Chapter 1537
Chapter 1537 (Raw 1519): Before the Decisive Battle
The experts of the new and old generation were gathered. Nearly all the Martial Emperor experts of the entire Kunlun Realm were here.
There were more than two thousand of them. It was hard to imagine so many Martial Emperors stepping forward.
Due to the golden age, many young experts had risen to prominence. Many hidden white-haired old men, who had retired and lived in seclusion, had emerged at this moment as well.
New and old together, this was the highest number of experts in one age in the past ten thousand years in the Kunlun Realm.
Since the peak of the Martial Epoch passed, there had rarely been an age with so many Martial Emperors. Perhaps, the Heavenly Dao was aware of the danger of this one and did not want the Kunlun Realm to be destroyed.
However, the situation still did not look optimistic. Although there were many Martial Emperors, there were only one hundred-odd Sovereign Martial Emperors.
Compared to the large number of Martial Emperors, there were simply too few Sovereign Martial Emperors. After all, this golden age was too new; these geniuses had not had enough time to grow.
Not every outstanding talent was as fortunate as Shui Lingling, Bai Wuxue, and Yan Shisan, who found their own fortuitous encounters and advanced to Sovereign Martial Emperor in a short time.
"What a pity! This batch of outstanding talents is much stronger than our generation. If they had more time, they would be able to achieve more."
"How unfortunate! If they had another ten—no, five—years, it would be sufficient."
The many older-generation cultivators all sighed when they looked at this batch of outstanding young talents.
Xiao Chen felt deeply moved. Probably, the Treasure Master saw this as well, and that was why he decided to make a move now.
The Treasure Master would not allow the Kunlun Realm to have any chance.
Suddenly, Xiao Chen opened his Heavenly Eye, and a divine eye flew out from it, then sped past mountains, rivers, and cities.
After it flew for several million kilometers, it seemed like Xiao Chen's eyes hovered in the air, looking at the island where the Treasure Master's Residence was.
Xiao Chen saw a shocking scene.
The sky was filled with Demon cultivators riding Demonic Beasts. They were densely packed together, looking like ants. Their numbers were unimaginably vast.
Among them were several strong Demonic Beasts radiating a Sovereign's Emperor Might, each ruling a group of Demonic Beasts like it was their king.
These were ferocious beasts of the king grade, no weaker than the Kunlun Realm's Sovereign Martial Emperors. There were a Flaming Demonic Lion with eight heads, a large Black Gold Snake, a Twin-Headed Demonic Condor, and many others.
Xiao Chen was shocked at all this. The Demonic Beasts alone had so many king grade ferocious beasts. The situation really did not look good.
However, this was not what he wanted to see. The divine eye hovering in the sky turned around and looked through the many layers of barriers around the Treasure Master's island.
"Whoosh!"
Xiao Chen saw a plaza and a black altar in its center. Boundless Demonic Qi rose from it, looking exceptionally scary.
What was scarier was that occasionally, visible souls came out from the black cave that was the altar. Their faces were twisted, as though they were screaming in pain as they were sucked into the pitch-black clouds above.
The Treasure Master stood before the altar with Xing Wang and Fa Wang at his sides. Further back were the eighteen Demon Monarchs. Then, the Sovereign Martial Emperors of the Demon Races. Finally, there were the ordinary Martial Emperors of the Demon Races.
A rough count of the Demon Martial Emperors in the plaza came to at least two thousand.
What was scarier was the number of Sovereign Martial Emperors. There were more than four hundred of them. When including the Sovereign-Martial-Emperor-level Demonic Beasts, that was more than twice or thrice that of the Kunlun Realm—an extremely scary number.
Xiao Chen could imagine the enormous pressure that the Kunlun Realm's Martial Emperors would face when the time came.
Could they withstand it? He simply had no confidence.
Xiao Chen fixed his gaze on the back of the Treasure Master, his feelings somewhat complicated.
"Church Master, someone is watching you."
The Treasure Master did not turn his head. He said indifferently, "I know. Help me deal with it."
Xing Wang suddenly turned around and met the gaze of the extremely distant Heavenly Eye that was hovering in the sky. "It's the Azure Dragon King? Interesting!"
On the Treasure Master's other side, Fa Wang also turned around. Then he smiled and said, "I'll go test him out first. Not just anyone can peek in casually."
Suddenly, a black flame flared up from Fa Wang's fingertip. Then, he flicked his finger, and the black flame sent a boundless, resplendent, black light towards Xiao Chen's eye.
"Whoosh!"
What a strange flame. Xiao Chen's heart skipped a beat as he hurried to withdraw his gaze.
However, it was already too late. A flash of black light shot towards the Heavenly Eye.
Divine Lightning Eye!
With a thought, Xiao Chen drove the Ten Thousand Tribulation Divine Lightning in his sea of consciousness. The Heavenly Eye that was millions of kilometers away immediately released a bolt of lightning tribulation, striking the strange black Demonic Flame.
After dismissing this technique, Xiao Chen's Heavenly Eye quickly flew back.
"Hehe! Even though you broke Fa Wang's Deep Abyss Demonic Flame, do you think you can hide from Xing Wang's ax?!"
