Chapter 1412: The Malevolent Might of the Stone Mirror
From the very beginning until now, the Tongzhou Great Emperor had always believed he could effortlessly handle Yang Haoran, that slaying him would be a simple task. After all, he was a minor realm above Yang Haoran, a difference that created a colossal gap in their power.
Yet, to his utter disbelief, Yang Haoran had managed to defuse crisis after crisis, stunning him time and again. This caused his initial ease and contentment to vanish, replaced by a multiplying fury. Each time Yang Haoran surprised him, the anger in his heart escalated.
Before, although wrath simmered within him, he could still suppress it. But now, he could no longer hold it back, for the fury in his heart had reached its apex. Thus, he erupted!
"Damn it! ! !"
The Tongzhou Great Emperor cursed profusely. Completely enraged, he no longer cared for his imperial bearing. At this moment, all he desired was to immediately slay Yang Haoran to vent his rage. What dog-shit image, what dog-shit demeanor—all were cast to the winds.
As the furious curses spewed from the Tongzhou Great Emperor's mouth, a black light shot forth from a violently swirling mass of Yin Qi beside him. After circling at an incredible speed, it returned to stand before the Tongzhou Great Emperor.
This black light was none other than the Tongzhou Great Emperor's third Soul Armament. The Tongzhou Great Emperor, having just summoned his second Soul Armament, was so infuriated that he brought forth his third one as well!
"This old man will see today just how many tricks you, Yang Haoran, truly possess! ! !"
The instant his roar subsided, the Tongzhou Great Emperor violently waved a hand towards the black light hovering before him. The black light dispersed, revealing a black stone mirror, about the size of a human head, embedded with two grotesque ghost heads, and a slender handle beneath its body.
With a twisted expression, the Tongzhou Great Emperor snatched the stone mirror, and, fueled by his internal rage, aimed it at the Xuanwu Shield before him!
Immediately, the stone mirror surged with Yin Qi. Its formerly rough surface became smooth and polished in that instant. No black beams erupted, no monsters coalesced; simply by being illuminated by the stone mirror in the Tongzhou Great Emperor's hand, the Xuanwu Shield instantly suffered a devastating blow.
Boom! ! !
With a thunderous explosion, the Xuanwu Shield shattered. Immediately after, the Tongzhou Great Emperor turned the mirror towards the talisman dragon formed from countless talismans.
Boom! ! !
Another deafening roar, and the talisman dragon followed in the Xuanwu Shield's wake. With a twisted face, the Tongzhou Great Emperor's fury seemed not to have abated in the slightest. He then aimed the mirror in his hand at the sword-shaped Soul Armament and the location of the other talisman dragon.
Boom!
Boom!
Two explosive blasts. Whether it was the talisman dragon formed by a multitude of talismans or the Tongzhou Great Emperor's own sword-shaped Soul Armament, neither received preferential treatment; all detonated with a crash. Even the various elemental attacks released by the burning talismans – like mountains of ice, seas of fire, or wind blades and creeping vines – were similarly reduced to naught by a single flash from the stone mirror.
The Tongzhou Great Emperor still did not cease. He once again aimed the stone mirror in his hand at the black cloud formed by Black Lightning overhead.
"Annoying dog-thing!"
The Tongzhou Great Emperor cursed loudly, and the power of the stone mirror erupted once more.
Boom! ! !
A thunderous explosion echoed from within the cloud formed by Black Lightning. The rolling thunder ceased abruptly, the sight of electrical snakes coursing through the thick clouds vanished, and the black lightning, which had been a constant presence since the start of the battle, was nowhere to be seen.
In less than a single breath, the ominous clouds that had obscured the sky above dissipated. This could only mean one thing: Yang Haoran's Soul Armament, Black Lightning, including the Ghost Butterfly that amplified its power, had all been forcibly scattered by the stone mirror in the Tongzhou Great Emperor's hand!
The Tongzhou Great Emperor was truly ruthless. Not only did he destroy Yang Haoran's means of attack, but he spared neither of his own two Soul Armaments. While Soul Armaments could be reformed after being destroyed, this very fact demonstrated the depth of the Tongzhou Great Emperor's fury at this moment!
The two talisman dragons were easily destroyed because the talismans themselves were merely top-tier Black Talismans and a small number of Gold Talismans. Under normal circumstances, they could certainly not withstand the full power of the Tongzhou Great Emperor's Soul Armament. The fact that they had just managed to block the sword-shaped Soul Armament and the Xuanwu Shield, and even gain the upper hand, was because Yang Haoran had tampered with these talismans.
Yang Haoran knew it wouldn't be easy for his talismans to contend with the Tongzhou Great Emperor, or even to inflict damage upon him. So, he had secretly mixed Lock Yin Talismans among them beforehand. Though they were low-grade Lock Yin Talismans, their sheer number compensated for their individual quality.
