Chapter 3219: Persistence

Wu Tian laughed heartily as he moved towards Tian Feng. All across the battlefield, the only battles that could truly decide the overall outcome were Ancient God versus Lu Yuan, Tian Ci versus the Lord of Lightning, Tian En versus Hongyan Mavis, and finally, Tian Feng versus Garan Zhiluo.

Lu Yin's earlier attack had forced the Aeternals to suffer heavy losses, but while many human experts like Supreme, Ye Wu, and the Abandoned were free to move around, they were unable to participate in the high-level battles.

Only people comparable to the Three Realms and Six Daos could participate in those fights.

"Don't run, Wu Tian!" Di Qiong shouted as he clenched his spear. His pupilless eyes were fixed upon Wu Tian. After a moment, the man looked at Lu Yin, who had drawn close.

"Di Qiong, long time no see."

Di Qiong continued to stare at Lu Yin, and the man’s wariness intensified, despite no longer facing Wu Tian.

Lu Yin's single attack had affected the entire Scourge, and everyone recognized that he had reached the level of the Three Realms and Six Daos.

"I should have killed you long ago," Di Qiong slowly stated. A chill entered his eyes.

Lu Yin calmly observed the man. "You weren’t able to."

With that, he waved his hand. Soil appeared in the sky, condensing into the shape of a column that shot at Di Qiong. Around the man, the pages of his Martial Scripture appeared, and the column froze in place. At the same time, Di Qiong held his spear tightly, and his divine energy boiled over as he charged at Lu Yin. "Spear of the Gods."

The spear was shrouded in divine energy, and it contained a terrifying power as it tore through the void, slicing open a long spatial tear that looked like it was going to split the Scourge in two.

Lu Yin did not move his feet, and he simply waved his hand, causing more blocks of soil to appear. But this time, the dirt did not form into columns, but rather other shapes. There were swords, knives, spears, shields, and more. Martial Scriptures was only able to freeze attacks that it had seen before. One requirement was that the attacks had to look the same; attacks from different weapons would not be affected.

Each of the weapons that Lu Yin had manifested could only be used once.

But even so, that was enough for Lu Yin.

The various dirt weapons struck Di Qiong, and his body was repeatedly stabbed as blood spilled and splattered across the ground. Half of the man’s body disappeared, and he roared at the sky while his heartbeat was growing louder and louder.

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed, and his hand rose up again. This time, soil gathered into what looked like sharp stones of varying sizes, all of which shot mercilessly at Di Qiong.

Di Qiong was a top-tier expert, and he had once destroyed God's Domain and overpowered multiple powerhouses from the Heavens Sect in Aeternus Nation. If not for Lu Yuan’s timely arrival, Di Qiong might have swept through the entire Heavens Sect on his own.

At the moment, the man was being completely suppressed by Lu Yin. While he had been badly wounded by Wu Tian, even without those injuries, Lu Yin would have still been able to overpower Di Qiong.

The man’s power had been exposed long ago, and Lu Yin understood how the man fought even better than Feng Bo.

Not even Di Qiong’s sequence particles were able to fully block Lu Yin's rocks made of dirt.

There was a loud bang as Di Qiong's heart shattered, quickly followed by his head. The battlefield fell silent.

All eyes turned to look at where yet another one of Aeternus’s Three Pillars and Six Skies of Aeternus had fallen. Once again, they had fallen to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin had killed Shaman God, Undying God, Corpse God, and now Di Qiong. Who would be next?

Di Qiong's headless corpse slowly crumpled to the ground, his blood staining the dirt below.

Lu Yin watched in silence. He could not help but feel that something was off. This battle had been too easy.

While he was confident that he could kill Di Qiong, it should not have been this easy.

While he had been fighting against Wu Tian, Di Qiong had been confident and eager to do battle against the man. However, the moment that Wu Tian left, Di Qiong had been killed by Lu Yin. This was just too absurd.

On top of that, his divine energy had not dissipated.

