Chapter 907: Chapter 629: I Am Everywhere!
Achilles was baffled.
"One runs when he can’t win, the other joins when he can’t win... cough cough, truly a pair you are. Long time no see, Achilles."
All of a sudden, yet another thin figure flew out from Aurora Palace. His appearance was withered, his body covered in sores, countless toads devouring his flesh and blood.
"Lu Chenzhou? So you’re still alive after all, you really are tough." The Daoist of Heavenly Gu laughed.
"Yo, isn’t this the Land Army Master? How come you’re so washed up? Even fell to Late Stage of Seventh Realm?"
Achilles also laughed with genuine merriment.
That curse from Wangyue Demon Saint really is terrifying.
If it were him, he would probably already be dead.
That brat Chenzhou truly has a damn stubborn fate.
No wonder the Witch valued him so highly, specially making him the backup, determined to get rid of Lu Chenzhou no matter what.
If he could complete this mission, the Witch would help him ascend to the Third Step at any cost, directly advancing into the ranks of the Great Universe’s top-level powerhouses.
But Emperor Shitian’s face changed dramatically.
"Military Leader? Why are you out here? You still haven’t recovered from your heavy injuries, you barely kept your life! Go back, I can handle this!"
Chenzhou shook his head and drew his long spear.
He coughed once, and with lips pale and bloodless, murmured weakly in a low tone:
"Rest easy. I can still fight."
At this sight,
Achilles understood immediately.
This round, victory was nearly certain.
The Tianxia Civilization really had run out of tricks, even sending this severely ill Military Leader to the battlefield.
"No need to argue. We’re dead either way. Let the Land Army Master die to my blade—better than suffocating in a sickbed! Take care on your way, Lu Chenzhou!"
Achilles could not wait any longer, grinned with sinister sarcasm, and slipped noiselessly into the shadows.
When he reappeared, he’d already shadow-stepped behind Lu Chenzhou, a wisp of ghostly light tearing through Ruins Sea to stab at Lu Chenzhou.
BZZZZT!
Countless Mystic Sky Shields emerged around Lu Chenzhou, yet were instantly pierced by that wisp of ghostly light.
In that ghostly light was a pitch-black Broken Blade, evil qi swirling tangibly, its blade mottled with bloodstains and the scars of endless ages, narrating an ancient myth.
Incomplete Treasure·Shadow God Blade.
Even a lion, when hunting rabbits, must give its all.
Achilles would not be careless.
The ghostly light struck the Purple Thunder Armor and even pierced right through this Low Grade Eighth Rank spiritual weapon. In a follow-up slash, Achilles sent a black qi flow shredding Lu Chenzhou to pieces.
"Die!"
Achilles burst out laughing.
"Military Leader!"
Emperor Shitian shouted, charging at Achilles, only to be intercepted halfway by the Daoist of Heavenly Gu.
"Achilles, settle this quickly. Kill Lu Chenzhou and we retreat, don’t get bogged down."
The Daoist of Heavenly Gu was always uneasy about a possible ambush.
BOOM BOOM! Emperor Shitian’s thunder and the Heavenly Gu illusion sword clashed with Ruins Sea. He was no match for the Daoist of Heavenly Gu, but with the array from Aurora Palace aiding him, he at least wouldn’t fall into clear disadvantage for a short time.
He watched Lu Chenzhou from the corner of his eye and thought to himself.
"It all depends on the Military Leader’s performance now."
...
"They’re fighting outside?"
Wang Changming woke up from a nap.
"Aurora Palace can’t hold out; the Military Leader and Emperor Shitian have decided to settle things once and for all with the pursuers."
The Prince Northern Guardian looked worried.
The enemy was too strong.
Any one of them could solo a whole bunch of the four Great Commanders. This wasn’t your ordinary Early Stage of Eighth Realm.
"And his curse still isn’t lifted."
Wang Changming was helpless.
"Stop worrying, Little Wang. With the Military Leader’s temperament, he wouldn’t make a move if he weren’t prepared."
Yaochi Immortal gazed out at the battle beyond.
"But it looks like the Military Leader is being completely suppressed. Achilles attacks too mysteriously, and with the Shadow God Blade, the Mystic Sky Shield can’t block him."
Alcohol King was growing anxious as well.
And in Ruins Sea, Lu Chenzhou looked like a great sandbag, constantly being pummeled and sent flying by Achilles, forced to rely on his Undying Body to resurrect over and over.
Sure, it kept him alive, but always being beaten up—an Undying Body still has its limits.
The other Seventh Realms weren’t optimistic either.
Lu Chenzhou was strong, but Achilles was a veteran Eighth Realm after all. That Heavenly Chasm was simply too great.
If it were Lu Chenzhou in peak condition, maybe he’d have a shot, but with the curse and severe poison wrapped around him, a comeback? Too hard!
...
Feeling Lu Chenzhou’s resurrection slow with each turn, Achilles’s saber technique grew only more ruthless.
