Chapter 1042: Slay the Sovereign, One Strike, Certain Death!

Fifth Star Ring, Spirit Prison.

Divine abilities and techniques are booming.

In the distance, the great tree formed by Little Shadow is entwined with the Glazed Treasure Tree, enveloping each other, each seeking to suppress the other.

Inside, the manifested Little Shadow is fighting the figure that emerged from the Treasure Tree.

The sound continues, Lei Ting unceasing.

Nearby, within the Three-Three Forbidden Formation, the eradication of authority erupts; within it, Xu Qing's shield-transformed treasure light shoots skyward, sealing the Netherworld Ghost Gate.

This shield comes from the Netherflame Great Emperor, containing a trace of Black Lotus power; as it emits netherfire, it expands several times, matching the height of the Ghost Gate, booming upon collision.

Each vibrates.

Below, the blade light transformed from the Great Emperor's Shears, carrying the Emperor's aura, flashes with blinding radiance, fiercely cutting, severing the fate-bound incense of causality.

Lastly… Xu Qing holding the Emperor's Sword, sword drawn like a rainbow.

His charging silhouette seems capable of cleaving heaven and earth, spreading awe-inspiring might, transforming into torrential killing intent, suddenly slaughtering toward the middle-aged Sovereign.

At this moment, the words taught by the Sword-Wielding Great Emperor echo in Xu Qing's mind.

"The so-called Earth Treasury is a sword technique I created back then to slay a murderous butcher adept in the Earth Dao; this sword primarily stimulates earth qi, using sword intent to replace earth intent, transforming earth qi into sword qi."

"Upon gathering, it condenses into the Earth Sword!"

Even with Xu Qing's comprehension that startled Seventh Grandfather and Mingnan Shizi, he now only has a glimpse of the Sword-Wielding Great Emperor's first sword; other sword forms remain unmastered.

In this unfamiliar Fifth Star Ring, facing such a steady Sovereign, Xu Qing's strike has not the slightest hesitation.

As the Emperor's Sword gleams, as Earth Treasury's power spreads, all directions tremble.

All surrounding swamps quiver; the bubble-worlds on the swamps all do so.

Threads of smoke rise from the ground, from the small worlds.

This smoke is not nourishment from the small worlds, but earth qi stimulated by sword intent in this Earth Treasury style.

Increasingly more.

In an instant, the swamp surges; those bubble-worlds also violently shake.

Countless smoke streams rush toward Xu Qing.

Though this sounds lengthy, it actually happens in a flash—almost the instant Xu Qing draws the Emperor's Sword and charges forth, countless smoke streams converge from all directions.

Outside Xu Qing's body, a shocking great sword is formed!

Enveloping Xu Qing within!

As if Xu Qing himself has become this sword!

Sword might sweeps across, the heavens surge, the earth booms, the entire Spirit Prison ripples like a sea.

Then, amidst the middle-aged Sovereign's inner tremor and rapid retreat, this great sword formed from earth qi, with earth-shaking momentum and peerless speed!

Rushing straight for the middle-aged Sovereign!

Destroying the rotten and breaking the decayed!

"This sword, I, the old man, claim it!"

The middle-aged Sovereign's eyes contract; this thought was not spoken, but greed rose in his heart; now, without further hesitation, his left eye directly manifests a vortex.

Dao patterns manifest, authority finally erupts!

First to change is the red gaseous mist river flowing outside his body.

This mist river is precisely his authority transformed; now, as the Dao patterns turn, it violently shakes, suddenly spreading outward from his body.

Next moment…

Xu Qing clearly feels the change in heaven and earth.

The air ahead seems to have gained resistance; this resistance instantly becomes immense, slowing his speed involuntarily, though the Earth Treasury Sword still radiates a force to break through…

Yet the resistance increases again.

Even when thickened to a certain degree, it becomes the opponent's protection!

Not only blocking Xu Qing's speed, but also countering his sword qi.

If it were only this, it would be tolerable; but the qi in this region, when falling on Xu Qing, is resistance, yet when falling on the middle-aged Sovereign's body, it decreases.

Reducing all air resistance, reducing all qi flow.

Under this give-and-take, outwardly manifesting as: Xu Qing's speed grows ever slower, his movements increasingly sluggish under external force, while the middle-aged Sovereign there attains a heart-stopping speed.

So swift that in an instant he dodges Xu Qing's Earth Treasury Sword, appears beside Xu Qing in a flash, his eyes filled with intense greed, his right hand raised toward Xu Qing's Emperor's Sword, grabbing it.

