Chapter 638: Sharing the Feast

The golden light flickered, flashed once within the shadow of the Shadow, and then extinguished completely, leaving only the dazzling brilliance on the distant horizon.

A person draped in a black cloak from head to toe arrived at this battlefield of the "Three Immortals' War."

He had come in pursuit of that beam of light from just a moment ago. It was a ray of Sunlight that had flashed by and streaked past his eyes. Although it was only a thin sliver, he had managed to capture it.

That beam of light was precisely the Sunlight he detested to the core.

Naturally, he would not let it go; he followed the light and, upon arriving here, caught sight of the battlefield at a single glance.

In fact, when that light appeared continuously, the man in black had already guessed that someone was luring him over. The other party was naturally ill-intentioned; it could be the Destruction that had snatched away the troops he was deployed to capture, or the Wangliang that controlled the overall situation, or perhaps someone else entirely who simply wanted to borrow his strength...

None of this mattered. The man in the black robe, who was none other than the Dazai renowned throughout the world, had to come here.

Because he had to find the battlefield—not to find those soldiers snatched from under his nose, nor to ensure the safety of An Wang and his mother, but simply to find Destruction and to find Wangliang.

Thanks to that pair of useless mother and son, the possibility of peace talks with Wangliang was becoming increasingly low. Fortunately, this was a situation he had anticipated before coming. In fact, the Central Hub had prepared means for war in advance.

Especially after he arrived at the scene and was repeatedly disturbed by the suddenly appearing Destruction, he felt more and more that the so-called signing of a contract with Wangliang to peacefully take away Destruction was unfeasible.

The reason lay in the fact that Destruction, which was said to be merely a tool for suppression, actually possessed consciousness, had a personality, could actively stir up trouble, and could advance and retreat just like a normal person.

Since Destruction, which was entangled with Wangliang, could still easily come out to cause trouble, it was impossible for Wangliang not to be able to do the same on its own turf; Wangliang was likely also a Sword Deity with a complete "personality."

A Sword Deity with intelligence would not easily bow its head, especially to an existence lower than itself. Even if he and his people helped it resolve Destruction, it would at most "bestow" something, and would never sign any "contract" with existences below a Sword Immortal.

What's more... seeing Destruction come and go so freely, seemingly unrestrained, one had to consider the possibility that Wangliang had already colluded with Destruction.

Various unexpected situations had been simulated before, but the lords of the Central Hub all believed that the possibility of the two sides colluding was low; at most, they were tired and had reached a tacit truce, not yet to the point of being in cahoots, because the two sides were mortal enemies of many years, and their stances were inherently incompatible.

How could Light and Shadow collude with each other? Would that light still be light, and shadow still be shadow?

Thinking about it now, they had thought too little.

Having reached this position, what was the point of talking about mortal enemies or stances?

Occupying a high position himself, he understood this principle all the more. The higher he stood, the more he disdained the things common people haggled over; where interests were concerned, he could trade with anyone.

But regardless, Destruction must be taken away, and the Golden Crow must be captured; as for Wangliang... it was merely an optional extra.

Therefore, on the way here, the Dazai had already prepared his trump card to kill Wangliang and control Destruction. Then, he would bring them back to Yunzhou, seize the Golden Crow, incite an uprising in Yunzhou, and launch the grand, earth-shaking plan that Great Wei had been plotting for a hundred years.

Since he had decided to act, he had to come, even if it were a trap. He was confident that he could trigger that item within the trap, which would be enough to counter-kill Wangliang.

However, when he truly arrived at the scene, he was still shocked.

Even for the Dazai, this was the first time he had seen such a sight.

The Shadow, which had previously been like a black hole covered in spiderwebs, had now split into three. Three enormous phantoms hung against each other, forming a tripod-like stance.

Each of the three phantoms had its own breathtaking quality.

At a first glance, all three phantoms were spherical, just of different colors. The black one was the largest, the silver one second, and the golden one the smallest. But when looking closely, one could see many things within the spheres—even seeing more and more the longer one looked, until one was overwhelmed and dazzled.

Inside that silver sphere were white clouds, mountains and rivers, and pavilions and towers, as if it were a fairyland.

The golden sphere, however, contained countless scenes of destruction. There was parched land, exploding scorched rocks, evaporating water currents, and charred saplings...

Everything was in the midst of destruction; although it was a calamity of a single instant, it was happening at every moment within the golden sphere.

And the black one...

The black sphere was clearly black, and looking closely, it was a bottomless black, seemingly containing only thick black shadows and dark night. Yet, at a certain moment, one could also grasp many black outlines: giants, beasts, birds, and all living things... many shadows pieced together, layered upon one another, becoming blacker the more they were pieced together, and darker the more they were layered, until finally, there was only a thick, dense black.

This feeling of seeing a world inside a sphere was very wondrous, as if condensing an existence of a higher dimension into the real world for people to peek at. But as a Sword Hero closest to a Sword Immortal, the Dazai easily guessed what it was...

Sword Momentum!

It was the Sword Momentum belonging exclusively to a Sword Immortal!

That was the state of Sword Momentum in semi-Restraint; a spread-out Sword Momentum was called Grand Momentum, at least appearing like a Small World. A restrained Sword Momentum was formless and boundless; only this special form of semi-Restraint had such a spherical state.

But what truly stunned the Grand Steward was not the three semi-restrained Sword Momentums, but what lay beyond them.

In short, it was the heavens and the earth.

Although Wangliang Mountain was a world of black and white, it still had its own heavens and earth.

But the heavens and earth were now incomplete.

