This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder
Chapter 600: The Number One Killing Formation

Emperor Bladeheart sighed in relief. He looked at the distressed Gale Marchioness. She was distracted because of the Divine Flame Sovereign’s accident.

All Emperor Bladeheart needed to do was to sneak up behind her and finish her off. Even if his sword had transformed into scrap metal, his mastery of the worldly law would be more than enough to finish off the vulnerable divinity.

Ever the opportunist, Emperor Bladeheart rushed toward the Gale Marchioness. His figure turned shadowy and merged with the darkness, disappearing from sight.

Emperor Bladeheart stored the scrapped emperor-level sword and took out a new sword. As a sword emperor, it was simple for him to have a few backups in case he lost his original weapons. However, he only had one emperor-level sword, so his replacement was a mere monarch-level artifact, but it was enough.

He approached silently, preparing to end the Gale Marchioness—

—and froze.

A familiar and ominous premonition of danger emerged in his heart. No, the depth of danger was even greater than before!

A fiery hand shot out of the blaze, reaching for him.

‘Impossible!’ Emperor Bladeheart thought. He knew who had attacked the Divine Flame Sovereign to save him. The gulf between an immortal sovereign and a divinity was wider than the gulf between a mortal and a true immortal.

Unless a sovereign was at the cusp of apotheosis, it should be impossible for them to survive under a divinity’s blow. Even if they had an avatar or clone, the divinity’s attack was too profound and could destroy their souls.

‘Is it because of the flame?’ Emperor Bladeheart thought. When he first saw the five-colored flame, it gave him a sense of unprecedented danger far beyond immortal sovereigns. In fact, seeing the flame reminded him of Divinity Yanxu’s aura.

The sword emperor didn’t have much longer to think as he had to flee. Perhaps if he had chosen to flee, the five-colored fiery giant could not catch him so easily, but he had chosen to attack the Gale Marchioness.

“Is this the end?” Emperor Bladeheart asked. He had tried to hide in the shadows, but the radiance of the flame giant dispelled the darkness. Even if he just fled as fast as possible, the sheer heat had twisted space itself, forming a closed loop that only brought him closer to death.

Soon, Emperor Bladeheart’s vision was filled by the flaming giant’s palm. Just as the hand wanted to close in around him, the situation changed once more.

Yan Nie gritted his teeth and changed his course of actions. The flame giant he condensed jumped out of the way, but it still couldn’t completely avoid the sword light. The sword light sliced through its arm, separating it from the giant’s body.

The flaming arm fell and dispersed in a blaze of fire.

“Xialan, retreat!” Yan Nie shouted.

Yun Xialan nodded. She knew that her presence would only hold back Yan Nie. It was fine if she fell, but if her presence caused Yun Xialan to die, she would never be able to forgive herself.

As Yun Xialan left, Yan Nie stared at the center of the Numinous Sword Sect. Both he and Yun Xialan knew who attacked him, but it was not without cost.

Because Divinity Yanxu focused his attention on Yan Nie for a split second, Tianyi used this opening to deploy two Stellar Silences, one for each strike. The two Stellar Silences together weren’t as powerful as a single Constellation Cessation, but they were more than enough to destroy several layers of the Numinous Sword Sect’s protective formations.

A few unlucky sword immortals or war formations were caught up in the aftermath and perished. Naturally, none of the Immortal Court’s side suffered the same loss because Tianyi aimed for areas without his allies.

“I’ve increased the pressure on Divinity Yanxu. If he dares to attack you again, the Numinous Sword Sect will definitely pay a much higher price than before. He shouldn’t dare to be distracted again.” Tianyi’s immortal sense transmission reached Yan Nie’s ears.

Yan Nie nodded, but for the time being, he did not plan to take action. Did Tianyi think that the two sword lights from Divinity Yanxu had no effect on him? It was quite the opposite.

