Chapter 1223: Breakthrough with One Step
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Yan Yuan and the others had yet to depart when an overwhelming aura shrouded the entire area. Many mighty ones came from all directions.
Yan Yuan took one look in the air and saw a group of them arriving. The one who took the lead emanated a terrifying aura. It was none other than King Tiandao, who held great power in the court of Dali.
Yan Yuan’s eyes sparkled with an intent to kill when he saw the person by King Tiandao’s side.
It was none other than Wang Zhong—another of the imperial advisor’s students.
Mu Chunyang and Nan Zhai also looked at Wang Zhong and said nothing. Their teacher knew that Wang Zhong had always been hostile towards him, yet he nonetheless saw Wang Zhong as a student of his. Knowing that there might be a day when Wang Zhong could take his life, he remained unfazed.
However, at present, the Imperial Advisor’s Residence was caught in a crisis. Wang Zhong had chosen to betray them and sided with King Tiandao. Since it had come to that, they no longer needed to consider past sentiments.
From that moment, the two parties stood as enemies.
“Yan Yuan, his majesty has given an order. Head to the royal palace with us,” King Tiandao said condescendingly as he walked. The terrifying aura of a Holiness of Nirvana burst forth, weighing on Yan Yuan and the others.
Yan Yuan looked at King Tiandao and said, “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
“His majesty has been graceful enough to not punish the people of the Imperial Advisor’s Residence and to make the imperial advisor’s daughter a queen. He also made you a future imperial advisor. However, you choose to resist orders and caused Emperor Xia to come here. It would seem that the Imperial Advisor’s Residence has indeed betrayed Dali,” King Tiandao said coldly as his eyes sparkled with murderous intent.
He threw his palm forward and attacked. A boundlessly huge and heavy ring of light descended from the heavens, shrouding Yan Yuan and the others with intense suppressing power.
Under the huge light, the space was on the verge of being crushed; the force was unstoppable.
The might of a Holiness of Nirvana was brought to bear within an instant.
King Tiandao claimed that the ones from the Imperial Advisor’s Residence had committed treason, which meant that he was determined to destroy them. He was not Emperor Li and saw no need to give them any chances.
Diagrams of the Great Path appeared before Yan Yuan, and their surroundings howled. He put up his hands and headed straight for the sky above, putting up a divine golden wall right above the Imperial Advisor’s Residence.
The ring of light descended, clashing hard with the diagrams. Their surroundings rattled as the residence began to come apart and a burst of devastating golden lightning lashed out.
The entire Imperial Advisor’s Residence was reduced to dust in an instant. Mu Chunyang flashed his blade and cut down the golden lightning, intercepting the attack above Feixue.
King Tiandao was lauded as one capable of fighting on equal footing with the imperial advisor. While Emperor Li’s elder brother was inferior to the imperial advisor in many ways, he was still nonetheless at the pinnacle of the Dali Dynasty. There was no doubt about the ferocity of his powers.
He walked in the sky. The ring of light of the Great Path turned into waves of golden light and swept downwards. Yan Yuan grunted as the pressure of the Great Path weighed on him. Boundless golden lightning had torn the place apart, and the diagrams of the Great Path were on the verge of crumbling.
Mu Chunyang and the others were ready to get on their knees.
“Yan Yuan, stop resisting, and take your orders from the royal palace,” King Tiandao advised him. His presence was overwhelming, and everyone, even those far away from the Imperial Advisor’s Residence, was shaken.
Yan Yuan looked up at the sky. He had been injured during the Battle of Empty Realm, and he was at his wit’s end on how to fight King Tiandao, who was a pinnacle figure in the Dali Dynasty.
His eyes were wild and his robe billowed. The five elements and dualities of the Great Path appeared around him.
He lifted his hands to clap on the diagrams of the Great Path again, resisting the force coming from above.
“The imperial advisor gave up his training, confessed, and will be incarcerated. Are you having a death wish now, Yan Yuan?” King Tiandao said coldly, after seeing that he was still resisting. Mighty ones gathered around them, surrounding the entire Imperial Advisor’s Residence and leaving them with no chance of escape.
Yan Yuan’s eyes turned red as he thought about all that his teacher had sacrificed.
Since his teacher no longer had any intentions of serving Emperor Li, there was no way the emperor would have simply let him leave, not even when Emperor Xia showed up.
If Emperor Li was insistent on them staying, then not even Emperor Xia would be able to stop him.
As such, he had agreed to end his training and pleaded with Emperor Li to spare the ones at the Imperial Advisor’s Residence. Even if that was futile, at the very least it showed that he was sincere in his confession to placate Emperor Li.
Furthermore, if Emperor Li still insisted on having them all stay, he would have nonetheless been affected by the imperial advisor’s actions.
Even after pleading for mercy in such a manner, he could not convince Emperor Li to spare the ones from the Imperial Advisor’s Residence. However, he was no longer able to fight against them and delegated that to his subordinates instead.
Because of that and because of the mighty ones that Emperor Xia brought here to keep things in check, they seized the chance to escape.
They all knew that Feixue’s condition would not have permitted her to be a part of the royal palace.
As such, they had to resist one way or another. They simply had to leave.
“Our teacher had not done any wrong against Dali,” Yan Yuan said to King Tiandao, who was bearing down on them from above. Burst of golden lightning lashed out at Yan Yuan in an attempt to kill him.
