The terrified Tai'e Sword Emperor! Who dared touch a member of my Emperor Clan?!

The Tai'e Sword Emperor's pupils shook violently. "An Emperor Weapon! An Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon!"

"So it really is in his hands!"

Greed surged in the four emperors' eyes, and their attacks grew even fiercer.

Su Linxian grasped Diya's hilt.

The sword let out a deep, lingering hum in his palm, like some ancient beast awakening from slumber.

Dark gold patterns lit up along the blade one after another. Their radiance grew brighter and fiercer until the entire sword shone like a dazzling streak of dark gold light.

Su Linxian raised his hand.

He slashed horizontally.

There was no technique, no sword art, not even a deliberate stance.

He simply held Diya and traced an unremarkable arc toward the point where those four divine abilities converged.

"Humm—!"

Where the sword light swept past, space tore silently like thin paper. The billions of pitch-black sword beams struck what seemed to be an invisible wall, all snapping and shattering at once before vanishing without a trace.

"Rumble!"

One slash.

All four Great Emperor divine abilities were utterly broken!

The backlash surged into them like a mountain torrent rushing upstream. All four emperors grunted and staggered back.

The Tai'e Sword Emperor's sword hand trembled violently, and the web between his thumb and forefinger split open in a bloody wound deep enough to expose bone.

"That slash..."

The Azure Rainbow Great Emperor's voice trembled. "The power of that slash... it clearly reached the level of an Apex Great Emperor!"

The Tai'e Sword Emperor jerked his head up, staring fixedly at Diya in Su Linxian's hand.

"It's that Emperor Weapon! That sword is amplifying his combat strength!"

"We have to seize the sword!" the Flamecloud Emperor Venerable roared hoarsely. "Otherwise, all four of us will meet our end here today!"

The Tai'e Sword Emperor gritted his teeth and shouted, forming ancient seals with both hands.

The billions of sword beams behind him ignited at once, transforming into golden flames that filled the sky!

That was his origin swordfire, the entirety of his foundation in the sword Dao, refined over a million years of cultivation.

Within the flames, a completely transparent, glasslike divine sword slowly took shape. The most ancient, original inscriptions of the Tai'e Sword Art were engraved on its blade, every stroke releasing a heart-pounding aura of destruction.

The origin powers of four Great Emperors converged, and the glasslike divine sword abruptly swelled into a colossal sword that pierced heaven and earth.

Where its light passed, the laws of the Heavenly Dao shattered inch by inch, exposing the pitch-black depths of the cosmos beyond. Even time suffered a brief break beneath that sword.

"Tai'e Return to Origin!"

The Tai'e Sword Emperor roared, and the heaven-piercing sword cleaved down at Su Linxian's head.

The might of that slash could level mountain ranges stretching tens of thousands of miles, evaporate boundless oceans, and shatter an entire star region.

All of heaven and earth fell silent beneath it.

Su Linxian looked up at that heaven-piercing sword light without so much as furrowing his brow.

"The Tai'e Sword Art?"

"What a coincidence. I know it too."

He swung his sword!

Tai'e Return to Origin!!

"Clang—"

A clear, far-reaching sword cry rang through the nine heavens.

"Rumble!"

The dark gold patterns on Diya's blade erupted with blinding golden radiance all at once, and a formless sword intent shot from its tip!

A fine crack split the colossal sword at its core.

Then that crack spread rapidly, covering the entire sword like a spiderweb in an instant.

Billions of cracks blazed with golden light. The colossal sword froze in the void for a single breath, then exploded.

Golden fragments filled the sky like billions of stars falling together, turning the entire firmament into a dazzling golden ocean!

"Pffft!!!"

The Tai'e Sword Emperor shuddered, golden emperor blood spraying wildly from his mouth as he plunged from ten thousand zhang above like a kite with its string cut.

The other emperors grunted in unison, emperor blood spilling from all seven facial orifices!

"Too weak."

Su Linxian stood in the void. Diya slowly dissolved into a streak of dark gold light in his palm and returned to his body.

With two divine abilities at the pinnacle of perfection, my combat strength has now entered the ranks of Apex Great Emperors!

The Tai'e Sword Emperor struggled to lift his head from the ruins.

Drenched in blood, he stared fixedly at that white-robed figure high above. For the first time, true fear appeared in his eyes!

Had the others not shared the backlash from that slash, his body and soul would already have been annihilated.

"You..."

"Who exactly are you... you're clearly cultivating my Tai'e Sword Art... how could you... how could you..."

