Chapter 1415 : The God-Slaying Dagger's Descent

From beginning to end of this battle, the Dragon Lord of Wei Sea was utterly incapable of mounting a defense, being suppressed and slain within the span of a few short moments.

High upon the Heavenly Vault, the Celestial Crocodile Patriarch witnessed this scene, his heart shaken by the combat prowess of Eldrin Chen. Yet, by this point, any thought of escape was already too late.

With a mere flick of his sleeve, Eldrin Chen unleashed the Primordial One Energy Grasping Hand [a supreme divine ability that seizes and suppresses all things with the power of the primordial unity], its crushing force leaving the Patriarch no choice but to defend with his full might.

Simultaneously, Lila, Violet Consort Yan, Heaven Abyss Path Master, and the Ancient Ruins Nether Lord freed their hands and joined the fray, surrounding and attacking the five Earth Immortal Patriarch [powerful cultivators who have ascended to the Earth Immortal realm] of the Demon Race.

"The situation is dire."

Seeing this, the Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan felt his heart sink. He understood that if this continued, it would not be long before the five Earth Immortal Patriarch of the Demon Race were executed.

At that point, facing the combined assault of ten Earth Immortal Patriarch alone, he would have not a shred of hope for survival.

With this thought, the Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan gritted his teeth and spoke decisively.

"I will fight you to the death!"

He chose to endure a direct slash from Eldrin Chen, bearing the grievous, blood-spurting wound, to summon forth a dazzling Exotic Treasure [a rare and uniquely powerful enchanted artifact]—a flying dagger—and hurled it with desperate force towards the Verdant Consort.

"Beware, it is the God-Slaying Flying Dagger!"

Witnessing this scene, Eldrin Chen cried out in alarm.

The treasure unleashed by the Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan was a special Exotic Treasure. This artifact, named the God-Slaying Flying Dagger, was a supreme treasure born from the World-Opening Spiritual Root known as the 'God-Slaying Treasure Tree'.

Nurtured by the World-Opening Spiritual Root, this treasure could continuously store World-Opening Power within itself. In theory, the upper limit of power it could unleash often far exceeded its own apparent grade.

This particular God-Slaying Flying Dagger before them appeared to be at the initial level of the Eighth Rank High-Grade. Yet, the power contained within it was astonishingly immense, sufficient to rival a full-force strike from a cultivator at the Earth Immortal Great Perfection realm.

Such power was enough to Immortal-Slaying God-Slaying, capable of slaying even a Late Stage Earth Immortal in a single blow.

Of course, this treasure had its flaw. Each activation consumed all the energy it had stored, after which it required nurturing for over ten thousand years to recover.

Therefore, while this Exotic Treasure possessed terrifying might, it held only a single strike's worth of power, serving solely as a trump card of last resort.

Recalling the dreadful nature of this Exotic Treasure, Eldrin Chen hesitated not for a moment. He immediately summoned his Five-Colored Divine Light, intending to ensnare and lock down that flying dagger.

Yet, that flying dagger proved truly extraordinary. Even the Five-Colored Divine Light could not fully suppress it. After a mere instant of hesitation, it shattered the binding and broke free.

Fortunately, that fleeting moment of delay had already allowed Verdant Consort to seize a sliver of life-saving opportunity.

It was seen that Verdant Consort abruptly twisted her body back in retreat, narrowly evading the lethal strike of the God-Slaying Flying Dagger.

Yet this retreat also gave Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan an opening. The God-Slaying Flying Dagger, with its peerless might, instantly pierced through the great formation.

Then, Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan transformed into a streak of Escape Radiance [a high-speed escape technique] and shot out, fleeing beyond the confines of the Mountain Protection Formation.

"You cannot escape."

Eldrin Chen murmured. He used the Polarity Void Mirror to suppress the Primordial Energy Heaven-Escaping Pearl [a divine ability for escaping to the heavens], then transformed into a streak of light and gave chase.

The escape speed of the Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan was already considerable. Now, burning his own vital essence and World-Opening [the realm of opening one's inner world] foundational energy to flee for his life, the speed of his Escape Radiance increased by another thirty percent.

Such Extreme Speed [a divine ability granting extreme velocity] would likely make it difficult for even ordinary Earth Immortal [an immortal whose power is anchored to the mortal world] cultivators at the eighth or ninth level to catch up.

However, Eldrin Chen had cultivated the Five-Colored Aurora [a spiritual object manifesting as a five-colored aurora]. With the power of his Mysterious Grade Escape Technique Divine Ability [a top-tier divine ability for movement and evasion], he traversed the boundless void in an instant. It was not long before he caught up to the Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan.

"That upstart Eldrin, must you truly pursue this feud to the death?"

Seeing that he could not shake off Eldrin Chen, the Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan spoke with immense fury.

As his words fell, he gripped a great spear and struck out horizontally, fighting a retreating battle against Eldrin Chen to hinder his pursuit.

One pursued, the other fled. Unbeknownst to them, they had already traversed countless billions of Li-lengths [one Li-length equals five hundred meters] of ocean. This chase had unwittingly stretched on for several decades.