When the two talisman dragons clashed with the Tongzhou Great Emperor's two Soul Armaments, the power of those Soul Armaments strangely diminished, and at a rapid pace. This was precisely because the unique power of the Lock Yin Talismans acted upon them, causing them to fall into a disadvantage, not because the Tongzhou Great Emperor's Soul Armaments were inherently weak.
The situation with the third Soul Armament the Tongzhou Great Emperor finally brought out was different. The stone mirror did not come into contact with the two talisman dragons, nor were the talisman dragons' attack targets the stone mirror. Consequently, the power of the Lock Yin Talismans did not affect the stone mirror. Its power remained undiminished, and under the Tongzhou Great Emperor's full activation, dispatching the two talisman dragons was an effortless feat. After all, these two talisman dragons were merely large quantities of talismans gathered together to resemble dragons, not true dragons.
As for why the stone mirror could so easily destroy his own two Soul Armaments, as well as Yang Haoran's Soul Armament, Black Lightning, it was because the former had been affected by the Lock Yin Talismans, their power far from their peak state, making their destruction naturally simple. The latter, however, was purely due to the disparity in their respective strengths.
The Lock Yin Talisman was a lost art of the Talisman Order, a potent weapon against Underworld Officials. Not just Underworld Officials, but any ghostly entity or Spirit Medium encountering a Lock Yin Talisman of equal realm would barely escape with their lives. If they encountered one of a higher grade, it was absolutely a dead end, unless the talisman user chose not to kill.
If one encountered a Lock Yin Talisman of a lower realm, the situation would naturally be better, but this "better" was only relative; it would still bring significant trouble.
The Lock Yin Talismans Yang Haoran possessed were all crafted by him. However, he was not a Talisman Master, and thus did not have Lock Yin Talismans of the same caliber as the Tongzhou Great Emperor. Therefore, he could only compensate for quality with quantity to achieve his goal.
However, if he had deployed the Lock Yin Talismans individually, the Tongzhou Great Emperor would certainly have noticed something amiss, become wary, and used means to destroy them beforehand. Therefore, Yang Haoran chose to mix the Lock Yin Talismans among a multitude of other talismans. This approach was impossible to guard against, and its effectiveness was evident!
Yang Haoran had also considered directly using the Lock Yin Talismans on the Tongzhou Great Emperor, but the conditions at the time simply didn't allow for it. Only by first scattering the two Soul Armaments summoned by the Tongzhou Great Emperor could he not only divert the Emperor's attention but also leave him less protected, significantly increasing the success rate of his move. Otherwise, it would have been very difficult to apply the power of the Lock Yin Talismans directly to the Tongzhou Great Emperor.
It was precisely because he had considered this point that Yang Haoran didn't "beat the grass to startle the snake" by directly deploying the Lock Yin Talismans on the Tongzhou Great Emperor. Instead, he chose to first deal with the Tongzhou Great Emperor's two Soul Armaments!
Now, the terrifying power of the Tongzhou Great Emperor was finally unleashed. A moment before, the sky above the Guardian District had been filled with continuous explosions and dazzling colors; now, the entire Guardian District fell silent. From the moment the Tongzhou Great Emperor summoned the stone mirror to the instant his mirror shattered Black Lightning, only a few breaths had passed. In these mere few breaths, the Tongzhou Great Emperor demonstrated what it meant to sweep away all obstacles, revealing the immense gap in power between him and Yang Haoran.
The black clouds dispersed, Black Lightning was shattered, yet the Tongzhou Great Emperor's fury remained undiminished. He fixed his gaze on Yang Haoran, his twisted expression seemingly telling Yang Haoran that it was his turn next!
"Die!"
The Tongzhou Great Emperor spoke with murderous intent, instantly aiming the stone mirror in his hand at Yang Haoran. He had no desire to play games with Yang Haoran any longer; in his raging fury, he only wanted to kill Yang Haoran immediately!
Yang Haoran's face changed dramatically. An unprecedented sense of crisis welled up within him. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately manipulated Remnant Moon and the Blood Slave with his mind, positioning them in front of him.
A black light flashed across the stone mirror's surface, followed by an explosive roar. Remnant Moon, positioned at the very front, shattered with a crash, dissolving into wisps of Yin Qi that scattered into the air, utterly incapable of blocking the stone mirror's attack.
Immediately after, the stone mirror's surface flashed with black light once more, and another explosive sound echoed. This strike slammed into the Blood Slave's body.
Though the Blood Slave's body didn't explode after enduring this blow from the stone mirror, it was sent flying by an invisible force, its entire form covered in cracks, like a porcelain doll severely damaged, on the verge of shattering at any moment!
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