He was counting down towards the achievement of Myriad-Demise Sword. "Ten... Nine... Eight..."
Undoubtedly, this was the most difficult part of mastering Invincible Sword Body. The closer he was to reaching ten thousand strands of Invincible Sword Ki, the closer he was to a complete change and the tougher it would get for him. Now, his whole body, including his veins, tendons, eyes, and organs, were all filled with sword ki. The brain was still too tender, so he chose to avoid putting any there. Having no other choice, he sent the ten remaining strands into his nether regions.
"Aaaaaagh!" That shriek of pain had come from the depths of his manhood. Fortunately, it still worked well. In fact, it seemed to be far more perky and devastating than before.
"Darn it... If even it can shoot sword ki out... I wonder if Ling'er's body will be able to take it." Tianming was blushing hard at the embarrassing display.
"Three!" His face was now completely flushed.
"Two!" He was now only one short of ten thousand strands.
"One!" Once this last strand assimilated, he would finally master it.
"It worked!" Tianming gritted his teeth and endured the pain. He could clearly feel that his body had undergone a complete change after the final roadblock.
"Myriad sword unity!" The sword ki from all over his body gathered in his palm, causing a flash of colors to form in his hand. That was the Myriad-Demise Sword!
"Its power is truly terrifying." While Tianming wasn't harmed by it as he was the controller of the sword ki, he knew how dangerous it could be. It was a wild beast with the power to rend the skies. With myriad strands of sword ki, the power his body could unleash was greater than the sum of its parts. It wasn't just marginally more powerful than nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine strands, but much more.
"Invincible Sword Body truly is an amazing battle art. Empyrean-ranked battle arts aren't even comparable to it. It can be used in addition to all other battle arts. I can even continue to absorb more strands of Invincible Sword Ki. I wonder if I'll become even stronger then... The Shenxiao Sword Art is a prototype empyrean-ranked battle art, but when used with Invincible Sword Body, it should far exceed the level of empyrean-ranked battle arts... If my saint ki is comparable to Autarch Qian's, I'll be able to kill him instantly with Myriad-Demise Sword."
It was an instakill technique. Tianming had emerged from the bloody sword ki pool with so many holes in his body that he looked like a pincushion. However, his wounds quickly recovered when the Prime Tower worked its magic. Right then, he heard Li Wudi's voice coming from outside.
"Tianming, my son, I've become an empyrean saint! Come, lick my boots!"
Tianming cracked a smile when he heard this. He could tell that Li Wudi was heading toward the underground compound.
"Duck!" Tianming stretched a finger and shot out a colorful beam using Myriad-Demise Sword towards him.
"Dang!" Sensing the danger, Li Wudi let out a shocked cry. With a loud rumble, Myriad-Demise Sword exploded and shook the underground compound.
"What happened?" someone from the outside exclaimed as they came to check on the Nature Arts Hall. All they could see was a large amount of earth being blasted out of the sword ki pool before a red figure haggardly came flying out and landed on the ground. It was the Bloodfiend-formed Li Wudi.
"Who caused you to use Bloodfiend Transformation?" someone asked. The others watched as a man and fowl jumped out of the underground compound.
"Hahahaha!" Seeing how desperate Li Wudi was, Tianming laughed.
"What did you shoot at me just now? I was almost impregnated by you!" Li Wudi cried.
"Phrasing, please! I'm not Ye Shaoqing, that boyfriend of yours. It was the Myriad-Demise Sword."
"Hey, Tianming! Don't insult my reputation!" Ye Shaoqing said from a distance.
"That's right. Ahem." Li Wudi came closer and gave Tianming a good look. "What is this? Is this the power of Invincible Sword Body when cultivated fully? I should give it a try myself."
"I worry you won't be able to reach Hundred-Sword Demise."
"Hoho? Looking down on me, punk?"
"Did you really become an empyrean saint?" Tianming could feel that Li Wudi was now a higher lifeform based on the primal fear that his aura instilled.
"Impressed?"
"Can you defeat Autarch Qian?" Tianming solemnly asked.
"I'll give it a try. I was about to go after him once I checked on how you were doing."
"I'll go with you."
"Did you have other breakthroughs?"
"Not yet, but I'm almost there. My saint ki is dense enough, so I only need my heavenly will to grow a little more." Thanks to the Omnisentient Will he received the last time, his Imperial Will grew substantially. With the heavenly patterns of the Prime Tower and Grand-Orient Sword guiding him, he grew infinitely closer to the next stage in the past ten days.
"You're still not a match for an empyrean saint at your level," Li Wudi said.
"It's fine. I'll sneak attack him with Myriad-Demise Sword from afar to make openings for you."
"That is fine and all, but let's wait and see first. If you see that I can't hold my own against him, you shouldn't show up either," Li Wudi said after some thought.
