Chapter 1093: Treasure Light, Blade Light, Sword Light

During Emperor Xuanyou’s unification of Wanggu, the Immortal Arts Grand Emperor played a highly unique role.

The immortal arts he created greatly boosted the combat power of human cultivators, causing immense and incredibly strange damage.

Many of these arts were cruel and bloody.

This made other races in Wanggu, who were enemies of Xuanyou at the time, intensely hateful yet helpless.

However, after the unification, given that immortal arts were considered harmful to the cosmic order, all of them were sealed and no longer passed down.

The Immortal Arts Grand Emperor himself, due to various reasons, eventually faded into obscurity in history.

He became the only Grand Emperor of the human race about whom later generations knew little.

As for those immortal arts, they resurfaced later because of the arrival of the Remnant Face, the descent of deities, and the departure of most races to form the Sacred Lands.

The immortal arts of Wanggu were also indirectly mastered by various races as more Immortal Arts Temples were discovered.

However, in this Fifth Astral Ring, it was the first time immortal arts were demonstrated.

Upon sensing them, the middle-aged Hegemon’s mind was naturally deeply shaken.

In his investigation, both the Six Desires Sea enveloping the Nine Devils and the vortex now appearing in his Sea of Consciousness caused the middle-aged Hegemon’s gaze to become solemn.

Especially the latter: the chilling intent, hidden in memory undetected, then transforming into a vortex of white hair and a door from which it burst forth, all revealed how insidious and impossible to guard against immortal arts were.

A strong sense of crisis surged within the middle-aged Hegemon like a roaring tide, threatening to engulf everything, and even his memories showed signs of not belonging to him.

It was as if everything in his memories had, at that moment, turned against him.

At this critical moment, the middle-aged Hegemon made a decisive choice without hesitation. He abruptly raised both hands, placing one on his brow and the other on his chest, pressing down simultaneously.

A rumbling sound echoed. With his profound cultivation, the hand on his brow affected his soul and memory, halting the strange changes within his memories.

The hand on his chest sealed his Sea of Consciousness, forcibly suppressing the eruption within it.

Having done this, his eyes instantly blazed with crimson light. He suddenly opened his mouth wide and inhaled sharply.

Instantly, the Nine Devils, surrounded by the Six Desires Sea, roared and spontaneously disintegrated into dense demonic energy. They surged back, flying into the middle-aged Hegemon's open mouth.

He swallowed them all.

At this moment, a thunderous sound emanated from his body. His originally lean figure immediately swelled in the next instant, his flesh expanding and his skin turning crimson. He transformed directly from his normal height to a colossal hundred zhang tall.

Overwhelming baleful energy surged from him, and demonic flames spread from his feet, enveloping all directions. Simultaneously, an earth-shattering aura of ferocity erupted from his body with a thunderous roar.

Using this baleful energy, combined with his own ferocity, he swept through his body, searching for areas invaded by immortal arts, and fiercely tore them away!

This was one of the middle-aged Hegemon's trump cards: Baleful Fiend Incarnate.

A faint cracking sound seemed to emanate from the void. Xu Qing's expression darkened. He sensed his immortal art being forcibly torn apart, and along with it, the segment of memory that had been invaded by the immortal art.

Both were violently ripped apart by the middle-aged Hegemon.

Having done this, the middle-aged Hegemon, now a Baleful Fiend Incarnate, showed madness in his crimson eyes. His body swayed, and he charged directly at Xu Qing.

A storm spread, and his aura was overwhelming. Xu Qing merely sensed it, and his entire body's flesh was stinging.

The Hegemon's speed was immense; he became a blur, instantly closing in, and a palm strike descended.

Xu Qing's reaction was also swift. His cultivation surged completely, and he retreated rapidly. Yet, he was still affected by the palm strike, his body shuddered, bones throughout his body emitted cracking sounds, and blood spurted wildly.

The power of a Hegemon was terrifyingly astonishing.

If it were any other Spirit-Nourishing cultivator, it was likely that not just bones would be shattered, but their very form and spirit would be annihilated.

However, Xu Qing's Immortal Extreme body possessed its own unique qualities. Though injured, he used the force of the palm strike to augment his speed, eventually creating distance as he was sent tumbling back.

