The offensive arrays of the home star were far from mere decorations. Even a Thousand-Questions Realm Great Sage struck within the array would likely perish.
Thus, Empress Feng was certain Yan Huangtu was gravely injured.
If she could seize this chance to drive him from the Hunting Battlefield, this glorious feat would make her the undeniable candidate for Goddess.
Yan Huangtu kept fleeing, unable to heal.
His injuries worsened, his strength fading.
The chase led them deep into space.
“Yan Huangtu, withdraw from the battlefield! Let your injuries deteriorate further, and it’ll hinder your cultivation for decades. You don’t want Yan Wushen to surpass you, do you?” Empress Feng said.
She understood the pressure of a more talented peer emerging within one’s clan.
Of course, her pressure didn’t come from her clan.
Though Zhang Ruochen rose fiercely, outshining his peers in the Immortal Vampires, as a man, his ascent didn’t threaten her.
Her pressure came from within the Destiny Temple.
It was Prajna.
Prajna was the rival who pressured her, the one she felt compelled to eliminate. Being surpassed by Prajna would be unbearable.
Empress Feng believed Yan Huangtu felt similar pressure from Yan Wushen.
Suddenly, Yan Huangtu, who had been fleeing rapidly, stopped and turned to face her.
“He’s not running anymore. He must be planning a final stand,” Empress Feng thought.
Yan Huangtu’s decision to stop was wise.
Continuing to flee would only weaken him further.
Now, he had a chance to fight.
If he could injure Empress Feng in a few moves, he’d gain the upper hand and avoid further escape.
If he couldn’t defeat her quickly, he could still choose to exit the battlefield.
Empress Feng thought this was his plan.
In the past, without refining the Quasi-Emperor Holy Intent Pill, achieving a Third-Grade Holy Intent, or absorbing the Blood Shadow Ghost Seed, she might not have withstood Yan Huangtu’s strongest attacks for a few moves.
But with her current strength, even if Yan Huangtu were uninjured, she was confident in facing him.
The moment to prove herself had come!
Empress Feng smiled, urging her silver wings, speeding toward him.
“Perfect. Today, I’ll defeat you myself, shattering the legendary aura around you, Yan Huangtu.”
Despite his injuries, she didn’t underestimate him, focusing all her spiritual power on him, nerves taut, extremely cautious.
They were a thousand li apart.
Closing in.
As she neared within a hundred li, a scornful smile appeared on Yan Huangtu’s face.
Countless beings wished to defeat him for fame, but most had turned to ash.
Seeing his smile, Empress Feng’s expression changed.
Her Destiny Path cultivation heightened her alertness, sensing an extreme danger.
“Swish—”
Above Empress Feng and Yan Huangtu, the vast starry sky revealed a massive scarlet skeleton, exuding deathly aura, making the two below seem like specks of dust.
It was Great Sage Yan Hong’s true form, an 1,800-li-tall divine bone body.
The skeleton struck with full force, activating the power of a Supreme Sacred Artifact ring on its finger—Yan Hong’s strongest blow, aimed at killing Empress Feng.
“Boom!”
Unable to escape, Empress Feng’s body shattered inch by inch like porcelain under the palm.
Her body turned to a cloud of blood mist.
Even her Great Sage bones snapped completely.
In a direct clash, even with a Supreme Sacred Artifact, Yan Hong would struggle to defeat Empress Feng. But in a sneak attack, she was instantly killed.
The 1,800-li divine bone body shrank to normal size, becoming Pink Skeleton, landing near Yan Huangtu.
Yan Huangtu kept some distance, saying, “Empress Feng has fallen. Congratulations, Great Sage Yan Hong, you’re one step closer to Goddess.”
Though a skeletal frame, Pink Skeleton had flowing hair, lightly brushing her locks as she walked toward the blood mist, saying, “Immortal Vampire Great Sages have strong vitality. That wretch might not be fully dead. I must destroy her holy source, erase her holy soul and spiritual thoughts, and burn her holy blood to vapour.”
A Great Sage’s vitality far surpassed a Saint King’s.
Pink Skeleton and Empress Feng had clashed in the Destiny Temple for centuries, their enmity deep. Seizing this chance, she wanted to crush her foe to dust, using the cruelest means to torment her to death.
