Chapter 1027: One More Time

The battle between the Divine Daughter and the Demon Emperor, from a certain perspective, was a contest between two great powerhouses from this era and the previous one. However, that was not entirely accurate, because neither of them seemed capable of representing the strongest expert of their respective era.

But since it was a clash between Fuyun Realm powerhouses, no matter how weak it might be, it could not possibly be weak by much.

Autumn and Yu Xiyi had previously engaged in a brief contest of swords. Although Yu Xiyi had gained the upper hand, the battle had been too short. Moreover, while Yu Xiyi's sword dao cultivation was indeed impressive, his realm was ultimately... not that high.

Now that the Divine Daughter was drawing her sword, the spectacle was vastly more magnificent. Furthermore, because she came from the previous era, the sword dao she had learned differed from that of the sword cultivators of this age. Thus, although she and the Sword Sect's Sect Master were both Fuyun sword immortals, their swords were worlds apart.

The snow-white flying sword in the Divine Daughter's hand thrust out again and again. Each time she struck, it was as though a gust of wind and snow appeared between heaven and earth. After several sword strikes, despite the clear blue sky moments ago, the skies above the Divine Mountain were now filled with howling wind and snow.

It was as though heaven and earth had entered winter in an instant.

The Demon Emperor's vast demonic qi was suppressed and driven back little by little by that wind and snow. Yet in truth, that wind and snow was also sword qi. As it swept forward, it carried boundless killing intent. The razor-sharp sword qi effortlessly tore open the surrounding space. The Demon Emperor continued to gaze ahead with the same calm expression, but the flow of his demonic qi was no longer as smooth as before.

Having ruled over the Demon Domain for so many years, this ruler of myriad demons had long cultivated an aura that few others could possess - the bearing of one who stood supreme above all, invincible beneath heaven. Much of the time, this had nothing to do with cultivation realm and everything to do with one's status in the world.

With such bearing, one's opponents would inevitably feel a few extra degrees of apprehension when facing him.

Even now, when confronting a sword immortal whose killing power was as boundless as the Divine Daughter's, the Demon Emperor was not overly concerned.

However, the sword strike that the Divine Daughter unleashed next from within the wind and snow caused even the Demon Emperor to become serious.

As that sword slashed out, a dazzling line of sword qi appeared amid the wind and snow, stretching from left to right as a single line that split heaven and earth apart.

The entire world seemed slightly displaced at that moment, no longer existing as a seamless whole.

The Demon Emperor raised his eyebrows and no longer hesitated. Demonic qi surged and gathered behind him as a towering dharma form appeared between heaven and earth. Countless streams of demonic qi coiled around it. Standing between heaven and earth, the gigantic dharma idol brought with it endless pressure.

It was as though everything beneath heaven and earth had to bow its head before this immense dharma idol.

The Demon Emperor's gigantic dharma idol was slightly different from before. The hems of its robes were no longer a single expanse of black. Instead, countless demonic beasts were engraved upon them. At this moment, they seemed to have come alive, racing across the hems rather than remaining lifeless images.

The boundless demonic qi scattered from the dharma idol and spread throughout heaven and earth. Behind the dharma idol, there even seemed to be a faint river slowly flowing.

It was the Onan River, revered by the demon race as their mother river!

Chen Chao raised his head and watched this scene. Feeling the Demon Emperor's aura, his mood grew heavy. There was no need to say that the Demon Emperor's injuries had not fully recovered. Yet this lord of all demons truly lived up to his reputation as one of the great heroes of the age. In such a short period of time, he had improved again. Compared to when he had come to Ying Prefecture of the Great Liang, he was now even stronger.

Chen Chao sighed. For a figure like this, even advancing by half a step brought a terrifying increase in strength. That would only make him even harder to deal with in the future. But there were some truths Chen Chao understood and had to accept.

It had never been the case that only he could grow stronger while everyone else remained standing still.

The world was fair. It never stopped for the sake of any single person.

......

......

The Demon Emperor's towering dharma idol appeared in the world once more. Those terrifying currents of demonic qi seemed poised to swallow up the tiny Divine Daughter at any moment.

As for the Divine Daughter, she merely raised her head and looked at the towering dharma idol before narrowing her eyes and smiling, "So what if it's big?"

After saying this, the Divine Daughter said no more. She simply inverted her flying sword in her hand and shot straight up into the sky from where she stood. At the same time, the tip of her sword drew a long burning line across her path.

The Demon Emperor watched this without the slightest hesitation. The gigantic dharma idol behind him raised a hand and struck down at the Divine Daughter. Boundless demonic qi followed. The true scene was never merely the size of a single giant hand; rather, it looked as though a whole stretch of sky was collapsing. Beneath that hand, it felt as though... heaven itself had truly fallen!

The Divine Daughter stood beneath that expanse of black sky. She did not dodge. Instead, she formed a sword finger with her other hand and pointed upward. Instantly, countless streaks of sword light burst forth from her fingertip. It was as if, in that instant, innumerable flood dragons had appeared, twisting their bodies and crashing toward the sky.

The Demon Emperor remained indifferent and simply continued pressing his giant hand downward.

