This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder - Chapter 652

Tianyi distanced himself. Bao Ling slashed again, but his speed was far inferior to Tianyi’s, even with his fused Law of Space. The wounds on his torso and arms did not heal, and they continuously leaked divine essence of chaos. The waste would have been heartbreaking for any other divinity, but it was only a drop in the sea for Tianyi.

Like before, Bao Ling’s slash prevented Tianyi from restoring the dimensional boundary on his form, but it didn’t matter.

A sword appeared in Tianyi’s hand. It looked closer to a ceremonial sword. The blade itself was silver, with countless gold etchings in the center. Although there was no jewel on the guard, the fine craftsmanship made it look closer to a work of art than anything used for combat.

This was the divine artifact Tianyi had been working on. He hadn’t refined any divine artifacts because it took too long, but after he started forging a lightning-type divine artifact for his Lingthing persona in the Veda System, he felt it was time to forge a divine artifact for his primary law.

Of course, time was still short, especially since Tianyi demanded excellence. Although he had access to the entire Nine Heavens Universe, he still had to manually comb through everything to find the perfect materials. Strictly speaking, the best materials were the nine planets at the core of the inner universe, but there was no way Tianyi would destroy the solar system just to forge a divine artifact.

Tianyi hadn’t completed the artifact yet, making it a half-finished divine artifact. Still, based on durability alone, it should suffice. He could take out the Immortal Confining Sword, but Tianyi would feel a bit embarrassed taking it out in front of Bao Ling, the Lord of Numinous Treasure’s reincarnation.

He no longer attempted to destroy Bao Ling’s sword domain because he knew it was not the key to Bao Ling’s presence concealment method. Rather than hiding to flee, it was more to find an opening, so it was closer to assassination.

His figure vanished. Although Tianyi couldn’t sense Bao Ling’s presence once he concealed himself, he had more confidence in his own concealment method. Even the Law of Darkness could not compare to the Law of Spacetime.

Bao Ling didn’t hide himself. He stood there and waited, as if accepting Tianyi’s silent challenge.

The long years had taught Tianyi patience, but not in battle. His figure appeared beside Bao Ling, sword held high above.

The reincarnation of the Lord of Numinous Treasure reacted, but it was too slow in Tianyi’s eyes. He had dramatically sped up his own time while slowing down Bao Ling’s time and shackling the surrounding space. Tianyi had emitted a passive effect of the same nature before, but it had not affected Bao Ling. This time, it was an active burst.

Tianyi’s expectations were averted—literally. Just as it seemed that his half-finished artifact would slice into Bao Ling, it moved toward Bao Ling’s sword as if by magic. Once connected, a powerful suction force absorbed all the energy. Even the foundation of the incomplete divine artifact was being sucked away.

From Bao Ling’s sword, he sensed the Law of Mass, the Law of Earth, and the Law of Space. It resembled a sword-shaped black hole.

With great effort, Tianyi managed to pry his sword away and retreat. He glanced at his incomplete divine artifact. That single slash had negated thousands of years of effort.

Tianyi flipped his hand. His half-finished divine sword disappeared, and in its place was the Immortal Confining Sword. Just in time too, as Bao Ling attacked.

Bao Ling aimed the sword tip at Tianyi and thrust. To Tianyi’s eyes, it seemed incredibly slow, but before he could process it, the tip had already reached his chest. It wasn’t a simple thrust, but rather something more akin to a drill. When the sword tip burst out of his back, Tianyi sensed the Law of Space and the Law of Time. He could even feel the faint merging of the two. It was far from complete, but its power was astounding.

He allowed Tianyi to recover. Well, “recover” wasn’t quite the right word, as divine essence of chaos continually leaked from the new hole in Tianyi’s chest and back. “Reorient” would be more apt.

Tianyi didn’t thank Bao Ling. If he thought more darkly, Tianyi could have taken it as Bao Ling underestimating him, but after experiencing the power of that strike, he knew that few divinities could withstand it. Even he felt that it would be troublesome to heal the dimensional barrier.

In fact, Tianyi felt it would be easier to dissipate his current conduit and form a new one than to restore it.

So far, Bao Ling had shown four styles: the penetrating thrust, the sword domain, the assassination sword, and the defensive swordplay that resembled a black hole. Each one exuded an aura of fused law. The fusion felt incomplete, but their power belied that incompleteness.

Rather than aiming for a full fusion, it seemed like Bao Ling only fused certain aspects of the various laws. That’s why the thrust had such a powerful penetrative ability. Why the sword domain could unleash an infinite number of sword lights, why his sword could attract attacks and deflect them like a black hole, why he could disappear even from Tianyi’s senses.

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Fusing only certain aspects of each law, while not impossible, was highly improbable. Not only did the cultivator have to have a high enough comprehension of both laws, the fusion point between each law had to share commonalities. Bao Ling’s sword ignored these two points.

The reason for all that was the Law of Sword. It acted as a carrier and vessel for these laws, allowing them to burst out with the full power of perfectly fused laws in certain aspects. While it wouldn’t allow them to be perfect in all aspects, the Law of Sword allowed its user to fight divinities stronger than themselves, and even cut through the higher mysteries of greater divine lines.

