing was a Nine-Tribulation Master God, and an immensely capable one at that, he had no means of countering his opponent.

In this clash of the heart, all he could do was passively defend himself.

This was what made Formless Heart Demons so terrifying.

Within moments, Lu Dongxing’s face was as pale as a sheet of paper, and his vital energy showed signs of withering.

His heart was in chaos, and his spirit dissolute.

There was no doubt about it. These repeated attacks had worn him down to the point that he wouldn’t hold out much longer!

Seeing this filled his allies with deep concern. Many of them were overcome with grief; they couldn’t bear to watch any more of this.

How proud and valiant of a figure was Lu Dongxing?

Yet now, he was helpless to defend himself from Demon Emperor Ming Ye’s repeated attacks. He was in dire peril. Who wouldn’t have been pessimistic about his odds?

“I told you you could switch combatants, but you insisted on seeking your own demise. Why was this necessary?” Demon Emperor Ming Ye shook his head.

Boom!

His voice had only just rung out when he suddenly struck, condensing eighteen glittering silver wheels, each like a radiant moon. They seemed to overlap, slamming into Lu Dongxing in waves.

Splurt!

Lu Dongxing coughed up blood.

His essence, qi, and spirit fell apart, and he staggered on his feet.

Demon Emperor Ming Ye leaped forward, reaching for Lu Dongxing’s neck. “You’re finished!”

“I’ll kill you, dammit!” Lu Dongxing roared in fury, his eyes bloodshot. His whole body seemed to catch ablaze, erupting with searing light.

His allies hearts’ were on tenterhooks. All of them looked stricken.

It would have been obvious to anyone that Lu Dongxing was fighting with no regard for his cultivation base. He wanted to drag Demon Emperor Ming Ye down with him!

“Take this!” Demon Emperor Ming Ye bellowed, and his eyes erupted with silver flames. They shot through the air, piercing Lu Dongxing’s body.

Lu Dongxing had been on the verge of risking it all to defeat his enemy when he stiffened in midair, as if he’d been struck by lightning. His erupting power instantly died down.

His gaze went vacant, and awareness seemed to flee him completely. He just stood there.

Everyone looked on in horror, their hearts full of grief and agony.

Lu Dongxing was finished! Even after risking it all, his opponent had suppressed him just in time, destroying his Dao Heart!

“If ‘going all out’ was enough to defeat me, I’d have been destroyed many times over by now,” Demon Emperor Ming Ye said with a mocking glint in his eyes. “You lost, old man.”

With that, he reached for Lu Dongxing’s throat.

Lu Dongxing just stood there like a hunk of wood, unmoving. He didn’t react at all.

When Luo Yao and the others saw this, they felt chills in their hands and feet. Their hearts filled with indescribable bitterness and despair.

Lu Dongxing’s defeat had been far too wretched. Now, he was doomed to wind up just like Master God Tian Jing: a captive bound to a rack, subjected to endless torment and indignities!

But just as Demon Emperor Ming Ye’s hand was about to reach Lu Dongxing, the impassioned hum of a sword resounded from over the horizon.