“The Dao of radiance and light?” the Mortal Renegade growled. Although his eyes were like black holes, they still managed to flicker as cold as ice. After his hand was shoved back by the backlash attack, it began to glow with a darkness reminiscent of midnight, and then descended once again!
It now pulsed with even greater power than before, causing everything around it to collapse. The living creatures in the Eternal Immortal Domains all coughed up blood, and many of the mountains which had been floating up into the air shattered.
Terrifying fluctuations rolled out that seemed capable of destroying anything and everything, and seemed just on the verge of completely overwhelming the Eternal Immortal Domains. However, after Bai Xiaochun rose to his feet, he began to fly upward in a blur. At that point, the terrifying fluctuations finally seemed to meet their match, and were incapable of advancing any further. They even began to shrink back a bit.
Moments later, Bai Xiaochun appeared high in the sky, right beneath the Mortal Renegade’s hand. He was so small compared to the hand that he almost wasn’t visible, and yet, his aura could shake heaven and earth. Although he was tiny, to everyone present… he definitely seemed powerful enough to dominate that enormous hand.
The instant Bai Xiaochun appeared, he clenched his right hand into a fist, and focused his aura. Right now, his thoughts were completely clear. He was a sovereign now, although that brought him no joy. He was only focused on one thing….
“No matter what it takes, I will defeat you!!” A sovereign aura erupted out from his fist, and at the same time, a shadowy figure appeared behind him. Bai Xiaochun was utilizing his Undying Sovereign’s Fist!!
In the past, it had always been something of a misnomer to call it the Undying Sovereign’s Fist. But now, he was a sovereign, and therefore, this fist strike was so much more powerful than before that not even he was sure how to calculate it. All he knew… was that it could stop the Mortal Renegade’s hand from descending!!
It was a confidence that seemed to be born from the fact that he was now a sovereign. As the fist struck, the figure behind Bai Xiaochun, which was large enough to prop up heaven and earth, also struck out. The resulting fist strike was roughly the same size as the Mortal Renegade’s palm. One above, one below, flying forth… to strike each other!
Strictly speaking, this was actually… the first blow to be struck between Bai Xiaochun and the Mortal Renegade.
A massive boom rang out, and the starry sky seemed to crack and split. A massive shockwave rolled out, distorting the air, and causing everything to tremble.
The Eternal Immortal Domains were shaken, but Bai Xiaochun was there to protect them, and bore the brunt of the force. Despite being a sovereign, and despite having the powers of regeneration from the Undying Codex, he still coughed up a huge mouthful of blood.
As for the Eternal Immortal Domains, they shook, and many mountains crumbled, but they were kept safe overall. Furthermore, the force of the impact actually caused them to start floating away from the battle.
That was exactly the result Bai Xiaochun had hoped for. As for the Mortal Renegade, his hand trembled from the impact, and his eyes flickered. Ignoring the Eternal Immortal Domains as they drifted away, he focused all of his divine sense directly onto Bai Xiaochun.
Bai Xiaochun stared right back at him, completely unfazed by his enormous size. Now that Bai Xiaochun was a sovereign, he knew that if he wanted to, he could also grow to a similar size.
Unfortunately, he also knew that he was not a match for the Mortal Renegade right now. Although he controlled fifty percent of the starry sky, so did the Mortal Renegade. And the Mortal Renegade had existed for too many years to count. Therefore, there was only one option for him in this fight.
“I need to take control of more of the starry sky. I need more ruins to shine with light, and I need more Dao clones!”
Bai Xiaochun knew that this was the only viable tactic. As soon as he had become a sovereign, he had sensed that there was something very mysterious and even unfathomable about this starry sky.
Whatever it was, it was the foundation of everything here, and although he could sense it, he couldn’t touch it. However, with every Dao clone he added, and the brighter the ruins shone, the clearer it became.
“After the Sovereign Realm is the Eternal Realm…. Whatever mysterious and unfathomable thing I can sense everywhere… could it possibly be the path leading to the Eternal?” There was one thing he was certain of: consuming the Eternal Immortal Domains to become Eternal was only one path, and he would not choose that one.
At this point, the Mortal Renegade spoke.
“It's been a long time since I’ve met someone who could stand up to my palm strike.” As far as he was concerned, it didn’t matter that the Eternal Immortal Domains were slipping away. He could catch up to them whenever he wanted. However, Bai Xiaochun’s presence put him in a state of unease that he did his best to keep hidden.
After all, the way Bai Xiaochun had become a sovereign… fundamentally plundered from the Mortal Renegade, driving away the darkness of his will. Obviously, that was a major threat to him.
“My battleship is missing its main banner. Once I bless you with nirvanic extermination, I’ll use your soul to craft the missing piece.” With that, the Mortal Renegade extended his hand, not to perform an incantation gesture, but to point at Bai Xiaochun!
“World Entombment!” he said, his ancient voice echoing out into the starry sky. All of a sudden, the void in front of Bai Xiaochun distorted, and nine statues materialized!
Each was 30,000 meters tall, and radiated an indescribable aura of death and nirvanic extermination!
In fact, as Bai Xiaochun looked at them, he realized that they weren’t really nine statues, but rather… nine enormous worlds, just like the Eternal Lands!!
Apparently… these were nine enormous worlds that had once existed within the starry sky!
Yet again, the Mortal Renegade spoke.
“The Eternal World, or should I call it the Eternal Domain, was once the center of nine starry skies, the nine great worlds…. Once upon a time, I wiped those nine worlds out of existence. Only then did I come to bring nirvanic extermination to this place….” Although the Mortal Renegade did not speak in a loud voice, it was still powerful enough to shake the entire starry sky.
Even as the words left his mouth, those nine huge statues began to shine with black light, creating nine enormous vortexes that then shot toward Bai Xiaochun.
Within the vortexes were countless devilish specters, howling madly as they tried to climb out to devour Bai Xiaochun.
Each of the statues radiated pressure equivalent to a sovereign, or perhaps even beyond that level, a force that caused Bai Xiaochun’s expression to flicker.
“So,” Bai Xiaochun thought, “in addition to the Eternal World, there used to be nine other great worlds….” It was a fact Bai Xiaochun had never been made aware of, not even in the memories of the Worldly Daoist.
These nine statues, each one containing destructive power similar to the Eternal World, were a divine ability that Bai Xiaochun had never heard of before!
He had just become a sovereign, and although he had fought other sovereigns in the past, those foes had always been weak soul projections. As such, he had never been too sure of what type of divine abilities sovereigns could use.
Not even the memories of the Worldly Daoist had helped much in that regard. However, despite being shocked, he didn’t retreat. After all, if he avoided this attack, the nine vortexes would surely go after the fleeing Eternal Immortal Domains!
Eyes bloodshot, he thought, “I only have one option: fight!”