Austin Ninefold was deeply impressed that Joe Di could withstand the first five layers of his Ninefold Tower. Not only that, the sixth wave of blade momentum was more than twice as fierce as the previous ones.
But the more things went this way, the more excited Austin Ninefold became. How long had it been since he’d faced such a worthy opponent?
The sixth layer of the Ninefold Tower was like a vast universe suddenly torn open, but what surged out from this rift was a raging hurricane.
The hurricane rose from nothing, as if it would sweep away all chaos within the vastness. The entire space was flooded with wind elemental laws, and under such terrifying rules, everything would be transformed into wind or vanish within the storm.
Even as the sixth wave of blade momentum surged forth, Joe Di was secretly shocked. It was the first time he’d seen someone’s divine art possess such overwhelming power. The first five layers of the opponent’s artifact hadn’t reached this level, but if they had swept through with the same hurricane force, his Time’s Third Loom’s first five waves of blade momentum might not have held. Although his Time’s Third Loom could still unleash the sixth and seventh waves, he feared they wouldn’t be able to withstand the onslaught that followed.
The sixth wave, nearly fifty million zhang of blade momentum, collided violently with the raging hurricane summoned by Austin Ninefold. The laws of time and space split apart, and the wind elemental laws were shattered as well.
Countless fragments of law tore the chaotic space around the two into endless spatial black holes. Because these black holes were formed from shattered laws of time and space, they appeared utterly chaotic. Within these irregular, torn black holes, there was a dreadful wailing wind—just a glimpse could draw one in. These were fragments of wind elemental law from Austin Ninefold’s divine art.
But this was far from the end. Seeing the terrifying might of Joe Di’s sixth wave of blade momentum, Austin Ninefold’s eyes gleamed with excitement. The seventh layer of the Ninefold Tower opened, and yet another fearsome chaotic universe was torn apart—this time, the void was filled with thunderous roars.
With these thunderous roars came endless bolts of lightning—multicolored and uncountable. The thickest bolts were ten thousand zhang wide, while the thinnest were so fine they were almost invisible to the naked eye.
Such wild and dense lightning, shaped by the rules of thunder constructed by Austin Ninefold, swept toward Joe Di.
Austin Ninefold decided that with this attack, he would seriously wound Joe Di. He wasn’t ready to kill Joe Di yet—someone this powerful surely had a mysterious background.
Joe Di’s eyes were grave as well. He could absorb sources of lightning, so ordinary thunder attacks meant nothing to him. But the endless lightning summoned by Austin Ninefold was another matter entirely.
Austin Ninefold’s strength was absurd; with every strike, he could control all the laws of the space where they fought, turning those laws into his own divine art.
Joe Di could only be grateful that he cultivated the Path of Rules. Otherwise, with the opponent’s ability to control spatial laws, he would stand no chance.
Because he cultivated the Path of Rules, no matter what kind of laws the opponent’s divine art constructed, it could not affect his own. His divine art was built from his personal Dao rules. Whether in chaos or order, his art would not be swayed by the opponent.
As the seventh thunder layer of the Ninefold Tower split open and unleashed endless lightning, the seventh wave of Joe Di’s Time’s Third Loom had already risen, its blade momentum surpassing seventy million zhang.
When the boundless lightning and thick arcs crashed into Joe Di’s blade momentum, even Dean Bell and Lightning, watching from afar, felt the chaos itself tremble.
Dean Bell was still gaping in shock. He’d wondered if he could intervene, but now he realized the gap between himself and Joe Di was beyond words.
The vastness had long been torn apart by the divine arts and laws of the two. The shattered space was filled with the remnants of their rules, though most had been ripped to fragments.
Austin Ninefold’s eyes held a cold smile. If Joe Di could unleash an eighth wave of blade momentum, he would swallow all the shattered rules before him.
This wasn’t just his guess—it was a matter of experience and instinct.
Once Joe Di’s seventh wave of blade momentum was crushed by his billions of lightning bolts, it would be time for Joe Di to surrender. Although Joe Di’s seventh wave was shattered by the seventh layer of the Ninefold Tower, Austin’s billions of lightning bolts couldn’t truly harm him either. But Austin Ninefold’s killing moves weren’t limited to the Ninefold Tower.
