Chapter 1053: Broken Metal

They saw Jikong Wudi personally go greet Venerable Ninesword. It was a very simple ceremony, but people were still shaken all the same.

An ancestor from the previous generation had seen the venerable in action before. He murmured in dejection: “Venerable Ninesword… When all nine blades come out, they will destroy the world. Who will be able to stop him?”

Everyone knew that every imperial lineage had their own power and resources. It could even be said that the majority of them had buried generals to keep them alive until now.

But the more shocking thing was still the Space Trample Mountain. Because Immortal Emperor Ta Kong was the most recent emperor, he was too close to the contemporary times. Many ancestors still recognized his generals or had even seen them sweep through this world.

Therefore, the generals that remained in this world were truly stirring. Moreover, these generals were younger than those of any other imperial lineage.

“Old Immortal from the Rampage Divine Mountain and Venerable Ninesword from the Space Trample Mountain, why did these two giants come?” A junior was confused about their sudden appearance.

“To protect the dao…” The older generation clearly understood: “The path towards Immortal Emperor will be increasingly brutal, so the most powerful dao protectors behind Jikong Wudi’s group are all coming into being.”

After hearing this, the crowd recalled the fight several days ago when Evil Buddha swept through all the geniuses. Against a heaven-defying existence like him, ordinary dao protectors wouldn’t do since he could easily kill even God-Monarchs!

They understood that Jikong Wudi’s group felt threatened. Against opponents like Evil Buddha and South Emperor, their current dao protectors would most likely only die in a confrontation. Only existences like Venerable Ninesword would be able to handle them.

“I heard the Jewel Pillar Mortal King’s dao protector is also here. I’m told that after the last time this dao protector saved him from Bai Jianzhen, he had not appeared again. This time, he is finally here at the Buddhist City.” A well-informed bystander heard this news very quickly.

This dao protector had always been very mysterious. No one knew his origin and some even speculated that he wasn’t from the Jewel Pillar School. Aside from the Mortal King himself, no one had seen his face.

Someone curiously asked: “The dao protectors of Zhan Shi, Jikong Wudi, and the Mortal King are all here, what about the others?”

An ancestor who had a good relationship with the sacred ground answered: “I heard an extremely mighty ancestor from the Sword God Sacred Ground came as well, but rumor has it that Bai Jianzhen denied her ancestor’s protection.”

“I still feel that Heavenly Emperor Lin is in the worst position.” A big shot commented: “In my opinion, among the younger generation, Heavenly Emperor Lin has the weakest background but was able to reach the same height as the rest of the group. It makes sense to say that he is even more remarkable than them.”

No one denied this claim. Everyone knew that Heavenly Emperor Lin came from a mortal family with a literary background. Even with this, he still surged forward without the aid of a powerful master. In the end, he was not inferior to Jikong Wudi’s group. Everyone admired him for overcoming his humble background.

“Sigh, I’m afraid Heavenly Emperor Lin will always be at a disadvantage in the future battle for the Heaven’s Will. The rest of the group has such powerful backings and dao protectors, only Lin is alone. What is he going to do in order to keep up?” Someone felt that it was unfair for Heavenly Emperor Lin.

The crowd nodded in agreement and felt sorry for Lin.

Meanwhile, Li Qiye had disappeared and no one could find him. This wasn’t strange at all because he had entered a different timespace.

In this realm was a vast emptiness. There was nothing besides time and space, let alone any living creature. Eventually, he stopped before this void and looked towards the distance. There was a piece of broken steel far away.

It was neither black nor gray. Strangely enough, its color was quite difficult to discern and had no semblance to the shade of metal. It could even be said that this wasn’t a piece of metal at all.

Li Qiye chuckled and murmured while looking at this broken metal: “It is too wasteful to not make something out of this great item. If the monks from Spirit Mountain won’t do it, you can come with me instead.”

The broken steel quietly remained there in space without any reaction. Li Qiye slowly approached. Once he was close enough, a sudden blast resounded. A sea of blood gushed out and engulfed the world. It instantly blotted out this spatial realm. Inside this sea of blood were countless corpses.

