Chapter 923 Forced Compromise
One of the properties of water is its malleability or its ability to contain everything. So, after seeing that attack, Huo Fenghuang mobilized her Azure Dragon Bloodline to summon a pale blue ocean.
The ocean swallowed or maybe fused, with the vast sword energy descending on her, turning into deep red. Then, the ocean turned into a blood dragon that rushed toward the elderly swordsman.
'What arrogant little girl. She had already used my power against me once, wasn't that enough?'
Jian Sha waved his sword, and the red dragon turned into ink to write three more [Kill] characters. His aura changed, turning into a supreme being that has slaughtered immortals. In some ways, Jian Sha was such a being as his hands once bathed in the hands of countless Immortal Venerables and one Immortal Sovereign.
[Rain of Immortal Killing Sword]
Trillions of black swords manifested in the sky, each shining with lights of destruction. With a swing of Jian Sha's swords, they descended on Huo Fenghuang.
Her expression was grave as she did not expect her opponent to be capable of releasing such a devastatingly powerful.
'Damn it. Why does Ao Shen get to show off his power against these weak devil cultivators, and I have to face such a powerful Immortal Sovereign?'
Her clan has records about the strength of Immortal Sovereigns, and none she read about were this powerful; her opponent was obviously not a regular Immortal Sovereign.
[Phoenix Manifestation]
Hup Fenghuang turned into a red phoenix, allowing the swords to descend on her. Then, a beautiful sound of chirping echoed between Heaven and Earth as her phoenix roared in pain.
Whenever the sword touched her body, it would pass through as if she were an elementary creature intangible by physical attacks. However, the killing energy on the sword would damage her, but her current form was the best at minimizing damage. Furthermore, she had unparalleled life force to heal and regenerate.
Once the rain of swords ended, Huo Fenghuang appeared, her face slightly pale.
[Creation-Destruction Ball] n((O()v()e/-l(/b.)I-(n
She mobilized her Yin-Yang Heaven Law to resonate with the Destruction and Creation Dao, manifesting one blue and red ball. They rotate before fusing into a half-red and half-blue ball with the sign of Yin-Yang at the core.
The ball rushed toward the swordsman, making his heart race faster than it had ever done in a long time. Jian Sha felt tremendous danger, so he activated his [Immortal Lotus Step] to evade.
Alas, Huo Fenghuang seemed to have predicted this move. As soon as Jian Sha evaded, she activated her Dao Will to boost her speed and instantly appeared before him.
A second Creation-Destruction Ball appeared in her palm, ready to destroy her opponent with a single thought. Unfortunately, the thought never arrived. Huo Fenghuang felt a terrible pressure coming out of nowhere, making her mind and spirit very sluggish.
Everything around her slowed down, she had difficulty thinking and breathing, her memories were blurred, and her concentration was nonexistent. The attack in her palm weakened and almost disappeared.
Then, a red aura materialized around Jian Sha's white sword as he swung down with the intention of annihilating her from existence. Huo Fenghuang's bloodlines passively activated at the last minute as a beautiful dragon armor with tiny Yin-Yang Symbols in each scale enveloped her.
Boom!
Huo Fenghuang's body flew in the distance, but there were two sections as the previous attack bisected her diagonally from her shoulder to her waist. Flame tendrils emanated from the two sections of her body and connected them.
Huo Fenghuang finally regained her bearings with some confusion before becoming extremely serious.
'That was...Soul Coercion?'
Immortal Sovereigns are Tier 11 cultivators, so their Immortal Souls are of a higher class or grade than even Eternal Emperors. As such, it's perfectly normal for them to use it to pressure any Tier 10 cultivators.
However, from what Huo Fenghuang knew, such a tactic was only applicable to the upper dimension since Immortal Sovereigns cannot use most of their Soul Powers in the lower dimension.
'This bastard,' she thought, looking at him with red eyes. She came so close to death, and that idea scared her. Unlike Great Emperors, she cannot rely on the Dao Imprint to revive herself or use a variety of means of Eternals.
"Little lady, this is just the beginning. Look around you."
Huo Fenghuang's face became ugly as she swiftly scanned the surroundings. She saw four invisible arrays scattered in four directions: east, west, north, and south.
Immediately afterward, she felt a pressure on her body as the space transformed. This subtle change reminded her of her trip to the Source Qi Space. Her Heaven Will Law was difficult to mobilize, and she felt it was extremely arduous to operate.
"A formation that imitates Energy Dominance," she said with gritted teeth. Even the Grand Dao Source will be affected as long as the energy purity and density are high enough.
"Correct," said Jian Sha with a smile. "Energy Dominance is one way for Immortal Sovereign to dominate lower tiers like yourself. In fact, it is the most orthodox way to become a Tier 11 Insurgent by creating an Energy Dominance that can even affect Empyreans. Sadly, we are restricted from using such a method in the lower dimension."
