Chapter 78: Battle of Supreme Strength

Boom!

The Blood Spirit Secret Domain trembled violently. The laws that held this secret realm together had been utterly shattered, yet the Mountain and Rivers Royal Cauldron anchored the space, preventing its collapse.

Above, the vault of heaven caved in—a sight so dreadful it made one's heart race. Darkness reigned, and one after another, bone-white tempests of void howled like giant serpents. From the rifts in space, endless chaotic flows of the void spilled forth.

Dazzling five-colored divine radiance seized the gaze, and an ancient cauldron-shaped seal now seemed to be the only existence between heaven and earth.

“Kill!” With a furious roar, facing the life-or-death nemesis that had entangled him through endless ages, Xue Gu unleashed his terrifying might in a torrent. The Demon-Sealing Chains binding him clanged with metallic resonance, and even the five-colored divine light upon them dimmed considerably.

Bang!

The Seal of Mountains and Rivers, bearing the boundless lands of the human race, collided ferociously with the indistinct blood-shadow’s fist. Two extremes of power clashed. Crimson lines emerged on the bloodied fist, while ancient patterns of mountains surfaced on the unadorned seal, each carrying a profound mystery.

A monstrous storm erupted in an instant, then surged outward like the tides of heaven and earth, sweeping to the farthest reaches visible to the warriors below. Under the storm, the endless void became meaningless. In the next moment, a streak of divine rainbow flashed from the maelstrom, shooting toward Xue Gu like a burst of aurora.

Boom!

Another earth-shattering impact. The ancient seal grew even more substantial and terrifying. At this moment, Wan Qianyi’s black hair floated upward, his eyes reflecting the undulating mountains and rivers of the human race.

He was now the invincible Human King, ruler of endless lands, so mighty that even heaven and earth seemed too small to contain him; an aura of awe-inspiring tyranny and unspeakable majesty radiated from him.

“The King’s Supreme Aura!”

Xue Gu’s heart trembled. This was a force of destiny, a grandeur belonging to the Human King—a terrifying majesty.

“Human King!”

“Human King!”

Beneath the void, within the five-colored barrier, the surviving human warriors gazed up with fervent, devout eyes, their chests surging with hot blood. In unison, they knelt on one knee toward the figure in the sky, their hearts filled with admiration and awe.

Crack!

A crisp sound echoed from the blood-shadow’s fist. Xue Gu’s expression shifted in shock. “Impossible! You’re already dead—how can you wield such power?”

The bloodlines on the shadowy fist were obliterated; the entire hand shattered. From the wound burst a stream of earthen yellow divine light as the Seal of Mountains and Rivers came crashing down.

Step by step, the blood-colored demon’s figure, as ancient as a primordial fiend, was forced to retreat. Xue Gu himself staggered back hundreds of meters, his blood-red aura dimming.

After this blow, Xue Gu seemed to perceive something. His gaze, filled with a mix of shock and horror, fixed upon Wan Qianyi. His voice quivered: “The Force of Houtu.”

“You’re right. It is the Force of Houtu,” Wan Qianyi replied calmly.

“Cursed fate—such power truly exists. So we missed it all those years ago...” Xue Gu’s face darkened as he howled inwardly. Of all who knew the true cause of the Ancient Blood Calamity—what the human race called the Great Blood Disaster—none knew better than he. Despite the blood clan’s enormous sacrifices, something still eluded them.

Suddenly, Xue Gu’s murderous aura withdrew, and he regarded Luo Hao beneath the Royal Cauldron with an inscrutable look. “Wan Qianyi, though you are my sworn enemy, I respect you as a great power. Hand over the Force of Houtu, and I promise you can be reborn and return to this world.”

“You know our blood clan’s methods. How long can you protect the ants of Tiangu? This era is not like those before—surely you sense that...”

“No need to say more. If the human race is extinct, what use is a king?” Luo Hao’s face was resolute beneath the Cauldron, Wan Qianyi’s voice ringing out with unwavering force.

“Do you feel nothing for the world you leave behind?” Xue Gu pressed on, unwilling to give up.

“Feel nothing?” A fleeting vision of a graceful white shadow passed through Wan Qianyi’s eyes. Xue Gu knew he’d struck a chord; even the Human King could not be utterly without weakness. After a pause, he continued, “Cooperate with my clan, and your wish can be fulfilled.”

“What’s going on? Why is nothing happening?” Warriors within the five-colored barrier whispered in confusion. Since just now, Xue Gu and Wan Qianyi had ceased their deadly clash, and the entire battlefield had fallen silent.

