Chapter 2851: Fight

“Taigu Honghuang?”

Ye Chen raised an eyebrow, feeling both surprised and shocked. He knew that Taigu Honghuang had an entrance, but he had no idea it could also facilitate teleportation.

He believed about eighty percent of what the Heipao Di had said. This might explain why the Heipao Di carried the aura of Taigu Honghuang. This incomplete emperor could very well have come from Taigu Honghuang and now wanted to return. However, activating the teleportation array required a sacrifice, and it had to be someone special, so he had tricked Ye Chen, a Shengti, into becoming the offering.

“You truly overestimated yourself.” The Heipao Di’s eerie laugh carried a hint of mockery. Your combat strength is formidable enough to slay emperors, but your intelligence is disappointingly naive. You walked right into the trap without a second thought. How obedient! It went so smoothly that even I am surprised.

“Who is your master?” Ye Chen asked the question again, seizing this rare opportunity to get answers. In the Heipao Di’s eyes, Ye Chen was as good as dead, so he would likely answer anything. People on the brink of death don’t hold back, especially when they’re in a state of wild excitement, with their guard at its lowest.

“The Shengti, the Huanggu Shengti.” The Heipao Di chuckled sinisterly, revealing the secret.

Upon hearing this, Ye Chen’s eyes narrowed slightly. He knew the Heipao Di was referring to the Huanggu Shengti of the first lineage.

This involved many secrets. The one who could be the master of the Heipao Di must be at least a fully developed Huanggu Shengti, possibly even an emperor.

“Where is he?” Ye Chen pressed on, forcing himself through his depletion to ask.

“Taigu Honghuang.” The mention of those four words made Ye Chen’s face change dramatically. Taigu Honghuang? A fully developed Huanggu Shengti from the first lineage was in Taigu Honghuang? That would put Di Huang and Hongyan in grave danger. The first lineage was stronger than the second, and their ability to casually unlock bloodline limits was a god-tier advantage far beyond what Di Huang and Hongyan could match.

“Safe travels.”

“Go to hell.” Ye Chen roared, his Shengti body trembling violently as he shattered the rune chains binding him.

Freed from restraint, he soared out like a flood dragon, instantly transforming into human form. With his Dao sword in hand, he struck out with a slash. Though he wanted to ask more questions, his depletion was too severe. If he stayed trapped in the array, it would damage his core essence. To uncover secrets, he first needed to survive.

“You!” The Heipao Di was greatly alarmed by Ye Chen’s sudden attack. Caught off guard, he took the full force of the sword, flipping backward through the air.

Boom! Clang!

The Zhuxian Jian fared no better, targeted by Ye Chen’s Dharma body. The Dharma body wielded a Dao sword and slashed relentlessly. Already damaged, the sword now had more notches.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

Once they steadied themselves, the black hole fell into calm.

Ye Chen’s mouth overflowed with blood—it was the backlash from his Dao wounds.

The Dharma body’s face was pale—it suffered from the rebound of the main body.

Looking at the Heipao Di, a ghastly sword scar marred his chest, revealing blackened emperor bones and flowing emperor blood that glowed with an eerie imperial light.

The Zhuxian Jian was in even worse shape. After ten years of recovery, it had regained some of its seven-colored glow, but this barrage extinguished it again, leaving it heavily damaged.

“Impossible! This is impossible!” The Heipao Di howled in fury. The array and seals were his own work, yet Ye Chen had broken them in an instant. As a mid-tier emperor, he couldn’t accept this.

“Didn’t the thing you’ve been nursing for ten years tell you that there’s a half-baked Shengti who’s not to be trifled with?” Ye Chen laughed, referring to the Zhuxian Jian as “it.”

His ability to break the seals was all thanks to the Dacheng Gate. He had truly entered it once, even if only for a moment before being hit by a cross-temporal kill and flung out. But that brief experience had granted him some fortune.

That fortune allowed him, in a specific instant, to unleash Dacheng-level power. Otherwise, only a fool would have walked into the array.

As it turned out, his scheming had outmatched the Heipao Di’s. Of course, it also depended on his boldness. Most half-step Dacheng experts wouldn’t dare plot against a mid-tier emperor like this—a single miscalculation could lead to eternal doom.

Fortunately, he had won.

The Heipao Di had accounted for everything, even studying Ye Chen’s divine abilities, immortal techniques, essence, and Dao roots thoroughly over the ten years. But he had overlooked the Dacheng Gate. The ability to unleash Dacheng power in an instant meant his defeat was sealed.

“Nothing wrong with wandering the realms more often.”

“Spending all day hiding in a black hole leaves you out of the loop.”

“Not knowing I entered the Dacheng Gate, you came to scheme against a junior. The consequences are severe.” Ye Chen kept talking, one remark after another.

The Heipao Di said nothing, grinding his teeth with a face twisted in rage.

A grave miscalculation, indeed.

In the end, he was the one who had been played.

“This scene, allow me to chuckle.” The Ming Di’s words were laden with meaning.

With that, he let out a heh-heh laugh.

It was truly amusing—a mid-tier emperor completely outmaneuvered by a young Shengti. Quite the sight.

Even someone as reserved as the Dao Ancestor couldn’t help but smile.

He had witnessed the entire event.

To be fair, the Heipao Di’s acting was terrible. Throughout, he seemed like a clown jumping around in front of a master performer.

Boom! Bang! Boom!

As the two emperors laughed, the black hole erupted into battle.

Ye Chen charged at the Heipao Di, while his Dharma body went for the Zhuxian Jian, ensuring they couldn’t get close.

