Chapter 771: [Daoless Heavens]
Right after they saw an opening, they delivered killing blows toward at each other. The one that was able to grab hold of this change would be the winner!
The [Tai Chi Art] lit up, imbuing Zhong Yue with a sudden surge of strength. He flung his saber forward before his eight arms emerged and drew totem patterns on the saber hilt with his forty fingers, creating an innate totem pattern into the saber with each flick of the finger.
He did all of this in a blink of an eye. His saber flew at lightning speed after being flicked forty times straight; with each flick, Zhong Yue imbued additional changes into his saber that allowed it to turn into a bell, zither, tower, a pillar and much more. With the forty additional changes, Zhong Yue's saber forcefully destroyed young Lei Zhe's technique and in the final change, Zhong Yue's saber was swung onto young Lei Zhe with the utmost simplicity.
At the same time, the young Lei Zhe who also saw an opening in Zhong Yue attacked at a much slower pace than Zhong Yue. But its attack, however, was extremely heavy as he condensed everything into his palms.
As he swung his palms, the young Lei Zhe's thunderous technique shook the heaven and trembled the earth and Zhong Yue immediately felt that along with his body and Yuan Shen, the dimension around him was sliced and diced into endless pieces!
Then, the duo's attack struck and crushed each other's attack respectively before landing on their target.
When Zhong Yue's innate saber swung, it landed onto young Lei Zhe's head, and after a saber zing, the innate dragon horn on young Lei Zhe's head was severed.
His saber continued downwards towards the innate dragon scale. After a sharp sound, a few scales were cut off, but the power within the saber was completely blocked by young Lei Zhe"s immensely strong body.
Meanwhile, when young Lei Zhe's attack landed onto Zhong Yue, blood gushed out from Zhong Yue's body right away and his Yuan Shen was cut into a few thousand pieces!
Though it seemed like his body and Yuan Shen was severed into tiny pieces, they were actually still intact, and with Zhong Yue's immortal body, they would be recovered in no time. In truth however, after being sliced apart with the dimension, they were scattered into different tiny pieces dimensions and each piece was far apart from each other, making it impossible to recover.
Xin Huo's heart skipped a beat and he murmured, "Zhong Yue's lost...."
Though Zhong Yue severed young Lei Zhe's innate dragon horn and cut the innate dragon scales apart, he failed to kill his foe but the young Lei Zhe had completely sliced Zhong Yue's body and Yuan Shen apart, even hiding them in different dimensions.
With one party merely injuring his opponent and the other now had his foes complete mercy, the result was clear.
Suddenly, the young Lei Zhe dispersed his skill that sliced the dimension apart, Zhong Yue felt the pressure applied on him vanish and his body and Yuan Shen immediately reattached themselves to each other.
Zhong Yue turned despondent right away but he, however, accepted and admitted his defeat with honor, he said, "I've lost."
"No, you passed." said young Lei Zhe calmly.
Zhong Yue and Xin Huo stunned and they both shouted at once, "Passed?"
Young Lei Zhe looked at the innate dragon horn lying quietly on the ground which suddenly turned into a thunderbolt, and flew back to his hand along with the scales.
"Like I said, you've passed. The test was to test your techniques and your talent. Throughout the fight, I will leave an opening on purpose and if you saw it and attacked it, you pass."
Young Lei Zhe said, "Si Ming too, broke my horn and passed, which means you have also passed this test."
"An opening on purpose?" Zhong Yue shouted after he recollected his thoughts, "You left that opening on purpose?"
Young Lei Zhe nodded and answered with surprise, "You can't possibly think that I would run out of moves just like that?"
Zhong Yue's mind went blank right away.
But it was just like as young Lei Zhe said. As an innate god bred by the heaven and earth, young Lei Zhe had every heaven-gifted advantage. He was immortal and time held no meaning to him. After existing in this universe for an extremely long time, he witnessed the rise and the fall of many paragons and had lived through the reigns of numerous Heavenly Monarchs.
How would it be possible that someone like him failed to see through Zhong Yue's moves?
Young Lei Zhe said, "Whatever I displayed just now were merely how much I knew when I was at your level. I will rate you depending on how much you learned in this battle and if you are able to stand your ground against me. Such is the rule of the Ancient Lei Zhe Realm ever since the ancient times. Your experience was the same as all those who have passed before you."
Suddenly, Zhong Yue interrupted and asked, "Did they defeat you?"
Young Lei Zhe placed his hands behind his back and replied proudly, "No, no one will ever defeat me in this stage regardless of how talented they are, when they are at the Imminent Deity level, they are limited by their knowledge and experiences. This thus prevents them from drawing out their maximum potential. I am undefeatable and no one will even be able to stand his ground against me when I use my full strength unless the person has the knowledge and experiences of a Heavenly Monarch."
Zhong Yue couldn't help but admire young Lei Zhe and he asked again, "What is the test that lies within 81st level?"
"You've passed this test, as for the next test, you will know when you get there," replied young Lei Zhe smilingly.
Zhong Yue nodded before proceeding to treat his wounds and restore his condition before he departed for the 81st level.
On the 81st Lei Zhe, a tree seen towering in the midst of billowing Chaotic Qi. The Chaotic Qi was incredibly heavy and terrifying, being able to stagnate the flow of air around them. Meanwhile, the Innate Divine Tree rooted itself on the soil formed by condensed Chaotic Qi with the Innate Dao Fruits hanging in between the leaves.
