The atmosphere was uniquely oppressive to the spectators.
Puresword True Emperor was one of the greatest geniuses in Imperial. He represented the hope of this world, gradually rising like a sun. His power left no room for doubts.
The deer merchant was even more impressive as the strongest and oldest of the four. He could be considered one of the top three existences in this world. Just one stomp of his could make everything tremble.
Four Esteemed King and the Tree Observer were top Eternals as well. One would find it difficult to find others on the same level as them.
All in all, randomly picking any of these four and one would have a supreme existence respected by the experts of Imperial.
But now, the four tried to deliver a fatal blow when Li Qiye was left defenseless yet still failed. All were blown flying away, nearly on the verge of death.
This truly shook the crowd to the core. These great experts were utterly defeated by Li Qiye despite having all the advantages. The spectators present felt their clothes drenching with sweat.
Li Qiye’s unbeatable style has become an eternal shadow in everyone’s mind. From now on, on the subject of the strongest in Imperial, everyone would think of the brutal Fiercest instead of Solar Daoist who has become an Everlasting.
Everyone had no choice but to live under his shadow. There was no surpassing him regardless of how hard they try - truly a hopeless situation.
Their eyes had nothing but fear and respect now when gazing at Fiercest, this invincible and supreme being.
The four combatants felt the same way with a sliver of fear taking roots in their dao heart, one of the scariest phenomena.
When cultivators reached a certain level, few things could actually affect their dao heart, let alone giving birth to a heart devil. People like the True Emperor were even more resilient with tough mental fortitude.
Alas, they have been afflicted and tried their best to calm down by taking a deep breath.
“We have to risk it all.” The emperor said with determination.
Leaving today without defeating or killing Li Qiye meant forever living under his shadow. They had to fight for their reputation, their sect’s prestige, and to destroy this heart devil in their mind right now.
“To the death!” The emperor’s eyes became fiercely bright. This light pierced through the ages with an imperial aura.
A declaration like this coming from an emperor was resounding and powerful, stirring all the listeners.
This earned him respect from some members of the crowd, even those who didn’t like him in the past. An emperor ready to die for the sake of pride was worthy of respect.
“Indeed, because you all won’t be leaving alive today, I’m afraid.” Li Qiye chuckled, one-upping the emperor’s heroism with a domineering statement.
The emperor didn’t bother retorting. Everyone could see how strong Li Qiye was and the huge gap between the two sides.
The only thing they could do right now was to use their strongest force to defeat Li Qiye and once again proving their worth. Mere words were meaningless before this mighty opponent.
“Clank!” A sword hymn echoed across the realms.
The emperor slowly unsheathed a sword, not the same one used earlier. It wasn’t emitting an imperial aura either.
During the unsheathing process, the clouds seemed to be blotting out the sky. Everything became a faint blue. Once the blade was out completely, it was as if the grand dao and laws were covered up entirely.
Despite the ethereal and blurry nature of everything else, one could still see this sword due to its brightness.
It seemed to be made from the accumulation of auspicious clouds. It glowed like the evening and was surrounded by red clouds.
“Buzz.” Strands of ancestral powers swept through the world once he had it firmly in his grasp. This force blew away all the clouds and blurriness earlier.
“An ancestral weapon!” People identified its origin right away.
“Purecloud sword!” One ancestor blurted out in astonishment: “The sword of Progenitor Mu Yun, it was always with him.” [1]
“The progenitor spent tremendous efforts to craft this invincible sword. It accompanied him through numerous battlefields and had put down several True Emperors.” One Eternal revealed.
Progenitor Mu Yun was the founder of the Mu Clan, a being at the immortal-progenitor level. Since the start of time, few progenitors used their actual names for their titles. They usually picked a dao title, unlike Progenitor Mu Yun.
He had plenty of titles in the past; experts of his era gave him more impressive titles. In the end, he kept his actual name and people stuck with it. His other titles became forgotten with time.
As for the particular sword, it wasn’t only an ancestral weapon but also served as his personal weapon, never leaving his side.
This invincible sword was now in the hand of Puresword True Emperor.
1. Just a thing to note, sometimes progenitors became Ancestor for their title. Like the title of Insane Ancestor, it was just the word for [mad] + [ancestor], not the word for progenitor even though he is a progenitor. Well, he’s also an ancestor too, in the general sense. I’ve thought about changing ‘Insane Ancestor’ to ‘Insane Progenitor’, but there are some lines that would kill this in a one-to-one literal translation. For example, during his first introduction back in chapter 2130, 狂庭的始祖狂祖, or Insane Court’s progenitor - Insane Ancestor. If I were to change his title for consistency, that line would become Insane Court’s progenitor - Insane Progenitor. This feels redundant, so I should change this line to ‘the court’s progenitor - Insane’. His title is just 祖 instead of 始祖 like other progenitors. I used Ancestor for some other progenitors afterward in order to keep it consistent in the translation, but I think that was a mistake. I’ll use Progenitor when it is 始祖 from now on starting with this guy, Progenitor Mu Yun, and I’ll go back and revise certain titles when I spot them. All in all, this actually doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Just a minor annoyance for both myself and the readers. It’s almost the same thing with Empress Hong Tian versus the other female emperors. Do I keep Empress for them or keep the Immortal Emperor title like in the raws? Did the author intent on making Empress Hong Tian special by having a different title, maybe.