Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 675: Victory Belongs to the One With the Courage to Fight.

The most infuriating among Zhao Changhe’s “cheats” was a certain buff applied to all his weapons: the ability to harm the soul.

Even the slightest scratch would immediately disrupt his opponent’s soul, forcing them to expend a significant amount of energy to suppress the turmoil. What seemed like a minor injury at first sight was, in truth, devastating.

For someone weaker, even the faintest graze could easily be fatal.

Desolate Calamity, who had slept through an entire epoch, felt a strong urge to weep. In the previous era, soul-harming treasures were so rare they were practically unheard of. Yet here was Zhao Changhe—not only did he have them, but he had many of them. Even his freaking arrows had these properties! The extravagance was simply maddening!

But despite his flashy advantages, Zhao Changhe had not won yet. Similar to their last encounter, he was putting up a facade of overwhelming strength.

Desolate Calamity’s strategy to sever Zhao Changhe’s connection to the natural world had in fact succeeded. Zhao Changhe’s ability to perceive and counter his movements relied heavily on the Back Eye rather than his own senses. This was not just a minor sensory impairment—it was a profound disruption. More importantly, Zhao Changhe had lost not only his enhanced perception but also his ability to harness external energies to replenish himself.

The longer the fight dragged on, the less favorable it was for Zhao Changhe. Thus, his goal was to force Desolate Calamity to retreat before his energy ran out.

Desolate Calamity observed the seemingly calm and composed Zhao Changhe, his mind swirling with doubt. How could Zhao Changhe be unaffected by his disruption of the earth’s veins? Without achieving the Profound Control Realm, it should not have been possible to counter this technique.

Is it truly worth continuing the fight to test whether Zhao Changhe is truly as strong as he appears?

Zhao Changhe caught the flicker of hesitation in Desolate Calamity’s eyes and laughed. “So, you still want to fight to the death? You’ve improved since last time. Well then, have at it. Look out for my saber!”

With those words, Zhao Changhe’s arm suddenly bulged with power. Dragon Bird screamed through the air, slashing down in a crude, explosive style that the weapon itself might have mocked if it had the leisure to speak right now. It was an attack that evoked the imagery of a toad’s clumsy leap, but the sheer ferocity behind it was undeniable.

Scattering the Gods and Buddhas!

Desolate Calamity looked up. Against the backlit moon, Zhao Changhe’s shadow loomed with fiery red eyes, exuding a feral, bloodthirsty aura. A chill ran down Desolate Calamity’s spine, his damaged soul wavering under the oppressive force. This was a glimpse of the terror Zhao Changhe could evoke in his opponents.

Desolate Calamity took a deep breath, forcing his mind to steady. With a dry, snapping motion, his withered hand shot forward to meet the attack head-on, testing the true extent of Zhao Changhe’s strength.

His palm struck the side of the saber. Both fighters staggered from the impact, but Desolate Calamity suddenly felt a violent surge of vicious qi coursing through his body. His blood and qi roiled uncontrollably, threatening to burst from his veins. With his soul already injured, he found himself struggling to withstand the force of Zhao Changhe’s profound control.

Yes, this was profound control.

The journey of every martial artist during the Profound Mysteries Realm was a quest to connect with the natural world, to command their surroundings and internalize their control over power. This was the essence of profound control—to have command of a domain. Zhao Changhe’s entire path had been about refining his ability to command the power of vicious blood qi: his own, his opponent’s, the environment’s, and even the world’s.

When this control reached a certain level, it meant stepping into the Profound Control Realm.

Facing an opponent of Desolate Calamity’s caliber, Zhao Changhe could only summon his own vicious blood qi. He originally could not influence the energy within Desolate Calamity at all. But now, with Desolate Calamity’s soul in a weakened state, there was an opening!

The situation had flipped. Desolate Calamity could not drain Zhao Changhe’s life force, but Zhao Changhe could influence Desolate Calamity’s vicious blood qi. For a moment, Desolate Calamity himself was not sure who was truly at the Profound Control Realm. The sheer lack of impact of his techniques on Zhao Changhe was baffling.

Unbeknownst to all, within Dragon Bird, a fierce little girl was gritting her teeth and pouring her strength into the fight. This power was not entirely Zhao Changhe’s—it came from the saber spirit. As a weapon that had grown alongside Zhao Changhe, bonded through the power of vicious blood, the saber spirit had almost become an extension of its wielder, seamlessly mirroring his abilities.

This was the true value of a life-bound weapon.

Desolate Calamity struggled desperately to suppress the turbulence of his vicious blood. Finally, he broke away, retreating into the air with the clear intent to flee.

He had completely lost the will to fight. His opponent was simply too strange. None of his methods worked. Despite holding a cultivation level far above Zhao Changhe, he could not gain the upper hand. If he pushed further, he risked dying here. There was no point in continuing.

But the moment he turned to flee, abandoning his control over the disrupted earth’s veins, the vicious blood qi in the battlefield erupted like a storm. Countless crimson blades filled the air, forming a sea of blood so dense that every strand of light seemed to shimmer with the edge of a blade.

Bloodied Mountains and Rivers!

This was the battlefield of Tancheng, and Wan Dongliu’s forces had just stormed the city. Countless souls, brimming with hatred and vengeance, had perished here, saturating the area with raw vicious blood. Earlier, Zhao Changhe had been unable to tap into it due to Desolate Calamity’s suppression. But the instant Desolate Calamity turned to flee, Zhao Changhe’s connection returned. He seized the opportunity, unleashing the most ferocious and potent strike he had ever executed since breaking into the third layer of the Profound Mysteries.

