The Dakong Empire’s hundred thousand troops stood in a line, watching the Qiyuan Army charge toward them, somewhat bewildered. This chaotic, reckless rush—was this a suicide mission?
Tie Qi stood atop the Heijia Warship, looking at the disorganized Qiyuan Army rushing forward with a cold smile. “Capture them all. Let them watch as their lordship nation is skinned alive. Then slaughter every last one in Qiyuan Nation, leaving not even a chicken or dog alive.”
Ding Gu, standing beside Tie Qi, said calmly, “They know they’re doomed, so they want a quick death. Pity, they’re overthinking it. Even a swift death isn’t so easy to come by.”
Lan Xiaobu’s divine sense had been monitoring the battlefield. Seeing Zai Qian charge forward without any strategy, he shook his head in exasperation. Even if defeat was certain, they should at least show proper fighting spirit. The army Zai Qian led wasn’t displaying courage—it was begging for death.
As the Qiyuan Army closed to within a dozen yards, Tie Qi finally said coldly, “Kill!”
“Kill!” The hundred thousand Dakong Empire soldiers shouted in unison, but Tie Qi quickly noticed something wrong. At this point, his army should have charged at the Qiyuan troops, so why had they only shouted “kill” without moving?
“Splat!” A spray of blood erupted as Zai Qian cleaved a Dakong soldier in two with one swing, nearly tumbling off his horse from the force.
He froze. This wasn’t right.
His horse was fast, putting him at the front. By all logic, the moment he struck, the enemy should have killed him—he’d come here to die, after all.
Yet he’d killed his opponent, and he was unharmed? His near fall was just from swinging too hard and losing balance.
Soon, Zai Qian realised something was indeed off. Not just him—every Qiyuan soldier behind him was effortlessly cutting down Dakong troops. The Dakong soldiers here seemed bound, unable to resist beyond screaming in terror.
“Your Majesty, it must be that peerless powerhouse making a move! Hurry and kill them! Restraining a hundred thousand troops like this takes immense mental energy—it can’t last long!” Zhong Qing, the Core Formation expert, saw what was happening and shouted in excited realisation.
Gai Xing caught on too. He wanted to calm the soldiers and form a proper formation for the attack, but the Qiyuan troops were already a chaotic mess, impossible to organise.
A hundred thousand troops were formidable, but Qiyuan Lordship Nation had five or six thousand charging in. With a proper formation, slaughtering a stationary hundred thousand wouldn’t take long.
But when the Qiyuan soldiers discovered the Dakong troops couldn’t move and were being butchered, their own ranks fell into disarray. Everyone wanted to claim a kill or two for merit, making their already sloppy formation even worse.
“What’s going on? Kill them!” Tie Qi’s expression changed. He reached for the sword at his waist, only to find himself restrained, unable to move.
“Immortal Ding…” Tie Qi, terrified, tried to turn to Ding Gu, but he couldn’t even move his head, only glancing at him from the corner of his eye.
Ding Gu stood as still as he did, and Tie Qi’s peripheral vision caught the shock and fear on Ding Gu’s face.
“It’s a peerless powerhouse. His divine sense has locked us down—we can’t move at all,” Ding Gu said, his voice trembling. He was a Human Immortal, a peak existence in this realm, yet he might fall in this insignificant place. How could he accept that?
“What do we do, Immortal Ding…” Tie Qi wasn’t just scared now—his voice shook too.
The more someone like him, who treated lives like grass and killed without mercy, valued their own life.
Suddenly, Ding Gu erupted in curses. “Tie Qi, you filthy swine! If you want to die, don’t drag me down with you! You offended a powerhouse and courted your own death, and now you’ve pulled me into it! If I survive this, I’ll skin you alive and tear out your tendons, or I’m no better than your pet!”