These were the fruits made of the purest Innate Dao. Before Zhong Yue even got any closer to the tree, the various voices of the Dao coming from each unique Innate Dao Fruit had already blessed his soul.
Even the Innate Divine Tree's leaves were showing different patterns, the linings and patterns were each a different and unique Dao.
Whereas the tree crown was formed by the countless leaves and Innate Dao Fruits and surrounded with auspicious clouds, it was truly a spectacular scene to bestow upon.
Zhong Yue glanced around and stumbled. Other than himself, there was only the Innate Divine Tree and nothing else. But then, what would be the 81st level Lei Zhe's test?
All of a sudden, he heard footsteps coming from behind. Zhong Yue turned and saw young Lei Zhe walking up to the 81st level to his side and said placidly, "This is the tree that witnessed my ascension of Dao and is also my divine weapon. I wielded it in the past during the dark ages, but ever since then, I never used it anymore."
Zhong Yue was dumbfounded, he asked, "Why?"
"There was no need to," Young Lei Zhe sighed, he said, "In my long life, there have been countless geniuses, some on par with me and some even surpassing me. But none could outlive me. All of my rivals have either died in battle or of old age. Thus, this divine tree had been left here to collect dust."
The innate gods were the exceptions to the inviolable law of mortality. Thus, even if he had any enemies, they would've probably been long dead after he woke up from a long nap, and at that point, there was really no need for him to do anything anymore.
"You can consider the 81st level to be an homage to one of my greatest enemies." Young Lei Zhe's said as his aura took on a complete reversal from a brutal aura to one suffused with a deep and endless demonic quality.
He said, "The skill I will cast now belongs to him. To pass, you will have to find a way to counter it!"
Young Lei Zhe didn't say any more, but the demonic aura brewed stronger in him. Zhong Yue's face changed drastically he felt as if he was no longer facing against the young Lei Zhe anymore, but an innate demon god.
In his eyes, the young Lei Zhe's body enlarged into a giant and he diminished into the size of an ant. He couldn't even judge how grand and magnificent his opponent was at all.
"[Daoless Heavens]!"
Young Lei Zhe's put out his hand and opened his palm. Immediately, Zhong Yue found his soul, mortal body, and Yuan Shen sink into a void of darkness. His totem patterns, skills, arts, powers, and energies were all unresponsive to his will. All he could do was watched as the palm grew bigger in his eyes before it inevitably slammed down on him!
The [Daoless Heavens]!
A skill that overrode every element in the universe, the Dao no longer exists, the skills, arts, and techniques, divine weapons, mortal body, and any other else would be left powerless!
Everything in this universe a manifestation of the Dao in one way or the other.
Yet, under the effects of young Lei Zhe's skill, the rules of the Dao of this universe no longer seemed to exist. Every Dao was gone, meaning that every power that was engendered by the Dao was rendered useless.
Beads of cold sweat rolled down Zhong Yue's forehead, he tried to fight back but no matter what he tried, all his efforts were futile.
A profound sense of helplessness engulfed his heart; if the Dao no longer existed, how would one even create a countermeasure against the [Daoless Heavens]?
All of a sudden, the pressure was lifted and Zhong Yue gasped for breath. He looked to have just been dragged out of an ocean as he was completely soaked in his own sweat.
"Can you do it?' Young Lei Zhe asked.
Zhong Yue wanted to speak, but his throat couldn't utter a single word. It was only after a few moments of calming and comforting himself that he answered, "How does one even counter the [Daoless Heavens]? If even the Dao is gone, what is there left?"
Upon hearing his question, young Lei Zhe immediately turned and left while saying, "You may pluck an Innate Dao Fruit."
Zhong Yue startled, he shouted in question, "Did I pass the 81st level Lei Zhe?"
Young Lei Zhe shook, "No, if you had, you would've been allowed to take all of the Innate Dao Fruits; but you didn't, so one fruit is all you can take."
Zhong Yue was stunned, if he could find a countermeasure for the [Daoless Heavens], all of the Innate Dao Fruits would be his to claim?
Young Lei Zhe walked down from the 81st level Lei Zhe, the source of his voice now undiscernable, "A small glimpse of that skill was all that I showed you. In the future, if you are lucky to still be alive, you will be able to witness its true power with your own eyes, far more perfect, far more terrorizing."
Zhong Yue was bewildered and rushed to the edge of the Lei Zhe lightning loch to ask for more details. But when he reached the edge, he quickly stopped and looked down; the 80 levels of Lei Zhe below him had disappeared as though they were never there in the first place and only the last Lei Zhe level was left behind. And surely enough, the young Lei Zhe was also nowhere to be seen.
In the future, I will meet with the existence that created this skill? Zhong Yue shook his head, he suppressed his questions to the bottom of his heart and strode for the Innate Divine Tree. He examined the Innate Dao Fruits and thought, Which of the Innate Dao Fruits should I take? Which of these Innate Daos is best for me?
There were 99 Innate Dao Fruits on the Innate Divine Tree, with each representing a Dao, they totaled up to 99 powerful and unique Innate Daos. Zhong Yue craved for every single one of them, but it was a shame he could only pick one.
After I pluck down an Innate Dao Fruit, the 81st level Lei Zhe will probably disappear along as well. There is no second chance in selecting another Innate Dao Fruit.