When two warriors meet on a narrow path, victory belongs to the one with the courage to step forward.

If Desolate Calamity had stayed and fought, Zhao Changhe would almost certainly have lost. He was running on fumes, almost completely out of stamina. But since the demon decided to flee, the tide turned, and the outcome was thus decided.

Boom!

A deafening explosion echoed across the battlefield as the bloodstorm descended. Desolate Calamity marshaled all his strength to withstand the relentless torrent of razor-sharp blood energy, only to lift his gaze and find River of Stars floating high in the sky. Starlight poured down, illuminating the heavens as countless stars began to fall like a celestial avalanche.

There’s more?

Around him was a sea of blood. Above him, a cascade of falling stars.

At that moment, Desolate Calamity felt as if he had been thrust back to the end of an era—the collapse of the previous era, the apocalyptic scenes of destruction.

And the one causing it all was just a mortal cultivator, someone merely at the third layer of the Profound Mysteries. Desolate Calamity, his mind shaken, could not help but feel as though even a reborn Night Emperor could have done no better than this.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The falling stars crashed into the battlefield, battering Desolate Calamity with the combined force of a sea of blood and falling stars. He poured every ounce of his strength into defending himself, barely escaping the maelstrom of blades and meteors. His once-mummified body was now shredded to tatters, resembling a bundle of rags.

As he fled, his battered form drifted away like tattered cloth. It was impossible to tell how long he would need to recover from this defeat—or whether he ever truly could.

Zhao Changhe spat out a mouthful of blood, leaning weakly on Dragon Bird for support as he gasped for air.

Even after all that, he could not kill him... An opponent at the Profound Control Realm was ultimately not someone easily defeated across tiers. Replicating the story of ambushing and slaying the Sea Emperor was a pipe dream.

He did not bother chasing after Desolate Calamity. Instead, he raised a hand and pointed at River of Stars, which was suspended mid-air. The sword shot forward like a comet, streaking into the darkness behind him.

Clang!

The crisp sound of metal clashing echoed. River of Stars recoiled and flew back, just as Snow Treading Crow charged from the distance. Catching River of Stars mid-air, Zhao Changhe leaped onto Snow-Treading Crow’s back and galloped southward at full speed.

A shadow emerged from the darkness like a ghost, relentlessly pursuing him.

The choice to unleash an area-wide attack, like a storm of falling stars over a mountain of corpses and rivers of blood, rather than concentrating all his power on a single point, was deliberate. He had anticipated another predator lurking in the shadows. Only with such an expansive attack could he ward off a sneak attack.

Now, however, Zhao Changhe’s condition was far from suitable for dealing with the shadow behind him. His only option was to rely on Snow-Treading Crow’s speed to escape.

The pursuer sighed from the rear, his voice carrying through the night. “The Blood Asura lives up to his renown. We old corpses truly feel our age when we see someone like you.”

Clutching Snow-Treading Crow’s neck, Zhao Changhe turned back and sneered coldly. “Since you know you’re an old corpse, why not crawl back into your damn grave? What’s the point of showing your face here?”

The pursuer ignored the taunt and continued the chase.

This gave Zhao Changhe some peace of mind. Earlier, he had feared this shadow might aim to attack the Cui Clan or the troops of the Cao Gang. Now it was clear this figure had no connection to Desolate Calamity.

Everyone had their own agenda, even gods and demons. Desolate Calamity sought power tied to the earth’s veins and would work through mortal proxies. But for many other divine beings, mortal conflicts held no value—barely worth a glance.

This one, more likely than not, had come for the Heavenly Tome. Mortal battles were meaningless to him, mere noise in the background.

Possessing treasure invites envy. Zhao Changhe had known from the start that the Heavenly Tome would draw countless greedy eyes. It had only been a little over ten days, and the first already came knocking.

What he did not expect, however, was how crude the other party’s approach would be—lurking in the shadows to watch his battle with Desolate Calamity, trying to reap the benefits when both others were worn and weakened.

This is supposed to be a god?

Rather than irritation, Zhao Changhe felt an overwhelming surge of heroic fervor. Galloping under the moonlight, his laughter echoed across the night sky. “Old Xia was right... A bunch of decrepit corpses, scheming and scrambling like rats and dogs, yet daring to call themselves gods and demons! You should’ve all perished in the collapse of the previous era. Even the Heavenly Dao deemed you unworthy of remaining in this world! Sadly, the Heavenly Dao couldn’t finish the job, and Old Xia couldn’t finish it either. So I’ll take over!”

He swallowed a pill, silently activating the Rejuvenation Art. The energies of heaven and earth coursed through his body, gradually restoring his depleted strength and healing his internal injuries as he galloped.

“One decisive strike to prevent a hundred weaker ones.” Zhao Changhe pulled Snow-Treading Crow to a sudden stop, turned, and nocked an arrow to his bow. His voice resounded across the night. “The Heavenly Tome is here! If you’ve got the guts, come and take it!”

Whoosh!

The arrow tore through the air as if issuing out a war cry, a challenge issued to all gods and demons.

Within River of Stars, the spirit embryo stirred, its eyes opening. Its body began to stretch and grow.