Su Linxian said, "There's plenty you don't know."

"Die."

The Tai'e Sword Emperor's pupils contracted, and he roared.

"Ignorant junior! Do you really think this is all we have?"

"Sword sacrifice!"

He abruptly raised his only remaining hand, his right, and viciously drove all five fingers into his chest.

Humm!!!

A sword cry exploded, not from outside, but from deep within the Tai'e Sword Emperor's body!

Billions of golden sword beams stabbed out through every inch of his skin.

That sword of golden light hovered in the void, its tip aimed at Su Linxian. The radiance along its blade grew brighter and fiercer, bathing the entire sky in pure gold so brilliant that no one could keep their eyes open!

At the sight, the Azure Rainbow Great Emperor spoke hoarsely.

"Sword sacrifice...?!"

For a Great Emperor to sacrifice himself to his sword was no different from sublimating himself to the utmost.

After this move, the Tai'e Sword Emperor would inevitably suffer grievous wounds and have little time left to live!

"Rumble—"

The golden sword of sword intent moved.

It became a golden beam piercing heaven and earth, shooting toward Su Linxian at an unimaginable speed!

Where that beam passed, it burned an unhealable black fissure through space and scorched a hole in the laws of the Heavenly Dao as though they were thin paper. Even time lost all meaning before it!

Su Linxian's pupils contracted.

The might of this sword had already surpassed the Tai'e Return to Origin the four emperors had unleashed together.

Just then—

"Let's see who dares touch a member of my Su Family Emperor Clan!!"

An enraged shout exploded from the distant horizon like thunder from the nine heavens. It carried an unimaginably terrifying pressure; the sound waves alone made the entire sky tremble violently, and the souls of every cultivator within ten thousand miles shuddered fiercely at once.

"Boom!"

The giant golden sword abruptly shattered!

"Pffft!!"

The Tai'e Sword Emperor's expression changed. He spewed a great mouthful of blood, his aura weakening.

A ten-thousand-zhang opening was forcibly torn through the middle of the sky. From within it, a dragon's roar and a phoenix's cry rang through the clouds together. A ten-thousand-zhang golden dragon and an equally vast fire phoenix spiraled out, golden radiance weaving with crimson flames like dawn clouds filling the heavens, illuminating the entire night sky in resplendent gold and red.

The dragon and phoenix cried out, and heaven and earth changed color.

Then—

The clangor of iron armor thundered in everyone's ears.

A full one hundred and eight Black Armor War Guards filed out of the opening.

They wore heavy black iron armor as dark as ink, their faces covered by savage demon masks. Standard-issue Emperor Weapons hung at their waists, and a chilling aura of slaughter coiled around them.

Every guard's aura was as unfathomable as a still abyss and as imposing as a towering mountain!

In the firmament.

An ancient bronze war chariot came riding through the air.

The chariot was mottled all over, covered in the marks of time's erosion, yet it radiated a weighty pressure that had endured a million years without fading.

A white-haired old man stood upon it, clad in a black imperial robe patterned with dragons. Though his hair and beard were snowy white, he was hale and vigorous. His eyes were as deep as an abyss, and wherever his gaze swept, even space grew still.

Dozens more figures followed behind the old man.

Every one of their auras was as weighty as mountains and seas, as deep as a star-filled abyss!

All of heaven and earth fell utterly silent.

Su Linxian looked up and grinned.

"So they've come."

The second reward the system had granted him.

An unparalleled backing across all heavens!

Boom!

The Tai'e Sword Emperor froze where he stood as though struck by lightning, the blood throughout his body turning ice-cold in an instant.

The Azure Rainbow Great Emperor glanced up at the formation blotting out the sky and sun. His face turned as pale as paper, and his body slumped limply in the void.

"An... Emperor Clan..."

"Members of an Emperor Clan?!"

A Great Emperor cried out involuntarily.

"Impossible! All members of Emperor Clans reside in the higher heavens! They stopped involving themselves in worldly affairs long ago! How could they appear here..."

He never finished speaking.

The white-haired old man's gaze swept over him.

The emperor power throughout his body stopped circulating completely at that moment, and even his heartbeat slowed half a beat.

The white-haired old man paid him no heed.

He turned slightly toward Su Linxian in the void and bowed with utmost reverence.

"Lord Divine Son."

"This old servant arrived late. Please punish me, Divine Son."

Silence fell over everyone.

A deathly silence.

The Tianxuan Ancestor was stunned.

Everyone present, without exception, froze completely where they stood.

"Lord Divine Son?!"