The Battle (Part 3)

In the next moment...

Boom!!

Lei Chen's fist exploded into Wu Zhao's head! The dismembered, blood-soaked body of Wu Zhao collapsed, his head completely gone. Blood and pieces of flesh scattered across the arena. Silence... Cold... Dead.

"Husband!!"

Zhang Fu's scream echoed, her face filled with extreme shock.

But before she could react, Hao Yang leaped from behind and kicked the back of her neck with all his strength!

"Ahhh!"

Her final scream escaped her mouth before her body collapsed lifelessly.

However...

Her body quickly revived!

"You!! Die!!" Zhang Fu screamed in fury.

Before she could make a move, Su Baining's black sickle slashed precisely at her neck, decapitating her. Her body fell again.

But before even a moment passed, her body revived once more!

This time, Rong Lixian didn't hesitate. She rushed forward, unleashing all her power, exploding Zhang Fu's heart and head in an instant.

But...

She revived again!!

"Still not dead..." Feng Huangjun frowned, then with a flick of his hand, split her body into thousands of pieces in midair.

"This should have been the end of her life," Hao Yang said flatly, wiping Zhang Fu's blood from his forehead.

At that moment...

Boom!!

A thick bolt of blue-white lightning struck all four of them immediately! The immense destructive power slammed down onto the arena with overwhelming force.

However, the elders of the Holy Land quickly formed a protective barrier just in time. A golden light enveloped their bodies, shielding them.

But... the barrier shattered immediately as the lightning struck, though the lightning dissipated as well.

"So this is... the beloved child of heaven? How disgusting..." Hao Yang cursed under his breath, clearly frustrated.

They all understood well. Having heard from Han Ming about the Children of Destiny and the Daughters of Fate, it was no surprise to them that Zhang Fu had received aid from the heavens.

"Thank you, Elder Bai!" the four of them said in unison.

Standing to the side, Bai Jingshen simply smiled and raised two fingers at them, as carefree as ever.

At that moment, Lei Chen sensed something off within Wu Zhao's body. Without hesitation, he took out the pill his master had given him and swallowed it immediately.

In the blink of an eye, his cultivation surged, piercing through to the ninth stage of the Saint Realm. It was the limit his body could withstand without needing extended recovery after the pill's effect wore off.

Though his master had a pill that could push one to the Half-Emperor level, it was forbidden to use unless on the brink of death.

Lei Chen didn't wait. He dashed toward Wu Zhao's lifeless corpse and began slicing it into pieces with his sword.

But then

Boom!!

A surge of overwhelming demonic energy erupted into the sky as Wu Zhao's dismembered body slowly began to reassemble itself!

"Brother Wu!" Ning Xin called out with a smile.

But before she could relish the moment

Boom!!

A wave of void energy shot past her head, grazing her hair. Luckily, the divine protection of Heavenly Dao defended her just in time.

Crack!!

Another bolt of lightning struck toward Feng Huangjun, but Bai Jingshen formed a defensive formation just in time to intercept it.

And at that very moment...

Wu Zhao's aura suddenly surged with maddening force, rising from Qi Condensation through Foundation Establishment, then Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Formation

Lei Chen moved without delay, intending to finish Wu Zhao off, but was abruptly intercepted by a strange shadow. Its aura spread like the breath of a true demon.

At that moment, Wu Zhao's demonic aura surged forth, flooding the heavens with its overwhelming darkness. His cultivation climbed at a terrifying pace Soul Fusion, Nirvana, Celestial Cave, Saint and in the blink of an eye, he broke through to the peak of the Saint King Realm, ninth stage!

Yet the people of the Holy Land of the Immortal River, upon witnessing such a scene, simply smiled in unison, their grins nearly splitting their faces.

Just as they prepared to rush in to assist Lei Chen, whose position now seemed dangerously exposed

Boom!

A deathly chill erupted and surged toward them, its oppressive force crashing down like a tidal wave. The source Lei Chen's father. And behind him, the shadows of twenty-five ancestors of the Wu Clan descended from the heavens, each one a Great Emperor in their own right.

Bai Jingshen chuckled softly and spoke with a flat tone.

"So they've thrown everything into this, have they?"

"But tell me, little girl... Yun Zhenying, just what did you see in your vision that made you so certain we'd win without losing a single soul?"

Luo Yunhai spoke up.

"Perhaps... that girl Yun didn't see your death as something worth counting, and that's why we don't lose anyone."

Bai Jingshen laughed and shot back immediately.

"Talk about looking down on yourself, you wrinkled old bastard..."

And then

Boom!!

