Chapter 317: Shattered Laws

Xiao Nanfeng tossed the charm into the storm of lightning without any hesitation.

The charm gave off threads of white light. Where it passed by, the lightning seemed to come to life, detouring completely around the charm. Although it wasn't struck by any of the lightning, the cracks along its surface began to propagate rapidly. With a bang, it suddenly exploded in a cloud of white smoke, which the Divine Emperor guided toward the crystal tablet.

"Merge!" the Divine Emperor commanded.

The white cloud surrounded the crystal tablet and formed a circular portal about three meters in diameter.

"Leave, now!" the Divine Emperor shouted.

Ku Jiang's yin body rushed out with his physical body in one hand and Han Bingdie in the other. The next moment, all the white smoke vanished and dissipated, leaving only the black water into which the Divine Emperor had transformed behind.

"Divine Emperor, hurry back into my purple seal!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted, holding his seal up urgently.

However, it was too late. The crystal tablet, strained to the utmost, exploded along with the black water that had surrounded it.

"Divine Emperor!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted.

Heaven and earth rumbled. The five mountains—heavenly pillars—emitted concentrated ball lightning in their vicinity, so many that they covered up the sky. The ball lightning formed tidal waves that shot all around them.

Xiao Nanfeng, Ku Jiang, and Han Bingdie found a large wave of ball lightning headed in their direction, one that looked as though it would drown them within moments.

"With the heavenly laws destroyed, the heavenly energy in this realm is no longer restrained!" Ku Jiang shouted. He spurred his red moon forth and prepared to defend against the colossal wave.

Just then, Xiao Nanfeng's storage ring flashed, transforming into the Divine Emperor's bell and covering up the three of them.

The ball lightning swept past the bell. An apocalyptic crash resounded from outside, but the three cultivators within were unscathed.

"This is—the Divine Emperor's bell? The same Divine Emperor linked to the Spirit Emperor?" Ku Jiang exclaimed.

Xiao Nanfeng was anxious and worried about what was happening outside, but the fact that the Divine Emperor's bell glowed with golden light meant that the Divine Emperor was still alive and actively protecting Xiao Nanfeng.

The lightning continued to rage for about fifteen minutes before the Divine Emperor's bell uncovered itself.

Xiao Nanfeng rushed out in search of the Divine Emperor.

Not far away, there was a ball of lightning a few thousand meters in diameter, crackling with energy. At its center were shards of the crystal tablet and the black water into which the Divine Emperor had transformed.

"Divine Emperor, let me bring you into the purple seal!" Xiao Nanfeng rushed over.

"Come back, Nanfeng! You can't withstand lightning of such incredible potency!" Ku Jiang shouted.

Even so, Xiao Nanfeng rushed over and was about to brave the lightning when the Divine Emperor's bell flew forward and interposed itself between the lightning and him.

"Don't come over. I'm alright. Ignore me," the Divine Emperor shouted from within the lightning.

"What?" Xiao Nanfeng gasped.

He was incredibly worried; the lightning was getting more and more intense as the remaining ball lightning from the environment accreted around the sphere. As it grew larger, the Divine Emperor would only be in more danger.

"I'm doing something exceptionally important. Don't disturb me," the Divine Emperor said.

Xiao Nanfeng pursed his lips in worry, but he still nodded. "Alright."

Only then did he look at his surroundings. All around the sea of clouds were temporal rifts, windows into other pockets of spacetime. Some showed the sea; others, mountains and rivers; yet others, deserts. The rifts had clearly been caused by the tremendous explosion of lightning, and would represent a way out of the hidden realm.

However, the rifts seemed to be repairing themselves and growing smaller bit by bit.

"Master, how are you?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

Ku Jiang's yin body looked all around as he coughed. "Thanks to the Divine Emperor, Han Bingdie and I weren't subject to karmic debt. We're rather seriously injured and must leave the hidden realm at once in search of a safe place to recuperate and digest what we've gleaned."

"Master, I'm afraid I won't be able to leave with you," Xiao Nanfeng replied, frowning.

"With the heavenly laws destroyed, everything around here will be steeped in chaos. Even the heavenly restriction will slowly dissipate. If Nalan Qiankun really has betrayed the sect, he won't spare you. You had better leave with us," Ku Jiang advised.

Xiao Nanfeng glanced back toward the sphere of lightning, with the Divine Emperor at its heart. He shook his head. "Master, there's someone I'd like to protect here. I can't leave!"

Ku Jiang glanced at Xiao Nanfeng in surprise, then at the sphere of lightning where Xiao Nanfeng's gaze was directed. He was a little uncertain about the relationship between his disciple and the Divine Emperor.

"Very well," he eventually stated. "Be careful."

"I understand. Be careful too, Master."

