Chapter 2141: Pitched Battle (I)

Light shone through the void and the river of time snapped. The chaos trembled as time flowed freely.

Someone cried out with pain, as if their great dao had snapped as well. Incredulity shone out of his eyes as his body fell apart. He was also a bit lost and confused. How... was this happening?

It shouldn’t have been me, no matter what.

It should’ve been Life Death or Calamity, or anyone else but me!

A massive beast seemed to hover over his head—the spirit of devouring. It devoured the dissipating great dao. Five Elements glared hatefully at it!

“My disciple is paying his respects to me,” came a sigh by his ear. “Let’s see how I’m one step behind everyone else after today!”

Boom!

A massive explosion rang audibly only at this point. It blew through the worlds, chaos, and void. The chaos was turned into a land of light from the illumination!

Darkness no longer shrouded it, light materialized instead. The skies of the chaos were brightly lit.

Five Elements’ eyes dimmed and turned dull. He quietly fell to pieces as he looked up. So the chaos was this magnificent when it was visible! It was so beautiful...

Too bad I’ll never be able to see it again.

......

The gloom of the chaos had been fully expelled. The light of the five elements shone throughout the worlds. Time and frozen.

Whether it was Li Hao or Fang Ping, neither were surprised about the other’s decision. Time triggered the deepest desires within one’s heart as soon as it appeared.

Some sought immortality.

Others wished to control the future and change the past.

If one cultivated to the point of creating time, that would not change the inner heart’s desire to explore the future or change the past. It would still be present even upon invincibility. The greed for immortality would always be there.

Hence, everyone constantly schemed after time. But today... it’d been detonated.

Its mission was complete. There should not be a dao of time that could be controlled by others.

Li Hao was not surprised by the outcome. Being able to rule over Myriad Realms and break the blockade of desire meant that Su Yu was someone who could control his desires. He was not at the whims of the burning urge to be invincible.

Li Hao didn’t know what’d happened in Myriad Realms, but he knew that he’d locked all of his own desires and greed into it. That Su Yu had been able to emerge from that chaos meant that his control of desire had reached an utmost.

It was no surprise that such a person could smash time.

The young man smiled. He’d seized the opening created by the destruction of time to break the dao of the five elements and kill a ninth rank.

This was the second ninth rank to go down in battle in the chaos. He suffered an even more tragic fate than Disorder.

Searing light lit up the universe. Ninth ranks gaped, stunned and dazed not by the death of Five Elements, but because of a sudden emptiness in their hearts. Time... really had been destroyed!

Then what happens to us?

What happens to the chaos?

How are we going to use time to consolidate chaos dao and solidify spirit when it doesn’t exist anymore?

They might never be able to return to peak condition. Not only that, but if they continued to deplete spirit, that meant that their lifespan would eventually reach an end.

As for the death of Five Elements, one ninth rank didn’t matter. What was terrifying was that time was no more.

“Why??”

“Why do that...”

“Where do we go now...” The ninth ranks suffered devastating blows to their hearts. It’d been one million years!

We started waiting one million years ago, watching time pass us by and waiting for this dao to mature. Is this... what we waited for?!

Someone desperately reached out and grabbed a handful of time flowing past them. This is time... right?

It must be!

The ninth ranks frantically grabbed at the void, spontaneously aging as they did so. Some looked at Skyward, others looked at Calamity, and some looked up at the heavens...

They didn’t even pay attention to the one who’d blown up time. All of them were lost and dispirited.

“Why?!” Someone threw their heads back with a howl. Why??

“Su Yu!” Another person roared, completely losing their mind.

“Time, oh time!” A ninth rank threw his head back with laughter. “It was all for naught in the end! All this talk of immortality, gathering spirit, or solidifying great dao was a joke!

“We hunkered down and cowered for one million years. We slunk disgracefully in the shadows for one million years. We waited and waited, until the destruction of time on this day. What were we waiting for?? Do we have another one million years to spare?!”

“It’s him!!” Someone screamed at Su Yu, their eyes bloodshot. Their great dao rippled as they sought to gather all strength to them and recover to peak battle condition!

Kill him!

“Li Hao is an animal as well. Maybe he knew this a long time ago...”

“Kill them!!”

“......” Ninth ranks began losing their minds. What’d just happened had essentially severed their future. They weren’t young anymore.

While someone could rebuild time, how many years would that take?

