Eternal Heavenly Emperor

Chu Hao was comprehending swordsmanship, forging his own path.

He planned to create two sword techniques, one named Taiji Tianyuan and the other Infinite Chaos.

From the Yin and Yang energies forming Taiji emerged the world's strongest defense, the union of Yin and Yang birthing the Four Images and metamorphosing all things—who could break through such a defense? And as for Infinite Chaos, it represented disarray of order and rules, another devastating ultimate move, its immense power needless to say.

But while the principle is known by all, truly executing it is no easy feat.

Chu Hao had encountered a bottleneck, unable to translate the insights in his heart into actual sword moves. He felt that as long as he could create one of these sword techniques, his Chaos Intent Realm would surely achieve a tremendous breakthrough.

Yet, even War Venerates found it extremely difficult to cultivate an Intent Realm, and here he was, aiming for a major breakthrough in this area—was that an easy task?

He advanced arduously on this path, constantly taking detours, because there was no one to guide him. Only by walking these detours to their ends would he suddenly realize that such a path led nowhere!

A month later, Chu Hao no longer indulged in contemplation but practiced with Su Wanyue instead.

He had developed a rudimentary form of Taiji Tianyuan, which needed to be continuously smoothed out, patched, and enhanced through real combat.

Su Wanyue readily agreed. She whittled a wooden sword and stood opposed to Chu Hao.

Chu Hao also made a wooden sword. They were only sparring in swordsmanship, so naturally, there was no need for real weapons. Moreover, since both carried the mark of the Copper Valley tribe on them, they couldn't fight for real, and thus neither used their Star Force to avoid triggering the mark's passive defense.

"You attack!" he said, taking a defensive stance in line with his intention to practice Taiji Tianyuan. He unfolded the wooden sword, dispersing a series of sword shadows.

Su Wanyue thrust her sword, launching an attack with flashes of grey light, her swordplay quick as the wind.

Their figures flickered past each other and Chu Hao's clothes were suddenly riddled with countless holes—at least a hundred.

In other words, he had just been stabbed by Su Wanyue over a hundred times.

"Hahaha, you filthy rogue, what sort of sword technique did you create? Right off the bat, you got stabbed over a hundred times; it's hilarious!" Gu Qingcheng watched the battle from the sidelines and burst into laughter at his sorry state.

However, Su Wanyue wasn't laughing. She was deeply aware of the difficulty in creating a new technique; even a Heaven Level Martial Technique wasn't all-powerful at first but had to be gradually improved.

Of course, Chu Hao knew that Gu Qingcheng meant no harm; she simply enjoyed taking jabs at him.

He nodded to Su Wanyue and said, "Again."

Time and time again, Su Wanyue took on the role of the attacker, searching for flaws in Chu Hao's sword technique. Chu Hao, on the other hand, focused on defense, continuously refining and strengthening Taiji Tianyuan's weaknesses, thereby greatly improving its defensive power.

They practiced from dawn until dusk, with Chu Hao initially being struck over a hundred times, but by the end, only seventy times—his defensive power had almost doubled.

But this still couldn't be called a Martial Technique.

Too poor!

Any Martial Technique that revealed over seventy flaws in one move would lead to how many deaths in a fight against an equal? More so as the Taiji Tianyuan was meant for defense, where not even a single flaw was acceptable!

But this was Chu Hao's first time creating a Martial Technique, and without any experience, it was natural to start from scratch, from insufficiency. What was crucial was how powerful he could make this sword technique in the end.

At night, he practiced Dual Cultivation with Su Wanyue; by day, they practiced swordsmanship, almost always sticking together, which greatly annoyed Gu Qingcheng and the Barbaric Girl. The Barbaric Girl wanted to drag Chu Hao away to play, but Gu Qingcheng stopped her.

After all, Demoness Gu was sensible, knowing that this was a critical moment for Chu Hao. If he could forge his own path, he might one day reach the pinnacle, breaking the Gu Clan's destiny and achieving the position of War God.

Thus, the sword technique he was currently creating could potentially become a Heaven Level or even Divine Level technique, forever recorded in history, eternal and undying!

The next day, Chu Hao reduced the flaws in Taiji Tianyuan to just over forty; the third day saw further improvement, bringing the number down to just over thirty; the fourth day was just over twenty; and by the fifth day, it had been brought down to just over ten. But on the sixth day, when he tried to push the number of flaws down to under ten, he encountered the proverbial haste makes waste issue. No matter how he adjusted, it was futile, and the flaws had instead increased to over twenty, indicating a regression.

Chu Hao stopped to reflect, certain he had once again strayed onto a wrong path.

"This sword technique is already quite good," said Su Wanyue. "Most Martial Techniques in the world have flaws; it's just a matter of what price must be paid to exploit those flaws."

Chu Hao, of course, understood this principle. For example, the Sky Wind Eight Styles had flaws in every move, which were compensated for with powerful strikes. Before the enemy's attack could land, the opponent had already been swept away. Thus, the presence of flaws became irrelevant.

The best defense is a good offense, that's the logic.

However, as Taiji Tianyuan was purely defensive, leaving any flaws was extremely dangerous.

"Once I reduce the flaws to single digits, I'll start integrating the Intent Realm. The real ultimate move isn't just on the level of power—it must be fused with the Intent Realm!" Chu Hao thought to himself.

He had grand aspirations, wanting to create a sword technique that was at least of Heaven Level—otherwise, he would have simply gone to learn the Minor Sky Net Million Shadows Sword Technique directly.

