Ye Chen raised his sword and surveyed his surroundings. After the monarchs of the Void Ripple Sect formed the Endless Road War Formation, he found himself in this barren expanse. As far as the eye could see and immortal sense could reach, all he found was endless land and sky, with nary a hint of vegetation.
At first, Ye Chen thought he had been transported into a faraway island at the end of the Numinous Realm, but after flying around for a while, he realized that was not the case. Even if it was the Sword Continent, there was no such barren wasteland of such size that he could not see the end without a change in the terrain.
Next, he suspected he was under an illusion. Ye Chen used every method he could to break the illusion, but soon after, he had to conclude that he was not under an illusion. He wasn’t adept at illusions, but he had a high resistance to them thanks to his powerful willpower. He was confident that no immortal monarchs could make him fall under their illusion.
However, that didn’t mean he could block illusions that came from the combination of many monarchs or from an immortal emperor with his willpower alone. He had another trump card.
Ye Chen increased the grip on his sword. In complete contrast to Emperor Wujian’s sword, the sword in his grasp was anything but plain. The hilt and handle was pure silver with decorative inlays not suitable for battle. The blade was the most eye-catching feature, having a reflective surface akin to a mirror.
This was the Kunlun Sword, an incomplete divine artifact forged from the broken Kunlun Mirror. It was a pity, but the Kunlun Mirror had shattered during one of Ye Chen’s journeys, so he found an artificer to reforge it to its current form.
Although it was reformed, it was originally a divine artifact. Just holding it granted a slew of abilities to Ye Chen, one of which was increased illusion resistance. Unless a peak immortal sovereign took action, it would be difficult for him to fall under an illusion permanently.
“Did they send me into an immortal grotto?” Ye Chen muttered to himself. Unfortunately, although he mastered the Law of Time, his talent in the Law of Space was pitiable.
The Kunlun Sword vibrated, causing the air around to fracture into a kaleidoscope. With a swing, a gargantuan tear appeared between the sky and earth. Alas, on the other end of the tear was still another barren wasteland. He did not give up and swung it a hundred more times, each with the same results.
Sometimes, Ye Chen would fly into the tear before attacking again. Repeat and rinse, but after an hour, he found himself stuck in the same place. It could be a different wasteland, but everything was just so similar he could not differentiate between them.
His actions caused his qi reservoir to deplete by ten percent. Just like how the barren wasteland looked, it was devoid of spiritual qi, and Ye Chen could only recover his qi using pills. However, he had not fallen to that point yet. More importantly, he discovered the nature of the place that trapped him.
If he was not wrong, it was the Endless Road Formation. The Numinous Sword Sect had an incomplete version of it, but it was more than enough for him to know the details. The Void Ripple Sect likely found a complete version or deduced a new iteration from the incomplete inheritance.
The vast expanse that Ye Chen saw was only one part of the Endless Road War Formation. Like he suspected, it was an immortal grotto, but it was built with the Law of Space as the foundation. Even if someone tore through the boundaries, all they would see was another immortal grotto. The immortal grottos were like bubbles clustered around each other. When the prisoner left the center and entered another, it would sink into the center again.
There were only three ways to break the Endless Road War Formation. One, to destroy the immortal grottos at a faster rate than it could heal itself until the war formation destabilizes and implodes. Two, to break through the immortal grottos continuously and fly out of the perimeter. Third, the prisoner’s attainment in the Law of Space must surpass the creator of the Endless Road War Formation by a large margin and teleport himself out.
Obviously, it was impossible for Ye Chen to destroy many of the immortal grottos at once, nor did he have a greater mastery over space than the immortal monarchs of the Void Ripple Sect, so he could only choose the second option.
Just like before, the space around the Kunlun Sword turned into a kaleidoscope. With a single swing, he tore the space boundary and flew into the next immortal grotto. His actions did not stop as he slashed again, revealing another immortal grotto. One slash, one immortal grotto.
