Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 594: The Godslayers

The plan to use the bow for a soul-extinguishing strike was clear to all three of them before the battle even began. Every single one of them was thinking about how to make it happen.

The onslaught of saber, sword, and fist was just a way to gauge the enemy and test his strength.

The results were clear: although the Sea Emperor looked a bit flustered defending against the assault, he was not in any real danger. In fact, with this new body, injuring him had become incredibly difficult. He could keep toying with them indefinitely. On the other hand, none of them could afford even the smallest mistake, not a single scratch. If any of them were injured, even a little, the scales would begin to tip until they ultimately collapsed.

But no one is perfect, and it was impossible to stay unscathed in such an intense battle.

On the surface, it seemed like an evenly matched fight with surprising twists on both sides, but it was far from balanced—the Sea Emperor truly held the upper hand.

That was also why the Sea Emperor was content to drag things out rather than attempt to break through their encirclement. The consequences for error were different. While he would be pretty much fine as long as the battle continued in the same way, dragging things out meant inevitable death for the party of three.

Therefore, if they were to release the arrow, it had to be a sure kill. They had no room for failure. If the Sea Emperor sensed that the bow was truly a threat, he would not just stand around toying with them any longer. If he decided to break free and flee, they would have no way to stop him, and once he escaped, finding him again would be nearly impossible. The Sea Emperor would then turn into a never-ending danger looming over them.

Not only did the shot have to kill, but it had to do so quickly, decisively, and without delay.

Lady Three’s gaze turned sharp, and she was the first to make a move.

Whoosh!

In the midst of the Sea Emperor parrying their attacks, he used his trident to counterattack whenever an opening appeared. It was Lady Three’s turn to take the retaliatory strike.

Lady Three, who would usually swat the attack aside, did not do so this time. Instead, a transparent Black Tortoise shield suddenly appeared before her.

The trident struck the shield, emitting a harsh grinding sound, like glass cracking under pressure. The shield broke, but it was certainly not such a simplistic form of defense. Instead of moving on to pierce through the wielder, the trident’s motion felt as though it had entered a deep pool of mud, facing layers upon layers of resistance that slowed its advance.

The Sea Emperor was not alarmed by this. In fact, he was even delighted.

This was absolutely a mistake on Lady Three’s part!

The Black Tortoise was certainly recognized as a masterful controller of water, and perhaps Lady Three was even used to using such tactics against her opponents. It might have worked against anyone else, but unfortunately, her control over water was far from being able to match the Sea Emperor’s.

The Sea Emperor was, after all, the being recognized by the Tome of Troubled Times as the emperor of the sea! Just days ago, Lady Three had been learning from his crystal core like a mere student! Trying to match him in the control of water was no different from a child playing tug of war with an adult.

Boom!

The Sea Emperor twisted his left fist, landing a powerful blow against Zhao Changhe’s saber. Zhao Changhe let out a muffled grunt as he was sent flying backward.

The most immediate threat to him—the broad, heavy saber—was finally out of the way. The Sea Emperor took Xia Chichi’s sword strike head-on, thrusting the trident forward with all his might.

Lady Three’s seemingly impenetrable defense completely shattered under the force, her shield bursting apart. The trident plunged straight into her abdomen, blood spurting out in a horrific display.

“Ha... To think a human would be foolish enough to challenge me in water control!” The Sea Emperor laughed aloud. “You’re just like your proud and spirited mother back then!”

Lady Three gripped the trident tightly, her expression resolute and calm.

The Sea Emperor’s laughter abruptly ceased.

He had sensed it—Zhao Changhe, who had just been sent flying, had switched out his sword and saber with a bow. As he drew the bowstring and notched an arrow, his eyes burned red, his muscles swelled—a clear sign that he was going all out.

The aura emanating from that arrow made every scale on the Sea Emperor’s body stand on end.

A soul-extinguishing weapon! They didn’t have this just two days ago. How did they suddenly acquire one?!

