“From the beginning to the end, from using an army to forcibly reclaim Yangshan Commandery to challenging me at this moment, he wants to gain the initiative at all times.”

“He not only wants to fight me and Emperor Chen of Han, but the entire world.”

“So if there is to be an alliance, there needs to be a true alliance between you, the Yan, and the Chu.”

Yan Ying stood up. His lips did not move, nor did anyone hear a sound, but the three sentences clearly reached the emperor of Qi’s ears.

The Qi Emperor appeared solemn and dignified, emanating an unique light. For he knew, this unusual warning was Yan Ying’s last words.

Yan Ying standing up was, naturally, his implicit acceptance of the challenge.

Emperor Chen of Han nodded to him in respect.

Yan Ying nodded in return.

Emperor Yuanwu smiled.

As he smiled, all of Deer Mountain suddenly bathed in a unique light.

The blowing wind and the rippling mist were as usual. But there seemed to be many lights, that should not appear, falling down from high up on Deer Mountain.

Every gaze was heavy.

This was a true realm eight, Heaven Opening.

A completely new world seemed to have opened in the sky. There were many waves of energy that other people could not feel. All of Deer Mountain was bathed in a unique light, as though it had become a transparent and bright jewel.

Ding Ning closed his eyes. Not due to the brightness, but the pain he felt at this moment.

Emperor Yuanwu’s cultivations had advanced much higher than he had imagined. This was something impossible, but it was happening before his very eyes.

In the doctrine of any cultivation sect, the crux to cultivation was to detect the tracks of primal energy that flowed through one’s body and the surrounding world. Emperor Yuanwu opened the heavens, and all the cultivators on top of Deer Mountain could naturally comprehend with their entire minds in hopes that they could comprehend some crucial principals.

Yet, unexpectedly, when their perceptions touched with the primal energies that seemed to come from another world, they only felt an enormous pressure, the kind that appeared to crush everything.

Even the realm seven experts present were no exception.

Under such pressure, their perceptions slowed. The perception of a cultivator was the source to controlling everything. When their perceptions slowed, everything slowed.

At this moment, few cultivators were able to comprehend anything related to cultivation from Emperor Yuanwu. They just felt that Deer Mountain was becoming an unique little world under the control of Emperor Yuanwu’s energy.

A world that belonged to Emperor Yuanwu.

At the thought of fighting in this small world that belonged to their enemy, most cultivators on top of Deer Mountain paled. They felt great terror.

They had yet to fight, but the realm sevens felt great terror. This was the enormous disparity between realm eight and seven.

Realm eight, Heaven Opening, was not just to communicate with the world, opening new passages for the flow of primal energies of the universe, and obtaining vaster primal energies. It was also creating a world that belonged to oneself.

Standing at the centre of this pressure, Emperor Chen of Han and Yan Ying felt this more clearly than anyone else.

But Emperor Chen of Han, who had forgotten even his glory, shame, and death, would naturally not feel any terror.

Instead, he wore a smile, sat down with his legs crossed. The fingers of his right hand acted as a sword as he stabbed towards Emperor Yuanwu.

As he sat down, bursts of red pill energy appeared underneath him. These came from the Heaven Stealing Pill. The countless spirit medicines used to create the Heaven Stealing Pill were amazing condensates of primal energies of the universe. A pill medicine, that claimed the power of an entire dynasty during its creation, had enough energy to resist the energy of a Heaven Stealing Pill. It separated the emperor of Han from this small world.

So when he sat down, it was like a red stone had been dropped into a pool. Regardless of whether he could match the world outside, he would first remain still.

Red pill energy shot out of the index and middle fingers on his right hand, accompanied by a burning hot energy.

This was the earthfire that he had absorbed into his body after cultivating diligently by Yin Mountain for a decade.

This was his lifebond item.

The pill energies themselves had been refined thousands of times by fire. With his body as the medium, the red pill energy and this ray of fire merged together into a crimson longsword.

Boom!

A furnace formed in the world. A terrifying wave of heat exploded in front of him, driving away all the moisture from around the peak of Deer Mountain.

For all cultivators, a furnace forming when the sword appeared was a trait unique to the Zhao Sword Furnace. Yet at this time, Emperor Chen of Han’s sword had many times more murderousness and heat than what Zhao Zhan had displayed in his battle with Ye Celeng.

Emperor Chen of Han sat on the ground, his two fingers gripping this pill fire sword as he stabbed it calmly and happily towards Emperor Yuanwu’s chest.

