Chapter 319 - 318: Supreme Ruler and Supreme Honor of the Nine Provinces
“Without a weapon, how are you going to fight me?” The boastful Emperor who held the Sky Desolate Halberd returned to his previous unruly self.
“Do I still need a weapon to fight you?” Jiang Li shook his head lightly, thinking that the Emperor was overvaluing himself.
He used the halberd to fight against numerous Immortal Artifacts because he wasn’t certain about the abilities of the Yin Yang Heaven Seal and others after they had gained intelligence.
At the same time, during his previous battle with the Emperor, he had already forced the Emperor’s limit to reveal his full abilities. Jiang Li didn’t even need the Sky Desolate Halberd to know how strong the Emperor was.
“You speak insolently!”
The Emperor thought that Jiang Li was merely bluffing. Their combat abilities were similar, how could he possibly defeat him when he held a weapon?
The Emperor swung the halberd while Jiang Li used his fists to meet the attack, creating showering sparks like metal clashing.
Astonishingly, it was the Emperor’s side that was suppressed, his hands trembled, numbed from the clash.
Jiang Li continued to throw punches, causing the Emperor to lose his grip on the Sky Desolate Halberd and step back repeatedly.
Watching Jiang Li’s overwhelming attack, fear began to rise inside the Emperor for the first time. This insignificant trace of fear prevented him from maintaining his composure and arrogant demeanor.
The Emperor saw, to his disbelief, a dent appearing on the indestructible Sky Desolate Halberd under Jiang Li’s punches!
In reality, the Sky Desolate Halberd is indestructible, and this level of attack should not be able to break it.
However, this wasn’t the real Sky Desolate Halberd after all, but a replicated one. The Emperor thought of the halberd as solid, so it was solid. If he had doubts about it, the Sky Desolate Halberd would lose its attribute of indestructibility.
Being beaten by Jiang Li made the Emperor question his life.
Why couldn’t he win against this seemingly harmless and easy-to-bully person?
Jiang Li didn’t care about what the Emperor was thinking. He concentrated all his strength into a punch, breaking the Sky Desolate Halberd with a crack. It could no longer protect the Emperor.
The Emperor received a solid punch in his chest; blood spat out from his mouth, his internal organs shattered by the impact.
The Emperor steadied himself and directed his attention towards Dream Pure, who was watching the fight from a distance. Attempting to attack her, he raised his arm but found himself unable to bring it down no matter how much he tried.
“Is this the Emperor? If you can’t beat me, you will attack the audience, won’t you?” Jiang Li sneered, crushing the Emperor’s right elbow with one squeeze.
Very quickly, the Emperor recovered his body and hastily retreated while gasping for breath.
The Emperor was embarrassed. He was ashamed that his first response upon seeing Jiang Li was to retreat.
“Five Thunder Orthodox Techniques,” Jiang Li gently recited the name of the Divine Skill, summoning thunder tribulation that was even stronger than the one summoned during his fifteenth time of achieving immortality, opening a crack in the dream realm.
Jiang Li’s Dao training, which was not weaker than his tough physique, was something he simply found bothersome to use ordinarily.
As for the Five Thunder Orthodox Sect who once ambushed Yu Yin, the Five Thunder Orthodox Techniques they exhibited weren’t even worthy to touch Jiang Li’s shoes.
The Emperor was exterminated in the attack; black smoke exhaled from his mouth, his black clothes were ripped to shreds due to the tribulation. He was unable to withstand it, let alone protect his clothes.
Jiang Li showed the Emperor no mercy. He continuously executed the Five Thunder Orthodox Techniques and summoned purple heavenly thunders which were continuously slammed onto the Emperor, leaving him with bloody wounds that were hard to heal.
The purple thunder damaged his soul and it was so painful that the Emperor gnashed his teeth.
Back in reality, the Emperor’s body kept twitching, his expression twisted as if he was enduring some extreme torture.
“Are you okay?” Jiang Li twisted his head to ask Dream Pure.
Dream Pure was still in shock and covered her chest with her hand, shaking her head,”I’m okay, you just startled me.”
Upon seeing this, the Emperor felt even more wronged about his defeat.
