This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder

The Ripple Emperor couldn’t help but recall the person who appeared earlier and took the Kunlun Sword Emperor’s divine sword, and the one that stole the Immortal Confining Sword from them after they killed Emperor Wujian. He understood that the perpetrator was someone who walked farther in the way of space than him. Not only because he was pulled into this unknown space that resembled his oh so much, but also because he couldn’t access his own space anymore. It was as if something had dulled the connection.

If it was a monarch that did this, the Ripple Emperor would have no trouble saving his life, injured as he was. However, he didn’t think someone with greater mastery over space would be inferior to him in terms of cultivation.

“Come out. I don’t know who you are, but you must have a reason for capturing me. Speak, what are your demands?” the Ripple Emperor asked rather calmly, despite his circumstances.

A black humanoid formed of mist appeared across from him, but he didn’t speak. What answered the Ripple Emperor was the distortion of space in his body. It twisted, as if it wanted to warp and destroy his body.

The Ripple Emperor sensed the power of space, but that confused him. Although the power was strong, its profoundness was inferior to his own. He mobilized his immortal qi and neutralized the twisting force. He looked at the misty figure, only to see that figure preparing to attack him.

The misty figure released a series of space-related spells, all of which the Ripple Emperor neutralized or deflected. He wanted to teleport away, but it seemed teleporting was the sole technique he couldn’t use. Left with no recourse, the Ripple Emperor counterattacked with his own spells.

As time passed, the Ripple Emperor’s expression turned ugly. He noticed that the proficiency of the hazy humanoid fighting him was improving at a noticeable rate. Not only did the person who kidnapped him not deign to talk to him, but he was also using him to train his juniors!

The Ripple Emperor stopped his offense and focused fully on defense. His pride did not allow him to be used as a whetstone for others. While he was defending, he focused on fleeing this unknown space. To his horror, he discovered that his connection to his Ripple Realm was rapidly weakening.

A growing horror filled the Ripple Emperor’s heart. He wanted to struggle, but no matter what he did, he still felt like a trapped beast. It went on until his connection to the Ripple Realm vanished completely.

The hazy figure stopped attacking and finally spoke. “I would like to continue and brush up on my spatial skills, but keeping you alive is too much of a risk.”

With those words, the hazy figure disappeared into thin air. Accompanying his disappearance was the twisting and distorting colors. What was left was a void filled with an infinite number of stars shining brightly in the distance.

The Ripple Emperor stood in the void, dazzled by what he saw. It was not the Vast Void, but a location foreign to him. He did not have time to figure out where the hell he was as his intuition screamed danger.

Black clouds congregated around him, emitting a heart palpitating aura.

“Tribulation clouds? No, those are heavenly punishment clouds. Why would they come for me and how could they appear in the void?” the Ripple Emperor practically shouted. He had already foreseen his doom, but he didn’t want his death to remain unknown or meaningless. At the very least, he had to warn everyone of the dangerous third party.

His heart was willing, but his means were useless. The Ripple Emperor flew as far away as possible from the punishment clouds. In a time that was far shorter than he’d liked, the punishment clouds released a bolt of lightning straight at him.

The space around the Ripple Emperor twisted and warped as his speed increased several fold, but it was far from enough. The punishment lightning traveled at the speed of light and reached him in an instant.

The Ripple Emperor gritted his teeth as he continued to flee. When the bolt used up all its energy, smoke wafted from his skin despite him traveling through the void. His skin had been charred, and blood trailed down his face. His previous injuries, which had not completely healed, worsened.

Before he could stabilize his new injuries, another bolt of punishment lightning shot toward him. Upon seeing it reach him in so little time, the Ripple Emperor did the only thing that he could think of: teleport. To his surprise, the shackles preventing him from teleporting had lifted, allowing him to disappear instantly.

When he reappeared, he was several kilometers away. Before the Ripple Emperor could celebrate, the punishment lightning had also teleported to him. He screamed as the bolt struck him and injured him even more.

The Ripple Emperor did everything in his power to survive, but nothing he could do helped him escape the heavenly punishment. He died as a charred corpse with a whimper. He had failed. The only thing he could find peace in was the fact that he had already entrusted the Void Ripple Sect’s legacy to Monach Skybreach and Monarch Voidmist.

Ding Mian opened his eyes within his cultivation chamber. He opened his palm and stared at it. In the center of his palm, an illusion of a lotus with a hundred petals of gold and silver appeared. It was the Void Divine Lotus. ‘It should take some time for news of the Ripple Emperor’s death to spread. The Void Moon Alliance will probably fall apart with his and his successor’s fall. If they are lucky, they’ll merge with the Twin Moon Sect to become the Void Moon Sect. Unfortunately, the weakening of the Numinous Sword Sect wasn’t as proportional. I’ll have to think of a way to weaken them so that it’ll become more even.’

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He closed his palm and when he opened it again, the miniature Void Divine Lotus had disappeared. For now, a short peace should appear as all forces recuperate from what had just occurred.

As Ding Mian expected, the raging war had simmered down. Battles still occurred, but most of them only involved true immortals. It seemed that the immortal monarchs had taken a backseat to observe for any danger. The only exception was the Void Moon Alliance. Both their direct members had retreated from the battlefield and sealed themselves from the outside world.

Although he didn’t investigate, Ding Mian could already guess the chaos that was happening within.

Well, the Numinous Sword Sect also had its own troubles. Before they could celebrate the birth of a new sword emperor, they received news that the sword emperor was critically injured. In his current state, he couldn’t even display the power of an immortal lord. This planted a seed of uncertainty among the Numinous Sword Sect.

Ding Mian wanted this negativity to last so that it would affect their morale. The lower the morale, the less power the members of the Numinous Sword Sect could display as a whole.

