Chapter 58: The Final Secret, Section 10

Muscles swelled out of control. The body stretched rapidly. Waves of excruciating pain tore through the flesh, yet it couldn’t even make Black Hair frown.
If the heart was already dead, then whether the body remained or not didn’t matter.
Really, it didn’t matter at all.
Perhaps, in Black Hair’s heart, he had guessed this final confrontation many times. But no matter how he thought about it, he could never imagine it would end like this.
Humans were ultimately not gods. They couldn’t know their own fate, let alone be omniscient and omnipotent. But when all the secrets were revealed, all that remained for Black Hair was an abyss of endless pain.
Emperor Moore was right—he had indeed orchestrated a drama that made Black Hair regret ever being born. What he didn’t expect was that the most powerful character in this drama wasn’t anyone else but himself.
Powerful forces hadn’t intimidated Black Hair, the distance from his lover hadn’t broken him, and countless battles hadn’t brought him down. Emperor Moore had spent countless years planning to make Black Hair submit. Yet in the end, it was merely his own face that achieved what all his efforts had failed to do.
This was truly a joke… If Emperor Moore had known this in advance, who knows if he would have shown Black Hair his face from the very first meeting. But now, it was too late.
He had indeed pushed Black Hair to the brink of collapse, pity only that it happened after Black Hair obtained Ya Zi.
Ya Zi—the strongest weapon in Huaguo. To outsiders, it might only be admired for its unique energy control technique. But in reality, it hid a profound secret: its incompleteness.
Nearly ten thousand years of calculation, nearly ten thousand years of refinement. Even though the base that created and nurtured it used every means possible, it still couldn’t make Ya Zi a perfect weapon. There was always one flaw—Ya Zi lacked killing intent. Or rather, it lacked the fighting spirit that a weapon should have.
It might sound funny—what killing intent does a weapon need? Weapons are used by humans, and as long as the humans have killing intent, that’s enough. Whether a weapon needs killing intent is not important at all.
Perhaps most people would think so. But in Huaguo, a country with ancient cultural heritage, it was far from the case.

In ancient times, there were Ganjiang and Moye from the State of Wu. They were ordered by the King of Wu to forge swords. After three years with no progress, Moye threw herself into the furnace, and only then were the Ganjiang and Moye swords completed. This shows just how important the “soul of war” is for a weapon. In ancient China, countless mighty weapons required blood sacrifices and offerings when they were created—not to enhance their fame, but because of the weapon’s own needs.

Yazi was born in a deserted manufacturing site, so until it met the Black-Haired One, it had no soul of war. In other words, Yazi had the body of a mighty weapon but lacked its soul.

But now, the Black-Haired One was finally about to grant it this final element.

“With my body, I shall forge your soul.”

An artificial lifeform from 7,600 years ago—its seal broken…

“Boom…” Thunderous explosions rang in the Black-Haired One’s mind. What seemed like just a few minutes felt like countless years to him. At last, Yazi calmed down, and he suddenly saw everything more clearly.

The sky was still covered in dark clouds, yet the Black-Haired One could see every detail of their movement. The land was still dry and cracked, but he could discern the structure of each grain of soil. As the wind blew, he gently waved his hand, and his body flowed with the wind like a leaf. Everything around him seemed under his control.

It felt wonderful. For a moment, he almost thought he was dreaming.

But when he looked down, he realized he had completely changed—or rather, Yazi had changed. Its original height of two meters had grown to over three meters, almost as tall as a miniature mech. Each scale was bright and vivid, as if alive. On its shoulders, the original dragon-head shape had expanded further, stretching half a meter in length. Yazi’s ferocious face radiated an endless killing aura—a presence the Black-Haired One recognized well; it was the same aura he emitted when he fought.

Behind Yazi, more than 300 prismatic objects spread out like wings. Each prism emitted a gem-like glow. Through them, the Black-Haired One felt his six senses expanding infinitely. The flow of energy around him was as if it were in his palm.

Was this Yazi’s true form? After merging with him?

So, who was the true entity—him or Yazi?

The Black-Haired One didn’t know, but he was sure he had regained control of his body. Not far above, in the sky, another human figure, also greatly transformed, was slowly floating upward.

The Emperor Moore!

No—more accurately, a clone of the Black-Haired One.

