Unlike most of Tianyi’s self-created techniques, like Stellar Silence or Constellation Cessation, Nebulous Negation was a supportive and defensive technique. Within it, Tianyi could be called absolutely invincible.
No matter how powerful an immortal was, they had to rely on qi in order to power their attacks. The technique targeted all qi, be it spiritual, true, or immortal, within its range. Martial immortals fared better, but only a little. They still needed energy to perform their attacks, after all.
It seemed invincible, but it had three major drawbacks. The first two drawbacks made it all but impractical for anyone but Tianyi to cast this technique.
Drawback number one was that it could only negate certain types of qi. For example, if a user mastered the Law of Fire, they could negate spiritual, true, and immortal qi of fire. Normally, negating only one type or aspect of qi was useless, but Tianyi had mastered numerous worldly laws, so he could negate almost all types of qi.
Since he mastered all five elemental laws, any immortal monarch within his domain would almost instantly become weaker than a first-step monarch. Normally, the Nebulous Negation would take much longer to strip the five elemental aspects of an immortal emperor’s qi, but since Tianyi had initial success in comprehending the Law of Five Phases, even an immortal emperor’s energy would become weaker than a first-step monarch.
The second flaw was the massive amount of energy needed to support the technique. Tianyi’s technique wasn’t like Bao Ling’s Ten Thousand Immortal Sword Formation, which could refine and extract external energy and supplant them for its own usage. The Nebulous Negation produced a special form of qi that Tianyi dubbed antithesis qi.
Of course, the antithesis qi wasn’t universal. There were many types, such as antithesis immortal qi of fire, antithesis true qi of fire, antithesis spiritual qi of fire, etc. To create antithesis qi, the user naturally needed to master the corresponding law.
The role of the antithesis qi was to nullify a certain type of qi. This meant that for every drop of qi nullified, the caster would also lose the corresponding amount. In other words, the energy requirements were terrifying. Thus, only someone like Tianyi, who had access to an endless amount of qi, could effectively use this technique.
The third drawback was that it affected everyone with range, including the caster. This meant that it would be useless in group battles, and even the caster of the technique would have to rely on his physical body to deal damage to the opponent.
There was another drawback, but that was more of a result of the technique being unfinished. In Tianyi’s estimation, it won’t negate all qi instantly. So although the immortals within its range would feel their qi leak out and disappear, it wouldn’t be instant. As long as they kept the qi within their body, they could struggle for a long time.
‘So why can he still display such a terrifying amount of strength?!’ Tianyi screamed in his mind.
Tianyi had an expression of disbelief as he held his chest. His wound had just healed, and now another wound sliced open his chest, allowing observers to peek into his Nine Heavens Universe. His body blurred as he retreated, but Bao Ling did not intend to let him go.
White wisps wafted off of Bao Ling’s body, meaning that he was losing his immortal qi. However, it still exuded the aura of an immortal emperor’s qi. ‘As someone who used the Law of Metal to form his immortal body, Bao Ling should be especially restrained by my technique, but this isn’t the case at all.’
‘Should I use essence qi and completely suppress him?’ Because of his unique cultivation method, the abilities unique to those in the Origin Immortal Realms were not unavailable to him. ‘No, it’s a secret trump card I can use against immortal sovereigns. Until then, I can’t reveal it. Although my Nebulous Negation should already be shocking as it is.’
‘Not that it seems effective against Bao Ling,’ Tianyi sulkily thought. ‘In that case.’
Just as Bao Ling caught up and unleashed another sword strike, a seemingly ordinary steel sword appeared in Tianyi’s hand. Surprise flashed across Bao Ling’s eyes, but his hand didn’t stop.
Cyan blade met metal. Tianyi smiled. ‘No matter how strong your attacks are, can they damage a divine artifact? Can they damage my Immortal Confining Sword?’
Tianyi increased his strength. Although Bao Ling’s sword technique was immaculate, it didn’t mean his pure muscle strength was greater than Tianyi’s. Tianyi had confidence that even martial sovereigns could only claim second in pure strength.
He even wanted to say that his strength rivaled divinities. Of course, he kept such blasphemous thoughts to himself. He didn’t want to be face-slapped immediately after.
Bao Ling retracted his sword upon realizing that Tianyi’s pure strength exceeded his. From then, his sword style changed. One slash became three.
Tianyi could still barely keep up with the speed, but what troubled him was Bao Ling’s style. It wasn’t any style Tianyi recognized, and was only composed of the basic thirteen sword moves: chop, pierce, scrape, sweep, break, tap, cleave, support, intercept, twist, lift, draw, and sheathe. Yet, each move from Bao Ling seemed to be directed at his weakness.
Not for the first time in his life, Tianyi cursed his low talent for swordsmanship. He never thought he would meet someone that could easily break through the dimensional boundaries of his conduit. Now, he could only rely on the divine artifact to shield him.
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No matter how much Tianyi blocked, nicks and cuts would appear on his body. Soon, he appeared to be a man-shaped black mist dispenser. Had he not blocked the fatal blows, more immortal qi of primordial chaos would become expunged from his wounds.
The clash of swords wasn’t without benefits. Tianyi could feel his swordsmanship improve at a noticeable rate from just blocking Bao Ling’s sword. Still, it only made him aware of the gap between himself and Bao Ling all the more. No matter how much his swordsmanship improved, Bao Ling’s suppression of him never changed. It was as if Tianyi had remained stagnant with no improvements.
Obviously, this was impossible. It only showed how unfathomable Bao Ling’s sword skill was.