By this point in the pursuit, Exquisite Jiang and the others could no longer keep up.

The Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan continuously expended his World's Origin [the foundational energy of a world or realm] and Vital Essence Blood [a cultivator's lifeblood essence, crucial for vitality and power] to flee, yet he could never outpace the speed of the Five-Colored Aurora.

Only when over half of his foundational energy was depleted did he realize he still could not escape Eldrin Chen's relentless chase.

"Our base flight speeds are nearly equal. My perfected Orthodox-grade Escape Technique Divine Ability [a supreme movement art] can already accelerate me to twelve times my normal speed," he thought with disbelief.

"By expending double the spiritual energy, even burning my vital essence and World's Origin, my escape speed increases by another thirty percent. That makes a total of sixteen times my base flight speed!"

"At such velocity, even a powerhouse at the Earth Immortal Great Perfection [the pinnacle stage of the Earth Immortal realm] would find it difficult to catch me."

"Could this man's speed truly surpass that of a Earth Immortal Great Perfection cultivator?"

The Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan was inwardly shocked. He had expended his vital blood and world's origin to accelerate his escape; by all logic, even an Earth Immortal Great Perfection cultivator should have lost his trail by now, or simply given up the pursuit.

Yet Eldrin Chen had chased him relentlessly. Though his complexion seemed somewhat pale, he had clung to the trail without faltering.

What the Patriarch did not know was that Eldrin Chen's Five-Colored Divine Light Escape was a Mysterious Grade Divine Ability [a divine ability of the highest, most profound order], granting a flight speed twenty-five times the norm.

The Five-Colored Divine Light was Eldrin Chen's Innate Divine Ability [a divine ability born with one's spiritual root, requiring minimal conscious effort]. As long as he did not overstrain it by channeling multiple times the required spiritual energy, its consumption of his reserves was negligible.

Thus, while he appeared to be straining every fiber to keep up, he was in fact merely shadowing his prey, letting the Patriarch exhaust himself.

Currently, Eldrin Chen still retained more than half his spiritual energy reserves. His plan was to force the Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan to burn through his vital blood and energy in a desperate flight, waiting until the Patriarch was utterly drained before striking the final blow.

This way, he avoided the danger of a cornered beast's last, desperate struggle that could inflict serious injury.

"My vital blood and World's Origin [the foundational energy of a cultivator's inner world] are severely depleted. I cannot keep this up," the Patriarch thought grimly.

Seeing he could not shake Eldrin Chen, the Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan hardened his resolve, a cold glint in his eyes. "He just broke through to the First Layer Earth Immortal realm. No matter how potent his spiritual energy, it cannot surpass mine."

"After chasing me for so long, how much combat strength can he possibly have left?"

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, the Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan abandoned all thought of flight.

He saw the Patriarch unleash his great spear to strike in all directions, then summon forth a World-Opening Giant Axe [a legendary axe said to possess the power to cleave open worlds] to cleave down with earth-sundering force, determined to fight Eldrin Chen to the death.

Yet Eldrin Chen merely sneered. With a flick of his sleeve, a Five-Colored Divine Light [a radiant beam of light embodying the five primal elements] shot forth, ensnaring the World-Opening Giant Axe and drawing it into his grasp.

"A fine treasure," he remarked coolly. "But it is mine now."

"*Cough*—"

To lose a High-Grade World-Opening Treasure [a top-tier artifact of immense power, capable of affecting the fabric of reality] before the battle had even truly begun was a blow so severe the Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan nearly vomited a mouthful of reversed blood in fury and shock.

Consumed by bitter resentment, he gripped his great spear and lunged forward with a furious horizontal sweep, yet he dared not let the weapon leave his hand for even an instant.

Eldrin Chen responded with another cold laugh. The Chaos [the primordial, formless state from which all existence emerged] energy around him surged like a tidal wave. Empowered by his Primordial One Indestructibility Body [a legendary physique said to be unbreakable and forged from the essence of creation itself], he advanced with world-shaking might, crushing all opposition and driving the Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan into a desperate, stumbling retreat.

In all fairness, the combat prowess of the Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan was truly Extraordinary. Both his spear and his axe were supreme treasures of heaven-defying power; even a cultivator at the Ninth Level Earth Immortal [the pinnacle of the Earth Immortal realm, one step below becoming a true Celestial Immortal] would hesitate to face their blows head-on.

With such formidable strength, he was not necessarily any weaker than Eldrin Chen by half a measure.

However, Eldrin Chen possessed the Five-Colored Divine Light [a divine radiance capable of capturing anything composed of the five fundamental elements], which could seize any object formed from the Five Elements [the five fundamental energies of the cosmos: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth]. Before the battle had even truly begun, he had already captured the World-Opening Giant Axe [a legendary weapon of immense power], thereby crippling nearly a third of the Patriarch of Celestial Crocodile Clan's offensive might. With such a decisive advantage, what suspense could possibly remain in this confrontation?