"Smack..."
A crisp, resounding slap echoed across the starry sky as a heavy blow landed on Jin Taijun's face. It was a most pleasing sound.
"You... dare humiliate me?!" Jin Taijun staggered, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, her face livid. The last time she had suffered such humiliation was when the Sage Emperor was still alive.
She had long grown accustomed to being forceful and overbearing, relying on her cultivation to stand high above others and look down upon the mortal world.
Only the Sage Emperor's arrival had shattered all that. Yet she had dared to feel anger, not voice it-he was simply too powerful. Now even his subordinates were the same.
Jin Taijun's eyes blazed with fury, and murderous malice surged from her.
"So what if we humiliate you? By daring to disrespect the Sage Emperor, you've already paved your own road to death!" said Ning Yu, the Sacred Emperor Palace's foremost war general, a valiant figure clad in golden armor.
He had been the first to follow Lin Tianfan. Once a wandering orphan, he had been raised by the Sage Emperor, who had imparted his teachings and guided his cultivation. Naturally, he would never allow anyone to disrespect the person he revered most.
"Boom!"
Another palm struck toward Jin Taijun, like a vault of heaven crashing down, its power immense. A Supreme's attacks could destroy hundreds of millions of miles of star fields with the slightest movement. They were terrifyingly powerful.
"Ah..." Jin Taijun roared, runes flashing all over her body and her blood essence burning as she tried to withstand the blow.
However, eight Supremes surrounded her, sealing off her movements with their tremendous power. Unable to budge, she could only watch helplessly as that palm landed on her face.
"Smack, smack, smack...!"
The sounds of slapping rang out without end. It was hard to imagine a Supreme being slapped repeatedly before everyone's eyes. News of it would shock countless people to death.
By now, Jin Taijun was dizzy and dazed, blood streaming endlessly from the corners of her mouth. Her face had been beaten raw, spraying bloody mist, and many of her teeth had been knocked out.
The scene continued. Some powers hostile to the Jin Family felt immense satisfaction, while others could not help pitying Jin Taijun at the sight of her miserable state.
Jin Taijun had never expected that even after the Sage Emperor's fall, his subordinates would remain so powerful. It was utterly beyond reason.
After this ordeal, she knew her reputation would be swept into the dust. She had lost her last shred of dignity and would never be able to hold her head high again.
At least, that would remain true as long as the Sacred Emperor Palace existed.
All the onlookers were dumbstruck, but they also understood that the Sacred Emperor Palace was sending everyone a message: though the Sage Emperor had fallen, the Sacred Emperor Palace remained. It was still a top power in the Nine Heavens, not something just anyone could bully.
Most already understood that they could only befriend it, never oppose it. This was a towering behemoth, a newly risen undying lineage that would not decline merely because one person had passed away.
At that moment, the Feng Family's ancestor was also thinking to himself how fortunate it was that he had not been the first to step forward. He had held back a little; otherwise, he would have been the one suffering.
Jin Taijun secretly sought help from the various powers, asking them to join forces against the Sacred Emperor Palace. If this continued, she felt she would be slain here.
In truth, the Eight Great War Generals could have slain her here long ago. After spending so many years together, even without reaching the very pinnacle of the Supreme realm, their coordination and formations allowed them to kill even an ultimate Supreme.
The Sage Emperor's fall had left them grief-stricken, and they were at the height of their fury. Now that Jin Taijun had jumped out, they naturally intended to vent their anger properly, taking turns to give her a thorough beating before killing her.
"You're exactly who we're beating, you old hag!"
The resounding slaps continued, one from each of them in turn, over and over without stopping. Jin Taijun's face had been battered beyond recognition, swollen like a pig's head.
Finally, as everyone watched, Wang Changsheng stepped forward and said, "Fellow Daoists, why not let this end here? Spare her!"
The two families were allies and had always been on good terms. Naturally, the Wang Family could not simply watch her die. Otherwise, the entire world really would belong to the Sacred Emperor Palace in the future.
