24 The Sword that Split the Sky

Swwoooosssssh! The night wind blew fervently as the breath of life once again filled the entirety of the mountain range. One by one the cultivators that were either training or locked into combat came to their senses as they were freed from stillness.

"Haha! I can move again. I've had enough of this damn mountain range. Brothers gather your things. Let's get out of here before things get any worse!" A sizeable looking figure said as he pumped his fists excitedly at his partners.

"That's right let's move!" said another

Upon regaining their freedom, the practitioners didn't waste any time to see the outcome of the sudden appearance of a stranger and the creature. They each began to utilize their most valuable means to escape from the vicinity.

A distance away from the battle scene, two forms flashed across the fields leaving behind only a trail of bloody footprints behind.

Swish! Hui Ying's body was a total wreck, but he pushed onwards not even bothering to look at the scene behind him. While moving, he quickly took a glance at Feng Yu who was hung on his left shoulder. It seemed to have lost all signs of life.

"Brother Feng! Hang in there. We are almost at the outskirts of this mountain range. A few more hours and we will be out of harm's way. You must resist, do not lose yourself in the cold..." Hui Ying muttered as their forms vanished further across the vast mountain range in a sea of trees.

∞∞∞

At the highest reaches of the sky, a golden form was traversing the distance at high speeds, using its entire strength to escape the creature from the mountain range. It had only one remaining arm, which was dripping blood endlessly, and a large wound that was visible from its chest, spreading all the way to it's now destroyed left eye.

The Golden Furred Ape King glanced towards its back cruelly as it thought back to the previous scene of it almost being sliced into two separate pieces. Its right eye shone with dense killing intent as is it roared towards the heavens.

"Feng Yu! Feng Yu---! I will certainly have my revenge. From now on I will go by one name and one name only. I will be known as Kong Jin Tian, and we will meet again!"

Like a beam of golden light, he shot towards the horizon occasionally falling downwards to use a tree as his footing, launching himself further into the air once more traveling across the distance.

Suddenly, deep within the sky, a few figures appeared. They were all beautiful women, each having their peerless bearings as if they could charm the masses of any kingdom and fuel the kings to start wars. A beautiful young girl looked towards the disappearing ape with a strange glint in her eyes.

Looking towards her niece with a loving expression, Aunt Shuan smiled for a moment as she patted her gently, but soon she said in a strict tone.

"A man should fight his own battles and only through life and death could an expert grow truly strong. Ling'er, do not worry needlessly about that boy called Feng, if you are destined to meet again, you will do so at the talent meet."

As she said this, she looked at the scene behind her observing the figure that appeared while lighting up the sky with his immense aura. A dense feeling of fear soon shrouded her heart as she pondered.

"Tydol Mountain Range, such a strange mountain range. An ancient being, an evil creature, and a child that blazes with flames that are sacred. Almost, almost as if they belonged to that of an Ancient Phoenix... Phoenix, Hmm, Wait! Could it be?" With a look of shock, Aunt Shuan thought back towards the ancient markings that appeared on Feng Yu's body including the color of his hair.

"How can this be? How can they still exist?" She looked towards the scene behind her in shock carefully searching for a while with her soul sense, only to not discover the target of her worries.

After a short moment, she cleared her thoughts and regained her sense of calm, or rather, forced herself into that state as she looked towards her disciples and niece.

"Children let us go; we will waste no further time here. Things are about to get serious." She said in a solemn tone.

"Yes, Master!" All of them said in unison along with Fu Ling'er.

"Good!" With a wave of her hand, the energy of the world soon gathered around all the forms of the girls once again as she reached out her hands towards them as if she was holding each of them with her separately. Soon, she transformed into the light that quickly shot towards the horizon far into the distance, leaving the mountain range, traveling the distant lands with the girls being pulled along with her.

If Feng Yu were to see this scene, he would have had to have second thoughts about whether this gentle-looking aunt was a practitioner at the stage of True Foundation realm.

∞∞∞

The light shone brightly as it continued to suppress the creature's aura below the man that stood above the heavens. He looked towards the creature with an indifferent expression as he spoke with a voice filled with an ancient prestige and dignity.

"Evil creature, why have you descended to this planar?!" His voice echoed as it sounded throughout the region.

Seeing the being before it questioned its will, the creature was surprised. But soon, it became filled with rage as it stared violently at the man who defied its nefarious prestige.

"You dare question me!! This Divine One? Outrageous! Accept Your Demise! Death!"

"DEATH!... DEATH!... DEATH!" The voice echoed throughout the world once more.

RUMBLE!...

The mountain range soon began to shake as if a massive earthquake was in the making. The nefarious energy that shrouded the form instantly turned into something of a demonic nature as its aura soon skyrocketed, covering half of the sky in a dark, devilish gray fog clashing with the auras of light released by the man.

