Tome of Troubled Times-Chapter 778 (1): Our Battle Will Shake the Gods

Tngri’s abilities seemed deeply connected to the five elements, but in truth, he was nothing more than a fierce warrior. He was a man that Xia Longyuan would refer to as someone with “a bit of backbone.” He was not one to conceal his emotions behind an impenetrable facade; upon hearing Zhao Changhe’s words, his expression changed instantly.

The ability to manipulate reality and illusion was not Tngri’s own. It was a power borrowed from the Heavenly Tome.

And what did it mean to borrow the power of the Heavenly Tome?

Zhao Changhe had never truly harnessed it. The most he could do was learn from it and comprehend new concepts. As for its more profound effects, they were completely beyond his reach. To him, the tome was nothing more than a glorified study guide.

In the past, he had assumed this was due to some sort of locked feature, a requirement he had yet to meet, or an inability to properly wield its power. However, after witnessing the battle at the Spirit Tribe against Venerable Duoluo, Zhao Changhe understood how terrifying the tome’s abilities truly were. Duoluo had no hands to grasp the tome, yet simply by being near it, he had borrowed its power to reconstruct a body of flesh and blood. This was something beyond comprehension.

Yet, when Zhao Changhe tried to do the same in secret, he found himself completely incapable. The best he had achieved was accelerating the recovery ability of his Blood Asura Body. Even though it was an impressive feat, it was far from the power to forge a body from nothing. It was as if the tome’s true power had been devoured by someone else.

By then, the answer had become painfully clear. It had nothing to do with his proficiency or qualifications. The true reason was simple: the tome did not belong to him.

Artifacts with sentience were fundamentally different from ordinary objects. The tome spirit, in particular, had absolute autonomy. Zhao Changhe could own a page or seven, but actually using them was contingent on the pages’ acknowledgement. The extent of their power available to him depended entirely on what they allowed him to use.

It was the same principle as the early days with Dragon Bird—at the start, he could merely use it as an indestructible object, but he had no access to its actual power. Similarly, he could only use the pages as high-level materials but for ordinary purposes, such as wiping certain things clean. But that was beside the point. To someone like Tngri, wielding the power of the Heavenly Tome meant standing at the pinnacle of its laws. It was supposed to be an ability beyond mortal comprehension. So how had Zhao Changhe seen through it?

Even if he knew Tngri possessed the Heavenly Tome, there was no logical way to deduce the full scope of his strategy. Knowing that Tngri could manipulate reality and illusion was one thing, but how could he have guessed exactly where and how that ability would be used? How could he have known that the unassuming plains they were passing by were actually an illusion that concealed entire tribes?

Unfortunately for Tngri, Zhao Changhe had not guessed anything at all. He had seen everything, clear as day. And after some testing, he realized that no one else could see through it. Not Huangfu Qing, despite her superior cultivation; not Yue Hongling, despite her attainment of Sword Heart Illumination; not a single soul in the entire army. He alone could see through the deception.

His Back Eye, the initially useless cheat from the very first day of his transmigration, once only good for peeking at women bathing, had finally revealed its terrifying true value.

He had previously believed that the eye was originally a divine ability that gods and demons in general possessed, but he now suspected that it was even more special than that. Rather than being a common divine ability, he believed that it might be the eye of one specific god.

And there was only a single being capable of standing on equal footing with the Heavenly Tome... or even perhaps surpassing it. After all, she already possessed seven pages. It was hardly surprising that a single page’s illusion was laid bare before her gaze.

She was not some kind of game system that could simply hand out cheats to the MC. Anything she could offer naturally stemmed from her own power. The fact that Zhao Changhe had been drawn to Chichi’s side after drawing a position card related to the throne was nothing more than a manifestation of her ability to perceive destiny and karma, something that could be likened to prophecy. Even if her prediction failed, she had at least known that Chichi was Xia Longyuan’s daughter, so it was not unreasonable to interpret the throne-related draw as such.

But what about the so-called eyes? She always kept her eyes closed. Where exactly were her eyes?

In any case, this was something to think about later. For now, the important fact was that the changes of illusion and reality that could deceive anyone else were rendered utterly ineffective against Zhao Changhe. With his guidance, Huangfu Qing saw through the enemy’s trap at a glance. Drawing upon the impeccable acting skills that once allowed her to juggle two identities, she turned the tables, seamlessly playing along. From that moment on, none besides Zhao Changhe could tell she was merely performing.

* * *

Clang! Clang!

