Chapter 1641: Intense Battle!

Chapter 1641: Clash of Forces!

"Never expected to use it so quickly."

Zhou Zhan gazed at the unfolding situation, speaking softly. Then, with a flick of his right hand, an ancient stone tablet glowing with a dim yellow light appeared in his palm.

It was the Upper Will Sacred Artifact—the Yellow Springs Tablet!

With a mere thought, a torrent of Yellow Springs power surged forth from the tablet, flooding into Zhou Zhan’s divine body. Instantly, he ascended from the Mid-Level Supreme Will Realm to the Upper-Level Supreme Will Realm.

Though only a minor step in realm progression, it brought a dramatic leap in power. Already possessing the combat strength of an Upper-Level Supreme Will, Zhou Zhan now stood at the pinnacle of Supreme Will strength. This elevation instantly eased the overwhelming pressure he faced from the eight historical greats of the Supreme Will Realm.

In a flash, he vanished from his original position, reappearing the next instant before one of the lower-level Supreme Will warriors. Then, his sword moved without trace, slicing through the air with lethal precision, aimed directly at the enemy’s head.

As the blade struck, a helmet-like phantom image flickered onto the victim’s skull—clearly a will artifact designed specifically to protect the head.

Yet, even against this will artifact, Zhou Zhan’s Xuanyu Divine Sword encountered only a fleeting resistance. It swiftly pierced through, and without hesitation, the sword severed the head from the body, completing the separation of body and head.

This historical hero of the Sublime Supreme Will Realm displayed shock on his face, yet the glow in his eyes rapidly dimmed, fading completely within mere moments—no breath, no pulse, nothing left.

His Will Core had been obliterated directly by the willpower embedded within Zhou Zhan's sword. There was no way for him to survive.

Zhou Zhan shook his head internally.

Though a being of the Supreme Will Realm was nearly invincible against deities within the Divine System—no matter how many gods, true gods, chief gods, or highest gods there were—none could harm such a being in the slightest.

For the body of a Supreme Will Realm entity was forged entirely from pure willpower, with its core residing in the brain—the Will Core.

As long as the Will Core remained unbroken, the being would never perish.

And deities held no power over willpower, making vast numbers of divine forces utterly useless against such a figure.

Yet when a Supreme Will Realm entity is slain by another being of the same willpower level through the destruction of its Will Core, the killing becomes far simpler than a battle between deities of equal rank.

Deities possess numerous abilities—reincarnations, multiple avatars, resurrection techniques—making them difficult to defeat, as one must constantly guard against countless unforeseen tactics.

But when two beings of equal willpower engage in combat, once the Will Core is destroyed, the opponent is truly dead—no tricks, no escape. Unless they possess specialized self-preserving will techniques or resurrection-grade will artifacts, survival is nearly impossible.

Take the case of this lower-tier supreme will realm expert standing before them.

He possessed neither the will techniques nor the sacred will artifacts required for resurrection; once Zhou Zhan shattered the core of his will, he would not even have the chance to leave behind a single parting word.

And when the other supreme will realm powerhouses witnessed Zhou Zhan slaying one of their own with such effortless ease, astonishment rippled across their faces.

They were all legendary heroes of history, every one a paragon capable of fighting above their echelon, possessing an abundance of formidable methods.

To say nothing of a lower-tier supreme will realm expert facing a mid-tier adversary—even if they were to confront a high-tier supreme will realm expert directly, they maintained the confidence to protect themselves and flee, even if they lacked the means to slay their foe.

They never expected that Zhou Zhan, whom they had previously suppressed, would not only shatter their bindings in a sudden outburst, but also casually turn the tables and slaughter a lower-tier supreme will realm expert from among their ranks in a single instant.

Even though this lower-tier supreme will realm expert was the weakest among them, it still sent a subtle chill of dread through their hearts.

"This fellow is formidable."

A youthful-looking hero of history spoke calmly, his gaze laced with caution. "We must coordinate our efforts; we can no longer fight individual battles."

"Agreed!"

The other six masters of the Supreme Will Realm nodded without hesitation, agreeing instantly.

They were all historical heroes from various eras and timelines—men and women of legend, forged by time and fate. Naturally, they would not face danger with mere lone-wolf tactics.

It was but a breath, a fleeting instant.

They swiftly exchanged their strategies, then united, forming a united front against Zhou Zhan.

One of them, a mid-level Supreme Will Realm hero wielding a circular array of will-stone artifacts, recited incantations, activating a supreme will array that crushed Zhou Zhan’s strength beneath its weight.

Another, a breathtakingly beautiful woman with a sinuous form and hypnotic gaze, gently flicked her round fan, using the will-force of a mid-level Supreme Will Realm to entice and mesmerize Zhou Zhan.

