Lifespan Balance, Supreme Sword, Swing It Down!

When they saw "Gd" drop straight from the sky to the earth, the faces of several high figures in Eden, the Great Western Empire's official oddity organization, changed at once. "Wyatt is no match!" "Not necessarily. That man launched a sneak attack the moment things were not to his liking. He hasn't a trace of a knight's honor!" "Wyatt is the most perfect humanoid oddity in the world. He was born bearing the longing and faith of countless people, a God who walked out of ancient myth, possessed of infinite might, and he will never die. I believe he is no worse than that man. Even if he is a little weaker, that man still cannot kill him." "Of the two Gods, Wyatt alone is the truly perfect one, the merciful one, the one who loves all people—" "I think we still ought to be ready to support Wyatt at any moment. That man's origins are unknown, and his strength is unfathomable. What if he really has a way to kill Wyatt?" "Don't worry. I already had people prepare the Lifespan Reduction Balance ahead of time. At the critical moment it can serve as a deterrent. I believe that man will not act rashly—" "—" Amid the discussion, the "God" Wyatt wrenched himself up out of the deep crater, sand and dust billowing as he shot into the sky. He came to a stop facing Huang Tian, his expression dark. "Young man, you are far too lacking in gentleness, and far too brutal. This is not the character a wise man ought to have—" "Boom!!!" Before the words had ended, everyone saw Wyatt streak across the heavens like a meteor once more, shooting a thousand li away in an instant! Yet only a dozen seconds later he swept aside a thousand li of heavy cloud and came roaring back on a gale, a golden scepter in his hand. "You have angered me!!" Wyatt's hair and beard streamed. The roaring fury within him seemed about to burst free. He raised his right hand high, and the flawless, crystal-clear stone set at the tip of the golden scepter suddenly blazed with piercing light! Rumble— In that instant, ten thousand li of layered cloud boiled overhead, turning swiftly from white to black. Countless thunder dragons and lightning serpents surged out of the clouds, weaving and twining into a vast sea of thunder! The thunder roared like ten thousand drums struck as one. Arcs leapt among the rolling clouds, so the whole imperial capital flickered between light and dark! "I am God. I have a heart of mercy and love, but I also have the wrath of thunder, and I can wield the myriad thunders to slay evil!" The instant that cold voice sounded, Wyatt swept the scepter, and the vast sea of thunder poured down! Countless bolts, bearing might enough to destroy heaven and earth, hammered toward Huang Tian like a torrential rain. The glare was so fierce that heaven and earth lost their color! Yet faced with such thunder, Huang Tian only hung quietly in the air and let the myriad bolts fall upon him. The moment those terrifying thunders touched his body, their force sank away, and they turned into countless fine lightning serpents that wandered over him, docile as a spring breeze. "How is that possible?!" Onlookers and Wyatt alike were dumbfounded. "This is Evil-Slaying Thunder! Its power is tremendous—" Wyatt murmured, his eyes full of disbelief. Little did he know that Huang Tian was all too versed in the arts of thunder. One of the first spells he had ever learned was Orthodox Wutu Thunder. Later, in the Earth Immortal Realm, he had learned a minor divine ability of the thunder arts on Xuandong Mountain. Once he had attained the stature of a Daluo Supreme, entered the Honghuang Realm, and looked back across the myriad ages, there was not one among the many spells and divine abilities that he did not comprehend. The illustrious Mastering the Five Thunders, one of the Thirty-Six Tiangang Methods, was as familiar to him as could be. Bearing this divine ability, he naturally feared no thunder in the world. He lifted a hand and flicked it lightly toward the sky. The motion was utterly ordinary, yet the whole sea of thunder changed in an instant! The sea of thunder churned violently. Countless bolts of purple divine thunder, never seen before, were born within it. Each was ten times, a hundred times thicker than those before, like giant pythons winding through the black clouds! "This—" Seeing the sea of thunder change hands, and grow ever more terrifying in power, Wyatt stood rooted where he was. He had frozen, but the thunder had not. Rumbling, it lit heaven and earth, blazing white and deep purple above, below, and all around, and crashed down upon him like a flood! Billions upon billions of thunder dragons and lightning serpents reflected in his pupils. Wyatt's eyelids twitched madly. He meant to urge the scepter's power and seize back control of the thunder, but before he could move, the vast torrent swallowed him whole! Amid the enormous roar, a charred figure fell from on high. Halfway down, it scattered into ash across the sky. "Oh! My God! He's dead!" In the