Chapter 186: Fall of the Yan Emperor!
"Hahaha! Then let us test our mettle against this Dou Di of the path of fire!"
The Nihility Devouring Flame laughed heartily at this sight. His fingers, covered in black runes, pointed a single finger downward.
"Boom!"
As the Nihility Devouring Flame's finger pointed out, this stretch of heaven and earth instantly shattered and split. From within the sky-filling black flames, a black-flame giant finger, blotting out nearly half the mountain range, descended from the heavens and ruthlessly pressed down toward that grand array. The space of this entire stretch of heaven and earth completely burst apart under that single finger.
With the attacks of two great nine-star Dou Sheng experts descending, the faces of many within the Yan clan turned deathly pale. For the first time, they felt doubt as to whether the Yan Emperor could withstand the combined assault.
Faced with the two's attacks, the Yan Emperor merely raised a single hand. A fire dragon, its sheer size in no way inferior to their two attacks, howled as it rose from within the grand array. The entire body of the fire dragon was covered in all manner of strange, peculiar flame patterns, making it look like a primordial magical beast. An aura of ferocious, savage, ancient antiquity rippled outward.
"Bang—"
The attacks of Hun Tiandi and the Nihility Devouring Flame crashed thunderously against the fire dragon. Instantly, an earth-shaking, heaven-shattering boom resounded between heaven and earth.
"Pfft—"
The terrifying clash whipped up wave after wave of energy tides, spreading outward in all directions. Those whose strength was lacking spat out mouthfuls of blood on the spot. For some, even their eardrums burst and split open, blood continuously streaming from both ears—a truly wretched, miserable sight.
The three forces collided. The dreadful impact caused all three attacks to successively disperse. The Nihility Devouring Flame's body wavered violently; he had clearly expended no small amount of energy. And the figures of Hun Tiandi and the Yan Emperor also simultaneously grew much more illusory and transparent.
"A single remnant soul—how many more attacks can you still unleash?"
The Nihility Devouring Flame sneered coldly. With a great sweep of his sleeve, the entire Yan Realm immediately began to tremble. Then, everyone saw, as far as the eye could see, densely packed clusters of black-flame light rising into the air, finally entering that black flame pervading the sky. Instantly, countless wretched, piercing screams rang out across this stretch of heaven and earth.
And as the wretched screams resounded, the energy the Nihility Devouring Flame had just expended was immediately fully, amply replenished.
"Those are our clan's denizens—!"
Seeing this scene, the expressions of several Yan clan elders changed drastically. Within those densely packed clusters of light were countless struggling human figures. Those people were the denizens of the Yan clan.
They could only watch helplessly as countless denizens were sucked into those layers of black-flame clouds. They watched as their bodies, in that single instant, transformed into blood and gore, finally being completely and utterly devoured.
"Nihility Devouring Flame—!"
Yan Jin clenched both fists tightly. His eyes bloodshot and crimson, he stared deathly at the Nihility Devouring Flame and let out a long howl. A venomous, spiteful, crazed roar echoed and resounded throughout this stretch of heaven and earth.
Yan Jin now resembled a wild, enraged beast, an aura of violent, savage fury radiating from his entire body.
"Fallen Fire Mysterious Finger!"
In his explosive fury, the terrifying strength of Yan Jin, an eight-star Dou Sheng, erupted completely. Violent, raging heaven-and-earth force condensed at his fingertip. In that very instant, a dazzling, piercing blaze of fire shot across the void at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, streaking swiftly toward the Nihility Devouring Flame!
"Yan Jin, you're still far too green!"
Faced with Yan Jin's furious, raging attack, the Nihility Devouring Flame snorted coldly. Clenching his palm, a blood sphere continued to condense and take form, then swelled and expanded at an exceedingly terrifying speed.
Within that blood sphere emanated an aura that was incomparably, intimately familiar to Yan Jin!
"Explode!"
When the blood sphere expanded to nearly a thousand zhang, the Nihility Devouring Flame waved his hand. The blood sphere shot forth violently, ultimately slamming heavily against the fiery blaze Yan Jin had unleashed.
Blood light, in that single instant, blotted out the entire horizon. Everyone's ears seemed, for that moment, to go deaf. Between heaven and earth, there seemed to be nothing but that eye-filling, blood-red crimson.
"Fire Calamity Palm!"
Suddenly, the Yan Emperor abruptly clapped both hands forward. Behind him, a sea of fire, its end nowhere in sight, surged forth. The sea of fire churned and billowed upward, transforming into a flaming giant hand, tens of thousands of zhang wide, slamming ferociously toward the Nihility Devouring Flame in a single swat.
Wherever that palm wind passed, the searing, scorching heat burned until space itself trembled and quaked violently. A casual strike from a nine-star Dou Sheng expert could effortlessly tear apart an entire stretch of space!