As they clashed more and more, Tianyi couldn’t help but wonder what materials Bao Ling used for his cyan sword. Even if Tianyi couldn’t use the full power of the Immortal Confining Sword because he didn’t have pure essence or essence qi, it shouldn’t be something that can withstand a divine artifact for long. Forget nicks or dents, the cyan sword didn’t even have a scratch on it. Maybe it was also a divine artifact?
The sword duel between the two immortal emperors continued for an hour. At this rate, victory would be decided only after Bao Ling used up all his immortal qi or Tianyi’s conduit body broke down. The conclusion would take days, if not weeks, and Tianyi didn’t want to decide victory in such a boorish way.
During one of Bao Ling’s slashes, he reached out to grab the sword. Sure, he knew that it would cut into his fingers, but he had specifically strengthened the dimensional boundaries. It would only give him a few more seconds, but it should be enough to accomplish his goals.
Against Tianyi’s expectations, Bao Ling’s cyan sword slipped past his fingers and sliced into his elbow. However, he curled his arm, trapping Bao Ling’s sword between his biceps and forearm. ‘Now!’
Tianyi swung the Immortal Confining Sword with all his strength. His immortal qi of primordial chaos covered the blade like a shroud. Although it was evaporating, it didn’t disappear because of Tianyi continuously supplying. Powered by the immortal qi of primordial chaos, the Immortal Confining Sword released a heart-palpitating aura. Not only that, spacetime around Tianyi and Bao Ling solidified.
A smile started to appear on Tianyi’s lips as his sword neared Bao Ling, but at the critical moment, Bao Ling twisted his wrist. Originally, it should have been nothing, but that simple movement magnified the cyan sword’s power by a hundred times. Before Tianyi could react, the sword sliced through his arm and torso.
Tianyi’s remaining hand clenched onto the Immortal Confining Sword as he drifted back. His lower half and dismembered arm dissolved into immortal qi of primordial chaos under the effects of Nebulous Negation. But he didn’t care about that at all. Instead, he stared at Bao Ling. “That, was that a completely new law that I sensed?”
Contrary to Tianyi’s expectation, Bao Ling only shook his head ruefully. “Juniors these days sure are amazing. I never thought I would have to reveal my prototype Law of the Sword.”
“You’re mad,” Tianyi said. He had supreme confidence in himself, but he didn’t dare to claim that he could create a whole new law in the Immortal Realm. “Even divinities would find it near impossible to create a whole new law.”
Bao Ling smiled, losing his aloof demeanor. He had a playful smile on his lips as he glanced at Tianyi. “Did you know that in the primordial era, many divinities created their own laws? The more laws that are created, the stronger the Primordial World became. The stronger that one became.”
“Who?” Tianyi asked.
“Someone with a similar situation as you,” Bao Ling said.
‘Is he talking about the Almighty?’ Tianyi thought. However, why did Bao Ling compare him to the Almighty? The more Tianyi talked to Bao Ling, the more confused he became. It was as if Bao Ling lived through the primordial era. ‘Is he a survivor of the primordial era?’
“Alright, let’s end this spar,” Bao Ling said as he sheathed his sword. “I’m afraid if I don’t stop here, that woman will come charging at with reckless abandon.”
“Ah,” Tianyi turned toward Shangri-La and saw Minister Vastlight hugging Mengfei and begging her not to do something she will regret. “Okay.”
After seeing Bao Ling’s sword attack, he knew that he was inferior. Even if he used essence qi to power the Nebulous Negation, he would still lose. The qi in Bao Ling’s body wasn’t pure immortal qi of metal, but the prototype immortal qi of the sword. Not to mention the prototype Law of the Sword. Tianyi would have fared better against an actual immortal sovereign.
Bao Ling was practically the fourth drawback of the Nebulous Negation.
Tianyi released his control of the Nebulous Negation and allowed it to dissipate. Then, he stored the Immortal Confining Sword back into his inner universe and reconstructed his arm and lower half. Although he appeared healed, only he knew that his current conduit’s strength had dropped by around thirty to forty percent.
The two of them flew back to Shangri-La. Bao Ling returned to his previous aloof expression, while Tianyi had a bitter smile. He thought he would be able to avenge his previous loss, but it turned out the gap had only become bigger. ‘No, it’s a momentary setback. Bao Ling is probably the reincarnation of a divinity in the primordial era. It’s only natural to lose now. But it won’t be so in the future. I will defeat him.’
He was broken out of his thoughts when he entered Shangri-La’s range. Upon sensing the turbulent qi, his expression changed. Shangri-La wasn’t a realm artifact, but a medium powered by his conduit. In other words, Shangri-La was a facade.
When Shangri-La’s turbulent qi returned to its peaceful state, Bao Ling only glanced at him, but said nothing.
When the two entered the palace, Sovereign Yanxu smiled at his disciple.
In contrast, Mengfei directly appeared in front of Tianyi and started touching him all over. “Yi’er, are you okay? Does it hurt?”
Tianyi’s face flushed. “Mother, I’m fine. Can’t you see?”
“Are you sure?”
Only after a hundred reassurances did Mengfei let up. When the two returned to their seats, Mengfei was visibly glaring at Bao Ling despite her emotionless expression.
“Grand Elder Nine Heavens, you did well. Even compared to immortal sovereigns, you can exchange several moves,” Minister Vastlight said.
Sovereign Yanxu also piped in. “Yes. Aside from Bao Ling, there has never been a genius greater than you.”
Tianyi’s lips twitched. ‘Are you praising me or Bao Ling?’
After Tianyi’s duel with Bao Ling, the Jade and Numinous Conference came to an end. The conference was only to establish an initial agreement. The finer details on the alliance will be hammered out by envoys from both sides.
