Tianyi's expression didn't change at all when Xi Longyi released an attack solidly in the true immortal level, nor did he show surprise at Lei Jingye's ability to block the attack. He would have been sorely disappointed if they couldn't accomplish that minimum.
A protagonist must be able to exhibit the power potential of an immortal as a non-immortal!
When they were about to clash again, Xi Longyi finally wised up and noticed that the Sovereign Nine Yin Lotus had disappeared. Tianyi looked down at his palm, which was holding a floating orb. Inside the orb, a warped space Tianyi created, the Sovereign Nine Yin Lotus levitated.
He flipped his hand, and the orb disappeared. He had shifted the Sovereign Nine Yin Lotus into Sixth Heaven inside his inner universe in a location where yin qi dominated.
"Teleport me to the location where you put the Sovereign Nine Yin Lotus. I want to cultivate there," Daoyi said upon seeing this.
"What, aren't you interested in continuing watching them, or maybe even meeting them?" Tianyi asked.
Daoyi rolled her eyes. "I have no such interest. My opinion on Lei Jingye had already soured long ago after experiencing his one-track mind. I don't want to even imagine what scenarios he would conjure if he met me."
"Is that why you have a veil on your face now?"
Daoyi's look practically said, "Don't ask a stupid question."
Tianyi waved his hand, and Daoyi disappeared onto Sixth Heaven in his inner universe. With half the audience gone, he turned away to leave. Just let the two blame each other for the disappearance of the Sovereign Nine Yin Lotus.
However, against his expectation, Tianyi paused as he noticed something sweep over him. It was a slight sensation, barely noticeable, but he still turned his head to look at Xi Longyi in surprise. Should he say as expected of a former immortal emperor?
Still, detecting him was one matter. Forcing him out was another matter altogether. After Tianyi concealed himself even further, Tianyi doubted Xi Longyi could discover him again. He watched with amusement as Xi Longyi attacked the spacetime where he had concealed himself.
Unless Xi Longyi could unleash an attack on the level of a peak immortal monarch, Tianyi doubted he could expose him. And using such an attack would be costly to the current mortal Xi Longyi. Would he be willing to expose such a weakened state to his nemesis? Obviously not.
Tianyi's expression suddenly changed. It seemed that he still underestimated Xi Longyi.
It felt as if Tianyi's spacetime had met its nemesis. Well, half nemesis as Xi Longyi's technique targeted the spatial aspect only and couldn't shake the temporal aspect. This left Tianyi in a dilemma.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtIf he repelled the technique, would Xi Longyi be able to discern the reason why his technique failed? Just like in his own timeline, the Sword Sovereign Timeline, Tianyi didn't want to leak his mastery of spacetime out. Even when he scried into the river of time outside the Buzhou Immortal Sect, he had made sure to hide the temporal aspect. Why else would there have been so much turbulence?
However, if he didn't repel the technique, that would mean exposing himself. If his technique was broken, where would that put his face? Wouldn't others call him the immortal monarch whose technique could be broken by a mere mortal?
Tianyi rolled his eyes. Naturally, he wasn't so conceited as to believe that no mortal could ever break his technique. So, he released the temporal aspects of his concealment technique, allowing a crack to appear.
He reached his hand out and held out a finger to halt Xi Longyi's saber in its track.
The force from Xi Longyi's saber didn't leave a mark on his fingertip, nor did the saber force the back. Instead, the saber flew in the opposite direction as if repulsed by something.
There was a saying that no mortal could ever harm an immortal monarch. Perhaps a true immortal, but never an immortal monarch.
Actually, this saying applied to true immortals as well. The only difference was that true immortals had a higher chance of mastering a law, granting them the ability to harm immortal monarchs. For a mortal to harm an immortal monarch, they must master a law.
When a pathfinding immortal ascended to Seamless Immortal Realm, their body and soul would be baptized by the law they chose, hence transforming their life level. How does one damage the very laws that dictate the workings of the world?
The answer was using another law. Hence all those who could harm immortal monarchs were immortal lords, true immortals who mastered a worldly law. Compared to true immortals, the difficulty for a mortal to master a worldly law was too high a hurdle to cross, and as such, no record of a mortal harming an immortal monarch exists.
