Chapter 1293: Stopping the Enemy (1) |
It was a simple square face, broad with big ears, its chiseled lines brimming with perseverance.
But this plain and ordinary face was a nightmare for every member of the court.
"Li Jiuyang!" Yu Cheng gnashed his teeth in hatred.
Once, this had been a "minor character" that hadn't even been able to beat Immortal Ji Yao, but he had ultimately become the court's greatest nightmare. Not only that, he had shattered Yu Cheng's dreams of supremacy and compelled him to enter a ten-thousand-year-long cycle of reincarnation.
It was all because of him!
When he revived and learned that Li Jiuyang had died, he had once sighed in regret that he had no chance to avenge himself, no chance to take back everything Li Jiuyang had taken from him. Tang Jie had ended up as the target of his ire instead, which was why he had attempted to kill Tang Jie remotely after he revived.
He hadn't expected that he would see Li Jiuyang here.
"Martial Lord?" Tang Jie was also stunned by the sight.
That majestic figure he had seen through the Martial Mirror reappeared in his mind, and Tang Jie immediately matched him with the man he saw now.
Why had he appeared here?
Had the Heavenly Dao Law Wheel taken his remains and stored them in the tower…?
Thinking this, when Tang Jie looked at the Martial Lord's face, he found that there was an inhuman air to it.
He simply coldly looked into the distance, between nimble and rigid, seemingly not alive but also not like a mindless walking corpse.
Yu Cheng had also realized this, and after a moment of shock, he cried out, "Are you a human or a ghost?"
Li Jiuyang simply glanced at him and dropped his head again, as if he had no intention of attacking.
Yu Cheng raged, "Li Jiuyang, say something! What? You, who once wielded your axe against the Heavenly Dao, have already fallen so far as to become its dog?"
"There's no point in shouting. He won't answer you," Nether God Yin Corpse said. "He's already dead. That's just a corpse without a mind."
"Then why does he not seem like a dead person?" the Sage Mother frantically asked.
"Because his will still exists."
"'Will'? What kind of will?" Yu Cheng asked.
"The will to protect."
The one who spoke this time was Nine Disaster.
The Fiend Monk had seemingly escaped from his good-evil state, the two Divine Souls fusing. This had made the demonic energy on him retreat somewhat, revealing a tinge of humanity.
"'Protect'? 'Protect' the Heavenly Dao!? That's absurd!" Yu Cheng roared.
Tang Jie urgently flew over and shouted, "That's right, protecting the Heavenly Dao! This world is closely related to the Great Stellar Chiliocosm outside. Yu Cheng, what's waiting at the top isn't some opportunity to surpass the Heavenly Dao, but the button to begin a new epoch! If you go, you will start it, which will cause the two worlds to switch places. The Great Stellar Chiliocosm will cease to exist, and replacing it will be the Sacred Tower Chiliocosm…"
Tang Jie quickly divulged the truth of the two universes to everyone.
"Is that what's going on?" Yu Cheng said in surprise.
And then he wildly laughed, "I see! I see! I understand, I finally understand! I know what that opportunity to surpass the Heavenly Dao is! It didn't trick me! It really is an opportunity!"
"What did you say?" Tang Jie was taken aback.
"Don't you get it?" Yu Cheng roared, "How can you surpass the Heavenly Dao of the universe? Only in a situation like this, where you grow up alongside the universe, can you have the right to surpass it!"
"What are you saying?"
Yu Cheng said, "I'm saying that when this place started to call out to me, it had already opened itself up to us. Anyone who gets to the top of the tower and starts the new epoch will become the core of the universe, the source! Yes, the source of the Heavenly Dao! They will be above all other beings, the true supreme!"
Everyone was dumbfounded, Wang Yao shouting, "That's impossible! How can you be so sure?"
"Because it told me! This is a trade! If we let it out, we will become the source and grow along with the universe. In the end, we will be equals with the heavens, and because this universe will have gained true wisdom through us, it will be eternal. The changing of epochs will cease to be, and there will only ever be one universe. This truly is a ruse, but it is also a fact!" As Yu Cheng loudly spoke, his eyes began to glow red with excitement.
That red light made Tang Jie understand.
The tower's will had already infiltrated Yu Cheng's mind and struck a deal with him.
Begin the new epoch and become eternal!
This was the trade!
