Tome of Troubled Times-Chapter 784 (2): The Final Battle of Tngri

The axe howled through the air, stirring up a storm as it descended upon Zhao Changhe’s head.

He was still a second-layer Profound Control Realm powerhouse. Zhao Changhe, meanwhile, was the weakest he had ever been. His strength was nearly all spent.

Yet, Zhao Changhe neither dodged nor flinched. Instead, he lifted his saber in a direct counter, prepared for a brutal clash.

He could not retreat.

The others were still recovering from the residual might of the lightning storm summoned by Tngri when he wielded power at the threshold of the third layer. If Zhao Changhe withdrew even a step, Tngri would have the opportunity to flee, slipping away to some hidden refuge. If that happened, everything they had fought for, every risk, and every single effort they had taken would be meaningless. Right now, this sealed secret realm was perfect. It had only one exit, which was the very rift they had carved open. As long as that remained blocked, Tngri had nowhere to run.

From the very start, Zhao Changhe had wanted Tngri to retreat into his own secret realm. He had pushed him to return here deliberately, so that this place would become his tomb.

Everything had been set in motion. Every preparation was complete. Now, all that remained... was a test of raw strength.

The Taiji Diagram continued to swirl faintly upon the ground, absorbing and neutralizing residual energies. How could they not hold their ground?

As Zhao Changhe braced himself to meet the strike head-on, a brilliant burst of light flared from the distance. Yue Hongling, still recovering from the blast, suddenly gathered her focus. In her hands, her sword ignited with dazzling radiance. Then, a razor-sharp beam of sword energy shot forth, hurtling straight toward Tngri’s skull.

Flying sword!

At the same moment, Tngri’s unsettled emotions—frustration, rage, unwillingness—all ignited within him like a roaring inferno.

The Inner Flame!

The three of them—Zhao Changhe, Yue Hongling, and Huangfu Qing—had spoken no words, yet their souls resonated in perfect synchrony. There was no need for verbal exchange.

Tngri had once been completely immune to Vermillion Bird’s inner fire. Just moments ago, it would not have affected him in the slightest. But now?

Now, his immunity was gone.

The fire surged through his body, setting his very blood aflame. Embers flickered to the surface of his skin, breaking free into the air. And at that very instant, Yue Hongling’s radiant sword light, strong enough to force the scorching sun to set, was in his face!

Tngri clenched his teeth, suppressing the raging inferno within his body with sheer willpower. His axe twisted mid-swing, abandoning its strike at Zhao Changhe to intercept Yue Hongling’s sword instead. The energy blade shattered, and the bits looped through the air before returning seamlessly to Yue Hongling’s grasp.

She and her sword became one once more, pressing forward in a relentless charge.

As Tngri brought his axe back under control, Zhao Changhe had already adjusted the movement of his saber. His horizontal guard instantly shifted. Instead of merely blocking, his saber slashed forward.

The sky dimmed, the winds halted, and thunder stilled. His saber carved through space itself.

Hell on Earth!

Clang!

The axe’s handle struck against the side of Dragon Bird, knocking it off course.

Zhao Changhe swallowed down the blood that threatened to rise from his throat. In his left hand, River of Stars had already materialized without a sound. He drove it toward Tngri’s abdomen, vicious and unrelenting.

At the same time, behind Tngri, flames erupted. Vermillion Bird’s blazing spear was already upon his back!

Once again, it was Zhao Changhe’s family of three encircling Tngri, forming their relentless battle formation. Li Shentong could not even find an opening to intervene.

“Your formation... is ultimately incongruous,” Tngri spoke calmly. “You claim it represents the dual forces of day and night, yet there are three of you. You say it embodies the Four Idols, yet still, there are only three of you. You speak of Heaven, Earth, and Man, or the sun, moon, and stars, and the position of the heaven and the sun should belong to the strongest, yet you, Zhao Changhe, are currently at your weakest. My condition is troublesome, but are you any better? Watch me break this!”

