I Am Courting Death

For an Emperor's Fruit that guaranteed one to become a Pinnacle Martial Emperor and if lucky, even begin their breakthrough into the Martial Sovereign realm, one could imagine how crazed these Martial Emperors had become.

What was once a respected realm of power was filled with detached beings who looked down on mortals, and now became a group of several individuals led on by their emotions and greed.

And at the center, the tree or the fruit on the tree that they fought over rested calmly and unbothered by the turbulent winds that were caused solely by these beings.

Swoosh!

Suddenly, two figures appeared next to the tree. One was a young white-haired beauty with even more beautiful sparkling phoenix eyes and the other was a dashing purple-haired young man with otherworldly wonder.

For a moment, Athena stared at the group of Martial Emperors battling. If not for being next to Blade at this time, merely from the shockwaves, it would be troublesome to remain standing.

The shockwaves from those attacks were simply that powerful, secretly shocking her as after all, her master was said to be a Martial Sovereign, infinitely close to a Mortal Sage, meaning that these attacks weren't anything in front of her master.

After a moment, calming herself, she glanced toward Blade who casually approached the Emperor's Fruit with his hands clasped behind his back and an unreadable expression.

"Seeing as they didn't sense your movements even though you're in the location of the same treasure they're fighting over, then why exactly did you stop... wouldn't it be better to take this fruit and leave?" She asked.

Smirking, Blade outstretched his hand, grabbing onto the pumpkin-sized purple-colored fruit as he yanked at it and detached it from its connection with the branch.

"Do you know why I've come here...?" Blade asked. Simultaneously, he threw the Emperor's Fruit toward Athena who instinctively caught it. As her brain processed his words and actions, a shocked expression appeared on her face.

"Go ahead and absorb it." Seeing her unmoving body, Blade voiced. "B-But...!" Before she could finish though, Blade's finger pressed to her lips. Though there was a veil blocking his finger, Athena could still feel how cold his finger was, as if he was a moving corpse. But she liked it...

"The longer you take, the faster the effects will disperse. I said absorb it, so I expect you to absorb the essence of the Emperor's Fruit without hesitation!" Blade ordered.

Meekly nodding her head with a blush on her face due to the singular fact of how close Blade's face was to hers, she sat on the sandy surface in a meditative position.

"Hmm... So your master also taught you how to consume these things... right?" Blade asked. Upon nodding once hearing Blade's question, Athena began absorbing the Emperor's Fruit by crushing it with her aura and controlling the oozing out liquid, and sending it into her pores... Blade suddenly felt pissed.

One may wonder what was a useless master... Blade understood clearly. He thought that eventually, there wouldn't be anything left to curse Astral for, but who'd have thought he was wrong?

'Honestly, to think that I'd have simply eaten it since they referred to it as a fruit. Anyway, it's not like I need to, or more like, it'll be useless for me.'

For someone... No, for the perfect Martial Emperor, a Nine Heavens Martial Emperor, normal treasures like this Emperor's Fruit would be utterly purely useless. It may have even been useless to someone who had Two Heavens, much less Nine Heavens.

Boom!

A mini explosion escaped Athena's body. At that moment, time seemed to stop as silence descended throughout the surrounding several miles. Sensing the change, Blade's lips curled up as his eyes formed into crescents. This was his true goal for appearing here.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Not even a second had passed but several more explosions took place. At the center of hundred meter-wide pond, on a small island a few tens of meters large, barely reaching seventy meters, several figures landed, each seemingly angrier than the other.

So angry that Blade's appearance didn't affect their mind whatsoever. Staring at the several figures that caused the winds to change and the surrounding temperature to fluctuate, Blade's grin reached his ears.

'This...' He thought. 'When I wanted to upgrade my system once again, these Martial Emperors appeared. Perfect... I could feel that after a few more upgrades, the little system would heal, so I'll use any means necessary... This is the main reason for appearing here, in a location that was destined to have Martial Emperors.'

"You! How dare you!" A bearded old man with a hunched back shouted. His face was red as he fumed in anger and his aura fluctuated.

The sandy surface trembled as if an earthquake was taking place and there were clanging sounds as if metal swords were clashing as Blade's figure was on the receiving end of several death stares.

If gazes could kill, he would have died countless times over. But, he remained calm in the face of several powerful Martial Emperor gazes.

"Not one, but several, each more powerful than the last..." Blade muttered under his breath as the strength of these Martial Emperors was even more powerful than he expected. But, this didn't deter him one bit as his voice thereafter resounded in his surroundings.

"If you want, I'll break it down... I'm a little brat who knows not the immensity of the heavens and the earth and am courting death, so there's no need to start a conversation. Let's fight trash!"

Thrum!

Once saying this, Blade's figure seemed to become transparent. Like the wind, he moved quickly, rushing toward the bearded old man first. But, at the same time, a snake-like whip that traveled through the wind as if aided by it, rushed toward his figure.

Swoosh!

Glancing toward the whip, Blade shook his head, sighing, as he merely shifted his head by a few inches, dodging the attack. But at the same time, the sand under his feet softened, and he was pulled downwards.

From above, raindrops began falling from the skies. The more striking feature was, these raindrops were a mixture of blue and red as they released a contradictory aura. These raindrops were frosty flames condensed into raindrops that concentrated on Blade's location.

Approaching from his side and toward his head which was the only body part of his that remained above the ground, there were countless shards of golden metal ripping apart the winds and making their way toward his location.

At the same time, a young-looking martial emperor with green hair and a pair of shimmering gold eyes rushed toward Athena. In his hand was a large broadsword that gleamed under the sun.

Its sharp edge rushed toward Athena's figure as the winds were parted and the soundless sword reached mere inches away from Athena's neck.

Bang!

Before it could reach her chest though, the broadsword exploded as a figure with purple hair reaching his ankles and hands clasped behind his back appeared. The broadsword exploded upon coming into contact with this figure's skin.

With his right hand, he casually struck out toward the young green-haired figure. His right palm reached the golden pupil young man's chest with true soundless power. There wasn't any sound as this attack had long transcended the sound barrier of this mortal world...

What was left was a gaping hole in the chest of this green-haired young man. Jumping away in shock, his eyes trembled and his pupils shrank to the size of a pin.

Sensing the gaping wound on his chest, the young man couldn't help but show a fearful expression as beads of sweat trickled down his cheek.

But, Blade didn't give him a chance. At that moment, Blade had already appeared in front of him, merely a few inches away from the young man's face was a right fist.

This right fist was coated with a burning yet freezing and destructive purple energy that seemed to warp the light in its surroundings.

*Puff*

The right fist owned by Blade faced zero obstructions as it extended outward. What was once a face was now a mist in the color of crimson blood red.

Pulling back his hand that didn't even have the slightest trace of blood, he clasped his hands behind his back once more before turning his gaze back to the group of Martial Emperors. It was a group of silent Martial Emperors that were left utterly shocked by what they had just seen.

One fraction of a second Blade was located in the center of the group, trapped and encircled and about to receive their several attacks simultaneously, and in the next fraction of a second, Blade's fist exploded another Martial Emperor into a blood mist.

[Ding!]

[Experience points: 740,000/625,000]

[Does the master wish to upgrade the system...]

Suddenly, a holographic screen appeared in front of Blade's eyes. Seeing this, he momentarily ignored the Martial Emperors who were dumbfounded, and placed a finger on his chin. Suddenly, he smiled...

"No, not yet... But, set the time to the exact moment that my body has been fully reforged by the Chaos Qi." Thinking of the next realm of cultivation, the Martial Sovereign realm, Blade got a little excited.