Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor

Chapter 1686: Spiritual Corruption

Lu Chuntao remained calm and composed. "I’ll make you regret underestimating me." With her left hand, she made a hand seal, and a black orb slowly left her heart. The artifact vibrated before morphing into a black coating wrapped around the empress’s sword.

"This should be your last struggle," Wang Wei calmly reiterated.

Lu Chuntao sneered before stabbing her weapon; a terrifying power of the Five Elements rushed toward Wang Wei with the power to atomize him on a conceptual level. However, he only raised his hand to block the attack. After mastering all six Grand Constructs, he can use their powers to boost all aspects of his fleshly body, showing why body refiners once ruled the universe.

The blast disappeared, and Wang Wei glanced at his palm with a frown. Only bones were left as this attack annihilated his defense, skin, flesh, and blood. The worst part was his inability to regenerate. ’This is not simple inhibition, but a powerful will rejecting or directly erasing my ability to heal,’ he thought. Saints were powerful for many reasons, one of which was that every aspect of their being, from their soul to their spirit, mind, and willpower, was condensed into one, allowing them to suppress, cancel, or reject any rules or concepts of reality.

Is the sky blue? No, it’s what a Saint decides it to be. Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius? No, it’s not. It boils at whatever temperature a Saint wishes. Technically speaking, the manipulation of laws can also achieve this, but that’s only manipulation. As long as the Grand Dao wishes, whatever modification a cultivator does, everything will revert to normal. But not for Saints. Their existence can affect the fundamental source codes of the Chaos Universe, meaning that even Grand Dao cannot easily reverse what they do. By the time they reach the third step, they are truly unstoppable.

"It seems you have mastered some of the artifact’s power," Wang Wei commented as his hands regenerated.

"As I said, this battle has just started," Lu Chuntao sneered. With one slash, a tornado of pink flame descended from the sky and instantly annihilated the Ghost World. Wang Wei glanced at the attack, but did not act as cocky as before. While it appeared as if he had regenerated his hands with no effort, only he knew how much effort it took: he had to combine his True Will and a bit of his Saint Dao Heart to remove the transcendent power on his arm before he succeeded.

Boom!

A clap echoed between Heaven and Earth, instantly extinguishing the flames. However, despite his seemingly victorious position, Wang Wei suddenly teleported a few light-years from his location. ’Even extinguishing the attack did not affect the Saint Will,’ he analyzed.

Lu Chuntao used her two fingers as a sword and made a circular motion in the sky. A gilded magic circle materialized above the sky, and it immediately started to rain sword energy laced with the power of primordial chaos.

’The artifact has not only increased her connection to the Grand Constructs to be on par with Primals, but also granted a small amount of authority, similar to Saints. The only weakness is that her application is still like a caveman wielding a big club,’ Wang Wei frowned. ’And that’s not mentioning the annoying Saint Will. If even one of those swords touches me, it will be a pain to heal.’

Wang Wei used a palm strike: All Things Return To Their Origin. A gray vortex blocked the swords and swallowed them. Sparks of black lightning covered the sky as Wang Wei used his True Will to confront the Saint Will in those attacks. The Heavenly Serpent Empress’s face became pale — not only because she was using an artifact beyond her realm, but also because she did not expect her opponent to have the power to contend.

According to her calculations, after fully activating the artifact, no Paragon or Primal should have been her opponent. The only way they could defeat her was by exploiting her poor stamina. But now, she was losing a direct confrontation. Lu Chuntao gritted her teeth and decided to end this as quickly as possible. However, as she was about to launch another attack, a terrifying force struck her, and she crashed to the ground.

’Unharmed?’ Wang Wei thought. He did not hold back on that attack, but a passive protective shield from the artifact cancelled out all the power behind that punch. ’I must admit, I’m impressed by how much power she was able to draw out from the artifact. Is this because of Wrath? Did the Primogenitor Devil leave some information behind?’