The remaining five heroes of the Supreme Will Realm—especially the two possessing upper-level Supreme Will Realm strength—held their own will-stone relics and launched full-force attacks upon Zhou Zhan.

Three others of the Supreme Will Realm joined the two elite warriors, either striking with lethal precision, casting spells, or providing support, all converging on Zhou Zhan in a coordinated assault.

Feeling the crushing weight of constraints and suppression, the imminent assault from two upper-level Supreme Will Realm heroes bearing down upon him, Zhou Zhan did not flinch. Instead, a subtle, rising heat stirred within his divine blood.

Echoes of roaring fury seemed to surge through his ears.

"Fight!"

"Fight!"

"Fight!"

"Though the enemy numbers outnumber us, who dares to fear us?"

...

These voices were not illusions—they were real, echoing within the highest bloodline inheritances coursing through His very being, the ancestral will of the species itself.

When Zhou Zhan faced peril, these bloodlines stirred with fury, roaring in unison, demanding that Zhou Zhan strike back against them.

Zhou Zhan had never encountered such a thing before.

He could no longer tell whether this was the ancient, buried will of the race, or his own fierce spirit of battle.

But it mattered little now.

"Be still."

Deep within, Zhou Zhan calmly pacified the boiling divine blood in his veins. "Mere relics of an era not our own—this Emperor Sovereign fears them not."

Having quieted his lineage, Zhou Zhan turned a composed gaze toward the two Upper Supreme Will Realm powerhouses charging his way.

These two rushing adversaries had already been empowered by other Supreme Will masters, their strength far eclipsing what it once was.

The very instant they descended upon him, Zhou Zhan vanished, reappearing behind them in a flash to swing his blade at the head of one foe; yet their reflexes were blindingly swift, seamlessly shifting positions to pivot and launch a joint counterattack.

Zhou Zhan raised the Divine Xuanyuan Sword in his hand, parrying their twin assault before the deities locked in a flurry of rapid, ferocious exchanges.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The clash between these three pinnacle entities of the Supreme Will Realm rippled across a span of over a thousand light-years—and this was only because they held their might in check, lest the devastation spread even further.

Concealed within the shadows of the void, a lesser assassin of the Lower Supreme Will Realm watched the spectacle, feeling entirely powerless.

The tempest of battle whipped up by these three titans raged across too vast an expanse; try as he might, there was simply no way for him to intervene.

Fortunately, He possessed immense patience and chose to continue waiting silently, holding his ground for the right moment to strike.

Within His timeline, He was the supreme assassin—having once wounded even the mightiest beings of upper, unshakable will, and having escaped unscathed himself. Since that fateful battle, His name had soared to legendary status within His own timeline, cementing His reputation as the most formidable assassin in existence.

At present, although the Celestial Sovereign's strength left Him deeply astonished, He did not believe himself to be entirely without a chance.

On the other hand,

The mid-tier being of unshakable will, currently ensnared in the spell of seduction, stared at Zhou Zhan with eyes filled with disbelief and suspicion.

He whispered softly:

"How is this possible?"

"My Eye of Seduction can hold even a being of upper unshakable will at bay for a time."

"This one's strength is merely a fourth-tier god—only through some secret technique has he managed to ascend to the upper tier of unshakable will. How could he possibly resist my seductive arts?"

"Could it be that the secret technique he used to elevate himself is truly so all-encompassing?"

The bewitching woman sensed a sudden, thorny complication.

Her suspicions were entirely correct.

Under normal circumstances, Zhou Zhan would indeed have been powerless against her seductive assault.

Even if he invoked the 'King' technique, layering his own willpower with the combined mental force of one hundred and fifty lesser supreme deities, it still should not have sufficed to withstand her alluring onslaught.

After all, even the accumulated might of one hundred and fifty lesser supreme wills could not equal the sheer potency of a single higher supreme will.

It was a fundamental difference in quality.

A chasm that mere numbers could never bridge.

And yet.

Zhou Zhan had long held within his grasp a sacred relic of the mind, known as the Holy Scripture of the Heart.

Though this sacred artifact was rated only as a mid-tier spiritual treasure, when fueled by the pooled willpower of those one hundred and fifty lesser supreme deities, it proved just enough to match the defensive fortitude of a pinnacle supreme mind.

Precisely for this reason, this supreme will-being master, renowned for his skill in enchanting, failed to enchant Zhou Zhan, nor could he influence his battle or sway the outcome of the conflict.

At the same time,

Through the trembling of The Book of the Mind, Zhou Zhan sensed that someone had launched an assault upon his will. Yet upon discovering it had no effect, he dismissed it with indifference and turned his full attention to the two upper-tier supreme will-being masters currently before him.

