pjbooks Chapter 152 We Won
Chapter 152 We Won
It was a pure white light, originating from the same source as Wang Kai's chaotic power, yet purer, more ancient, and closer to some ineffable essence. It was the Dao Fruit of the sixth Immortal Emperor—his Dao title was "Chaos."
Thirty thousand years ago, a hundred Immortal Emperors besieged the Demon Ancestor. The Primordial Emperor deployed his array, burning the heavens and armor, sealing with ice and mystery, stripping away the void, all to protect him. The Chaos Immortal Emperor's mission was the most dangerous of all.
He used his own Dao Fruit to detach the Demon Ancestor's Chaotic Spiritual Root from the Demon Ancestor's primordial spirit, then shattered it into countless fragments, scattering them to every corner of the universe. In this way, the Demon Ancestor could no longer reassemble his complete Chaotic Power and would never be able to return to his peak state.
In that battle, the Dao Fruit of the Chaos Immortal Emperor shattered. During the process of stripping away the Chaos Spiritual Root of the Demon Ancestor, his physical body was devoured by the power of chaos, turning into fragments of the Chaos Origin from the inside out, scattering in the void. His remnant soul slept for thirty thousand years in the Primordial Sword, waiting for a human with a Chaos Spiritual Root to appear.
Now, it has finally gotten what it's been waiting for.
Wang Kai's Chaotic Spiritual Root is a fragment of the Demon Ancestor, a remnant scattered throughout the universe after the Chaotic Immortal Emperor shattered it 30,000 years ago. It is Jiang Chen. Jiang Chen's Dao Heart, under the extreme pressure of Kahn's physical power, resonated with the Dao Fruit of the Chaotic Immortal Emperor. He doesn't need a Chaotic Spiritual Root, because his Dao Heart itself is chaos. A thousand years of cultivation, he rose from the lowest Qi Refining stage to Immortal Emperor, from being chased by demonic beasts to slaying demons like cutting vegetables, from kneeling and trembling in pools of blood to shattering the void and splitting the heavens. His Dao Heart was forged in chaos.
A sixth kind of light surged from the blade of the Primordial Sword, intertwining with the five colors of gold, red, blue, black, and green to form a six-colored pillar of light. Under the harmonization of Jiang Chen's Dao Heart, the six Immortal Emperor Dao Fruits completed their first true fusion in thirty thousand years.
The six-colored beam of light blasted towards Kahn's main body.
Kahn raised his transparent longsword to parry.
The six-colored beams of light collided with the Seal of Eternity. The dark golden light and the six-colored light clashed violently, creating an extremely bizarre scene at the point of impact—space itself was not shattered at the point of impact, but rather erased from existence. The void within a hundred feet of the point of impact became a true "nothingness"—no light, no darkness, no time, no space, and nothing perceptible.
Kahn's pupils contracted at that moment.
"What is this?" Kahn's voice came from deep within his body, carrying a hint of uncertainty for the first time.
Jiang Chen gripped the Primordial Sword and took a step forward. Blood was still seeping from his body, and the cracks on his skin were widening, but his hand was steady, and the six-colored light on the blade continued to flow.
"This is a human," Jiang Chen said. "Kahn, didn't you want to know how much power humans can unleash in dire situations? This is the answer."
He raised the Primordial Sword, its tip aimed at the center of Kahn's forehead.
"It is not the power of awakening, not the power of cultivation, not the Dao Fruit of an Immortal Emperor, not the Chaos Spiritual Root—it is humanity's will to move forward even in despair. It is humanity's determination to protect even after losing everything. It is humanity's Dao heart that will not give up hope even when pushed to the brink by an existence like you."
A six-colored beam of light exploded from the sword blade.
Jiang Chen didn't aim his sword at the center of Kahn's brow. Instead, he aimed at the dark golden pillar of light below Kahn's body that connected his physical form to his human body—the channel through which Kahn transferred the power of the void's origin from his physical form to his human body, and the only link that had sustained that human body for the past three hundred years.
The six-colored beam of light struck the passage.