“Why do that, the two fellow daoists?” A sigh echoed through the void. “Both of you once cultivated time and you might be able to recreate it. We have no desire to make enemies out of you, we simply wanted a path to survival.

“If the two of you can recover time and split it out to use in stabilizing the chaos, why would there not be peace between us?”

Skyward sighed heavily. Both Su Yu and Li Hao had once cultivated time, so although it’d broken now, it wasn’t out of the question that it could be rebuilt.

Su Yu smiled, a tender expression on his face. It’s because you guys want it that I won’t give it to you! The more you want it, the less I’ll give it!

I would’ve considered giving it to you if you hadn’t wanted it. The more you want it, the more I want to destroy it and plunge you guys into the pits of despair. It’s so fun watching you guys lose your minds!

......

In the distance.

Li Hao did not reappear after vanishing. Only his voice could be heard.

“Skyward, this is now your chance only because time has been destroyed. Your myriad of daos have reached an ultimate peak. You’ll never be able to create time for yourself if someone else holds it. But now, you do have that chance. Why act this way?”

His laughter was as if the cackling of a demon. It snapped the ninth ranks out of their building frenzy. They looked desperately at Skyward. Can you... do it?

“You know as well as I do that it’s impossible,” Skyward sighed. “So why are you acting like it can be done? You really have become a demon and constantly influence exalted emperors with your demonic dao!”

“A demon? And what is considered a demon?” Li Hao laughed meaningfully. “I’m not the one who destroyed time. I’m not the demon. The madness in the chaos has not originated from me. How am I the demon? I am just part of the martial world. The martial world only produces wandering heroes. Where does a demon come from?”

In the distance.

Su Yu continued to back away, but paused to snort with laughter. “Come off it, you old demon! I was just your mouthpiece and borrowed hand! Weren’t you the one who egged me on to break time?

“You’re the one who left an opening in the river of time so that anyone can extract its strength. You let energy from the inner core of time continuously flow toward those of Myriad Realms. I’m not the one who did that!

“You passed on your principles when establishing the new chaos, ensuring that they made it into the hearts of every Myriad Realms cultivator,” Su Yu grinned. “You told us to create worlds for ourselves if we had the ability, that whatever was ours was the strongest!

“So can you really say that none of this bears your influence?”

The emperor from the future snorted again. Why did I destroy time? Did it really have nothing to do with you?

Of course, it has something to do with me. The powerhouses of Myriad Realms must’ve also had their own thoughts in mind if they were able to rise up. Just like the master of dead spirits created their river of dead spirits, just like I did with the river of the universe.

The only thought that didn’t occur to anyone was to inherit the river of time.

That tenet had been emblazoned in everyone’s hearts from the day the new chaos was established.

Those who were strong created their own!

Time was a construct of an outsider at the end of the day.

“Old Geezer Time...” Su Yu asked curiously. “Fine, Senior Li Hao, you could’ve blown it up yourself. Why have me do the deed?”

Li Hao ignored him, making Su Yu’s eyebrows snap together.

Well well Li Hao, how dare you ignore a question from me! You really suck, did you know that?

You could’ve done this yourself, why have me do the dirty work?

He’d been wondering about this all the time. Just as Su Yu pondered over it again, a soft sigh sounded. “It’s not the same, I am not you. I discovered time from the very beginning and inherited it. It helped me a lot, so I am a direct beneficiary of it. Do you understand?”

Enlightenment dawned!

Su Yu couldn’t help but laugh and curse, “You are... such a hypocrite!”

He got it!

He really did get it.

The connotations of that response were that Li Hao had directly benefited from War’s efforts. Since the power of time came from War, that made War half a teacher and benefactor to him. Li Hao would be the most reviled ingrate if he destroyed time himself!

Hence, he wasn’t willing to do it himself and passed War’s legacy down, but he left some of his own principles within it. He also left behind his own desire to restrain time, the worlds, and all powerhouses that would arise.

Anyone who wished to reach the peak must shatter their desire!

And those who would manage the deed might truly understand certain things. If they were ruthless enough, they were sure to smash time and break the restrictions placed on them.

Meanwhile, Su Yu had inherited Li Hao’s time, not War’s.

“I see, I see.” Su Yu fully understood in this moment. “You are so damned fake. So you think that I’m a huge ingrate, that I’d break the time you left behind, and you wouldn’t. Is that what you thought?”