Huo Fenghuang knew the severity of the situation if the Heaven-Devouring Emperor discovered her true purpose; this would make her tasks a hundred times more challenging.
'I was careless. I should never underestimate any Great Emperor–let alone an Eternal.'
Any being that reaches Tier 10 should never be underestimated. Their long life span meant they would become wise through experience, trial and error, mistakes, and time.
Huo Fenghuang took a moment to calm down.
'Things have not reached the worst-case scenario,' she analyzed. 'The crux of everything is whether I can defeat him in battle.'
Without wasting any more time, she rushed toward him and punched him with immense force. The Heaven-Devouring Emperor evaded the attack with a sneer on his beautiful face. However, Huo Fenghuang did not care, as her objective was not only him but the troops behind him.
Mo Xingyun's face changed when she detected what was happening. He knew there was no chance for her soldiers to block this attack. So, he intervened by creating a swallowing force to absorb the force behind the attack.
However, Huo Fenghuang was relentless and launched punch after punch, targeting these weak soldiers. In the end, Mo Xingyun had to place them away in his space ring.
Then, he suddenly raised his head in the sky and saw he was now inside a barrier created by Huo Fenghuang's troops.
'The previous attack was a distraction?'
Mo Xingyun secretly shook his head as if he did not care. He wanted to swallow Huo Fenghuang's bloodline as much as she wanted to refine his soul. So, the only reason he acted as if he had no intention to fight was to lure her into acting rashly and making a mistake.
'It seems I underestimate her,' he analyzed. It was not easy to calm down in such a situation and make the best choice.
[Yin-Yang Sealing Punch]
Huo Fenghuang punched forward, creating an image of Yin-Yang that rushed toward her opponent. A black hole appeared before Mo Xingyun, and he swallowed the attack.
The objective of this attack was to seal Mo Xingyun's Swallowing Power. Unfortunately, the black hole contained the power to swallow seals, rendering her attack useless.
Huo Fenghuang did not give up and attacked again, still using the power of Yin and Yang. However, the effect of her attack this time was to reverse Yin-Yang, forcing Mo Xingyun to vomit what he swallowed.
Unfortunately, the Heavour Devouring Emperor reached a level in Devour Dao that few people will accomplish in their lives. So, it would be a great humiliation for someone to force him to regurgitate something he swallowed.
Huo Fenghuang summoned her White Tiger Sword, thus releasing a terrifying Sword Will. She slashed her sword, creating a blood-red moon shape slash.
Crack!
Mo Xingyun's black hole cracked. The attack's purpose was to kill 'black holes' and "devour." With Huo Fenghuang cultivating her Killing Dao to kill different concepts, her attack succeeded.
At least, that's how it appeared at first.
Before the black hole was utterly destroyed, an enormous mouth manifested and swallowed it along with the slash.
Huo Fenghuang was frustrated for a moment as two of her most powerful techniques were useless. However, this negative emotion was fleeting; she swiftly regained her bearing and concentrated. The battle had just begun, and the victor was yet to be decided.
She stabbed her sword to create twin dragons of fire and water. These colossal creatures entangled each other as they rushed toward Mo Xingyun.
And, of course, they suffered the same fate of being swallowed.
Huo Fenghuang frowned as she waited for something to happen. Her original objective was to access wherever her opponent stored the things he swallowed: his Divine Sea, Sea of Consciousness, a mutated stomach, or a special dimension.
Then, she would explode it from the inside.
Sadly, she sensed her attack was instantly digested and became the opponent's strength.
"Is that it? Is that all you got?" asked Mo Xingyun with a sneer.
Huo Fenghuang was calm, not affected by the latter's words. Since her previous methods did not work, she changed to another one.
[Heavenly Calamity]
Meteors of Phoenix Flame dropped from all directions. There were so many that it could fill a few galaxies. However, Mo Xingyun was calm, composed, and even nonchalant.
The black hole before him grew from the size of a basketball to the size of a football field. Then, it easily and quickly swallowed all the flames.
However, The Heaven-Devouring Emperor soon frowned; he discovered he could not digest this attack. A powerful Will was preventing him from using this attack as his own power.
'The Phoenix Immortal Will,' he thought with a frown. 'It seems I have to be more active.'