city below, someone clapped a hand over their mouth and cried out. "There are two Gods here. You ought to be clearer. It's the fake God who died." "How can you tell which is real and which is fake?" "Nothing could be simpler. God must be the strongest in the world. So whoever wins is the true God, and whoever loses is the impostor." "Mm. You've got a point—" While countless people in the imperial capital were still crying out in shock, a ripple surged through the air above. Then Wyatt, who had just been blasted to ash by the thunder, walked out of the void. He had resurrected! Across the long sky he looked at Huang Tian and opened his arms. "I am God. I am undying—" Whoosh— Huang Tian's figure, poised high above, blurred. The next second he was already before Wyatt. A punch thundered out and blew the latter apart in midair! "Pfft—" Blood sprayed and scattered. Three seconds later, Wyatt resurrected again. Before he could open his mouth, Huang Tian beat him into a mist of blood once more. Five seconds later, pfft! Ten seconds later, pfft! Seventeen seconds later, pfft— Brilliant blood-red fireworks bloomed one after another in midair. Wyatt could not get out a single word before Huang Tian blew him apart again and again, and the intervals between his resurrections grew longer and longer— "This can't go on!" One of Eden's people frowned. "We have to support him at once! We can't let that man kill Wyatt over and over. I suspect Wyatt may not be undying. There may be properties we don't know—for example, if he dies a certain number of times within a short span, does he die for good?" "I'll go and persuade that Huang Tian, the Lord on High, to withdraw. If he kills me, you use the Lifespan Reduction Balance at once. That sword and that spear can be used as well. I expect at least one of them can subdue that man." A half-bald middle-aged man spoke. "All right, Callum. Be extra careful. Don't provoke him. Your life comes first." A colleague beside him said gravely. "Don't worry. I understand." Callum nodded, then shot into the sky and came to a steady stop on high. In the gap after Huang Tian blew Wyatt apart once more, he said, "Sir, I earnestly beg you to stay your hand. Spare Wyatt. Let our two sides coexist in peace." Huang Tian glanced at him and said calmly, "Hand over every oddity, and naturally we can coexist in peace." Callum was at a loss for words. Then he said, "Why must you take in every oddity in the world? I believe our Eden is capable of controlling the oddities, and of ensuring they cause no great disaster." Huang Tian did not answer. He only threw a punch and beat the newly resurrected Wyatt into a rain of blood in midair. A drop or two splashed onto Callum's face. The corner of Callum's mouth twitched, and he sighed. "If you will not stay your hand, we can only answer with oddities." He went on slowly. "We know your flesh has no weak point. Even if your head and your heart explode, you will not die. But an invincible body does not mean you are deathless and imperishable. If your lifespan reaches its end, you will die all the same— "The Lifespan Reduction Balance can shave away a person's years, and the ratio is 1:100. Your lifespan may be ten thousand years, a hundred thousand, a million. We would only need to spend the lives of a few hundred or a thousand condemned prisoners, or even more than ten thousand, to kill you." When he finished, he watched Huang Tian, hoping to see his expression change. Yet the latter remained as composed as ever, and even smiled. "Then try it." If he were still at the Great Ascension realm, this oddity would of course have killed him. But now he had returned to the True Immortal realm. Unless someone killed him by force, he would neither age nor die. How could he fear an oddity that shaved away lifespan? Callum froze at those words and instinctively looked back at his colleagues on the ground. The colleagues looked at one another. A gray-templed elder's face was grave as still water. "Since he's telling us to try, what are we still waiting for?" "Then I'll give the order now. Use the Balance." Another nodded. Only a dozen seconds later, thin strands of black qi inexplicably wound about Huang Tian in the sky. The black qi carried a strange power, shaving away lifespan and vitality invisible to the eye. Yet however "overbearing" the black qi was, no sign of aging appeared on Huang Tian. He did not so much as react. Everyone was stunned. After a long moment, the elder who had given the order said in shock and doubt, "Why is there no effect? Use more condemned prisoners!" "Yes!" A moment later, Huang Tian still showed no reaction. He simply went on blowing Wyatt apart by himself. The elder wiped the sweat at his temple and said through gritted teeth, "Add more condemned prisoners! Add more!" A subordinate looked troubled. "Sir, all of the more than three thousand condemned prisoners we prepared in advance have been used up. If we want to add more, we'll have to transfer them on the spot." The elder's eyes widened. "All