The first strike directly pierced his dantian. If he was still a mortal, his spiritual core would have directly shattered. Even if he now possessed an immortal body, Divinity Yanxu’s will inside the sword light attacked his body from the inside. It was a group of terrifying, steel-devouring ants gnawing at his body.

Were it not for the five-colored flame, it would have taken him much longer to eliminate the divinity’s will inside his body. If he could not eliminate the will, the sword light would continue to attack his body, and his combat effectiveness would plummet. Were it any other immortal sovereign, they might have become disabled, if not dead.

The five-color flames was the result of merging five sovereign-level fires he created during his years of cultivation. For others who followed the same path, they would have to comprehend the Law of Five Phases to a deeper level before integrating into the Law of Fire, but it was different for Yan Nie.

Yan Nie also followed that method, but he had a faster way. He would deepen his understanding of the Law of Fire, Law of Water, Law of Earth, Law of Metal, and Law of Wood individually and use them to create powerful fires. Deepening his understanding meant fusing them with other laws, and that included each other.

So far, each separate law of the five elements had fused with three other laws. Only the Law of Fire successfully fused with four other laws. The only law the Law of Fire had not fused was the Law of Metal, the most difficult of the five elemental laws to fuse with the Law of Fire.

Once they created a powerful fire, he would merge them together into one fire. This was not something anyone could do. If other immortals attempted this, it would almost be a guaranteed failure, but Yan Nie had a special talent in this aspect. The fused fire would always be above his current realm.

The fire he condensed as a true immortal was at the immortal monarch level. The fire he made as an immortal monarch was as powerful as an emperor-level fire. It was only when he became an immortal sovereign that the fire created could not cross realms. Instead, it was a fake divine fire, not even a half-divine fire, but it gave him the foundation to resist against divinities.

Because he did not always keep the same combination of fusion laws, when he merged the five fires, it would produce a pseudo Law of Five Phases. If he’s lucky and it’s stable, he could look at the flame to comprehend the Law of Five Phases.

Perhaps once each of his five elemental laws completely fused with the other four elemental laws, he would be able to create a half-divine fire. Yan Nie wasn’t sure, but he was confident that no immortal sovereign could defeat him.

Except Tianyi. That guy was not counted.

While Tianyi distracted Divinity Yanxu, Yan Nie advanced. He didn’t think it was shameful for a divinity to attack an immortal sovereign like himself. This was war, after all. But don’t expect him to hold back after being attacked.

Yan Nie was like Typhon from Greek Mythology, a legendary incarnation of destruction. Wherever he walked, only ashes remained in his wake.

Although Yan Lie only needed to fuse the Law of Five Phases into the Law of Fire to become a divinity, it didn’t mean he didn’t fuse other laws aside from the elemental laws. Perhaps it was a common talent among reincarnators, but he also had talent in the Law of Space and fused some of it with the Law of Fire.

Because of this, the fiery heat of his giant incarnation twisted the air, causing it to distort visually and literally. Before his enemies were burned by the flames, they would be twisted by the distortions of space. Any true immortal that came too near would be met with almost instantaneous death.

Yan Nie attacked everyone in his path. Be it emperor war formation, sword emperor, sword monarch, or even sword lord. None were spared. Since Divinity Yanxu attacked those weaker than him, he would do the same.

Of course, sword emperors were still extremely rare among the Numinous Sword Sect. He even saw a sword emperor with a hint of divinity. That did not mean the sword emperor had the potential to become a divinity, but that the Numinous Sword Sect attempted to create an existence similar to the Cloud Duchess but failed.

Although the Immortal Court could use the power of faith to create a divinity, it did not mean the Numinous Sword Sect could replicate this miracle. A ritual needed to be used, and several other procedures. The Numinous Sword Sect lacked their inheritance, hence the imperfect divinity.

Although the sword emperor could not become a true divinity, meaning that he could not utilize all the faith and increase his power, it solved the problem of lifespan.

