Chapter 2017 - Finger of Death

In Donghua Academy, people were hurrying over, one after another. They stood on the mountaintops and looked at the virtuosos of the Desolate God Palace.

These people were all not friendly. However, they were not too concerned about this. The purpose of inviting all of these factions to Donghua Academy this time was to understand the extent of the cultivation of the various Renhuangs in the Donghua Domain.

It was just as well that the situation was like this.

The space around the peak that Desolation stood upon was especially tight. A dense shadow shrouded the space around the mountain; black tendrils swirled around, creating a feeling of desolation and destruction. It was a very uncomfortable aura.

“Since Ning Hua is not around, is there anyone from the Donghua Academy who wants to fight me?” Desolation asked. His voice reverberated in the entire space, and his tone was extremely overbearing.

After all, this was Donghua Academy—the top academy in the entire Donghua Domain—and yet Desolation behaved in such an arrogant manner.

In the space a distance away, several people were standing at the edge of the many floating islands and observing this area around the ancient peaks of path seeking. The heir to Desolate God was one of the four most talked about figures in the entire Donghua Domain. Naturally, many people wanted to see just how strong the Desolation of this generation was.

In the outer world, among the four of them, Ning Hua was ranked first, Jiang Yueli second, Desolation third, and Zong Chan of Wangshen Watchtower, who had broken through to the high Renhuang level not long ago, was ranked last.

Even though Desolation was cocky, everyone was still looking forward to seeing just how strong this impossibly powerful figure from the Desolate God Palace was.

The Desolate God Palace was located on the Badlands Continent in the Donghua Domain. It was very far from the central region of the Donghua Domain. The various factions were all from different continents, and so even though they had all heard of one another before, only a few knew of their exact strength. After all, there were very few occasions where they would all gather.

Now that the various factions were all called over to the Donghua Heavens by the manor chief, why wouldn’t they be eager?

Jiang Yueli, Qin Qing, and the rest of the practitioners from the Divine Palace of Fluttering Snow had all focused their sights over there, excited about Desolation’s fight.

At that moment, a high-level Renhuang virtuoso walked out from Donghua Academy. He was a middle-aged man at the eighth Renhuang level. Even though he was not one of the top-tier figures in the academy, Desolation was only a level-seven Renhuang. Even though he had a perfect Great Path, the academy did not wish to send out a level-nine Renhuang—a top-tier figure—straight away. Thus, it was he who walked out.

Several practitioners of the Donghua Academy nodded lightly when they saw him walk out. This was an acceptable decision, albeit a risky one, since the person he was facing was Desolation.

“Please,” the level-eight virtuoso spoke to Desolation, who was on the mountain peak.

Desolation’s body glided forward and came to the space above the Path Seeking Stage. He did not look at his opponent but instead faced the region between the two ancient peaks. There lay a transparent mirror. Ripples seemed to course through the mirror continuously. It was the Divine Mirror of Heavenly Wheels.

Before the practitioners of the Donghua Academy sought their path here, if they possessed a perfect Great Path, they would all appraise the levels of their Divine Wheels using the Divine Mirror of Heavenly Wheels to gauge how strong their Divine Wheels were.

When Desolation walked out, he wanted to know how many layers of divine light his own Divine Wheel could cause the Divine Mirror of Heavenly Wheels to emit.

The practitioner from Donghua Academy who challenged him only looked at him silently without disturbing him. Nor did he walk up. After all, his Great Path was not perfect, so the Divine Mirror of Heavenly Wheels would not respond to him. There was thus no need for him to go up to appraise his Divine Wheel. Right from the start, he was already disadvantaged.

“How strong do you think Desolation’s Divine Wheel is?” Many people stared at Desolation. Wisps of powerful aura emitted from him. Above his body, a jet-black ancient tree of the Great Way appeared. Its roots seemed to be anchored everywhere, as though it were going to shroud the entire vast space.

In an instant, the divine mirror radiated his body. In the mirror, a tree also appeared; it was a jet-black tree. Divine light shrouded Desolation’s body. The mirror and he seemed to be connected as one. Divine light appeared on the divine mirror, and one layer of divine light flowed. Many people turned to stare in that direction.

“It has appeared.” Everyone stared at the divine mirror, and very quickly, a second layer of divine light flowed around the ancient tree.

Furthermore, it had still not yet stopped. When the third layer of divine light flowed, many practitioners in the Donghua Academy let out light sounds. Some people were discussing it.

“Three wheels.” From afar, many people were also watching. It was not that three wheels of divine light were strong. However, according to what they know, this was not Desolation’s most powerful Divine Wheel. He had two main Divine Wheels. In the Desolate God Palace, the Desolation of every generation must accomplish one thing—to forge the “Desolation” Wheel. That was Desolation’s core Divine Wheel.

This ancient tree already caused three layers of divine light to be emitted. This meant that his “Desolation Wheel” would certainly surpass three layers of divine light.

Indeed, after the third layer of divine light, the radiance on the Divine Mirror of Heavenly Wheels stopped flowing.

However, Desolation did not stop moving. An even stronger aura emanated from him. A seemingly ancient and sacred aura descended. One could vaguely sense a will of limitless desolation from him. A black divine palace of desolation appeared. It seemed to be a little ethereal, but the divine mirror instantly captured it. The divine mirror radiated its light on the divine palace. The light was especially blinding.

