Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor

1117 The Guardian's Might

The Fist Saint Emperor's [Awaken] transformed his body. The upper torso of his robe disappeared, leaving only the top. His skin turned red, with a golden mark running through his torso and arms. His aura was profound and grounded.

Yan Liling frowned. The last time this person showed up, he had to use a formation to raise his strength to 50% Grand Dao Source or 6-fold. That's why she separated him from his group. Now, he had achieved 5-fold strength on his own, showing the latter's talent or ....

'His importance to the Commerce Hub,' she thought. 'He must be a core member, trained to be one of their best muscles.' She sighed internally as she realized she should have paid more attention to the information from the Fate Shadow Guards.

Yan Liling no longer focused on this issue; she only needed to ramify this behavior from now on. Then, she activated her [Awaken], which materialized as a flaming robe around her blue hanfu and her black hair turning into flames. The Fist Saint Emperor's eyes lit up as he saw how much more beautiful she had become, but that would not stop him.

[Point Concentration Fist]

He threw a punch, and a small black dot appeared before his fist; this black dot that resembled a miniature black hole was the embodiment of all his powers condensed into a single point. A terrifying black beam rushed from the black beam toward Yan Liling, releasing a terrible vibration capable of unrivaled subatomic particles from their bonds.

Yan Liling casually waved her hand to manifest a cauldron that swallowed the black beam and instantly condensed a black pill. She held the pill and crushed it, releasing the same technique back to its owner. Her actions were swift and fluent, and Saint Fist was caught off guard. So, he crossed his arm to block.

His defensive measures succeeded, leaving only a few scratches on his red skin. However, Yan Liling was not done.

[Void Pill Bomb]

Her cauldron made good use of the environment's power of nothingness; it condensed the energy around into pills that she exploded toward her opponent. Saint Fist's intuition activated, and he quickly evaded, but one of the explosions was too fast and too close, so he had no choice but to punch it.

His fist was capable of punching anything-including life, death, space-time, and other concepts. However, Saint Fist felt this explosion was corroding his arms, so he acted decisively and blew up one arm; abandoning and regenerating a new one was the best choice in this scenario.

'Her main Dao is Pill Refining, so there is a high chance her physical body is her weakness. So, I need to get closer.' Saint Fist organized a battle plan based on the information he observed in this short confrontation and the information from the Hub. He knew all Emperors from the Myriad Emperor World had terrible battle experiences, so directly approaching his opponent would not work as she would know how to control her weakness.

[Temporal Storm Fist]

A phantom of the River of Time materialized behind him as he punched her. A terrifying storm with the power of time rushed toward Yan Liling. If she were hit, her body would either age terribly or be erased from the very fabric of time. However, her response was a sneer.

"Your resonance with Time Dao is weak compared to the real deal," she declared nonchalantly as her body released a purple flame that burned that temporal tempest. Saint Fist ignored her as he rushed forward and punched a second time. This time, he used an attack that directly attacked the soul-her senses, to be specific.

Yan Liling's eyes became dazed for a brief moment. 'This is my chance.' He suddenly appeared above her head and used one of his most powerful punches. Saint Fist even used his best applications of Dao Will and Will Manifestation. However, before his fist landed, a look of horror appeared on his face as he saw that smirk on his opponent's face.

Boom!

Yan Liling had activated her [Cauldron of Strength] before punching Saint Fist in his stomach with a fist full of Chaos Flame. The muscular man flew over a hundred light-years away before controlling his momentum. His stomach had a hole that showed through his body. Saint Fist grunted before healing this injury, only leaving some black marks on the spot.

Yan Liling squinted her eyes. 'Dao Holy Water?' Her attack was perfectly timed, and with her advanced application of True Will, this should have been a genuine life injury. But Saint Fist was completely fine and even instantly removed her True Will.

'Did he store Dao Holy Water inside his body for this battle? What a waste of resources.'

"No matter how much I try to overestimate your people, you always surpass my estimation," sighed the Saint Fist Emperor. However, Yan Liling responded with a colossal flame palm condensed from Chaos Flame.

'How rude,' thought Saint Fist before using his Universe Fist. His punch was backed by the destruction of thousands of universes as large as a Heaven Will. The flame dispersed, so he thought he had scattered the attack, but he was wrong; the flame was only bait. Yan Liling captured all the force behind his attacks and condensed them into a pill that temporarily increased her physical abilities.

She took one step to teleport in front of Saint Fist before slapping him. He wanted to evade, but she was too fast. He also feared his attack would once again be absorbed and condensed into a pill. His hesitation doomed him as he now no longer had the opportunity to choose. So, he could only condense a shield before him from the blood energy in his body.

Boom!

Saint Fist flew into the distance, but this time away, he did not float in the empty void. Ten metal gates materialized in his path, and he crashed into them. Saint Fist spewed a large mouthful of blood after breaking through the first gate, and his body's injuries worsened once he passed through all ten.

'What kind of metal are those damn doors made of?' he thought.

"The answer is Chaos Metal," said Yan Liling. "I've personally tempered and refined them for this technique - if you can call it one."

"Can you read my mind?"

"What do you think?"

The Saint Fist Emperor immediately panicked. He knew mind-reading techniques are unique across the entire lower dimension. He's not talking about the run-of-the-mill technique where someone uses their divine senses to bypass another's defenses and read their minds and memories. True mind-reading techniques are subtle and undetectable; they are rare across the entire dimension because an unknown force (most like True Heavenly Dao) restricts their developments or creations.

Most of them appeared in the form of unique bloodlines or awakened abilities. The techniques that contain such methods usually disappear or become extinct for unknown reasons.

'I need to calm down. Mind-reading is a very rare technique, and she cannot develop such an ability. As for learning it, well, she might since Buddhism once had such a technique, but its revival was recent, and it should have been lost.'

"That's a great rationale to trick yourself," said Yan Liling, nodding her head. Saint Fist's face turned pale before reacting swiftly; he entered a state of absolute concentration with little to no distraction.

"Yes, that's a good way to deal with the situation," Yan Liling added, continuing her mind game. Saint Fist did not react and went on the offensive: [Heaven Fist].

His fist resonated with Heaven Dao, so it contained countless calculations: all possibilities to prevent the enemy from evading, all possibilities to increase the punch's attack potency, speed, and force control, all possibilities to hit a weak spot, and all possibilities to ensure victory.

'This punch is bordering on perfection,' thought Yan Liling as she watched it coming. Her mind went into overdrive, calculating the best way to defend, and she only had one thought: she could not defend or evade.

'In that case, I shouldn't.'

[Pill Body Explosion]

She turned her body into an Explosion Pill, which turned into a bomb upon contact. Saint Fist was perfectly intact, as his punch also considered this possibility. Meanwhile, a black cauldron manifested in the distance, releasing an intense herbal smell. Then, Yan Liling's new body emerged from the opened cauldron.

"I must admit that this technique was brilliant," she praised calmly.

"I'm glad you think so. This is my life's masterpiece," said Saint Fist with a smug look.

"I also know there is no way you developed it on your own."

"How insulting," said Saint Fist, slightly raising his voice. There is nothing worse than a man having his pride trampled on in front of the woman he loves, let alone by her.

"I'm not diminishing your talent, but stating a logical conclusion," she added. "Despite everything that has happened, it has been a very short time since all the Heaven Will Worlds ended their final battles. So, there is no way for you to have created such a technique in such a short period without access to the Dream World or any foreign aid."