Fighting Four Emperors Alone

"Go!"

Seeing Yun Zimo suppress Wu Nao with a single hand, Fan Lao felt the star of death flashing wildly above his head. He let out a token shout, then immediately utilized his unique blood-escape technique to vanish from Jiuling City in an instant.

"My thanks to you all!"

Yun Zimo held Wu Nao and offered a faint smile, bowing slightly to those guarding the perimeter. Before anyone could react, he had already given chase.

Yun Zimo's form split into three, with three figures pursuing the three fleeing men.

"What an exquisite secret technique, one body into three! Each avatar possesses more than half the strength of the true body. Wait? They even seem to have independent consciousness!"

Qi Yan, who had taken custody of the sealed Wu Nao, clicked his tongue in wonder. Watching the true body of Yun Zimo as it pursued Ban Lao, his interest in the avatar technique grew even more intense.

"Great Wind Handprint!"

"Extreme Wind: Meteor Kill!"

A massive handprint of wind pushed horizontally toward Yan, while a brilliant meteor descended from the sky, reaching the back of his head in an instant.

"Flame Rock Wall!"

A wall of magma and fire rose from the ground. Yan transformed his body into flames, slamming his palms into the earth as several pillars of molten lava erupted upward.

The Yun Zimo avatar pursuing Yan flickered with hand seals, transforming into a whirlwind to shred him.

The avatar's eyes seemed to lack much intelligence; it simply detonated itself, merging into the whirlwind. A sky-piercing tornado of wind blades swept across the land, churning up layers of yellow sand, soil, and boulders—even uprooting a small hill!

Yan had only just broken through the Great Wind Handprint when the tornado arrived behind him. Unable to stabilize his form, he was forced to unleash another Dou Technique.

"It's no use, I can't form the seals! The wind speed is so high I can't even sense my fire-attribute energy!"

Despair crossed Yan's face. His flame-attribute Dou Qi erupted from his body, igniting the debris within the tornado until the massive vortex gradually transformed into a tornado of fire.

"I'll drag you down to hell with me!"

Yan screamed in despair from within the fire tornado. The heaven-shaking explosion, combined with a massive fire cloud rising into the sky, forced the approaching Qi Yan to retreat in haste.

"Form the formation! Block that energy!"

The mountain forest turned into a sea of fire, and the once-lush wilderness was reduced to scorched earth. Only through the desperate suppression of Qi Yan and the others did the escaping flames and shockwaves fail to cause further damage, though the collapsed mountains and shattered earth would never be the same.

A cool breeze drifted in from behind, and energy poured into the Yun Zimo avatar pursuing Fan Lao. Its eyes grew more vivid, and its aura surged once more.

"Damn it!"

Seeing Yun Zimo's speed skyrocket again, Fan Lao gritted his teeth and abruptly changed direction, fleeing toward a massive city.

"Drawing a Circle as a Prison!"

The Yun Zimo avatar slashed with its long sword, and countless wind blades manifested around Fan Lao. However, Fan Lao exploded into a mist of blood once more, forcing his way through.

"Wind Wall Whirl-Kill!"

A rotating wall of wind blades enclosed him. Fan Lao used his blood-escape again; even though his face was pale as snow and he had little blood left in his body, he stubbornly accelerated his flight.

"Medicine Emperor, save—"

"BOOM!"

Thirty-six beams of soul-piercing sword light struck, pinning Fan Lao's soul in mid-air not far from Feng City. Countless sword qi crisscrossed, shredding the mist of blood into nothingness.

"No!"

Fan Lao's soul shrieked, filled with regret. If he had turned to fight from the beginning, he could have at least escaped using his blood-sea or blood-clone techniques!

He had miscalculated Yun Zimo's strength, and he had miscalculated the attitude of Han Feng!

Retrieving a jade bottle to seal Fan Lao's soul, the Yun Zimo avatar stood quietly, watching the figures appearing from Feng City nearby.

The two sides stared at each other for a long time. The Yun Zimo avatar turned and left, while the man from Feng City sighed and returned to the city; he had no confidence in being able to keep the person before him.

Just as the battles on both sides concluded, the fight between Yun Zimo and Ban Lao reached a fever pitch. The avatar was teetering, its body covered in wounds that reached the bone.

"Kid, I admit you are strong, but you want to kill a high-level Dou Emperor like me just after entering the Dou Emperor realm? Too naive!"

Ban Lao laughed wildly, his eyes filled with ferocity and malice, each strike aiming for the vital points of both Yun Zimo and his avatar.