Instead of continuing to flee, as the distance widened and the enraged Hegemon charged again, Xu Qing's eyes flashed with a cold glint.

He raised his right hand and brought it down forcefully towards the middle-aged Hegemon.

Metal formed the blade, earth the platform, wood the scabbard, water the connecting axis, and fire the power of execution.

This was precisely Xu Qing's God-Slaying Platform, reshaped using his own Five Elements!

The moment his right hand descended, the vast and astonishing Five-Element God-Slaying Platform appeared before Xu Qing, above the middle-aged Hegemon.

It enveloped him.

“Slay!”

Xu Qing roared in a low voice.

Instantly, the God-Slaying Platform's aura locked on, sealing all directions and marking all trajectories. Amidst the fiery rampage and flashing blade light, the blade suddenly descended.

With a *crack*!

The blade struck the neck of the middle-aged Hegemon's Baleful Fiend form, but the previously infallible God-Slaying Platform was unable to decapitate him.

It only cut halfway before being struck by an immense force and forcibly jammed.

As blood flowed, the middle-aged Hegemon let out a monstrous roar. His body immediately showed overlapping silhouettes – the nine colossal devils he had previously absorbed.

These nine colossal devils, semi-transparent like spirit shadows, emerged from the Hegemon's body, surged towards the God-Slaying Platform, and exploded upon contact.

They bombarded the God-Slaying Platform through these explosions.

In a flash, as nine explosions reverberated, the God-Slaying Platform continuously trembled, eventually unable to resist. It collapsed in the world, shattering into pieces.

Xu Qing's mind churned, blood spurted from his mouth, and his body retreated once more.

As for the Baleful Fiend Hegemon, after the God-Slaying Platform's collapse and the Nine Devils' departure, his physical body rapidly shrank, instantly returning to his previous middle-aged appearance.

On his neck was a bloody mark, from which a few trickles of blood flowed, but the wound was healing visibly.

“As expected of a prodigy. With a cultivation of Spirit-Nourishing (Seventh Realm), the techniques you've displayed are one more bizarre and formidable than the last.”

The middle-aged Hegemon's words echoed.

His words seemed normal and sounded calm, but the moment they were uttered, a sense of crisis arose in Xu Qing's heart.

In the next instant, ripples appeared in the void around Xu Qing, and formations materialized out of thin air.

First, three thousand three hundred formations, then thirty-three thousand formations, and then three hundred and thirty thousand formations!

Countless formations burst forth from the void, densely packed and overwhelming, pressing down upon Xu Qing with astonishing speed.

This was precisely another divine ability of the middle-aged Hegemon!

The Tri-Tri Prohibition Array!

The "Tri-Tri" meant that if his spoken words contained exactly thirty-three characters, he could unleash this ability in a single thought.

This divine ability was hidden; those unaware of it would find it difficult to detect beforehand.

Xu Qing encountered it for the first time here and could not evade it at all; formations were everywhere. At this critical juncture, his right eye suddenly shone, and Dao marks circulated within it.

The Authority of Eradication, erupting with a roar.

Erasing every formation he saw!

In the next instant, the formations continued to appear and be eradicated in large numbers. For a time, Xu Qing was trapped in place, with constant rumbling, flashing light, and intense fluctuations all around him.

“So you finally used your Authority. I suspected you wouldn't be without one.”

In mid-air, the middle-aged Hegemon watched this scene and spoke coldly.

He had never underestimated Xu Qing, neither before nor now.

He understood that such a lone traveler from an outer astral ring must possess a trump card.

And judging by the opponent's composure, this trump card was likely capable of harming a Hegemon-level cultivator.

Therefore, from start to finish, while he appeared to be attacking, he was in fact allocating some of his mental energy to defense.

Even though they had been fighting for a while, and the opponent had already displayed the blade-slaying technique that seemed like a trump card, and he himself had used the Tri-Tri Prohibition Array, the middle-aged Hegemon still did not let down his guard; his eyes flickered.

He wanted to force out Xu Qing's ultimate trump card.

So, as Xu Qing revealed his Authority to break the formations, he suddenly raised his hand and waved.

He took out a treasure.

It was a seed.