Especially the Zhuxian Jian—it kept trying to reach the Heipao Di but was blocked by the Dharma body. Ye Chen didn’t know if they could take down the Heipao Di, but today, they had to cripple the Zhuxian Jian. Destroying it completely would be ideal.

“You deserve to die!” The Heipao Di struck with a palm that could shatter heavens and earth.

“No Dao roots, no life source, and you still dare act so arrogantly?” Ye Chen shouted firmly, slashing out an immortal river with his sword that shattered the palm print and sent the Heipao Di staggering back.

If it were a complete emperor, he wouldn’t dare fight. But this was a flawed one.

Without Dao roots or life source, it was just a mid-tier emperor in name, lacking true mid-tier power. In fact, it was sometimes even weaker than a lower-tier emperor, as its imperial divine power diminished with every use and couldn’t recover quickly.

In a war of attrition, such an emperor was doomed to lose.

“Kill! Kill! Kill!” The Heipao Di roared, fully aware of his weaknesses, which made him even more frenzied. He wanted a quick decisive battle. He might be incomplete, but Ye Chen was injured by temporal Dao wounds. If it was a fight to the death, they’d see who fell first—him into weakness or Ye Chen to backlash.

“Destroy the Zhuxian Jian.” Ye Chen issued a kill order to his Dharma body, while he blood-sacrificed his essence to assault the Heipao Di. This opportunity was once-in-a-lifetime; he couldn’t let him escape. If it was a fight, then let it be! Even if it meant dying and fading away, he’d take him down first.

Boom! Bang! Boom!

The battle raged on, echoing through the darkness.

A mid-tier emperor versus a half-step Dacheng; one without Dao roots or life source, the other suffering temporal wounds—neither at their peak. The fight was brutally intense, with no defense, only reckless attacks. You strike me with a palm, and I’ll kick back even if it kills me.

The battle was evenly matched; neither the emperor nor the Shengti could gain the upper hand. The Shengti was bathed in emperor blood, and the emperor in Shengti blood.

Boom! Clang! Bang! Clatter!

In another part of the black hole, the metallic clashes were crisp. Compared to the Heipao Di, the Zhuxian Jian was faring worse.

After ten years of recovery, it was still in a weakened state, and losing half its sword body to refinement was a devastating blow. The Heipao Di was in a residual state, but the Zhuxian Jian wasn’t even that—it was all about fleeing.

“Run? Where do you think you’re going?” The Dharma body gripped its Dao sword, chasing and slashing relentlessly. The master had given a kill order; it wouldn’t stop until the Zhuxian Jian was destroyed.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

The Zhuxian Jian vibrated angrily, on the verge of exploding with rage.

It regretted everything. It shouldn’t have come out wandering; it should have stayed inside the Heipao Di. It also regretted sneaking out of Taigu Honghuang’s gate back then. If not for that, it wouldn’t be in this mess. One scheme after another, each more disastrous than the last. It hadn’t killed Ye Chen and had only crippled itself.

Now, it couldn’t even beat a Dharma body. If its master were here, it would probably die of anger. At its peak, it could slay emperors, but in this state, it was pathetically weak.

The Zhuxian Jian regretted it, and so did Ye Chen. He should have brought the Chaos Cauldron, Chaos Fire, and Chaos Thunder with him. With them, this battle would have been easier. Just the Chaos Fire and Chaos Thunder alone, or even the Chaos Cauldron—which was Dacheng level and more ferocious than imperial weapons—would have helped the Dharma body handle the Zhuxian Jian with ease.

Speaking of imperial weapons, the Heipao Di had one: a black war spear. But as his master was incomplete, so was it, greatly reducing its power.

Even so, when Ye Chen took a hit from it, he didn’t fare well. His domineering Shengti body exploded repeatedly, and with the Dao wounds, it was sheer agony.

“Die!” The Heipao Di thrust, piercing Ye Chen’s chest.

“Take this sword in return!” Ye Chen bellowed, slashing and flipping the Heipao Di away.

Pfft! Pfft!

Blood sprayed vividly.

After a hundred rounds, they paused for the first time. The emperor swayed unsteadily, and the Shengti staggered. Ye Chen was suffering from Dao wound backlash, blood pouring from his mouth; the Heipao Di’s divine power was ebbing, weakening repeatedly.

“Kill.” The Heipao Di roared and attacked again, his emperor eyes turned blood-red. In his view, Ye Chen was now like an emperor sovereign; he wanted to avenge the humiliation from ten thousand years ago. His disfigured state was all thanks to that emperor.

“Fight.” Ye Chen forcibly gathered his strength. His aura was unstable, but his attacks were still domineering. He could use the Heavenly Dao to escape the black hole, but today’s opportunity was too rare. If he retreated now, finding the Heipao Di again would be like searching for a needle in the sea.

“Run? Keep running?” The Dharma body cursed, catching up to the Zhuxian Jian and slashing wildly. The clangs were more pleasing than the booms.

“Beat it! Beat it to death!” On Mingjie’s Ming Mountain, the Ming Di was excited, shouting enthusiastically.

Beside him, the little ghost he had brought along stared like he was an idiot. This emperor must have forgotten his medicine or taken too much—where was his imperial dignity? He looked more like a shrew yelling in the streets.

Perhaps sensing the look, the Ming Di took a deep breath and sat down cross-legged, gently stroking his beard to regain his emperor’s poise.

“What body do you want? Speak quickly.”

“A handsome one, the kind that can charm women.”

“Hmm, ambitious.”