Imperial God Emperor (Web Novel)
chapter-1023

All beings are chess pieces.

Yin Kaishan knew this very well.

Even Ye Qingyu, who was currently displaying great magical abilities, was a chess piece of the Four Stars holy girl.

And a very important chess piece to boot.

“Given the magical powers of the Quasi-emperors, they surely aren’t ignorant of what’s going on at the foot of the mountain. Every chess piece on this chessboard is being watched by them. The heavily-injured [Quasi-emperor Xiaofei] has resisted the joint attacks of two other Quasi-emperors for ten days and nights. Perhaps, just like Ye Qingyu, he has been exhausted by now. I wonder whether his state of mind will change if he sees the human descendant whom he appreciates most being worn down to death below Capital Sky Peak, and also sees Li Shengyan, his only bloodline descendant, dying tragically. For even the strongest beings, woes of the heart would cause mental discomposure, which would in turn cause a decline in power.”

Yin Kaishan was someone who was upright, open, and honorable, albeit he was certainly no fool. It was thus no surprise that he was able to discern the Four Stars holy girl’s most fundamental motive for setting up this show.

As long as they can cause [Quasi-emperor Xiaofei] to be ruffled in heart and mind, who cares if these one hundred thousand experts die here?

Chess pieces are meant to be sacrificed anyway.

What value does chess pieces which cannot be sacrificed have?

As long as [Quasi-emperor Xiaofei] dies in this battle, any price paid by the Four Stars Sect will be worth it.

“I just wonder, will there come a day when she sacrifices me as well?”

A smile formed at the corner of his lips as he thought about this.

As they say, status and wealth are intoxicating. However, I have had these things ever since I was born.

What is divine tea to others is poisonous herbs to me.

My only wish is to protect her.

It’s a kind of bliss to be sacrificed by her, I guess.

He pondered to himself while in a dazed state.

The difference between a genius and a lunatic rested in a single thought. And a genius’ obsession could not be changed even if the sun and moon hung upside down and the rivers of the world dried up.

There was no question that this supreme Heaven’s prideling of the Mizar Race was a genius like this.

A lunatic like this.

The first time Ye Qingyu's attack failed to kill, practically everyone immediately guessed that the turning point of the battle had arrived.

To give the analogy of a bow, it can be fully drawn at first, and every arrow it shoots is devastating. However, even the most powerful bows will eventually snap if taut for too long.

The parried strike was seen by everyone as a tipping point.

The tipping point whereby victory turned into defeat for Ye Qingyu.

It marked the start of the decline of Ye Qingyu's physical strength, yuan qi, and mental will from their peak states. Finally, the wearing down caused by the near-ten-thousand experts had put him on a downward trajectory. The subsequent tipping points would be the first time he was wounded, the first time he was badly wounded, then death…

Throughout the history of the Vast Thousand Domains, countless heroes who had their own periods of dominance paid testament to this law of the martial path.

The “carriage wheel tactic”, “the tactic of using numerical advantage and taking turns to attack an enemy”, was forever the most direct and powerful method employed by the weak.

The fatty Li Shengyan was so frightened that he nearly tossed the broken turtle shell out, intending to utilize the final tool given to him by [Quasi-emperor Xiaofei] to escape right away. However, for some reason, he managed to hold back just as the broken turtle shell was about to fly out from his hand. Perhaps, he still had a little faith in Ye Qingyu in the depths of his heart, or maybe he felt that things were not yet a foregone conclusion.

However, to one side, Tan Tianzi, Orchid Saintess, and the others could not bear it any longer.

There were less than a hundred humans among the one-hundred-thousand-plus experts, and among these humans, there was a portion which fancied the Four Stars Sect, which was after all a Human Race sect. Those who were one notch more despicable, such as the Thousand Illusions Elder, had already retreated to one side, afraid of becoming swept up in the humiliation. Although the experts of other races were surprised by Ye Qingyu’s heroics and madness, it was nevertheless impossible for them to fight hot-bloodedly alongside him. Given the stages of their cultivation, none of them was a rookie hothead, and thus they would not become hot-blooded to the point that they would trouble themselves simply by watching the fight. The reasons they had not surrendered were only that they did not want to give up their most basic self-respect and freedom and did not want to become marionettes whose destinies were in the hands of others. Had the Four Stars Sect’s terms not been so harsh, ninety percent of them would probably have surrendered already. They were holding out not to revolt but instead to wait for the right price which they believed would only come at the eleventh hour. In the first place, they had only gathered here because they were attracted by the treasures in the Reincarnation Hall of the Chaos Demon Emperor. They were essentially a mob which sought fame and wealth, and so they absolutely could not be counted upon to uphold justice and help Ye Qingyu. After all, backing the Four Stars Sect was a suppressive Quasi-emperor, against whom even the most scorching of fresh blood would turn into ice.

Since these one-hundred-thousand-plus experts could not be counted upon, they could only count upon themselves.

This was what Tan Tianzi, Orchid Saintess, and the others thought. Exchanging glances, they saw the heroic determination in one another’s eyes, and were just about to take action…

However, the next moment…

A strange change occurred.

“Hahaha, warmup complete. Let’s not waste any more time.”

Ye Qingyu guffawed.

Having gone through the earlier battle, his battle will had already been fired up to its peak state.