Just as they were about to leave, Bai Mo and Ye Yi frantically came charging at them.
"What's wrong?" Li Wudi asked. The relaxed atmosphere immediately tensed up.
"We just got word that Autarch Qian used his Cyclic Mirror to carry out a genocide on the citizens of Northblock City! Not a single living soul remains!" Ye Yi said with a hoarse voice.
The air immediately stilled. The autarch was further gone than they had expected. With his power, no normal person would be able to stop him if he chose to kill ordinary folk.
"He has completely turned into a demon," Bai Mo said with a sigh. This was what they had been most worried about, and it had come to pass without them being able to do anything about it.
"Autarch Qian inscribed a name list at the gates of Northblock City. He left a message that if anyone on the list doesn't show up, he'll continue his genocide until not a single subject of the Theocracy remains." Ye Yi gripped his fists hard as killing intent leaked from his eyes.
"Who is on the list?" Li Wudi asked with a grim look.
"You, Tianming, Bai Mo, Feng, and I," Ye Yi said. The autarch didn't care one bit for the others. As long as these five were dead, the autarch would be able to single-handedly kill everyone in the dao palace even without any help from his descendants. The other sky saints of seventh-level and below wouldn't be able to match up to him at all. Adding Feng to the list meant ending the dao palace for good.
"His second stop is Richwater City. Let's head out immediately. This is the end of the road for the Nineshades Clan! We cannot let him sacrifice the innocent any longer," Li Wudi said. He then called his Primordial Bloodbane Kunpeng over and mounted it. "I'll go to Richwater City first. You don't have to come with me. But if you do, you don't have to show your face."
To go there meant fighting to the death. Once he said that he disappeared beyond the horizon.
"There are three million people in Richwater City. We'll need more men if we're to stand a chance to save them," Bai Mo said.
"That's right." Ye Yi immediately rallied the troops. "Every fourth-level sky saint and above, assemble!"
The troops of the Dark Hall swiftly heeded the order.
"Prepare to depart for Richwater City! Get on Bai Mo and my lifebound beast!" Ye Yi said.
"Understood!" It would be a tight ride with all three hundred plus of them.
"Get a hundred of them to join me," Tianming said. There was a river in the Divine Capital called Richwater River, which happened to pass through the dao palace’s entrance and led to Richwater City. Lan Huang's body was far larger than the Astral Emperor Tiger, and it could travel in the water much faster.
"Depart!"
They didn't say anything unnecessary owing to the urgency of the situation.
"Brother Tianming!" Ye Lingfeng cried just as Tianming was about to follow Bai Mo, Ye Yi, and the rest. The Evil Suppression Formation had suddenly stopped functioning. Ye Lingfeng came to him with the Evil Suppression Pillar in hand; he seemed to have familiarized himself with the weapon well.
"Since only the autarch remains, there's no point in keeping the formation up. Let me come with you. The Soulfiend might be of some help."
"I think it's better for you to hold the fort."
"Brother Tianming, I want revenge." He had missed the chance to kill members of the Nineshades Clan back then from having to maintain the formation. So, he wanted to fulfill his wish now.
"Alright. Let's go!" Tianming respected his opinion. Not to mention, the Evil Suppression Pillar and Soulfiend might come in handy at a crucial juncture. He went to pick up Feiling before rushing to Richwater River. The beastmasters then got on Lan Huang's back. Despite the sheer number of people, it was doing fine thanks to its impressive strength.
Once in the water, its nine kui seas spun quickly and accelerated it to frightening speeds. Perhaps they might arrive at the city much sooner than the other two.
......
"Brother Tianming, the Soulfiend says that there's something on your body," Ye Lingfeng said.
"What is it?" He looked around and couldn't see anything of note.
"It's the soul from the Tomb of the Ancients."
"The soul servant of the Primordial God Race?" Tianming recalled his breakthrough back then that caused it to appear before it vanished without a trace. Yet, the Soulfiend seemed to suggest it had been on his person this whole time.
"That's right. But don't worry. The Soulfiend says that you are the soul servant's master. It should be protecting you."
"Alright." He nodded and looked towards their destination. "It's millions of people again!"
He could never forget the sight he saw in Dazzling City, and it was about to come to pass again.
"There can't be a second time. This time, we must send them to hell, Big Brother," Feiling said.
"I know! I know!" Tianming lowered his head like a ferocious beast. "Human lives aren't statistics. He has committed an unforgivable, cardinal sin!"
Tianming didn't think of himself as a saint, but he believed that all men should have a ruler to measure the laws of the world and the ways of men. If someone were a raving mad demon that didn't have any lines they wouldn't cross, they deserved to be cursed with an eternity of nightmares.