"Trash like this would only pollute the Nine Heavens if left alive. Better to kill her!"
The slapping continued. The Eight Great War Generals paid him no heed. Wang Changsheng was not qualified to tell them what to do, and he was no good sort himself.
Jin Taijun suffered in silence, feeling that she would not escape this calamity today. She frantically sent voice transmissions begging for help, even making promises to Meng Tianzheng. Only he could persuade these men to stop and save her life.
"Spare her life for now. Let her go to the Border Pass to kill enemies in the future and atone for her crimes!"
Meng Tianzheng finally spoke, because Jin Taijun had repeatedly assured him that when that world invaded, the Jin Family would stand on the very front line to resist the enemy.
Smack!
With the final slap, Jin Taijun was sent flying into another star field. She shattered countless stars before coming to a halt, utterly bedraggled, with none of her former arrogance or grandeur remaining.
Ning Yu and the others let her go. Meng Tianzheng's words carried considerable weight: he was a senior their Sage Emperor respected, both a teacher and a friend.
Moreover, before undergoing his tribulation, the Sage Emperor had instructed the Sacred Emperor Palace to cooperate fully with Meng Tianzheng in the future.
"Senior Meng, we'll take our leave. If anything comes up in the future, you can send word to the Sacred Emperor Palace!"
In the end, the Eight Great War Generals departed with the bloodstained Golden Cauldron. Though the cauldron was cracked, its artifact spirit still existed, so it could be repaired.
Moreover, having bathed in an Undying's blood, it shone with brilliant immortal light and rippling colors. It had undergone a transformation and was already repairing itself. Given time, it would become a whole immortal artifact again.
There were few immortal artifacts in the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths-one could count them on two hands. Each was a foundation treasure of its respective power. Only these few had survived from immortal ancient times, making them exceptionally precious.
With no immortals in the Primordial Ancient Realm coming forth to face the enemy now, they would be indispensable weapons of supreme power in the future struggle against the Foreign Realm.
Somewhere in the Border Wasteland's Uninhabited Zone, a woman in snow-white robes moved with an airy grace and nimble steps. Light gleamed in her eyes, and she looked like an immortal maiden who had stepped out of a painting, her bearing peerless.
Yet this transcendent beauty, with skin like ice and bones like jade, was walking through a perilous region, seemingly searching for something with a hint of anxiety.
"It should be somewhere around here, shouldn't it?" the woman in white murmured. Her voice was like a clear silver bell, like pearls large and small falling onto a jade plate, delightful to hear and enough to set hearts fluttering.
She seemed like a sprite, utterly out of place in this scorched-black region steeped in ominousness. Her bearing was solemn, her grace unmatched, her purity beyond compare, yet a trace of slyness lingered on her face.
She was a changeable woman with a wealth of expressions. At times, she stood apart from the world, still as a sacred lotus, like a banished immortal maiden descending to earth; at others, she was sly and lively, like a scheming little she-devil.
"Where on earth did that fellow run off to? Didn't he just fail to become an immortal?" the young woman said airily, speaking as though becoming an immortal were simple. It was utterly unbelievable.
"Hum!"
Suddenly, an Immortal Bell mark on her body trembled gently, as though conveying something to her. Golden light blazed from the white-robed woman's eyes, mysterious runes emerged, and she looked in a particular direction.
Had any other beings been present, they would surely have recognized the astonishing Martial Dao Heavenly Eye. This seemingly young woman had actually cultivated a heavenly eye that even many mighty figures did not possess.
"Oh, found him. To think this fellow underwent such a complete rebirth that he became a baby!" The woman in white smiled, the corners of her mouth lifting, her expression peculiar.
In a cave just a few hundred miles away, she saw an immortal cocoon rooted within. A formation concealed it, but could not hide it from her heavenly eye.
But upon further thought, she murmured to herself, "Still, that makes sense. After suffering such grievous wounds and escaping death by a hair, simply surviving was no easy feat."