Chapter 868: A Fine Line Between Victory and Defeat

Just as Di Jiu thought of giving up, he sensed desolation coming from the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush.

A feeling of enlightenment welled in his heart. When he had let the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush become his Dharma treasure, it had become one of his divine powers.

Connate treasures were all spiritual, so the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush had also recognized him. Now, the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush was still doing its utmost, but he actually wanted to give up.

Di Jiu wanted to give up because he had always regarded the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush as a treasure with divine powers. Now that he had suddenly realized that his thoughts were wrong, he no longer regarded the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush as a treasure but as a partner.

At this thought, Di Jiu roared. Even if he faced imminent death, he could not let the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush bear this kind of suppression alone unless it could fully retreat like him. Since it couldn’t, he had to resist the suppression of this Dark Law with the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush.

During that long roar, Di Jiu’s Spiritual Force skyrocketed and his Divine Essence boiled.

Di Jiu frantically activated his Divine Essence and Spiritual Force and could immediately sense the power of the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush, which seemed to understand that Di Jiu hadn’t given up on it. The Dao runes written by the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush were also endless, and the Dao rune aura of the ‘realm’ word grew increasingly more majestic.

Crack! Crack! Crack! The Dao runes of the Dark Law that swept madly toward the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush began to split at that moment. As the first law split, the following laws could no longer remain continuous and became more and more intermittent.

Just like a beaten army that had collapsed completely, after the aura of the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush’s ‘realm’ word rose and the realm became more majestic, the Dao runes of the Dark Law became increasingly more unbearable. Besides the Dao runes of the Dark Law, the Dark Law in the space where Di Jiu was located also gradually weakened. A great portion of the Dao runes of the Dark Law was suppressed.

Di Jiu felt overjoyed yet a little ashamed. If he hadn’t felt the Heaven-Opening Writing Brush’s emotions, he might have given up.

He understood that when he couldn’t hold on, the other party couldn’t hold on either. It was just that he couldn’t see if the other party could still hold on.

Sometimes, victory and defeat were separated only by a fine line. When everyone, including him, thought that he couldn’t persevere, he won because he kept persevering.

Dao Lord Darkness clearly knew this principle, so he had nearly crushed him. Now that he had not been crushed, it was Dao Lord Darkness’s turn.

The word ‘realm’ crushed the Dao runes of the Dark Law, its aura looking like the rainbow. Right now, Di Jiu could easily withdraw his Heaven-Opening Writing Brush at any time and control the Dao runes of the word ‘realm’, which would never be influenced by others or affect the Dao law of his divine power.

However, it was Di Jiu’s turn not to give up against this suppression. He had the absolute upper hand, so how could he give up at this moment?

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Continuous laws shattered. The black space dissipated like ice and snow dissolving.

Boom! A figure enveloped by darkness suddenly appeared in front of Di Jiu. At the same time, the black nomological Dao runes faded like the tide.

“You are very formidable. I do my own thing in the Great Ultimate Realm. I have never taken advantage of you or provoked you. Why did you come here to make life difficult for me? Are you not afraid of karma? Can you no longer validate your Dao in the future?” The figure enveloped by the blackness stared at Di Jiu while speaking.

He didn’t attack Di Jiu again. His Dark Law couldn’t crush Di Jiu with all its strength. Even if he won after fighting with Di Jiu again, he couldn’t continue to refine the Great Ultimate Realm.

Di Jiu sneered. “Only someone like you would think that stopping you would be akin to karma. Anyone who kills you like this will gain a lot of merit, so how can that be karma? Taste my saber, old thing!”

Di Jiu’s Heavenly Aqua Saber swept up a powerful saber aura and instantly enveloped the black figure.

“I will come back to find you.” The black figure had no intention of fighting with Di Jiu whatsoever and opened his palm to tear a rift in the void. Then, he stepped into the void and disappeared.

Crack! Di Jiu’s saber aura tore a white curtain in the void and did not lock Dao Lord Darkness at all.

Di Jiu, who was relieved, grabbed a few Dao pills and put them into his mouth. Dao Lord Darkness was an arrow at the end of its flight and was not any better. Dao Lord Darkness had not escaped because he hadn’t seen his weakness, but because he knew it would be meaningless if he continued fighting. He couldn’t do anything to Di Jiu. After Di Jiu broke the Dark Law, countless cultivators would come in. Then, he might not be able to leave.

Although he was relieved, Di Jiu sighed silently before the torn void. The Defense Array of the Great Ultimate Realm was too weak. If it was stronger, even if Dao Lord Darkness resorted to other means, he wouldn’t be able to tear the Great Ultimate Realm’s boundaries.

After he went out this time, he would have to set up a brand-new Defense Array.

…

Although there was still a large number of cultivators gathered there in addition to the Defense Array arranged by Di Jiu in the Great Ultimate Realm, compared to the beginning, there were already less than half of the original people. Most cultivators and sects had left the Great Ultimate Realm.

The cultivators all felt a sense of danger. They didn’t want to wait until the darkness devoured the entire Great Ultimate Realm before they escaped. Then, they might even have no chance of escaping.

Ren Jisha was a little sad, as he was the most reluctant to see Di Jiu perish. Not only had Di Jiu saved him, but he had also saved his only son. More importantly, if Di Jiu perished in the Great Ultimate Realm, no one would be able to save it. Plus, Ren Jisha could only flee into the void.

The Great Simplicity Realm’s Yin Yueshu and her disciple would not let him and his son off. Compared to the Sunken Fish Palace, his Moon Traverse Divine Hall was too weak.

“Ha ha ha ha ha…” A loud laugh came before a red figure grabbed the array foundation at the edge of the Defense Array.

Bei Jie was excited. He had heard that there was something wrong with the Great Ultimate Realm, so he had come to have a look. He had not expected that when he arrived, he would see one of the Five-Element Flags, the Floating Flame Flag. Because of the Defense Array that Di Jiu had set up, which had been attacked by the Dao runes of the Dark Law for a long time, the Floating Flame Flag was stripped out of the void by the Dark Law.

He had actually picked a treasure he had not thought of for a while.

“Stop. This is the Defense Array set up by Sect Master Di. You can’t touch the array flag here.” Upon seeing the cultivator in red try to snatch away the array flag, Ren Jisha hurriedly stopped him.

Boom! Before Ren Jisha could approach, the cultivator in red kicked him in the chest and he spat out an arrow of blood before he was sent flying. His domain was nothing but an eggshell in front of the cultivator in red.

“The black mist is gone…” Someone in the crowd suddenly cried out in pleasant surprise, making everyone set their eyes on the black mist inside the Defense Array.

Immediately, everyone got excited. As that person had said just now, the darkness that had nearly devoured the entire Great Ultimate Realm had rapidly weakened. The mountains and rivers in the Great Ultimate Realm were presented to everyone at a speed that the naked eye could capture.

Before everyone saw what was deeper, a blue mist coming from the saber flare slashed from the depths of the darkness that gradually weakened.

The saber aura killing intent locked the cultivator in red and was still in the darkness when that happened. When the saber intent killing aura locked the cultivator in red, the blackness melted and Di Jiu’s figure came down from the void. It was as if this saber had torn the darkness directly before Di Jiu had come out.

“How dare a mere mid-stage Dao Integration expert covet my array flag…” When the cultivator in red heard Di Jiu’s voice, he realized that his domain had already been shattered and he could not stop the saber flare, which was tearing the space between his eyebrows under his frightened gaze.