A Scroll of Infinite Glory

Chapter 269 Conquering the World

After Guan Luoyang took this step, the wilderness suddenly became quiet.

The enormous jade axe, resembling a mountain screen, suddenly slowed its downward movement. In the blink of an eye, the axe, which should have been unstoppable, was completely halted and stopped in mid-air.

The nine forces were unleashed simultaneously, but unlike before, they did not display any strange phenomena or illusions.

However, within the range of his mental power, everything—air, water mist, dust, grass clippings, and the entire ground—seemed to have a completely different texture from the outside world, becoming clear, full, and solid.

It's as if the natural environment of this area became an appendage of Guan Luoyang, this "person," and a tool for him.

Then he took this tool and used it like a lever to pry open what was hidden beneath the surface of nature—the power of the deeper parts of the world, the supreme primordial energy belonging to the void and vacuum.

Guan Luoyang raised his hand and flicked a finger toward the sky.

An immense presence, an unparalleled sense of silence, all coalesced in the instant his fingers curled and interlocked.

When that finger was flicked out, it was as if a perfectly quiet dream had been awakened, and everything in the field began to flow again.

Huge waves rippled across the soil around Guanluoyang, and powerful air currents spread in all directions, with green grass undulating in the gale.

The jade axe, which had been stationary in mid-air, emitted a violent and high-pitched tremor and suddenly rose into the sky.

"What?!?!"

Zhao Kuangyin's expression changed drastically, and he subconsciously exerted force by pressing down on the staff with both arms.

This action did not stop the jade axe from continuing to rise; it only produced a piercing cracking sound.

At the point where the hollow handle of the jade axe connected to the golden rod, dense cracks instantly appeared, and then it broke completely.

The axe blade was thrown high into the clouds, shrinking rapidly.

It is unclear whether it is because the jade axe has broken free from Zhao Kuangyin's control, but its size is indeed shrinking.

Or perhaps it's because its ascent is so rapid that the distance between the ascent and descent becomes increasingly longer, making it appear to shrink rapidly to the human eye.

In short, in the blink of an eye, the jade axe that had once seemed to bring about a great calamity had shrunk to a tiny, cold star and completely disappeared into the distant clouds.

On the ground, the enormous golden staff was also rapidly shrinking.

The enormous stick retracted so quickly that the surrounding air didn't even have time to fill it, creating a long wind tunnel-like vent, from which vortexes roared in.

Guan Luoyang's strength clearly far exceeded Zhao Kuangyin's expectations.

Previously, he believed that he carried the fortune of two dynasties and that his power was unmatched. That's why he wanted to use overwhelming force to secure an indisputable victory.

But now, if you still want to play that overwhelming trick, it's like showing your vulnerability to the other side.

As the golden staff shrank, Guan Luoyang walked step by step toward Zhao Kuangyin.

When the coiled dragon staff had completely shrunk back to its nine-foot length, he took three steps and arrived right in front of Zhao Kuangyin, striking him with his palm.

The air in front of Guan Luoyang's palm instantly dissipated, leaving only a vacuum. Within this vacuum, a light of an indescribable color shone from the center of his palm.

It seemed to be a slightly whitish glow, or perhaps hazy, crystalline particles. Even with Zhao Kuangyin's keen eyesight, it was difficult to determine whether it was a solid entity or pure light.

This is the power Guan Luoyang gained after his breakthrough; it can be called Void Primordial Qi or Vacuum Divine Power.

Some people once thought that a vacuum was nothing at all, that there was no air, that it was extremely weak and insignificant.

Actually it is not.

The vacuum is the foundation of the world; it can even support the existence of the entire natural world. One can imagine how stable and vast a power must be hidden beneath that calm and empty appearance.

This power is chaotic and obscure, without any attributes, a primordial and ultimate truth.

Even if Guan Luoyang only slightly disturbed this tranquility and stirred up a trace of it, when this trace of vacuum divine power flowed into the surface natural world, it was still enough to make the entire wilderness atmosphere resound with a roar similar to an avalanche.

Zhao Kuangyin flicked his staff to resist the avalanche-like palm strike.

The tip of the golden staff did not directly pierce the vacuum divine power in Guan Luoyang's palm, but instead pushed towards the base of Guan Luoyang's palm.

