บท 25: Spirit Emperor!?
Everything had been prepared. Shura had been saturated with billions of spirit stones collected from every corner of the known world, all of them were of the highest grade.
He could intuitively feel that it was about time for him to make a breakthrough.
Yet he mustn't completely break through to the Spirit Sovereign level. A half-step Spirit Sovereign would do. If he fully became a Spirit Sovereign, then the world would reject him because his strength was too high and he would be forced to ascend to a higher realm. He wasn't sure if it would be easy for him to come back or not, that was why he mustn't fully break through.
Shura sat in meditation with his eyes closed in his residence. There were no portents in the skies outside or any unnatural changes in the world or nature.
The breakthrough itself happened inside of him. There would only be signs in the outside world if he was about to pass through this world's boundary and ascend to a higher plane.
Innumerable strange changes were occurring inside of his body and Core. An invisible pressure and strength were building up inside of him. His wrathfire energy circulated throughout his meridians furiously.
Just as he was reaching a critical point in his transcendence a man's voice sounded in his mind.
"I can't let you do that."
Shura became alarmed, he was in the middle of a crucial period, but before he could do anything-
A cold feeling penetrated his abdomen and Core. The frenzied energy in his body suddenly stopped in its track. The tip of a saber appeared out from his stomach.
Shura instantly spat out blood. The energy in his body was going out of control. His face became very pale.
"You bastard!" Shura yelled in fury.
Shura forced all the out-of-control energy in his body to converge on his fist and he turned around and punched at the enemy.
His fist connected with a half-transparent figure. His fist made the figure tangible on contact and an annihilating force slammed into the figure's body.
The figure with the saber received a greivous injury and was sent flying backward from the impact of the punch.
"I-impossible!" the man with the saber yelled out deliriously. Blood seeped from his mouth. His blood was turning black.
"You're not yet a Spirit Sovereign, how could you wound me to this degree?"
Symbols appeared around Shura and countless lights entered his body. The lights were of so many colors that it looked like he was shining with the color of the rainbow. His wound was healed and his chaotic energy was temporarily calmed.
"I'm going to kill you!" Shura yelled. A murderous glint was in his eyes. He had never been so furious at someone before. To sneak attack on him as he was about to make a breakthrough. This was simply taboo and unforgivable!
"I can't share the same sky with a bastard like you, die!" Shura yelled again. This time his sword was already in his hand and he swung out with murderous fury.
The man with the saber quickly got up and fended himself from Shura's aggressive attacks.
'How is this possible? How could this boy force me to this point? He hasn't broken through to the Sovereign level yet, how?!' the man thought. He was panicking inside.
This was kid was still in the realm of a Spirit Emperor. A vast chasm as wide as the heaven and earth separated a Spirit Emperor and a Spirit Sovereign. A Spirit Sovereign can kill countless Spirit Emperors with but a thought.
He had never thought things would turn out like this.
He had been living and recuperating from a wound on this world for a long time now. He found this world after he had escaped from a long and arduous escape from his enemy's pursuit. By then he was barely clinging to life.
He had only managed to recover one-third of his strength throughout the countless years he was here. He couldn't allow anyone to ascend, if someone ascended, then this world would gain the attention of the higher realm, and then his enemies would know of this world, they would definitely find him and finish what they started. He couldn't afford that. The injury he had received was deep, he wasn't entirely healed yet. He must not let anyone ascend.
The reason that there wasn't any Spirit Sovereign wasn't that it was something of legends or unimaginably hard to accomplish, or that there wasn't any method or technique people could follow to reach the level.
One of the reasons why Spirit Sovereigns never emerged in this world was because of this man. He had killed off any potential Spirit Sovereigns. The times he killed someone who was about to break through to the Spirit Sovereign level wasn't just a few either.
Ridiculous rumors and superstitions were formed over time of the Spirit Sovereign level being things of myths and legends or something a man could never reach. But the truth was different. There was no need for technique or method. As long as one continued to cultivate and never stop nor die of old age first, then they would reach the Spirit Sovereign level.
Within the innumerable years of the world and among the equally innumerable living beings, to say that none had ever arrived at that step would be a joke.
This time the man would do the same thing he had always done.
He had never expected a little kid who wasn't even a Spirit Sovereign to be able to wound him! Although he had been greatly injured and to the point of death. He was still a Spirit Sovereign himself.
All these years he had healed where he had one-third of his full strength. Yet the one-third strength of his peak years was being suppressed by a little kid of a few dozen years? He couldn't believe what he was seeing!
"Die! Die! Die!" Shura yelled madly. He was truly pissed. No one had managed to piss him off this much before.
Although he had suffered misfortunes and setbacks in his life before, none of them was actually caused by a person, or at least by someone who he could do anything about. Now that there was a target he could vent his anger on, he wanted him dead!
Explosions rang out in the small and secluded palace at the back of the huge imperial palace.
The officials and soldiers were quick to act. They were already in position but they kept their distance. Even the commander of the Imperial Guards could only shake his head in dismay. What was he supposed to do when he would die under one strike of the assassin who was after the emperor?
Did he even deserve his job anymore? Did any of his subordinates even deserve their job? They couldn't help their emperor when he was under attack at all!
The Grand Chancellor was berating his subordinates for not weeding out dissent and remnants of the old regimes enough. To think that someone actually dared to assassinate their emperor, the emperor of the world.
Intense and sharp energy spewed out from each swing of Shura's sword. Countless cuts already appeared on the Spirit Sovereign's body. His body wasn't incorporal anymore, but quite solid.
His neat and tidy clothing was now in tatters and his hair was messy. He looked like a beggar.
If someone didn't know what happened and only saw this, they would say that the World Emperor was fighting with a beggar.
"No… no.." the Spirit Sovereign muttered. He was unwilling! This was supposed to be a simple thing. He had done it countless times before.
Why did everything go wrong this time around? Why!?
"Y-you, you're a monster!" the Spirit Sovereign yelled. His cultivation base failed to hinder the opponent at all. He couldn't hold back Shura's attacks anymore.
A bloody sword shot through the air like it had came from hell. Shrieks and screams came out of the sword. The sword homed in on the Spirit Sovereign's heart and pierced through it. The sword pierced into him like piercing tofu. The Spirit Sovereign's body then exploded.
Shura instantly collected whatever was valuable that was left behind and put it into his spatial ring.
"A Spirit Sovereign sneak-attacked me in order to prevent me from ascending. Don't let the news get out. Maintain order and crack down on the rebels and dissidents. Don't give them an opportunity to do anything."
"Oh, and I'm okay."
Shura's sent his voice to the Grand Chancellor.
'What!? A Spirit Sovereign?' The Grand Chancellor found it hard to believe. But then his doubt disappeared as soon as it appeared. There was nothing his emperor couldn't do. He then set out to clean the mess.
Shura returned back to his residence. Aside from there being a few holes in the walls, there wasn't anything wrong with the place.
"Now, let's see who you are." Shura began to rummage through the belonging of the Spirit Sovereign.
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