Chapter 761: A Fuss at the Heavenly Palace

As the pillar of red light pierced the skies, energy surged from the void. The sea of blood rose into the air as an apocalyptic sight dawned over the Sieve of Heaven.

Giant waves swept the Martial Aspects away as the sea of blood extended toward Mt. Kunlun with unassailable force.

Where it passed by, it left nothing but destruction in its wake.

"Help!" the citizens of the Sieve of Heaven cried out.

Many of those cultivators who had been on floating islands were swept into the sea of blood, while a few had dropped from great heights.

"Hold it right there!" the four Cardinal Aspects shouted simultaneously.

The Eastern Aspect transformed into a golden dragon radiating with resplendent light. He took to the sea of blood and hindered its advance with a sea of his own.

The Southern Aspect morphed into a huge purple eye floating above the sea of blood. A laser of incredible intensity shot out of the eye and caused the sea to vaporize.

The Western Aspect became a huge Buddha that shone with golden light, cleansing the sea.

The Northern Aspect took the form of a golden crow that blazed with flames, causing the sea of blood to turn to steam.

"Is this all that you four Cardinal Aspects of the Imperial Court can do? Ha!" a voice thundered from the sea of blood.

A huge wave emerged from the sea, manifesting in the form of a blood-colored giant who was kilometers tall. It looked just like Saint Chi Hai.

The giant strode across the sea of blood. With the wave of a hand, four giant palms emerged from the sea and shot toward the four Cardinal Aspects.

"Die!" the four Cardinal Aspects roared simultaneously as they charged toward Chi Hai.

The four palms enclosed the four Cardinal Aspects, crushing the golden dragon, giant eye, Buddha, and golden crow.

"Explode!" they cried out.

With four tremendous explosions, the four palms burst apart as the four Cardinal Aspects rushed out.

"Die!" they roared. They shot toward the giant.

"You fools! Aren't you aware of what heavenly law is? My strength is infinite! My sea of blood shall never dry out, and no one will be a match for me!"

More palms emerged from the sea of blood—not four of them, but forty thousand. The four Cardinal Aspects looked around in despair.

Though they had managed to free themselves from those palms, it had taken tremendous effort to do so. This time, they would each have to take down not one palm, but ten thousand of them. Just glancing at the palms left them in despair.

The forty thousand palms sent the saints crashing into the sea of blood.

The citizens of the Sieve of Heaven glanced at each other in despair. How could the saint have taken down the four Cardinal Aspects so easily? How could it be?

"Is this the power of a saint? It's unbelievable!"

"He can't be destroyed until we vanquish his sea of blood? It's impossible..."

"Just how did Xiao Nanfeng manage to catch him in the first place?!"

"Where's Xiao Nanfeng?" Saint Chi Hai demanded. "Show yourself!"

He wanted to take revenge on Xiao Nanfeng, only to have Xiao Nanfeng vanish from sight.

"Chi Hai, don't you think you're making too much of a fuss around my heavenly palace?" a cold voice demanded.

The saint turned to see Yu Fuli emerge from his palace, countless officials trailing behind him.

Saint Chi Hai glared. "Yu Fuli, I might not have fought you in person before, but do you really think I'm scared of you? So what if you're the hegemon of the era? All such hegemons in the past have fallen to the heavens. I too possess an article of heavenly law, one with which I can kill you!"

With a wave of his hand, the pillar of red light transmitted boundless strength into his body. The sea of blood grew larger and larger, covering up half the sky.

The citizens of the Sieve of Heaven shuddered in fear. Even some of the officials behind Yu Fuli began to quail.

Of course, others brimmed with fighting spirit.

"Your Majesty, let us serve as your sword and shield!"

"Father, please lead us into battle!"

"Your Majesty!"

All sorts of shouts rang out around the Heavenly Palace.

Despite the four Cardinal Aspects' failure and the overwhelming power that the saint had demonstrated, many of the officials weren't deterred. Their fighting spirit soared, causing Saint Chi Hai to scowl in annoyance.

"Do you really think you can take me on? Come on, then. I'll destroy the Heavenly Palace and kill all you traitors to the heavens. Die, Yu Fuli!" Saint Chi Hai roared.

Yu Fuli smiled. "Saint Chi Hai, you overestimate yourself."

Yu Fuli pointed at the heavens. A beam of white light shot into the air as the entire Sieve of Heaven began to radiate with light.

Saint Chi Hai blanched. He felt a tremendous sense of threat surging from the Heavenly Emperor.

"What sort of skill is this?" Saint Chi Hai hissed.