It wasn't just him, but all the people around him: the Sage Mother of the West, Warheaven Wolf, Hong Beicang, the Buddha Ancestor and his Buddhas…
This was the deal the Tower Universe had made with the heaven-defying faction.
At the same time, Nine Disaster sternly said, "'Eternal'… Nothing is truly eternal. If there is no changing of the epoch, then no matter how the rules of the world break and collapse, there is no ability to change. If the old does not go, the new will not come. A world run this way is bound to meet its ruin. Only the cycle of change can ensure true survival."
The Three Sages Ancestor added, "Moreover, there are still countless lives in the chiliocosm. Would you sacrifice them all for your own personal desire?"
Yu Cheng sinisterly said, "How can all life in the universe compare to eternity? When has a changing of epochs not resulted in utter destruction for the universe? The end of days is just being brought up, so does it suddenly become unbearable because it's happening to all of you? But if you think about it from another perspective, death now is for eternity in the future."
The Western Heaven Buddha Ancestor said, "Everyone will die. It is only their manner of death that differs."
Tang Jie sneered, "Has the false kindness of Buddhism finally revealed itself?"
Wang Yao's logic was the most simple as he declared, "I don't care about some eternity, but there's still plenty in this world that I treasure and don't want to lose. Most importantly, we're enemies, and if my enemy wants to do something, I refuse to let him do it!"
"Thus, we must resolve this through battle," Yu Cheng chuckled.
His eyes glowed red, his body erupting with bloodlust, and then he unleashed the light of Dao Unity.
Seeing Yu Cheng activate his Dao Unity Realm, Tang Jie activated his own Heavenly Dao Realm.
The two realms collided like two golden waves.
Whoosh!
A blinding light exploded from the intersection of the two realms.
As the golden lights clashed, golden rain fell from the sky, each drop infused with profound Daos, creating a vast and complicated world. Most shocking of all was that these two different realms were both opposed yet united, and in the middle of that rain, one could see time advancing, the earth transforming…
"Stop him!" Yu Cheng pointed at Tang Jie before turning and rushing forward.
The Sage Mother of the West, Warheaven Wolf, and the Buddhas all turned to Tang Jie. They were all aware that he posed the greatest threat to Yu Cheng.
"Stop him!" Tang Jie also shouted. He knew that if Yu Cheng reached the seventh floor, it would all be too late.
Wang Yao, Nine Disaster, Three Sages, and the Dragon Ancestor all turned to attack Yu Cheng.
Within the golden rain, two areas of conflict emerged.
Tang Jie became like a shooting star, hurtling forward, while the Gold Immortals of the court and the Buddhas of the Buddha Kingdom used their strongest moves to form a giant net around him.
Boom!
Tang Jie slammed into the net, an explosion of dazzling rainbow colors resulting from the impact.
In the middle of all this splendor, a lamp twinkled. This was the Samsara Lamp of the Lamp Bearer Buddha constantly creating Samsara Illusions, each one different yet realistic. But none of them was able to stop Tang Jie for even a second. Following was a spinning blood lotus, a manifestation of the Sage Mother of the West's Twin Karma Lotus. But even at maximum power, it could not reverse this Karma, was incapable of reflecting even the tiniest bit of Tang Jie's power, instead being annihilated. An ancient and vast will then descended from the heavens to crush Tang Jie, Warheaven Wolf unleashing his supreme willpower. Long ago, this man had inherited the power of a Titan from Remote Antiquity, and his will could merge with the world itself. But in Tang Jie's realm, the power of the world was easily vanquished…
But the most frightening of all was the Western Heaven Buddha Ancestor, who simply raised a hand, upon which a wall of holy light appeared before Tang Jie. The power of the Buddha filled the world, and the air resounded with Buddhist mantras that made Tang Jie's steps suddenly turn heavy.
Fortunately, Yu Cheng was also facing the full opposition of the Stellar Heavenly Dao faction. Even with his Dao Unity Realm, he found it hard to make headway against the combined might of Nine Disaster, the Dragon Ancestor, and the Nether God. Of course, it was the Dragon Ancestor, Nether God Yin Corpse, and the Starbreaker Dao Puppet that posed the greatest obstacle, each of them a Saint Immortal at full power. The likes of Nine Disaster and Three Sages still had their power suppressed by the Heavenly Dao and were of limited help.
But Yu Cheng's greatest concern was still that seated figure on the mountain.
He had yet to act, simply sitting there as if none of this had anything to do with him.