Ku Jiang's yin body nodded. He held his physical body with one hand and Han Bingdie in the other, then made for a rapidly dwindling temporal rift. As he flew out of it, he sprayed out a mouthful of blood. Clearly, he was heavily wounded and had been keeping himself going with pure will alone.

After Ku Jiang rushed out of the rift, it slowly closed up, as did the other ones in the vicinity.

The chaos caused by the destruction of heavenly laws hadn't ended; in fact, it had just barely started. The five heavenly pillars crumbled to the ground, revealing five huge holes in the sea of clouds.

Xiao Nanfeng peered downward through a hole to see that ball lightning was ravaging the realm below. The seemingly endless fog had vanished, even around the Yao Pool. All the divine slaves had transformed into a pile of shattered bones. Their Immortal relics and pills scattered over the ground.

Nalan Yunhai, the crane spirits, and the marquises dodged the ball lightning as they grabbed what treasures they could, elated at the windfall.

The shattered heavenly pillars transformed into countless instances of ball lightning that shot all over, tearing apart the hidden realm and forming temporal rift after temporal rift. Most of the ball lightning, however, headed toward a certain location in the distance.

Xiao Nanfeng guessed that they were gathering around the Thousand Spirits' Hall.

The Divine Emperor had suffered significant backlash after the destruction of the heavenly laws; the Spirit Emperor would only suffer more.

"Is the Spirit Emperor going to be freed?" Xiao Nanfeng wondered to himself. "Will it come for us?"

Just then, the Spirit Emperor's howls could be heard in the distance. The Seaquell Pearl—you Xiang cultivators dare to scheme against me? Die!"

Xiao Nanfeng jerked upright. "The Xiang cultivators have backstabbed the Spirit Emperor?"

Outside the Thousand Spirits' Hall, as the heavenly laws and pillars crumbled, the black fog disappeared in an instant. Countless halls and buildings were obliterated by tidal waves of ball lightning, and all that lightning shot toward the Spirit Emperor. The Spirit Emperor had just been freed and was looking disdainfully at the lightning headed in his direction.

He was about to flee and evade the resulting backlash when a golden orb suddenly fell from the skies, as if suppressing the region of void—and the Spirit Emperor in particular. The golden orb whirled toward him.

"Insolence!" the Spirit Emperor shouted, swatting the golden orb away—but the moment his hand came into contact with it, it burst with golden light, heavy as the sea. It shattered the Spirit Emperor's hand and pinned him where he stood.

"What?!" the Spirit Emperor exclaimed, hauling up the golden orb.

He tried to fling it away, but it grew heavier and heavier, as though laden with gravity and divine energy. The Spirit Emperor was unable to take even a single step. He gaped in astonishment at the golden orb as he discovered Immortals surrounding him and infusing spiritual power into the golden orb.

"The Seaquell Pearl? You Xiang cultivators dare to scheme against me? Die!" the Spirit Emperor roared.

Subdued by the pearl, he was unable to block the ball lightning that shot toward him from every direction. He had no choice but to suffer the destructive, annihilating attack. His roars were drowned out by the lightning.

"We've done it. We've suppressed the Spirit Emperor! The Seaquell Pearl really is amazing!" a Xiang cultivator cheered.

"All of you, scour the vicinity for any Immortal relics and pills that the obliterated divine slaves had in their possession. Then, leave through the temporal rifts immediately!" another Xiang cultivator commanded.

That shout carried across the entire realm.

"Understood!" the Xiang cultivators replied.

The cultivators of the Tianshu Empire and the Xiang clan were all furiously claiming whatever treasures they could find. Crow and crane spirits were doing the same. None of them attacked each other; they avoided the ball lightning as they tried to cover as much ground as they could.

Some of the Xiang Immortals, however, remained where they were around the Spirit Emperor.

"With the Seaquell Pearl suppressing the Spirit Emperor, all the lightning will head toward him. That lightning will drain him of all his energy within a short period of time, killing him. Even if he can survive, he'll surely be weakened dramatically. The cursed effigies that we possess will surely be able to defeat him then. Attack at full force when I give the signal. We must acquire the Spirit Emperor's treasure at any cost!" one Xiang cultivator commanded.

"Understood!" the Xiang Immortals shouted in high spirits.

"Additionally, beware of Nalan Qiankun. He's particularly malicious."

"Don't worry, Clan Head!" everyone chorused.

At the mouth of a valley some distance away, Nalan Qiankun and his subordinates lay hidden as they stared at the commotion from afar.

"Your Majesty, do we need to strike now?"

"We don't. Even if the Spirit Emperor were to die, it can revive and seek revenge. Let the Xiang cultivators suffer the karma of stealing the Spirit Emperor's treasures. Once they acquire that treasure, we'll make our move and steal it from them," Nalan Qiankun replied.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" the cultivators chorused.

Nalan Qiankun's eyes were resolute, as though everything was firmly in his grasp.