Jiang Ding, his flying sword, and the entire Starry Sky Unmanned Special Forces Army were sent flying by a single palm strike. Bones snapped, and warships and fighters exploded one after another.
"...Emperor realm..."
Jiang Ding barely managed to prop himself up with his sword. Blood soaked his chest, and a chill ran through him.
He looked at his sword.
It was bent.
The blade had bowed into a thirty-degree arc. Even a quasi-emperor weapon could not withstand an emperor's power. It had nearly broken in an instant.
"How did you come to possess quasi-emperor power?"
A flame giant descended beside the Flameflow Imperial Heir and asked the question slowly.
A mighty pressure filled the surroundings. Fire-attributed spiritual energy grew especially restless, cheering as though it had welcomed the sovereign of the rules of flame and was eagerly pledging its loyalty.
The flame giant's body was more terrifying still. It was formed from strands of divine fire of heaven and earth. After tens of thousands of years of body cultivation, he had transformed himself into a body of divine flame-metal, imperishable and indestructible. A single drop of his blood could crush the starry sky, slaughter billions of living beings, and create a fire abyss that would never go out.
"Father!"
"Father, Father, you're finally here..."
The Flameflow Imperial Heir burst into tears. Saved at the brink of death, he clung to the Flame Stone Great Emperor's leg and wailed without end, pouring out every terrible grievance he had suffered.
The Flame Stone Great Emperor frowned.
He disliked his son's weakness, though he did not show it now. Instead, he began planning how to temper him later. He could not simply let this go.
Deep down, however, he felt the reaction was understandable.
If, back when he had been an imperial