Survival in the Mist: From a Dilapidated Wooden Hut to a Heavenly Palace in the Clouds

The black-robed man suddenly transformed into a blur, dodging the Emperor Crocodile's attack. His true form appeared high in the sky, his jet-black sword slashing down from above, forming a black sword curtain that directly enveloped the Emperor Crocodile's entire body.

"Boom!"

The sound of the sword energy falling was deafening; it was a strike powerful enough to tear the earth apart. However, the Emperor Crocodile did not dodge or evade at all, allowing the sword energy to envelop its body.

As expected, the attack only created a shower of sparks after hitting the scales and failed to break through the Emperor Crocodile's formidable defense!

"Ah."

The man in black robes let out a low, cold laugh, his gaze growing even colder, clearly showing a hint of interest in the monster before him.

The Emperor Crocodile gave him no more time to think; its massive tail swept across the battlefield, and a gust of wind hundreds of meters long, carrying with it darkness, engulfed the entire battlefield.

This attack didn't even require close contact; the mere sweeping force tore the entire space into a blank white expanse.

The man in black robes flashed through the air at lightning speed, barely managing to dodge the attack. Even so, his black robes were torn in the aftershocks, and a tiny crack appeared on his sword-wielding arm.

The Emperor Crocodile's offensive continued without pause. It twisted its massive body, using its limbs and tail to launch continuous attacks, each strike seemingly drawing upon the primal power of the entire abyss.

The man in black robes dodged at incredible speed, but his movements were gradually affected by the suppression of the field—the abyssal rules emanating from the Emperor Crocodile completely sealed off the surrounding spacetime, forming an unsolvable battlefield.

Unable to dodge in time, the Emperor Crocodile's claws, like a giant blade, slammed into the black-robed man's left arm.

"Crack!"

The immense force instantly shattered the black-robed man's left arm, and his seemingly indestructible body suffered such severe damage for the first time.

His body shot out like a kite with a broken string, crashing into a dark rock wall in the distance and shattering the entire mountainside.

Despite losing an arm, the man in black robes made no sound of pain. He slowly rose from the ruins, his gaze growing increasingly cold.

He raised his only remaining right hand, pointing the sword at the giant beast in front of him. The sword seemed even more dazzling than before, and the black light on the blade pulsed with a terrifying power.

"It seems the master-servant relationship between the Killing Heart Buddha and you, you beast, needs to be redefined. It appears... you are the true BOSS of this endless abyss..."

Immediately, the man in black took a light step, and his sword gleamed, a deeper light igniting from its blade.

He was about to unleash his true power and fight this abyss emperor to the death!

The man in black robes slowly raised his only remaining right hand, blood dripping from his severed left arm, but the chill in his eyes grew even stronger. With a slight tremor of the sword's edge, the sword, which had been as black as the dead of night, began to emanate a terrifying power capable of piercing the abyss.

“You are indeed stronger than those scum,” the man in black robes said in a low voice, cold and calm, “but even the king of the abyss is nothing more than a beast trapped in a cage.”

He stomped his foot, seemingly casually, yet it was like a meteorite falling. The aura of the entire abyss was suddenly elevated, and the endless surging abyssal rules around him seemed to freeze, instantly suppressed and dissipated without a trace.

At this moment, the black-robed man no longer concealed his aura, and his pitch-black body exuded a pressure that surpassed even the abyss!

The man in black robes gently raised his hand, and the sword blade sliced ​​through the air from bottom to top, a sword light emanating from its blade. This sword light did not possess dazzling brilliance; instead, it resembled the deepest and darkest fissure in the abyss, yet it carried with it a sense of oppressive power capable of destroying everything.

At this moment, the Emperor Crocodile's eyes burned with crimson killing intent. It was originally a guardian of the Abyss, an existence unyielding to any external force. The black-robed figure had touched the deepest secrets of the Abyss and destroyed two rulers; it could not allow such an invader to continue to exist.

The Emperor Crocodile leaped suddenly, its massive limbs spanning the entire cliff face. Its sharp, mountain-like claws flashed through the air, leaving several afterimages as it lunged at the man in black robes.

Beneath its massive body, it seemed as if the sky itself had collapsed, each strike more ferocious than the last. Its roars shook the entire abyss, unleashing a storm powerful enough to tear apart souls.

The man in black robes moved with the lightness of a feather, dodging the sharp claws that tore the earth apart. But the Emperor Crocodile did not stop moving at all; its huge tail swung violently, like a bolt of lightning sweeping across the sky.

"boom!"

The earth was once again ripped apart, countless rocks flew everywhere, and the rules of nature were twisted as if it were about to collapse completely at any moment. The figure of the black-robed man had already crossed space and appeared behind the Emperor Crocodile.

He thrust his sword forward, the blade containing some unfathomable power, piercing through the robust nape of the Emperor Crocodile's neck!

However, this time, the Emperor Crocodile was prepared. Hundreds of abyssal runes on its thick scales lit up simultaneously, forcibly forming a barrier the instant the sword made contact. The sword struck the barrier, creating countless sparks, but it couldn't truly break through!

The man in black robes frowned slightly, but his movements did not stop at all. He forcibly spun the sword, turning the sword energy into a black storm that directly covered the entire body of the Emperor Crocodile.

"Boom!"

The Emperor Crocodile's scales trembled violently from the sword energy, yet its body remained as steady as a mountain. Then, it suddenly opened its massive fangs, carrying the primal devouring power of the abyss, and lunged at the black-robed man.

The man in black robes leaped up and dodged the attack, but the Emperor Crocodile suddenly swung its tail in the next instant!

"Oh!"

The man in black robes was struck in the chest, and he was thrown backward like a meteor, crashing through more than a dozen layers of rock. His body was embedded in the rock wall, his sword still tightly gripped in his hand, and blood flowed down his perfect body.

“Not bad,” the man in black wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth; it was the first time he had been truly wounded in battle. A strange fighting spirit flashed in his eyes. “It seems that to deal with you, you beast… I’ll have to get serious.”

Then, he slowly raised his sword, the black light on the blade began to rotate, the space began to vibrate strangely, and even time seemed to freeze.

"Slay." He uttered a single word in a low voice.

The sword light erupted in that instant, and black power spread out in his form, like a giant net covering the entire battlefield.

Sensing danger, the Emperor Crocodile let out an angry roar. The abyssal runes on its scales burst forth with a dazzling purple light, forming a huge domain that completely enveloped its body.

"Boom!!!"

As the sword light slashed down, the Emperor Crocodile withstood the terrifying attack head-on with its bare body. The ferocious beast violently shattered the power of the sword energy, and while some of its scales cracked, the runes on its back shone even brighter.

The man in black robes had a cold look in his eyes. He turned his sword and swung it out a second time!