Lady Three had sacrificed herself just to hold the Sea Emperor down for this single moment. Zhao Changhe understood her intentions perfectly, executing his part seamlessly.

But would it even work? The Sea Emperor was an ancient god with extensive battle experience. He would not be foolish enough to wrestle over the trident with Lady Three—he could just abandon the weapon!

Without a moment’s hesitation, the Sea Emperor let go of the trident, retreating swiftly.

But while he abandoned the trident, he found that he could not escape.

Beneath his feet, the chaotic debris of the once-mighty temple had long since turned to dust during their fierce battle. Somehow, that dust coalesced into shackles, binding his feet to the reef.

It was Xia Chichi. She was making use of the Azure Dragon’s control over wood!

The shackles were frail to the Sea Emperor, easily shattered, but that brief miscalculation and the delay it caused was all it took to keep him pinned just long enough.

The arrow shot forth like a meteor.

Twang!

The moment he heard the bowstring, it was already too late—the arrow was already upon him.

The shackles crumbled as the Sea Emperor jerked backward, eyes wide with alarm.

Yet even as he tried to lean back, a snake-like whip emerged from behind, coiling into an impenetrable barrier behind him.

It was Lady Three’s personal defense technique, now used externally to form a wall!

Maybe if the Sea Emperor had just one more moment, enough to swing back with a punch, he could have shattered the barrier. But the arrow left him no such opportunity.

With a furious roar, the Sea Emperor swung his palm to intercept the arrow.

The arrow was fast, but he was not slow either. He managed to strike it just in time!

But just as his hand chopped against the shaft, before triumph could even flash across his face, another arrow silently emerged—from the other side—piercing straight through the back of his head, exiting through his forehead.

Zhao Changhe had shot two arrows. The first went directly forward, while the second used the distorted refraction of the seawater, changing direction mid-flight.

An ordinary archer could not have shot two arrows in such different manners, and certainly could not seamlessly blend the arrow into the distorted light paths. This was a special archery technique belonging to Hai Pinglan, combined with Zhao Changhe’s recent mastery of light manipulation from the Heavenly Tome.

Everything he had learned, all the new techniques, had come into play in this one battle. It was as if he had learned them specifically for this moment. Zhao Changhe poured every last drop of his power into those two arrows. He knew full well that the two arrows would decide their success or death!

“Urgh...” Lady Three had been bleeding ever since the trident had pierced her, but she had held on until now. It was only now that she finally doubled over—an indication of how instantaneous everything had been, a fight decided in the blink of an eye!

Had there been even a slight mistake, everything would have collapsed.

But there had been no mistake.

The arrow pierced through, and silence fell upon the scene.

The Sea Emperor, eyes wide with disbelief, stood frozen in place. “This is... impossible...”

Still brimming with power, the Sea Emperor could not comprehend how it had all so suddenly fallen apart. He had so many techniques left, so many moves unplayed...

Zhao Changhe ignored him, rushing to catch the collapsing Lady Three, feeding her a pill.

Lady Three stared at the Sea Emperor, her eyes blazing with a predatory ferocity—something that Xia Chichi had never seen in her before.

Is this really the same person who had been laying sprawled on a lotus leaf, laughing without a care?

The Sea Emperor, too, looked at Lady Three, saying with difficulty, “You do realize that with my strike, you were meant to die—not just exchange an injury for my life?”

“I know,” Lady Three replied calmly. “I only needed you to die in front of me.”

Xia Chichi was stunned for a moment, then darted over in a panic, desperately attempting her shaky Rejuvenation Art only to find that Zhao Changhe had already started doing the same seemingly ever since he had caught Lady Three.

The Sea Emperor slowly said, “I heard... you’re slow, and lazy.”

“Yes, I’m slow. This was the only plan I could think of.”

Shelly was not slow, nor was she lazy. She was simply like a hidden current at the ocean’s depths—silent and unseen. But when she made her move, she would create a towering wave.

The Sea Emperor was silent for a moment, then said, “The Soul of the Sea... is yours.”

With those words, his body began to dissolve, transforming into a mist.