To enter the ultimate state of the [Limitless Divine Way], one needed not only unstoppable physical strength, deeply vigorous yuan qi, surging fighting spirit, and great battle will, but most importantly, state itself. Like an epiphany, it required a special location, time, and opportunity to be brought about. Ever since acquiring the heaven-defying technique that was the [Limitless Divine Way], he had at most only entered the [Seventh Limit] state, and had never entered the peak state that was the [Ninth Limit].

At present, however, he was finally at the threshold of the [Ninth Limit].

Boom!

Terrifying power erupted from Ye Qingyu's body, which had been battling arduously for nearly an hour already.

Incomparable might circulated around the world like a cyclone.

Within a kilometer in circumference, the eight-thousand-plus surrendered experts were abruptly swept away by this boundless yuan qi cyclone which was nearly as frightening as a Quasi-emperor. Resembling scarecrows which had been swept into the air by wild winds and lost balance, they desperately struggled while uttering cries of alarm. Hoping to stabilize themselves, they worked up their yuan qi in resistance.

The light rays and space around Ye Qingyu became strangely distorted.

It was as if the world was fast becoming unable to bear the power in his body.

With Ye Qingyu as its center, a boundless pressure which was nearly as powerful as that of a Quasi-emperor pervaded below Capital Sky Peak.

The [Blood Drinker Sword Pill] turned into a meter-long red sword in Ye Qingyu's palm. It was so bright that it seemed to have been only recently soaked in a pool of blood, and there indistinctly seemed to be fresh-red drops of blood dripping down its runic blood grooves. A faint blood-colored mist circulated around the blade, giving the sword a kind of strange magical power. It was as if just one look at the sword would cause one’s soul to be sundered by that sharp radiance.

“Give up your martial dignity and forsake your warrior hearts. You are no more than walking corpses even if you remain alive. Let me send you on your way so that your glory can be preserved… Please!”

There was a divine aura in Ye Qingyu's voice as it roared throughout the world. It certainly could pass for that of a divine king up above pronouncing judgment upon a bunch of blasphemous sinners.

As soon as he spoke.

The [Blood Drinker Sword] struck out.

The world was well and truly divided into two by the sword radiance.

Like a thin piece of paper, the Void barriers were sliced by the sword such that a giant rift of three to four kilometers was made without the slightest of sounds. Terrifying, turbulent spatial flows surged out of the chaotic Void, instantly engulfing more than two thousand surrendered experts even before they had time to struggle. Divine Emperor sword will, which pervaded the turbulent spatial flows, more so pulverized these experts at once.

Everything happened in only an instant.

And another instant later, repaired by the universal primeval laws, the Void rift was closed up.

The turbulent spatial flows disappeared.

It was as if nothing had happened.

Within the battle ring, however, more than two thousand surrendered experts had disappeared without a trace. To those who dared not believed what they had just seen, this was a merciless reminder of what exactly happened during that moment.

“What just happened?”

“Have I gone crazy? Or… did I just hallucinate?”

“My gosh...”

“This isn’t power a human should have!”

“Fiendgod, he’s a fiendgod!”

As if demented, the experts from various races became disorderly in the wind.

Ye Qingyu gently wiped away the bloodstains on the [Blood Drinker Sword].

Around him, snowflakes were fluttering, blood was flowing, bones were piled up like mountains, and a deathly aura was suffusing into the sky.

He was standing in the midst of snow, blood, and bones.

There was not a trace of blood on his white robes, while his black hair continued to circulate a silver brilliance.

His aura remained as calm and glossy as lofty mountains and flowing water.

His yuan qi remained as vigorous and surging as a river.

His palms remained thick, firm, and steady.

His face continued to wear a plain and easy smile.

This was because he was very satisfied with the results of this battle.

The [Blood Drinker Sword Pill] had absorbed an indeterminate amount of terrifying power from the surrendered experts. At present, mysterious formations were frenziedly flickering and circulating on its surface, indicating that it was refining and converting the power of the essence, blood, and yuan qi as much as possible. Apart from a portion of the Blood Drinker power which Ye Qingyu had used in the earlier battle, at least eighty percent of the surrendered experts’ combined power was stored in the [Blood Drinker Sword Pill].

The “carriage wheel tactic” was all along the weapon used by the weak to defeat the strong.

However, the [Blood Drinker Sword] was its natural counter.

“The power currently stored in the [Blood Drinker Sword Pill] should be enough to form a threat against a Quasi-emperor, right? Though it may not be able to heavily injure one, as long as it can force one of them to withdraw in defense, I might be of help to His Highness Xiaofei when I go up the mountain.”

Ye Qingyu slowly kept the [Blood Drinker Sword Pill].

He was neither a narcissist nor a lunatic, and was more so not seeking fame. The reason why he was so crazy that he wanted to single-handedly challenge the near-ten-thousand surrendered experts without the help of Li Shengyan, Tan Tianzi, and the others was actually for the sake of drawing the power of these experts so that he would become powerful enough to participate in the battle on Capital Sky Peak which would decide the fate and destiny of every race.

By this time, he had achieved his objective.

The only problem was that this process was a little too world-shocking.

As a result, the one-hundred-thousand-plus experts behind his back, including Tan Tianzi, Li Shengyan, Zhang Wudao… were all as stunned as stone sculptures.

And at the entrance of the mountain path in front of him, the petty officials of the Four Stars Sect appeared to be convulsing as they looked at him with eyes that had expressions which were as if they were looking at the world’s most frightening evil spirit.