He avoided the point where the power was strongest, but the effect seemed minimal.

The moment the staff and palm clashed, the entire Panlong Golden Staff swelled up due to the force coming from the other side, especially at the tip, which was stretched open with eight cracks like a flower blooming.

An intensely bright red light emanated from the crack; it was the heat energy emitted after the pure kinetic energy bombarded the weapon, exceeding its limits.

Zhao Kuangyin's hands were bulging with veins and his tiger's mouth was split as he twisted the staff with all his might.

The stick, which had split open with eight cracks, shattered on the spot. The remaining stick tip, spiraling and drilling, bypassed Guan Luoyang's palm and went straight for his heart.

"Prepare to die!"

Zhao Kuangyin opened his mouth and roared, his eyes widening and revealing a blood-red color. Although the attack was short, it was full of resolute spirit, a gamble with the heavens.

Guan Luoyang remained calm and focused, his expression sharp and unwavering. With a clasp of his hands, he firmly grasped the tip of the coiled dragon golden staff.

Zhao Kuangyin paused, and Guan Luoyang changed his hand gestures. His hands, which were originally clasped together and standing upright, became one palm on top and the other on the bottom, and he rubbed his palms together.

The spiraling dragon staff immediately began to rotate in the opposite direction.

Zhao Kuangyin could not hold it with both hands, so he quickly loosened his grip and used the soft force of his sleeve to flick the end of the stick to the side.

With a tear in his sleeve, like a butterfly fluttering in the air, Zhao Kuangyin swung his golden staff horizontally and pushed it forward with both hands, blocking Guan Luoyang's straight punch.

The demonic power, amplified by the dynasty's fortune, clashed momentarily with Guan Luoyang's fist.

Zhao Kuangyin was radiating a dazzling golden light of fortune, and the ground behind him cracked and sank in large sections.

The collapsed area, shaped like a fan, stretched backward until it collided with a mountain peak.

After a dull, loud bang, a section of the mountain collapsed at the foot of the mountain.

By the time the deafening crash reached Zhao Kuangyin's ears, Guan Luoyang had already moved like a phantom, delivering a punch.

Originally, he was going to throw a right punch, but now he's slamming his left fist into the coiled dragon staff.

With a thud, the staff broke, and Zhao Kuangyin shot into the mountain like a golden rainbow.

"How could this happen?!"

His body continued to smash through the rocks and soil, and Zhao Kuangyin's heart pounded violently, thumping loudly, so hot it felt like it was about to burst.

"I am also a martial arts genius, I have also cultivated diligently, I have even seized all the imperial fortune of the Liao Dynasty, and I have also obtained a portion of the fortune of the Song Dynasty. With such accumulation, I still cannot reach the realm of ascension..."

"How could this person break through without any warning? He clearly failed to refine Zhao Huan's cultivation for his own use. Where did he get the resources to advance his realm?!"

Zhao Kuangyin roared inwardly, "Where is justice?!"

After two moves, he was certain that Guan Luoyang had indeed taken that step and reached the realm of ascension in broad daylight.

The immortal path of corpse liberation can be called the Corpse Liberation Immortal, and the demonic path of sun chasing can be called the Heavenly Demon.

But these are all paths chosen out of desperation because they cannot reach the realm of true ascension. How can they be compared to the realm of immortals and demons that are truly capable of ascension?

But it doesn't matter. All the secret strategies recorded since ancient times have mentioned that whether it was Jiang Taigong, Liezi, Zixia, Kuang Zhang, or Xun Kuang, Zhang Daoling and others, once they reached the realm of ascension, they could only stay in the world for a hundred days at most.

One hundred days later, no matter how much he didn't want to ascend, he would have no choice but to leave this world.

Zhang Daoling is the best example. His achievements in the Dao Kingdom on Earth were only in their infancy, just beginning. If he could suppress the world with his immortal and demonic powers, why wouldn't he do it?

Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, he could not delay beyond the hundred-day limit and ultimately ascended to heaven.

As long as Zhao Kuangyin can survive these hundred days, it doesn't matter even if Guan Luoyang defeats all other hostile forces of Song and Liao.