From within the mist, his final words echoed, “Don’t trust the Heavenly Tome too much... She never has your best interests at heart.”

The voice lingered, then faded completely.

The mist condensed into a drop of water, suspended in the air, carrying an indescribable aura.

The so-called Soul of Water, or the Soul of the Sea, as he called it... was likely a divine treasure, capable of pushing one’s control of water to the pinnacle.

But at this moment, no one had the mind to pay it any attention. As the vengeance for her parents finally dissolved before her eyes, Lady Three’s spirit gave way, and she lost consciousness completely.

Zhao Changhe, his face grim, reached into Lady Three’s robes and pulled out several pieces of dragon hide and scales, stacked together—now shattered from the trident’s strike. But thanks to these layers of protection and with his timely Rejuvenation Art, the Sea Emperor’s certainty of her death turned out to be wrong.

Lady Three had refused to give the dragon hide to him, insisting it was for some so-called elite warriors in the cult.

But in reality, she had been preparing for this all along...

The tortoise is slow, yet that is why she always plans far in advance.

Yet it was still a gamble—one that risked her very life. Who could know if the shield could dissipate enough of the trident’s power? It could have very well have been the end for her.

But Lady Three, the tortoise, no longer wanted to think so much. She had suppressed her emotions for far too long.

Zhao Changhe lowered his head, kissing her lips, drawing out the last remnants of his energy and channeling it into her. “Fool...”

In the sky, a golden light flashed.

In the tenth month, an entire two years since Zhao Changhe first began practicing martial arts. Together with Black Tortoise and Xia Chichi, he fought the Sea Emperor. Black Tortoise traded injury for victory. Zhao Changhe shot the arrow that killed the Sea Emperor.

The Sea Emperor has fallen.

This battle spanned sixteen years, involving countless lives. Hai Pinglan severed the faith for the Sea Emperor, Xia Longyuan wounded his body, and Zhao Changhe extinguished his soul. The first battle of gods and men in this era has come to an end.

There were no changes in rankings or praise. The Tome of Troubled Times left it at that.

The fewer the words, the greater the significance.

People all over the world looked up to the sky, mouths agape in shock.

This was a god recognized by the Tome of Troubled Times, unlike the false gods they had encountered before. To bear the title of a true god meant surpassing others in a fundamental way, through immortality, or by mastery over a law of existence.

But today, a god had fallen.

The Sea Emperor had survived the collapse of the previous era, barely holding on until now. He had just started to emerge, attempting to regain his former glory, only to be brought down by mortals.

The “two-year martial artist” note by the godslayer’s name was enough to make people curse, but few actually doubted the significance of the Tome of Troubled Times’ announcement. It wanted the world to know that the Sea Emperor had not fallen to some mere human who had trained for just two years—Zhao Changhe had only delivered the final blow, the killing strike. Even two days earlier, there had been mention of the Sea Emperor self-destructing his body, leaving him gravely injured.

The truth was that this battle had started sixteen years ago, forged by the collective will of countless heroes of this age, each one playing their part. The Black Tortoise even sacrificed herself, and she had just recently risen to the seventh rank on the Ranking of Heaven.

Yet, the name of the godslayer still shone brightly—blindingly so—stirring envy and fear. Few could comprehend how it had been done.

Moreover... the words “first battle of gods and men in this era” carried another implication, that perhaps gods and demons had also been brought down by mortals in the previous era.

There were also further implications, such as that perhaps gods and demons were not born as such. And the fact that gods and demons could die truly became known, as well as that even someone on the Ranking of Earth could take one’s head.

Kunlun Mountain.

The usually steady hands of Yuxu, one of the figures ranked among the top four in the world, trembled as he brewed his wine. The wine jar in his hand slipped and shattered into pieces on the ground.

He cared not about the wasted liquor, staring dumbfounded at the sky, whispering to himself, “So... it really is possible.”

In countless abyssal depths, similar whispers could be heard, “Troubled times are upon us... A woman’s heart is most vicious...”