When two highly skilled cultivators fight, the process would be very long unless one of them was being restrained. Shen Lian came prepared but he did not expect their fight to last this long.

　　Although the layers of wind and rain were not destroyed by Emperor Xia’s oppressive Qi dynamics, it did not hold Emperor Xia back. The power of Shen Lian’s enormous Primordial Spirit was spread throughout the void and penetrated every single pore to test the divine Qi of every orifices point of Emperor Xia’s body.

　　Unfortunately, Emperor Xia’s Qi dynamics was deeply sealed and Shen Lian had no chance to seep through. Even if his spirits and physical body were not combined in the most perfect condition, he was still a divine power figure and things seemed to play out to his favor.

　　In the water-like sky above the moon, Emperor Xia and Shen Lian’s power showed no signs of diminishing. The confrontation was overwhelming as if they needed to put an end to things on that night.

　　The portrait of Shen Lian’s Primordial Spirit instantiated. Behind him was the bright moon and below his feet was the clouds. It was a bright scene.

　　On the other hand, Emperor Xia who was far away in the void had no signs of glow around him. When the moonlight approached him, his enormous Qi dynamics would distort it and it eventually vanished.

　　To Shen Lian, Emperor Xia was like a bottomless black hole that would absorb everything surrounding him to vitalize his divine form. If Shen Lian to stand near Emperor Xia, his Primordial Spirit too would be absorbed. This made it difficult for him to estimate Emperor Xia’s true depth.

　　Besides that, Emperor Xia had the special ability to recover in a split second regardless of how much power he used. He was like an inexhaustible river.

　　It was up to that moment that Shen Lian realized how difficult it would be to defeat Emperor Xia. It was no wonder that someone as strong as the demon lord, too, fell to Emperor Xia. Moreover, his inexhaustible strength was sufficient for him to gain victory in single challenges and group fights. It was not too ambitious for him to say that he could tame the world with one strike.

　　If it was not for Shen Lian’s Art of Spiritual Enhancement that helped him gather endless heart and soul power by visualizing Lord Lingbao, he would not have recovered from the damage of his Primordial Spirit so quickly. Also, if the battle prolonged further, he would have the lower hand.

　　Fortunately, Shen Lian passed the most critical phase. When his avatar was destroyed, his divine Qi was somewhat affected. Emperor Xia noticed the disunity in the Qi and took advantage of it. But Emperor Xia did not expect that Shen Lian would be capable of diverting him and make use of this very brief moment to rejuvenate his divine Qi. This was despite Shen Lian’s involvements in the Dao of Yi not being as deep as Guan Longzi.

　　This was the inevitable result of Shen Lian’s actions of destroying the Lamp of Yin and Yang, causing serious injuries to Guan Longzi. Afterall, even if Shen Lian was in perfect form, Guang Longzi’s Lamp of Yin and Yang would still have distracted him. Unless Shen Lian had attained the state of Taiyi, it would difficult for him to escape from this trial. If he was lucky, he would be suppressed but if luck was not on his side, all his Dao achievements would perish.

　　Fortunately, the possibility of the worst case scenario was eliminated. This was Shen Lian’s chance to build a reputation and shake the Netherworld. For that to happen, he took his important first step of challenging destiny.

　　Shen Lian wanted to teach Emperor Xia a lesson as much as Emperor Xia wanted to kill Shen Lian. But things were more difficult for Shen Lian as he wanted Emperor Xia to reap from the lesson. In other words, he needed to control his force so that Emperor Xia would not die from the battle as that would benefit Yinshang.

　　After all, Shen Lian’s foundations were not strong enough to build a strong force immediately after the fall of Emperor Xia to rewrite the destiny of Yinshang replacing Xia. Things would be too easy for Yinshang and Tianyi would use this opportunity to attain Taiyi and become a figure like the founder of Xia Kingdom, Si Wenming.

　　The more difficult the task, the more accomplished one would feel. To someone like Shen Lian, the feeling of accomplishment was more effective than any elixir in the world.

　　Shen Lian let out a child-like smile and shook the void with his divine thoughts, “Do you still insist on putting me to death?”

　　Under such intense situation, Shen Lian still had the leisure to release his divine thoughts across the void. This showed that he was calm and confident and it was effective in putting Emperor Xia under more pressure.

　　Emperor Xia’s iron body was like a golden hooped rod. It made people feel that his determination would never be shaken even under immense pressure. He let out a hint of killing vibes and it changed the atmosphere of the void into the horrifying Asura bloodbath.

　　At the same time, inch by inch, a jet black blade started to emerge on his hand as hints of magical powers revealed itself and sent chills down in the void. But what was really terrifying was that the chills actually felt scorching hot and it melted the bright clouds below Shen Lian’s feet, causing him to stand without any support in the void.

　　Shen Lian felt the chills of the demonic blade. In fact, he could also sense the hatred within the chills. Besides the demonic will, the blade also consisted the demonic thoughts that Shen Lian had gotten rid off.

　　The feeling of being abandoned would definitely cause hatred.

　　Shen Lian did not focus on the blade. Instead, he fixed it on Emperor Xia’s decisive gaze.

　　Emperor Xia did not respond to Shen Lian verbally and used his actions to speak for him.

　　Shen Lian let out a smile. He seemed more relaxed once he had to deal with the leveled up Emperor Xia. At the same time, the portrait of his Primordial Spirit had cut off all connections with the Qi of vitality of the heaven and earth and became a lot more condensed. He looked similar to any other ordinary person as if his physical body had blended into one with the Primordial Spirit.

　　The moment Shen Lian finished gathering his Qi dynamics, Emperor Xia immediately charged his blade forward. There were no vibrations in the void, it felt like a steady flow of water in a man-made canal.

　　Emperor Xia’s attack was steady as a rock. It was not flashy but it was set to kill and inflict harm. At that point, Shen Lian felt that eventually, he would have to suffer from a stab regardless of how well he played.

　　Emperor Xia’s action was the ’cause’ and Shen Lian suffering from the stab was the ‘effect’. Just like blooming and wilting of the flowers, these were unchangeable principles of the heaven and earth. The hint of demonic thoughts that Shen Lian abandoned was the reason why Emperor Xia was able to use this Blade of Karma against Shen Lian. This blade was indeed an evidence to indicate Emperor Xia’s wisdom.

　　Shen Lian had neither the incarnation of the wind and rain nor the Milky Way swordsmanship to help him fight against the blade. He extended both his crystal clear palms and brought out the exquisite killing method.

　　It was an upgraded version of the creation and evolution technique of the thirty-six heavenly transformation. When it landed on Emperor Xia’s spiritual sense, Shen Lian’s palms threw a counterattack, just like the catkins that came from the wind. It was a light one but it triggered thousands of reactions from the blade.

　　The exquisiteness of the palm method profoundly interpreted the laws of heaven and earth. Snow started to fall into the void and yet the demonic blade showed no signs of melting. In a split second, Shen Lian disappeared within the snow, leaving no traces behind.