Chapter 317: Shattered Laws
Xiao Nanfeng tossed the charm into the storm of lightning without any hesitation.
The charm gave off threads of white light. Where it passed by, the lightning seemed to come to life, detouring completely around the charm. Although it wasn't struck by any of the lightning, the cracks along its surface began to propagate rapidly. With a bang, it suddenly exploded in a cloud of white smoke, which the Divine Emperor guided toward the crystal tablet.
"Merge!" the Divine Emperor commanded.
The white cloud surrounded the crystal tablet and formed a circular portal about three meters in diameter.
"Leave, now!" the Divine Emperor shouted.
Ku Jiang's yin body rushed out with his physical body in one hand and Han Bingdie in the other. The next moment, all the white smoke vanished and dissipated, leaving only the black water into which the Divine Emperor had transformed behind.
"Divine Emperor, hurry back into my purple seal!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted, holding his seal up urgently.
However, it was too late. The crystal tablet, strained to the utmost, exploded along with the black water that had surrounded it.
"Divine Emperor!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted.
Heaven and earth rumbled. The five mountains—heavenly pillars—emitted concentrated ball lightning in their vicinity, so many that they covered up the sky. The ball lightning formed tidal waves that shot all around them.
Xiao Nanfeng, Ku Jiang, and Han Bingdie found a large wave of ball lightning headed in their direction, one that looked as though it would drown them within moments.
"With the heavenly laws destroyed, the heavenly energy in this realm is no longer restrained!" Ku Jiang shouted. He spurred his red moon forth and prepared to defend against the colossal wave.
Just then, Xiao Nanfeng's storage ring flashed, transforming into the Divine Emperor's bell and covering up the three of them.
The ball lightning swept past the bell. An apocalyptic crash resounded from outside, but the three cultivators within were unscathed.
"This is—the Divine Emperor's bell? The same Divine Emperor linked to the Spirit Emperor?" Ku Jiang exclaimed.
Xiao Nanfeng was anxious and worried about what was happening outside, but the fact that the Divine Emperor's bell glowed with golden light meant that the Divine Emperor was still alive and actively protecting Xiao Nanfeng.
The lightning continued to rage for about fifteen minutes before the Divine Emperor's bell uncovered itself.
Xiao Nanfeng rushed out in search of the Divine Emperor.
Not far away, there was a ball of lightning a few thousand meters in diameter, crackling with energy. At its center were shards of the crystal tablet and the black water into which the Divine Emperor had transformed.
"Divine Emperor, let me bring you into the purple seal!" Xiao Nanfeng rushed over.
"Come back, Nanfeng! You can't withstand lightning of such incredible potency!" Ku Jiang shouted.
Even so, Xiao Nanfeng rushed over and was about to brave the lightning when the Divine Emperor's bell flew forward and interposed itself between the lightning and him.
"Don't come over. I'm alright. Ignore me," the Divine Emperor shouted from within the lightning. New novel chapters are published on novel(b)in(.)com
Xiao Nanfeng jerked upright. "The Xiang cultivators have backstabbed the Spirit Emperor?"
Outside the Thousand Spirits' Hall, as the heavenly laws and pillars crumbled, the black fog disappeared in an instant. Countless halls and buildings were obliterated by tidal waves of ball lightning, and all that lightning shot toward the Spirit Emperor. The Spirit Emperor had just been freed and was looking disdainfully at the lightning headed in his direction.
He was about to flee and evade the resulting backlash when a golden orb suddenly fell from the skies, as if suppressing the region of void—and the Spirit Emperor in particular. The golden orb whirled toward him.
"Insolence!" the Spirit Emperor shouted, swatting the golden orb away—but the moment his hand came into contact with it, it burst with golden light, heavy as the sea. It shattered the Spirit Emperor's hand and pinned him where he stood.
"What?!" the Spirit Emperor exclaimed, hauling up the golden orb.
He tried to fling it away, but it grew heavier and heavier, as though laden with gravity and divine energy. The Spirit Emperor was unable to take even a single step. He gaped in astonishment at the golden orb as he discovered Immortals surrounding him and infusing spiritual power into the golden orb.
"The Seaquell Pearl? You Xiang cultivators dare to scheme against me? Die!" the Spirit Emperor roared.
Subdued by the pearl, he was unable to block the ball lightning that shot toward him from every direction. He had no choice but to suffer the destructive, annihilating attack. His roars were drowned out by the lightning.
"We've done it. We've suppressed the Spirit Emperor! The Seaquell Pearl really is amazing!" a Xiang cultivator cheered.
"All of you, scour the vicinity for any Immortal relics and pills that the obliterated divine slaves had in their possession. Then, leave through the temporal rifts immediately!" another Xiang cultivator commanded.
That shout carried across the entire realm.
"Understood!" the Xiang cultivators replied.
The cultivators of the Tianshu Empire and the Xiang clan were all furiously claiming whatever treasures they could find. Crow and crane spirits were doing the same. None of them attacked each other; they avoided the ball lightning as they tried to cover as much ground as they could.
Some of the Xiang Immortals, however, remained where they were around the Spirit Emperor.
"With the Seaquell Pearl suppressing the Spirit Emperor, all the lightning will head toward him. That lightning will drain him of all his energy within a short period of time, killing him. Even if he can survive, he'll surely be weakened dramatically. The cursed effigies that we possess will surely be able to defeat him then. Attack at full force when I give the signal. We must acquire the Spirit Emperor's treasure at any cost!" one Xiang cultivator commanded.
"Understood!" the Xiang Immortals shouted in high spirits.
"Additionally, beware of Nalan Qiankun. He's particularly malicious."
"Don't worry, Clan Head!" everyone chorused.
At the mouth of a valley some distance away, Nalan Qiankun and his subordinates lay hidden as they stared at the commotion from afar.
"Your Majesty, do we need to strike now?"
"We don't. Even if the Spirit Emperor were to die, it can revive and seek revenge. Let the Xiang cultivators suffer the karma of stealing the Spirit Emperor's treasures. Once they acquire that treasure, we'll make our move and steal it from them," Nalan Qiankun replied.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" the cultivators chorused.
Nalan Qiankun's eyes were resolute, as though everything was firmly in his grasp.