Literally.

One could see wounds hanging in the sky, just like wall plaster that had been torn off. Beyond the wounds—that is, beyond the sky—there was only utter nothingness.

Neither black nor white, not any color in the world; it was absolute nothingness.

Seeing such a sky, the Dazai could not help but tremble slightly: it was the fear of an egg under an overturned nest.

The sky had collapsed; a great disaster was imminent!

Compared to the collapsing sky, what horrified him even more was yet to come.

Suddenly, a faint ray of light drifted up from below. Because of the distance, it looked thinner than a strand of hair and was difficult to perceive.

This sliver of light drifted into the silver sphere.

Then, the silver sphere suddenly extended a ray of light, like a giant hand, tore a large piece of the sky from the dome, and stuffed it into the sphere. The sphere writhed slightly and then returned to its original state.

Whether it was an illusion or not, the silver sphere seemed to have grown a faint circle larger.

This situation easily brought to mind the idea of devouring, but in the Dazai's view, it was better described as: "Feeding."

It was eating the sky!

Before long, the black sphere also fed on a touch of the heavens and earth, also writhed slightly as if chewing, and then swallowed.

The three massive Sword Momentum spheres were three gluttons at a grand banquet, wantonly sharing the heavens and earth.

This feast belonged exclusively to these Sword Immortals, and they were monsters among Sword Immortals; outsiders could not participate, nor could they even imagine it.

The only thing the Dazai did not understand was that this heaven and earth was Wangliang Mountain, which was Wangliang's private property and should have belonged entirely to Wangliang. Having already swallowed the fat meat, why did it allow other existences to share the meal?

Unbelievable!

The Dazai was silent for a moment; he realized that even if he relied on the power of external objects to defeat one of them, he still could not stand in their ranks.

Sword Immortals, ah. He was already standing on the threshold and had long been able to glimpse the scenery inside, but he could never take that crucial step, and perhaps he would never be able to in this lifetime.

Unless...

Unless one becomes a true Dazai, like that State Preceptor in Jingcheng, gathering the power of the world to nurture one person, only then can one nurture a true Sword Immortal.

To be a Sword Immortal, one must naturally be an unfettered, true Sword Immortal.

Rather than being like these three pseudo-Sword Immortals before one's eyes, who only engage in infighting in a tiny corner.

He watched the way these monsters gorged themselves, sneering coldly in his heart, concluding that they were monsters and dregs, and decided to wipe them out completely.

His hand gripped that heavy treasure under his cloak; it was another means capable of surpassing a Sword Immortal, aside from that Great Array that covered the entire earth.

However, the power of external objects has many limitations and is not lasting; a Dazai also needs to seize the right moment.

He believed the opportunity would come.

Looking at the current situation, three monsters eating the same piece of fat meat—although it looks like there are rules ensuring they eat in order, how could there not be conflict?

For instance, right now, the speed at which that silver sphere is expanding is increasing, and it looks like it is about to surpass the black sphere; can the Wangliang of the black sphere endure this?

That golden sphere is so much smaller than them, how could it be content forever?

Relying on his rich political experience and keen political intuition, the Dazai knew that balance is hard to maintain, and the turning point for battle was almost here.

Just at this moment, a wave of silver light suddenly erupted from below, all entering the Silver Camp, and the silver Sword Momentum was also unceremonious, tearing a large piece from the sky, the several wounds almost merging into one, becoming a large hole. The Void outside seemed to be overflowing, drowning this world.

The Dazai had never torn the sky; he did not know if the sky was as flexible as paper, where tearing it would not matter, or if it was like a wall, where too many holes would eventually cause it to collapse, but he knew one thing: the silver light sphere was almost as large as the black light sphere.

Immediately following, for a long time no new light rays came up; the Chess Game below seemed to have become a stalemate.

Now, the change was right before his eyes.

The Dazai keenly realized this and continued to approach without attracting attention. His cloak originally had a concealment function; previously, he had held himself in high regard and disdained to use it, but now that he activated it, it was even more formidable than the White Fox, who specialized in concealment.

Getting closer, he gradually saw other figures under the three Sword Momentums.

The first thing he saw was Wangliang sitting alone in the darkness, and that familiar golden Mask on his face.

It was actually a Mask.

Destruction, huh... can it not even maintain an independent human form anymore?

And that Silver Camp, why does it not even have a shape? There is only a piece of silver... net?

Immediately after, he also saw that "chessboard" below, saw the chaotic scene of demons dancing wildly on the chessboard, and also saw acquaintances.

Hong Zhuguo, fighting in the front. An Wang, cowering at the very back.

This matched his impression of the two.

But An Wang's state was somewhat off. He seemed to be avoiding some kind of danger. After all, the Dazai was too far away; he could not see specifically which person in the surroundings was threatening this little prince, but right now, this kid was restless.

An Wang was in danger...

Although the Dazai theoretically had the obligation to protect the imperial clan, no one would trouble him if An Wang were to die; however, if he could save him, he would.

If there was a chance...

Just at this moment, he heard someone in the Void shout: "Wangliang, do not go too far!"

Following a violent shout, the silver light surged!

The silver light pressed toward the Shadow, and countless threads flew out like a rain of arrows.

Now is the time!

The Dazai gave his cloak a slight shake, and a shadow appeared behind him, as if it were that Sword Momentum!

It was a broken stele, and four characters faintly flowed on the stele:

Mountains and Rivers Shattered!

The Mid-Autumn Festival is here; wishing everyone a happy Mid-Autumn Festival, good health, and a harmonious reunion!