Once Guan Luoyang ascends to heaven, he will immediately return with renewed vigor. At that time, how could the others in Liangshan possibly withstand his coiled dragon staff?

This idea is really wonderful.

The very thought of the word "escape" spread through Zhao Kuangyin's mind like a deadly poison, frantically shaking his will to fight.

An emperor's mindset should be able to endure what others cannot. Although escaping is humiliating, it can bring the opportunity to achieve great things, so why bother?

When Emperor Gaozu of Han was in dire straits, even though his elderly father was tied to a cauldron of fire, he still managed to say, "Give me a share of the soup." Such great forbearance truly makes him a model for emperors and kings.

but……

Bang! ! !

The figure, wreathed in golden light, crashed through the mountain and shot out from the other side.

He stomped heavily on the ground with a boot edge trimmed with snow-white fur and embroidered with black clouds and golden dragons. The impact caused the earth's turbid air to surge and resonate. After sliding a distance, he abruptly came to a stop.

Zhao Kuangyin ultimately refused to flee.

Guan Luoyang chased through the mountain tunnel and appeared before Zhao Kuangyin as if in a flash.

He held the broken dragon staff in his hands as a pair of golden whips, entwined with worldly thoughts, and suddenly unleashed an overwhelming offensive.

It was no longer the staff technique that focused on a single point, but rather a transformation from one figure to dozens, hundreds, or even thousands, rushing out with thousands of broken staffs.

As far as the eye could see, in all directions, within a hundred feet in front of him, Zhao Kuangyin was everywhere.

A dazzling array of Zhao Kuangyins swiftly charged forward, their movements forming waves and tsunamis crashing down upon Guan Luoyang.

With a single palm strike and a single punch, Guan Luoyang could blast away all the figures.

But Zhao Kuangyin became more courageous with each setback, and each human wall tsunami was larger than the last, representing an increasing number of afterimages created by Zhao Kuangyin's movements.

It was a golden shadow of a staff, attacking Guan Luoyang from an endlessly mysterious and subtle angle, seeking an opening.

The imperial fortunes of the two nations manifested as two dragon shadows around him, following his movements, sometimes appearing and sometimes disappearing, sometimes separating and sometimes joining together.

It looked as if two giant dragons were churning the sea and lingering endlessly amidst a tsunami of human figures.

Zhao Kuangyin's demonic cultivation was still far from the realm of ascension, but at this moment, the imperial dynasty's fortune method had already reached the ninth level of the unorthodox path within him.

Throughout history, no secret manual or historical record has ever documented anyone who ascended to immortality through unorthodox methods.

Yet Guan Luoyang was able to step into a higher realm right in front of him, simply because he said "I feel a little better"...

"Could it be that I, too, cannot?!"

"Can't I do the same?"

"This day, this very moment, is the most powerful I have been in two hundred years. I am about to break through the limits of unorthodox paths!"

The imperial dynasty's fortune is the result of the collective will of the people, but the foundation of unorthodox practices actually lies in the thoughts of the practitioners themselves.

Zhao Kuangyin's momentum grew stronger and stronger. His fighting spirit and thoughts gradually devoured and shattered the chaotic thoughts and fortunes within the two dragon shadows, transforming them completely into his own power.

The bitterness and resentment mixed in with the dynasty's fortune could not destroy his arrogance, conceit, and grand ambitions, which he took for granted as stepping stones.

The wave of human figures was so high that it could scatter the clouds in the sky and then crash down from the height of the sky.

Under such attacks, Guan Luoyang retreated.

He took a step and covered hundreds of feet, and when he took a step back, all of Zhao Kuangyin's afterimages were gilded with a layer of golden light, making him seem more like a real person.

The afterimage behind caught up with the afterimage in front, stepped over it from above, and was then trampled underfoot by the afterimage even further behind.

Each layer arrived faster and more surging than the last.

As he took two steps back, the number of afterimages of Zhao Kuangyin began to decrease.

But the remaining afterimages each possessed boundless domineering power. The space around them became spacious, and the golden cudgels in their hands moved with wide, sweeping motions. Every move seemed to be a decree that governed all living beings, crashing down irresistibly.

When he took three steps back, the afterimage of Zhao Kuangyin behind him had almost disappeared.

