《Refining the Heavens》Chapter 62: The Emperors of the North (Part 1)
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The barrier isolating them flickered and then parted slightly. Seeing this, Reynold turned into a winter gale that sped towards the exit. Lee Hei immediately unleashed the ultimate seal above his head. The Glutton had yet to reach critical mass but the power was enough to destroy half of Reynold’s body. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to take one of his lives. His face paled for a second as he felt the loss of blood and flesh but his nine-fold True War God Tattoo quickly replenished the vaporised portion. Of course, in exchange the ink of his tattoo faded more leaving only six and a half times uses. Once all had been used up, he will be left with a tenth of his cultivation.
The White Emperor’s is definitely a top-tier cultivator. He passed through the meltdown at a speed that no one can react. As they saw his figure about to leave the barrier, Reynold suddenly stopped and spit out a mouthful of blood onto his index and middle finger.
While standing on thin air, the Paramount Cultivator started weaving runes with his blood. Two rows of words appeared before him, forming so quickly that every word seemed to be written concurrently.
“Supress!” the White Emperor roared as the words flew out and imprinted onto the opening of the barrier.
Immediately, Watts at the Formation Heart felt his control over the barrier weaken.
Although Reynold could not break through the barrier with his cultivation, he can still suppress it. Unless they disperse his technique, the opening will not close anymore.
After he succeeded in doing this then the boys arrived to stop him, and a breath later followed by Sihala leading his group.
“Why haven’t you escaped?” a questioning voice asked as a person flew in the opening and entered the Training Hall.
They looked at the source of the sound and noticed an old man with sharp features, murderous eyes, and thin cruel lips.
His presence spoke of death and destruction that only those who honed their blades in countless bloodshed could acquire.
He looked proudly at Reynold as if scrutinising a lesser man and waited patiently for his reply.
The White Emperor laughed, “The great lord of death, the Pale Moon, Yue Chang Ming! I had not expected it will be you who arrive.”
Though he laughed, Reynold is visibly nervous.
Sweat rolled down his back uncontrollably and his muscles slightly tensed.
Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he readied himself for the terrible fight that will come.
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Reynold had expected powerful enemies to arrive when the isolation barrier open, yet he hadn’t been worried because he is fully confident to retreat anytime even if a group of Triple S ranker were waiting for him.
It is easy to defeat a Paramount Cultivator but to kill one is a thousand times harder.
However, there are exception to everything, and Lord Yue is the best example of this.
Born with a unique ability to see the point of destruction of anything, he can kill even gods if they have weaknesses.
Of course, even if he can, he do not have to strength to do so.
For example, he can tell what is the strength needed to destroy Gaia but it is hopeless to try even if a hundred of him combined their strength together.
However, it is a different case to kill the White Emperor, even without the isolation barrier trapping him.
Lord Yue is also a Paramount Cultivator like him and not much weaker.
There is a good chance he will perish today and Reynold finally felt the cold touch of desperation.
“Well, are you about to answer me or will you continue to panic?”
When Lord Yue said that, Reynold turned red with shame.
He chided himself for losing composure when his cultivation is higher.
Yue Chang Ming is young amongst the ranks of Paramount Cultivator, who had only trained three hundred years under the guidance of the Emperor Galahad.
Although the duke is a genius considering his age to reach such a level, there will still be a terrible fight before the victor can be concluded between two of them.
He recomposed himself and said, “I didn’t exit straight away because these boys are of a devious sort. Who knows if they had planted anything waiting for me on the way out? It is better to secure the exit.”
The White Emperor smiled, but it was certain that he had left things unsaid.
“Your courage is remarkable. If you had pulled all stops to escape, you might’ve a chance. Now, let’s see if your ability is a match with your bravery.”
Lord Yue attacked with frightening force. He stretched a hand forward like an eagle’s claws and flew straight towards Reynold. The strange thing is, his other hand is tugged behind his back and his legs are straight, yet his figure moved forward with alarming speed.
Reynold immediately took out a weapon in response, not daring to be careless.
At first, the boys did not notice the object he took out, but Lord Yue immediately abandoned attacking head on and swayed to the side.