Two muffled crashes echoed as Zhao Changhe and Yue Hongling were forced back. Meanwhile, Tngri took a direct palm strike from Li Shentong without a sound. Yet, instead of showing any sign of injury, he sneered. “Is that the extent of your power?”

A moment later, Li Shentong was the one sent flying backward. Mid-flight, a fist was already drilling through the air toward his chest. “Let’s see if the famed Divine Brilliance Body of the so-called divine land can withstand this strike!”

A furious clash of blades erupted behind him. There was no way Zhao Changhe and Yue Hongling would let Li Shentong take the attack alone. Their weapons struck as one, attempting to force a distraction.

Li Shentong almost found it amusing. Why did everyone assume he was the kind of fighter who just traded blows like a brute? Even Tngri had fallen into the same misconception, eager to test his resilience. But honestly, who in their right mind fought like that? Even his disciple Situ Xiao had fought Zhao Changhe in Langya with skill and precision, so how would his master be nothing more than a savage?

With a slight backward shift, Li Shentong raised his palm at an angle.

Even Zhao Changhe and Yue Hongling, standing behind Tngri, could clearly feel the essence of Li Shentong’s movement—it was like a steel net placed across a river. No matter how much the river raged, it could do nothing against it.

Tngri’s punch, seemingly devastating, was effortlessly caught within a confined space, its force completely neutralized. Not even the slightest ripple of energy escaped.

Clang!

In perfect coordination, Zhao Changhe and Yue Hongling’s blades struck Tngri from behind. At the same moment, the palm that had blocked Tngri’s strike suddenly exploded with power.

Earlier, even when attacking proactively, Li Shentong’s strikes had failed to deal the slightest damage. But now, in the aftermath of a defensive maneuver, his counterattack erupted with the force of a raging storm ten times stronger than before.

This was the true essence of the Divine Brilliance Wind and Lightning Palm—the art of counterattack. Zhao Changhe observed, grasping the principle instinctively. He had always been able to connect the dots between various techniques, and he was always learning.

Yet, despite their combined assault, all three of them failed to make an impact.

Boom!

A violent shockwave burst forth, forcing all three to stagger back, dispersing the force with practiced footwork. Amid the lingering smoke, Tngri lowered his gaze to the Taiji diagram beneath his feet, muttering to himself, “A troublesome treasure... it grinds away my strength like a millstone. Otherwise, all of you would have been crushed in that exchange.”

Yuxu had yet to recover from his injuries, but he had treasures he could rely on. The Taiji Diagram[1], which was once the vessel of the Dao Lord’s soul, was the very foundation of Yuxu’s cultivation. It was one of the highest-tier artifacts in existence, second only to the Heavenly Tome, and it could even be considered an embodiment of fundamental laws.

Tngri originally had his own treasure. His divine axe was in no way inferior, and it certainly possessed greater offensive power. Unfortunately, that very axe was now sealed inside Zhao Changhe’s ring.

Yet even with advantages shifting and losses accumulating, and even with Tngri still not fully recovered, Zhao Changhe and his group felt as if they were battling the heavens themselves, completely incapable of inflicting any damage.

“If it’s just the three of you and you have no other cards to play... then I regret to inform you that you’re all going to die here.” Tngri’s eyes glinted with a cruel light, then he raised his divine axe high.

It was merely a gesture, yet the sky responded instantly. Black clouds roiled in the heavens, lightning crackled, and the oppressive weight of the storm bore down from above, suffocating all beneath it. It felt like he was about to unleash something catastrophic.

But at that very moment, Tngri’s expression shifted once more.

Zhao Changhe gripped Dragon Bird tightly and lunged forward in a sudden, fearless assault, slashing down with all his might. “If I dared to march north, I naturally have a way to kill you! Stop acting so high and mighty!”

Scattering the Gods and Buddhas!

Clang!

Saber met axe, and in that instant, the oppressive clouds split apart as if cleaved by the strike. Sunlight burst through the gap, and in that radiant glow, a dazzling sword light erupted across the sky.

A perfect synchronization. The husband and wife duo struck as one, their coordination seamless.

Li Shentong, who had thrown himself into the fight as well, could not help but feel a flicker of curiosity. What caused Tngri to suddenly lose focus? Why did his aura suddenly waver?

On the surface, this battle seemed unwinnable... so where was the turning point?

A thought flashed through Li Shentong’s mind, and despite being preoccupied with combat, he instinctively cast a glance at the larger battlefield. ƒreewebɳovel.com

What he saw left his face contorted in bewilderment.

1. Capitalizing it now since, apparently, it’s an artifact/treasure. ☜