His own Intent Realm, his own swordsmanship, when the two were integrated, would definitely be more powerful.

However, there wasn't much time for him to practice swordsmanship, as the Copper Valley tribe planned to join forces with the Three Flames Tribe and take down the ferocious beast guarding Iron Sword Valley first, then settle their rivalry; otherwise, neither side would be able to break through.

Chu Hao, having now advanced to War King and with a War Chariot in his possession, had achieved combat power on par with the Venerable Level and naturally qualified to participate in the joint war council of the two major tribes to discuss how to deal with that terrifying beast.

It was an Ironclad Sword Dragon, though not a true dragon, but rather a creature similar to a saber-toothed dinosaur, standing at the peak of War Venerate.

Even among those at the peak of War Venerate, there were still different levels of strength.

The High Priest, for example, was an Eighth Tier War Venerate, while the Nine-Headed Golden Lion from Red Flame Ridge was Ninth Tier, and the Hundred Insect Centipede at the bridge was also Ninth Tier, yet it was more powerful than the Nine-Headed Golden Lion.

The four Beast Venerates of Flame Mountain were relatively weaker, being only Fourth Tier or Fifth Tier, but the strength of the fire cockroach lay in its numbers and Corrosive Fluid; even if the Nine-Headed Golden Lion and the Hundred Insect Centipede joined forces to attack, it was mostly likely that they faced a greater chance of perishing.

—If they wanted to forcefully get through, it would be simple since their individual combat power was too frightening; but if they aimed to exterminate this swarm of insects, they would certainly be swarmed and pelted with endless Corrosive Fluid, under which even a Ninth Tier War Venerate would fall tragically.

Chu Hao had not experienced the situation at the snow mountains and was unclear about it, but the Ironclad Sword Dragon here had impressively reached Tenth Tier War Venerate!

How frightening was a Great Perfection War Venerate?

Therefore, even though the Copper Valley Tribe and the Three Flames Tribe had already gathered the forces of fifteen tribes, they were extremely troubled by this Beast Venerate; maybe they could kill it with a fierce assault, but the entire tribe would follow the beast to the grave, and even after their own tribe's demise, this creature might still be alive.

The alliance had become a reluctant move, and it was facilitated by outsiders from both sides.

After all, outsiders did not possess the sense of honor that natives held, achieving the goal was what mattered most. In comparison, what was wrong with joining forces? Isn't it said that the enemy of my enemy is my friend? Now that they all had the Ironclad Sword Dragon as a common enemy, they could naturally become temporary friends, and, after dealing with this, they could then determine who is stronger.

All the Venerable Level combat forces from both sides were deployed for a meeting in the middle ground between the two armies, where a huge tent had been erected, and everyone was sitting inside it, divided into two sides.

In such a meeting, Gu Qingcheng, the Barbaric Girl, and Fu Xue naturally did not have the qualifications to participate, while Chu Hao sat together with Su Wanyue.

"That man over there is Guan Feng!" Su Wanyue signaled with her eyes.

Guan Feng, who along with Su Wanyue, was one of the Ten Kings on the high platform, but unlike Su Wanyue who secured his position with the help of the Xuanyin Sword, this man entirely relied on his own strength to fight his way up; it was said he didn't use any Treasure Artifacts at all, which showed just how fierce his strength was.

Chu Hao looked over; it was a tall, slender young man who appeared to be only about 20 years old, but given a War King's lifespan of nearly four hundred years and their substantially slower aging, this man could very well be in his thirties or forties.

Seemingly sensing Chu Hao's gaze, Guan Feng immediately turned his face, looking back at Chu Hao.

Their eyes met, sparking an almost tangible clash.

Guan Feng cracked a slight smile and retracted his gaze, seemingly not taking Chu Hao seriously.

He had the right to feel this way, for he was an Eighth Tier War King!

"When he first entered this place, he was only Sixth Tier, but now he has reached Eighth Tier—the speed of his progress is truly shocking!" Su Wanyue conveyed via Divine Sense voice transmission. "Furthermore, it's possible that he may have reached Ninth Tier, or even Tenth Tier!"

Ninth Tier and Tenth Tier belonged to the "hidden stages," where the emitted aura was the same as Eighth Tier, making it impossible for even Upper Three Realm experts to discern.

Chu Hao nodded; even just an advance by two stages was quite remarkable since the higher the Realm, the more difficult it was to improve. It seemed that Guan Feng had also gained considerable advantages here.

—Being able to become one of the Ten Kings would naturally result in receiving Qi Luck, which was normal.

"Tomorrow, all our Venerable Level forces will act together, and we must take down that Beast Venerate!" the High Priest of the Three Flames Tribe declared.

"Then let's arrange the specific tasks," nodded the High Priest of the Copper Valley Tribe, getting straight to the point.

This was the most crucial part.

To deal with a Tenth Tier War Venerate like the Ironclad Sword Dragon, tactics were essential. Some needed to be responsible for diversion, others for the main attack; confronting this Great Perfection Realm Beast Venerate head-on would be tantamount to suicide.

But those responsible for diversion would inevitably be much safer, while the main attacker faced a high chance of falling, or at least being severely wounded.

The two tribes were only temporarily allied, and it was very possible that no sooner had they taken down the Ironclad Sword Dragon than they would turn against each other and start up a new great war. Nobody wanted to suffer heavy losses, only to end up benefiting the other side.

Therefore, the two sides engaged in intense negotiations, each trying to take on the lighter task.

(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)