The Nine Cauldrons

Book 10 Chapter 7 The Winner Takes All

“Swoosh!”

The Six Legged Bladelike Chi flew southward like a bolt of lightning. Teng Qingshan, who was standing on its back, could clearly sense the ‘black hole’ at the side dashing toward the Six Legged Bladelike Chi.

“Huhe, chase after Ah Chao! Quickly!” Pei San exclaimed as he landed on the back of the Six Legged Bladelike Chi.

“Bladelike Chi.”

Although Teng Qingshan did not sense the presence of the Sovereign of the Xiao Yao Palace, the Emptiness Realm Expert whom he was unfamiliar with, he did sense the presence of Li Chao. As such, he guided the Six Legged Bladelike Chi immediately. The Six Legged Bladelike Chi beat its two pair of two wings. Then when its speed reached a limit, a natural gas cover was produced at its back, protecting Teng Qingshan and Pei San from the strong wind.

The buildings below flashed by.

Flying past mountains, plains, and rivers, Teng Qingshan could clearly sense Li Chao and another unfamiliar aura.

“They went underground.” Teng Qingshan smiled.

Digging was what the Six Legged Bladelike Chi was best at. At this time, the Six Legged Bladelike Chi had already discover the presence of Li Chao and another unfamiliar Emptiness Realm Expert. Therefore, it was able to chase after the unfamiliar aura without Teng Qingshan’s guidance.

“Haha, you white-browed bastard! Do you think you can catch me? Take his.” Covered in a full-body armor, the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace wore a helmet which only revealed his face. The silver-white hair on his temple could be seen faintly, and his eyes appeared fierce. At this moment, he dove underground rapidly.

“Hmph. Bastard Ding, you will not escape this time.”

With his whole body glowing with light, Li Chao rushed underground.

Underground, the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace’s entire body glittered with green light. He tore through the earth, dashing swiftly. Li Chao’s entire being seemed to have transformed into a trenchant sword as he drilled underground… In terms of the drilling speed, the two people had reached the maximum drilling speed of an Emptiness Realm Expert.

In light of what had occurred previously, the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace would drill wildly into the ground after launching an attack.

Was Li Chao supposed to chase him forever?

Indeed, it was a competition of endurance.

Li Chao would eventually give up when he knew that he could not catch up. By that time, the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace would have succeeded once again.

“White-browed bastard, how many days do you plan to chase after me this time? Three days? Or ten days? I don’t care. I have all the time in the world to play this game with you.” The Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace repeatedly drilled into the earth. From his previous experiences, he had to drill at least seventy to eighty Li underground so that Li Chao, who was chasing from behind, wouldn’t be able to contact the people above the ground.

Right at this moment…

The facial expression of the Sovereign of the Xiao Yao Palace changed drastically.

“Old bastard, you can still laugh?” Li Chao smirked and asked with the use of the Sound Transmission Technique.

“To think that you… you all actually asked an earth-drilling demonic beast for help.” The old Sovereign knew that the situation had turned bad for him. Initially, he had already discovered auras of three other Emptiness Realm Experts within his domain. He had also noticed there was a demonic beast that flew at an extremely rapid speed. However, he didn’t care about it in the beginning because he assumed that all flying demonic beasts were bad at drilling underground.

This was why the Godly Thunderbolt Eagle had been unable to catch him. Demonic Beasts that could be compared with Godly Beasts such as the Undying Phoenix were too rare in number.

Therefore, he hadn’t cared.

However—

Now, the Six Legged Bladelike Chi was digging underground at an incredibly fast speed. Its drilling speed was much faster than that of the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace and Li Chao.

“Why? Do you think we will let you kill the elites of the Heavenly God Palace again and again?” Li Chao sneered as he said with the use of the Sound Transmission Technique, “Old Bastard, today will be your doomsday!”

“Haha…”

The arrogant laughter of the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace rang in the ears of Teng Qinghan, Pei San, and Li Chao. Simultaneously, the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace changed his direction of escape and actually headed toward the encampment of the Heavenly God Palace located on the surface of the ground.