Huo Fenghuang discovered her method worked; however, she was not happy. This technique only prevented her opponent from using her ability against her. It did not allow her to attack Mo Xingyun from the inside.
Her mind worked rapidly to find another tactic. In less than a nanosecond, she came up with a new battle plan.
[Ultimate Speed]
She used Yin-Yang Dao to switch the 'long distance' between her and Mo Xingyun to a 'short distance,' traveling at an incomprehensible speed. Furthermore, she used her Fire Dao to burn the distance between the two.
With these two techniques superimposed on each other, her speed reached beyond her strength.
Huo Fenghuang's objective was to bypass Mo Xingyun's swallowing power and the latter's response time or reflex. And in some ways, she succeeded. The Heaven-Devouring Emperor could not react to the latter's attack.
Sadly, he did not need to respond. As a Quasi-Emperor, his Saint's Domain has become passive. So, the punch did touch his face as the power of Devour naturally appeared and swallowed the sheer force behind it.
However, to the mighty Emperor's surprise, Huo Fenghuang was not surprised by this outcome. Based on her eyes, he saw an expression as if she had expected this outcome. Then, his instinct warned him of danger.
But it was too late.
Huo Fenghuang swung her sword. This attack did not have any lights, elements, power of Law, or anything complicated: it only contained pure and raw power.
'8-Leaf,' thought the Heaven-Devouring Emperor.
Bang!
Mo Xingyun flew hundreds of light years away. Huo Fenghuang's attack contained pure and raw strength. The power behind that sword annihilated Mo Xingyun's Devour Power and his passive Domain.
In the distance, Mo Xingyun calmly removed the blood from the scar on her face. The scar healed in just a few seconds, but he still felt the pain.
'My mindset is wrong,' he analyzed. Although he repeatedly told himself not to underestimate her, he still committed the same error. And the crux of this issue is his arrogance as an Eternal Emperor.
The only people he takes seriously are Di Tian and Wang Wei, and more so the latter. He took Di Tian seriously because of his strength, while he did so for Wang Wei because of his strength and intelligence.
Based on his wisdom displayed before, the Heaven Devouring Emperor knew he could suffer terribly if he were not careful when dealing with Wang Wei. He knew dealing with Wang Wei was like dealing with a more cunning and ruthless version of himself.
However, when dealing with the other Heaven Chosens of this generation, he had a deep pride, the pride he displayed when dealing with his lesser.
But, after this injury, he realized this generation's geniuses are all top of the top. If they were not born in this generation, every single one could be an Era Suppressing Heaven Chosen.
And taking into account the limitations he suffered by only being capable of using Mo Xingyun's talent, he honestly had no room for pride and arrogance.
The Heaven-Devouring Emperor calmly gazed at Huo Fenghuang; his calmness created an intense atmosphere that made her unwilling to take action.
'If she were my era, I would not have won the Heaven Will Battle.'
He recognized this fact. In his generation, he was only a regular Quasi-Emperor and did not break the barrier between Mortal and Immortal. His peak was close to 1-Leaf, but he never crossed that boundary.
And it was not because of his lack of talent. Anyone who can become Eternal Emperor is the cream of the cream regarding cultivation talent, luck, and destiny.
So, many factors contributed to this fact. The first one was the Heaven Devouring Emperor was born at the wrong time. There were no other talented individuals who broke the barrier and would then motivate him to achieve it.
The second reason was his status. The Heaven Devouring Emperor was one of the Nine Devil Sons of the Mo Family. However, he was the weakest one, and only acquired the status because of his high comprehension.
The way devil cultivators raised their Heaven Chosens is cruel since they need to compete, scheme, and kill each other. The one remaining will be the final winner and receive the family's support.
The Heaven-Devouring Emperor suffered tremendously in the early stages of his cultivation, and he even had to attend the Emperor Enlightening Academy to save his life.
By the time he became powerful and valuable to the Mo Family, they did not trust his character. So, he did not have access to too much valuable information, thus reducing his chances of breaking that barrier.
Finally, he lacked Destiny. His generation was full of Eternal Destiny, and most of it landed on him because Heavenly Dao wanted to deal with the devil cultivators in the Western Continent.
Unfortunately, as he grew up, Heavenly Dao questioned his character and whether he was up to fulfill his destiny. So, it reduced the Heaven Devouring Emperor's Luck and Destiny, thus preventing him from breaking the barrier.