You destroyed my Tianxuan Orthodoxy-none of you will escape today!

The words fell.

Li Hentian slowly raised his hand, the two divine swords behind him whirling rapidly.

Sword Qi poured from him, blanketing heaven and earth.

"Sect Master Li, we understand."

The twelve Quasi-Emperors behind him raised their palms in unison.

Rumble—

The power of thirteen Quasi-Emperors converged, forming a golden mountain in the void that blotted out the sky and sun.

Laws of the Dao intertwined like chains, their contours as distinct as mountain ridges and river courses. Wherever they passed, the void shattered inch by inch.

It slowly began to descend.

Rumble—

Spiderweb cracks split the heavens amid explosive booms.

Beneath the giant palm, the sect's protective barrier shattered inch by inch. The ruined ground collapsed, and the surrounding rocks turned to ash!

"Those bastards!!"

An elder of the Tianxuan Divine Sect watched, his eyes nearly splitting with fury!

"Are they truly determined to go this far?! Ancestor, even if our bodies perish and our cultivation vanishes today, we must tear a chunk of flesh from these bastards!"

"Fight to the death!"

"Burn your souls!"

One after another, the elders of the Tianxuan Orthodoxy burned their divine souls and charged toward the mountain!

The Tianxuan Ancestor jerked his head up.

His clouded eyes fixed on the descending mountain.

With the last of his strength, he roared at the heavens.

"Today, our Tianxuan Orthodoxy faces annihilation!"

"All who belong to our orthodoxy must avenge this someday, to honor our countless fallen souls!"

His battered Quasi-Emperor power burned fiercely as he sought to resist at the cost of his life.

But that mountain was simply too enormous.

The giant palm was still a thousand feet above the Tianxuan Orthodoxy.

Yet the aura of destruction already loomed over everyone's heads.

Five hundred feet, a hundred feet...

Towering flames engulfed the Tianxuan Ancestor as he roared.

"Hold it back!"

At the very last instant.

Suddenly.

The golden mountain stopped.

That terrifying divine ability, powerful enough to crush the entire sect, simply hung in midair.

Utterly motionless.

Then.

Crack.

A fissure appeared.

The cracks spread wildly like a spiderweb, covering the entire mountain in an instant. Countless golden fissures shimmered with an eerie light beneath the sun.

Boom!

It burst into golden fragments that filled the sky, blooming like fireworks high above and painting the entire heavens a dazzling gold.

The divine ability was shattered.

The thirteen Quasi-Emperors jolted violently, their expressions changing drastically as each spat out a mouthful of blood essence!

"Pfft!"

"Who's there?!"

Fury filled Li Hentian's face as he abruptly looked up.

His pupils contracted!

There, high above them.

Someone had appeared without their noticing.

A young man stood with his hands behind his back.

His white robes were untouched by dust, his features peerlessly handsome, his bearing lofty and noble as jade.

He stood there without doing anything.

Yet the entire Star Sea revolved around him, countless rays of starlight gathering behind him into an intangible halo.

Below, everyone from the Tianxuan Orthodoxy stared in shock!

"Su Linxian?!"

"Lord Dao Heir!"

"Why did you come back?!"

At those words, the Quasi-Emperors immediately understood.

Li Hentian frowned and spoke coldly.

"You're Su Linxian?"

Su Linxian said nothing.

Instead, he looked down at the corpses strewn throughout the orthodoxy, and at the sect master hanging there.

The sect master?!

Su Linxian's pupils tightened. Towering killing intent instantly flooded his Emperor Eyes as he said coldly.

"None of you will escape today."

"Dao Heir?!" The Tianxuan Ancestor jerked his head up.

The instant he recognized that white-robed figure, no joy appeared in his clouded old eyes. Instead, an even deeper despair welled up.

"Dao Heir! Go!!"

He roared hoarsely, blood clogging his throat: "Why did you come back?! They're all Quasi-Emperors! Thirteen Quasi-Emperors!! You're only a Supreme—did you return to throw your life away?! Run..."