……

“Rumble!”

The Six Legged Bladelike Chi instantly passed through the burning hot magma like a giant electric drill, piercing through the rock layers and rushing toward the ground above.

“We have gone back and forth. This is the second time we have drilled past the magma.”

The magma didn’t touch Teng Qingshan’s body at all. However, the high temperatures still made Teng Qingshan and Pei San uncomfortable. Pei San’s body radiated streams of light, and gusts of cold air pervaded the air, lowering the temperature.

“He’s there!”

Teng Qingshan and Pei San both grinned.

The Six Legged Bladelike Chi’s speed was amazing. Even though the distance between them had been quite far at the beginning and even though the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace had gone all the way around when he changed his direction… the Six Legged Bladelike Chi still managed to catch up to him very quickly.

Six Li… four Li… two Li……

“Swoosh!”

By the time the soil and stones up ahead flew up, Teng Qingshan had already sensed that the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace was up ahead.

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

The two sharp and huge spikes on the Six Legged Bladelike Chi’s limbs, which had been drilling the earth, suddenly shot out with a powerful force. The Six Legged Bladelike Chi was controlling the two sharp spikes with its full force. These two spikes were able to penetrate even the skin of the Shooting Sun Heavenly Wolf. If a normal Emptiness Realm expert did not use a weapon to block or defend using a Godly Armor, his body would definitely be pierced through.

“Clang! Clang!”

Unexpectedly, Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace actually did not block these two spikes. Instead, he adjusted the direction his body was facing and let the two sharp spikes pierce into his back.

“Bang!”

Using the strong power of the sharp spikes, the Xiao Yao Palace Lord’s speed increased drastically, rushing above ground rapidly.

“This guy is so cruel. He’s not even scared that his Godly Armor will break.” Pei San laughed.

“Roar!” The Six Legged Bladelike Chi raged.

“Swoosh!”

Increasing its speed once again, this time the Bladelike Chi did not shoot out its spikes. Instead, its huge body rushed to the front of the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace.

……

“To think that this Heavenly God Palace borrowed such a strong demonic beast whose digging speed is so impressive…” The brows of the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace twitched continually. Just when he was about to reach right below the encampment of the Heavenly God Palace—

“Boom!”

A terrifying demonic beast that seemed to have been made with black metal swung its huge bladelike arms toward the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace. There were a total of six blades!

“What is this?!” The Sovereign was so frightened that his complexion paled.

“Bang!”

He could barely block three blades with one sword. The Sovereign managed to defend his face and vital parts of his body while trying to dodge the other three blades. However, the Six Legged Bladelike Chi’s arms were too long. Even when the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace tried to dodge, the longest blade still cut his waist, smashing him into the mud.

This smash sent the Sovereign downward at an extremely fast speed, allowing Li Chao who was below, Teng Qingshan who had already left the Six Legged Bladelike Chi’s back, and Pei San to instantly encircle the old Sovereign.

“Old thief Ding, you can’t run now.” Li Chao glared at him coldly.

“You old thief, you sure are brave,” Pei San said as he looked at the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace. “You attacked my Heavenly God Palace’s disciples again and again. You really aren’t afraid to die.”

Teng Qingshan remained silent as he stood at the side with the Six Legged Bladelike Chi, staring at the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace who was trapped beyond hope of rescue.The old Sovereign was donned in a thick suit of armor, a pair of war boots, and a helmet. His face radiated a healthy and rosy glow, and his entire body looked very strong. At this moment, his eyes flashed like lightning, revealing no sign of despondency.

“Chi~~”

The Power of the Heavens and the Earth, which enveloped the bodies of the Emptiness Realm Experts, pushed the dirt around. It opened up a space, creating an underground cave.

“Fear death?” The voice of the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace boomed, “I already died when my Xiao Yao Palace was destroyed!”

The old Sovereign immediately sneered and stared at Pei San and Li Chao. He then shot a glance at Teng Qingshan and said, “Hmph. As expected, the Heavenly God Palace has many Emptiness Realm Experts. I see another unfamiliar one.

