Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts

Chapter 2496 Heaven Shrouding Mirror

Long Chen had never encountered an attack while actually being on the staircase path. The bone blade came out of nowhere and was deathly silent before suddenly erupting right as it was about to strike them. A berserk and violent aura exploded. It was vaguely possible to see runes interweaving atop the blade.

Long Chen’s heart turned cold. Due to being with Sovereign Yun Shang, his guard had dropped quite a bit. He didn’t even have his divine ring or battle armor summoned. He gripped Evilmoon tightly.

However, before he could attack, Sovereign Yun Shang extended a hand. The bone blade suddenly stopped in the air, caught by his hand.

Long Chen jumped in shock. That terrifying blade was easily caught by Sovereign Yun Shang’s bare hand, and Long Chen didn’t even sense his aura fluctuating, meaning that doing this had not taken any effort.

Sovereign Yun Shang pressed with his thumb. Long Chen saw a flash of light appear on it.

The blade snapped. With another wave of his hand, the void was torn open, and a figure was shattered by the broken blade.

Another bone blade suddenly appeared. The shattered blade in Sovereign Yun Shang’s hand disintegrated, and he grabbed the new bone blade with his bare hand once more.

“Long Chen, look closely at his movements,” whispered Evilmoon.

He didn’t need Evilmoon’s reminder. He was already staring at Sovereign Yun Shang’s technique with rapt attention.

The second bone blade was caught and broken in the same manner as the first. He then turned the broken blade back onto its wielder.

This time, Long Chen saw the attacker. It was a strange lifeform with no flesh or blood. It was a skeleton that looked a bit like a hunchback. There was a long tail bone on its back.

This strange lifeform had its broken blade slice into its head. He saw a red light flicker when they touched.

BOOM!

The lifeform shattered, turning to dust. Long Chen was awed. This strange lifeform was actually very powerful, and if it was him, he would need to use his full power to block it. But Sovereign Yun Shang killed them with a wave of his hand.

“Did you see it?” asked Evilmoon.

“No. I saw five different auras on his fingers in that one instant, but it was too quick for me to grasp. His five fingers represent metal, wood, water, fire, and earth energies. It was originally his pinkie finger that had the metal energy on it, but when he pressed with his thumb, the metal energy transferred to his thumb. The other energies also shifted in that moment, but I couldn’t see how,” said Long Chen, his heart pounding.

This technique was far too abstruse. With his vision, he was only able to see the surface. The actual technicalities of the technique completely escaped him.

Even if he did grasp it though, it would be useless. Who in this world was capable of controlling metal, wood, water, fire, and earth energy? At the very least, Long Chen had never encountered such a person.

Amongst all the people he had encountered, the maximum he had seen was someone who could control three kinds of energy, but that person ended up being very ordinary in terms of talent, because amongst those three kinds of energy, there was a conflict between two, resulting in countless barricades to his cultivation.

That was why the majority of cultivators only controlled one kind of energy. Specialization was most important. Rather than being proficient in ten types, being a master of one was better. This truth had not changed from ancient times to now.

This was a kind of talent that others could not learn. What Long Chen was trying to see was not how Sovereign Yun Shang controlled the circulation in his five elemental energy but how he fought.

In Long Chen’s view, Sovereign Yun Shang had used some kind of technique to break the bone blade, not brute power. The power within his hand was circulating in a complete cycle. He was in full control of that cycle and able to use its power at will.

More bone blades appeared in midair, and Sovereign Yun Shang shattered them, returning them to their owners.

“This…” Long Chen was shocked to find that even though those other lifeforms defended, none of their defenses had any effect. Sovereign Yun Shang easily shattered their blades and killed them.

“This bastard treated me just like this back then!” raged Evilmoon hatefully. “When he attacked, I had clearly blocked him, but somehow my defense was completely useless.”

This was an inexplicable technique. Evilmoon had suffered from it as well, and even now it didn’t understand it.

Those lifeforms were quickly killed one by one. Long Chen followed closely behind Sovereign Yun Shang, watching with amazement.

If Sovereign Yun Shang were to attack him, how would he defend against it? Just thinking about it gave him a chill. His attacks seemed to contain a spacetime law. When you blocked it, his attack would no longer be there. The moment his attack appeared, it was like it had already landed.

Furthermore, his movements seemed ephemeral. It didn’t seem like he was using any of his power at all. His energy was concentrated perfectly to explode only when needed. Those lifeforms were like porcelain that was smashed by a hammer, instantly shattering on contact with him.