If Joe Di wanted to avoid capture, he would need the highest-level chaos escape technique. Even then, he might only save himself; as for the flying planet forged from iron crystal, the chaos wood aboard, and the Seven-Clawed Divine Kun and chaos spirits on the planet, none would escape Austin’s grasp.
As the billions of lightning bolts from the seventh layer were torn apart, transforming into endless fragments of thunder law, Austin Ninefold’s hands wove complex Dao patterns. In the next instant, all those fragments seemed to reorganize, forming a brand-new world of gold, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, and thunder—with only one master: Austin Ninefold.
"You’re impressive, but it’s a pity you ran into me..." Austin Ninefold said calmly. Then, seven seemingly tangible yet intangible blade rays locked the space around Joe Di. Perhaps they were no longer blade rays, but marks of death.
Austin Ninefold was certain that, under this killing move, even Joe Di could not escape. Especially since Joe Di’s time-space blade momentum had already shattered. No matter what power Joe Di had left, he couldn’t possibly unleash a divine art stronger than Austin’s Sevenstar Death Mark in such a brief moment.
These seven marks of death were built from the shattered laws of the Ninefold Tower’s first seven layers. No one else could gather their broken divine arts and then unleash an even stronger killing move—but Austin Ninefold could.
In all history, he’d used this method only once before. He’d thought that, aside from that one person, no one could ever force him to use this divine art again—but today, he’d met another.
Almost at the exact moment the seventh wave of Time’s Third Loom shattered, Joe Di’s Azure Veil Blade swept up endless Dao patterns—Time’s Fourth Loom.
Much like Austin Ninefold’s technique, the fragments of time-space law from Joe Di’s shattered seventh wave also gathered together. But unlike the sinister, relentless Sevenstar Death Mark, Joe Di’s new divine art was grand and majestic—like the vastness itself surging in reverse, its killing intent unending!
Time's Fourth Loom—blade momentum converges, the resonance of slaughter rises!
Endless fragments of shattered blade waves crashed into the infinite lightning. While some were annihilated, most exploded alongside the broken divine art laws, filling the chaotic space with killing intent and transforming into white blade rays.
Just like: "Jagged rocks pierce the sky, furious waves strike the shore, rolling up a thousand heaps of snow..."
Seeing that Joe Di neither fled in panic from the Sevenstar Death Mark nor failed to react in time, but instead gathered the shattered divine art from the seventh wave and struck back again.
"An eighth wave of blade momentum?" Austin Ninefold’s expression changed dramatically. Had he misjudged? Could Joe Di really control and unleash an eighth wave?
Soon, Austin realized he hadn’t been mistaken. What Joe Di wielded wasn’t a simple blade wave, but a momentum built from the shattered laws of previous divine arts—much like his own Sevenstar Death Mark. Yet the difference was clear: Austin’s marks were formed from fragments, while Joe Di’s snow-like killing rays were forged from complete laws.
No, Joe Di was gathering shattered fragments of law and, in the shortest time, transforming them into complete divine art laws. That was something Austin Ninefold could not do. Without a profound understanding of universal law, such a feat would be impossible.
Because of this, it was the first time Austin Ninefold saw his opponent’s divine art remain completely unaffected by the cosmic laws beneath the Sevenstar Death Mark.
Austin was sure he hadn’t misjudged—Joe Di’s control over the laws of divine art surpassed his own. Not only could Joe Di command these laws, but he could also perfect shattered rules at any moment, turning them into complete attacks.
So strong!
Austin Ninefold was mistaken, but so was Joe Di.
In Joe Di’s estimation, Austin’s next move should have been the eighth layer of the Ninefold Tower—likely an ultimate ice law, unleashing a storm of ice and snow.
But to Joe Di’s surprise, Austin Ninefold didn’t activate the eighth layer. After his seventh layer’s billions of lightning bolts, the Ninefold Tower protected Austin, while he condensed the shattered laws from the first seven layers into seven killing marks. These marks, arranged like the Big Dipper, locked down all Joe Di’s space and vitality.
Joe Di sneered. Let’s see whose technique is stronger—your Sevenstar Death Mark, or my Time’s Fourth Loom.
(That’s all for today’s update. Good night, friends!)