Chapter 1547: Divine Sword
The sun sank into the horizon as the sky darkened. An intense battle culminated on the battlefield.
Millions of asura sprawled out on the vast land, yet it was different from the most basic charge that Li Qingshan had led during the battle in the Demon domain.
The asura engaged in a violent slaughter in every valley, on every hill, on every plain.
Some stood on the mountains, wielding bows and raining down with arrows. Some stood at the front of the lines, fully clad in armour and taking land with each step they took. Some moved through the battlefield freely, wielding daggers and taking lives elusively.
Even when they sustained more wounds than they could count, with broken body parts filling the air, they continued to battle away.
They were not fighting alone or in bravado. Instead, they coordinated together constantly, such that the army qi gathered and changed, condensing to fend off the enemy and dispersing to gather strength, doing its best to create an advantageous situation.
No other war in no other world came close to this. Even the old soldiers that spent many years fighting in the Demon domain would not be able to imagine a battle like this.
It was like two war machines of extreme precision colliding together madly and grinding against one another.
The principle that an army was like water, without a fixed form, manifested to the extreme here. Within the intensity and fervency lay high levels of rationality.
Taking advantage of the fact that Nidaum was far too busy right now, Rāhu Xiaoming reigned over the battlefield temporarily.
However, everyone involved, including him, was aware that the outcome of the battle did not come down to what happened here, but what happened in the sky.
He had been paying attention to the battle in the sky the entire time too. Despite being a god in the past, he was still left amazed by the rate of Li Qingshans progress, as well as the talent he demonstrated in battle.
He's basically a natural-born, perfect asura. If he wasn't born in the Human realm, but the Asura realm, he wouldn't be much different from now even if he never met that person!
Logically speaking, confronting a Battle God as an Origin Soul was no different from confronting death itself.
Rāhu Xiaoming had still decided to seek help from him purely out of a form of trust. That was not some kind of emotion or tether, but trust from one warrior to another.
Under the circumstances that their cultivations were identical, Li Qingshan would never be defeated by anyone!
The glow of the setting sun dimmed as the great winds dispersed the smoke.
In the dark-red sky, a round moon rose up behind Li Qingshan. His loose, black hair was like a wild beast's mane. His face was dark from the shadows, but his eyes were like coals, shining brightly. He overlooked the entire battlefield before concentrating on Nidaum.
Only the divine eye on his forehead remained shut, to rest and recompose!
Under the pressing gaze of the pair of eyes, Nidaum did not dare to strike carelessly for the moment. What he feared the most was that closed divine eye.
As he caught his breath, he controlled the Divine Fire of World Destruction in his body, and only then did the hole in his chest begin to heal.
Suddenly, Li Qingshan sucked in a deep breath. The great winds whistled, turning into two tornados, sucked into his nostrils. It surged into his newly-regenerated lungs, making his chest heave into the air.
Then his heart recovered, thumping away like a war drum and delivering blood throughout his body. His strength recovered bit by bit until he returned to his top form.
Suddenly, he let out a roar at the sky, filled with spirit!
His long hair danced as his aura rapidly climbed up, burning like fire, spreading like clouds, filling the entire sky and swallowing the entire region like a tiger.
The battlefield fell silent. Regardless of which side they were on, they all looked up.
"Come!"
The killing intent and surging murderousness condensed into the form of a tiger, lunging towards Nidaum!
Nidaum sneered, vanishing into the space there.
Li Qingshan's eyes narrowed. He rushed ahead and a hand suddenly protruded out from the space behind him with a series of overlapping afterimages.
If Li Qingshan had not responded fast enough, he would have lost his heart again.
"Hmph, you can't use the same trick against me twice!"
He turned around, raised the flames, condensed the weapons, and swung down—all in a single stroke!
The six pitch-black blades of divine fire shot towards the hand at the same time, but they only struck a string of blurs.
"Really? That's the same with me."
Nidaum emerged from the space there with a trail of blurs. He moved around randomly against all logic, sometimes sideways and sometimes back and forth, such that it was completely impossible to grasp his movements. He seemed to be strolling leisurely, yet he moved even faster than Li Qingshan, approaching him inch by inch, step by step.
One of them advanced as the other retreated. They were like a pair of comets with linked tails sailing over the battlefield, landing in a distant marsh.
Nidaum's hands did not even seem like they were connected to his arms anymore. They bloomed like lotus flowers, fluttering about like butterflies, shaking off a net of blades woven from the six blades of divine fire.
Within the clinks and clatters, black fire blazed, but it was unable to touch him at all.
Li Qingshan was aware of the drastic difference between their physiques. He possessed no chance at victory at all when it came down to close combat. His hands would be snapped and crushed in an instant.
"Your divine eye must require a very long time to recover after a use! You've already used it once earlier. If you can't end the battle after the second time, then heh!"
Nidaum behaved like victory was within his grasp. He suddenly crushed one of the blades of divine fire and ripped off Li Qingshan's arm in the process too.
Boom!
The comets landed in the marsh. Before the ripples had even spread properly, they already approached the bottom of the lake, leaving Li Qingshan with no more room to retreat!
"Shut your mouth. You're not a fucking Saint from Saint Seiya!"
Li Qingshan bellowed furiously. The divine eye opened!
The world suddenly lost its colour, along with its shapes and even qualities.
It was as if he had returned to the Formless realm. All he could see were criss-crossing laws of the world. What constantly pressed towards him before his eyes was not some Asura Battle God, but a highly-dense gathering of rapidly-revolving laws.
So-called cultivators and so-called gods had never been some special group of existences that had "leapt beyond the three realms, no longer bound by the five elements". They were always a part of the laws of the world.