"Once you're dead, rest in peace. This era is no longer yours!"
In the sky, Hun Tiandi's light, airy laugh rang out. He abruptly appeared above the Hun clan army. And as his voice fell, wave after wave of black mist rose and swirled from the Hun clan army below. In the blink of an eye, overwhelming, sky-filling black mist pervaded and coiled around Hun Tiandi. An exceptionally formidable, chillingly sinister aura quietly spread forth.
"The dead ought to be under the sway of my Hun clan!"
Hun Tiandi gazed at the Yan Emperor and that descending flaming giant hand and chuckled lightly. With a raise of his hand, the black mist coalesced at astonishing speed within his palm, finally swiftly transforming into a colossal black seal, tens of thousands of zhang wide. The black seal hovered in the sky, its massive shadow completely blotting out and covering this entire mountain range!
"Seal of Annihilation!"
The Hun clan members shouted in unison. The black seal in the sky moved in response, like a blazing meteor streaking across the heavens, crashing down heavily toward the flaming giant hand.
"Rumble!"
Heaven and earth seemed, in this very moment, to utterly collapse and crumble. An indescribable, annihilating fluctuation raged and rampaged madly. Even with the Yan Realm's space being so robust and sturdy, countless pitch-black fissures still split and fractured open at this moment.
"Bang—"
Under the despairing gazes of the Yan clan members, the flaming giant hand, within that raging, rampaging storm, crumbled and collapsed.
And that colossal black seal, its residual might undiminished, pressed down toward the Yan Emperor to suppress him.
"First Ancestor..."
Seeing the Yan Emperor defeated, the hearts of all the Yan clan members turned ice-cold. They had never imagined that this grand array, formed by converging the strength of the entire clan, would still be unable to contend against the Hun clan's forces.
"Sigh... In the end, it is futile to turn the tide. This calamity—it seems there is no avoiding it after all..."
Within the grand array, the Yan Emperor quietly watched the black colossal seal hurtling toward him at tremendous speed and let out a soft sigh. His murmured words drifted beside everyone's ears.
As his voice fell, he abruptly shot out of the grand array, transforming into a streak of tangerine-orange flame that swiftly tore through the black mist, finally crashing directly against that descending black colossal seal.
"Bang!"
A muffled crash—not particularly loud—rang out. Finally, under the mad, frenzied devouring of that tangerine-orange flame, the pitch-black colossal seal was at last thoroughly, utterly dissolved and eradicated.
"The Yan Emperor!" As the Yan Emperor faded into nothingness, Hun Tiandi's form was faint and dim. He quietly gazed at that now-silent stretch of void and murmured softly, "Even among the imperial clans my clan has destroyed, even among the Dou Di—you can still be counted among the foremost. What a pity... all of you encountered this seat... encountered my Hun clan. My Hun clan is destined, under this seat's leadership, to shine with glory once more!"
"First Ancestor..."
Yan Jin's eyes were bloodshot and crimson. He stared blankly at the sky. That faith which had forever existed within his heart had, at this moment, thoroughly and utterly crumbled.
"Crack!"
As the Yan Emperor dissipated, the Yan clan's clan-protecting grand array also, at last—under one after another horrified, despairing gaze—with a resounding crack, burst apart!
Countless specks and points of light poured down from the sky. The light reflected sheen after sheen, illuminating the numb, blank, deathly pale faces below.
The dissipation of the Yan Emperor's remnant soul left an empty void in their hearts. But Yan Jin had no time to grieve. He was the leader of a clan. In this moment of deadly peril, he had to lead the Yan clan in searching for a single thread of survival.
"Members of the Yan clan, heed my command! Do not grieve! Those bastards of the Hun clan will not let us go! Now is the moment of life and death, of survival or extinction, for our Yan clan! Our only path now is to stake everything and preserve our bloodline!"
Yan Jin slowly came before the Yan clan members. His gaze calmly stared at the Hun clan ahead, whose eyes gleamed with bloodthirsty savagery. His low, deep voice rang out beside every single Yan clan member's ear.
"All elders, follow me! Strike together and carve out a bloody path to survival!"
As Yan Jin's final fierce, furious shout fell, from within that mountain range, sky-covering, overwhelming figures immediately shot forth. Among them were not only the Yan clan's elders, but even the younger generation of the Yan clan surged forward with reddened eyes.
Everyone understood that if they could not survive this great calamity, the Yan clan would completely and utterly vanish into the annals of history. The Yan clan was their root. Once the tether of that root was severed, they would be adrift and homeless. All the past glory and pride would turn to absolute nothingness.
"Kill!"
Gazing at the densely packed, sky-surging figures, Yan Jin's body also trembled. Heaven-surging Dou Qi surged forth from within him without the slightest reservation, finally transforming into a thousand-zhang Dou Qi energy streak that howled forth, streaking with terrifying, awe-inspiring force toward the Nihility Devouring Flame in the sky above.