Precisely exact, and the timing chosen is extremely cunning.

Giving Xu Qing no chance to retaliate.

He grabs it!

But before his excitement could rise, the Emperor's Sword he grabbed turns illusory; even the slowed Xu Qing before him becomes equally illusory.

This scene causes the middle-aged Sovereign's face to sink.

"Has cognition been altered?"

Almost the instant this middle-aged Sovereign reacts, not far away, Xu Qing's Earth Treasury Sword incarnation, seizing this opportunity, fully erupts.

Earlier, he used once the cognition-altering ability given by Mingnan Shizi; at the critical moment, leveraging this middle-aged Sovereign's greed for the Emperor's Sword, he finally shifted the Sovereign's hard-to-shake cognition somewhat.

Thus, he gained this opportunity for himself.

However, the cognition shift lasted too briefly, and this person's authority is special, so Xu Qing, in that instant, his thoughts turning, had no confidence to rely on Earth Treasury to slay him.

Even displaying the Killer's Wristbone, using Seventh Grandfather's sword qi, Xu Qing still feels an accident might occur.

He does not know whether the opponent still has Killer's Wristbone or special means.

He needs to ensure, needs to craft a condition that forces the opponent to reveal all means.

Therefore, he does this because he wants—one strike, certain death!

Not to seriously injure the opponent.

And cannot let the opponent escape.

Considering these, Xu Qing made a decision in an instant.

Therefore, at this moment, the eruption of the Emperor Sword was not aimed at the middle-aged sovereign, but taking advantage of this brief opportunity, he slammed the Earth-Burial Sword toward the earth!

More precisely, it was slammed toward the earth's... bubble small worlds!

Since the opponent is steady, then we must first make the opponent's mind chaotic.

Only when the mind is chaotic will there be a flaw for a fatal strike.

And for a guardian, the way to cause mental chaos is naturally a large-scale collapse of the place being guarded.

Thus, Xu Qing's sword, though appearing to target the sovereign, truly aims at most of the bubble small worlds here.

At this moment, the sword qi fell, the earth collapsed, and within the eight-direction marshes, a large number of bubble small worlds, as if their heavens were sliced away,

roared in succession, and shattered in succession!

The heavens of those small worlds mostly collapsed open, and within them, the transformers who had no time to recover, one by one in their sleep, had both form and spirit annihilated.

And without the heavenly boundary, the beings within these small worlds, as if awakening from a dream, were dazed and terrified one by one, simultaneously causing this divine spirit prison to finally fall into great chaos.

The extraction of spiritual energy thus greatly decreased over a wide area.

The vortex on the firmament absorbing spiritual energy could no longer absorb more at this moment.

"You dare!!"

This scene finally caused the middle-aged sovereign's mind and spirit to roar, his face completely changed, and he instinctively glanced warily at the vortex.

He wanted to stop Xu Qing's move, but it was too late.

And originally, under his control, such a situation would not have occurred; everything, everything, was due to the altered cognition forming this opportunity.

Now, seeing the spirit mine collapse and the vortex's absorption of spiritual energy greatly reduced, his heart could not help but violently fluctuate.

This is the spirit mine he guards, but now such a drastic change has occurred, and the killing intent in his eyes instantly intensified; as he let out a low roar, the Dao marks in his eyes began to turn again.

His Dao marks are special, their power terrifying, but limited by his cultivation, each use requires a price; if used on a large scale or deeper level... the price is astonishing.

Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, he is unwilling to use too much.

But now, he has no choice.

His right hand suddenly rose, pressing downward toward the earth.

Instantly, the power of authority fell down, becoming resistance, then thickened into protection, transforming into suppression.

Enveloping all collapsing spirit mines, it slowed the collapse speed of those spirit mines, and by maintaining this suppression to reduce loss and allow for recovery, his body became increasingly emaciated, and the cold light in his eyes flashed.

At this moment, he could no longer afford to remain steady, for relying on authority to suppress the spirit mine cannot be sustained for long.

He must quickly end this battle, so as to repair those small worlds; otherwise, once the upper vortex continues to absorb less for a long time, the consequences he cannot bear.

Thus, he gritted his teeth fiercely, not sparing the cost of authority, and pointed at Xu Qing.

The authority erupted again.

Xu Qing's body trembled, and he felt suffocation.

The spiritual energy, air... everything gaseous around him was instantly drawn away, forming compression, and even his internal state was the same.

One by one, red and swollen bumps instantly protruded on his body, looking horrifying.

Moreover, there was an explosive intent, now erupting.

