Chapter 318: Lord of the Nine Provinces vs. Supreme of the Nine Provinces

“Without a weapon, how are you going to fight me?” The First Emperor, holding the Desolate Heaven Halberd, was brimming with confidence, once again returning to his unrestrained and lawless self.

“You need a weapon to fight you?” Jiang Li shook his head lightly. The First Emperor was giving himself too much credit.

He had used the halberd against a group of immortal artifacts only because he couldn’t predict what tricks the Yin-Yang Heaven Seal and others might have after gaining sentience.

But just now, in battle with the First Emperor, he had already forced out the latter’s limits. Jiang Li knew exactly how capable the First Emperor was—there was no need for the halberd.

“Arrogant nonsense!”

The First Emperor thought Jiang Li was bluffing. Their power was on par—how could the other possibly defeat him while wielding no weapon?

The First Emperor swung the massive halberd, but Jiang Li met it with his fists, producing the ringing sound of clashing metal.

To the First Emperor’s shock, he was the one being suppressed. His hands went numb from the impact.

Jiang Li’s fists pounded again and again, each strike landing squarely on the Desolate Heaven Halberd. The First Emperor couldn’t keep a steady grip, forced to step back repeatedly.

Seeing Jiang Li’s terrifying offensive, the First Emperor felt fear for the first time. Though just a flicker, it was enough to shake his previous calm and arrogance.

His eyes widened suddenly—the indestructible Desolate Heaven Halberd actually cracked under Jiang Li’s blows!

In truth, the halberd’s nature was indestructible, and such an attack shouldn’t have broken it.

But this wasn’t the real Desolate Heaven Halberd—only a construct. The halberd’s strength depended on the First Emperor’s belief. The moment he doubted it, it lost its invincibility.

Jiang Li’s strikes had made the First Emperor question himself.

Why couldn’t he defeat this gentle-looking man who seemed so easygoing?

Jiang Li didn’t care what the First Emperor was thinking. He gathered his strength and punched—

Crack!

The halberd split in two, unable to protect the First Emperor any longer.

Jiang Li’s fist struck the First Emperor square in the chest. His organs were turned to mush, and blood spurted as he flew backward.

The First Emperor steadied himself, and as he spotted Meng Chun watching from a distance, he tried to raise his arm to attack her—

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t bring it down.

“So this is the First Emperor? Can’t beat me, so you go for the spectators?” Jiang Li sneered coldly and twisted the First Emperor’s elbow, crushing it.

The First Emperor quickly regenerated and backed away, panting.

His face flushed with shame. That his first instinct upon seeing Jiang Li now was to retreat—how disgraceful.

“Fivefold Thunder True Technique.” Jiang Li softly spoke the name of the divine art, summoning a lightning tribulation far more powerful than even the fifteenth Ascension Tribulation, tearing a rift into the dream realm.

Jiang Li’s mastery of spells was no weaker than his formidable physical body. He simply found spellcasting too troublesome and rarely bothered.

As for the sect that once besieged Yu Yin using this same art, their version wasn’t even worthy of shining his shoes.

The First Emperor was charred black inside and out, coughing up black smoke. His black robes were shredded by the thunder—he couldn’t withstand the power, let alone protect his clothes.

Jiang Li didn’t relent. He cast the Fivefold Thunder True Technique again. Purple heavenly thunder rained down, striking the First Emperor repeatedly, ripping his flesh apart and making his wounds hard to heal.

The purple lightning damaged the soul itself. The pain made the First Emperor crush a full mouth of teeth.

In reality, his body convulsed, his face twisted—as if enduring some horrific torture.

“You okay?” Jiang Li turned his head and asked Meng Chun.

Still shaken, Meng Chun clutched her chest and shook her head. “I’m fine, just a bit startled.”

Seeing this, the First Emperor felt even more wronged by his defeat.