Xing Wang smiled coldly from a distance. Suddenly, an ax with black chains on its handle swung down from above the Heavenly Eye, hacking at it.
Scatter!
At the critical moment, Xiao Chen chose to scatter this technique abruptly. The Heavenly Eye immediately scattered into countless motes of light, evading this ax strike.
Forcibly scattering this technique meant that Xiao Chen could not execute the Heavenly Eye again for some time.
However, this was still better than having it smashed apart by the other party's ax. After all, Eye Techniques were not Xiao Chen's forte. He did not have many means at his disposal to deal with the attack.
--
At Kunlun Mountain, after scattering the Heavenly Eye, Xiao Chen took a step back, and his expression changed slightly.
"Azure Dragon King, what's going on? What did you see?"
The people beside him were all aware that Xiao Chen had executed an Eye Technique, so they asked quickly, anxious to know about the Demonic World's movements.
Xiao Chen was in no rush to reply. His face sank, and the Dao light disk of the Great Dao Energy suddenly appeared behind him.
Then, it quickly condensed into a line. Xiao Chen shouted, "Dao!"
The energy of the Saber Dao, which surpassed the saber intent, the saber soul, and the Saber Domain, spread through Xiao Chen's body.
As his hair flew wildly, he became like a sharp, drawn saber. Everyone around unconsciously took a step back in response.
Xiao Chen flicked a finger, and a strand of saber light flew out, disappearing in a flash like lightning.
--
"Ka ca!"
Millions of kilometers away, this saber light smacked that ax that seemed to be falling from the sky.
On the Treasure Master's island, Xing Wang staggered back one step, and blood leaked out of the corners of his lips. His face showed a crazed, berserk expression.
In this long-distance exchange, Xing Wang actually lost to Xiao Chen.
"Enough, you are not a match for him. There is no need to persist stubbornly. Continue offering sacrifices to the Demonic God. We will be setting off very soon."
"Yes!"
The fury in Xing Wang's eyes abated. After the Treasure Master reproached him, Xing Wang stretched out his hand and caught the strange ax.
--
On Kunlun Mountain, Xiao Chen gave a simple explanation of what he saw and experienced.
Everyone was greatly startled. Unexpectedly, in just those few moments, Xiao Chen already clashed with the two Vice Church Masters of the Dark Church.
"Make your preparations. They will charge over at sunset at the earliest!" Xiao Chen ordered softly as he closed his eyes and rested.
The place fell silent. However, amid the silence, not a single person withdrew, all of them silently readying themselves.
Two hours passed…
Then, four hours passed… When the sun started sinking below the horizon, the sky in the distance suddenly turned black. It was like night arrived early.
"They're coming!"
Indeed, the Demons were coming. That black cloud that covered the sky was the armies of the Demon Races.
The final decisive battle had yet to begin, but a desperate atmosphere was already spreading out. Everyone knew that this battle was unavoidable.
The Kunlun Realm had already retreated to its final line of defense. Kunlun Mountain was the final barrier. No further retreat was possible.
Either you die or I perish.
Once one side was defeated, the vanquished would be enslaved or even sacrificed. All their friends and families might encounter the same tragedy that befell the Heavenly Starry Ocean cultivators, dying a cruel, painful death.
The Kunlun Realm could not retreat nor be defeated. The eyes of the younger-generation outstanding talents and older-generation cultivators on the mountain all turned red.
They appeared like wild beasts, berserk and furious.
Behind Kunlun Mountain were many war chariots and warships carrying the strong cultivators of the Kunlun Realm, the troops made up of quasi-Emperors, Martial Sages, and Martial Monarchs. These cultivators from the various races numbered in the tens of millions.
While these cultivators were not strong enough individually, they could work together. They posed an even more crucial force than the Martial Emperors and quasi-Emperors.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
One hour later, the Demon Races' armies arrived with the Treasure Master leading the eighteen Demon Monarchs and the two Vice Church Masters, standing at the front as he looked at everyone on Kunlun Mountain coldly.
The many youths on the mountain felt their arms tremble slightly at the sight of the dark cloud that was the Demon armies. However, no one took even half a step back.
"Haha! There really are many old friends. I'm not exactly an unfeeling person. As long as you are a Martial Emperor and join my Dark Church, you may live!" the Treasure Master said as he looked at Xiao Chen, the Cyclic Astral Lord, and the other Kunlun Realm cultivators.
"You bastard, scram! After killing the people of my Kunlun Realm like pigs and dogs, offering them to the Demonic God, you still want us to surrender? Dream on!"
"Even if we fight to the death, we will not surrender to you!"
The crowd was agitated. Many of the Martial Emperors, who had lost their families in the Heavenly Starry Ocean, cursed loudly.
This incited the others to join in. Countless people yelled, "No surrender, even if we die!"
"That suits me fine. The more sacrifices there are, the better!" the Treasure Master said coldly, not appearing to care.
Suddenly, Xiao Chen opened his eyes and looked at the Treasure Master. One eye flickered with light that appeared like electricity.
As Xiao Chen stared at the other party, he gritted his teeth and said, enunciating every word emphatically, "Senior Thunder Sovereign, even at this point, must you still continue deceiving us?!"