Once Xi Longyi saw his attack fail to deliver any damage, he immediately knew it was an immortal monarch, but he didn't fret. Had it been an ordinary true immortal, or even an immortal lord, who dabbled in the Law of Space, he would not have needed to spend so much effort. "Aren't you afraid of being mocked competing with us juniors for a treasure?"
Tianyi inwardly rolled his eyes. "Aren't you afraid of me killing you to teach you a lesson for daring to mock me?"
Xi Longyi felt as if someone had choked his throat. That wasn't supposed to be how the conversation should have gone. However, he didn't want to apologize either, so he didn't. "Senior, that lotus is incredibly important to me, and I'm the son of Sword Empress Xi. How about giving it to me? I'll remember Senior's favor forever."
Tianyi just gave Xi Longyi a strange look, and he felt his lips quirked up. "No one has ever dared to use Sword Empress Xi's name to threaten me before."
'Mostly because I'm her son, but still,' Tianyi allowed his lips to form a queer smile as he looked at Xi Longyi. "You've fallen quite low, haven't you?"
Xi Longyi felt his blood chill from the look Tianyi gave him. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Xi Longyi thought Tianyi had discovered his true identity, but he stubbornly clung to the belief that no one could see through his perfect disguise. "Senior is making fun of me. Senior is a mighty immortal, while I'm just a little saint."
Tianyi said nothing as he continued to smile at Xi Longyi. Seeing those eyes, Xi Longyi felt anger bubbling forth. It reminded him so much of those disdainful eyes from before he was the famed Dragon Emperor. "Since Senior is so adamant, then Junior will leave."
Xi Longyi turned around as if to leave. On the way, his eyes connected for a moment with Lei Jingye. Lei Jingye snorted and tightened his grip on his sword as Xi Longyi walked passed him. The moment Xi Longyi did so, he turned around with a saber swing, and so did Lei Jingye, but their targets weren't each other but Tianyi.
Two blades, one red and one gold, cleaved through the air towards their target, but Tianyi still had his arms behind his back. Even when the blades landed on his body, Tianyi did nothing and allowed them to connect. And connect they did, with a dull thud at that.
Xi Longyi's and Lei Jingye's eyes practically shot fire at the clear disdain in Tianyi's actions. For once, these two mortal enemies felt their hearts synchronize and activated both their intents at once. Gold light erupted from Xi Longyi's saber while red light erupted from Lei Jingye's sword and engulfed Tianyi whole.
The two watched with bated breath as the smoke from the attack cleared, but it only caused them to frown as it revealed Tianyi with not a hair out of place. "You know, I'm very disappointed in you."
"Senior is joking again. It's only natural to team up against a superior foe," Xi Longyi said with a smile that did not reach his eyes.
Tianyi shook his head. "No, not you."
He pointed his finger at Lei Jingye, causing said person to furrow his brows in confusion. "I'm surprised of all the people you would team up with, it would be him. Have you forgotten everything he did to you and your clan?"
Lei Jingye's pupils shrunk into needlepoints as his gaze locked onto Tianyi. His heart rate sped up as Tianyi continued to speak. "Or did the value of the Sovereign Nine Yin Lotus exceed your clan member's and your dao companion's death?"
He felt as if he had been dumped into the freezing waters of the Nether Realm. "H-how?"
How did you know about this?
"That's not important," Tianyi said. 'Damn, I'm really mean right now.'
"What's important is your action. No matter what despicable acts Xi Longyi did, it seems that in the face of interest, you can ignore all of them just for a chance to grab a treasure. Tsk, tsk, I'm quite disappointed in you. I wonder how your family or dao companion..." Tianyi paused for a moment as he glanced into the distance. There, the Silent Lightning Timeline's Daoyi waited there with two other women. "...err dao companions would think if they knew?"
"Shut up! You know nothing!" If Tianyi was just someone who offended him because he stole his rightful treasure, now, Lei Jingye completely hated Tianyi's guts.
Lei Jingye leaped towards Tianyi with a sword pierce. Tianyi sighed and poked the tip of the sword with his finger, stopping it in its track. Taking this chance, Xi Longyi appeared behind Tianyi with his saber slicing towards Tianyi.
Suddenly, Tianyi disappeared from Xi Longyi's view, and in front of him was Lei Jingye's sword piercing toward him. Xi Longyi hurriedly raised his saber to deflect the blow, but it still managed to graze his shoulder, leaving a bleeding wound.