“As the strongest beings, not even Heavenly Immortals are our opponents. What in the world can still restrict us? Be it morality or laws, they are all made for the weak.”
“As a mighty Mahayana entity, treating the weak courteously, you, who lack the aura of a strong person, why are you stronger than me?”
“Are you born a strong one? Have you ever been weak?” Jiang Li asked back.
“What’s the reason you became strong? Is it to prevent being bullied by the strong, or to bully the weak?”
The Emperor was silent for a moment before he spoke,”Your background should be somewhat similar to mine. During the Qi Cultivation Stage, we were at the very bottom and being bullied by everyone. That was the time when I thought, once I become the strongest, no one could bully me anymore.”
Dream Pure sighed quietly. The Emperor’s thoughts were no different from most people. They didn’t hate the strong; they hated the fact that they weren’t strong themselves.
Jiang Li nodded,”Indeed, I was once bullied because the others were stronger than me, and I had no other choice.”
“So…” The Emperor thought that Jiang Li had similar ideas to him.
However, Jiang Li added,”At that time, I thought, if one day I become the strongest, I must be a role model, to regulate the behavior of other strong people and to prevent them from bullying the weak.”
The Emperor was silent once again. He didn’t know if Jiang Li was normal or he was the one who had strange thoughts. Their thoughts differed too much; one of them must be abnormal.
“How long has it been since you last practiced?” Jiang Li asked suddenly. Although their thoughts differed, he didn’t expect their abilities to diverge so much.
“… A hundred years,” replied the Emperor, feeling ashamed. After becoming a Mahayana entity, he was invincible in the world, even the Heavenly Demons from outside the territory were not his equal. As time passed, he gradually slowed his progress in cultivation. And in these hundred years, he had hardly practiced at all.
“With this level of cultivation, you still have the nerve to call yourself the Emperor?” Jiang Li sneered. Even if his concurrent self came from a parallel world, even if they were both Mahayana entities, their experiences were different which resulted in a difference in their cultivations.
“My achievements surpass all other Human Emperors. I am the ruler of all nine provinces, is it wrong to call myself the Emperor? Who are you to judge?” The Emperor became angry when Jiang Li mocked his self-appointed title and retorted.
Jiang Li replied casually,”I am the Human Emperor, respected by all the nine provinces.”
Just as the Emperor wanted to reply, he heard a creaking sound. The crack in the dream realm caused by the Five Thunder Orthodox Techniques began to spread, extending to the entire dream realm.
Creak—
The dream realm broke apart, Jiang Li and Dream Pure returned to the Mysterious Secret Realm, the Emperor returned to his own nine provinces.
“Your Majesty, about the matter of the Nine Provinces Immortal Dynasty…” the General Li humbly appeared in front of the Emperor.
“What Immortal Dynasty, don’t disturb me while I’m cultivating!” The Emperor returned from the dream realm and recalled his own humiliating defeat, causing him great shame.
He had to practice, practice intensely.
If I do not avenge this humiliation, I’m not Jiang Li!
“Who would have thought that we could really travel to a parallel world, even if it’s just a dream realm.” Dream Pure was still immersed in the experience which her real body had never encountered before.
Perhaps Jiang Li and she were the only two people who had been to the parallel world.
“Huh, Senior Dream Pure, it appears that your soul has become whole again.” Jiang Li was shocked. Initially, Dream Pure was just an intelligent remnant thought, not even a fragmentary soul. According to his calculations, it would take at least two hundred years for her to form a soul.
“Could it be because we visited the parallel world, which accelerated the formation of your soul?” Jiang Li speculated. No one had ever been to a parallel world before, so everything was unknown.
“No matter what, it’s good news. I will help you resurrect.” Jiang Li had originally promised to protect Dream Pure’s Dao in two hundred years but he didn’t expect it to happen much earlier.
“I appreciate it, Human Emperor.” Dream Pure bowed her thanks.
Dream Pure was delighted to learn that she had formed a soul. Who would want to stay in the Mysterious Secret Realm forever and entertain herself, especially now when the nine provinces had changed drastically from eight hundred years ago?