“The descendants of Xiao Yao Palace are hiding everywhere in the Land of the Nine Prefectures. While they hide, I, the old one, will only cause them trouble. I am of no use now.” The old Sovereign sneered and scanned the several people in the surrounding. “Since I am useless and can only live for another couple of decades, I might as well do some enjoyable things.

“How does it feel to lose so many disciples? It must have pained you.” The Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace laughed coldly.

Li Chao’s expression turned cold.

The cunning Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace had been attacking the Heavenly God Palace for several months, causing them to lose many Innate Experts. One of the Innate Experts who died had been Li Chao’s disciple.

Training a good disciple was not easy, and Li Chao wanted to pass down his sword techniques to his disciple.

“You are considered prodigy,” Pei San said with a smile as he looked at the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace. “As the last Emptiness Realm expert of Xiao Yao Palace, your performance was not bad. Although your revenge were embarrassing, it was the revenge that caused my Heavenly God Palace’s greatest loss. Alright, you have spoken a lot. Now is the time for you to die.”

“I would like to see how strong an Insightful Emptiness expert is.” The Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace dashed out in rage. His sword instantly multiplied into thousands, making it hard to differentiate which sword was the real one.

Pei San did not use any weapons; he only moved his right palm. His palm was white as suet jade.

However…

He flipped his palm, and it immediately became the Seal of the Heavens and the Earth, smashing the illusions of the sword.

“Boom!” The surrounding dirt and stones exploded outward, and the strong force of air blasted into existence a super huge cave which was at least thirty meters wide. It caused even the buildings above ground to be shaken. Some houses were shaken until they caved in.

“Ah.”

Pei San’s jade-like palm accurately smacked onto the real sword. The Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace groaned painfully, releasing the Godly Sword from his hand. His palm was covered with cuts, and blood was gushing out. The impact had cracked his palm. However, Pei San’s palm seemed to have teleported as it then immediately appeared before the Sovereign’s chest.

“Ah!” The Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace shook fiercely.

The Godly Armor did not receive even the slightest damage.

“Pu.” Yet the old Sovereign just spat out his crushed intestines. He stared at Pei San with wide eyes and said, “Just as I expected, you are powerful. I lost after only one move against you. You’re managing to kill me without damaging the Godly Armor. I do admire you, the Insightful Emptiness Realm Expert. I admire you,” the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace said with blood oozing out of his mouth.

The vitality of a Emptiness Realm expert was even more impressive than an Internal Martial expert who had just stepped into the Grandmaster Realm.

Even after their body died, their powerful ‘Spirit’ could still hold up for a while. They would only die immediately if a sword pierced through their Niwan Palace, which was located in between the brows.

“Ah, ah…” The face of the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace instantly turned red as he roared out loud, “Heavenly God Palace, my Xiao Yao Palace will rise again! The one who will destroy Heavenly God Palace will be the successor of Xiao Yao Palace!” While yelling, the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace glared until the corners of his eyes seemed to tear. Then he took one last breath and no longer made any sounds.

His entire body collapsed onto the dirt.

“If someone is able to destroy the Heavenly God Palace in the future, then that means that person is more powerful. However, today, the heavenly God Palace is the powerful one,” Pei San said as he smiled and walked over. “It’s just the rule that the winner takes all!”

Pei San then opened up the Godly Armor. As he did that, he frowned and said, “As expected, this old bastard only wore the outer Godly Armor. He didn’t wear the inner Godly Armor or the vambrace.”

“Ah Chao,” Pei San called out.

“Teacher.” Li Chao stepped forward immediately.

“Even though this Godly Armor is incomplete, you can keep it. At least this Godly Armor is not bad,” said Pei San.

Li Chao nodded and walked up immediately. A light was already appearing in Li Chao’s palm, and the corpse of the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace was rendered into dust. The dust particles flowed away like sand, leaving behind just a helmet, the Godly Armor, and a pair of boots.

Teng Qingshan watched this scene silently with the words that Pei San just said echoing in his heart—“It’s just the rule that the winner takes all!”