Chapter 256 - 217: Battle the Divine Emperor

Chapter 256: Chapter 217: Battle the Divine Emperor

Deep within the earth’s core, Zhang Ji in his complete form and the Divine Emperor were not far apart.

The Divine Emperor heard Zhang Ji’s words and instantly parsed their meaning. For beings of their level, language barriers no longer existed.

They could easily analyze all sorts of external information, translating and comprehending it from a perspective they could understand.

He was not angered, nor did his emotions shift much.

He had seen many such madmen before. Zhang Ji, at most, was merely one of the more powerful ones.

But he was not beyond comprehension.

VMMMM—!

In an instant, aether particles in all directions resonated. Layers upon layers of Demon Patterns manifested in the void, covering a radius of dozens of miles.

Immediately after, the Divine Emperor extended his index finger and pointed at Zhang Ji.

[Ultra-Ancient Magic, Thirteenth-Level Forbidden Spell: Light of Ruin.]

A condensed golden beam shot from his fingertip, forming a cannon of light that blasted outward. On the other side, Zhang Ji also raised a hand, unleashing a Celestial Dragon Break to meet it head-on.

The molten core was affected, splashing hundreds of miles high. The entire nearby continent trembled slightly.

No one knew what was happening. Deep underground, after the two supremely powerful attacks collided, the space had expanded by an unknown amount. Countless surrounding rocks collapsed and fell, but the two figures within had no intention of dodging. Matter that approached Zhang Ji was automatically disintegrated by his Ten Thousand Transformations Formless Intent, while anything nearing the Divine Emperor was deflected aside by some unknown power.

After one exchange, both sides realized something.

It would be difficult to kill each other with conventional methods.

The Primordial Energy that landed on the Divine Emperor caused no damage at all.

The Divine Emperor’s forbidden spell, which was comparable to a top-tier Divine Skill, had also failed to harm Zhang Ji in the slightest. Not only had it been countered by the Celestial Dragon Break, but it couldn’t even get past the Force Field of his Ten Thousand Transformations Formless Intent, let alone strike Zhang Ji’s body.

The Divine Emperor opened his mouth.

A special, ultra-ancient magical language resonated with the aether particles.

"[Speed of Fibel], [Strength of Jala], [Body of Indestructibility]..."

Layer after layer of light enveloped his body, rapidly bestowing him with enhancements.

These were temporary buffing Magic, and each one was no weaker than the Light of Ruin.

Of course, Zhang Ji wasn’t about to just stand by and watch him apply enhancements. He struck, gathering dark red Primordial Energy and throwing a punch at the Divine Emperor.

At the front of his fist, the phantom of a dark red dragon’s head appeared. It was the [Hidden Heart Celestial Dragon Break], which he had unleashed in a melee fashion.

Not dodging, the Divine Emperor also employed his own martial arts techniques.

BOOM—!

The two fists, one large and one small, collided. Or more accurately, two different energy Force Fields clashed.

At this stage of life, power was no longer transmitted through flesh and blood. Instead, higher-order biological particles transferred the energy. The efficiency was greater, the bursts were faster, and the intensity was more ferocious!

Unlike his previous battle against the Divine Emperor’s divine body, which had been controlled by the Lord of Entropy, this clash was between Zhang Ji in his complete form and the revived Divine Emperor himself.

Patches of spatial cracks spread out, reaching dozens of miles away.

The Divine Emperor diffused Zhang Ji’s force, letting space itself bear the brunt of it.

Even so, this space could not withstand such terrifying power.

KRA-CHA—! BOOM—!

A huge void appeared, a violent vortex sucking in everything. The Divine Emperor’s figure was blasted into it, and Zhang Ji gave chase.

They hadn’t entered the true void, but rather the world’s interstitial filter layer.

Between the Spatial Barrier and the world’s interior lay a filtering space. The energy here had passed through the Spatial Barrier and awaited further filtration before it could enter the world proper.