Lu Yin stared at Di Qiong's corpse, and with a flick of his finger, soil manifested in the void. This time, it gathered into slabs that slammed down onto Di Qiong's body. Lu Yin intended to crush it completely.

After the corpse was reduced to powder, Di Qiong would have no chance of retaliating.

From atop the black Mother Tree, True God watched calmly as he recalled the past.

Di Qiong was a man of great persistence. When True God first saw the man, he already knew that Di Qiong’s persistence surpassed everything else about him.

That first meeting had occurred shortly after the destruction of the ancient Heavens Sect, just after the first Divine Commandment had ended. Aeternus had not had many experts at that time, and they had not even gathered the Three Pillars and Six Skies, let alone the Seven Skygods or the rulers of the six Scourges.

True God had been searching everywhere for talented cultivators to join Aeternus, and that was when he had found Di Qiong.

When True God first saw the child, he had been gnawing on a bone atop a pile of corpses. It had been a human bone. The child’s small body had been covered in blood, but he had revealed no trace of fear. He had been as calm as a satiated beast.

Even True God, who was accustomed to death, had been captivated by the scene. Intrigued, he had approached the child and asked him what he was doing.

"Eating meat."

"That's a human."

"Hungry."

"Why are you here alone?"

The child then glanced to the side, where there was a well-preserved corpse.

"Is that your father?"

"Yes."

"Why haven’t you left?"

In response, the child calmly stared at his father's body but said nothing.

True God then stepped forward to examine the child. "What are you thinking about?"

The child answered without hesitation, "Living."

"Then, come with me."

"Can you help me survive?"

"Surviving is simple."

"It's difficult."

"Why do you say that?"

"Father couldn't survive."

"He was too weak."

The child looked up at True God. "Father said that Wu Tian's teachings would eventually make him stronger."

"He didn't get the chance."

The child remained calm. "Father believed in the wrong thing."

True God stared at the child with growing interest. "Do you know Wu Tian?"

"No."

"Wu Tian is a human."

The child asked, "Is he strong?"

True God smiled. "He’s at least able to survive."

The child was not happy with that answer. "Father is dead. Wu Tian shouldn't be allowed to live either."

True God had laughed. "Do you hate Wu Tian?"

"No, but he shouldn't be alive. The weak shouldn't live."

"Then go and deal with him yourself."

"I will. I won't be weak."

True God intently stared at the child. "If you find that you are about to die one day, what will you do?"

The child considered the question for a moment. "As long as I can move, I'm still alive."

True God stared off into the distance.

As long as you can move, you're alive?

Movement had been the child's only standard for remaining alive. He had been obsessed with killing Wu Tian, though he was even more obsessed with survival. On top of that, he could still move.

As a slab of soil slammed down, Di Qiong's body suddenly moved. Half of his body was supported by his one remaining arm, and it started to rise up. The man’s heart and head had both been shattered, but within his body, divine energy reconnected the broken pieces of his broken body.

Lu Yin had seen something like this before. It was the same disturbing and terrifying scene that he had witnessed right before Shaman God’s ultimate death.

Thud, thud, thud

.

The sound of a beating heart echoed out from Di Qiong's once-shattered heart that had been newly rebuilt with divine energy. The man’s skin cracked open as divine energy continued to surge within his body, and an overwhelming aura shot into the sky.

Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. This was... an incredibly powerful physical strength.

Ancient God, Arrow God, and many other experts all looked over at Di Qiong. "So, the rumors are true. Di Qiong really did create a transformation beyond the Pupilless Transformation.

"However, the cost is death."

Atop the black Mother Tree, True God sighed in admiration. The child had kept his word. The final level of the Corpse King Transformation was not the Pupilless Transformation, but the Martial God Transformation. It was a stage where the body would persist even after death.

The word “martial” in the name represented Di Qiong’s continual obsession with Wu Tian.

The word “god” represented divine energy. Only divine energy could enable such a transformation.

This was the true final stage of the Corpse King Transformation.