Xi Longyi glared at Lei Jingye, who ignored him. He followed Lei Jingye's gaze and turned around to Tianyi with his hands behind his back. "Be careful, most likely, this immortal monarch has mastered the Law of Space, one of the strongest and esoteric worldly laws."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmLei Jingye didn't reply, but he continued to gaze at Tianyi, wondering how they were going to win or flee. He himself knew the mighty powers of the Law of Space, and what he regretted was falling for Xi Longyi's temptation to team up and fight for the Sovereign Nine Yin Lotus.
Had he known that Tianyi was an immortal monarch, he would have disagreed on the spot. Earlier, he thought that Xi Longyi didn't understand any spatial concepts, hence why he took so long to expose Tianyi.
On the other hand, Xi Longyi felt frustration welling within him. His saber had absorbed the blood of a true dragon at the Dragon King level, a demon equal to an immortal sovereign. Thus, it contained a full worldly law within. Normally, it wouldn't show any special properties or abilities until he could resonate with the law contained within, but it still harbored the advantage of being able to harm immortal monarchs.
Yet, from the first strike, his foe wasn't injured at all. Xi Longyi couldn't help but question his judgment.
Both of them knew that it was impossible to escape Tianyi since he mastered the Law of Space, and they had already offended him, so asking for forgiveness was impossible. So, as if on prior agreement, they both charged at Tianyi and attacked him using their greatest strengths.
Moreover, both Xi Longyi and Lei Jingye wanted to silence Tianyi since he knew their deepest, darkest secrets.
Tianyi also had a headache. 'I should have stopped being such a busybody and just escaped.'
He wanted to slap them dead then and there, but if he killed Xi Longyi, it might hinder the Buzhou Immortal Sect from aiding. Even if he exposed Xi Longyi's true identity, they could still stubbornly deny it in order to gain benefits for him. In addition, he could already sense that Sect Master Xia wanted to absorb him into their ranks, so he wouldn't likely help him at all.
As for Lei Jingye, Tianyi had even fewer scruples. The only reason he left him alive was to counter Xi Longyi. Plus, Lei Jingye's actions really caused him to be disappointed.
Tianyi continued to block Xi Longyi and Lei Jingye's attack for a full five minutes before he finally lost patience. Screw it! If worse comes to worst, I'll just sneak into the Broken Heaven Valley. I probably know the inner workings of the sect's guardian formation better than the sect master. My only scruple is this timeline's Concealed Emperor, but even he can't kill me.'
Xi Longyi's and Lei Jingye's bodies froze as if they were trapped in ice. Tianyi appeared in front of both of them and raised his high over his head, and brought him down. Written on his palm were two characters, dragon extermination (灭龙).
Tianyi no longer needed to use his sword or any extraneous movements to execute his Nine Strokes Sword Art. It couldn't even be called Nine Strokes Sword Art anymore, so Tianyi renamed it the Nine Heavens Will Art.
As his palm came down, Xi Longyi and Lei Jingye both felt the sensation of death. It was as if their total nemesis, one that countered them at the atomic level, had arrived. They could even feel a giant hand formed from the sky crashing down on them.
Suddenly, Tianyi stopped and glared at the sky. "What the hell did I wrong now?"
No one answered him as tribulation clouds swiftly formed and delivered a bolt of tribulation lightning at him. Tianyi could sense the primary target of the heavenly tribulation wasn't him but the word on his palm. He could easily disperse the words, but Tianyi refused.
Instead, he lashed out against the tribulation clouds scattering. He thought it would be over, but to his surprise, an even larger tribulation cloud formed. He dispersed it again and again, and on the third time, he finally noticed what was wrong.
"This isn't heavenly tribulation, this is heavenly punishment?" Tianyi said aloud. Unlike heavenly tribulation, heavenly punishment would not stop attacking until the target was destroyed.
Just as Tianyi prepared to deal with the heavenly punishment, wanting to see its power, he felt his spatial prison crack. He looked toward Xi Longyi with annoyance. 'Are you kidding me? He just suddenly mastered a worldly law, stupid protagonist plot armor!'
'And it seems that this day just keeps getting better and better.' Tianyi thought as a familiar aura appeared on Lei Jingye's body. He had mastered the Law of Lightning.