"Heh, heh, heh!"
A grating laugh escaped the Sage Emperor's mouth. He calmly pointed his right hand into the air, and the colorful scales on his face exploded, transforming into shimmering fragments of colored light.
Those fragments gathered into a square in midair and rapidly expanded in all directions.
The square contained a strange spatial power. Ignoring the waves of energy erupting from the powerful combatants, it flew outward and formed a Nine Palaces Grid in the air.
Then vast swathes of Abyss Creatures below burst apart, turning into streams of pitch-black energy that merged into the Nine Palaces Grid. The grid blazed with light. Each of its nine squares seemed to become an independent space, and a repulsive force erupted, seemingly intent on turning every battle within the grid into a one-on-one duel.
In a one-on-one battle, the Spirit Emperor, Blaze Emperor, and the others could hold out against Tang Hao individually, even if they could not defeat him. The same was true of the Scythe Emperor and Devil Emperor against the Blue Silver Emperor. The Devil Emperor was the Abyss Demon Puppet Master, and defense was his greatest strength. His body had already reached the level of a divine being, so even the Blue Silver Emperor could not defeat him.
But if Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong were separated, each would possess only demigod-level combat strength. Facing a quasi-god alone meant certain death. Li Qingfeng, Di Tian, Long Xiaoyao, Kong Deming, and Ye Xishui faced the same predicament. At most, only Ye Xishui could hold out under a quasi-god's attacks.
Nine Palaces Grid.
This was the Sage Emperor's innate skill. Its sole function was to divide space. Once the Nine Palaces Grid was established, unless the Sage Emperor dispelled the soul skill himself, the battles could only end