A Mighty One's state of mind was equally fickle and unpredictable.
In truth, ever since Quan Juehua successfully coalesced his Origin Seed, his state of mind had undergone a tremendous shift. Many of his moves no longer matched how he felt in this moment.
Even his blade, Malevolent Blade: Dream's End, had fallen entirely out of harmony with him.
In the past, he had lamented that the heavens had no handle and the earth had no ring—frustrated that despite possessing invincible strength, the path ahead remained barred. But after condensing the Origin Seed, he was brimming with drive and passion, eager to wage war across the heavens, cut down every competitor beneath his blade, and ultimately achieve Origin Return in one fell swoop, finally becoming the person he most longed to be.
In this state of mind, his former moves had actually grown weaker.
Take "Malevolent Blade: High Hangs the Bright Moon, Shining on All but Me," for instance. With his old state of mind, it wouldn't have merely left a scar upon the Tree Universe; it definitely would have sheared through several branches, perhaps even cleaving an entire massive bough straight off the Tree Universe.
Yet Zhang Shou's slash made him recover that feeling.
Why?
Why should something he had once pursued so bitterly shamelessly deliver itself into someone else's hands?
It was like the goddess he had courted in vain turning around to throw herself into the arms of an ugly wretch, flattering him and groveling just to follow him.
From the Desperate Seven-Kill Saber, Zhang Shou merged the remaining five strikes into one, instantly coalescing into a colossal saber beam of flame that slashed toward Quan Juehua across the void.
Quan Juehua watched the incoming saber beam in silence, then let out a low, grim chuckle. Since he could not have it willingly, he would simply feed it all to his Malevolent Blade and make them part of it.
He slowly raised his hand. The Malevolent Blade suddenly seemed to come alive, unleashing a terrifying suction from its length. All surrounding energy and matter were swallowed into the blade. Zhang Shou's flaming saber beam was no exception; the moment it entered the pull, it was ripped to shreds and devoured in an instant.
Indeed, the Malevolent Blade was a living thing.
And the most foundational material used to forge it was... Quan Juehua himself!
Across the myriad heavens and worlds, there had once been many Quan Juehuas, including individuals whose strength rivaled his own. The Malevolent Blade had been forged from the body of one such Quan Juehua who had sought Oneness. With that foundation, the blade could endlessly devour worlds, devour everything, until it finally became what it was today.
Now, Quan Juehua looked at Zhang Shou and brought his raised hand down.
Malevolent Blade: High Hangs the Bright Moon, Shining on All but Me!
A thin black line extended forward in an instant. Zhang Shou had no time to dodge—nor did he intend to. He met it head-on without flinching, unleashing a slash of his own.
Absolute Saber: Who Since Ancient Times Has Escaped Death?
Empowered by the Grand Blaze Sky-Burning Saber, boundless raging flames merged into one with Zhang Shou. The man was the blade; the man was the saber beam.
This was no longer a detached shockwave. He flew forward in his entirety, colliding directly with Quan Juehua's slash.
Though Quan Juehua's saber beam appeared to be merely a thin line, it was actually terrifying blade energy compressed to the utmost limit. The saber intent, rules, and raw power within were mighty beyond what ordinary Mighty Ones could fathom.
The moment they collided, the blade energy erupted before Zhang Shou. He braced against it with everything he had, yet he was still blasted across countless light-years. Along the way, he slammed into an unfortunate world, shattering its world barrier on impact. He plowed through planet after planet, tearing space itself to pieces until the world was reduced to ash and dust. Bursting out of that ruined world, he continued hurtling backward.
Only after tumbling an unknowable distance did he cough up a mouthful of blood. Looking down, he discovered that everything below his chest had vanished without a trace.
Had the Grand Blaze Sky-Burning Saber not shielded everything from the chest up, his entire being would have been wiped out in an instant.
Even with the Grand Blaze Sky-Burning Saber, the gap between him and Quan Juehua had hardly narrowed. Yet the genuine saber was truly formidable; under such a horrific assault, it remained completely undamaged, the flames coursing across its blade still surging like a tempest.
In this instant, Zhang Shou seemed to feel the mindset of the saber's wielders through the ages.
The truly brave only swung their blades at the stronger. Thus, the Grand Blaze Sky-Burning Saber was born from desperation. Every flickering wisp of flame was the roar of past wielders: *Risk everything and fight!*
"Risk everything? I staked it all long ago!"
Zhang Shou grinned, not even bothering to mend his body. He continuously poured his energy into the Grand Blaze Sky-Burning Saber, and the next moment, wings made entirely of fire sprouted from his shoulders.
Absolute Saber: Life Sacrifice!
Zhang Shou used no fancy tricks.
Because only one move truly matched the Grand Blaze Sky-Burning Saber: sacrificing one's life.
In the void, Quan Juehua's face remained devoid of expression, marked only by an imposing, solemn calm. Holding his Malevolent Blade, he stared into the vast fissure his slash had carved across space. Suddenly, he raised his weapon as a deluge of flames manifested out of nothingness. In an instant, Zhang Shou appeared, his blade crashing right against the Malevolent Blade. The searing, blinding heat caused the temperature around Quan Juehua to skyrocket.
In certain worlds, the theoretical upper limit of temperature was approximately 1.4 × 10³² degrees Celsius, but the Grand Blaze Sky-Burning Saber's lowest heat was higher still.
The fire of the Grand Blaze Sky-Burning Saber was not plasma, nor was it composed of elementary particles; it was pure energy, a power existing on a conceptual plane.
No matter could withstand the burning power of the Grand Blaze Sky-Burning Saber—not even Quan Juehua.
That was why his hair and clothes had burned earlier. However, once Quan Juehua realized this, he needed only to continually output energy to envelop his body to offset the burning corrosion of the flames.
Quan Juehua looked up at Zhang Shou, flicked his wrist slightly to shift the Malevolent Blade's angle, and Zhang Shou went flying backward.
Quan Juehua cultivated the rules of strength as well—far more deeply than any Mighty One across the myriad heavens and worlds, for it was among the mightiest rules in existence.
His vast lifespan had left him without weaknesses; his strength was simply not something Zhang Shou could match.
At this moment, Quan Juehua harbored no further reservations. He had only one thought: kill Zhang Shou, and merge him along with the Grand Blaze Sky-Burning Saber into his Malevolent Blade. If he could not claim the weapon for himself, he would make it a part of his blade forever.
As Zhang Shou was hurtling backward, Quan Juehua abruptly teleported behind him and swung his blade.
The strike was blisteringly fast, leaving Zhang Shou no room to evade. Fortunately, Quan Juehua had targeted his right arm, the part closest to the Grand Blaze Sky-Burning Saber. The flames of the saber swept out, clashing squarely against Quan Juehua's blade and barely parrying the ambush.
Yet this was not the end—it was only the beginning.
Chapter 730