1072 Buying Time
Purple Dragon's aura immediately changed, becoming more mysterious and eerie. He then started to say strange words, and a macabre phantom manifested behind. It had six arms, three heads, no legs, a red face that resembled a mask grimacing, and a black cloth that seemed to be both clothes and a part of his body.
The strange creature looked at Ao Shen, and one of its arms pointed at him and clenched his fist. A peculiar energy appeared on the dragon's body, making him stop his attack.
"So, that's how it is. You bastards took my bloodline when you hunted me down and now want to use it to curse and weaken me," he said with a sneer.
'It's not working?' thought Purple Dragon before saying more incantations. The Curse Creature behind moved all six arms to increase the curse. The result was just a sneer from Ao Shen and a look of pity.
Then, the dragon rushed before him and plunged his hand into Purple Dragon's chest, ripping his heart out.
"Why...is it...not working?" asked Purple Dragon as blood dripped from his mouth, nose, and other orifices.
"I have a different bloodline now," replied Ao Shen. "And even if I didn't, do you think it's a simple matter to curse an Eternal?" Ao Shen exploded his head with one punch, but he knew the opponent was not dead since he was a body refiner. As expected, Purple Dragon exploded what remained of his body before regenerating in the distance.
His face was pale as Ao Shen's Dao Will and Will Manifestation overwhelmed him with those two punches. Without any choices remaining, he asked for help, so Lightning Fist and Snake Saber appeared in the fourth layer to help.
"I thought you said your plan would work?" asked Lightning Fist through divine sense, obviously frustrated.
"This is not the time to fight. Now, we need to readjust ourselves to deal with the enemy." Although Snake Saber meditated, he was also unhappy with the plan's failure.
"No, it can still work if you guys buy me some time."
"What else can you do?"
"The technique I'm using is one of my ancestor's greatest trophies when the Commerce Hub intervened on behalf of the Celestial Harmony World," explained Purple Dragon.
"Get to the point," said Lightning Fist.
"The technique is from one of the three Curse Kings."
"Are you serious?" asked Lightning Fist. Their world has heard of the infamous Curse Techniques from the Curse Haven World.
"Now that you mention it, this phantom resembled how our records described the Malevolent Curse King," added Snake Saber.
"It's him," nodded Purple Dragon. "So buy me enough time, and I can still curse him."
"Alright. We'll see what we can do."
Their conversation could no longer be described as fast. Ao Shen looked at the new presence and smiled, "The Heavenly Emperor says he will pay a good price for the bodies of any Immortal Sovereigns. It seems my luck has been on the rise recently."
He focused on Purple Dragon, who sat cross-legged in the void behind those two. Ao Shen's brow furrowed as he noticed that the eyes in one of the phantom's three heads were turning red. Additionally, his sixth sense was warning him of upcoming danger.
'Let's end this quickly,' he thought, immediately turning into a colossal black dragon. His dragon roar shook the void, and all the other layers had to momentarily stop and glance at him.
[Calamity of Darkness]
As Ao Shen moved forward, everything in a million light-years in his surroundings turned into absolute darkness, and this was not a simple darkness where light was absent, and the senses were affected - no, this was the darkness that followed after the destruction of the world.
"Damn it," roared Lightning Fist, who knew the enemy was no longer playing around. She immediately used her most potent offensive attack: [Divine Dragon Lightning Fist]. While enjoying her God Position, she understood a little bit of the essence of Divinity and created this technique.
With this one punch, she manifested an enormous dragon composed of golden lightning. The dragon roared similarly to Ao Shen before directly confronting the darkness. Alas, this was a futile endeavor. The darkness swallowed it, and nothing else happened. There were no sounds, vibrations, or any signs of confrontation; the lightning dragon just disappeared, assimilated into the darkness.
'How could this be?' thought Lightning Fist as the darkness rapidly approached her, and she had no chance of surviving or even running away.
Swish!