As he spoke, his axe swung in a powerful arc, deflecting Yue Hongling and Huangfu Qing’s simultaneous attacks with almost effortless precision, yet he deliberately left Zhao Changhe untouched. At that exact moment, the intricate Spirit-Gathering Array, which had seemed like a mere pile of dazzling treasures, suddenly erupted with a terrifying light.

He had hidden an attack within it! The moment he reversed the flow of spirit qi, an overwhelming force descended directly upon Zhao Changhe. Yue Hongling and Huangfu Qing’s expressions changed drastically. They attempted to reinforce their formation to assist him, but Tngri’s axe just so happened to seal off their connection point, slicing through their coordination like the night sky split apart by the Milky Way.

It truly was easy to break. A formation was only good as long as it was seamless—once a flaw appeared, to a true expert, it was nothing more than a bunch of pieces glued together by a child.

Zhao Changhe’s gaze remained calm, devoid of joy or sorrow. He abandoned his attempt to thrust River of Stars into Tngri’s ribs, suddenly tossing the weapon skyward.

The firmament within the secret realm suddenly shimmered with a cascade of stars, and the faint image of a little girl appeared, arms outstretched. The Milky Way poured down like a torrent from the highest heaven, colliding directly with the dazzling light of the array.

Tngri had forgotten one thing: although Zhao Changhe had rarely used the might of his divine weapons, that did not mean he lacked them. River of Stars was undeniably a divine weapon, its grade undeniably above that of Dragon Bird. If Tngri had an external array aiding him, then why could River of Stars not serve the same purpose?

Boom!

A violent explosion detonated at the heart of the battlefield, sending everyone hurtling backward once more. Blood still clung to Zhao Changhe’s Dragon Bird. He had not even had the strength to swing it. Instead, Dragon Bird surged forward of its own accord, seizing the opportunity to cut a gash across Tngri’s abdomen.

It was as if it was trying to prove that Zhao Changhe’s external aids were not limited to just one.

Tngri, who had tried to crush the weak link of the formation only to end up wounded himself, let out a furious, agonized roar. With a vicious shake, he sent Dragon Bird flying away, and amidst the chaotic shockwaves, he surged straight toward the firmament. He rushed the sky that had been split open by his divine axe, trying to escape once more!

But then, darkness suddenly loomed before his eyes.

A towering figure blocked the rift in the sky.

“Get out of my way!” Tngri roared, bringing his axe down in a ferocious diagonal slash from his upper right to lower left.

Based on what he had learned from his previous battle with Li Shentong, the man was not one to rely on brute endurance. His combat style leaned toward defensive techniques. But against this strike, no matter what technique he used, he would have to reposition himself slightly to diffuse the force. Even a minor step back and Tngri would be free.

Crack!

The sound of the axe cleaving into flesh and bone was indescribable... It was neither metal nor leather, neither wood nor stone.

Li Shentong did not dodge.

Just half an hour ago, he had still been defending his stance, saying that he did not rely on sheer physical endurance. Yet, at this moment, he neither evaded nor blocked. He simply took the axe of a second-layer Profound Control Realm enemy head-on, standing unyielding at the rift, refusing to move.

The axe severed his left arm, then embedded itself into his ribcage. The sickening cracks of bones breaking echoed, but somehow... it fell just short of splitting him in two.

A cruel grin spread across Li Shentong’s grotesque face. With his remaining hand, he seized Tngri’s axe handle in a death grip. “If you weren’t trying to run, perhaps killing you wouldn’t be so easy. But the moment you tried to flee, I had already foreseen this.”

Tngri instinctively yanked at his weapon, but the axe head was wedged in-between flesh and bone, refusing to budge, and the handle was gripped by what felt like an iron vise. And in that instant, Yue Hongling’s sword and Huangfu Qing’s spear stabbed into his back, piercing through his heart.

With a roar of fury, Tngri abandoned his axe, attempting to retreat. Yet a Taiji force enveloped his form, slowing him down for the briefest moment.

