Chapter 1562: The End of the Fight

The sky turned dull; the sword strike was one of primordial genesis, of void and chaos.

Everything transformed into chaos.

This blow went beyond what could be described as strength. It bypassed structure and power, instead dealing with the fundamental forces of the world, of atavistic regression and subsequent evolution.

The combined Immortal Kings' attacks, all of which had dominated their various eras, were snuffed out like candle flames.

This was a disaster, an apocalypse, an attack from which no one would be able to escape.

The eighth Immortal King knew that, even if all eight prior Immortal Kings combined their strength, they wouldn't be able to defend against this blow.

"[Descent of the Immortal Kings]!"

The form of the eighth Immortal King overlapped with those of the previous seven as all the energy combined into one cohesive whole.

Time and space distorted. Eight different techniques in eight different styles were unleashed in an instant of resplendent light.

The combined strength of the eight Immortal Kings caused the eighth Immortal King's spiritual avatar to decay at an even more rapid clip.

The eight techniques overlapped in a shocking attack that disrupted space and time. Light and darkness inverted, and the ancient hall began to crack.

The ancient hall, that had remained intact after all this time, despite the fighting that had already occurred within it to date, showed signs of collapsing just from the exchange of these two attacks.

The eight Immortal Kings' power combined into one blow stronger than even Zhang Lie's own, blocking the attack with brute strength. The eight Immortal Kings laughed simultaneously. "Haha, I'm the one who will have the last laugh!"

However, upon seeing that Zhang Lie was standing right where the eighth Immortal King had originally fallen on the ground, he suddenly had an uneasy premonition.

"[Eight Steps of the Immortal King]!"

He immediately used his strongest technique available.

The first step caused him to radiate light and strength. Killing intent surged from his body.

The second step caused lightning to descend in bolts the shape of dragons. A white tiger roared and charged forward. The manifestations of the second step alone flung the members of Team Zenith from their feet.

Each step caused more and more unusual phenomena to occur.

The eighth Immortal King grew stronger than ever before. Who knew how strong he would become after taking all eight steps, and what heavenly manifestations would be unleashed then?

With his third step—

Before the eighth Immortal King could take his third step, Zhang Lie swung his sword down in a reverse grip in the face of tribulatory lightning that filled the sky.

"[Ninesoul Dragonblade—Fourth Form: Warping Space and Time]!"

Temporal force surrounded Zhang Lie. He was standing right where the eighth Immortal King had fallen, his eyes calm, Guicang slowly descending. The image of the eighth Immortal King of the past appeared in sight,

the man whom Zhang Lie had beaten until he was vomiting blood, who had been suppressed, who had been forced toward a dead end.

Two different eighth Immortal Kings had appeared in the same time and space.

Before Zhang Lie was the vast river of time. He stood at one end, observing the entire flow of the river, searching for that one spot of interest—and then he thrust.

Temporal force whirled around Zhang Lie. Time itself was disrupted and distorted. As Zhang Lie slashed with his longsword, the river of time flowed backward. His surroundings seemed to tear apart like a curtain.

All things reverted in time. The shattered fragments of the ancient hall reformed and the eighth Immortal King's manifestations vanished. The eighth Immortal King himself walked backwards, unable to control his own actions in the face of spacetime.

The eight different Immortal Kings of time past vanished, retreating into the palace of copper, whose doors slammed shut as it disappeared from sight.

Zhang Lie's sword thrust into the eighth Immortal King's forehead in a fountain of blood. His eyes dimmed; everyone stilled upon seeing the eighth Immortal King struck dead in a shower of blood.

The eighth Immortal King's lips trembled. "The power to reverse time...?"

By the time he returned to his senses, he had become the Immortal King of before, lying on the ground.

Zhang Lie's sword had disrupted the natural flow of spacetime and struck at the eighth Immortal King of the past, dragging the past him into the present time—or perhaps Zhang Lie's present sword had hurt the eighth Immortal King of the past, deepening his wounds and forcing a ripple of correction all throughout the river of time.

Another alternative was that Zhang Lie's sword had changed the entire trajectory of spacetime, wiping away the eighth Immortal King who had unleashed a last hurrah from the world and restitching time together the way he wanted it to.

Temporal force was difficult to interact with and even more difficult to comprehend. Zhang Lie's technique shocked all the onlookers.

He had truly triumphed over the eighth Immortal King, an incredible accomplishment. Anyone in the fifth realm who learned of it would have spread the news far and wide.

Zhang Lie would have made a name for himself with just this single fight, unleashing the start of his legend in the fifth realm.

Everything within the ancient hall reversed in time. Zhang Lie's sword had wiped clean all that the eighth Immortal King had done since his death; the only thing that remained unchanged was his ailing soul.

Zhang Lie hadn't done this intentionally; rather, the eighth Immortal King's soul had deteriorated to such an extent that temporal force couldn't affect it any longer.

In other words, he was done for.

Temporal force could affect reality, but not the soul.

Perhaps Zhang Lie had been targeting this from the beginning, but regardless of whether it was intentional or not, the eighth Immortal King was done for.

Only the very dregs of his soul remained, held together by stubbornness and incredible willpower.

"I'll return to the peak of my glory. No one will be able to stop me!" The eighth Immortal King's hands formed seals of incredible strength, radiating with light, as he attempted to salvage this impossible situation.

Zhang Lie swung Hanguang, cutting the eighth Immortal King's hands from his body.

"It's time to end it."

Zhang Lie raised Guicang high in the air.

The eighth Immortal King's soul dimmed as it dissipated. Will alone wasn't sufficient to keep his body alive. "Damn the Zhang clan. Your father was this way, as was your mother, and now even you. Your whole family ought to die! If not for my fight against your parents, I would never have fallen to such a state. I would still be strong, and you wouldn't have had the opportunity to kill me!"

"[Fifth Form: Obliterating the Stars]!"

Scarlet water-attuned genetic energy rose into the sky like a gigantic dragon of blood soaring toward the heavens. A frightening burst of genetic energy emanated from Zhang Lie as the ancient hall quaked. It felt as though a hurricane were battering it down.

The eighth Immortal King's body transformed into mental particles. His body had been so heavily injured that he could no longer fight.

Physical injuries meant little to a cultivator of the eighth Immortal King's strength. What really affected him were injuries of the soul.

The eighth Immortal King had already been in dire straits, and long fights were particularly disadvantageous for him.