Wang Wei wasn’t too sure. The Primogenitor Devil was never known for his strength, but for his ability to nurture countless powerful subordinates at impressive speed. As such, even if he left some information, the majority of this weapon development was probably due to the Heavenly Serpent Empress’s talent.

Wang Wei slowly descended and looked at Lu Chuntao. There was not even a scratch on her body, but her face was as pale as snow. "I don’t like pointless battles. You know you can’t win this fight."

"It’s not over...yet."

"How many more attacks can you use before your soul is dry? Two? Three? Can you take me down in that short period? And even if you could, what would be the price? Right now, you can barely protect yourself from being corrupted by this artifact — what will happen when you’re in such a weak state?"

Weaker cultivators cannot use a higher weapon because the creator’s Dao will corrupt them. The truth still remains for a Saint Artifact — the problem is probably even more severe. While a Saint won’t have a Transcendent Dao until the third step, their methods of condensing the Quintessence Soul or Flesh will affect the Will in the weapons, thus achieving another form of corruption when weaker individuals use it.

"That’s none of your concern," Lu Chuntao said with gritted teeth.

"It seems I was wrong about you," Wang Wei commented. His analysis of the Heavenly Serpent Empress was that of a chaotic, free-spirited individual who did as she pleased, undeterred by what the world or society said about her. While that was true, there seems to be another facet of her personality: extreme ego.

"Such pride," Wang Wei commented. "Are you angry that someone you consider a junior has surpassed you?"

"Don’t act like you know me."

"I guess I was right," Wang Wei sighed. He finally understood the latter’s psychology. As a prideful woman, Lu Chuntao always considered herself on par with the best members of the Golden Generation, such as Wu Hong, Yan Hai, Qiyuan, Dugu Baitian, or Maitreya. In her mind, the only reason her strength, fame, and glory aren’t as high as theirs is that her path required much more effort to reach completion, but once she’s done, she would either be on par with them or surpass them. However, her defeat at the hands of Wang Wei was a significant blow to her ego; that’s why she refused to surrender and risked jeopardizing her life.

Wang Wei glanced at her. "I guess I have no choice but to take the artifact from your corpse." Such pride was usually accompanied by the ultimate form of stubbornness.

"I guess you have to."

"Fine by me."

"Stop!"

"Why are you?" Lu Chuntao snapped. "I thought I told you to stay inside the formation."

"If I didn’t come, you would have killed yourself," Wrath said.

"The battle isn’t decided yet."

Wrath shook her head before glancing at Wang Wei. "It’s been a while."

"Relatively speaking," Wang Wei nodded. "You looked great. It seems the Serpent Empress has treated you well."

"She has," Wrath nodded. "Do you have to do this?"

"Yes, and you should be glad I’m the one who came first."

"What do you mean?" Wrath frowned.

"You should understand the only reason no one has attacked her is because the Saint is here," Wang Wei explained. "But I can tell you she will leave in a few yuan epoch, and if nothing unexpected happens, there will be chaos in her absence. By that time, you guys will have no choice but to run and hide — and only if you’re lucky."

"They come. And I will slaughter every last one of them," Lu Chuntao sneered.

"I’m trying real hard not to lower my opinion of you."

"I don’t care what you think," Lu Chuntao scoffed. However, her words only made Wang Wei frown.

"Something is wrong," Wang Wei commented. "Your current personality and behavior are too far from the standard deviation. This is not just an issue of your ego being destroyed, but a complete 360 twist."

"What nonsense...are...you..." Lu Chuntao frowned before glancing at the sword in her hand.

"Your spirit has been corrupted?" Wrath hurriedly asked.

"Maybe," Lu Chuntao muttered. She made a hand seal and her body suddenly divided into nine individuals, each with their different charms and personality — at least, that’s how it should have been. However, half of these individuals had the same spiritual and emotional aura full of anger, bitterness, envy, and hatred.