As such, the energy here was also quite turbid and violent.

However, for beings like Zhang Ji and the Divine Emperor, who could survive in the void with their physical bodies unharmed, it was nothing to worry about.

The Divine Emperor was still being enhanced by his buffs. Zhang Ji’s continuous attacks kept forcing him back, but the distance he retreated was shrinking.

His power was growing stronger.

The Divine Emperor was the Divine Emperor, after all. At his peak, he had achieved the status of an alternative True God. Although he had been nearly beaten to death by a massive slap, his fundamental nature had already transcended. The power this broken body could unleash still far exceeded that of an ordinary Super S-Class.

Splendid magical light blossomed from the Divine Emperor’s body as he threw another punch to contend with Zhang Ji.

BOOM—!

Within this interstitial layer of the world, his Fist Gang clashed with Zhang Ji’s punch, throwing the surrounding chaotic energy into even greater disarray.

The space of the Inner World shattered again, and the two figures burst out simultaneously, arriving in the Divine Realm.

Zhang Ji’s body was forced back, shattering the ground of the Divine Realm and alerting the other seven Demigods.

They had just spoken with Zhang Ji earlier and were still skeptical about the situation with the Lord of Entropy. Now, however, they had no choice but to believe.

Spatial vortexes swept through the Divine Realm, and the aftershocks of the battle forced the Demigods to take evasive action.

The Divine Emperor paid no mind to the Demigods. Instead, he reached into the void. A broken golden spear answered his call, suddenly emerging from a sub-dimension. It was his former Divine Artifact, the [Spear of Tadnir], also known as the Spear of Conquest.

It was with this spear that the Divine Emperor had conquered all the sentient races of the world.

A trace of Divine Flame still lingered on the break, which the Divine Emperor forcibly wiped away. The Divine Flame burned a gash into his flesh, but it recovered in an instant.

Compared to when the entire spear had been wreathed in Divine Flame, this small amount was something he could handle.

The Divine Emperor thrust the Spear of Conquest. Seeking cause and reaping effect, it flew toward Zhang Ji in an instant.

But this spear was destined to miss.

Having stabilized himself, Zhang Ji almost instantly summoned a jade seal.

Shimmering celestial might spread out as the Celestial Intent Seal instantly swelled to the size of a massive mountain range. Its shadow covered half the Divine Realm as it smashed directly into the Spear of Conquest.

For a moment, there was no sound. Then, in the next instant, space shattered piece by piece. The entire Divine Realm began to disintegrate, and violent energy radiated outward, even reaching toward the mortal realm.

The seven Demigods’ first instinct was to flee.

Next to the god of luck, the Fire God, Ash-Eye Yanside, said, "Badilon, is this the god from the Otherworld you said was about as strong as us?"

"I don’t know! He felt about the same back then!"

Badilon had a pained expression as he raised a protective barrier of Divine Power while rapidly fleeing into the distance.

"This is bad! We can’t let the aftershock spread to the mortal realm!"

The God of Water, Cangming Tide Song, came to his senses. He could already foresee the consequences of the fallout. If the mortal realm were destroyed, they would lose their source of faith. They would inevitably fall into slumber, become unable to maintain their cultivation, and eventually fade into deathly silence.

This was the nature of faith-based gods; they had a strong, binding relationship with their believers. Even the Lord of Entropy had harvested the faith of despair with restraint to ensure sustainable development.

"Then what are you waiting for?"

The Nether God, Hadi, directly summoned his Divine Artifact, a pitch-black scythe.

It was an object of faith used to reap death. At this moment, endless, pitch-black death-aspected Divine Power blocked a large portion of the aftershock, preventing it from spreading to the mortal realm.

The God of Wind, Lan Ying, with his flowing green hair, drew his bow and fired. The arrow carried green, wind-aspected Divine Power, forming a containment zone.