The sword and spear plunged deeper into his back.

Tngri howled in agony, his entire body trembling with unleashed power. A violent shockwave blasted outward.

Yue Hongling and Huangfu Qing coughed up a mouthful of blood, but their delicate features hardened with unyielding determination. Even as the backlash wreaked havoc through their meridians, they clenched their teeth, refusing to yield even a single cun.

Above them, a saber roared through the air.

Looking up, they saw Zhao Changhe, eyes bloodshot and filled with unrelenting fury, with both hands gripping his blade as he brought it down in a savage cleave. Behind him, the Milky Way still shimmered, while overhead, the blood-colored sky seemed to consume the firmament.

Scattering the Gods and Buddhas!

BOOM!

The deafening explosion shattered the battlefield. None of them—Zhao Changhe, Yue Hongling, Huangfu Qing, or even Li Shentong—could fully withstand the force, and all four of them were flung backward.

At the heart of the explosion, a graceful figure suddenly appeared. Smiling, Ye Jiuyou casually pressed down on Tngri, reaching into his robes as if to take out something.

Tngri’s grip snapped onto her wrist, his voice a guttural rasp squeezed from between clenched teeth, “You... won’t... get it...”

Ye Jiuyou chuckled, casting a playful glance at the Blind Woman.

“He’s dying. What use does he have for the Heavenly Tome? Tell me, should I reduce him to dust or grant him the honor of becoming a corpse puppet?”

The blind woman smiled faintly, offering no response.

She had known all along. Ye Jiuyou had prepared a clone well in advance, lying in wait for this very moment, waiting to seize that single page of the Heavenly Tome. And now, at last, she had made her move.

Yet, Ye Jiuyou seemed unaware that the changes caused by mere mortals could even trigger a shift in the ways of heaven.

While she had yet to appear, just as Tngri’s axe was still swinging toward Li Shentong, the world outside the secret realm was already in chaos. The grand Divine Temple outside the secret realm buzzed with activity as a massive force of soldiers stormed into the Sacred Mountain.

Xue Canghai’s voice rang out as boisterous as ever, “Huh? Why is everyone already dead? Did we arrive too late?”

From within the secret realm, Zhao Changhe’s voice carried out, “Old Xue, catch!”

Xue Canghai blinked in confusion, just in time to see Zhao Changhe mid-flight as he was blasted backward, landing atop the treasure-strewn Spirit-Gathering Array. With a swift flick of his saber, a blood-red bead shot through the air, passing right by Li Shentong and hurtling out of the Divine Temple.

Xue Canghai caught the bead and his eyes lit up with unrestrained glee. “The final piece of the array plate!”

Without waiting for further orders, he swiftly took out the Blood God Array Plate and embedded the gemstone into its center.

A blood-colored aura instantly enveloped the entire Sacred Mountain. A tidal wave of violent, vicious qi erupted, reducing the once-majestic Divine Temple to dust. The temple was so utterly annihilated that not even rubble remained.

Xue Canghai: “......”

And at that very moment, Ye Jiuyou materialized, reaching for the Heavenly Tome page.

Zhao Changhe’s voice sounded once more, calm but decisive, “Activate the array plate and direct it toward the rift!”

Without hesitation, Xue Canghai triggered the array plate.

The most ferocious, most devastating explosion of vicious blood qi seen in this era surged toward the rift.

Zhao Changhe seized the barely conscious Li Shentong, dragging him away from the impact zone just as the crimson tide consumed both Ye Jiuyou and Tngri in its wake.

Elsewhere, Ye Jiuyou’s true body, locked in a silent standoff with the blind woman, slightly parted her lips in shock, her expression utterly shaken. “This... Was this part of his plan as well?”

“Of course not. The battlefield shifts in an instant, and in the midst of endless chaos, he makes the most precise choice. Above all else, this is what I admire most about Zhao Changhe. His combat instincts surpass even yours and mine.”