đź“– Chapter 1285 - Scheme!
Laying down law with a word and one sentence decreeing Dao were fundamentally different things. For the former, although the manifestation of law made it seem omnipotent, it actually still relied on the natural laws originally existing in the world.
Meanwhile, the latter was creation ex nihilo. It was forcibly inscribing a new law into the starry sky, a law that would thenceforth exist for all eternity.
The difference between the two was like that between a founder and a mere successor. Although they seemed similar, they couldn’t be considered the same at all.
Now, as the red-robed young man decreed Dao with one sentence, the entire stele world shook. The brand new natural law unleashed its power, affecting Wang Baole’s Wood World in an instant.
Within the Wood World, rumbling echoed overwhelmingly. The black wooden nail, which was less than ten zhang away from the illusory face of the Emperor, was trembling violently, as if it was unable to hang on any longer. Flakes of wood began falling off of its edges, scattering into the surrounding void before dissipating into ashes. In just a few breaths of time, as much as 70-80% of the nail had disappeared.
The surrounding void turned hazy due to the residue falling off the black wooden nail.
Now, the black wooden nail that was so immense and tree-like from up close was more like a stick. Even looking from a distance, where its original nail-like shape could be made out… it no longer looked like a nail, but instead a thin wire!
And it was still falling apart!
It seemed that it wouldn’t take long before the black wooden nail was completely reduced to ashes!
Anyone could see that Wang Baole was in a critical situation, and even his life and death were uncertain. After all… the black wooden nail was his original form. If the black wooden nail was destroyed in this place, then Wang Baole himself wouldn’t be able to continue existing.
And this reversal had happened too fast. In the previous four element worlds, Wang Baole had held a clear advantage, but now… in the world of his essential Wood Dao, everything was the opposite.
Obviously, all of this was extremely strange. But when something was strange, there was always a reason behind it!
And this was indeed the case here. In an instant, the face of the Emperor laughed and began to speak.
“Wang Baole, you’re nothing more than a soul fragment after all. This time… you lose. Did you know? All along, I’ve been waiting for your Wood World.
“This is why I didn’t decree Dao during the previous four element worlds!
“I bore witness to your Five Elements Into Reincarnation. I watched as you defeated me time and time again. And now, I can see… your death! Wang Baole… I win!” The Emperor’s face seemed extremely pale at this moment. However, there was no madness in his expression, only a deep calm.
It was as if his earlier madness was all fake. His panic from sensing Wang Baole’s rise in cultivation, his anxiety as he rushed into the stele world… all of it was fake. Beneath his veneer of madness, he was completely calm.
Calmly, he waited for Wang Baole’s Wood World to arrive.
Calmly, he unleashed his full strength in this Wood World to decide the outcome in one fell swoop!
Everything that was happening in the Wood World caused waves of shock to ripple through the observers outside.
At this moment, in the starry sky of the Great Universe, the gazes on the stele world were all filled with fluctuating emotions. Due to the pressure of these gazes, the starry sky outside the stele world suddenly began to distort.
And these distortions only grew more and more intense, causing the stele that housed the stele world to seem as if it would collapse at any moment. At the same time, a gloomy voice rang out – the same voice whose starry sky had been destroyed by a cold snort from Wang Yiyi’s father.
“Trash!”
This voice was full of coldness and fury, along with disgust.
Outside the stele world, a figure suddenly emerged from the void. He was an old man wearing a long purple robe, and his figure was illusory. It was as if he was fusing with the starry sky, but also being rejected.
Right now, there was a dark expression on his blurry face. After speaking, the old man turned his head and looked at the solitary boat where Wang Yiyi’s father was.
“Fellow Daoist Wang, things have come this far, and we’ve already given him a chance. Do you still intend to get in our way?!”
Wang Yiyi’s father raised his head. His eyes were cold, showing no emotion, and he seemed to be utterly calm. Even though Wang Baole was at a disadvantage in the Wood World and could be killed at any moment, there wasn’t the slightest flicker in his expression.
He didn’t speak. But at that moment, a different voice, even colder and filled with dense killing intent, abruptly echoed out from the direction of the stele world.
“Who did you say is trash?”
Wang Yiyi’s father didn’t seem surprised to hear these words, only casually glancing sideways. The old man, however, was completely stunned. He quickly looked at the stele world, and his pupils instantly contracted.
On the huge stele floating in the starry sky, he saw… a face appear. This face… belonged to Wang Baole!
But the old man could clearly sense Wang Baole inside the stele world, battling the Emperor’s clone in the Wood World of reincarnation. That Wang Baole had fallen for the Emperor’s trap, and was obviously facing imminent danger. But the Wang Baole on the stele… seemed far stronger than the one within the Wood World. In fact, he seemed strong enough to shake even someone on the old man’s level!
“You…” The old man’s complexion instantly changed.
“The one fighting inside the Wood World is just a clone.” Sitting in the solitary boat, Wang Yiyi’s father spoke calmly.
“You thought he was going all out to fight the Emperor’s clone, but in reality…
“The one you see as a weapon, and the one I call little friend, has obviously already guessed at some things. He’s using the Emperor’s clone as bait, and the fish he’s looking for… are the ones trying to influence his Fetterless Dao!
“Fellow Daoist Jiu, your scheming is insufficient.”
As Wang Yiyi’s father’s words echoed, the old man’s expression became even uglier. His eyes were still filled with disbelief as he stared at Wang Baole’s face on the stele.
“I don’t believe it! Even if the true Emperor is slumbering, the divine will he sent out instinctively still isn’t something ordinary people can fight against. Even the wood source weapon, as long as it’s merely a soul fragment, should still require all its strength to put up a fight!
“How can you still have the power to appear outside? You should be at your limit just fighting the Emperor’s divine will. You…”
“You’re talking about him?” Before the old man could finish speaking, Wang Baole’s face on the stele calmly interrupted. Right now, the Wood World inside the stele world was like a bead, and outside the bead was an endless void. At this moment, that void suddenly churned, and in an instant… it enveloped the bead-like Wood World.
When this scene fell into the eyes of the old man, his mind rumbled. From his point of view, that churning void… was like a huge hand curling into a fist.
And the envelopment of the Wood World was the giant hand holding the Wood World in its palm!
There was no hint of struggle. In an instant, the huge hand expanded even more, fully stretching out of the stele and appearing in the starry sky in front of the old man!
From a distance, the hand stretching out from the stele seemed to shake the heavens. The fluctuations rolling off of it exuded the power of ancient times, as if it had arrived here from a bygone era. Moreover, coursing through it was a boundless vitality!
“All’s hand? You… you’ve refined the stele world?!” The old man’s expression changed drastically as exclaimed in surprise.