An ax flew from the distance, containing an aura that indicated it would tear the darkness apart. It flew towards Lightning Fist, most likely to save her. However, before traveling far, a Phoenix rushed out of nowhere and burned the ax.
'So, this is the end,' thought Lightning Fist before a figure suddenly appeared before her.
"You!"
"We don't have much time. Take Purple Dragon and run away."
"Why are you doing this?"
Snake Saber smiled, "People always assume I'm up to no good because of my face. Maybe they will now truly know what kind of person I am."
"Because of such a stupid reason?"
"That's enough for me."
He turned to face the darkness and immediately sacrificed his Immortal Mansion for a drastic increase in power. Saber Snake then cast the most potent sealing technique he knew to stall this ever-encompassing darkness.
Lightning Fist bit her lips and turned into a streak of lightning to rush to Purple Dragon.
"We must leave."
"No, I only need a little more time." One face had both eyes already red, and the second face was still in progress.
"Can't you cast the curse back home?"
"Well, yes, but with the distance, my low proficiency, and the dragon already prepared, it will take much more time and resources."
"Enough for me."
"No one is leaving here alive."
Purple Dragon and Lightning Fist's faces changed; they did not notice when the darkness surrounded them. They looked around but did not see any sight of Ao Shen.
"Your face," yelped Lightning Fist, and Purple Dragon immediately realized he had dark tattoos creeping on his face and body.
"A curse?"
"You're not the only one who can curse people," said Ao Shen, his voice originating from the darkness without showing up. Purple Dragon's face contorted in pain.
"Malevolent...King."
One of the phantom's three heads opened its mouth, and all the black tattoos rushed into its stomach.
"Swallowing Curse? What an interesting technique," said Ao Shen. "But that won't change anything."
"Explode!" roared Lightning Fist, sacrificing her fleshly body, Immortal Mansion and the soul inhabitants, and Immortal Qi to form an intense energy wave that tore through the darkness. Purple Dragon and her soul rushed out of the formation, heading home so they could have a chance to strategize and regroup.
However, as they neared their escape, a dragon head suddenly popped out of nowhere and swallowed Purple Dragon. Lightning Fist was about to turn around to help him, but she abandoned her companion when she seemed to have received a message.
Ao Shen's human form appeared, and he looked in the distance, "It's a shame she escaped. However, the benefit is enough for now." After digesting Purple Dragon's body, his body refining should advance by leaps and bounds. Additionally, he preserved Snake Saber's body to exchange with the Heavenly Emperor. He turned into the distance to watch the other fight.
...
Huo Fenghuang looked up and down at his opponent. "Do you think you can win against me with that ring?"
"I don't know, but I'm willing to try."
She nodded, "If there is something I admire about you, martial artists, it is your unwavering spirit and willpower. Although some people call it unnecessary stubbornness, I still respect it."
"With how battle-oriented your world is, we would have gotten along well," replied Qian Heng. "It's a shame your war-mongering ways targeted us."
"You guys were simply unlucky. If your community were further away, you would not have been the first to suffer our wrath."
"But we would still have to suffer for it."
"Or, you would have already known what we're capable of and realized resisting was pointless."
"You said it yourself: we are unnecessarily stubborn. So, this battle was inevitable."
"Fair point," nodded Huo Fenghuang. "Ok, enough of chit-chat. Let's get this started." She immediately activated her [Awakening]. Her dress suddenly changed into an extravagant, lavish red hanfu with a phoenix embroidered and a black tortoise belt. She wore a blue dragon crown, Qilin-inspired rings, and white tiger shoes.
Huo Fenghuang's natural aura, which was always prideful and noble, became even more regal. If she was already an unparalleled beauty, her [Awakening] increased her charms or aura, further accentuating her beauty.
Qian Heng squinted his eyes before also activating his [Awakening]. His changes were not nearly as elaborate as his opponent's. He only had a pair of metallic wings floating behind him, followed by red paint on the corner of his eyes, making him look more confident and aggressive.
After the transformation, they rushed toward each other for a clash to test out their opponent.
