He Li gripped the gleaming long saber in one hand and the blood-red great saber in the other, enduring the onslaught of Xi Ling Huang Zhu's attacks time and again without falling.
It was less a battle and more a contest between beasts.
He Li was like a badger, thick-skinned and tenacious, battered by Xi Ling, the lioness. Though at a disadvantage, he never faltered, never succumbed to death.
He Li's defense was a fortress, his Golden Cauldron summoned once more. He parried and blocked with his saber, only to be sent flying repeatedly. He chose not to attack, knowing the gap in strength between him and Xi Ling Huang Zhu was an insurmountable chasm. In this kind of fight, simply surviving on the defensive was a stroke of immense luck.
Yet, under Xi Ling Huang Zhu's bombardment, his internal organs shifted, his divinity trembled violently, his vision turned a bloody red, and his hearing became muffled. The entire world, the entire universe, seemed to plunge into silence. The sensation was profound and elusive, as if distant yet also right beside his ear, within his mind.
In his vision, a slender white thread sliced the bloody red into two halves.
Xi Ling Huang Zhu swung her saber again, intending to end He Li's life. A woman who understood the importance of a finishing blow would never show mercy.
Both were elites forged in the crucible of battle, thousands upon millions of years of fighting with blood on their blades. A single misstep meant death, these were madmen of war. How could they afford to be merciful on the battlefield?
Clang!
He Li barely managed to block Xi Ling's strike, which sent him flying tens of thousands of meters away, disappearing from sight.
He Li gazed at the white thread, a single sentence echoing in his mind, just four words: "Kill yourself!"
This time, the voice was no longer mournful but firm, powerful, and exceptionally resolute. He was speaking to himself, convincing himself to end his own life.
But why would he commit suicide?
He Li couldn't comprehend it. He shook his head, the white thread vanished, and his bloody vision cleared. He raised his long saber, looking at the chipped edge with heartache. This was no ordinary saber to be broken so easily. He slowly sheathed the long saber, gripping the blood-red great saber named Corrupted Blood Forest with both hands. Facing Xi Ling Huang Zhu, who had suddenly appeared before him, he grinned.
He said:
"Xi Ling, you're not good enough either. You haven't killed me after all this time. Is your position as Huang Zhu fake?"
Xi Ling clutched her short saber and walked step by step towards He Li, stopping a hundred paces away. She smiled brightly and said, "I know that old fellow Xi Hong is trying to win you over. That immortal tortoise Xi Ming, in his desperate bid for advancement, has awakened a forgotten god from the barbaric ancient era and brought it back to this age.
And your clan, the Imperial Spirit Divine Clan, as descendants of the barbaric ancient era, all have intricate connections. Among the most talented are Xia Yeqi, and you, He Li, possibly related to the true gods of the barbaric ancient era.
Xi Ming chose you, and Xi Hong also chose you. One wants to use your life to secure an opportunity for himself, while the other wants to use your influence to leave a legacy. They have their plans, but what about the Huang King?"
Xi Ling's expression turned fierce, her yellow eyes fixed on He Li, and she snarled, "He Li, tell me, are you the most talented of the Imperial Spirit Divine Clan?"
"No!"
"The most talented is Xia Kudu. He is close to advancing to Divine Lord. No, if he didn't suppress his divine power and didn't divide hundreds of thousands of years of his divine power, he would have already advanced to Divine Lord. Xi Ming died by his hand. You should go find him quickly. He is on the eastern battlefield, easy to find."
He Li spilled everything about Xia Kudu like beans from a pod. Since Xia Kudu, fearing his wife, had kicked me out, then don't blame me. Anyway, these insignificant pests are nothing to you, but they are life-threatening to me.
I think you can understand my predicament, brother, right?
Xi Ling was stunned for a moment, then erupted in fury, roaring, "You dare to toy with me!"
"..." He Li was speechless, roaring internally, "Damn it, I'm telling the truth, why don't you believe me?"
Xia Kudu is really about to advance to Divine Lord, he's just playing the fool to eat the tiger, showing off.
I'm truly fed up. In this day and age, no one believes the truth?
"Well, actually, the most talented is Xia Yeqi. He advanced to the Divine Lord level at such a young age. I'm not capable. My entire realm and strength are fake. I'm just holding on by a thread, a shell with nothing inside. Killing me is useless."
"Stop talking. I will kill you first, then Xia Yeqi, return to the clan and kill Xi Ming, and finally, that barbaric ancient true god who awakened from the river of time must also die." Xi Ling was clearly driven mad.
He Li nodded, understanding. This woman was a fanatical loyalist of the Huang Clan's Huang Zhu. Fanatics couldn't be reasoned with.
At this moment, Xi Ling was filled with anger, boundless disappointment, and resentment. She hated the Huang Clan's Huang Zhus. If not for their individual agendas, the divine race would have been annihilated long ago. Why were they still in such a stalemate today?
"Xi Hong deserves to die, Xi Ming deserves to die even more, and those Huang Zhus who are disloyal to the Huang Zhu also deserve to die. Don't they realize that without the Huang Zhu, how could they have achieved their current status and cultivation?"
Then.
Xi Ling raised her short saber, condensing her innate bone blade with Huang Shen power. The short saber's blade pulsed with divine light, burning in the void, distorting the space around it.
He Li could clearly see the cosmic dust around Xi Ling's blade rapidly assembling and then instantly decomposing. This was not the power of decomposition and reconstruction, but temporal instability, with time sometimes flowing faster, sometimes wildly reversing.
He Li remained silent, gripping the Corrupted Blood Forest great saber with both hands, lowering his waist, and standing ready. This was not the time to attack, as Xi Ling was already in a state of readiness to strike. If he made the slightest move, he would instantly age, or become an infant, or even vanish from space.
Previously, the Time Thief had stolen sixty-one hours and four and a half minutes from him. When the Spatial Cube returned, the him from that time period had saved his life. Now, with no other trump cards, nowhere to retreat, nowhere to evade, he could only brace himself and meet the attack head-on.
If he couldn't...
Then he would die!
He Li mobilized all his divine power, once again condensing the Spatial Cube and attaching it to the blade of his blood saber. His body surged with the immense divine power of the peak Two Universes realm. A golden bell and a golden cauldron, both ten thousand zhang in size, rotated slightly behind He Li, emitting a radiant golden light.
He Li was becoming restless. The tense atmosphere in space was suffocating him. The chaotic aura and the smell of blood had driven him to madness.
Yes,
Under Xi Ling's immense pressure, amidst the flames of divinity, a black flame flickered within He Li's divinity, swaying and emitting greediness and frenzy. This was He Li's own bestiality, re-sprouting at this moment, born within his divinity, growing deep within his humanity.
Xi Ling Huang Zhu raised her eyes, took a step forward.
As if sensing his intent, He Li took a large step forward, assuming a bow stance with his saber.
They both struck simultaneously, unleashing a saber strike intended to kill the other.
One imbued with the law of time, the other carrying the power of space, they crashed fiercely together.
...