A thousand-zhang sword gleam collided with the rotating spirit-extinguishing light.
"Boom!"
The pillar of spiritual energy and the sword gleam clashed, erupting in a deafening roar.
The remaining bricks and tiles on the ground were instantly annihilated into dust by the impact, sending up a sky full of grit.
Within the barrier, a dim yellow haze obscured everything.
Dongfang Xiongqi and the others were thrown backward by the shockwave, flying towards the palace that had not yet collapsed, making a clattering sound.
Zi Lingling was also not spared. She felt a surge of blood rush to her throat, and the taste of blood spread through her mouth.
"Thump, thump, thump!"
She stumbled back three steps, only regaining her balance with Ye Lingyuan's help. Sudannovel.net
"Pfft!"
A mouthful of blood sprayed out, and the surging blood qi within Zi Lingling's body slowly subsided.
"Ling'er, how are you?"
In his panic, Ye Lingyuan's divine sense was about to surge into Zi Lingling's body to check her injuries.
"I'm fine, just a slight shock to my blood qi!"
Zi Lingling wiped the bloodstain from the corner of her mouth and smiled.
That saber strike had been exhilarating.
"It's good that you're alright!"
The tension in Ye Lingyuan's eyes receded.
"What a shame, I couldn't shatter that turtle shell!" Zi Lingling said with regret.
"You! You're never satisfied!"
Ye Lingyuan dotingly pinched the tip of her nose and continued, "It's already good that we could shatter that light pillar. That light pillar concentrated eighty percent of the power of the four great formations!
Furthermore, this formation isolates external spiritual energy, putting us at a disadvantage within it."
Zi Lingling chuckled, "That's precisely why it's a shame! If my strength were just a little bit more, I could have broken this damnable turtle shell!"
Ye Lingyuan said dotingly, "Alright, you rest for a while. Let this king shatter it for you!"
Zi Lingling nodded. That last strike had completely depleted her spiritual energy, leaving her feeling exhausted.
Ye Lingyuan cast a barrier around her, allowing her to recover with peace of mind, then took out the Sky-Shattering Sword and pointed it directly at the barrier above the four great formations.
Dongfang Xiongqi and the others were about to stop him, but they realized there was no spiritual energy fluctuation from the Sky-Shattering Sword.
"What is happening?"
The leaders of the four great empires exchanged puzzled glances.
In that moment of hesitation, the Sky-Shattering Sword had already pierced the barrier above.
"Crack!"
On the barrier above, centered on the tip of the Sky-Shattering Sword, dense cracks spread out.
"How can this be?"
Dongfang Xiongqi and the others were stunned.
They couldn't comprehend what power this was.
It was clearly an ordinary sword strike, yet it had easily pierced the barrier?
Little did they know, Ye Lingyuan was now wielding an energy they had never heard of – the power of laws!
"This is bad! Quickly reinforce the barrier!"
Dongfang Xiongqi suddenly reacted.
The Azure Dragon Token, White Tiger Token, Black Tortoise Token, and Vermillion Bird Token were immediately thrown into the air, and they began chanting.
However, it was too late.
The moment they were shocked by Ye Lingyuan's sword strike, they had lost their advantage.
"Crack! Boom!"
The barrier shattered. The light from the Four Symbols Tokens had just appeared before rapidly dimming.
The four cities, being connected by their energies, were all affected by the immense energy wave.
Western City, Southern City, and Northern City fared relatively well, with only a small number of houses collapsing.
But Eastern City was not so fortunate.
Because the battlefield was in Eastern City, it was instantly leveled.
Fortunately, besides the people from the four great families, there was no one else in the city, thus avoiding considerable casualties.
But the people from the four great families were miserable.
Buried alive, reduced to mangled remains by the shockwave, killed by fragments of the formation – the sight was everywhere.
This time, there were no more cries of agony.
The entire Eastern City was silent save for the sound of debris falling.
Yet, such powerful energy did not reach Zi Lingling.
The barrier around her merely flickered before becoming still again.
Dongfang Xiongqi painfully crawled out of the ruins.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
He coughed up blood violently, mixed with fragments of internal organs.
He had already been injured by Zi Lingling's previous strike, and now with the barrier shattered, his injuries had worsened significantly.
"You... you just... what was that power?"
Dongfang Xiongqi finally recovered and asked with a face full of shock.
He was certain that it was not the power of the Emperor Realm.
The Emperor Realm, also known as the Soul Refining Realm, involved the continuous tempering of the three souls – the heavenly soul, the life soul, and the human soul. During this tempering process, the power one could wield was still spiritual energy.
But there was no trace of spiritual energy fluctuation from Ye Lingyuan's sword.
Furthermore, even a full-power strike from an Emperor Realm cultivator could not break the barrier of the four great formations.
Therefore, he was certain that Ye Lingyuan was not an Emperor Realm cultivator.
If not Emperor Realm, then what realm was it?
Could it be...
Ye Lingyuan looked down at him indifferently and said, "This king has said that he would take the heads of you instigators to pay respects to those two hundred thousand heroic spirits!"
He did not answer Dongfang Xiongqi's question.
The shock in Dongfang Xiongqi's eyes quickly turned into despair. He had not expected Ye Lingyuan to refuse even to enlighten him.
He staggered to his feet, looking at the leveled Eastern City, an aura of desolation emanating from him.
"I never thought that my Dongfang family, which ruled the Azure Dragon Empire for over a thousand years, would face the end of our lineage. I am ashamed before my ancestors!"
He cried out to the heavens, then burst into mad laughter, "They're all dead! Everyone is dead! All members of the Dongfang family are dead!
I regret it! For a vague promise from the Zi family, for some damned Sumeru space, I have ruined this vast land!
It is done! It is done! Even if I manage to cling to life, I will have no face to meet the ancestors of the Dongfang family!
This life, if you want it, take it!"
Having spoken, Dongfang Xiongqi closed his eyes, tears of regret streaming down his cheeks and falling to the ground with a "splat," stirring up the dust.
"A dying man speaks wisely! Dongfang Xiongqi, if you had known today, why did you act so rashly in the first place?"
Zi Lingling walked out of the barrier and came to Ye Lingyuan's side, shaking her head. "In this world, no one is without greed, but I don't believe greed is a sin.
If your greed is earned through your rightful abilities, then greed is merely a driving force for life.
But if your greed surpasses your abilities, leading you to take shortcuts and resort to any means, then greed will ultimately inflate your desires and lead you to ruin.
It is like a hungry person's greed for food. If that food is earned through labor, then it is eaten with a clear conscience. But if it is snatched by any means necessary, then that food might cost you your life!"