A fresh wave of Great Emperor auras burst forth from the side of the Holy Land of the Immortal River twenty more in total shaking the heavens to their core. Reinforcements from both factions clashed instantly in the sky.

Above the skies of the Holy Land of the Immortal River, a storm of spiritual energy raged, twisting and warping the air. The skies transformed into a battlefield drenched in blood, the firmament splitting apart with streaks of black. The collision of Great Emperor-level cultivation shook the world, so intense that even the sky itself dared not bend under the pressure.

In this place, there was no room for Half-Emperors below the ninth stage. Even the weaker Great Emperors were torn apart like fragile leaves.

With a single blink, with even the slightest lapse in defense, one could vanish from existence—without ever knowing how they died.

Boom!!

A colossal wave crashed into one of the Great Emperors from the Wu Clan, tearing his body apart midair. Blood mixed with raindrops fell like a crimson waterfall from the sky.

Emperor-tier weapons clashed in a relentless barrage. The gleam of swordlight, the formation of ancient sigils, high-level auras, and elemental powers struck against one another without pause.

The overwhelming force from these attacks ripped the clouds apart in a radius spanning millions of kilometers. Outside the defensive barrier of the Holy Land of the Immortal River, the ground split and crumbled like the aftermath of a massive earthquake. Shockwaves radiated outward from the battlefield, drawing the eyes of countless cultivators from all over the world.

"What the hell?! What's going on here? Why are there so many Great Emperors fighting?!"

"Who's fighting who?!"

"One side must be the Holy Land of the Immortal River, that much is clear! But the other... who are they? I have no idea!"

Cries of alarm, panicked shouts, and deafening explosions resounded from every direction.

BOOOOOMMMMM!!

An earth-shaking explosion erupted. Thousands of spirit ships hovering above the Holy Land lost control and plummeted from the skies. Broken metal and mangled bodies rained down like a storm of blood.

Even those watching from millions of kilometers away found themselves coughing up blood from the sheer pressure of the spiritual waves, collapsing to the ground from the force alone.

"Senior Brother! Should we notify the sect leader?!" a man shouted in panic. "I can clearly sense the aura of the Wu Clan!"

The woman beside him snapped her head toward him and urgently replied, "Do it now! If the Holy Land of the Immortal River falls, we could be next!"

Within moments, sects unaffiliated with the Wu Clan scrambled to send urgent messages back to their own forces. Some even activated emergency teleportation formations without hesitation.

But at that same moment, high above in the sky...

Boom! Boom! Boom!!

Ship after ship exploded in a cascade of destruction, their flaming wreckage painting the heavens with streaks of fire and smoke.

Han Ming simply raised his hand and pointed toward the fleet of airships belonging to the Yin-Yang Dynasty. A surge of golden-blue light shot from the tip of his finger, transforming into a streak of annihilating lightning.

In a single motion, thousands of airships were obliterated, disintegrated into dust midair. Amidst the destruction, above the body of a warhorse writhing in agony, a battered woman with black-and-white hair floated unsteadily in the sky. Blood trickled from her lips, and her trembling body looked as though it might collapse at any moment.

"You... What in the world are you?! Why are you so overwhelmingly strong?!"

Han Ming paid her question no mind. His eyes were devoid of emotion as he silently extended a finger, aiming it directly at her forehead.

A sharp, golden beam of light gathered and shot forward like a spear toward Lei Chen's mother.

But..

CRAAACK!!

A strange bolt of golden lightning descended from the heavens, striking Han Ming dead-on. The sky shook violently, and the thunderclap that followed drowned out all other sound. Instantly, the system within Han Ming activated, neutralizing the lightning's power in full.

Han Ming tilted his head slightly, then asked in an indifferent tone, "Can I kill her?"

[You can, Host… but her soul will escape with the aid of the Heavenly Dao and return stronger than before.]

Han Ming gave a faint nod. Then

Shhk!

The void split open.

An old man in a blood-purple robe and golden mask stepped out from the rift—Zhao Honglong.

"Long-range teleportation formation is ready."

Han Ming nodded quietly, then turned his gaze across the battlefield.

There Mu Nansi was cutting down the seventh Great Emperor with ease. The water surrounding her had turned into invisible blades, cleaving through the sky like silent death.

Han Ming sent a sound transmission to Mu Nansi along with command over more than a thousand semi-emperor puppets.

"Take care of my disciples. Don't let a single one of them die, Sect Master."

Mu Nansi gave a silent nod, her eyes unwavering.

Once everything was in place, Han Ming opened a portal into the void and stepped through alongside Zhao Honglong leaving Lei Chen's mother behind in stunned confusion.