Ye Chen frowned. He just crossed through several immortal grottos, but the new one he had just entered had a healing tear in space. This meant that he wasn’t always advancing toward the outer perimeter. Sometimes, he would be entering another immortal grotto in the same layer, or maybe closer to the core.
“No wonder the Endless Road War Formation is called one of the greatest trapping formations. As expected of a formation from the primordial era,” Ye Chen muttered. Still, his actions did not stop.
As time progressed, he could get a feel for the “direction.” Soon, the phenomena of him entering an immortal grotto he had already entered dwindled. He could feel that he was close to escaping. Ye Chen popped a pill into his mouth. He hadn’t reached half of his qi reserves, but it was better to keep it close to eighty percent, especially since he knew a battle would await him outside.
“Since you know, you should just submit. At least this way, your life and the Numinous Sword Sect will be preserved,” the Redmoon Emperor said.
“That’s not good, Ripple Emperor,” the Threeslash Emperor said. “I thought we all agreed to only send one emperor here. You better not be thinking about swallowing the Sovereign Nine Yang Lotus alone.”
The Ripple Emperor really wanted to make a bitter face. It was true that the Void Ripple Sect concealed an immortal emperor, but that emperor’s attainment in the Law of Space wasn’t as good as his. The one who took action earlier wasn’t from the Void Ripple Sect.
It seemed that the Numinous Sword Sect was the cicada, and the allied three forces were the mantis, unaware of the oriole.
Still, if he exposed it now, it would only cause his allies’ hearts to waver. So, the Ripple Emperor said, “I’ll explain after everything is over. For now, we must kill him. We have already taken action, it’s too late to stop.”
“You don’t need to tell me,” the Threeslash Emperor said.
The Redmoon Emperor’s momentum also rose.
Emperor Wujian saw that the three of them would not stop until he died. Even with the Immortal Confining Sword, he might not be able to escape. He took a deep breath. “Even if you kill me here, the Numinous Sword Sect will still reign supreme. You and the powers behind will perish, forgotten in the river of time!”
He attacked without reserve. Since he already decided he was going to die, he had to kill at least one of them before he fell. Emperor Wujian did not forget to shout, “Elder Meng, Elder Ye, retreat. Take all the monarchs and return! You must report back what happened here!”
Meng Tingfeng and Ye Chen only hesitated for a moment before complying. Although the other sword monarchs were unwilling, they still obeyed the emperor’s words. They all retreated to the sword, where Ding Mian also appeared. The monarchs from the three allied forces tried to stop them, but they were blocked by Meng Tingfeng and Ye Chen, who burst with amazing power.
The immortals on the giant sword sped off into the distance, while Meng Tingfeng and Ye Chen blocked the monarchs from pursuing. After the sword flew a considerable distance, they, too, escaped. The monarchs of the three allied forces gave chase. Even if they stayed, they would not be of much help.
In the end, only four people remained on the island. Five days later, only two stood.
Even in death, Emperor Wujian’s hands tightly grasped the Immortal Confining Sword. The other death was the Threeslash Emperor. As someone who fought in close quarters his odds of survival were the lowest and that reality only affirmed it.
Although the Void Ripple Emperor and Redmoon Emperor survived, their situation wasn’t good. An air of death surrounded the Void Ripple Emperor, while the Redmoon Emperor’s aura was weak to the point that an average true immortal would be better than him.
Although they were in terrible states, both of their eyes were shining. Their gazes were attracted to the plain sword grasped in Emperor Wujian’s hand.
“Ripple Emperor, since your sect took the Sovereign Nine Yang Lotus, it’s only right for me to take the Immortal Confining Sword.” Without waiting for the Ripple Emperor to react, he stepped forward to grab the divine artifact.
The Ripple Emperor moved to block the Redmoon Emperor and explain the truth behind the matter, but the moment he took a step, he saw a familiar hand sleeved in purple appear. Unlike the previous time, there was no ripple announcing its appearance.
“No!”
Both immortal emperors moved to stop the hand. However, the hand had already touched the fallen emperor. The moment it connected, the emperor and divine sword vanished, like it never existed.