Eternal Heavenly Emperor-Chapter 317 - 307 Sealed by Oneself
"Retreat quickly!" the War Emperors hastily backed away.
With their retreat, the War Venerates behind them also began to retreat, followed by War Kings, War Generals, and Warriors. Since they were originally positioned further back, their speed, although not comparable to those from the Upper Three Realms, actually put them at an advantage in retreating.
As the Bird Man took a deep breath, all the vegetation around withered instantly.
It was because their life essence had been forcibly sucked away to replenish the Bird Man’s origin. Though the people retreated quickly, a portion of their life essence was also absorbed, leaving them looking listless.
Only a few people were exceptions—Chu Hao, Barbaric Girl, Ke Ruoshan, Fat Cat, and Zhang Tianhua.
It wasn’t because Zhang Tianhua was powerful enough to protect them—after all, even the War Emperors had their life essence drawn away, so what was Zhang Tianhua in comparison? They were unharmed because Chu Hao had timely brought out the Mysterious Jade Seal.
The moment he realized something was amiss, he took out the Jade Seal. It was his ultimate weapon, and when the Bird Man’s sucking force reached them, the Seal’s carvings faintly glowed. The force was immediately split apart, circling around them instead of through them.
Because the sucking force was invisible, no one else could see this happen. Moreover, everyone was currently shocked to find their life essence draining away, each of them feeling a sharp pain, giving them no chance to pay attention to others.
Chu Hao quickly stowed the Jade Seal back into the Mustard Seed Ring, a treasure that absolutely could not be shown to others.
Fat Cat, however, took an extra glance, revealing a hint of surprise, evidently noticing something but choosing not to speak out.
All around, everyone looked dispirited, especially those with less life expectancy—they wore faces of utter dismay.
The amount of life essence did not affect a Martial Artist’s power, and it was also intangible. The life essence influenced a Martial Artist’s lifespan. The more vigorous the life essence, the longer the lifespan, and vice versa.
People were aware that their life essence had been absorbed, but no one knew just how much had been taken, as this thing couldn’t be quantified. Plus, this "damage" would only manifest far into the future, so how severe was the "injury"?
Even losing a day’s worth of life wouldn’t make anyone happy, not to mention the Bird Man’s incredible strength. With such a powerful suction, the life essence taken from people was surely far more than a couple of days’ lifetime.
But in the face of such a formidable being, who would dare to step forward and complain?
The might of the Bird Man had reached an unimaginably bizarre level, probably only a War God could suppress it. But Cang State had long lost its War God, and even if there were one, could they rush to summon him in time?
Finally, the Bird Man stopped inhaling, and to everyone’s surprise, his body began to shrink rapidly, disappearing from their sight shortly thereafter.
"Whoever dares to disturb Lao Tzu again, I will slaughter every man and animal on this planet until none is left!" The Bird Man’s cold voice came amidst the evil aura, and the endless malice began retracting. In the span of a breath, all the malice had vanished without a trace.
If it weren’t for some headless corpses on the ground, one might have thought that what had just happened was merely a dream.
People felt like they were in a dream—was it over just like that?
The Bird Man was supposed to be suppressed beneath Black Iron City, so how did it break free, only to seem upset and reseal itself? It was all too much for people to accept.
Moreover, how many years had the Bird Man been sealed? This ancient iron city was tied to the Ancient Times; if you calculate like that, wasn’t the Bird Man sealed for over a million years?
Even if it was sealed by the Black Heaven Sect, that happened tens of thousands of years ago.
War Gods could only live for a thousand years, so what kind of creature was this Bird Man?
All returned to calmness, but everyone’s hearts were still reeling with shock. Even the War Emperors couldn’t suppress the astonishment within their hearts. Compared to that, the earlier part of their life essence being absorbed seemed less significant.
"Let’s head back first," commanded War Emperor Tianshuang, waving his hand. At his command, all those from Spirit Spring Sect immediately returned.
Great figures from other Sects gave similar orders. Now, who would dare to disturb Black Iron City again, risking awakening the Bird Man for another slaughter?
On the way back, War Emperor Tianshuang naturally would not bring Chu Hao and the others. The old man cherished the Barbaric Girl too much and was extremely wary of Chu Hao, treating the Barbaric Girl as if she was his own granddaughter, fearing she might be led astray by Chu Hao.
After about a fortnight, the people of Spirit Spring Sect returned to the mountains one after another.
Chu Hao and Ke Ruoshan presented the remaining two Exotic Heart Lotuses to Zhang Tianhua, which made him extremely excited.
As a Peak War King, his next step was to become a War Venerate, but that required significant enlightenment of the Taoist laws of nature and heaven. Enlightenment was always related to the soul—the stronger the Soul Power, the greater the enlightenment.
Furthermore, sensing the mysteries of heaven and earth required powerful Soul Power. The Taoist way of heaven and earth was always right in front of one’s eyes, but whether one could sense it and extract meaning from it was another matter.
With the talent to become a War King, Zhang Tianhua’s gift was unquestionable. Now, with two Exotic Heart Lotuses strengthening his soul, he was extremely confident he could break through to the War Venerate Realm before Tu Honglie.
War Venerate was part of the Upper Three Realms, and it signified a comprehensive elevation in status, much like shedding the old body and being reborn.