“We’re the strongest— even Heavenly Immortals aren’t our match. What in this world could possibly bind us? Morality, law—those are chains for the weak.”

“As a Great Ascension cultivator, you act politely to the weak and lack the aura of a true powerhouse. What makes you stronger than me?”

“Were you born strong? Were you never weak?” Jiang Li asked in return.

“Why did you get strong—to avoid being bullied by the powerful? Or to bully the weak yourself?”

The First Emperor fell silent for a moment, then said, “You and I probably had similar beginnings. Back in the Qi Refining stage, we were at the very bottom, getting trampled on. Back then, I told myself—one day, I’ll become the strongest. No one will ever bully me again.”

Meng Chun sighed quietly. The First Emperor’s thinking was like most people’s. They didn’t hate the powerful—they hated not being one.

Jiang Li nodded. “Yeah, I was bullied too. Back then, others were stronger. I had no choice but to take it.”

“Then…” The First Emperor thought Jiang Li’s mindset matched his.

But Jiang Li continued, “At that time, I decided—if I ever become the strongest, I’ll set an example. I’ll regulate the behavior of other strong ones so they can’t bully the weak as they please.”

The First Emperor fell silent again. He didn’t know if Jiang Li’s mindset was normal—or if his own was. Their worldviews were just too far apart—one of them had to be wrong.

“How long’s it been since you trained?” Jiang Li suddenly asked. A gap in mindset shouldn’t have led to such a gap in power.

“…A hundred years.” The First Emperor admitted in shame. Since reaching the Great Ascension Stage and becoming invincible, not even the Outer Realm Demons were his match. Gradually, he had slacked off. For a full century, he had barely cultivated.

“With that kind of level, you dare call yourself the First Emperor?” Jiang Li sneered. Even if they were versions of the same person from different worlds—same realm or not, their experiences made all the difference.

“My merits surpass all Human Sovereigns throughout history. I am the Lord of the Nine Provinces! What’s wrong with being called the First Emperor? And you—what are you!?” the First Emperor roared, furious that Jiang Li mocked his title.

Jiang Li replied calmly, “I am the Human Sovereign. Supreme of the Nine Provinces.”

The First Emperor was about to say more—

Crack!

The rift in the dream realm created by the Fivefold Thunder True Technique expanded, spreading across the entire dream.

Craaaack—

The dream shattered. Jiang Li and Meng Chun returned to the Profound Secret Realm, and the First Emperor returned to his own Nine Provinces.

…

“Your Majesty, about the Nine Provinces Immortal Dynasty…” Commander Liu approached the First Emperor respectfully.

“What Immortal Dynasty? I’m going into seclusion. Do not disturb me!” The First Emperor was furious, thinking back to how he was defeated by another version of himself—it was utterly humiliating.

He had to train. Train with everything he had.

If he didn’t avenge this disgrace, he wasn’t worthy of being called Jiang Li!

…

“Who would’ve thought we could actually travel to a parallel world—even if it was just a dream,” Meng Chun said, still not over the experience. She had gone where her true self had never been.

Perhaps she and Jiang Li were the only two who had ever set foot in a parallel world.

“Huh? Senior Meng Chun, your soul seems… whole now,” Jiang Li said, stunned.

Meng Chun had originally been a sentient remnant will—not even a fragment of a soul. By his calculations, it would have taken two more centuries for her to form one.

“Could it be… visiting the parallel world sped up the birth of your soul?” Jiang Li speculated. No one had ever traveled to a parallel world before—anything was possible.

“Either way, it’s a good thing. I’ll help bring you back to life.” Jiang Li had promised to protect her path to revival two hundred years later—never expecting it would come so soon.

“Then many thanks, Human Sovereign.” Meng Chun gave a graceful bow.

Learning that her soul had formed, Meng Chun was overjoyed. After all, who wanted to remain in the Profound Secret Realm forever, amusing themselves alone?

Especially now, when the Nine Provinces were so different from eight hundred years ago.