Before long, the two collided. The sword qi was quickly engulfed by demonic qi. From the outside, it appeared as though the demonic qi had instantly swallowed the Divine Daughter. But in truth, the demonic qi within that region had become so chaotic that the Demon Emperor had no choice but to change from a palm strike into a clenched fist, attempting to crush the Divine Daughter within his grasp.

However, forming a fist at this moment was not easy. There was too much sword qi inside, too heavy and too dense. The surface of the Demon Emperor's giant hand was already crisscrossed with deep grooves.

In some places, even white bone could be seen.

Even so, the Demon Emperor still tightened his grip indifferently, intending to crush this Divine Daughter to death in a single move.

But very soon, a streak of sword light suddenly erupted. With a thunderous boom, the Divine Daughter broke free from within the Demon Emperor's giant hand. The flying sword in her grasp still dragged that burning line as she pierced through the black cloud of condensed demonic qi, arriving before the massive head of the dharma idol.

At this moment, the Divine Daughter and the Demon Emperor's dharma idol head were at the same height. The two of them met each other's gaze.

One pair of eyes was filled with sword intent; the other was filled with demonic qi.

The Divine Daughter looked at the towering dharma idol and raised her flying sword.

That burning line stretched from below all the way upward, finally returning to the body of her sword.

Then a sword strike was delivered.

At that moment, all the sword qi between heaven and earth seemed to converge toward that flying sword.

Yu Xiyi had originally also sent out with a sword strike. But the moment he did so, he suddenly felt that his own sword qi was completely beyond his control, surging upward into the sky.

Autumn experienced the same feeling. The sword qi scattered around them, originally locked in fierce combat, suddenly all seemed to agree on something and surged upward in unison.

Sword qi was not all the same. Different sword qi belonged to different sword cultivators. Yet seeing all of it converging toward a single place still felt extremely strange.

Yu Xiyi and Autumn quickly withdrew. The two of them tacitly stopped attacking and instead looked up at that sword.

Yu Xiyi muttered, "What the hell is this?"

Even his own sword qi could be used by someone else? He had truly never heard of, nor ever seen, such a thing.

Yet now, it was happening right before his very eyes.

Autumn remained silent. She soon lowered her gaze and looked toward Chen Chao.

Chen Chao looked at her and teased, "Hurry and run. Your Demon Royal father is about to be defeated."

Autumn said nothing. She did not believe her royal father would lose. Although their relationship was not as good as before, she could still view things objectively. A cultivator as powerful as the Demon Emperor was already a step above most Fuyun Realm experts in the world. And now that he had advanced further, the gap had only widened.

Unless that Great Liang Emperor appeared again, any Fuyun Realm cultivator who came to fight the Demon Emperor would be met with unwavering confidence from Autumn that her royal father would win.

Of course, even if the Great Liang Emperor appeared, she would still stand by the Demon Emperor’s side. Even in death, she would remain with him.

“Chen Chao, do you think she can win my Royal Father?”

After a moment of silence, Autumn finally spoke. At this moment, there was no emotion in her voice. In truth... perhaps there still was, but it was buried so deeply that ordinary people would never be able to sense it.

Chen Chao said calmly, “From my point of view, if your Royal Father doesn’t lose, then I’ll have to lose my life here. Do you think she can beat him or not?”

Autumn frowned but said nothing.

After a faint smile, Chen Chao actually felt that the Demon Emperor’s defeat was already becoming a possibility.

Because at the moment that sword was sent forth, Chen Chao had sensed something. What surged into the sky at the same time was not only the sword qi of Yu Xiyi and Autumn, but also many other things.

Some indistinct strands of sword qi.

Since the Northern Frontier Divine Mountain had once been one of the four most powerful sects in the world during a certain era, there must have been extremely powerful existences within it. And among those powerful existences, there were certainly sword cultivators.

Many years ago, when those deities descended upon the world, the sword cultivators discovered them and naturally drew their swords without hesitation.

But their swords were not strong enough, and they were defeated.

The Northern Frontier Divine Mountain was destroyed. The vast majority of its cultivators died; it could even be said that all cultivators died except for the Divine Daughter. But the Divine Daughter still lived.

And as long as the Divine Daughter lived, many things still remained.

Among those things, would be some sword qi.

Over all those years, those sword qi had lain dormant throughout the Divine Mountain. They were like wandering spirits, perhaps still waiting for their sword masters.

Until one day, countless years later, someone drew a sword here.

The Divine Daughter possessed sword qi of the same origin as those sword masters, because they had once cultivated the same technique.

Thus, the moment that sword strike was unleashed, those sword qi awakened one after another and surged toward the sky.

They merged into that single sword strike.

Those sword qi did not seem to understand what had changed over the years. Perhaps they only remembered that their sword masters had once been locked in fierce battles and needed to send out one sword strike, then another...

So once the sword qi gathered completely, they did not hesitate in the slightest and simply swept forward.

They had no memory. They only thought they were still within that ancient battle, once again drawing their swords at those seemingly insurmountable deities.

Wave after wave of sword qi surged forward. The sword qi filling the sky had reached its peak. It could be said that at every moment, sword qi was everywhere.

For the first time, the Demon Emperor’s expressionless face finally showed some emotions. A trace of wariness finally appeared in his eyes.

He wanted to do something, but it seemed it was already too late.

Because that sword strike had already arrived.