Yan Yuan’s body was rumbling. Boundless runes circled him. Qian, Kun, Kan, Li, and many other ancient symbols hovered in the air then melded with the Great Path.
“What do you mean doing no wrong?” King Tiandao berated coldly. Raging aura lashed out on Yan Yuan’s body, making him feel like he was going to come apart, and even his powers of the Great Path were about to crumble.
“His conscience was clean, and he was able to stand proud, facing the heavens and the earth,” Yan Yuan continued saying loudly. His body felt as if it was about to explode. Blood splattered on his clothes, and his aura weakened at breakneck speed.
“Hmph.” King Tiandao snorted and coldly said, “I see that you still dare to resist, do you have a death wish?”
Feixue was able to sense everything that was happening below. Despair was written on her face as she turned toward the battlefield and called out, “Eldest brother!”
“He is fine.” Nan Zhai looked above and, while Yan Yuan was severely injured, the diagrams of the Great Path and the ancient symbols surrounding him turned even brighter, transforming into a diagram of Yin and Yang of the Great Path. It spun chaotically and became increasingly bright, resisting the pressure from above.
At that moment, boundless light from the diagram of the Great Path seeped into Yan Yuan’s weakening body, making him seem like a furnace of the Great Path, fusing the power of the heavens and the earth. His aura, which had been weakening, rose in a frenzy, breaking his limit within an instant, and he became even more powerful than when he was at his peak. Furthermore, his powers continued to increase and the boundlessly terrifying diagram of the Great Path extended far and wide, blocking out the sky.
King Tiandao frowned and looked at Yan Yuan below. His pupils dilated and a flash of cold, murderous intent was seen in his eyes.
That was Yan Yuan breaking into the next and final level of the Saint Plane, becoming a Holiness of Nirvana.
“As heaven’s movement is ever vigorous, so must a wise man ceaselessly strive. I can’t just roll over and die,” Yan Yuan said. His finger pointed to the diagram of the Great Path. Golden, giant swords shot up to the heavens right at King Tiandao, who was stepping on the ring of light above.
The space exploded in that instant, and incredibly brilliant, harrowing rings of light swept in all directions.
King Tiandao’s body was sent flying higher. Those who watched the battle from afar avoided the aftershocks, and their hearts raced as they saw the Great Path’s ring of light sweeping the sky.
They then saw King Tiandao standing tall in the air.
Someone as powerful as King Tiandao had been thrown behind.
Yan Yuan, the imperial advisor’s eldest student, made a breakthrough and became a Holiness of Nirvana.
It hadn’t been long since Emperor Li had said that if Yan Yuan were to become a Holiness of Nirvana, then he would be eligible to become the imperial advisor.
It didn’t take long for him to make a breakthrough and become a Holiness of Nirvana. He could take the imperial advisor’s place and reign supreme in Dali if he was willing.
However, it was apparent that Yan Yuan did not have such thoughts.
Power was but fleeting clouds to him, and he had no intention of staying behind.
When Dali had been united and the imperial advisor, King Tiandao, the Prince Regent, and other high-level figures took charge, it became glorious and prosperous, yet there were also many lurking perils.
If it had not been for those lurking perils, they would not have sent his teacher to the battlefield at the Crimson Dragon Realm, and his betrayal would have never happened.
Solid dikes could collapse because of ant holes. Lurking perils, when not dealt with in time, could have caused earth-shattering changes when fully manifested, which was what happened on this day.
However, some things were unavoidable, and no one could do anything about it, they could only watch them unfold. His teacher had not been able to change what had happened in the past.
At that moment, however, Yan Yuan wanted to take fate into his own hands.
King Tiandao looked at Yan Yuan whose aura became increasingly overwhelming and still growing. He had unleashed the pressure of pinnacle levels. King Tiandao did not expect that Yan Yuan would have a breakthrough with a single step.
Students taught by the imperial advisor had already been able to get into Nirvana levels.
But then again, despite having broken into the final plane, Yan Yuan was nonetheless a new Holiness of Nirvana and was deemed incapable of fighting King Tiandao on equal footing.
King Tiandao began to take a step down. However, he halted before he could complete his step the looked far away. Terrifying currents washed over them and howled. A figure streaked through the air and arrived right before him. A huge palm struck from above, shrouding the place as it headed for King Tiandao.
King Tiandao turned around, and his extremely sharp aura burst. His hands streaked through the air and looked even more terrifying than blades. His attack split the palm open and the sky rumbled.
“King Tiandao, you have been provoking us for years. If you want a fight so badly, I shall fight you in earnest on this very day,” this imposing voice was heard loud and clear. The Sacred General of Tian had arrived and was stepping towards King Tiandao. Every step was extremely heavy, bearing on the sky around them.
“Since when did affairs of the Dali Dynasty become something you could directly interfere in?” asked King Tiandao as he looked at the Sacred General of Tian. His body burst with overwhelming might of equal magnitude.
“Interfering with Dali’s business?” The sacred general then jabbed at him sarcastically, saying, “I’m not interested in that in the slightest. However, since you people have been trying to stir up trouble and had even acted against the princess of Emperor Xia’s Realm and the others in the Crimson Dragon Realm, showing that you were up to no good, I have come with Emperor Xia to see what you’re made of.”
He attacked as soon as he finished talking. King Tiandao frowned. With Yan Yuan’s breakthrough, no one else could stop this Holiness of Nirvana even if he were held back by the Sacred General of Tian.
He took one look at the sky. Both Emperor Li and Emperor Xia were nowhere to be seen.