Whether it was their powers or their lives, it all came from the world.
Most importantly, these laws themselves were an illusion too.
The great Dao took no shape or form. For the sake of understanding of cultivators, for the sake of differentiation for gods, they called it the three thousand Dao.
All references, all names, and all laws were just bridges to approach the "great Dao".
"All is formless."
Li Qingshan sat in the lotus position with his six arms extended, forming different seals. His long, loose hair was tied up behind his head. His eyes reflected the tranquil moonlight and ripples of water, like he had achieved enlightenment right before death. He demonstrated benignity towards the world, manifesting as Śaṇkara.
That was one of the six most important manifestations of Maheśvara, symbolising sacrifice. It was also known as the Disintegration of the Devaputra-māra.
Before Nidaum's hands had even reached his body, the undying body of asura turned to ash, only leaving behind the vertical eye.
He poured all of his powers and all of his hopes into the divine eye.
At that instant, all of Nidaum's afterimages vanished. He could not help but raise his head in shock.
He had no idea what the "Saint from Saint Seiya" that Li Qingshan mentioned was, but the threat was clearly much greater than earlier. He felt like he had fallen into a cavern of ice and was on the verge of death.
He could actually use the observations of Mānas-vijñāna to directly interfere with his movement technique and remove his afterimages.
Damn it, just what kind of monster have I encountered with this rate of growth!?
"Be destroyed!" Li Qingshan murmured.
As a result, a black "gaze" shot straight towards Nidaum.
He rapidly retreated, but the "gaze" stared at him. He hid into space, but the "gaze" continued to stare at him.
Despite being a Battle God, he was as helpless as a mortal trying to avoid someone's gaze.
The black "gaze" had already pierced everything. What it would leave behind this time would definitely be much more than a hole.
"This move truly is terrifying! It really is the Divine Fire of World Destruction that incinerated Tripura after all!"
Nidaum sighed. Suddenly, he equipped, a small, delicate shield, raising his hand and blocking with it.
Crack! A fracture appeared on the buckler that was as smooth as a mirror.
Boom!
Before the ripple could even reach the edges of the marsh, the Divine Fire of World Destruction vapourised the entire place.
At the bottom of the dry lakebed, Nidaum stood unscathed, mocking Li Qingshan. "It's over!"
Asura did not use arcane treasures. What they used were the most basic of weapons and armour, which were also known as asura armaments. Perhaps they did not have as many wondrous functions as arcane treasures. Their power often differed with the user, not only incapable of granting strength to the weak instantly, but even devouring their wielder most of the time.
However, no one doubted the destructive and defensive power of these weapons. The buckler that Nidaum wielded was a true asura armament, an armament of gods.
The stream of Divine Fire of World Destruction targeted Nidaum's opening, which was blocked by the shield, so it lost the ability to destroy everything.
Li Qingshan was taken aback. "You motherfucker, that's far too shameless!" You can't win so you whip out a weapon?
"Asura armements have always been a part of asura!"
Nidaum said that as he equipped a set of light armour and drew a katar. He was now fully equipped.
Even without looking, Li Qingshan knew the sword and armour were the strongest of weapons.
Meanwhile, not only was he empty-handed, but he had even sacrificed his undying body of asura and used up all of the power in his Origin Soul.
No matter how powerful the Divine Fire of World Destruction was, it was no longer possible for him to land a strike on Nidaum through the shield and armour, while a gentle swing of the katar was enough to split his Origin Soul in half.
Li Qingshan responded quickly. "We can talk things through!"
"You want to run? It's already too late! Otherwise, I'll be the one dying the next time we meet!"
Nidaum had truly been frightened by Li Qingshan's deviant growth rate a little, while the Divine Fire of World Destruction left him shaking in his boots. If that strike had landed earlier, his undying body of asura might have collapsed instantly.
If Li Qingshan's "eyesight" was a little sharper and his "gaze" was a little stronger, it might have even been possible to render rebirth impossible, completely killing him for good.
If he did not eliminate this latent source of trouble, he would not be able to find any peace!
"I hope you don't rebirth, or I'll have to hunt you down until you die."
He raised his katar and swung down, producing a series of afterimages that were difficult to distinguish. However, it sealed off all of Li Qingshan's paths of retreat.
However, Li Qingshan did not choose to flee at a time like this. Instead, he fished out a wine skin from somewhere and took a large swig before fishing out an ancient bronze sword from somewhere.
With a clang, he drew the sword from its sheath!
The two swords collided—the katar broke!
Nidaum widened his eyes as his mouth hung open. He raised his buckler instinctively to block—the shield shattered!
Nidaum looked like he was dreaming. In a daze, he watched as the inconspicuous sword landed on his body—the armour cracked!
Li Qingshan's expression was extremely strange and exaggerated as well. He had only just remembered that he also possessed a weapon. His swordsmanship was a little rusty, but it was enough to serve the purpose at this time.
Who would have thought that the weapon would cut through asura armaments like they were paper.
Blood spurted and Nidaum dropped down to his knees. His throat gurgled as blood surged forward. His life was already over.
The sword's destructive power completely exceeded the regenerative power of the undying body of asura, and it did not unleash destruction at a vital point like the Divine Fire of World Destruction. He had been completely and utterly crushed in an open confrontation.
"W... what... is that sword!?"
Li Qingshan shrugged. "Who the hell knows?" Then he sighed. "Saddam, oh Saddam, I told you already. Stop talking bullshit mid-battle. Stop talking bullshit mid-battle. Why didn't you just listen? You even have such a shitty name!"
Nidaum wanted to say, My name is not Saddam, but with a great surge of blood, he collapsed on the ground, dying in regret.