"Boom—"
Following closely behind, countless Dou Qi energy streaks of varying intensities also shot forth simultaneously, carrying an aura of resolute, irreversible finality, surging overwhelmingly toward the Nihility Devouring Flame.
"Jie, jie, jie... Little whelps of the Yan clan! Next, let us play with you for a while!"
Watching the overwhelming, sky-covering attacks, the Nihility Devouring Flame did not move to strike immediately. Behind him, the Hun clan army, led by the Hun clan's Four Demon Saints, laughed heartily as they launched countless attacks blasting toward the Yan clan.
"Rumble—"
"Yan Jin, let us brothers test your mettle!" Hun Jing, Hun Yan, and Hun Sha laughed loudly as they surged forward and surrounded Yan Jin.
Three late-stage seven-star Dou Shengs naturally could not defeat a late-stage eight-star Dou Sheng. But they could ensure that Yan Jin could not free his hands for a good while.
The remaining Hun Tu, with a dark, sinister sneer, shot straight toward the Fire Spirit Fairy.
In the sky, soldier against soldier, general against general, countless experts clashed fiercely. The entire mountain range trembled and quaked violently. The battle was incomparably chaotic and ferocious.
"Nihility, I leave this place to you. I shall return first, to guard against any unforeseen events!" After sweeping his gaze over the scene, Hun Tiandi turned his head and gave a word of instruction to the Nihility Devouring Flame. Then, his illusory figure completely dispersed and vanished within this stretch of space.
"Next—it's my turn!" After Hun Tiandi left, the Nihility Devouring Flame gazed at the battlefield in the sky and chuckled lightly. Then, he turned his head and looked toward Yun Yi, who had not yet joined the battle, and said, "This is a rare, hard-to-come-by, gluttonous feast. How far you can ultimately go will depend entirely on yourself!"
"I know." Yun Yi nodded quietly. Within his pitch-black eyes, a sinister, demonic black flame danced and flickered. After nodding toward the Nihility Devouring Flame, his figure flickered and shot toward the Yan clan's denizens below.
"Absorb away... absorb away... The stronger you become, the greater the benefits will be for me when the time comes!" The Nihility Devouring Flame watched Yun Yi's departing back, murmuring in his heart.
After this campaign, Yun Yi was already nothing more than fish on a chopping board. He could savor and devour this delicacy from the Great Thousand World at any time. As for when—that would depend on his judgment of when the other party had reached the absolute limit of what he could tolerate.
Retracting his gaze, the Nihility Devouring Flame stared coldly at the Yan clan members. With a single thought, the sky-filling black flames suddenly and slowly drooped downward, forming round, sphere-like objects resembling embryonic eggs. Black flames wreathed and coiled around the spheres. Faint streaks of blood light quietly seeped out from the black-flame cloud layers, finally streaking into those embryonic eggs.
"Bang!"
As the blood light surged, the densely packed black-flame embryonic eggs suddenly burst open. Instantly, sharp, piercing, wretched screams rang out across the sky. Densely packed black-flame silhouettes poured down from the heavens like a torrential downpour, finally surging madly, violently, toward the mountain range below.
Gazing at the densely packed black-flame silhouettes descending violently from the sky, the expressions of everyone in the mountain range changed drastically. They immediately and hastily circulated their Dou Qi. Yet, just as their Dou Qi began to surge, black light flickered before their eyes. Then, many felt a sharp pain in their chests. Lowering their heads—they saw that a massive, gaping bloody hole had already been torn through their chests, blood and internal organs spraying forth.
"The Devouring Spirit Clan?" Yun Yi also saw the densely packed black silhouettes. Reaching out, he seized one.
It was a creature with a human-like body, but its eyes were filled with an aura of slaughter and carnage. It also had palms like those of a wild beast.
The Devouring Spirit Clan was exceedingly brutal and savage. Yet this one in Yun Yi's hand, though still vicious and violent, under the primal perception deep within its bloodline, trembled and quaked meekly within Yun Yi's palm, appearing exceptionally 'docile.'
After observing it, he casually tossed it back. The very instant it left Yun Yi's palm, that Devouring Spirit Clan member immediately reverted to its savage, brutal nature, howling and shrieking as it charged toward the Yan clan's denizens.
"I too should make my move. In this campaign, I must reach Dou Sheng!" Yun Yi watched this scene intently. Then, extending both hands, he flew through a rapid series of hand seals. In that very instant, overwhelming, sky-filling black flames surged forth behind him, radiating a terrifying devouring power as they swept overwhelmingly toward the Yan clan's denizens.
Under the dual bloodbath of the Devouring Spirit Clan and Yun Yi, the entire mountain range descended into utter chaos. Fierce fighting erupted everywhere. Wretched, piercing screams rang out without cease. Fresh scarlet blood dyed the earth crimson.