Suddenly, Pink Skeleton paused, her eye sockets’ bone fire flickering.
Yan Huangtu sensed something amiss, asking, “What’s wrong?”
“No holy source, not even a holy heart—impossible. That’s… Destiny Feather. She obtained the Destiny Feather…” Pink Skeleton said.
In the blood mist floated a three-foot-long white feather.
Destiny god patterns appeared on the feather, absorbing all the blood mist in the space.
“Swoosh!”
The feather turned into a white light, speeding away.
“Stop her!”
Pink Skeleton shouted, her pink death aura forming a spherical barrier.
Yan Huangtu stomped, his Yama Qi unfolding into a radiant golden world scroll.
“Boom, boom.”
The Destiny Feather’s speed was astonishing, its penetrating power incredible, breaking through the unformed pink barrier and golden scroll, fleeing far away.
Empress Feng’s form recondensed, standing on the feather, her skin pale, aura weak, thinking, “That wretch Pink Skeleton’s sneak attack was too strong. Luckily, refining the Blood Shadow Ghost Seed boosted my spiritual power and holy soul. Otherwise, even with the Destiny Feather preserving my holy source, my soul and thoughts would’ve been shattered.”
Pink Skeleton chased after her, but Yan Huangtu didn’t.
During the Hunting Battle, Empress Feng’s injuries were unhealable, rendering her irrelevant. He had more pressing matters.
“Wiping out the clansmen on the Immortal Vampires’ home star is the priority.”
His gaze turned to their home star.
In his view, the blood-red planet was as large as a jade disc.
“Swoosh—”
A streak of light crossed the starry sky, landing in Yan Huangtu’s hand.
It was a communication talisman from Yan Wushen, bearing spatial coordinates.
“Excellent. With these coordinates, the Immortal Vampires’ home star will become a dead star,” Yan Huangtu laughed.
Over years of cultivation, he rarely lost his temper, but the last battle at the Yama Clan’s home star had enraged him.
He’d never suffered such humiliation, not only disgraced himself but shamed the Yama Clan.
This grudge demanded retribution.
This shame required the blood of the Immortal Vampires and Asura Clan to cleanse.
Since Yan Wushen had destroyed the Asura Clan’s home star, Yan Huangtu would spare no cost to annihilate the Immortal Vampires’ home star.
The coordinates from Yan Wushen were for the spatial teleportation array on their home star.
Though the Immortal Vampires’ arrays sealed space, they didn’t block their own teleportation array.
With these coordinates, Yan Huangtu could descend directly onto the home star.
As for how Yan Wushen obtained them, it was simple—several Immortal Vampire Great Sages knew the coordinates for returning to the star. Capturing one and extracting the information was easy for him.
Yan Huangtu sat cross-legged, activating his technique. His exposed golden bones glowed, nine dragon divine patterns bursting from his body like countless coiling dragons.
His flesh rapidly regenerated.
Within moments, his external wounds healed, leaving no trace.
Before entering the Hunting Battlefield, Yan Huangtu had taken a Quasi-Emperor healing pill, suspended in his skull. When injured, its energy would activate.
In just an hour, his injuries recovered by fifty to sixty percent.
“Empress Feng thought such injuries could affect my cultivation for decades. She didn’t know that with a Quasi-Emperor healing pill, I can recover from even severe wounds quickly.”
Quasi-Emperor holy pills were exorbitantly priced, beyond most Great Sages’ means.
At the Star Sea World auction, a mere “half-king” holy pill, the Divine Roaming Pill, fetched twenty godstones each.
Quasi-Emperor holy pills were countless times more precious, unattainable without thousands of godstones—something even Supreme Realm Great Sages struggled to acquire.
Quasi-Emperor Holy Intent Pills were even rarer, breaking the standard grades of holy intent pills. Likely, only the ten from the Hunting Feast, crafted by a Supreme Alchemist, existed in the universe.
They were made to nurture this generation, helping them condense Third- or Second-Grade Holy Intents.
A Quasi-Emperor Holy Intent Pill, if sold, would be worth only slightly less than a Supreme Sacred Artifact.
