Killing intent surged forth like an erupting torrent, spreading sternly in all directions.
All the celestial beasts roared, encircling the courtyard completely.
Dragon Gods cried and Phoenixes sang; gales of demonic wind swept through the narrow alley, burying everything around in a storm of yellow sand.
Xu Zimo looked at the Mist Prime Emperor and smiled faintly.
“Do not think that just because you are a Grand Emperor, you are invincible.”
Shadow Tyrant was drawn, landing softly into his hand. The will of the blade kept rising higher and higher.
“You are…?” Feeling the oppressive aura of a Grand Emperor rolling off Xu Zimo, the Mist Prime Emperor finally regarded him with full seriousness.
“Names do not matter, you wouldn’t recognize mine even if I told you,” Xu Zimo shook his head.
“You came here because of your son? Then leave now. Otherwise, you will end the same way he did.”“You seem very confident,” the Mist Prime Emperor replied.
From his body, a dense imperial might surged to the heavens. Thick, gray fog spread out to blanket the surroundings.
With a wave of his hand, a massive war hammer descended from the void. It smashed down right where Xu Zimo was standing.
Shadow Tyrant rose to meet it, a burst of blade light exploding forth, instantly cleaving the hammer aside.
The war hammer spun back into the Mist Prime Emperor’s hand. Meanwhile, the fog grew ever denser, enveloping everything as the Grand Emperor raised his hammer again, his wide green robe sleeves fluttering in the wind.
He wore no shoes, barefoot, he charged straight at Xu Zimo. One hammer strike fell, shaking heaven and earth as though reaching into the depths of the Nine Hells.
“Child’s play,” Xu Zimo laughed lightly.
Shadow Tyrant swept upward; thunder crackled across the sky. Silver and violet lightning wrapped around the blade, tearing the heavens.
“Boom!”
A heaven-shaking explosion resounded.
The entire void collapsed. The fog turned violent, churning up the very winds and clouds.
From afar, it looked as though a mass of black fog had swallowed all of North River City.
Elsewhere the sun still shone, but here the sky was blotted out.
Both figures staggered back several steps.
The Mist Prime Emperor gave a low shout, hammer falling once more with shocking force.
“Fast!” With his cry, his figure blurred almost beyond recognition.
In the void, countless afterimages shimmered into existence. They were not mere afterimages, it was speed pushed to the extreme.
“Slow!” he cried again.
Xu Zimo, who had been raising his blade, suddenly felt endless power pressing down upon him.
His entire body seemed suppressed. Every step, every motion of drawing his blade became unbearably slow.“So, what you’ve comprehended is the Nomological Truth of Speed and Slowness,” Xu Zimo chuckled.
Holding Shadow Tyrant in one hand, he snapped the fingers of his other. And he too uttered a single word, “Slow.”
The Mist Prime Emperor, darting through the void so fast as to be nearly invisible, suddenly slowed to a crawl.
Shocked, he stared at Xu Zimo.
“You too?”
“Then open your eyes and see clearly,” Xu Zimo replied.
He invoked the Nomological Truth of Speed upon himself, forcibly canceling out the suppression of Slowness.
Upon Shadow Tyrant’s edge, the Nomological Truth of Thunder roared to life.
With one strike, Xu Zimo cleaved down, thunder booming, the firmament shattering.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As all things were torn asunder, the blade light slashed toward the Mist Prime Emperor.
He raised his hammer once more to block, but thunder exploded at point-blank range, hurling his body violently backward.
The lightning seemed to pierce through the heavens themselves. Amid the rolling clouds, a circular black hole formed high above.
From it poured a torrent of thunder, cascading down to fuse with Shadow Tyrant’s blade.
“Slash!” Xu Zimo roared.
Dragging his blade, he strode step by step across the void, lightning entwining his body.
Another deafening boom rang out.
The Mist Prime Emperor was blasted into the earth, smashing open a bottomless crater.
…
“This…” People around exchanged bewildered glances.
“How could this be? The Mist Prime Emperor cannot be defeated.”
“Is he also a Grand Emperor?” On the Primeval Tower, Fairy Zhaiyue’s eyes shone with brilliance.
“Miscalculated,” Zhou Ming muttered with a frown.
He had always assumed Xu Zimo’s background to be unfathomable, perhaps the heir of some mighty Dao Court. Never had he imagined that Xu Zimo himself was truly a Grand Emperor.
The battle of two Grand Emperors drew the gaze of the entire North River City.
Lightning blazed across the world, Xu Zimo stood like a thunder war god, overlooking all beings.
“Come out and fight me again,” he said coldly toward the abyssal pit. “Since accepting Heaven’s Will, you will be the first Grand Emperor I slay. Your blood is worthy of my blade.”
As his words fell, the atmosphere shifted.
The gray fog gathered around the pit’s edge, spreading thicker and thicker.
Some who touched it turned instantly to ash, not even bones remaining.
Within the mist, a monstrous growl began to echo.
Imperial might surged without limit.
The ground split apart, and within the churning fog, a pair of eyes appeared.
No words could capture their look: death, decay, pain, evil, all negative emotions condensed into one gaze.
It materialized from nothingness, staring straight at Xu Zimo.
The turbulent fog suddenly stilled.
From afar, the dense mist coalesced into the shape of a monstrous being.
Its lower half remained buried in the pit, with only its head rising into the world.
Then came a roar so earth-shaking, so ghost-crying, it rattled the heavens.
Many instinctively clutched their heads.
With that single roar, every building, every alley, even the neighboring street was destroyed in an instant.
The bustling marketplace had become a wasteland of rubble.
Fortunately, several God Beasts shielded Gongyang Ce’s courtyard, leaving it intact.
Before him, the Twin-Rites Yin-Yang God-Diagram was nearly complete, the rivers and mountains within solidifying, but still not yet fully formed.
…
Ears bled across the city.
One roar, such was its terror.
As rumbling shook the land, a colossal black arm burst from the abyss.
The monster had revealed its two arms and head. It continued to howl.
Placing its hands upon the earth, it hauled itself fully from the pit.
…
Legend spoke that in the Middle Ages, a certain creature once appeared in the world.
It was called the Mist Prime Beast.
Said to be the source of all evil, the culmination of every negative emotion.
It survived by feeding on human greed, sloth, rage…
A parasite upon all base desires.