By that time, Tu Honglie would have no choice but to respectfully address him as ’Sir’ or ’Senior’.
Zhang Tianhua immediately went into seclusion.
Ke Ruoshan also gained great insights. Having consumed more Exotic Heart Lotus, she hadn’t broken through in Black Iron City, but now her accumulated power was ready to break through, giving her hope for reaching the fifth-tier. Naturally, she went into seclusion.
"This world is now too pitiful to look at." Fat Cat lamented, "If I had known, I should have emerged from seclusion dozens or hundreds of years later. In the current condition of the world, when will I ever regain my former strength?"
"Fat Cat, did you ever have a time when you were strong?" Chu Hao couldn’t help but laugh.
"Meow, when Lao Tzu doesn’t show his might, you think Lao Tzu is a sick cat?" Fat Cat stretched its paws and said, "You stinky kid, come on, let’s spar so I can show you what ’The sky is high and the earth is thick’ truly means."
Chu Hao couldn’t help but laugh and said, "Fat Cat, don’t you know that I have achieved Double Great Perfection, and I’ve also trained in Body Technique? Within the Martial Sect Realm, who else could be my opponent?"
This wasn’t arrogance, but the reality that he had reached the limits possible within the Martial Sect Realm. If anyone could defeat him, it would have to be a Warrior.
"Hahahaha, today Lao Tzu will let you understand why the flowers are so red!" Fat Cat said proudly, "Come to battle!"
"Fat Cat, are you asking for a beating?"
"Meow, the one asking for a beating is you!"
Neither person nor cat were willing to show weakness, both bragging shamelessly.
"Then take this!" Chu Hao casually struck out with his palm, aiming it at Fat Cat.
Whoosh, with a flash of movement, Fat Cat seemed to teleport instantaneously, disappearing from the spot, then suddenly appeared behind Chu Hao and swiped at the back of his head.
So fast!
Chu Hao thought to himself, stepping hard on the ground, he quickly dodged while his right palm struck back, aiming for Fat Cat.
Fat Cat’s figure vanished again, with another teleportation.
Chu Hao had seen it use this technique before, and during an early battle with Chai Kang, his opponent had used a similar movement technique that could accelerate terrifyingly fast in a very short time.
But whenever Chai Kang used "Teleportation," he needed a long time to recover. Otherwise, Chu Hao would have been finished by him long ago.
Fat Cat, however, seemed to have no such limitation. It kept teleporting without stop, and this wasn’t the illusion of teleportation caused by Chai Kang’s high-speed movement. It seemed to truly teleport—if its speed had already surpassed the limit of Chu Hao’s eyesight and he could no longer capture its trajectory, then it looked just like teleportation.
Chu Hao’s strength was far superior to Fat Cat’s, and his Starlight was a concentrated killer move that was nineteen times stronger, but the problem was, he couldn’t touch a single hair on Fat Cat. All his combat power was useless without a target.
"Hahahahaha, Hao, now do you realize how formidable Lao Tzu is?" Fat Cat laughed triumphantly, looking utterly pleased with itself.
Chu Hao snorted and said, "Fat Cat, try this move on." He summoned the Deep Blue Sword and began to execute the fourth stance of the Mad Thunder Sword Technique.
Thundercloud Density! 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
This was an all-encompassing sword move that could strike indiscriminately across a large area. This dispersed his power, certainly less effective than a focused blow, but now that Chu Hao had reached Double Great Perfection in the Three Minor Realms, his strength was still terrifyingly formidable, even when diluted a hundredfold.
Boom boom boom, thunderclouds densely packed the sky above, with countless bolts of lightning tumbling within.
"Hao, you do have some tricks up your sleeve, but unfortunately for you, you’re facing the Cat Emperor!" Fat Cat continuously flickered, instantly escaping the area enveloped by the thunderclouds.
Chu Hao gently shook the Deep Blue Sword, pursuing Fat Cat. More frightening was that the thundercloud actually moved with him, and the densely woven lightning, though not yet unleashed, grew even more intimidating.
"No way, that’s possible?" Fat Cat felt apprehensive and hurriedly scurried off, "Hao, you can actually master the sword technique to this extent, meow, are you even human?"
Chu Hao gnashed his teeth in frustration, the mouth on this Fat Cat was truly insufferable always managing to be infuriating.
"Fat Cat, dare to face this move?" he shouted while chasing.
"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey, only a fool would take it!" Fat Cat ran ahead swiftly. This guy was definitely thief material, although its Star Force Cultivation wasn’t a match for Chu Hao’s, its speed was astonishing, and no matter how Chu Hao chased, he couldn’t close the distance.
Before long, the thunderclouds eventually began to dissipate, for not even Chu Hao could maintain them forever.
Fat Cat finally breathed a sigh of relief and turned around, saying, "Hao, if you were to return to the era of Lao Tzu, in the Martial Sect Realm you could probably be ranked in the top hundred, um, even in the top fifty."
Chu Hao scoffed, "Even if you want to belittle me, don’t you think that’s an exaggeration?"
"Stinky kid, don’t think too highly of yourself, in Lao Tzu’s era, geniuses were many, and there were not a few with Double Great Perfection like yours. At that time, almost everyone practiced Body Technique, and some geniuses were exceptionally gifted, born with the alignment with the Tao, destined to become kings," Fat Cat taunted him. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, and your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