of them are dead? How much lifespan did they put in altogether? I need an exact number!" "95,083 years in all." "You mean we have already cut more than nine million years from that man—nearly ten million years of lifespan?!" "Yes, sir." The air sank into sudden silence. His lifespan had been cut by ten million years, and still he did not die. What kind of monster was this— Callum drew a deep breath and looked at Huang Tian. "Can it be that your lifespan has no end?" Huang Tian smiled. "Congratulations. You got it right." In that moment, Callum and the others, and the countless people of every nation watching the "livestream," all drew a light breath. "Immortality! He has attained immortality!" "Humanity's most longed-for dream—" "It isn't really so surprising. If he could not even achieve immortality, how would he dare call himself Huang Tian, the Lord on High?" "Cough, cough—" The gray-templed elder coughed hard twice, his face somewhat pale. "The Lifespan Reduction Balance truly has no effect on him. But that does not mean the others are useless. Use that sword." "Understood!" Several dozen seconds later, a whiskered middle-aged man, carrying a longsword wrapped in red cloth, took one step and arrived high in the sky, standing shoulder to shoulder with Callum. He flung the red cloth open at once, and an utterly ordinary longsword was revealed. The whiskered man raised the longsword high, his spirits soaring. "This sword is named the Supreme Sword. Once it swings down, even heaven and earth must collapse, and the vast river of stars, even the universe, will be split in two! Nothing can withstand it. It is the highest and strongest divine artifact!" As if to bear out his words, the instant Callum saw the sword his whole body shuddered violently and his pupils changed, as though he were looking upon the most terrifying thing in the world. The citizens watching the battle in the imperial capital, and the countless people watching the livestream, could not help going pale, as though they saw stars that had endured since the beginning of time split in two by this utterly ordinary sword, a sword scar endless light-years long cut through the vast river of stars, and even the boundless universe collapsing beneath this blade! Truly worthy of the strongest divine artifact in the world! "Don't let him swing that sword down!" someone screamed in terror. "The moment he swings it, all of us will die! The universe will be destroyed. Why can't we coexist in peace? Must we die together?" "Huang Tian, the Lord on High, I beg you, for the continuation of human civilization and for your own life, withdraw now. Otherwise we will all perish together, and no one will be the winner." "We yearn for peace!" Countless cries of terror and prayers poured into his ears, but Huang Tian only raised a brow. His divine sense swept over the longsword the whiskered man held high, and he felt it was nothing but an utterly ordinary sword, with nothing remarkable about it. Just then, the whiskered man said slowly, "When this sword swings down, there is no winner. So if you are willing to withdraw, I can promise to put the sword away, and we will leave each other in peace." Huang Tian glanced at him, then looked at the citizens watching below, and found that every one of them was trembling, teeth chattering, frightened to the extreme. "So that's it." Understanding rose in Huang Tian's heart, and he said, "Swing the sword." "Ah?" The whiskered man was stunned. "What did you say—" "Swing it. Let me see the sword art that destroys the universe." Huang Tian said with keen interest. At those words, many people were shocked and furious. They felt this Huang Tian, the Lord on High, had gone mad. He did not fear death, and he would drag everyone down to die with him! The whiskered man gritted his teeth. "You think I won't swing? Betting on my kindness? Betting I won't drag all of humanity down into ruin with me? Then you're wrong! Since I came forth bearing the sword today, I have the resolve to swing it down!" "Then cut it down at me. I'll stand right here and not move, and have a taste of the mightiest sword in the cosmos." Huang Tian said. "You—you—" The whiskered man was momentarily speechless. Whoosh— Seeing him hesitate, Huang Tian said no more. He took one step and arrived before the whiskered man. Under that man's utterly terrified gaze, he easily snatched the Supreme Sword from his hands. The whiskered man's face was blank, his hands empty. He wanted to snatch the longsword back and did not dare. He only stood where he was, awkward and unmoving. Huang Tian looked the sword over for a moment. It truly was perfectly ordinary. The material was ordinary, the craft of its forging was ordinary, and even the patterns upon it were ordinary in the extreme. It looked like a standard-issue longsword worth only a few hundred yuan. "Tch." He clicked his tongue softly, raised the longsword, and then, beneath the gazes of utmost terror and the despairing cries of countless people, swung it down hard!