The passage began to crumble under the impact of the six-colored light. Dark golden streams of light surged from the passage, dissipating into the void. Kahn's human body, deprived of the support of the void's primal power, began to dissipate, turning into dark golden specks of light from his fingertips. First, his right hand—the hand holding the transparent longsword—transformed inch by inch from fingertips to wrist, from wrist to arm, into specks of light. Then his left hand, then his feet, then his legs, then his torso, and finally, his smiling face.
Before the last glimmer of light dissipated, Kahn's human body uttered his final words.
"Jiang Chen, next time we meet, I won't use a human body again."
His true form slowly sank into the darkness. His two pure golden eyeballs, each over a hundred feet in diameter, began to dim under the impact of the six-colored beams of light. The runes deep within his pupils extinguished layer by layer, and the dark golden light on the surface of his eyeballs faded away.
He closed his eyes.
The dark golden light in the void completely dissipated. The space of the hundredth floor finally returned to its most original form—a pure darkness without any impurities.
Wang Kai knelt in the void, looking at his severed right finger—the fingertip had completely disappeared, leaving only white bone fragments and bright red flesh at the cut surface. However, under the emerald green light of the Immortal Emperor of Life, new flesh and bone were growing at a visible speed. The fingertip grew from the cut surface, first with white bone fragments, then with bright red flesh, and finally with pinkish-white skin.
Shen Qingxue leaned against him, the ice armor on her right arm completely shattered, her entire arm trembling, but her eyes shone brightly. Bing Li and Xuan Ming stood side by side in the center of the group, a few strands of Bing Li's long silver-white hair damp with sweat, clinging to her cheeks; the icy blue light deep within Xuan Ming's black pupils still flickered slightly. Zhao Tieshan stood at the very back of the group, the alloy joint of his left prosthetic leg completely broken. He knelt on one knee in the void, his right fist still clenched, the charred blisters on his fist peeling away layer by layer in the light of the Immortal Emperor, revealing the newly formed, fair and rosy skin beneath. Zhang Ziming sat on the ground, the shattered lens of his glasses still hanging on his nose, his eyes still fixed ahead through the cracked lenses—on Jiang Chen's back.
Of the 1,100 trainees, not a single one fell ill.
Jiang Chen stood rooted to the spot, the six-colored light on the blade of the Primordial Sword slowly fading. Cracks covered his body, from his arms to his shoulders, from his shoulders to his chest, from his chest to his abdomen, every inch of his skin seeping blood. But he stood ramrod straight. His back was ramrod straight, his right hand still gripping the sword hilt, his left hand hanging at his side, the light blue ribbon on his right wrist swaying gently in the darkness.
He turned around and looked at the 1,100 students behind him, at those young people who were covered in wounds, exhausted of their spiritual energy, but still did not retreat. A slight smile appeared on his lips.
"Let's go home."
He uttered two words. His voice was very soft, as soft as the wind blowing across a dry riverbed, but each word seemed to be supported by a boulder, landing steadily on everyone's heart.
Wang Kai was the first to stand up. The "Dao" sword was drawn from the void, its pure white light restored, though still faint, it was glowing. Shen Qingxue stood up, her icy blue spiritual power re-condensing on her right fist, though only a thin layer, it was flowing. Bing Li and Xuan Ming stood up, their icy blue Ice Profound Power shining again in their palms. Zhao Tieshan stood up, the flame patterns on his right fist reigniting, though only a few tiny sparks, they were burning. Zhang Ziming stood up, his hands pressed into the void, earthen-yellow spiritual power surging from his palms into the "ground" beneath his feet, covered by the origin of the void, condensing into an earthen wall in the nothingness.
All 1,100 trainees stood up.
Jiang Chen turned around and strode forward. His steps were steady, each one landing on thin air, producing a dull, drum-like sound. His dark blue instructor's uniform was covered in cracks and bloodstains, but the pale gold sword at the cuff was still there, gleaming faintly yet resolutely in the darkness.