A wind-attribute Dou Emperor—as long as I don't let him create distance to cast his techniques, I don't believe he can kill me in close-quarters combat!

"Very well. I have recently comprehended a new sword move; please, old man, offer your critique."

As if hearing Ban Lao's inner monologue, Yun Zimo nodded. His true body stepped back a hundred meters and drew the Judgment Sword, which he had not used in a long time.

The Yun Zimo avatar's attack speed surged, trading life for wounds to ensure Ban Lao had no chance to escape.

"Damn you! Go to hell!"

After Ban Lao punched the Yun Zimo avatar into oblivion, he flew forward to kill Yun Zimo's true body, but Yun Zimo had already raised his sword.

"Within My Dao!"

The black and white sides of the Judgment Sword shone brilliantly. The two colors surged into the sky, converging into the phantom of a two-colored Xiezhi. A roar that pierced the soul erupted, and Ban Lao was horrified to find his body and soul frozen as if encased in ice.

He could clearly feel that he should be able to control them, yet he simply could not!

"Supreme Sovereign."

The Xiezhi phantom dove downward, merging into the peerless sword intent of the Supreme Sovereign. The sword intent split into two, then four, then eight, until it became ten thousand swords, raining down into Ban Lao's body like a storm!

"In the name of the Xiezhi, I judge your sins!"

Only a majestic judgment echoed in Ban Lao's ears; then, a breeze blew past, and his body drifted away like ash, his soul dissolving into tiny specks of light...

The Ban Emperor of a generation in the Black-Corner Region, fallen!

Fighting four Dou Emperors alone with the strength of a newly ascended Dou Emperor, leaving two dead and two severely wounded—Yun Zimo shocked the world with a single battle!

"Madman Lan killed four Emperors in one day?!"

"Damn, does he have to be this ferocious? He just slaughtered the Black Skull Tomb Master, and how long has it been before he killed four more Dou Emperors?"

"Hey, hey, he only killed two, alright? Two others are still alive!"

"..."

Yun Zimo's battle record was too astonishing, especially regarding the seven-star Dou Emperor Ban Lao—that was a high-level Dou Emperor! One of the top-tier figures beneath the Dou Ancestor realm, yet he had been killed by a kid who had just entered the Dou Emperor realm!

Even those veteran factions in the Black-Corner Region that usually ignored worldly affairs were alarmed, one after another sending disciples to Jiuling City to scout for information.

"Damn Jia Nan Academy!"

However, many high-level members of various factions cursed under their breath. It went without saying that the territory and resources of the Black Skull Tomb had been seized by Xia Lan.

But the massive interests of the Earth Flame Sect, Blood Sect, and Demon Blade Gate—even if they didn't expect him to share much, surely Xia Lan couldn't swallow it all by himself.

Yet, just as those people went to scout for information, Jia Nan Academy had secretly sent people to take over the core portions of the three major factions, leaving them nothing but scraps!

They didn't dare to voice too much criticism regarding this, so they could only curse in their spare time to comfort themselves.

"Congratulations, Grand Commander. Your record of fighting four Emperors alone has truly made you famous throughout the world!"

Inside Jiuling Palace, Su Qian cupped his hands and spoke respectfully to Yun Zimo.

"Great Elder, please do not mock me. I was merely forced into it..."

Facing Su Qian's teasing, Yun Zimo could only offer a bitter smile.

"But why would you personally come to the Black-Corner Region for such a trivial matter, Great Elder?"

"Trivial matter?"

Great Elder Su Qian rolled his eyes at Yun Zimo.

"Do you have any idea that this is a heaven-shattering event? If I hadn't been here to block them, those old fellows would have eaten you until not even a scrap remained!"

Only then did Yun Zimo realize with a start that he had killed so many Dou Emperors; no wonder no Dou Ancestors had stepped in to interfere—it was Su Qian blocking them from the shadows!

"You had better keep a low profile. You've already wiped out four major factions. If you touch their bottom line, a young genius like you with the potential to reach the Dou Ancestor realm might not live to see that day!"

Su Qian patted Yun Zimo on the shoulder. Although the Black-Corner Region had always been chaotic, there were always people behind the scenes controlling that delicate balance. If an outsider like Yun Zimo went on a rampage and broke that balance, then...

After all, there had never been a shortage of people wanting to flip the chessboard...

"Thank you, Great Elder!"

Yun Zimo bowed solemnly, his own convictions becoming clearer and firmer at the same time.

"Regarding the things you asked us to investigate, we have received some news recently..."

Su Qian took out a file, handed it to Yun Zimo, and watched him with a smile.

"A Soul Hall Protector?!"