Their strength was indeed formidable—especially when bolstered by other supreme will-being beings—and they had nearly reached the level of the very top-tier will-beings.

Still,

there remained a significant gap in comparison to Zhou Zhan.

Thus, within moments, Zhou Zhan, acutely attuned to the rhythms of battle, seized upon a fleeting opportunity, and in an instant, moved to the side of the upper-tier will-being master renowned for his martial prowess. With a single punch, he dislodged the other’s hands; then, with a sword, he slipped through the opening created by the opponent’s own exposed stance, piercing directly into the center of the brow, shattering the will-core at its very heart.

He did not even have time to hear the kill alert in his ear—instead, he immediately reached out, seizing the body of this upper-tier will-being master and sealing it into his first treasury.

The other upper-tier will-being master, witnessing this, was struck with sudden alarm.

How could he have imagined that, two supreme warriors of the uppermost transcendental will, facing a three-to-one disadvantage, would still be outmaneuvered by the other side—someone who had silently and effortlessly claimed one of them?

From the fluid, masterful way in which the opponent disengaged, it was clear that the adversary too was a martial cultivator of the highest transcendental rank.

Was this a four-tiered Supreme God?!

His mind roared with fury.

Yet he knew instantly that rage would serve no purpose. He immediately summoned the remaining transcendental will warriors to surround Zhou Zhan and launch a coordinated assault.

He understood within himself.

Neither of them, as supreme beings of the upper transcendental will, could prevent the loss of one of their number.

If he continued to face the enemy alone, there was no chance of survival.

They had to attack him together.

A one-on-one confrontation was a death sentence.

Multiple figures surrounded him, possibly exposing some flaw in their defenses.

Soon.

These six beings of Supreme Will once again encircled Zhou Zhan.

Different from their previous assault, they now coordinated to deploy a military formation of Supreme Will rank.

The joint military formation orchestrated by these six Supreme Will beings poured immense pressure upon Zhou Zhan.

"First, I must eliminate one Supreme Will being. Once that is done, the formation's power will naturally diminish significantly."

With a single glance, Zhou Zhan identified one of the lower-tier Supreme Will historical heroes.

This hero was precisely the one who had previously attempted to manipulate Zhou Zhan through seductive abilities.

As soon as the hero sensed Zhou Zhan's gaze fixed upon him, a cold sense of dread flashed through his mind.

But before he could deploy any countermeasure, Zhou Zhan had already materialized before him via void traversal, and with a single slash, severed the hero's will core in his mind.

Another supreme will realm powerhouse had fallen!

Seeing this, the expressions of the other historical heroes of the supreme will realm suddenly changed.

Right at that moment.

The lone high-tier supreme will realm powerhouse bellowed, "Strike him now, while we have the chance!"

The other supreme will realm powerhouses snapped into awareness instantly.

This fellow had just forced a kill on that low-tier supreme will realm powerhouse; he was now trapped in the brief lull before his next strike, and this very window was their finest opportunity to attack.

Without wasting another breath, they unleashed their strongest offensive methods one after another, raining them down upon Zhou Zhan.

In an instant, Zhou Zhan was struck squarely by a barrage of diverse will techniques.

All at once.

The heavens collapsed, the earth shattered, time and space fell into chaos, and all manner of extraordinary manifestations of will erupted across the sky.

The other Supreme Will realm powerhouses secretly felt a pang of shock upon witnessing the scene wrought by this combined strike.

An attack of this magnitude, they instinctively knew, was something they could never survive, regardless of what methods they might deploy.

With that realization, a sense of relief washed over them.

Though that young Supreme Will realm expert was absurdly, incomprehensibly powerful, there was no way he could endure such a terrifying onslaught.

Reflecting on it now, they still found the young man utterly mind-boggling.

They were all the legendary geniuses and heroes of their respective eras and timelines, yet in the presence of that youth, they felt as though he alone was the true chosen one, while they were reduced to mere mortals before him.

"Let us depart."

"This man is undoubtedly dead."

"Let us return and report to the Dharma Lord."

"We must depart," spoke the foremost among those entities of supreme will.

The other supreme wills inclined their heads in silent accord, turning as one to take their leave.

Yet, in that very instant, a sudden tremor seized them.

A collective shiver rippled through their immortal forms, and they whipped their gazes back, staring fixedly into the roaring heart of the cataclysmic assault.

There, amidst the terrifying tempest of violence, a solitary figure emerged, utterly unmarked by the devastation as though walking through a falling shroud of autumn leaves.

He stepped forward from the ruins, a faint, knowing smile playing upon his lips as his eyes locked onto theirs.

It was Zhou Zhan.