The form of the creature soon changed, removing itself from the state of etherealness and genuinely forming into a being in this world. It had dark gray skin and black feathers that formed a kind of dark armor around its body; its arms were long with black fingers that shone with a baleful and sharp light, and its face was covered inside of a dark feather helmet with its eyes glowing bright purple.

After genuinely coming into being, the creature began to feel that the certain restrictions that were placed onto it by the world were slowly fading away. It looked towards the man with a wicked smirk on its face as it spread out its arms.

Suddenly, the creature began to grow quickly becoming more than 100 kilometers tall.

After reaching full size, it looked down towards the speck of dust below it as it started to gather its full power with its right palm. A blinding coldness shone from the very depths of its eyes, causing the weather within the span of thousands of kilometers to change to that of frozen snow.

"ALL SHALL END! DEMONIC ARTS: DOOM... NETHER... FROST... PALM!"

"NETHER FROST PALM!... NETHER FROST PALM!... NETHER FROST PALM!... "

The sky became filled with coldness as clouds gathered out of nothingness, spreading a deep snow across the land, A massive palm started to fall towards the earth, it seemed as if the palm was the very essence of cold itself just by coming into existence. The area surrounding the Bright Flame Kingdom, spreading out for hundreds of thousands of kilometers within the massive world of True Yuan Continent, instantly became an arctic zone.

All people looked with dead eyes, even the strongest practitioners within the nearby kingdoms stopped moving as everything came to an end. The very definition of pure stillness; the essence of death in its true form. The creature looked on with its demonic sense with pleasure. But soon, it knitted its brows as the palm once again stopped descending.

The voice of the ordinary-looking man said, "Hmph! A Minor Frost Demon dares proclaim itself as a 'Divinity,' a foolish creature indeed! Return to where you came!"

Soon, two ancient sword sheets appeared within the figure's hands, each having a strange marking of runes that were wounded around their surface. As if they were responding to something, both sheets began to glow with an unusual presence as a formless sword appeared inside of both sheaths separately.

As he grasped the handle of a sword from his left sword sheath, the ordinary man looked towards the palm that was trapped by his endless aura while sneering towards the demon that towered above him and spoke in a calm voice.

"Cut!....."

"Cut!... Cut!... Cut!"

Shiiiinnggggg!

The sound of a sword being pulled out from its sheath resounded throughout the silent world. Oddly enough, there were no flashing lights, otherworldly sword beam, and earth-shaking destruction aura, only the sound of the sword which lingered in the void for a short while before abruptly vanishing.

The creature looking down at the figure before was curious, but now it became filled with fear and endless dread when it saw what was before him. A massive sword that grew out of nothingness came into being. It was so large that it seemed to travel from another space itself using that very space as its sheath and traveling so fast that it seemed to have transcended the principles of the laws that governed time itself. The demon could only look as the sword quickly and efficiently sliced into its form with ease, further cutting deep into the void stretching out towards the vast horizon then pausing for a moment.

It was at this moment that the stillness and coldness abruptly vanished, recovering freedom to those who were previously on the brink of destruction. Soon a man within a remote kingdom that was eating a meal looked up towards the distant sky and quickly became filled with shock.

"A... A SWORD... AND A DEMON WHAT IN THIS WORLD!"

"How could there be such a large sword? And what is that creature?" another figure in a distant place said.

"Am I seeing things, what the hell is going on?" another within a remote empire pondered.

However, before they could take a clear look at the sword, it faded away into nothingness appearing to have appeared but not appeared at the same time.

The Frost Demon looked at the ordinary man with deep fear as it muttered.

"You are... 'The Last Emperor of Man'... the one who wielded... the Ethereal Swords... You are.... 'The Phantasmal Swordsman'...."

Tydol smiled as he looked towards the dying frost demon "Quite knowledgeable I see. It seems that my legend has yet to fade in your realm."

As it felt its life fade away, the frost demon did not panic. Instead, a look of delight appeared in its eyes as it looked at Tydol.

"Hahaha!! So, it seems that you are but a remnant. A pity, you shall not last against my own kin. My death... shall change nothing...." As its voice trailed off into the night wind, his massive form faded away after a flash of blinding light, ceasing to exist for all eternity.

Hearing his statement, Tydol only looked on in silence as a look of melancholy appeared on his tired face. Soon, a look of firmness appeared on his face as he muttered towards the void.

"As long as my blood still remains, I shall defend this planar for the rest of my own eternity..."

Quickly raising his arms, he drew a strange seal within the void. That seal shone brightly as it fell towards the ground soon covering and replacing the broken seal that was suppressing the gray fog gate.

RUMBLE!

The earth began to shake as boulders upon boulders clustered together, quickly creating a massive terrain on top of the sealed area once more. Ancient trees began to sprout, and a grassland once again promptly grew to reclaim the field. Tydol looked at his handiwork with satisfaction, and then glanced towards a distant location for a moment while muttering.

"Small Phoenix, troubled times draw near... quickly grow..."