But Xu Qing's heart was not panicked.

"The moment I want is coming soon."

Xu Qing glanced at the middle-aged sovereign, his right hand suddenly rose, and the Extreme Void Dao within his body roared into operation.

In the heavens of those small worlds, Xu Qing had been recalling the vortex seen during his travels in the Primordial Sea, its application of space, which others might not have deeply felt.

But for him, who inherently possesses spatial power, that vortex scene seemed like a master transmitting the Dao.

Telling him, space, should be used like this.

Thus, in the next instant, as the Extreme Void Dao within Xu Qing's body dispersed, the area he was in immediately began to twist, as if being pulled, becoming infinitely vast.

Then came cutting and separation!

Cutting the space he occupied, isolating the authority of qi, making the ten-zhang radius around Xu Qing have a boundary.

Forming a grid!

This grid exists independently, controlled by Xu Qing's Extreme Void Dao.

And it continuously increased, in an instant becoming hundreds, densely packed, with irregular shapes enclosing Xu Qing within.

Even as all qi is being drawn away... each additional layer of these hundreds of spaces equals another world.

Finally, reversal.

Xu Qing raised his head, gazing at the middle-aged sovereign, and in the next instant, like the sound of a mirror shattering, echoed in all directions.

"Your qi authority possesses explosive power, but no matter how it explodes, it ultimately cannot compare to the collapse of space."

Xu Qing spoke calmly.

In that instant, the hundreds of grids all shattered, and amidst that series of sounds, a storm of space swept up countless spatial fragments, erupting here with Xu Qing.

Part swept horizontally across the eight directions, rendering the sovereign's attempt to save the spirit mine ineffective, intensifying his anxiety and anger, and sustaining his mental chaos.

Part then rushed straight toward the sovereign himself.

This scene caused the Dao mark light in the middle-aged sovereign's eyes to flare violently.

"It is actually the Dao of Space!"

His mind and spirit trembled, his right hand rose, pointing a finger at the firmament.

Heaven and earth appeared with a sense of cold and warmth!

This was the cold and warmth formed by the air, and their interweaving turned into a great wind howling this place.

This wind roared, even producing thunderstorms, and when mixed together, it seemed like heavenly might, bombarding the spatial storm.

Deafening sounds erupted sky-high.

After touching each other, heaven and earth fell into great chaos, as spatial fractures and heavenly might intertwined, creating disorder that blurred everything.

In this blur, the wind wailed.

Blood trickled from the corner of the middle-aged sovereign's mouth; after unleashing such a Dao-mark authority, the price finally came, yet the killing intent in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest.

And in the great wind, Xu Qing also suffered—his flesh and blood were peeling off, his body instantly becoming a blur of flesh and blood.

Yet his eyes remained sharp.

At this critical moment, his internal Extreme Time Dao erupted violently.

The power of time rose upon him, forming a vast sundial that locked onto the sovereign, reversing his time—freezing the moment when blood had trickled from the corner of his mouth!

Then, Xu Qing's eyes erupted with killing intent; to ensure a killing blow, he raised his right hand, and the power of fishing the moon from the well also rose at this moment.

The heavens became the well's surface, and the world rippled with water.

And the middle-aged sovereign stood upon the water, his entire technique and body reflected within it.

The sundial fixes the body.

The well-moon fixes the soul.

Combined with Xu Qing's prior strike that had caused the opponent's mind and spirit to falter……

At this moment, the opportunity Xu Qing had been waiting for finally arrived!

In the next instant, a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering sword qi surged from within him, charging straight at the sovereign.

This was Ninth Grandfather's sword qi—the sword qi capable of slaying a sovereign.

As this sword emerged, the heavens paled, the earth roared, and within this divine spirit prison, countless swords in the myriad small worlds trembled, all resonating.

They erupted in unison, each bursting from their fractured world-heavens, gathering outside, filling this void, occupying every region, and finally merging into Ninth Grandfather's sword qi, making it shine brighter, its sword might stronger.

Continuously gathering power.

And the lethal force contained within the sword qi was also gathering power.

After a few breaths of gathering power, this world-shaking killing intent suddenly erupted—at this moment, heaven and earth shone, and only the sword reigned supreme.

Toward the middle-aged sovereign, heaven fell, the sword fell, killing intent fell.

With a powerful posture, it domineeringly replaced everything the middle-aged sovereign saw and sensed.

No room to dodge, no way to evade, nothing to block!

The sword qi struck—body and soul shattered, form and spirit annihilated!

One strike, certain death!!