“Long Chen, whether or not you can comprehend this, you have to remember it. For Yun Shang to repeat this technique over and over again must have some deeper meaning. He is probably trying to transmit something to you but is unable to use words to teach you. You have to do your best,” warned Evilmoon. Although Evilmoon hated Yun Shang, a defeat was a defeat. Even if it had lost, there were still some things that it could admire about Yun Shang.

Sovereign Yun Shang’s footsteps didn’t pause. The staircase behind them gradually vanished.

Long Chen wanted to ask how Sovereign Yun Shang had managed to retreat to the eighth level with the path behind them gone.

BOOM!

The final lifeform was killed, and the final step appeared in front of them.

“You should lead the way now. There’s a barrier up ahead that blocked me many times,” said Sovereign Yun Shang.

Long Chen nodded and stepped forward. When he reached that step, divine light covered him.

Long Chen’s divine ring and Five Star Battle Armor automatically activated.

As the divine light scoured his body, his divine ring spun faster and faster. His astral spaces trembled. Long Chen felt like some kind of energy was investigating him.

Long Chen was a bit nervous. He didn’t know whether or not he could open this door. He had never been confident in his good luck.

Suddenly, the divine light vanished. A giant door materialized before him and slowly opened.

“As expected, this opportunity is for you. Let’s go.” Sovereign Yun Shang smiled and walked in together with Long Chen.

When they walked in, Long Chen found himself in a transparent space. Stars flickered around them as if they were standing in the middle of the cosmos.

There was a platform beneath their feet floating within this cosmos. Standing within this place made Long Chen feel incredibly miniscule.

“It’s actually the Heaven Shrouding Mirror. No wonder so many people would die for it.” Sovereign Yun Shang nodded.

He reached out toward the air. The air fluctuated violently, and then a giant circular mirror appeared.

The mirror’s outer ring spun while the interior didn’t change. It reflected Long Chen, but Long Chen was surprised to see that there was no Yun Shang within its reflection.

“I’m already dead. The Heaven Shrouding Mirror can only reflect the past and future of the living,” said Sovereign Yun Shang. “The Heaven Shrouding Mirror is a heaven-defying divine item. It is outside the scope of the laws of heaven and earth. Here, you can divine your past and future. But as a cultivator, it is taboo to see your future, so instead you can try to divine your techniques with the most potential to see how you can develop them. It’s too bad I didn’t have this chance, or my Nine Heaven Ten Earth Severing Celestial Art might have reached true perfection.”

A trace of sorrow and regret appeared within Sovereign Yun Shang’s eyes as if he was a bit envious of Long Chen.

“It can allow me to see how a magical art can be developed?” asked Long Chen.

“Yes, because it is not limited by the laws of heaven and earth. It is something that shuttles through the past and the future. It has its own miraculous abilities. Think hard about what your strongest technique is. You’ll only have one chance,” warned Sovereign Yun Shang.

“How do I do it?”

“Walk into the mirror and display your technique.”

Long Chen excitedly stepped forward. In front of the mirror, he felt like he was in a spacetime tunnel. Divine light streaked around him as if he was moving.

“Five Star Battle Armor!”

Spacetime streaked around him. Light grew stronger and stronger, and a divine ring appeared. Five stars lit up within the divine ring.

Long Chen’s heart pounded. If he could uncover the secrets of the nine stars, that truly would be an immense surprise. The Nine Star Hegemon Body Art was not something to be cultivated normally. He was still unsure if he was cultivating it correctly.

If he could understand the entirety of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, he wouldn’t need to grope around in the dark. He might even be able to quicken the speed at which he unlocked the nine stars.

A sixth star slowly appeared within the divine ring. Long Chen was delighted. It seemed that the Heaven Shrouding Mirror really could develop the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art.

However, the void suddenly shuddered. A terrifying sensation of death filled Long Chen from head to toe. He instinctively retreated.

Although he had retreated from the Heaven Shrouding Mirror, the divine ring inside of it exploded, and a torrential deluge of majestic power crashed down on Long Chen. Even before it touched him, the pressure caused his body to crack.

“Not good!” Long Chen was horrified. He didn’t know what kind of power this was, but he knew that if it touched him, not even ten thousand lives would be enough. Most terrifying of all, this power had locked onto him.

Just at this moment, Sovereign Yun Shang’s hand slammed into the torrent. Millions of swords of light shot out, slicing through the restrictions of space and time, stabbing through the surrounding stars.