The sole Emperor Holy Intent Pill, a fluke even for a Supreme Alchemist, was beyond valuation in godstones.
In other words, it was harder to refine than a divine pill.
Yan Huangtu prepared his teleportation array to descend on the Immortal Vampires’ home star.
Suddenly, his gaze caught three massive characters on the blood-red planet—“Yan Zhexian.”
His steely face turned cold.
Yan Zhexian was in trouble!
In this generation of the Yama Clan, Yan Huangtu was a genius, Yan Wushen a once-in-an-eon prodigy, and Yan Zhexian a genius in spiritual power and talisman arts, cherished by an ancient god, groomed as a Talisman Master.
A Talisman Master’s status often surpassed many gods.
Even so, Yan Huangtu’s resolve to destroy the home star remained unshaken. He wouldn’t compromise over Yan Zhexian’s capture.
What stopped him from activating the teleportation array was uncertainty about who had captured her.
Could Xia Yu, who rose under Zhang Ruochen’s wing, have such ability?
Was it possible Zhang Ruochen had returned to the home star?
Highly likely.
Moreover, the home star was likely fully prepared. Going now would be walking into a trap.
“With Yan Zhexian in their hands, I’d be cautious. With my injuries unhealed, facing Zhang Ruochen on his turf would be disadvantageous. Perhaps…”
Yan Huangtu stowed the teleportation array, transmitting to Great Sage Yan Hong, “Caught Empress Feng yet?”
“She won’t escape,” Pink Skeleton replied.
Yan Huangtu said, “I’ll assist you to capture her alive.”
Pink Skeleton saw the three characters on the home star, understanding his intent, “Keeping that wretch alive is fine, but you must help the Bone Clan reach the top five in the Hunting Battle.”
“Agreed! But the Bone Clan’s Great Sage army must join me through the teleportation array to turn the Immortal Vampires’ home star into a dead star. And you must use the Path of Destiny to locate all their clansmen and kill them,” Yan Huangtu said.
Pink Skeleton added, “I want Prajna’s life.”
“I agree,” Yan Huangtu said.
After some haggling, they reached a deal.
…
**Seventh Dark Star**
After the Upper Three Clans’ Great Sages hid in the *Void and Reality Scroll*, Luo Ji didn’t take the bait, leading the Rakshasa and Immortal Vampire Great Sages to hide as well.
No one wanted to clash with Chi Emperor first.
It was a test of patience and composure.
The Yama Clan and Immortal Vampires vied for first and second.
The Nether, Rakshasa, and Death Clans competed for third, fourth, and fifth.
Their stalemate brought the Yama Clan’s Great Sage army, led by Yan Wushen.
Yan Wushen came expecting a fierce battle to seize points, assuming the Upper Three and Lower Two Clans were already fighting Chi Emperor.
Arriving, he found no trace of them.
On the Dark Star, millions of Great Sage Heavenly Slaves waited, as if saying, “No need to fight for food; it’s here, fresh, and uncontested.”
Yan Wushen circled the star, then led his army to retreat and hide.
The Seventh Dark Star fell into an eerie atmosphere, brimming with hidden powerhouses, yet none visible. Some Great Sage Heavenly Slaves, unable to wait, flew out.
But just hundreds of li out, one was obliterated by a holy arrow.
In hiding, everyone was anxious.
Prajna was anxious, unable to find a chance to communicate with Chi Emperor to relay “Zhang Ruochen represents the Empress.”
Luo Ji was anxious; the Rakshasa and Nether Clans’ points were only a few million apart.
Great Sage Yuan Fei was anxious; the Death Clan’s points were also just millions behind the Rakshasa.
Yan Wushen was most anxious. The gap between the Yama Clan and Immortal Vampires was vast, forcing him and Yan Huangtu to open two battlefronts, desperate to dethrone the Immortal Vampires.
The supreme clan’s prestige must not falter in their generation.
Their generation was the Yama Clan’s golden era, the strongest in this eon. Of course, the Immortal Vampires’ generation was also golden.
No matter their urgency, they had to endure.
The hundreds of Great Sage Heavenly Slaves on the Seventh Dark Star held points that could determine the final rankings. Only the victor would have the last laugh.