Before he could finish.

Above him, Li Hentian suddenly laughed.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. The horror in his eyes faded, replaced by haughty disdain.

"So it was you."

"You killed thirteen Quasi-Emperors. Quite the feat."

"But, well..."

He glanced at the surviving Tianxuan disciples below, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

"Coming back saved us the trouble of finding you."

"Su Linxian, if you surrender quietly and hand over the Emperor Weapon, I might just—leave your sect an intact corpse."

"Otherwise."

He slowly raised his hand and pointed at the twenty-three surviving Tianxuan disciples below.

"They."

"One by one."

"Will die before your eyes."

Behind Li Hentian, the other twelve Quasi-Emperors sneered as well.

"A Supreme who lucked into some treasure and gained a little cultivation dares challenge us?"

"He doesn't know how high the heavens are or how deep the earth runs."

"Utterly laughable."

"Sect Master Li, why waste words on an ignorant brat like him? I'll twist his head off for everyone!"

The red-haired Quasi-Emperor laughed viciously and thrust out his hand, his five fingers curled into claws.

Quasi-Emperor power gathered in his palm, forming a gigantic claw wreathed in crimson divine fire that viciously snatched at the crown of Su Linxian's head. The void shattered inch by inch beneath it, and crimson fire illuminated half the sky.

The Tianxuan disciples below cried out in despair.

"Dao Heir, watch out—!"

The red-haired Quasi-Emperor's giant claw was already three feet above Su Linxian's head.

His grin had already stretched from ear to ear.

Yet.

Su Linxian did not even turn to look at him.

He merely shifted slightly to one side.

Then he raised his right hand.

With his index and middle fingers pressed together, he made a gentle slash.

Shing—

An exceedingly thin, faint white line flashed through the void and vanished.

It was like a fingertip brushing the surface of water, without so much as a ripple.

The red-haired Quasi-Emperor abruptly froze.

His giant claw, burning with crimson flames, stopped dead a foot above Su Linxian's head. Then it was sliced cleanly down the middle, both halves dissolving into nothing.

Immediately afterward, a hair-thin line of blood extended from the red-haired Quasi-Emperor's brow all the way to his crotch.

Crack.

A faint splitting sound, almost too quiet to hear.

The red-haired Quasi-Emperor's body split down the middle, its two halves slowly sliding apart.

His blood did not even have time to gush out. The cut was too clean, and both halves of his face still wore that vicious grin. Even his pupils retained the excitement of his impending success!

The two halves fell from the void and struck the ruins below with two dull thuds.

Thump!

At that moment.

Everyone stared blankly at the two halves of his corpse, still twitching faintly. Time seemed to freeze.

The smiles froze on the twelve Quasi-Emperors' faces.

Li Hentian's pupils shrank to pinpoints.

Below, the surviving Tianxuan disciples gaped, clicking sounds rising from their throats, yet they could not utter a single word.

"He..."

One Quasi-Emperor finally found his voice, but it shook uncontrollably. "He... what did he just do?"

No one answered him.

Because no one had seen clearly.

"What... what kind of power is this...?"

The Tianxuan Ancestor knelt amid the ruins, his clouded eyes fixed on the two fallen halves, his lips trembling violently.

He had lived for thirty-seven thousand years, seen countless monstrous geniuses and countless heaven-shaking divine abilities.

But he had never seen a Supreme... no, he had never seen anyone!

Who could slay a Quasi-Emperor with such effortless ease!

As though brushing away a speck of dust!

"Lord Dao Heir... when did his strength become so terrifying?!"

Su Linxian lowered his hand.

He still stood with his hands behind his back, his robes white as snow and untouched by even a speck of dust.

From beginning to end, his gaze had never fallen upon the red-haired Quasi-Emperor, as though neither the man's existence nor his death merited a second glance.

"I already told you."

"None of you will escape today."