w.a.n.g Wei calmly raised his hand, and black lightning from DIvine Punishment Thunder coated his hand. He punched forward with great momentum.
Di Tian–who was a few miles away from him–prepared for the upcoming attack. However, during the entire process, he sensed something wrong; he did not forget the previous devious smile.
Di Tian's upper body exploded into a pool of blood, leaving only his legs floating in the void. The process was so sudden that no one–including the viewers–knew what had happened. Everyone, of course, except for the person responsible.
"So, it was not completely successful," muttered w.a.n.g Wei with a displeased frown.
Meanwhile, Di Tian regenerated his body; he looked horrified as he was also baffled by what had happened. Unfortunately, w.a.n.g Wei would not explain anything to him.
He waved his hand, manifesting an enormous palm that descended upon his opponent. From this palm, Di Tian detected the power of Death; he recognized it was the manifestation of every way someone can die–old age, disease, poison, natural and man-made disaster, bad luck, etc.
Di Tian reacted swiftly as he summoned three defensive Emperor Artifacts from his vast collection; he chose the very best and most powerful artifact he possessed.
Then, he used a secret technique that allowed him to use these artifacts to the best of his ability. With his Ten Supremacy Foundation, he should have no problem using any artifacts to the greatest extent of their powers.
Unfortunately, he was only a [Mortal Emperor], meaning he lacked the [Immortal Essence] of a Great Emperor. If he truly used the full power of even an Artifact created by a Third Cla.s.s Emperor, the backlash would consume years of his lifespan. He could lose more than a hundred million years in an instant, and that's only a conservative number.
Knowing this fact, Di Tian used numbers and secret techniques to make up for this flaw. He activated about 80% of each artifact, and through resonance, he combined their powers and created a s.h.i.+eld on par with someone using the full power of an Emperor Artifact.
Alas, his efforts were futile. w.a.n.g Wei's attack instantly atomized him. No, the process was even worse; he annihilated every aspect of his existence, including his soul and Dao.
"Still failed?" commented w.a.n.g Wei as he raised his head to look at the River of Time that had disappeared after Di Tian sealed it. Then, from the river, Di Tian appeared with a pale complexion.
'Is this the power of the three scriptures together?' a.n.a.lyzed w.a.n.g Wei. He saw that Di Tian's [Past Buddha Self] fished him out from the River of Time and revived him.
The Di Tian before him was technically a past version that existed before the palm descended and annihilated him.
w.a.n.g Wei concentrated his eyes. He once tried to use his Future Buddha in similar ways but failed; he had to use other ways to achieve similar results.
'This guy is really rich,' sneered w.a.n.g Wei, slightly annoyed. After this stunt, Di Tian's Past Buddha Self should have been annihilated because of the backlash from the River of Time.
However, Di Tian used a Time Chaos Treasure to withstand most of the backlash and, for some reason, made his Future Budhha Self suffer the rest of the backlash.
While w.a.n.g Wei was a.n.a.lyzing the situation, Di Tian was doing the very same. However, he was not nearly as calm as the latter. The previous defensive maneuver was one of the best in his a.r.s.enal, but it was useless before that palm.
'The attack was similar to when he attacked across a different parallel universe–it completely ignored all my defenses.'
Di Tian forced himself to calm down and a.n.a.lyzed the situation. Otherwise, the fear of the unknown could overwhelm his mind.
'I've already made preparations against his Time Dao. So, this should be an attack based on his other Daos. So, which one should it be?'
His mind worked on overdrive as he reviewed all the information he knew about w.a.n.g Wei. Although he did not know all the latter's Laws, he knew a great deal despite the current state of his Sleepers.
'It's either Fate or Yin-Yang Dao.'
As soon as he concluded such a result, w.a.n.g Wei was already on the offensive. A Tai Chi Symbol manifested above him, sealing the surrounding s.p.a.ce.