Time seemed to pass extremely quickly and three years went by. Ding Mian continued to concoct pills for the Numinous Sword Sect while exchanging his contribution for resources and secret techniques. Right now, he was particularly busy because the foundational sword arts of the Numinous Sword Sect were opened to him for redemption.

Just like how the founder of the Wavefold Sect created a simpler version of the Wavefold Divine Art for his disciples to learn, the leaders of the Numinous Sword Sect also created four sword arts based on the Four Immortal Exterminating Swords: the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Art, the Immortal Ending Sword Art, the Immortal Slaying Sword Art, and the Immortal Confining Sword Art.

Of course, the ones Ding Mian could redeem were the lowest of the low. They couldn’t be considered the real core secrets, but only laying the foundation to learn them.

“Hmm?” Ding Mian looked up from his cauldron. After pausing for a moment, he continued concocting the pill. While he did so, someone entered the alchemy chamber.

Ding Mian didn’t stop. Eighteen days later, fire was extinguished and Ding Mian sealed the newest batch of pills. Only then did he look at the visitor. “Is there something wrong? You usually don’t barge into my chamber while I’m concocting.”

“Actually, there’s something I want to ask,” Meng Tingfeng said.

Ding Mian paused. Meng Tingfeng’s tone was a bit strange, so he looked into Meng Tingfeng’s eyes and saw a hint of disbelief. “What’s wrong? What do you want to ask?”

“Are you really only a true immortal?”

Ding Mian paused. “What makes you think I’m not?”

“Three reasons,” Meng Tingfeng said. “Your mastery of alchemy is advanced, even for a pill monarch. Although it’s true that a true immortal could concoct eighth-rank pills, they usually are very close to becoming a seamless immortal. You’ve been able to concoct eighth-rank pills for a long time. There’s no reason for you not to be able to become a seamless immortal.”

“There’s a huge fallacy in your argument. If I became a seamless immortal, I would have initiated a Dao Manifesation. All the Dao Manifestations in the past few years all have owners. Besides, your argument is usually for immortal lords, not alchemists like myself. What’s the second reason?”

“The world is so large, there is definitely a method to hide a Dao Manifestation. As for the second reason? Intuition.”

Upon hearing the answer, Ding Mian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Although he wore a mask, it must have shown because Meng Tingfeng elaborated. “Actually, I’ve always felt that you were stronger than you showed, and that you weren’t a mere alchemist.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, are you looking down on alchemists?”

Meng Tingfeng didn’t play along and continued to explain. “And the third reason was during the ambush on Ye Chen. When that hand appeared out of the ripple, I always felt it was familiar. When I returned, I recalled where I felt that familiar feeling from. You.”

Upon seeing Ding Mian silent, he continued. “I always thought hiding your strength was not a problem, and served as a form of self protection. After all, you ascended from a lower world and it’s normal to be cautious. I was the same. I thought that after spending time, you would slowly let down your guard,” Meng Tingfeng said. “However, I was wrong. You never lowered your guard and kept your distance. Rather than a newly ascended immortal, you act more like a spy.”

Ding Mian was speechless. “Your imagination really is vivid.”

Meng Tingfeng didn’t change his expression. “I don’t want to believe it either. But to be on the safe side, I’m going to need to lock you up and keep you under supervision.”

“Oh, and if I don’t?”

“Then I’ll have to be a little rough. This is for your own good. You do not understand the foundation of the Numinous Sword Sect!” Meng Tingfeng’s aura exploded. He didn’t exude the aura of an immortal monarch but an immortal emperor.

“Did you only come and confront me after you entered the Extremity Immortal Realm? Did your intuition tell you to do that too?” Ding Mian didn’t expect an answer. Instead, he reached out to grab Meng Tingfeng.

Meng Tingfeng felt the spacetime around him distort, but when he grabbed the Seven Star Sword, that feeling disappeared.

Ding Mian clicked his tongue. “As always, divine artifacts are annoying. It seems that I’ll have to disarm you first.”

Meng Tingfeng slashed down at Ding Mian, who was still charging at him. What he didn’t expect was for Ding Mian to continue, uncaring of his sword slash. He wanted to stop and retreat at the last minute, but Ding Mian actually pushed his body forward, allowing the divine sword to slice into his body.

He noticed something wrong immediately, and moved back, but the Seven Star Sword was stuck in Ding Mian’s torso. No matter how much strength Meng Tingfeng used, he couldn’t dislodge it. He faced a dilemma. If he activated the Seven Star Sword, he would grievously injure Ding Mian, but if he didn’t, he might suffer from whatever Ding Mian planned.

After a moment of hesitation, he chose option two. Although he was a newly ascended immortal emperor, he didn’t believe Ding Mian could do much to him. That belief cost him.

Ding Mian grabbed his wrist. In a split moment, the hand was disconnected from his arm. Before Meng Tingfeng could overcome the shock of Ding Mian instantly severing his hand, the Seven Star Sword sunk into Ding Mian’s body and disappeared.

“Although I can suck in divine artifacts, it still hurts a lot,” Ding Mian complained. A large cut still lingered on his torso, revealing a black space with an infinite number of stars glimmering in the vast space.

Meng Tingfeng felt the suppressive force on his body again. Only this time, he did not have the Seven Star Sword to help him. “How can you be so much stronger than me? Aren’t we both emperors?”

Ding Mian didn’t answer as he grabbed Meng Tingfeng and absorbed him into his body, like the Seven Star Sword. Now alone, Ding Mian took one last glance around before vanishing.

In the crack-filled chamber, a sigh could be heard. “I guess I can’t wait for much longer with my body exposed. Screw it, I’ll use some drastic measures.”