Layers of divine light swirled around. In just a short moment, three layers of divine light appeared in the Desolation Wheel in the divine mirror. The glorious light showered the entire space and reflected off the mountaintop. Many people could not help but look on in awe.

Furthermore, this time, everything did not stop yet. Very quickly, the fourth layer of divine light appeared. It was even more magnificent. The radiance on the divine mirror was got much brighter so that it was almost blinding.

“Impressive,” commended many practitioners from Donghua Academy. The fourth layer of divine light appeared, but it doesn’t seem that it would stop. He was indeed the heir to the Desolate God Palace.

When the fifth layer of divine light appeared, many people took on a serious look. It was the case for the members of various factions.

In the direction of Lingxiao Palace, Ling He’s eyes also looked in that direction. His psyche was a little disturbed by what he saw. He had also tested his own Divine Wheel before. It could cause the Divine Mirror of Heavenly Wheels to emit only three layers of divine light. According to the calculations by the seniors of the Donghua Academy, a practitioner who could seek the path to the high Renhuang level with a Perfect Grade Divine Wheel would also have a Divine Wheel of a higher level.

On the other hand, it also meant that the higher the level of his Divine Wheel, the higher his chance of retaining a perfect Great Path when breaking through to the high Renhuang level.

Some seniors of Donghua Academy also thought silently when they saw this unfold before them. It seemed that Jiang Yueli and Zong Chan’s Divine Wheels would not be a low level either. If this were the case, then that would prove that their hypothesis was correct. A person who could retain the perfection of their Great Path at the high Renhuang level would have a Divine Wheel of at least the third level. This corresponded to at least three layers of divine light in the divine mirror.

This was just a conjecture that had no proof whatsoever. However, this was all very arcane. These numbers were usually contained within certain rules.

“There are already five layers of divine light.” Many people were looking at the mirror. The level of this Desolation’s Divine Wheel was higher than those of all of the disciples of Donghua Academy, apart from Ning Hua.

The light from the divine mirror was stunning and eye-catching. However, the sixth layer of divine light did not appear in the end. This meant that Desolation’s Divine Wheel was still slightly inferior to Ning Hua’s. With this, many practitioners of the Donghua Academy could vaguely accept this conclusion.

After all, Desolation was already very famous. The four people were all figures of the Donghua Domain whose reputations were like the midday sun.

Desolation, however, remained expressionless. No one knew if he was satisfied with five layers of divine light. He withdrew the radiance of his Divine Wheel. He levitated through the air and stopped in front of the level-eight virtuoso from Donghua Academy. The two of them faced each other in the empty space.

Surrounded by ancient peaks, the Path Seeking Stage was extremely spacious. This gave combatants space to move as they liked.

“Show me what you’ve got,” Desolation said to his opponent. In an instant, the Divine Wheel of the level-eight virtuoso appeared. It was a huge, boundless golden picture, as though it were a stone wall. It gave off a particularly sharp feeling.

In an instant, an endless golden glow appeared in the heavens, accompanying the glow of the picture on the Divine Wheel of the Great Path. A matrix seemed to appear in the heavens. Golden motifs flowed around the matrix. Streaks of glorious golden light shot straight down toward Desolation with murderous intent.

The aura from Desolation suddenly turned frightening. A will of desolation shrouded the entire space, as though the whole world had become grey. A black tree seemed to appear on his body. The branches and leaves of the trees reached out into all directions and appeared in the space around him as though they were countless limbs.

Chu chu… A sharp, piercing sound echoed into the distance. A terrifying picture appeared above Desolation, and the golden light that hammered down on him was unceasing, like the stream of the Great Path. However, a destructive black divine light shot upward from Desolation. The golden and black divine light streams collided like two streams of the Great Path flowing toward each other. A chaotic, destructive turbulence occurred at the point of collision.

The Renhuang from the Donghua Academy floated in the air. The divine light of the Great Path bathed his body. A golden armor encased his body, and he seemed to give off an aura of invincibility. Endless divine light accompanied him as he shot downward. In the next instant, his body morphed into a beam of light. In the heavens, a straight beam of light shot down toward Desolation with killing intent. It pierced straight through the black, destructive lightning pervading the entire space.

A fearsome storm appeared, and the entire world seemed to turn gray. Upon seeing his opponent closing in on him, desolation did not even react. He stood there without moving. The divine light was incomparably swift, but at that moment, someone noticed that Desolation had made his move. He raised his hand and pointed forward.

The golden light stopped, and a golden afterimage was left behind in the air. However, a finger appeared in front. The moment the finger appeared, the annihilating radiance of darkness in the surrounding region seemed to be absorbed into the finger. Terrifying black lightning penetrated the skies.

“It’s the Finger of Death. Be careful,” a practitioner from Donghua Academy reminded. However, it was too late. When the Finger of Death appeared, everything else died.

Boom… A horrifying radiance of darkness drowned out the entire space. Even the golden divine light was swallowed up. The crowd only saw a silhouette fly outward and collide with the matrix. A low sound echoed out, causing the matrix to tremble violently.

The entire world seemed to take on a dull color. Streaks of black lightning coursed through the space. In front of Desolation, there was even the crisp crackling of lightning. That destructive flow caused everyone’s hearts to turn cold.

The Finger of Death was one of the ultimate skills of the Desolate God Palace. It was terrifying due to its shocking power.

With just a finger, the level-eight Renhuang’s breath became extremely weak. His Great Path was severely damaged. Everyone was shocked.