The Final Battle

Cling! Clang! Boom! Clang!

Yun Xiao Che and Li Changseng clashed over and over again in an attempt to triumph over the other. During the week long intermediate time period Yun Xiao Che had advanced to Heavenly Connection realm and is now equaling Li Changseng in combat. Although this speed of advancement seemed unbelievable in just a week, upon further inspection many observers had discovered that the man had aged at least half a decade likely more.

This was likely through the use of a time acceleration chamber though where it came from was unknown. To the various masters and elders this was suspicious but nevertheless non of their business. Fun Xiao Che already belonged to a sect which although minor was still of some relevance.

Hu Wenxi observed this fight with disinterest. Ever since yesterday his mind had been elsewhere. Several of his Blades were dead, there were assassins who snuck into the heart of his empire and one of his subordinates is likely a traitor. Speaking of Hu Wenxi observed the Celestial Star king out of the corner of his eye.

The man was dressed casually and displayed neither arrogance nor malcontent. In fact he was clapping along with everyone else. Though this could also be attributed to old cultivator's strange desire to see their descendants bash each other under the excuse of 'exchange pointers'.

Hu Wenxi had only been paying the bare minimum attention to the final battle. What he was actually concerned about were issues of the empire that will be revealed in time. During his brief activation of the observation features of the Zodiac formation yesterday he caught some glimpses of what's to come.

While he couldn't deduce the identity if the empress' assailants he was able to identify several clues. The Zodiac formation can briefly see into past and future events. This allowed Hu Wenxi to see the entire exchange in real time. In fact what he did was a form more advanced form of 'mirror of the past'. However Hu Wenxi did not only see those clues.

His connection with the formation also allowed him to catch a quick glimpse of a figure shrouded in darkness. This figure was close to where he killed Sam originally. The ashes of Sam also disappeared. This immediately put Hu Wenxi on edge.

Before the final battle started he had stretched his immortal senses all across the upper realm. However he couldn't discover anything meaningful aside from several suspicious remains.

All across the forests near the capital there has been a string of corpses belonging to patrolling guards. The capital had hundreds of thousands of soldiers so a few missing would've been unnoticed for a while. Hu Wenxi instead discovered traces of necroplasm attached to those corpses.

This substance was commonly found in ghosts or other undead beings. Doctor Chu was also made of this stuff. It was also the physical form of necro energy which ghosts use to cultivate. What's more this form of power is hard to detect. Sharp as his senses are Hu Wenxi would struggle to sense it without it being near him.

Take doctor Chu for example, that old ghost could leave the palace and Hu Wenxi would've had no clue what he was up to. Only with a master-servant oath contract was Hu Wenxi able to sense him.

After his discovery Hu Wenxi could determine a few things. One was that a ghost had entered Thousand Flames upper realm. Two: this ghost was likely Sam. Three: that shrouded figure likely created the ghost. Four: This ghost is very close to the capital and is very dangerous.

However as luck would have it Hu Wenxi discovered signs of the empress' would be assassin's remains along with another figure. Their bodies were too mangled to identify however Hu Wenxi can identify traces of the Celestial Star mantra. This all but confirmed his suspicions.

Currently he was unclear as to who was the traitor, the entire kingdom or a splinter group. It could even be another faction posing as them. He could not rule out that last possibility, despite his gripes with the Celestial Star king he also knew there were many who would frame him. The Radiant Moon king was one such example. Either way they would reveal themselves in time.

BOOM!

Yun Xiao Che was knocked back by a bloody Li Channseng. The swordsman was only barely able to push his opponent back. He could only describe Yun Xiao Che as a berserker with ferocious attacks and an unrealistically tough body. Even the prince's flesh wasn't this strong. In fact a buddhist monk's body wasn't this strong.

Despite Li Changseng's constant attacks, Yun Xiao Che just refuse to stay down. Like a masochist he came back for more and more. It was to the point where even the audience started feeling sorry for him.

Hu Wenxi tapped his fingers in the VIP lounge, his feeling of unease was growing stronger. Whatever it was, a dangerous presence was likely approaching. He just hoped the fight will finish fast to get it out of the way. It didn't actually mattered who will win. The winner will dine with the emperor and get an opportunity to learn a magic art from him as well as a High grade Sacred Artefact. It was a very generous reward.

High grade Sacred Artefacts were weapons of choice for Human Immortals. To see a junior get it was mouth watering for many people. Li Changseng was hoping to get himself that artefact. Even the Li kingdom only had one and that belonged to his 'father'.

Yun Xiao Che also wanted the Artefact, his sword will get a lot stronger by absorbing it. If people knew he just wanted the artefact to feed it to another they would want to curse him to death. This was an extremely wasteful use of an artefact.

Yun Xiao Che once again pushed off the stadium to meet Li Changseng in combat. Despite his extremely tough body he just wasn't fast nor strong enough the overcome Li Changseng's blows. Yun Xiao Che had one true goal, to prove his old master wrong and to have her acknowledge him.

Yun Xiao Che went for an overhead strike which Li Changseng dodged. This massive strike carried the weight of the gods as it pulverised the stadium splitting into two uneven parts. Yun Xiao Che's attacks were slow yet powerful. However Li Changseng was faster and stronger, his 6 meridian Crossing Tribulation cultivation base dwarfed Yun Xiao Che's Heavenly Connection.

Yet Li Changseng also felt extremely humiliated to having to fight someone of a much lower cultivation level. At the same time he was also fearful of his opponent, if he was this strong as a Heavenly Connection how strong will he be as a Crossing Tribulation.

