Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

In the sky of sparks, the Demon Lord raised his head, and the darkness and landscapes covering his face seemed to come to life.

The broken monolith was already in front of him.

He glanced at it.

It was just a glance.

The broken monolith suddenly became ten times smaller.

This was an extremely mystical, or perhaps bizarre, sight.

And then he stretched his hand.

He took hold of the broken monolith.

The broken monolith found it difficult to proceed a single inch further.

To put it more precisely, when his gaze fell on it, when his palm touched it, this legendary broken monolith was no longer willing to proceed any further.

The broken monolith had recognized who he was.

The Demon Lord looked to Hai Di and rebuked, "Evil creature, to dare use Our weapon to attack Us. We do not know whether to call you brave or foolish."

Boundless fear surged out from Hai Di's eyes. At the same time, countless motes of dust burst out from the chinks in his armor.

This dust was bursting out not because of the Qi he was releasing into the world, but because it was being shaken out of him by some power.

As the Demon Lord was speaking, the broken monolith in Hai Di's hands had shaken twenty-four thousand, eight hundred times.

As one of the strongest demons, Hai Di had a body as tough as metal, but it still could not resist such high-frequency shaking.

When the word 'foolish' entered his sea of consciousness, the wrist of the hand Hai Di was using to hold the broken monolith collapsed into gravel. Soon after, his arm bones shattered, and then countless cracks appeared on his shoulder blade.

Just like those on an ox or turtle bone that had been fired for a long time, these cracks traveled in very mysterious directions, forming frightening images.

The bones had shattered, but the flesh remained pristine. Only Hai Di could see the fragments, gravel, and cracks in his arm.

He knew that he could not endure anymore, that he had to find a way to escape.

Ten-some streams of strangely-colored demon blood spurted out of his shoulder and his tree-like arm flew off into the sky.

Hai Di had cut off his own arm and fled without hesitation.

The Demon Lord waved his sleeve, casually and elegantly, like a scholar writing a poem after downing some wine.

In his sleeve was the hand holding the broken monolith.

With a light wave of his sleeve, the broken monolith flew understatedly, yet inexorably, into Hai Di's back.

There was a creak like that of a massive tree that towered to the heavens and had been gnawed at for countless years finally giving in to gravity and crashing to the ground.

Hai Di's chest bulged to an exaggerated level like a sudden mountain appearing overnight on the fertile plains.

An unimaginably imposing strength ran wild through his body, instantly cracking and shifting his organs. Even his Demon Core was cracked.

Hai Di was unable to withstand this massive force. He transformed into a kite that tragically drifted off to a distant snowcapped peak.

As he saw the mountain get closer and closer, although his vision was blurry from his heavy wounds and his mind was a mess, he did not forget one important problem.

Why was it this way? What of the Military Advisor?

When he was ordered here tonight, he knew in advance that searching for the master of the Cinnabar Pill was not the entire mission, so when he saw Cinnabar Pill, he was not too surprised. He was horrified to see His Majesty that he had thought dead appear once more, but even then, he had still held onto some hope.

After countless years, the demons had developed the impression that Lord Black Robe could calculate everything.

Hai Di believed that since the Military Advisor had sent him, he must have calculated the arrival of the Demon Lord and made the proper arrangements.

It was only for this reason that he dared to strike His Majesty.

He had always believed that something else would happen.

But…it hadn't.

Reality was just like that approaching peak, cold and unyielding.

In his final moments, Hai Di suddenly thought of that night two years ago.

On that night, he met that friend that he had not seen for centuries. To put it more accurately, it was his former master.

Hai Di understood, closed his eyes, and sighed in his heart.

……

……

In the distant night sky, Hai Di's mountainous demon body had already transformed into a tiny black dot.

Compared to this truly majestic mountain, both human and demon seemed tiny and insignificant.

The little black dot plunged into the deep mantle of snow in the middle section of the peak.

A quake was sent back to the valley from that distant peak, swiftly followed by a thunderous rumbling as many years of snow tumbled down from that mountain.

In a short time, the snowy mountain underwent a great transformation, looking completely different from its form a few moments ago.

The black hole bored into the mountain by Hai Di had vanished, leaving no trace of him behind.

Just like that, the commander of the Demon Army on the frontlines had vanished.

In this late night, this major event that should have shaken the entire continent seemed so very insignificant.

No matter how grand or tragic, no one had seen it, no one had cared.

The Demon Lord did not see, because he did not care.

When his gaze left the zither strings, his first glance had been towards the broken monolith, and his second glance had been towards the sparks filling the night sky.

And then, he stretched his hand out again.

This time, his hand pierced straight through the spark-filled air to the very highest point of the night sky.

A dragon cry filled with unwillingness and fury came down from the sky and then suddenly stopped.

Just like that, the Deep Freeze Dragon Breath,carrying countless shards of frost and imbued with killing intent, vanished.

The Black Frost Dragon covering the sky rapidly shrank into a little black point. Then, with a wave of that invisible and gigantic hand, it was hurled off into the horizon.

The black dot let off a dazzling glow as it rubbed against the air, a shooting star that ultimately crashed in some unknown place.

The Deep Freeze Dragon Breath vanished and the rain of swords momentarily slowed. Those two green streams of light suddenly vanished and Nanke appeared behind the Demon Lord.

Her petite body was covered in wounds. Blood had seeped into her clothes, making it impossible to tell what their original color was.

With the flip of his hand, the Demon Lord had shaken Hai Di to death, driven away Zhizhi, and shattered their plan.

The discrepancy between the two was too great. The Demon Lord didn't even need to strike with his full power. Simply by relying on his eyes, hands, and cultivation, he was able to easily crush them.

There was no more meaning in attacking Nanke, so Chen Changsheng summoned back all his swords.

The air howled above the valley as the several thousand swords returned. They hovered in the air around him, vibrating and buzzing.

He looked forward, silent and solemn.

Whether it was the remnants of the fire in the courtyard, the flying ash, or the residual light drifting down from the night sky, it was all cut to pieces by awe-inspiring sword intent.

At this sight, a hint of praise appeared in the Demon Lord's eyes. "Whether it's cultivation on the path of the sword, strength of spiritual sense, or quantity of true essence, you are quite excellent. Let alone this generation of youths, even when Chen Xuanba, Zhou Dufu, or myself were your age, we probably wouldn't be stronger than you."

It was very obvious that in the Demon Lord's eyes, he, Zhou Dufu, and Chen Xuanba had been the strongest experts of the past thousand years.

He differed from the general consensus in that he did not place Emperor Taizong amongst these names.

Chen Changsheng slightly leaned his body to express his thanks at this praise.

The remaining flames in the surrounding illuminated his face. Although it was very solemn, it was still very calm, devoid of any panic or fear.