"It is you who are courting death! You had perfectly good lives in the Azure Dragon Empire, yet you chose to come to this godforsaken place to cause trouble for me. Who do you think you are?"
As Zi Lingling cursed, her actions were incredibly swift.
The five elemental spiritual energies within her body – metal, wood, water, fire, and earth – were rapidly drawn out, along with a portion of the ambient elemental energies.
As the five elemental energies converged, the enormous, multicolored spiritual energy sphere before Zi Lingling visibly shrank.
While the sphere was shrinking, its internal energy was being intensely compressed.
Finally, it stopped at the size of a basketball, but its internal energy had been compressed to its absolute limit.
The entire sphere, though a vibrant and beautiful display of color, exuded an aura of extreme danger.
"Little girl, what are you doing?"
The Five Saint Kings' faces contorted in alarm as they eyed the multicolored sphere in Zi Lingling's hand, their eyes filled with apprehension.
They had a premonition that if this sphere were to explode, they would be severely injured, if not killed.
"What am I doing?"
Zi Lingling, her face pale, replied, "Naturally, I'm preparing a gift for you, a welcome feast!"
The leader, his face grim, warily eyed the spiritual energy sphere. "Don't do anything rash, or they will all pay with their lives for us!"
He gestured towards the mercenaries and soldiers engaged in battle nearby.
Zi Lingling let out a cold laugh. Even at this point, the opponent still dared to threaten her.
"Hmph! You think you can threaten me with them? You're dreaming! This is my simulated domain; the energy from this battle cannot overflow. Besides, even if it did, so what? Trading their lives for the lives of five peak Saint King realm spiritual practitioners is a worthwhile exchange!"
"Furthermore, since the soldiers of Jinxia Kingdom dared to march on my Tianqi border, they should be prepared to die. As for our King's Mercenary Group, you don't need to worry about them at all."
With that, Zi Lingling shouted towards the battlefield, "King's Mercenaries, are you afraid of death?"
The King's Mercenary Group, seizing the opportunity to cut down their enemies, responded in unison, "Not afraid! Not afraid! Not afraid!"
The uniformity of their voices was as if they had spoken as one. Their earth-shattering shouts held no hint of fear, only a surging, heroic dominance.
Zi Lingling smiled and nodded at them, then mockingly looked at the five figures engulfed in flames. "See?"
The Five Saint Kings were utterly astonished. They were intensely curious about how Zi Lingling had trained such a group of desperadoes.
However, they were unaware that this was not the result of Zi Lingling's deliberate training. Mercenaries, by their very nature, lived lives on the edge of a blade. They had long since cast their lives aside. To them, every day they survived their dangerous profession was a gain. And Zi Lingling had simply made that gain even greater.
Seeing their dumbfounded expressions, Zi Lingling's smile turned colder.
"Alright, since you've seen it, rest in peace! If you have another life, do not ever treat others like ants to be toyed with, because in the eyes of others, you are merely ants, albeit slightly larger ones!"
"Finally, I offer you a parting blessing: may your journey of reincarnation be smooth and prosperous, leading you swiftly to the Ten Underworld Lords."
"Five Spirits Burst! Activate!"
Zi Lingling finished speaking, and the multicolored spiritual energy sphere landed in the center of the five figures.
"Boom!"
A deafening roar echoed through the Jinxia Kingdom's encampment. A small mushroom cloud rapidly ascended into the sky, a truly spectacular sight.
"Pfft!"
Zi Lingling coughed up a mouthful of blood. To prevent the energy from escaping, she had sealed the entire simulated domain. The immense power of the blast, while contained within the domain, had also impacted her spiritual consciousness. Coupled with the fact that she had already expended nine-tenths of her strength to condense the "Five Spirits Burst," the remaining one-tenth was insufficient to withstand the shockwave, causing her to spit blood. Fortunately, the impact was merely a jolt, and her injuries were not severe.
As the mushroom cloud dissipated, a massive crater appeared within the wall of fire. Inside the crater lay five charred figures.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
A series of weak coughs emanated from the crater. The five charred figures stirred, struggling to their feet with great effort.
Zi Lingling's pupils constricted. With a thought, she gripped a scalpel in each hand.
"Your lives are truly tenacious. No wonder they say that evil people live long lives!"
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Her only response was another round of coughing. With these coughs, the bodies of the Five Saint Kings, which had been barely holding on, began to sway. Their inner turmoil mirrored their physical instability.
Zi Lingling's full-power eruption had revealed her peak Hua Yuan realm cultivation. However, it was precisely this that left the Five Saint Kings utterly aghast. They could not believe that such a terrifying strike, one that had nearly annihilated all five of them at once, had been unleashed by a peak Hua Yuan realm spiritual practitioner. Furthermore, Zi Lingling's appearance suggested she hadn't even used her full strength. If she hadn't used her full strength and had still nearly claimed the lives of five peak Saint King realm spiritual practitioners, what would have happened if she had truly unleashed her full power? Would peak Saint King realm practitioners have been hers to harvest at will? This was too terrifying! Such a person, once they broke through to the Saint King realm, would undoubtedly be a dominant force in the world! At that point, not even a Purple family of an empire, nor the Shen family, Qin family, and the imperial family's Dongfang clan, would be a match for Zi Lingling! Such potential was enough to strike fear into the hearts of the four great empires!
No! This news must be reported back to the Purple family of the empire. Whether the empire's Purple family chose to fight or seek peace was beyond their control.
The minds of the five reached an immediate consensus. They exchanged nods and then scattered outwards, attempting to break through.
"Hmph!"
Zi Lingling snorted coldly and said, "Trying to run? Ask my scalpels if they agree first!"
Before her words had even fallen, two beams of blade energy streaked towards two of them. These two were the most severely injured among the five. Having been struck by the "Five Spirits Burst," they had barely clung to life with all their might, and were now at their limit. Seeing the two blade energies hurtle towards them, they were struck with utter terror. Without even the strength to struggle, they were cleaved in two by the blade energies. Blood splattered, their corpses fell, and they were instantly consumed by the surrounding wall of fire, turning into ashes.
The other three were shocked and then enraged. The leader, in particular, was furious and lunged towards Zi Lingling. At the same time, he shouted to the other two, "I'll hold her off, you two quickly return to the empire and deliver the message!"