Chapter 1030: Choices (2)
Twenty years had passed, and the five Human Emperors had yet to return. At the very least, it meant they had not emerged victorious. They were still being held back by their violet-flame doppelgängers and unable to lend support.
At the Emperor Realm, battles could span centuries. Twenty years was but the opening act. Having ascended not long ago, Li Xiaofei had grown rapidly through constant life-and-death combat. His strength only continued to rise.
But he was wounded again and again. Still, again and again, he healed. His blood spilled across the void. Even a single drop was like an ocean, flooding vast regions of space. The gold-and-crimson blood clashed against the endless violet annihilation flames, ringing out with echoes of Dao resonance. It stubbornly resisted the onslaught of Oblivion’s energy.
Boom.
Oblivion formed a fist and threw a punch from a distance. In that instant, the entire Land of Annihilation seemed to collapse into a single, destructive punch. Li Xiaofei had no way to dodge, so he took the blow head-on.
Li Xiaofei coughed up a mouthful of Emperor blood.
His body hurtled across the distance like a kite with broken strings. He shattered countless spatial barriers as he went, tearing and mangling his body. But in almost the very next moment, he reappeared before Oblivion, whole once more.
Saber light surged like a tidal wave. Sword intent cracked like lightning. Wielding both saber and sword, he reversed the flow of the Great Dao and struck Oblivion head-on.
Li Xiaofei’s logic was simple. He might not be able to defeat Oblivion alone. So he had to stall Oblivion before Ding Hao and the others could return to assist him. More than that, he needed to exhaust him, wound him, and wear him down as much as possible. Only then, when all six stood together once more, would there be a true chance at victory.
Oblivion, however, remained as composed as ever. The plain man’s signature faint smile never wavered. That smile contained a mockery for life, weariness toward endless time, indifference toward all creation, and unshakable confidence in his own strength.
He smiled as he fought Li Xiaofei. Like a patient elder humoring a stubborn and hot-tempered junior, no matter how violently that junior raged and struck out, he could never so much as touch the hem of his elder’s robe.
The third cycle of twenty years soon came to a close. Li Xiaofei’s injuries had worsened. A finger-width hole had pierced right through his right chest, leaving a clean hole from front to back.