Li Changseng went in to attack again, Yun Xiao Che was already tired but still took the attacks no problem. Li Changseng was both fatigued and annoyed, Yun Xiao Che resembled more of a cockroach then a human being.

Suddenly Yun Xiao Che stretched out and caught Li Changseng's sword with his palm. The blade stabbed right into Che's palm until it reached the hilt. From there Che grabbed Li Changseng's arm and headbuted the poor man.

CRACK!

In the VIP lounge Li Guxie gripped her dress in anxiety. Lao Fu stroked his beard and commented, "That boy really needs to work on his physical flesh". Many of the Human Immortals also nodded agreeing with him. Li Changseng had focused on refining his attacking power too much, even for an immortal his body's toughness was below average.

Yun Xiao Che landed several more blows on Li Changseng before he came to his senses and leaped back. His body was bruised and he could feel his head spinning. He gazed at Che and his eyes flashed in intense rage.

"You're just a filthy commoner, just who do you think you are?" The full might of Li Changseng's cultivation base barrelled into Yun Xiao Che. Li Changseng could accept loosing to his prince, but his common nobody?

Yun Xiao Che felt crushed under the pressure released by Li Changseng. The presence of a Heavenly Qi no matter how brief was crushing to Yun Xiao Che. He could feel as if his body would explode yet at the same time he treated it as an opportunity. 'I cannot fail' he thought and began using his essence to forcefully absorb the Heavenly Qi.

"Is he insane?". "What the hell is he thinking?". "That kid has a death wish". "Its sad to see another young genus fall".

The act of absorbing a Heavenly Qi in such quantities before Crossing Tribulation was both insane and stupid. Heavenly Connection cultivators uses their essence to commune with the heavens, with the primeval source of all creation. This allows them to observe and study one of the Wuxing, one of the five basic elements each forming a Heavenly Qi. Only after they comprehended multiple facets of one Qi will they attempt to slowly incorporate it.

What they will attempt to absorb was less then 0.1% of a Heavenly Qi. They will then use this to refine their meridians thus attracting the first tribulation. Yun Xiao Che the masochist here was absorbing at least 4% of a Heavenly Qi. This was over 40 times more then what he should.

To the absolute shock of many people he began to refine his first meridian, specifically the one on his head. Seeing this action Hu Wenxi thought to himself, 'I hope that helps his intelligence'. To the shock of everyone Yun Xiao Che hadn't exploded yet.

Above the skies, dark clouds began gathering, this was the sign of a 9 bolt tribulation. When the bolts hit hey struck with such force that it could've levelled a good chance of the palace. Luckily taoist Infinity Heaven shielded the blast forbidding it from leaving the stadium.

9 bolt consecutively struck Yun Xiao Che. When the smoke cleared he stood up with his body smoking. On the crown of his head a faint golden spot could be seen. Yun Xiao Che had entered the Crossing Tribulation realm.

"No, no, no, NOOOO" Li Changseng charged at the still Yun Xiao Che hoping to knock him out. Instead Yun Xiao Che caught his fist and twisted his arm.

CRACK!

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH"

Li Changseng's arm was twisted 180 degrees. Yun Xiao Che began to viciously beat into the man. Every blow deformed the bones in Li Changseng's body and shook the ground. "Hey isn't he going too far?" One bystander said.

Taoist Infinity heaven appeared on stage and called out, "Young man that's enough". However as if possessed Yun Xiao Che kept savagely beating into him.

Li Guxie could not remain watching, she took off from the seat to save her 'nephew'. "Get away from him" he shot out with a massive palm intending to kill Yun Xiao Che. Said man respond with a final punch at Li Changseng's broken body and leapt to face the attack.

"I will never bow" Yun Xiao Che yelled and charged his own attack.

BOOM!

The collision caused an explosion that threw the crowd off their feat. If not for taoist Infinity Heaven it would've easily destroyed the whole city. Standing there Yun Xiao Che was only slightly injured, however his energy reserves were pitifully low. Li Guxie was shocked at him repelling her attack. She felt humiliated at this moment, she took action against someone far weaker then her and her doesn't even have the nerves to die.

"You" Li Guxie charged another attack when all the Human Immortals appeared on stage. "Yun Xiao Che you have won, you did not need to beat him so much. Li Changseng was already knocked out after the 5th strike" Lao Fu chastised.

However Yun Xiao Che stood defiantly even when facing the lot of them. "How arrogant" a Human Immortal frowned. Yun Xiao Che wasn't even paying the emperor any respect. It was like he was treating the world as his enemy.

"Elders, this was a fight. I simply wanted to finish it" this was Yun Xiao Che's only response. In turn all the elders were shocked, they had never been disregarded like this before. Hu Wenxi decided to intervene before things got too heated.

"You have one so I'll give out the prize. You may choose an art from my martial repertoire. Rest up and come to the palace later t…" however he was interrupted by Yun Xiao Che

"Actually I would like to visit Celestial Star kingdom, I wish to learn their shadow star movement art" at this everyone stared at him as if he had lost his mind. The Celestial Star king was shocked at the sudden honoured he received yet also questioned wether the boy was ignorant or just very stupid. This was the emperor he just interrupted and denied.

Even Hu Wenxi was baffled, he was visibly startled by the total disregard he just received, 'This is so much like ATG its not even funny anymore'. However before he could finish a voice called out.

"JUST WAIT RIGHT THERE!"