"Exhilarating, truly exhilarating."
Ruins Sea was slashed into tattered fragments.
Achilles was slaughtering with wild delight.
Maybe it was because of his grave injuries—Lu Chenzhou was much weaker than he’d expected. That Undying Body was a little bugged, but everything else was just Peak of Seventh Realm at best—his reputation was undeserved.
"Lu Chenzhou, you’re too arrogant. If you tried to run, hardly anyone in this universe could kill you, but for the sake of saving those ants, you’ve trapped yourself—how truly, utterly foolish."
Lu Chenzhou wordlessly parried with his spear, enduring his flesh being savagely torn apart a hundred, a thousand times, then healing it each time with the Withering and Flourishing Undying Technique.
This pain was nothing compared to the curse.
On the Martial Arts Tree, the introduction for Withering and Flourishing Undying Technique showed: [10081] resurrections total, now just 7000 left. The other 3081—most eroded by the curse, the rest used up by Achilles; he was nearing death.
Since the Sixth Rank of Withering and Flourishing Dao, Lu Chenzhou had been searching for how to make his flesh step into the Undying Realm.
Before, he could not find the path.
After being cursed, between the cycles of pain and life and death, at last he glimpsed it, the path he sought.
He thought of his eldest senior brother’s tale.
Emperor Zhan once asked Dragon Emperor,
"What is it to be undying?"
"A single breath containing sun, moon, and stars; a single drop of blood, my own world; even if heaven and earth shatter, seas dry, stones crumble, my flesh shall never die."
As Achilles brought down another slash, the words behind Withering and Flourishing Undying Technique on the Martial Arts Tree began to shift.
[10081/6667]
[10081/6666]
"Die!"
This time, as Achilles’s blade slashed down, Lu Chenzhou’s body seemed to reach its limit, exploding with a bang, scattering into a blood-red mist across the sky.
"Is he dead?"
Achilles felt Lu Chenzhou’s presence rapidly fading before his very eyes.
"Shit, Achilles! I still need his body!" the Daoist of Heavenly Gu cursed and swore.
Now Emperor Shitian froze as well.
"Did the Undying Body finally reach its limit?"
Within Aurora Palace.
The many Da Xia experts were stunned.
There were those terrified.
Those in disbelief.
Those who cried out:
"Is the Military Leader okay?"
"He’s become like that—can he even still revive?"
"The Military Leader was already spent; he’s fighting Achilles for us, by force."
"My disciple can’t possibly be in trouble!"
...
"If you got the guts, revive again!"
Achilles was certain Lu Chenzhou was dead. Not only had his body turned to blood mist, Achilles even saw his soul break with his body. This was the classic double death—body and divine soul both gone.
The Shadow Dao conjured a giant fish, which swallowed and vaporized the blood mist. Achilles also found Lu Chenzhou’s spoils, scattered into the void.
He collected Lu Chenzhou’s fragment of Wangliang Finger Bone.
"It’s over."
Achilles spoke. It really had not been easy, this journey. The Forbidden Zone and Divine Alliance, with so many peerless talents, yet none managed what he, Achilles, accomplished. Even if it was a shameful kill-steal, wasn’t that also strength?
"It is time to put an end."
A cold, detached voice rang out by Achilles’s side—it was Lu Chenzhou. Achilles glanced about but couldn’t spot the source.
"Playing ghost, are you? Is this an illusion?"
Achilles could not help questioning whether he’d just killed Lu Chenzhou in an illusion.
But with his cultivation, even if Lu Chenzhou had Sixth Rank Great Dream Dao, tricking him was unlikely.
This made no sense.
SPLURT!
Suddenly, Achilles felt something icy pierce through him. His eyes widened as he stared at a barely-noticeable bloodstain on the Shadow God Blade, squirming strangely—look closely, and it’s not the same as the other bloodstains nearby.
This blood was fresh.
It bore no sign of ages past.
It was Lu Chenzhou’s blood.
Focusing, it seemed he could see countless images of Lu Chenzhou reflected in every drop of blood.
One blood, one cycle of withering and flourishing.
One blood, one world.
"Impossible—how are you still alive?" Achilles’s face was incredulous, and he tried to dispel the mottled blood on Shadow God Blade with shadow power.
"Kill me? Someone like you?"
Soon another figure appeared behind Achilles, and before he could react, a big spear had already pierced his chest.
"No, you’re dead, this is an illusion, you won’t fool me!" Achilles desperately stabbed back with the shadow blade, face twisted, aura hysterical.
"I’m dead?" Lu Chenzhou’s voice was ethereal, laced with a mocking smile. The shadow blade’s ghostly light once again slew his form, unmistakably real.
Lu Chenzhou’s figure shattered into mist.
He died, again.
Achilles gripped his blade, dazed.
This was too real.
Didn’t seem like an illusion.
Had he actually killed his foe or not?
High above, yet another Lu Chenzhou figure emerged, aura like the stars, pressing down in mighty torrents.
"I am everywhere."