Jian Sha was relaxed as he knew victory was in sight. Primarchs did not have as high of Energy Resistance as Great Emperors, so such a formation was very effective against them.
"Do you think this is enough to stop me?"
"Of course not," replied Jian Sha. After seeing Huo Fenghuang's battle prowess, he changed his attitude and listened to the precautions Jian Wushuang told him to pay attention to.
As such, he knew such a method was not enough to kill a Primarch with a Five Sacred Beast Bloodline.
"Little lady, why don't you check on your clan?"
Rage flashed deep in Huo Fenghuang's eyes as she swiftly used her Divine Sense to check on the Small World of the Ancient Clan. Her pupils dilated as she sensed countless Immortal Powerhouses and one person who had a similar aura to Jian Sha.
"You allied with the Sea Race?"
"Unlike the Ancient Clan, we know how to bend and stretch," replied Jian Sha casually.
"You're dreaming if you think these people can destroy my Ancient Clan," said Huo Fenghuang with gritted teeth.
"Of course not. After all, you people are protected by luck and destiny. However, we can destroy enough of you until you're forced to close your doors and recuperate for countless generations."
The void around Huo Fenghuang trembled as anger almost overwhelmed her mind. She did not expect her Ancient Clan–once the ruler of Heaven and Earth–to fall to such a state. How the mighty have fallen.
"What do you want?" asked Huo Fenghuang, calming herself down. Jian Sha smiled before sending her a scroll. As soon as she read it, she almost lost all the composure she used so much effort to gather.
These people wanted half of the God Position in the Eastern Continent, and many of them were high-level ones with great potential for merit and World Source Blessing.
"It's impossible for me to give you half."
"Time is of the essence, little lady, and we do not want to negotiate for a long time with you," said Jian Sha.
"How can such a decision be made lightly?" She wanted to negotiate. Otherwise, she will be very disadvantaged in this settlement.
"There is no point in buying time. We know the Qi Luck Dragon of your clan is enough to bless one First Class Insurgent to have the battle prowess of an Eternal for a short period.
"We have taken measures to prevent that from happening, so in the next ten minutes, if you don't make a decision, we will begin a massacre," explained Jian Sha with a leisurely tone.
"You!."
"Hurry up, we have already wasted more than 2 minutes."
Huo Fenghuang activated her Yin law to cool her mind.
"You can have half the positions, but they must all be unimportant ones. Or, you can have a quarter of them but only a few important ones. No bargaining."
"Little lady, you don't seem to–"
"Pick one of these options. Otherwise, our Ancient Clan will wage Emperor Dao War with all of you until both sides perish. Don't worry, I will pay extra care to you Sword Casting Villa during that war."
Jian Sha's mouth twitched. No matter how weak the Ancient Clan was, it was still one of the most powerful factions in the world due to its ancient heritage and the fact they were an amalgam of many factions with great destiny and luck. So, if they went crazy, the Sword Casting Villa would suffer.
"Decisive, aren't we?" commented Jian Sha. "Fine, we will take the second option. However, we want half the important positions."
"No more than 10%," countered Huo Fenghuang.
"Fine, sign the contract."
Huo Fenghuang looked at the contract, and it was very simple. Furthermore, these people were smart enough to apply the contract to only this generation. After all, everyone knew the court's situation would be reshuffled after every generation.
After making sure there were no problems, she signed it on behalf of the Ancient Clan.
"This is not over," Huo Fenghuang declared before disappearing. Jian Sha smiled calmly before waving his hand to remove the arrays and return home. Now, he had to negotiate with the other Eastern Factions on how to distribute these God Positions.
Northern Continent:
Ao Shen watched the battle with clenched hands.
"The Emperor Path is the only true path."
In the last meeting, he felt great humiliation during their Dao Discussions as he sensed Grand Dao Source's great superiority over Heaven Law. Now, after watching Huo Fenghuang's battle and realizing he might have been in an even worse situation if he was in her place, the humiliation overwhelmed his mind.
"I need to become an Eternal Emperor," he muttered. "And the only feasible way for that to be possible without reincarnation is merit."
He thought of Feng Heng's method of proving the Dao.
"I doubt I could get the information from his hand without paying a tremendous price. The only other person who might know this method is Wang Wei."
Ao Shen groaned slightly. He knew he did not need any methods to use merit to transition from the Heaven Path to the Grand Dao Path. As long as he had plenty of merits, he could ask True Heavenly Dao directly.
However, the correct method can exponentially decrease the amount of merit needed. Since it was not possible for him to gather enough merit to use the direct method, he needed whatever method Feng Heng used.
Countless ideas flashed in Ao Shen's mind before his eyes suddenly lit up. He waved his hand, and a body on the verge of death appeared before him: Xiao Songxi.
"If I remember correctly, his Baishe Clan has a Star Sage?"
Ao Shen became excited as he quickly began to heal Xiao Songxi.