The Numinous Sword Sect knew its process of creating a divinity was imperfect, so they simply used it as a method to extend the lifespan of the hibernating sword emperors in this dire time.

They also tried to get the perfected method by trading with the Cloud Duchess when she was still the leader of the Anti-Heaven Alliance. For this, they paid a high price, but after learning of her true allegiance, none of them dared to use the method she traded them.

Yan Nie’s eruption was like throwing a giant boulder in an already turbulent pond. His presence gave the Immortal Court, which already had a large advantage, an even greater advantage.

A broadsword appeared in the flame giant’s hand. Compared to the giant’s body, which resembled the surface of a star, the broadsword was like a solid object. It gave off a metallic sheen in addition to the dull radiance.

The five-colored flame giant clenched the hilt with both hands and raised it above its head. He brought it down.

A vortex of concentrated flame that resembled a beam erupted from the broadsword and sliced the sky and earth apart, leaving a deep canyon in its wake. Only when the attack struck the guardian formation did it stop. Even so, it caused the land to quake. The guardian formation remained strong, but several cracks appeared. Just a little more damage and another layer would be destroyed.

All the sword immortals caught up in the beam were vaporized. Even the war formations were directly destroyed. The only ones that could resist it were the emperor war formations.

“That took a lot more than I expected. I can probably do it a few more times at most. But compared to Tianyi’s attack, it’s not as effective. Forget it. It’s good to get rid of a few more monarchs and war formations before retreating.”

Yan Nie continued to attack, disregarding the consumption. Once he used up all his essence qi, even a first-step monarch would be able to kill him, but he still did it, regardless.

His actions brought chaos to the Numinous Sword Sect’s forces. The already unfavorable situation turned even worse. Every immortal, regardless of their allegiance, paid attention to Yan Nie.

Before, Tianyi’s fame cast too long of a shadow. Many talented people all paled in comparison, but Yan Nie’s actions this time made many reconsider his potential. At least, they all saw Yan Nie have a hope to reach the Divine Realm. At least in Divinity Yanxu’s eyes, Yan Nie showed greater potential than Tianyi in this regard.

Because of this, he decided to flip the table. Yan Nie must not be left alive!

Just as Yan Nie raised the broadsword again, a terrifying black domain erupted from the core of the Numinous Sword Sect. Wherever the black domain touched, the immortals of the Immortal Court died. Even if they were protected by a war formation or emperor-level artifact, the end result remained the same.

Yan Nie only saw a black light before he and the five-colored flaming giant vanished, along with everything else.

In the core of Flamecloud Peak of the Primordial Realm, a six-colored ember burned dimly. Its brightness was so low, it could only illuminate three meters at maximum brightness.

Suddenly, the ember grew into a blazing inferno. The ember that was less than ten centimeters tall grew until it was two meters tall. The edges elongated and twisted, condensing into a six-layered lotus. Once the lotus grew to over ten meters, the petals wilted, leaving behind only a single seed.

With a pop, the seed cracked open and a skinny man fell onto the ground as naked as the day he was born.

Yan Nie gasped for breath. The aura of destruction before his death was clearly imprinted into his mind. “What was that? It was terrifying.”

After a few minutes, Yan Nie stood back up and garbed himself in black robes. The scene of destruction remained in his mind, and he felt that his understanding of the Law of Destruction would improve as long as he meditated on it. Fusing it with the Law of Fire was also not impossible.

Right now was not the time for that. He needed an update on the situation in the war. He swiftly accessed the backup Xiyi Talisman he had. After a while, he sighed in relief because his wife managed to escape the disaster.

That sigh turned into disbelief when he got updated on the situation.

Minister Vastlight. Dead.

Cloud Duchess. Dead.

Grand Elder Zhang. Dead.

Those were only the most prominent losses. Ninety-nine percent of the vanguard forces had perished.

Had he not left a backhand, the Nirvana Samsara Fire, Yan Nie would have likely joined the list of casualties.