"Run!"
"Run!"
"Run!"
Hun Xiao and Yu Lin burned their very flesh, soul, and even the essence of their paths, doing everything they could to flee from that towering, imposing man.
Clang—
Time and space turned into a prison, suffused with Mysterious Emperor aura, trapping the two Supreme Saints within.
"Mysterious Sovereign!" Hun Xiao roared, space-time erupting around him as he tried to shatter the Mysterious Emperor prison—but it didn’t budge an inch.
Yu Lin's face darkened. Looking ahead, they had returned to their original position, with Mysterious Sovereign still standing there, gazing down at them with cold indifference.
It was as if he stood above them, looking down from a great height.
"Mysterious Sovereign, you haven't broken into the thirteenth rank, yet you've forcibly torn free from the time loop—this is suicide," Yu Lin said, his voice grim, staring directly at the towering man.
The man said nothing. His expression calm, he flipped his raised right hand.
Instantly, the Mysterious Emperor prison trapping the two Supreme Saints began to collapse. Along with it, Hun Xiao and Yu Lin began to disintegrate.
"Last time you survived. This time, there's no need."
With those words, Mysterious Sovereign watched as Hun Xiao and Yu Lin struggled fiercely, only to be reduced to dust in just two or three breaths. Their bodies, souls, and inner universes—all obliterated.
"They're dead?"
Not far away, Lin Yuan took a deep breath.
Two Supreme Saints… just like that?
He had fought Hun Xiao before and knew just how powerful he was—far beyond Lin Yuan himself. Had he been willing to pay a price, Hun Xiao could have subdued him in no time.
But such a Supreme Saint—alongside Yu Lin, who was no weaker—was now dead within mere breaths at Mysterious Sovereign’s hand?
Two Supreme Saints, in front of Mysterious Sovereign, were like Chaos Venerables before Lin Yuan—utterly powerless?
"Is an Invincible Supreme Saint really that much stronger than a Supreme Saint?"
Lin Yuan found it hard to believe.
He too concluded that Mysterious Sovereign hadn’t reached the thirteenth rank—he was still at the twelfth. But this strength was unbelievable. Compared to him, other Supreme Saints were like ants.
"No…"
"An Invincible Supreme Saint shouldn’t be this powerful."
Lin Yuan was certain—Invincible Supreme Saints were indeed far stronger than Supreme Saints, capable of sweeping them aside. But the gap shouldn’t be this vast.
"Is it because of the time loop?"
He looked at the towering man—Mysterious Sovereign’s current state was strange, as if between the twelfth and thirteenth rank.
He hadn’t stepped into the thirteenth, but had surpassed the twelfth.
After Hun Xiao and Yu Lin were completely erased—
The towering man withdrew his right hand, glanced at Lin Yuan, and smiled.
"I'm going to take care of a few loose ends. I'll be back soon."
"Alright."
Lin Yuan nodded, watching as the man vanished from sight.
Outside the Mysterious Emperor Universe—
The Chaos Venerables had no idea what had occurred inside. They were still discussing the moment when Hun Xiao and Yu Lin had entered.
In the distance, special beings like the Eye of Ten Thousand Laws looked grim.
Just then—
The towering man appeared at the universe’s entrance.
In a blur, the Mysterious Emperor Universe behind him began to spread infinitely, expanding to encompass surrounding spacetime and chaotic void.
"Who is that?"
"Why is he coming out?"
"What about the two Supreme Saints?"
The Chaos Venerables were bewildered, unable to react.
"It's really Mysterious Sovereign!" whispered the broken sword. Even though they had already guessed, seeing him in person still left them shaken.
As special beings, they had witnessed much, even the birth of time-beings who had reached the thirteenth rank.
But to forcibly tear free from the time loop? That was almost unheard of—not only extremely difficult, but also carrying an immense price.
This kind of release wasn’t a normal breakthrough—it was a different, unnatural method.
"That brat Mysterious Sovereign… I didn’t think his heart demon had affected him so deeply," sighed the Eye of Ten Thousand Laws. He had once told Lin Yuan that Mysterious Sovereign’s odds of escaping the loop were slim—his heart demon was simply too strong.
Now, it seemed true.
"Chaotic void..."
The towering man stood outside the Mysterious Emperor Universe and took a deep breath.
In an instant, the chaotic qi from several surrounding void domains—even the thin chaos from the desolate void—was completely devoured by him.
He glanced toward the special beings but paid them little attention. Instead, he extended his right hand. "Sword, come."
Mysterious Emperor qi gathered, forming the phantom of a longsword.
It resembled the Mysterious Sword Lin Yuan possessed, but it was an illusion.
Even so, an unprecedented sharpness coalesced within the blade.