Di Qiong was already dead, but his body could still move. As long as his body could move, Di Qiong was not truly dead.

There was a thunderous sound as the remaining half of Di Qiong's body charged at Lu Yin, a solitary arm reaching out to grab the young man.

Lu Yin waved his hand, and a spear formed from dirt, only to be instantly crushed by Di Qiong's arm.

With just the Pupilless Transformation, Di Qiong had been able to evenly fight against Wu Tian’s pure physical strength that was comparable to Corpse God’s. At this moment, Di Qiong’s corpse was ten times stronger than at his greatest peak in life. This level of strength exceeded what a peak powerhouse could comprehend.

At this moment, Lu Yin had no desire to compete with Di Qiong in physical strength. After all, such a victory was impossible.

Spears of soil shot forward, only to be shattered by Di Qiong's arm. The corpse’s legs bent, and he launched himself forward, piercing through the void and creating ripples that spread far into the distance. The pressure was so great that Lu Yin struggled to even breathe.

Lu Yin watched as Di Qiong shot towards him. At this moment, the corpse was nothing short of the most terrifying humanoid weapon in existence.

Lu Yin used Inverse Step to keep pace with Di Qiong, and he successfully maintained a distance of one meter. One was retreating, while the other was pursuing.

Lu Yin could clearly feel Di Qiong's overwhelming physical power. It had reached a level beyond even what Lu Yuan and Hongyan Mavis were capable of. In terms of raw physical power, no one could compare to this monster.

However, this level of the Corpse King Transformation was enabled by divine energy, and divine energy was one of the things that Lu Yin feared the least.

He pulled out Evernight and dragged both himself and Di Qiong into the pocket dimension.

Within the dark realm, Di Qiong waved a hand. The void shook, and the darkness was dispersed. The Dark Palace could not burn the corpse, and even if it could, it would not matter. Di Qiong was already dead, though his physical might was beyond understanding.

Lu Yin instantly appeared behind the corpse, and he released his inner universe. The star of divine energy spun, ripping the divine energy away from Di Qiong's body.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Lu Yin had been the one to kill Di Qiong, and the man had died while focused on killing Lu Yin. At the moment, Di Qiong’s corpse had lost all reason.

The arm kept swinging, trying to grab Lu Yin.

Lu Yin's expression was grim. Without the ability to steal divine energy, he would have been forced to use his own physical strength to deal with Di Qiong at this moment, and that would have been unimaginably difficult.

While Ancestor Lu Yuan might be able to handle this corpse, Lu Yin would struggle to harm Di Qiong’s corpse at all while it was in this state.

Di Qiong had paid his life to activate the final level of his Corpse King Transformation.

If not for the fact that it cost him his life, there was no doubt that Di Qiong would have been the most terrifying of the Three Pillars and Six Skies, and he would have posed even more danger than Ancient God.

The Corpse King Transformation was Aeternus’s greatest battle technique of all. On a strategic level, the Corpse King Transformation was equal to True God's three ultimate techniques.

Lu Yin continued to evade while Di Qiong relentlessly pursued him, his single arm swinging about. The entire time, the body’s divine energy was being drained away.

Lu Yin had been able to steal divine energy from even the frenzied corpses, let alone Di Qiong.

The heartbeats grew softer, and the arm started to slow. Lu Yin could clearly feel that the body’s strength was waning. The corpse was constantly weakening. Finally, Di Qiong’s corpse froze in place and no longer moved at all.

Lu Yin let out a breath. This time, Di Qiong was truly dead.

It was hard to imagine what kind of persistence could force someone to continue fighting even after their death. If they had not been enemies... Lu Yin could not help but feel admiration.

Battles continued to rage across the Second Scourge, but all eyes remained focused on one particular area.

When Lu Yin and Di Qiong reappeared, everyone paid attention.

Lu Yin and Di Qiong were still facing each other, but then Lu Yin turned to look at True God.

Behind him, Di Qiong's body collapsed, and the crash echoed across the entire battlefield.