In the midst of the battle, Yan Jin gazed at the chaos-ridden mountain range, his expression exceedingly dark and grim. From the corner of his eye, he glimpsed a Devouring Spirit Clan member that had been blasted to death. His pupils abruptly constricted. He inhaled a sharp, fierce breath of cold air.
"It's the Devouring Spirit Clan!"
"The Devouring Spirit Clan still exists?! Weren't they wiped out and annihilated during the ancient times?!"
"It's you! It was your Hun clan's doing! The last clan leader of the Devouring Spirit Clan was executed by your Hun clan! You actually dared to secretly raise and keep the Devouring Spirit Clan!"
An incredulous, disbelieving roar came from Yan Jin's mouth. Abruptly, he raised his head and looked at Hun Jing and the other two besieging him, directly roaring furiously.
"Jie, jie, jie..."
"Yan Jin, you're not too stupid after all. You haven't realized it too late!"
"Yan Jin... now you understand why our clan has moved against yours, don't you?"
Hearing Yan Jin's furious roar, Hun Jing and the other two laughed one after another.
"No wonder... ever since those ancient times, clan after clan has gradually declined... and only your Hun clan... still endures!"
"Ah—!"
"Yan Mysterious Palm—!"
In that single instant, every last piece of the puzzle fell into place within Yan Jin's mind. Then, with a fierce, abrupt palm strike that sent the three of them coughing blood and reeling backward, he let out a sharp, piercing shout.
"Elders of the Yan clan—self-detonate! Tear open space! We absolutely must get word of this out! Our clan must not end here!"
Hearing Yan Jin's howl, the bodies of the Yan clan elders in the sky all trembled. Expressions of grief and sorrow, and resolute determination, flickered across their faces.
Then, from within the bodies of many Yan clan elders, an exceedingly dazzling, brilliant light suddenly erupted. And the Dou Qi within their bodies also, at this very moment, grew exceptionally violently!
Wearing savage, ferocious sneers, they flew toward the Hun clan's ranks. A wave of exceedingly, violently raging energy madly exploded across the sky.
"Detonate!"
"Boom—"
And this, as if tripping a chain reaction, triggered blast after blast of intense energy, exploding in every corner of the sky.
In that single instant, a terrifying, annihilating storm razed the entire mountain range to flat, level ground.
Quite a few Hun clan experts, caught off guard and unable to react in time, were directly caught in the blasts, blasted until they coughed blood and reeled back violently.
Abyssal fissures, thousands of zhang wide, spread outward like a spider's web. And faced with such terrifying self-detonation assaults, that stretch of space—which had originally been sealed airtight—actually began to warp and distort once more. Faintly, fine, hair-thin cracks began to emerge.
"Continue!"
Sensing this change, a look of wild joy surfaced in Yan Jin's eyes. Forcibly suppressing his grief and sorrow, he shouted sharply toward the crowd.
"Yan Jin—you're celebrating far too early!"
High above, the Nihility Devouring Flame, overseeing the entire battlefield, noticed this scene and let out a cold sneer.
"!!!" Hearing the Nihility Devouring Flame's words, Yan Jin's heart lurched violently. A terrible, ominous premonition seized his heart.
"Four Directions Annihilation—Death Realm!"
Just then, at the four far edges of the Yan Realm's space, a great, unified, thunderous shout abruptly rang out.
Yan Jin whipped his head around sharply. At the four corners of the distant sky, four colossal black gates, each a thousand zhang wide, had suddenly appeared. The black gates were saturated with the aura of death.
The black gates stood towering at the four directions of the sky. Death aura surged forth violently, shrouding and enveloping this entire stretch of heaven and earth. Within the void, the spatial fissures that had just been blasted open by the self-detonations of the Yan clan experts abruptly, instantly sealed shut once more. And Yan Jin could clearly sense that the space had become even more stable and solid.
This news—which at any other time would have been cause for rejoicing—now, at this very moment, made Yan Jin's heart turn utterly, completely ice-cold.
Death aura rolled and surged in from the distant horizon. And under the contamination and corrosion of that death aura, the Yan clan experts were horrified to discover that the life force within their bodies was actually, gradually, slowly draining away!
"Those are—"
"Hun Sheng Tian... Hun Yao... weren't you dead?! How can you possibly still be alive?!"
What pushed Yan Jin even deeper into despair was that above those four Dead Silence Gates, four figures—simultaneously familiar and foreign—stood silently.
"Hun clan... what a Hun clan! To deal with my Yan clan—you actually made so many, many preparations!" Yan Jin's fists clenched tightly. Drop after drop of fresh blood slowly dripped down. Grinding his teeth, he stared at the encircling, converging Hun clan army.
"Even if we die—don't think your Hun clan will get off easy!"