This all seemed too real and captivating. Anyone who saw this scene would be frightened out of their mind.

Li Qiye simply narrowed his eyes at this sight. He focused his mind and the sea of blood quickly disappeared along with the corpses. At this time, there appeared the verdant lushness of trees shouldering the sky. Green vegetation was everywhere, painting a picture of paradise.

But the next moment, Li Qiye changed his thoughts and the thick forest disappeared. A Buddhist light soared for countless miles. A majestic Buddha emerged in space with incredible tangibility.

Li Qiye smiled and shifted his mind again. Next, endless universal laws rushed upward. They frantically intertwined yet that frenzy had a type of order. However, they were too profound and mysterious. The process went on for a while before the laws couldn’t continue any longer. With a pop, they all shattered…

“You are still far too lacking compared to that broken pot. A failure is still a failure, can’t compare to the real one.” Li Qiye leisurely taunted.

Alas, the broken metal was still motionless. It had no reaction after failing.

“One thought to become Buddha, another to become Devil.” Li Qiye smiled: “Even if you are only a failed creation, you are still peerless and I happen to need you.”

With that, he opened his fate palace and the World Seal flew out. In the blink of an eye, it turned into the Bright Flame Cauldron. After opening, an endless imperial flame poured out.

Li Qiye controlled the cauldron and used this flame to melt the metal. However, despite the raging fire, there was no change to the metal.

Keep in mind that his World Seal had copied the Bright Flame Cauldron. Although there was a certain gap between it and the real deal, its power was still quite formidable. This type of imperial flame could incinerate a great power at a moment’s notice.

But now, this fire failed to melt the metal.

Li Qiye shouted: “Open—” The cauldron changed and an endless imperial might ravaged this space. Li Qiye had finally unleashed a Heavenly Annihilation — the Karmic Imperial Flame!

The raging power of this karmic flame was quite terrifying and capable of burning through space and time. Just a little bit of this fiery essence could destroy an entire country.

However, the metal didn’t undergo a great change even after being struck by this annihilation. After being burned for a long time, it only began to turn red.

“Incredible, definitely tough enough. Of course, this is exactly what I want.” Li Qiye murmured to himself: “There might not be a flame in this world that can melt you. But coincidentally enough, I have just the thing.”

With that, he took out the green lamp. The quaint lamp had a wavering black flame that seemed as if it would go out at any time.

“Go!” Li Qiye shouted and used his Resplendent Break to activate the lamp.

“Boom!” The black flame incinerated all things. With this ultimate attack, even time was burnt to a crisp. Everything in this space was destroyed. Nothing could stop this lamp's black flame. Even if immortals existed in the heavens, this black flame would still burn them to ashes.

This attack was really too powerful, even Godkings would be annihilated.

Finally, under the heat of the constantly scorching flame, the piece of metal began to melt. Li Qiye channeled his merit law and all four Inner Physiques emerged at the same time — Hell Suppressing, Soaring Immortal, Sky Destroyer, and Void Imperfection.

At the same time, he opened his palace while singing an immortal scripture. The most profound law in this world surfaced while the strands of laws inside the broken metal were being melted down.

Li Qiye channeled his supreme art to refine this metal. In this zone, there was no sun and moon, so one couldn’t tell the time. Eventually, the metal was completely refined by Li Qiye.

Finally, he opened all of his palaces. With a loud explosion, a kingdom appeared behind him with endless blood energy as if it was the most powerful kingdom in this world.

Such vast blood energy did not come from Li Qiye but rather the pool of blood from the Blood Primal Ground and the kingdom of blood of the Blood-devil Tribe.

Li Qiye murmured: “This the perfect stuff to feed you.”

The pool of blood came from the legendary Blood Progenitor while the kingdom of blood was made by Immortal Emperors. Li Qiye required a lot of effort to refine these two types of blood. This was the perfect opportunity to use them.

After refining it well, he polished it again using the runes from the Physique Scripture in another ritual.