The moment it appeared, the seed instantly germinated. In a single breath, it rapidly grew, becoming a sapling, then a tree, and finally a colossal tree!

Forty-nine zhang tall!

Its entire body was like crystal clear glaze, exquisitely transparent, and its blooming leaves were similar, radiating brilliant treasure light and appearing breathtakingly beautiful.

Its function was absorption.

It astonishingly absorbed all of Xu Qing's aura and traces of his displayed techniques from the surrounding battlefield in an incredible manner.

Then, three marks distinctly appeared on the tree trunk.

One was Xu Qing's Five-Element Heavenly Dao Hand.

Another was the Immortal Art.

The third was the God-Slaying Platform from just now.

After these three marks appeared, they instantly merged with each other, forming a human figure on the tree trunk.

From its outline, this figure... was identical to Xu Qing.

Killing intent erupted from this figure, locking onto Xu Qing in the distance.

Xu Qing, who was using his Authority to erase the formations, immediately felt a tremor in his mind.

“This treasure…”

This treasure could not only absorb but also form a corresponding body.

At this moment, the figure identical to Xu Qing was struggling, attempting to burst forth from the tree trunk. The trunk was tearing, and it seemed the figure was about to materialize.

The crisis deepened. Xu Qing did not hesitate and sent forth a mental command.

“Little Shadow!”

The moment his thought emerged, the shadow beneath Xu Qing's feet violently erupted. Like ultimate darkness, it covered all directions, and as cackling sounds echoed, a massive black tree shot up from the ground.

Its black canopy, black trunk, the black coffin hanging like a pendulum, and countless simultaneously opening eerie eyes locked onto the Glazed Treasure Tree and lunged towards it.

“Still not going to use it...?”

The middle-aged Hegemon sneered, not approaching, but instead raised his right hand in mid-air and fiercely clawed at the sky.

“Ghost Gate open, Heavenly Resentment come!”

With this claw, the sky darkened, and a black bone gate appeared between heaven and earth.

This ancient gate, projected by a technique, emitted countless wails and shrieks from within the moment it stood upright.

Next, a gigantic bony claw extended from within the gate. After grasping the doorframe, a powerful aura of death erupted, transforming into countless malevolent spirits that circled outside the gate.

And the terrifying entity within the gate was currently crawling out.

It wasn't over.

Despite having used the Tri-Tri Prohibition Array to trap Xu Qing, and having opened the Ghost Gate to summon the so-called Heavenly Resentment,

the middle-aged Hegemon's eyes still flashed with cold light. He raised his hand and took out a purple incense stick.

“Life-Claiming Incense burns, your life it binds; when incense dies, so does mankind!”

The moment he spoke, the incense stick ignited instantly.

In the next instant, Xu Qing was as if cursed, his life force rapidly draining away.

“I forgot to tell you, the reason my family appointed me to guard this spirit mine isn't because of my cultivation strength, but because I always prioritize caution in my actions.”

In mid-air, the middle-aged Hegemon spoke calmly.

“Therefore, if you're still not going to use your trump card, then... you'll have no more chances!”

Xu Qing's eyes flashed with a sharp glint. In the next moment, from the area enveloped by the formations, a clear sound suddenly erupted. Black flames bloomed like flowers, and a Golden Crow soared from within, burning away the encroaching aura of death and the malevolent spirits.

Simultaneously, three beams of light erupted within!

The first beam of light was a shield, heading directly towards the Ghost Gate in the sky. Its target was the Heavenly Resentment currently crawling out of the gate, and it simultaneously expanded as if to block the Ghost Gate.

The second beam of light was a gigantic pair of scissors, appearing between heaven and earth, exuding the aura of a Grand Emperor. It fiercely snipped at the void between Xu Qing and the burning incense stick!

Severing karma!

The third beam of light was a sword gleam.

Not Grandfather Nine's sword, but Xu Qing's Emperor's Sword!

Wielding the Emperor's Sword, he slashed through heaven and earth, broke through thousands of formations, unleashed the power of the earth, forming the Earth Treasury style, and charged directly at the middle-aged Hegemon!

“This sword, and this strike…”

The middle-aged Hegemon's eyes narrowed, his body abruptly retreated, and his heart simultaneously churned.

“A human race supreme treasure!”