Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Chapter 40

What was there to prepare?

Naturally, it was the various anti-air weapons operating under the guise of "Artifact Refining Treasures."

Anti-aircraft guns, surface-to-air missiles...

After all, how could Shen Yun’s individual strength ever compare to the absolute might of a sect?

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! With two sharp sounds tearing through the air, Shen Yun and the Azure Emperor shot straight up into the sky, facing off from afar at an altitude of five or six hundred meters.

The heavens and the earth seemed to change colors. Lightning flashed as fierce winds howled.

The ordinary Cultivators and mortals down below finally realized what was about to happen: a one-on-one battle between peak Grandmasters!

Several Cultivators immediately grew ecstatic. Even if they failed to earn the Jiuzhou Sect’s favor this time, being able to witness the awe-inspiring might of peak Grandmasters from such a close distance made the trip entirely worthwhile!

Back on the ground, the Sword Emperor and the others watched the impending battle with equally high spirits. They had dealt with the Azure Emperor for over a hundred years and knew his exact measure. However, the new Emperor—and even this sect that had emerged out of nowhere—were completely unheard of before today.

"Sword Emperor," the War King said, walking up beside him and glancing at his top disciples. "To actually care so much about this new Emperor... that doesn’t seem like you."

The War King and the Sword Emperor were similar in age. They had been rivals since their youth, constantly competing against one another.

"Heh." The Sword Emperor chuckled softly. "The feeling is mutual. Haven’t you been taking incredibly good care of that old fool, the Azure Emperor? If my guess is right, he must have gotten quite a few good things from you for this trip. Otherwise, with his meager courage..."

The Sword Emperor never bothered to hide his disdain and contempt for the Azure Emperor. He knew that the Azure Emperor didn’t have any real trump cards. That old relic, who only knew how to bully the weak, would absolutely never dare to initiate a battle between peak Grandmasters on his own.

"This matter started because of me; I simply felt I was in the wrong," the War King replied, waving his hand. He gave a meaningful glance at their surroundings, his gaze lingering on those wondrous screens and drones for a long time.

Right now, he was actually looking forward to seeing what this Jiuzhou Sect could do. After all, the Azure Emperor had indeed grown old.

High in the sky, however, the Azure Emperor was the picture of high spirits. Gusts of fierce wind swirled around him, howling endlessly as they wildly blew his meticulously groomed white hair. His clothes fluttered, making him look every bit the unrivaled hero.

"Looking at your age, you shouldn’t be over two hundred years old. Tsk, tsk, what a genius," the Azure Emperor’s voice echoed like thunder, amplified by the power of the wind. "No wonder you’re so arrogant!"

"I can’t compare to your majesty, Azure Emperor. Among all the Grandmasters in this world, who doesn’t know that you lack the dignity of an elder and love nothing more than bullying the younger generation?" Shen Yun’s voice rang out just as loudly across the heavens.

"Hmph, you have a silver tongue, but in front of this Emperor, you are still nothing more than a junior." The Azure Emperor beckoned with his hand, summoning a slender sword that gleamed with golden light. Pointing it at Shen Yun from afar, he smiled smugly. "Do you recognize this sword?"

With that, he performed a sword flourish.

The Sword Qi shot out dozens of meters across the sky, accompanied by the faint sound of a dragon’s roar. Its imposing aura was astonishing.

The Sword Emperor’s expression shifted slightly. He looked at the War King in disbelief. "You actually gave the Emperor Ancestor’s Sword to the Azure Emperor?"

Indeed, this longsword was the Magical Artifact of the empire’s founding monarch. Named Star Moon, it was one of the most illustrious Magical Artifacts in the world.

"It wasn’t a gift, just a temporary loan." The War King waved his hand dismissively.

The Azure Emperor had relentlessly pestered him at the time, but he hadn’t relented. It was only after hearing that this Jiuzhou was an ancient sect that he finally agreed. He wanted to probe the true depths and foundations of the Jiuzhou Sect.