"Heart swords, execute!" Yu Fuli intoned.

Countless flashes of light emanated from the void as heart swords manifested one after another. With a wave of Yu Fuli's hand, they transformed into a sea of swords that shot toward Chi Hai.

"What? How can there be this many heart swords? It's impossible!" Saint Chi Hai hissed.

The heart swords struck the sea of blood and cut it apart one stroke at a time. The sea of blood began to vaporize quickly.

Another forty thousand palms manifested from the sea of blood, but even they could do little about the barrage of swords.

Yu Fuli's attack was quickly depleting Chi Hai of his strength.

"My sea of blood!" Chi Hai shouted.

He continued to draw energy from the pillar of red light, as he invoked heavenly law again and again, trying to replenish the power of his sea of blood. However, he was in the Sieve of Heaven, Yu Fuli's domain of power. As Yu Fuli pointed into the air, even more heart swords manifested.

Tens of thousands—no, a hundred thousand swords descended over the Sieve of Heaven, shocking the gathered cultivators.

The domain of the sea of blood shrank as more of it was depleted by the heart swords. The Martial Aspects who had been trapped in the sea of blood were slowly being rescued, including the four Cardinal Aspects. Despite the fact that they had been entirely submerged, their defenses shielded them from the bulk of the damage.

Upon their rescue, they saw a veritable sea of swords descending from overhead, destroying Saint Chi Hai's domain.

"How many years has it been since we last saw the Heavenly Emperor fight seriously? What a terror he is..."

"He's not the hegemon of the era for no reason."

"The Heavenly Emperor alone can take on the entire world!"

The four Cardinal Aspects shook their heads in awe and disbelief.

The citizens of the Sieve of Heaven looked toward the Heavenly Emperor in reverence as they were saved from the sea of blood.

By now, the sea of blood only encapsulated the Eastern Gate and its surroundings, and was continuing to shrink in size.

The saint, a giant of blood who was dozens of kilometers tall, was likewise shrinking in proportion to the size of his domain. He looked wretched.

"Impossible. Impossible! Yu Fuli, you don't have any control over heavenly law at all. How could you be so strong? It's as if you have near-infinite energy!" the saint howled.

"Who claims that I don't possess heavenly law?" Yu Fuli demanded.

"You're a liar! No other heavenly law can exist in this world except that possessed by the heavens and granted to us saints!"

"I can construct heavenly laws of my own," Yu Fuli declared. "Heavenly laws are like trees, and natural law their branches. You might jealously guard access to your trees, but I can plant my own. These heart swords are the manifestation of the heavenly law that is uniquely mine. Today, I'll demonstrate to you the true strength of heavenly law. My heart swords shall eradicate your corruption."

Countless heart swords surged toward the sea of blood once again, striking the saint and his domain.

The saint found that, despite drawing on the energy from his pillar of red light, he was unable to overcome the rate of depletion of his domain. Was he truly done for?

Was this the strength of the hegemon of this era? No wonder the other saints didn't dare attack Yu Fuli or even draw his attention. With this much power, he was all but invincible.

"You said you wouldn't lose until I depleted your sea of blood. Is that so? How laughable. Your sea of blood will be drained soon enough, and you too will vanish along with it," Yu Fuli declared coldly.

"No!" the saint shrieked.

Moments before the sea of blood vanished in full, Martial Aspect Tu Feng cried out, "Saint, what do we do now?!"

He had betrayed the other Martial Aspects. Once the saint perished, so would he.

The saint's eyes suddenly lit up when he remembered that Tu Feng was by his side.

"You siblings are linked in heart and soul, aren't you?"

"Ah, yes, Saint! Lou Yujing imparted a secret technique to us siblings that allows me to commune with Siniang and Jiuniang. It's not particularly strong, though, and all we can do is share a few feelings with each other with sufficient concentration."

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"That's good enough. The link between your hearts and souls might not be particularly strong, but it's enough for me to escape through it. I'll be safe!" the saint cried out, overjoyed.

"What? You intend to escape through my heart, Saint? But what about your physical body? And if you flee, what about me?!"

"Bare your heart and let me escape!" the saint commanded.

A burst of red light shot toward Tu Feng's heart. In order to flee, Chi Hai was willing to give up on even his physical body. Anything would suffice as long as he didn't end up in Yu Fuli's hands!

"Don't leave me behind!" Tu Feng shrieked.

However, the saint ignored him and vanished in a flash of red light.

Just then, a barrage of heart swords struck the ground where Chi Hai had been, obliterating the last of his sea of blood. The pillar of red light vanished from sight.