"Slash!"
The man slashed twice toward the depths of the chaotic void.
In a hidden void secret realm—
Hun Xiao looked into the distance with a grim face. "Mysterious Sovereign?"
As a Supreme Saint who had lived for tens of millions of cosmic eras, Hun Xiao had countless ways to survive. He had four main bodies, and fifty-eight clones.
As long as one remained, he could recover.
He had also scattered endless survival methods throughout the chaotic void.
If all bodies and clones were destroyed, those methods would activate, reviving him once again.
"Thirty million eras ago, you destroyed all my bodies, broke through my survival methods, and forced me into reincarnation. But now? Can you still force me to reincarnate?"
Hun Xiao sat quietly.
Then—
A beam of sword light slashed through the threads of cause and time, heading straight for him.
"What—"
Before he could react, his body and soul were annihilated by the sword.
At the same time—
His third main body, hidden deep within a spacetime labyrinth, was also cut down.
His fourth main body—gone.
His first clone, buried deep in the Taiyuan Ruins—gone.
Second clone, hidden in a special region—gone.
Third clone, within a mysterious space—gone.
In the same instant, all of Hun Xiao’s three main bodies and fifty-eight clones were destroyed.
Across the chaotic void, all his hidden survival techniques were likewise erased by descending sword light.
As Hun Xiao’s true and clone bodies and all survival methods were obliterated—
The same fate befell Yu Lin. All his bodies and hidden measures were likewise struck down by sword light cutting through cause and time.
"What’s going on?"
"These spacetime-causal ripples…?"
"Who is this? Mysterious Sovereign?"
The disappearance of two Supreme Saints’ causality instantly alarmed many ancient Chaos Great Saints throughout the chaotic void. Many Supreme Saints were in closed-door cultivation, preparing for a final attempt at the thirteenth rank, but were all roused.
"This aura… Mysterious Sovereign?"
"His Majesty Mysterious Sovereign? The Supreme Saint who once ruled over tens of thousands of void domains?"
"Wasn’t he supposed to have attempted the thirteenth rank?"
Some ancient Supreme Saints, though not from the same era, had heard tales of Mysterious Sovereign. Now, they were deeply shaken.
Throughout the long history of the chaotic void, Supreme Saints had died—but only under extraordinary circumstances, after many brutal battles.
Even then, it wasn’t always certain they had truly died—many could reincarnate in their final moments.
Reincarnation would strip them of everything—body, soul, and more—but it would also sever all past cause and effect.
That was how Hun Xiao and Yu Lin had once escaped Mysterious Sovereign’s pursuit.
But now?
Their causal threads had vanished too quickly.
"Mysterious Sovereign... he’s purging all the Saints who targeted the Mysterious Emperor Lineage."
The other Supreme Saints were horrified but none dared to step forward. Even thirty million eras ago, Mysterious Sovereign had Invincible Supreme Saint power. Given time, he would gain full recognition from the entire Supreme Saint echelon.
Now, his revealed power surpassed that of a normal Supreme Saint. At this moment, none dared oppose him.
Outside the Mysterious Emperor Universe—
The towering man felt carefully, then slashed three more times.
With each slash, a different ancient Supreme Saint’s causality vanished. They didn’t even have the chance to reincarnate.
Back then, even during Mysterious Sovereign’s pursuit, Hun Xiao and Yu Lin had been slain completely—only after exhausting all options had they been forced to reincarnate.
But now?
Even after just losing one true body, they hadn’t tried to reincarnate—they were far from the brink.
No one could have imagined that the sword he unleashed would be so terrifying—obliterating every body, clone, and survival method in an instant.
After five slashes, the longsword vanished from his hand. The towering man turned and stepped back into the Mysterious Emperor Universe.
In the universe’s depths—
Lin Yuan’s expression turned grave.
"Hun Xiao and Yu Lin’s causality... has vanished completely?" he thought.
Having fought them both, Lin Yuan had naturally established causal ties with them—he could confirm whether they still existed.
Of course, that only let him know if they were alive, not where they were. His current mastery of causality wasn’t enough to lock onto Supreme Saints’ locations.
After all, they also deliberately concealed their causal presence.
But even without pinpointing them, the presence—or absence—of causality revealed whether they were alive.
Now, the causal links to both Hun Xiao and Yu Lin had disappeared completely—erased as if wiped from existence.
As Lin Yuan pondered this—
The towering man appeared nearby, stepping in front of him.
"I know you have many questions."
The man smiled at Lin Yuan. "Don’t worry. I’ll explain everything."
He paused briefly, then added softly:
"Before I vanish."
...
20 chapters ahead on patreon: patreon.com/David_Lord
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