He reached the edge of the hundredth floor. The dark golden rift had completely closed, replaced by pure, unadulterated darkness. He raised the Primordial Sword, its tip touching the dark surface. Six-colored light surged from the sword tip, tearing a six-colored rift across the heavens and earth in the darkness. On the other side of the rift lay the night sky of the Alps.
Starlight streamed through the cracks, falling on everyone's faces.
Jiang Chen stepped into the rift. Wang Kai followed behind him, followed by Shen Qingxue, Bing Li, and Xuan Ming. Zhao Tieshan, Zhang Ziming, and the 1,100 students filed in.
As they all emerged from the rift, the six-colored rift behind them slowly closed. The main entrance to the First Apostle's Temple—the smooth, mirror-like black wall—began to crack from its center. Cracks spread rapidly from the door frame in all directions, covering the entire exterior wall of the building in the blink of an eye.
Black fragments peeled off the wall, turning into dark golden specks as they fell. These specks drifted through the night sky, carried away by the Alpine night wind. The interior of the Apostle's Temple was exposed to starlight—the dark golden halls, the corridors flowing with runes, the staircases suspended in the void—all began to collapse at the same instant.
After standing for three hundred years, the First Apostle's Hall finally came to an end.
Cheers erupted in the camp the moment the Apostle's Temple began to collapse. Countless people poured out of the tents of the allied forces. Some held up their phones to film, some knelt on the ground with their hands clasped together, some tilted their heads back and gulped down entire jugs of strong liquor before collapsing to the ground, and some hugged their comrades and wept loudly. In front of the command tent of the Dragon Kingdom's Awakened Headquarters, Chen Beiyuan stood in the cold wind, his white hair disheveled by the night wind, but in his black eyes, smoothed and rounded by time, was reflected the dark golden light of the Apostle's Temple collapsing, and the 1,100 figures emerging from the cracks within that light.
The old man neither cheered, nor applauded, nor shed tears. He simply stood there, watching Jiang Chen emerge from the crevice, watching him stand upright, his body cracked and covered in blood, watching the light blue ribbon on his right wrist flutter gently in the night wind, and watching the 1,100 wounded students behind him.
Then he turned around, went into the tent, and picked up the communicator on the table.
"Headquarters, the First Apostle Hall has been confirmed to have collapsed. Kahn's main body has retreated to the depths of the void's origin and will not be able to descend again in the short term. The casualties among the Qingyun Academy students... are pending. Dean Jiang Chen—"
He paused for a moment, his voice a little hoarse, but he emphasized each word.
"Still alive."
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the communicator. Then Chu Tianxiong's voice came through, trembling with a kind of release that had been suppressed for who knows how long.
"Okay. Okay. Okay."
He said "okay" three times, and then the communication was cut off.
The stars shone brighter than ever in the night sky above the Alps. Those stars, which had slumbered in darkness for three hundred years and had been obscured for far too long by the laws of the apostles, finally revealed their true forms once more.
Jiang Chen stood at the edge of the camp, watching the last black fragment of the Apostle's Temple dissipate into dark golden specks of light in the night wind. He watched those specks of light being blown into the distance, watching them disappear among the snow-capped peaks of the Alps, watching the night sky, which had been shrouded in dark golden light for three hundred years, be filled with starlight once again.
He looked down at the six-colored flame pattern on the palm of his right hand. The golden flame of the Heavenly Stars, the dark red flame of the Burning Soul, the icy blue power of the Ice Profound, the pure black power of nothingness, the emerald green power of life, and the pure white power of chaos—the power of the six Immortal Emperor Dao Fruits flowed slowly in his palm, like six rivers of different colors flowing into the same sea.
He clenched his five fingers together, drawing the light into his body.
Then he looked up at the stars in the night sky, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
"Primordial Ancestor, Burning Heaven Ancestor, Ice Profound Ancestor, Void Ancestor, Life-Giving Ancestor, Chaos Ancestor," he said softly, his voice as light as the wind blowing across a dry riverbed. "I have brought back your Dao Fruits. I have fulfilled your last wishes."
The night wind blew by, carrying away his last breath.