Tianyi didn’t know how to judge the Law of Sword. In terms of combat potential, it was undoubtedly unmatched. He imagined that if someone created the Law of Fist or the Law of Spear, it would be extremely similar to the Law of Sword.

It was a technical law that revealed its full power when fueled by other laws.

He wondered what other styles Bao Ling had made. Tightening the grip on the Immortal Confining Sword, Tianyi shot toward Bao Ling, sword poised to strike.

Bao Ling didn’t back down either. He raised the Qingping Sword above his head until the blade was nearly perpendicular to his back. When they neared each other, he struck.

The two divine swords clashed, but they did not lock. Tianyi was instantly blown away by the collision. He had always considered himself to be at the forefront of brute strength and speed. This was the first time in a long while that he had actually lost a contest of power against someone in the same realm.

Tianyi didn’t give up. His figure vanished, and he teleported next to Bao Ling. This time, Bao Ling smashed the flat of the blade against Tianyi, who raised the Immortal Confining Sword to block. He even placed his hand behind his divine sword as extra support.

It still wasn’t enough; he was still blown away. Compared to the first strike, it felt more like Bao Ling had smashed a cudgel at him.

He and Bao Ling continued their fight. In terms of power and skill, Bao Ling held the upper hand, but Tianyi was nothing if not tenacious. No matter what injury his conduit endured, he could constantly go on the offensive. If they had continued, Tianyi would have won if based on sheer endurance alone, but he knew he had lost the war.

When over fifty percent of Tianyi’s dimensional boundary had collapsed, Tianyi stopped. Bao Ling also halted his actions.

Tianyi stared at the sword god with complicated eyes, a bit unwillingly. “You win.”

He didn’t try to attack Bao Ling from the past, not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t. Perhaps it was the influence of the Lord of Numinous Treasure; he couldn’t affect Bao Ling’s past. As for striking into the future, it had minimal effect, so Tianyi didn’t use it. He could strike neither the past nor the future of Bao Ling. It naturally meant he could not create a reflection clone of Bao Ling.

Bao Ling cupped his fist, sword still grasped. “Thank you, but if this were a life-and-death battle, you would have won.”

“But this isn’t.” Tianyi shook his head, and the two of them returned to Three Purities Palace. Before entering, Tianyi waved his sleeves and erased the influence of the duel, so that outsiders who came could not piece together what had happened.

After the battle, Tianyi didn’t stay for long. That didn’t mean he left. He simply put a new conduit in standby mode within the Three Purities Palace in case he needed to contact Confucius or Bao Ling.

While his conduits continued on their journey to the systems marked by the reincarnations of the Three Pure Ones, Tianyi settled down and attempted to comprehend the Law of Sword.

Tianyi found that while he could copy the moves Bao Ling used, his progress in the pure Law of Sword was abysmal. Perhaps it was because the Law of Sword was not at the forefront, or because he simply did not have the aptitude for it even if it was laid bare before him.

Whatever the reason, Tianyi stopped comprehending the Law of Sword. What he copied gave him immense inspiration for how he could further develop techniques based on the Law of Spacetime. It would require greater mastery to achieve the same explosive effects, but it would fit him more. While Tianyi abandoned comprehending the Law of Sword for now, he continued to comprehend the various natural laws.

Although Bao Ling only fused a part of the Law of Destruction into his attacks, it still reached the divine level. Coupled with his own accumulation in the Law of Destruction, he reached the divine level.

Speaking of the Law of Destruction made Tianyi recall his second clone, Donghai Longzi.

Unlike Ba Shifang, who focused on the Law of Five Phases, or himself, who majored in the Law of Spacetime, Donghai Longzi’s primary law was the Law of Destruction. Because it was a higher law like the Law of Spacetime or the Law of Five Phases, Donghai Longzi reached the divine level after experiencing the baptism of Tianyi’s divine-level laws and fighting for his life in the Nine Hells Abyss.

Tianyi created him as a combat maniac so that he could absorb Donghai Longzi’s experience. Even though he knew he was created for this purpose, Donghai Longzi did not dwell on his artificial nature like Ba Shifang. He embraced it and was one of the first volunteers to slay devils in the Nine Hells Abyss.

Once he mastered the Divine Law of Destruction, Donghai Longzi immediately ventured onto the lower floors in search of stronger foes. He even encountered Knight Furcas and formed a devil contract with the latter, wanting to know the location of powerful devils.

Had it not been for Tianyi’s interference, Donghai Longzi would have stayed even longer. Tianyi now required his second clone to expel all the devilish influence before venturing back into the Nine Hells Abyss after accumulating a certain amount. He even suspected that Donghai Longzi would willingly turn into a devil if he could get a good fight.

This made Tianyi keep a closer eye on his clone. Still, it wasn’t all bad. It wasn’t his intention for his clone to contract Knight Furcas, but it allowed Tianyi to confirm the events when the devils invaded the Pangu System at the end of the primordial era.

That, coupled with the Concealed Emperor’s and Perfected Huanglong's recounting of the catastrophe, made Tianyi believe about ninety-five percent of Confucius’ words. He hadn’t revealed his meeting with the two reincarnations of the Three Pure Ones, still dwelling on whether he should.

Time passed, and Tianyi discovered the first system marked by Confucius.