The Dragon God, Leodore, transformed directly from his humanoid form into a golden dragon king. He used his body as a massive mountain range to block the forefront of the aftershock. The impact caused his scales to tremble, and his expression turned grim.

The God of Art, Glaze, whose Divine Artifact was a harp, had flowing blue hair. She gently strummed the strings, and the spreading soundwaves blocked another portion of the energy.

The Fire God, Ash-Eye, had a pot and a spatula as his Divine Artifacts. Though called the Fire God, he had been an army cook before becoming a Demigod. At this moment, he put the pot to use, absorbing a massive amount of damage at the front lines.

The God of Water wielded a trident. Standing atop the waves, he used his water-aspected Divine Power to form a towering sea wall.

Badilon also played his part. He threw his dice, interfering with the aether particles and deflecting the direction of the aftershock’s energy.

The bulk of the aftershock heading toward the human kingdoms was intercepted, but some still slipped through the cracks. The residual energy waves fell upon one of Lan’er’s seas, instantly vaporizing most of the water. The nearby continent shook, volcanoes erupted, magma burst forth from the earth’s core, and endless black gas dissipated into the air.

Meanwhile, in the Divine Realm, after clashing with their Divine Artifacts, Zhang Ji and the Divine Emperor attacked each other once more.

The Celestial Intent Seal only had enough energy for one activation, but the same was true for the Divine Emperor. He had only just revived and had limited Divine Power in his body. He couldn’t unleash many ultimate moves. In his current fight with Zhang Ji, he was mostly absorbing external energy to fuel their confrontation.

Zhang Ji threw a punch. On his fist was not only dark red Primordial Energy but also the compressed Four Elements.

Earth, water, fire, and wind gathered at the tip of his fist, compressed, and were released!

The entire process occurred within his body.

Guiding the Four Elements from the outside was a very slow process.

It would work against others, but against the Divine Emperor, it was far from enough.

That was why he had been drawing in the Four Elements and compressing them for a reaction inside his body all this time.

His current physical strength was now sufficient to contain the collision of the Four Elements and the Chaos Energy it produced.

[Primordial Chaos Celestial Dragon Break]!

The Divine Emperor also swept his spear, attacking Zhang Ji.

The moment they collided, the Divine Emperor was sent flying straight toward the Spatial Barrier.

The battle between them was still escalating. Seeing that he was losing the upper hand, the Divine Emperor finally stopped hesitating. The core of his Divine Country began to operate, refining and using his limited Divine Power.

Dark golden light gathered on the spear and collided with Zhang Ji’s fist.

This explosion occurred near the Spatial Barrier. Silently, cracks appeared on the tough barrier.

But Zhang Ji’s attack was not a one-off.

Inside his body, the energies of the Four Elements continuously collided, constantly generating new Chaos Energy, which he unleashed in its entirety.

KRAK—! CLANG—!

Finally, the spear in the Divine Emperor’s hand snapped in half.

It was already a damaged Divine Artifact. Having once encountered some form of Supreme power, it was no longer whole. The Divine Emperor had only mended the external break to reconnect the pieces, but the internal damage remained. Now, amidst their high-intensity clash, it had shattered once more.

As the spear broke, the Spatial Barrier was also pierced through. The Divine Emperor was knocked directly into the true outer void by Zhang Ji.

Zhang Ji pursued him.

The sensation was similar to traversing a space-time rift, yet different.

The void particles within a space-time rift were more stable. Here, they were more violent, though they couldn’t harm Zhang Ji.

The Divine Emperor put away the broken Spear of Conquest and decided to fight Zhang Ji purely with his martial arts, no longer using a weapon.

His dark golden Divine Power burned. He was no longer conserving his energy. His fists, as large as sandbags, tore through the storms of the void as he attacked Zhang Ji.

The twin energies on Zhang Ji’s body, one dark purple and one dark red, were also pushed to their absolute limit. The golden halo of fate spun behind his head as he threw a heavy punch!