Not far to his side, Yan Ying did not move. His black robe swelled slightly, and waves of dark wind blew.

He stood there motionless, but in the senses of everyone around him, he seemed to have turned into transparent air and disappeared into the bright light surrounding Deer Mountain.

Unlike Emperor Chen of Han who had turned into solid stone, the strongest grandmaster of the Qi Dynasty turned himself into a wind that hid in Emperor Yuanwu’s little world.

Emperor Chen of Han’s pill fire sword passed through the air.

As the sword moved, they passed by flowing lines visible to the naked eye. These were originally invisible seal lines that formed when Emperor Yuanwu used his perception to control the energies.

Numerous seemingly minuscule bursts of energy that contained great power formed and destructed in these seal lines. They turned into a wave able to shock a realm four cultivator to death.

This was probably the strongest sword that Emperor Yuanwu had encountered after his ascension, especially with someone like Yan Ying standing by. But Emperor Yuanwu still stood with his hands behind his back, and raised his eyes slightly at the sky.

Boom!

Thunder seemed to roar through the sky.

Sound, in the world of cultivators, was something extremely slow. But when the enormous sound occurred, Emperor Chen of Han’s sword had yet to reach Emperor Yuanwu’s chest. The vibrating sound waves passed through the bright threads of light, turning into unique transparent swords that fell towards Emperor Chen of Han.

Great Path Thunder Sound Seal Sword.

Ding Ning closed his eyes, and took the name of Emperor Yuanwu’s sword in his mind.

Emperor Chen of Han did not hesitate, the pill fire sword in his hand lifting upwards and swinging. It was not that he was too slow, but Emperor Yuanwu was too fast.

If he had not changed, before his pill fire sword reached Emperor Yuanwu, his body would have been cut into countless pieces by the sound seal swords.

The pill fire sword turned into an enormous pill cauldron that sprouted fire towards the sky.

The transparent sword charged into this pill cauldron, making an enormous noise.

The sound was loud and clear.

All of Deer Mountain shook. The peaks around Deer Mountain shook.

Many unimaginable sounds appeared in the world.

All of the leaves on Deer Mountain’s trees left their branches and danced.

All of the transparent swords shattered.

In the next moment, Emperor Chen of Han appeared to have been sliced by countless pieces of glass. Tears appeared on his cloth robe, and drew lines of blood.

Yan Ying looked quickly at Emperor Chen of Han and Emperor Yuanwu.

Only now did the fingers on his right hand move slightly.

Five lines of black energy burned on his fingertips like candlelights before quickly turning into five round black beads. There was a black thread connecting these five beads like they were a strange bracelet.

The five black beads started to spin and fly, brushing against those bright lines of light. They gave off unusually violent and sharp sounds. But the thread connecting the five beads was completely still, as though the furious revolutions of the five black beads had nothing to do with it.

There was a crack, followed by sudden silence.

The five black beads disappeared under Yan Ying’s fingers. Five furiously spinning black lights appeared around Emperor Yuanwu.

Because the rotation was so fast it surpassed the limits of people’s senses, these five balls of black light looked like spheres in many people’s eyes.

But these people could sense there were five black infants in different postures within each black light.

These five infants gave off unimaginably yin wind, spinning furiously as they revolved around Emperor Yuanwu.

“Stone-Grinding Sword!” The emperor of Chu felt the essence and uttered in disbelief.

Not far behind Emperor Yuanwu, Huang Zhenwei’s eyes widened in disbelief. He was almost certain that this was the true Stone-Grinding Sword Essence.

The Stone-Grinding Sword had been one of that person’s original creations and could not have spread around. The Stone-Grinding Sword that Yan Ying was using right now was slightly different. He should have comprehended this kind of sword essence from the marks of combat that person left behind in the past, and the corpses of those he killed.

Being able to rely on those things to comprehend such a sword essence was a matter of talent.

Comprehending a peerless skill of another dynasty for one’s own use required humility and breadth of mind.

Other than the Holy One, was there anyone in the Qin who could win against the grandmaster alone?

Huang Zhenwei looked at Yan Ying’s figure with a hint of awe in his eyes.

Emperor Yuanwu frowned slightly, as though in displeasure. His head tilted back further as though he was looking up at the stars at night.

Numerous white flames appeared in the sky and fell down faster than those sound seal swords.

Translator Ramblings: The way that the phenomenon is described, this should be more like “Sky Opening” than “Heaven Opening” but I guess it could be interpreted as “the opening to Heaven?”