"In that case, without a comparable Magical Artifact, the new Emperor is in danger," the Red Emperor said from the side, shaking his head. "Aren’t you afraid that treating the new Emperor like this will chill his heart and drive him to join my Buren Empire?"

"Hmph," the War King scoffed coldly, saying no more.

High above, Shen Yun looked at the longsword and the Azure Emperor’s triumphant expression. Combined with Little Nine relaying the conversation between the Emperor Venerables below, he knew that this sword was far from simple. However, while it warranted caution, it wasn’t enough to make him worry.

"Do you think you’re the only one with a Magical Artifact?" Shen Yun raised his voice. "Let’s see how my sect’s Magical Artifacts fare!"

As soon as his words fell, a massive number of fully automated, computer-controlled anti-aircraft guns emerged from their hiding spots within the branch base below and the jungles of the surrounding mountains. Their cold, menacing muzzles moved in perfect unison.

Those Emperor Venerables, and even the crowd of spectators, noticed the change. A flash of confusion crossed their minds as they wondered what these things were.

"Hahaha, are you an idiot?" The Azure Emperor looked down and instantly burst into unbridled laughter. "Using ground-based arrays to deal with a Grandmaster in the sky? Even if this Emperor just stands here, what can you do? Can you even hit me?"

He had thought the other party would bring out some incredibly powerful weapon, but it was actually stationed on the ground? It was absolutely laughable.

It should be known that the attack range of a standard Magical Artifact was tied to the range of one’s Divine Thought. Setting aside whether an ordinary Cultivator at the Divine Thought Stage could even injure a Grandmaster, their maximum Divine Thought range was merely three to four hundred meters.

Even the Sword Emperor, who supported the Jiuzhou Sect, was somewhat stunned, especially when he realized there were no fluctuations of Spiritual Power coming from those protruding long metal barrels.

"Then just stand there," Shen Yun sneered.

The voice from the command center had already come through his earpiece; all anti-aircraft guns on the ground were ready. These were large-caliber artillery pieces exceeding one hundred millimeters, boasting an initial velocity approaching Mach 3 and an effective attack altitude of over ten thousand meters.

Combined with radar locking...

He thought, "You’d better not die all at once."

Shen Yun raised his hand and brought it down in a light swipe.

BANG BANG BANG!

The concussive roar of gunfire echoed across the ground. In an instant, all the Grandmasters were suddenly struck with terror!

They thought in horror, "So fast! What incredibly fast hidden weapons!"

They were impossible to track with the naked eye. Only Grandmaster Level Divine Thought could faintly perceive the horrifying speed at which these hidden weapons shot out of those metal barrels. It far surpassed even the movement speed of a peak Grandmaster! Even the Sword Emperor’s Human-Sword Unity Secret Technique couldn’t match half this speed!

The Azure Emperor couldn’t react in time at all, and the Soft Armor he wore automatically deployed its defenses. He only saw fist-sized bullets, wrapped in tremendous kinetic energy, shoot up from the ground in the blink of an eye. Tearing through the fierce winds, they viciously slammed into his Magical Artifact Defense Array. Every single strike produced a muffled blast of wind pressure, and some projectiles even pierced right up to his face before gradually slowing to a halt.

Terrified, he frantically channeled his full strength to power the treasured armor. His Spiritual Power was being consumed at an astonishing rate.

The Azure Emperor’s face turned incredibly ugly.

"They’re actually hidden weapons?! You’ve got to be kidding me!" he roared.

He began moving erratically in a frantic attempt to dodge the projectiles. Without his Spiritual Power defenses, simply taking a single one of them with his physical body would result in him being blown to pieces!

But he never would have imagined it. Hidden weapons?! They were hundreds of meters up in the air!

Forget the Azure Emperor—even the other Emperor Venerables felt an indescribable sense of shock. Mortal hidden weapons were considered a complete joke even when used against Cultivators at the Divine Thought Stage, let alone against Grandmasters.

That was because, under the scan of Divine Thought, there was nowhere for anything to hide.

But that was only true as long as they didn’t possess such terrifying speed!