Zhao Kuangyin's true form rushed to the forefront, the afterimage behind him gradually faded, and the images of the two giant dragons also disappeared.

The distinction between dragons and humans no longer exists.

Zhao Kuangyin had never felt so vividly that the mountains and the earth were tamed beneath his feet, and that his aura had already subtly broken through that boundary, stepping out of the barrier between man and god.

"Hahaha, just as I thought, I..."

Are you feeling better?

Guan Luoyang looked over with a clear and bright expression, exuding a strange sense of transcendence. "This is the pinnacle you've achieved so far. How does it feel to reach the highest point, standing on the shoulders of countless people?"

"You'll feel it from my staff!"

Zhao Kuangyin swung the two broken clubs in his hands with a loud crash.

Guan Luoyang's figure lurched forward.

A large pit, about three miles in size and four or five feet deep, had sunk into the field, compacting the soil to an extremely high density.

The two figures were sent flying backwards.

While Zhao Kuangyin was still flying backward, he saw Guan Luoyang's figure stop its backward momentum and suddenly catch up with him.

Two blows with a stick earned him a punch in return.

Zhao Kuangyin flew backwards at an even faster speed.

This time, Guan Luoyang only swayed slightly before chasing after him.

"I sensed it from your stick fighting technique."

Guan Luoyang threw a punch, "He controls the life and death of all people. He only needs to loosen the exploitation a little, and it is a great favor. If he is unhappy for a moment, it is considered a heavenly punishment. Thunder and rain are all the emperor's grace. He seems to be the only ruler of the world. It is truly the supreme joy."

Zhao Kuangyin roared, trying to regain his footing. He crossed his two sticks to block, but was knocked away again.

Guan Luoyang strolled leisurely for a couple of minutes, her figure ethereal and dreamlike, before catching up with him.

"This feeling is really similar."

"You traitor! Instead of focusing on your battle with me, what nonsense are you spouting?!"

"I have never been an emperor, but the way you feel when facing the people is very similar to how I feel when facing the two of you."

Guan Luoyang laughed. "If he refuses to admit his mistakes and is confined to a corner of the world, then smash him inch by inch to make him atone for his sins."

"When you see an interesting enemy, just let them slowly rise to the top, then shatter their arrogance and show your own magnanimity. How about that? Isn't what I'm doing very similar to what you're doing?"

"you……"

Zhao Kuangyin's pupils contracted, and he suddenly felt a terrifying crisis descending, as if his pores were opening and his soul was leaving his body.

"You can't possibly!!!"

He put all his strength into his attack.

The two broken sticks faced off against the palm strike that seemed to shake the heavens and the sun.

Two purplish-black beads flew over from the wilderness.

High in the sky, there were two more magic orbs that had returned from afar.

The hazy sword energy within his lungs had already transformed into the ninth bead.

The nine demonic orbs are gathered in one body, but not for attacking; they are merely used to stabilize Guan Luoyang's physical body.

This allowed him to leverage more of the divine power of the vacuum.

Let's put it simply.

Guan Luoyang clenched his fist.

Zhao Kuangyin's flesh and bones seemed to burn with golden light, delivering an ultimate blow.

"You ignore their suffering and create your own happiness, then I will find happiness in the suffering of people like you."

Guan Luoyang threw a punch, and his figure transformed into a dragon.

The power of the vacuum was transformed into the most distorted gravity, like a winding dragon shadow.

The gray dragon, having swallowed the sun-like golden light, soared into the sky.

The dragon that devoured dragons appeared before the world for the first time.

In the final moments of his life, devoured by the dragon, no one knew what emotions filled those trembling eyes.

No matter how much regret and anger they felt, they would never have the chance to utter a final lament, just as they had treated the common people like weeds and the soldiers who were buried.

………………

On that day, the high-ranking officials of both the Song and Liao dynasties felt that the dynasty's fortunes were collapsing, and the people were filled with fear and uncertainty.

The leader of Liangshan stepped out of the perilous peaks and passes across the plains, and wherever he went, ten thousand troops knelt down, powerless to struggle.

Three days later, the war raged across the land, and all sounds of battle ceased, leaving the entire country free of the smoke of war.

(End of this chapter)