Affected by the intense attacks from the black-haired man just now, his golden armor had already been somewhat damaged. But now, it had once again returned to its original state. Moreover, many crystal-like leaves had appeared on the armor, floating gently just like the scales of Ya Zi. At the same time, seven or eight triangular flying objects hovered around his body, moving rapidly in strange trajectories around him. Each of these flying objects emitted a cold glint.

What was that? The black-haired man frowned slightly, sensing a terrifying force building up within the Moorish emperor across from him.

“Black-haired, you’re hurting me so much!” A hoarse voice revealed the clone’s anger. Yet, despite its face being identical to his own, not the slightest emotion could be seen. Noticing the changes in the black-haired man’s appearance, it sneered coldly.

“But that’s all there is to it. Though I really don’t want to use my powers, as it will greatly shorten my lifespan, I must end you now. From the moment we were born, only one of us can survive. It’s inevitable. Now that you’ve seen my secret, it’s time you understood.”

“…” The black-haired man remained silent. At this moment, he still didn’t realize what the changes in Ya Zi meant for him. But the clone clearly had become even stronger, especially those triangular flying objects that suddenly appeared around it, giving the black-haired man a strong sense of pressure, as if they could kill him at any moment.

Obviously, his expression didn’t escape the clone’s notice. Seeing the black-haired man paying so much attention to those triangular objects around him, it didn’t explain anything. Instead, it snapped its fingers lightly. Two of the triangular objects immediately deviated from their original paths and collided with each other.

“What the—!!”

The black-haired man’s pupils contracted sharply. A terrifying sensation overwhelmed him instantly, and without hesitation, he twisted to the side. Ya Zi’s unprecedented speed came into play as he teleported a full thousand meters away in an instant.

Then, to his surprise, he saw that far behind his original position, a massive hill, a kilometer high, suddenly split silently. Large amounts of soil, rocks, and gravel rolled away on both sides, leaving the center smooth as a mirror.

Cutting!?

The clone had cut through a hill in the blink of an eye?

What kind of power was this!? Why couldn’t he see the trajectory of its attack!?

For a moment, Black Hair’s heart was almost filled with shock. Staring at the hill that seemed to have been cut in half by a blade, he was speechless.
It wasn’t that he had never seen powerful attacks before. But no attack, no matter how fierce, could compare to the sight before him. Think about it—a hill over a thousand meters high—even if its soil and rocks were utterly dry—shouldn’t possibly be split in two in an instant! After all, aside from Snake Fang’s power, which rivaled the main guns of warships, such strength had never been seen in any mecha before.
After pondering quietly, Black Hair had to admit that even his own Ya Zi would likely be unable to withstand such a terrifying attack. Not to mention it was launched so suddenly, without any sound or trace.
Yet, the stronger the enemy, the more it stirred Black Hair’s fighting spirit. He had no intention of fleeing. After merging with Ya Zi, his anger and sorrow had been greatly absorbed. What remained was mostly calmness—absolute, emotionless calmness.
Silently, Black Hair moved slightly. Ya Zi disappeared as if into thin air. When it reappeared, it was already above the clone. It stretched out its hand in a palm shape and gently pressed downward.
“Boom!!”
The air within thousands of meters seemed to be compressed in an instant, producing a thunderous roar. The clone plummeted to the ground like a stone. Along its path, the air burst with crackling sounds. Before it even hit the ground, a huge ring had formed on the surface due to the immense pressure.
What incredible power!
Even Black Hair was stunned by Ya Zi’s strength after unleashing this attack. He hovered silently in the air, staring in astonishment at his own hand.
Was this still his own power? This sense of controlling everything—it was like that of a legendary deity. Could this be Ya Zi’s true form? A god created by the Chinese?
“Thud!!”
While Black Hair was still in shock, the clone crashed heavily to the ground. In an instant, hundreds of meters of ground undulated like waves—just like ocean waves. After those initial ripples, with a dull roar, the ground split open. A hundred-meter-radius area around the clone collapsed, forming a crater as if caused by a meteorite impact.
Yet, despite the sheer force of this attack, the result was beyond Black Hair’s expectations.
The clone was completely unharmed!

Slowly rising from the large pit, the clone’s body remained gleaming, not a trace of dust on it at all. Looking up, Hei Fa immediately saw a face filled with a scornful smile.