“Senior!” Suddenly, a voice echoed within Wan Qianyi’s soul—it was Luo Hao. The unexpected intrusion startled Wan Qianyi, for though he dominated Luo Hao’s body with his indomitable will, he had not prevented Luo Hao from speaking.

“Senior, I sensed a moment of hesitation in you just now,” came Luo Hao’s voice again.

“Yes, a remnant soul can indeed waver,” Wan Qianyi replied, his tone honest. As one who had transcended life and death, he had no need for self-deception.

Facing Wan Qianyi’s silence, Xue Gu dared not attack. For the sake of Houtu’s power, he could not risk it—should Wan Qianyi perish, the power would dissipate as well.

“I suppose you have unfinished wishes, Senior. But in my view, life’s value is not about its length. Its worth lies in reverence and respect for it. Without that, even immortality brings no joy.”

“Well said—reverence and respect for life! Who would have thought that I, Wan Qianyi, with all my world-shaking power, would be swayed by a blood clan’s words?” A sharp glint flashed in his eyes. He severed his last lingering attachment, then looked calmly at Xue Gu in the void.

“So, have you decided?”

“I have! If the race is gone, what use is a king? Strike!”

His voice was resolute beyond doubt, so much so that Xue Gu’s body shuddered. He could not have foreseen that his plans would be foiled in the end by that ant at the seventh level of Qi Spirit.

“Wan Qianyi, you have made a most unwise choice. Blood Body of Slaughter!” Realizing persuasion was futile, Xue Gu sighed softly, mourning the loss of Houtu’s power. Then he unleashed his full might without reservation.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Blood energy surged. Xue Gu’s form swelled in the void, his aura growing ever more terrifying, raging like a hurricane. In moments, a towering, hundred-zhang-tall body stood suspended in the void, backed by a realm of utter darkness. The pressure alone shattered the space around him.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The Demon-Sealing Chains shackling Xue Gu’s limbs shattered, the five-colored runes disintegrating. The chains that had imprisoned him for countless ages could hold him no longer. The broken links transformed into a stream of five-colored divine light, returning to the Mountain and Rivers Royal Cauldron.

“So, you’ve accumulated endless power. Even in death, a warrior must fall in a blaze of glory.” Wan Qianyi chanted softly, his hands weaving through the void. Heavy, ancient runes blossomed from his fingertips, scattering like celestial maidens casting flowers.

With the emergence of these runes, all the mountains and rivers of ten directions bowed to him. Boundless power surged into Luo Hao’s body.

“Body of the King of Mountains and Rivers!”

As the ancient runes radiated, a colossal figure arose, as tall as a jade pillar supporting the heavens. Upon his head floated the Mountain and Rivers Royal Cauldron; on its walls, billions of living lands seemed to awaken. Under Wan Qianyi’s command, the cauldron’s power was fully unleashed.

Boom!

The void before them exploded. Two figures, each a hundred zhang tall, hurled themselves into the rift, their collision fracturing countless layers of space within the Blood Spirit Secret Domain.

“Die!”

Xue Gu’s arm, dozens of yards long, seethed with the wrath of countless evil dragons. His fist pierced forward, covered in blood clan sigils that converged into a river of crimson runes, surging with destructive force.

“Lend me your martial skill.”

Abruptly, Wan Qianyi’s voice resounded in Luo Hao’s mind. At once, his broad palm turned to pure gold, golden light flooding the sky.

A dragon’s roar shook the heavens. The ancient and majestic purple aura of humanity pierced through the Blood Spirit Secret Domain. The Purple Dragon of Heaven, eyes blazing, glared at Xue Gu and roared in wrath—a rage every human warrior could sense.

“So this is the Purple Qi of humanity?” Warriors within the barrier found their vision flooded by the ancient purple aura, murmuring in awe. No wonder—for the first time in hundreds of thousands of years since the dawn of the recent age, the Purple Qi of humanity had appeared in the Taigu Continent.

As the purple dragon roared, Wan Qianyi struck without hesitation. His golden palm, suffused with purple essence, blazed with an intensity never seen before, as if it could move sun, moon, and stars.

Within his own body, Luo Hao marveled as he witnessed the clash between Xue Gu and Wan Qianyi—a vision granted by Wan Qianyi’s guidance.

“Heaven-Splitting Hand!”

This ancient martial art of the human race, wielded by a power like Wan Qianyi, truly split the heavens with a single strike. In the golden palm, ancient lines appeared, mottled and weathered, as if the hand of the heavens itself was crashing down.

Splurt!

The river of blood runes shattered. Sensing mortal danger, Xue Gu instantly retreated several hundred zhang, his face grave as he stared at the void where that blow had struck, now returned to primordial chaos.

“An ancient human martial art—you’re cooperating with that boy.”