The Yin-Yang Symbol rotated at an alarming speed, and from that rotation, Di Tian saw all the changes in the world: the changes in the seasons, the rise and fall of the sun and moon, the ebbs of spiritual energy, the ups and downs of luck of all sentient beings, and finally, the birth and death of all things in existence.
After watching these changes, Di Tian found his understanding of Samsara elevated slightly. He thought he had reached the limit of his Dao, but he was wrong. Sadly, this was not the time for enlightenment, as he was in great danger.
The attack controlled all his mobility–including the speed his mind operated. If not for the Bodhi Tree blessing his Sea of Consciousness, he would not be enlightened in this battle nor have the mental capacity to devise a measure to save his life.
As death crept on him, Di Tian did two things. Firstly, he activated his Skin Divine Ability and entered a state of [Absolute Immunity]. Previously, he wanted to reserve the few minutes he had left as a trump card.
However, he was soon running out of methods to revive himself and needed to save his life. Secondly, he also pushed his Bodhi Tree to the limit to understand how this technique operated.
Bang!
The Tai Chi Symbol ground everything into dust, and that included the entire Earth Dimension. As such, the battle had now reached the Metal Dimension–a world full of weapons, ores, and Metal Energy. This place could be considered a Holy Land for Sword Cultivators or people who cultivate Weapon Dao. However, the two partic.i.p.ants did not care about such a thing.
Di Tian's pale face appeared, standing above a mountain made entirely out of blades.
'It's a fate-related ability. But that's all I know.' His face was not good to look at. The last attack removed most of the time he had left in the Immunity State. Currently, he only has less than 30 seconds left.
'The only choice left for me is to use that trump card. However, if I do it without figuring out his technique, I would reduce the weight of such a trump card.'
Boom!
A ruthless light flashed in his eyes. He looked at w.a.n.g Wei floating above the Heaven and rushed toward him. However, what awaited him was another fist full of unimaginable power.
Boom!
Di Tian flew into countless mountains, his body breaking past them one after the other like they were thin papers. Finally, he crashed into a mountain composed of meteorites. However, such a dense and solid ore was as weak as mud to his fleshly body.
Di Tian lay embedded on the mountain, blood dripping from his orifices and with numerous broken bones. However, his eyes shone with a quick brilliance.
'His attacks were fated to succeed, and nothing I can do can stop it.'
He had the answer to the puzzle, and it was the correct one.
Deep inside w.a.n.g Wei's Sea of Consciousness was a book with the character [Destiny] written on the t.i.tle. On one of the blank pages, there were three sentences.
[The Divine Punishment Fists annihilated the opponent's body, soul, and Dao, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.]
[The Yin-Yang Grinding Disk sealed the opponent's mobility, including his mind, before grounding him into oblivion; there was nothing he could do to stop it.]
[The Fist of Destruction atomized the opponent, completely eliminating him from existence and preventing him from reviving by any means possible; furthermore, he could do nothing to prevent the attack from reaching its target.]
'So, it's really not yet possible to decide a cultivator's fate–especially one of Di Tian's caliber,' thought w.a.n.g Wei, long expecting this outcome. Of course, this did not prevent him from being slightly disappointed.
Regardless, it was because he knew of this truth that he did not call this technique the [Book of Fate] and labeled it the [Book of Destiny].
'It doesn't matter. I will consider this technique incomplete, no, a work in progress. One day, no one between Heaven and Earth can escape its grasp–even Grand Dao.'
w.a.n.g Wei immediately wanted to take this opportunity for a fourth attack. However, he soon noticed a new change in Di Tian. To be precise, something happened to the River of Time as Di Tian's [Past Buddha Self] began to act.
The Past Buddha Self appeared above Di Tian and waved its hand. Then, he summoned something from the River of Time through a karmic link from Di Tian's body.
The thing summoned seemed to be both a soul and an imprint. After entering Di Tian's body, the power of Samsara emanated from his body, completing certain changes.
Boom!
Di Tian's aura suddenly changed.
"This is…" muttered w.a.n.g Wei with squinted eyes.