Chapter 680: Willpower! Stand Firm!!

A spirit sword embodying the will to kill—immortal and indestructible, impossible to evade!
Yet the intense sense of threat emanating from the black sword body made Kai Xin feel as if he were about to be torn apart, with alarms ringing loudly in his heart.
Enduring the excruciating pain as the surrounding sword energies violently tore at his body, Kai Xin clung to the wisp of sword energy in his fingers, closed his eyes, and focused on the black sword body floating before the Emperor.
The Emperor was equally sensitive to sword energies. Though he was already unconsciously controlling them, he was quickly “awakened” by an astonishing willpower arising from the swirl of sword energy!
An innate vigilance against threats caused him, who was almost entirely under the control of the will to kill, to snap back to consciousness at the last moment…
His eyes snapped open.
The black sword body in front of him seemed to sense some threat originating from its own core. Unable to draw on the Emperor’s internal energy, it uncontrollably let out a loud roar from the air.
The air trembled slightly!
The countless sword energies surrounding Kai Xin dispersed in an instant, as the black sword body shot through the air…
Almost the moment the Emperor opened his eyes, Kai Xin’s alarms blared. Without hesitation, he sent the condensed sword energy from his fingers out silently.
Whoosh!
A surprising scene unfolded.
As the Three Dragon Sword Energies appeared, the sharp sword energies around them seemed to encounter their nemesis. Under their majestic and domineering presence, like subjects facing a noble emperor, the tips of those sword energies quickly melted away, and wherever they passed, all other sword energies dispersed and vanished into the air.
However, the appearance of the Three Dragon Sword Energies did not affect the massive black sword body at all…
The two collided violently in midair!
Black light and golden light collided fiercely, creating a dazzling burst of light in the air.
Yet, observant experts detected through certain special means that the battle seemed to have ended.
…
Under their spiritual perception, two soul-shaking sword energies collided violently, their momentum stopping simultaneously. The huge black sword body then transformed into a thin beam of light, piercing through Kai Xin’s chest.
His body trembled!
Kai Xin endured the strike expressionlessly. His shoulder staggered, the bronze glow beneath his skin faded rapidly, and a black crack appeared on his golden armor. Dark red blood slowly seeped out.

Yet, Happy never fell. His feet clung tightly to the ground as he forced air into his lungs. The Nine Yang Divine Skill protected his already shattered heart vessels. Ignoring the blood flowing profusely from his wounds, he opened his eyes and stared at the pale, seemingly extremely weak Emperor. A gentle breeze blew slowly between the two of them… Thousands of broken grass blades floated between them like scattered flowers. The grass within a hundred meters had long been completely crushed! The ground was filled with dense, crisscrossing sword energy grooves, all pointing at Happy. The battle was over! Happy ultimately failed to parry the Emperor’s final strike and perished at his hands. At this moment, the martial artists watching from afar took a deep breath in shock: It’s over! With Happy’s defeat, this ultimate showdown in the Central Plains martial world came to an end with the Emperor’s magnificent and powerful seventh strike… Although Happy had performed exceptionally well earlier, he still couldn’t withstand the final strike and died at the Emperor’s hands. However, many martial artists were deeply moved by the sight of Happy standing firm before the Emperor until his death, like an immortal war god, exuding immense intimidation and pressure. The Number One Master! Happy, the legendary expert who had dominated the martial world for a year, finally suffered his first defeat in life. He also relinquished the title of “Number One Master in the World” he had earned from the Heroic Villa. Just as everyone was about to accept the Emperor as the “Number One Master in the World,” a doubtful whisper suddenly arose from the woods: “The Emperor… seems a bit… off.” “Huh?” Prompted by this voice, many martial artists realized that, just like Happy, although the Emperor showed a breathtaking smile after delivering the final strike, over time, that smile seemed to lose its vitality and became blurred. “The Emperor is dead too.” Several people stepped forward from the crowd, staring at the battlefield that resembled a sacred place and the two figures facing each other. Sighing, they answered the question in everyone’s mind: “Look at the Emperor’s forehead.” Countless gazes turned to the Emperor’s forehead… There, indeed, was a tiny red dot—so small that it was hard to spot without close inspection. The crowd was shocked beyond measure!

I thought “One Emperor” had completely won the earlier clash, but unexpectedly, his final strike failed to utterly destroy Happy’s sword spirit; instead, Happy ended his life in the same way.
Even in death…
One Emperor stood upright at the spot where he fought until the end, just like Happy.
Only his last smile remained unfathomable to everyone.
…
“Get ready to act. Anyone who dares to lay eyes on the Sky Crystal or that divine weapon will be killed without mercy,” Silver Fox said coldly, whispering to Wind Chime, who was dressed in plain white clothes beside her.
The latter nodded!
Under the protection of the experts from the Mu Family and the Heroic Gate, they quietly took out the Six-String Demon Zither from its case…
…
“They’re all dead…”
“The Sky Crystal!”
Indeed, many people in the crowd began to stir. Dozens of figures shot like arrows toward the stone platform where Happy and One Emperor sat.
However…
It wasn’t just them who had noticed that for a long time. Many other players, the moment those people moved, drew their bows, nocked arrows, or fired their hidden weapons with murderous intent.
The dozen or so overconfident individuals were instantly killed by the barrage of hidden weapons and arrows outside the battlefield.
“Happy and One Emperor’s things aren’t something you can desecrate!”
“Whoever dares to touch their belongings will die!!” Roars rang out from the crowd.
Many smarter players had planned to let those people attack first so they could seize the items in the chaos, but many experts in the crowd removed their hoods, revealing their true identities.
“‘Tian Xuan,’ ranked 37th on the Dragon List, ‘Luo Qi,’ ranked 18th…”
“The Three Heroes of Taihu!”
“‘Orochimaru,’ the top expert on the Evil Ones List, has arrived too.”
“Those women seem to be from the Phoenix List… Damn it… Mo Feng, Qin Yun…”
Faced with one after another powerful figures, famous and unknown, many players with malicious intentions trembled! The crowd regained its calm.
In the distance, they returned to their positions to watch…
Far away, Happy and One Emperor still stood firm on the battlefield!