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Where the duke dodged was a deep cut left into the ground created by something thinner than a sword’s edge.
“What kind of weapon is he using? I don’t see a thing?”
“A sword? But the scar on the ground is exceptionally long and I don’t sense any sword Ki.”
“It’s the Ice Threads. The White Emperor’s renowned garrotte weapon. It can block blades and slice apart metal gates. Those cut by its strings will get frost poisoned.”
The boys looked more carefully this time but still saw nothing until they focused their Soul Perception over. Even still they had to try really hard to discover the fine threads.
“Not bad,” Lord Yue laughed almost delightfully.
“From my perceptive, the lord of death isn’t as great as rumoured.”
“Do you know how did I get that title?”
Almost any Paramount Cultivator would know about Lord Yue’s reputation for he is feared by many; only those who had been in closed-door cultivation for years wouldn’t have heard about him.
It’s well known that the lord of death is being called so because Lord Yue once killed three Paramount Cultivators in a fight. Although their cultivation were only at one and two Paramount Units, the difficulty of not letting anyone escape is tremendous and the Duke became well respected by others.
However, no one knew how Lord Yue killed them because there had been no witnesses, only corpses.
Reynold, of course, could not know either. He didn’t answer but immediately weaved his weapon, extending the strings outwards like a porcupine would do to protect himself.
Razor-sharp strands as thin as spider threads surrounded Reynold; a careless move can take a limb off but Lord Yue approached without slowing.
He smiled at Reynold as if saying ‘I’ll let you understand why I am called the lord of death.’
The next moment Lord Yue is already standing right in the middle of a web made of Ice Threads. He lightly flicked the strand closest to him with his finger tip. The sharpness of the garrotte could break a sword but did not harm the Duke in the slightest.
Even the White Emperor frowned at the sight. Taking out this garrotte weapon against a dangerous Paramount Cultivator like Lord Yue means that he has complete confidence in its sharpness.
Without the specific methods to handle the threads, he didn’t think anyone else could touch it directly until today.
*Pang*
The Ice Threads snapped at where the Duke was touching.
*Pang*
*Pang*
*Pang*
All the strings broke apart at the same time and Reynold’s expression turned from shock to fear.
The title they gave Lord Yue had been misleading! He is no mere bringer of death but a herald of destruction.
Against his eyes that could see the ‘destruction of all things’ even pseudo immortal weapons aren’t enough.
The two fighters met with terrible clamouring. They fought like two dragons locked in combat, with each exchange of blows causing shockwaves that sent the others reeling.
“How is this possible, was he holding back in the fight with us before?”
The intensity of the White Emperor clashing with Saint Empire’s Lord of Death is at a whole different level than before.
“No, he was serious in the fight against us. Right now he must be paying an unimaginable cost in exchange for this strength. The White Emperor has slightly higher cultivation than our duke but it isn’t enough. He needs superior strength if he doesn’t want to be killed.”
“Be ready to support the duke at any time. The White Emperor cannot maintain this state for too long.”
As predicted, after a short but intense struggle, Reynold is quickly losing grounds against Lord Yue. At the start they had been fighting at the edge of the walls of Jericho’s opening, but now Reynold had been forced backwards until he is at the other end. He had used many of his trump cards: Powerful mysterious arts, expensive talismans that costed a quarter of his fortune, and ancient protective treasures that he had risked his life exploring forbidden ruins to acquire, yet he is getting further away from escape.
He watched, in horror, that nothing could withstand a hit from the lord of death; even his martial techniques were easily dispersed.
In great urgency, the White Emperor cried out, “If you guys are here, why don’t you show up!?”
*Shuu Shuu*
Two figures suddenly appeared above the opening of the isolation barrier.
Diao Ling and Avgust Arthur hovered in mid-air but none of the boys were happy. Instead, they looked with bloodshot eyes at the corpse the two Great General carried, Great General Lorelai Baixue.
The way Diao Ling carried her is like he is holding a bag of trash, but more terrifying are Reynold’s next words, “Crimson Emperor, Black Emperor…! Finally!”
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