Tie Qi’s scalp prickled at those words. He’d risen to emperor of the Dakong Empire entirely thanks to Ding Gu. He’d gathered cultivation resources for Ding Gu, done unspeakable things for him. But if Ding Gu turned on him, the terror was real. Ding Gu was a being who could soar the skies and burrow the earth.
Wu Li, Qiyuan Nation’s First Minister, had been among the first to charge out but now lagged behind. By the time he reached the battlefield, it was a scene of carnage, reeking of blood.
Seeing the disorderly troops, Wu Li roared, “Gai Xing, you idiot! Why haven’t you organised the army for an orderly slaughter?”
He understood too—Zhong Qing was right. Tianyuan City had an unparalleled powerhouse who had acted.
Gai Xing snapped awake and ordered the signalmen to reform the ranks. A well-sharpened blade cuts better. If they kept up this mess, who knew how long it’d take?
Fortunately, with no resistance, it still took a full incense stick’s time to roughly form a military array.
With a formation, the tens of thousands slaughtered at a pace several times faster than before.
“We surrender…” Many Dakong soldiers cried out in terror. Though they couldn’t move, they could still speak.
“Minister Wu, maybe we should spare them?” Zai Qian said, legs trembling as he watched piles of helpless soldiers being killed.
He’d come to die, not to slaughter others.
Wu Li quickly agreed, “Your Majesty is merciful. Continuing this slaughter would indeed harm the harmony of the heavens.”
“Gai Xing, stop the killing. Bind them all,” Zai Qian said immediately, relieved Wu Li supported him.
“Yes,” Gai Xing replied. He too was tired of killing, and with the enemy begging for mercy and the king unwilling to continue, he promptly ordered the troops to stop, disarm the soldiers, and tie them up.
Zhong Qing’s shock grew. What immense mental power to restrain over a hundred thousand people for so long? Only when Zai Qian ordered the slaughter to stop did he snap out of it, saying urgently, “Your Majesty, the priority isn’t these soldiers—it’s seizing the Heijia Warship and capturing Tie Qi!”
Zhong Qing didn’t believe Ding Gu, a Human Immortal, was here. An immortal couldn’t possibly be restrained by mental power. Even an Earth Immortal might not manage that.
“Good, good, hurry to the Heijia Warship!” Zai Qian realised that no matter how many Dakong soldiers he killed, if Tie Qi lived, his life remained in danger.
The Heijia Warship’s deck was already lowered. Zai Qian, with Zhong Qing, Wu Li, dozens of guards, and a group of officials, easily boarded it.
“Tie Qi?” Zai Qian recognised him at first glance, restrained there.
Tie Qi looked at Zai Qian in terror. “Lord Zai, this might be a misunderstanding. Rest assured, I’ll ensure Qiyuan Lordship Nation expands tenfold and gains independence from the Dakong Empire.”
“Ding Gu?” Zhong Qing, stunned, stared at the man beside Tie Qi. He’d met Ding Gu once at his sect, before becoming Qiyuan’s advisor.
Now Ding Gu was restrained too? Wasn’t he a Human Immortal?
In that moment, Zhong Qing’s scalp tingled. To restrain a Human Immortal from such a distance—this had to be a legendary immortal. He’d heard of immortals, though this realm’s incomplete laws prevented ascension to the immortal world.
“Your Majesty, don’t waste words with him. Bind him now,” Wu Li said. Neither he nor Zai Qian cared about Ding Gu’s immortal status—they had no concept of it. But Tie Qi, this emperor, inspired deep fear. If they didn’t kill him, he might kill them.
Zai Qian nodded. “Men, tie Tie Qi up immediately.”
As for Tie Qi’s promise of independence for Qiyuan, Zai Qian dismissed it as nonsense. A butcher like Tie Qi keeping his word? If he did, Zai Qian wouldn’t fear him so much. Besides, Zai Qian knew his limits—ruling a lordship nation was his ceiling. An independent kingdom? Heh, that was beyond him.
“Yes,” several soldiers rushed forward to bind Tie Qi.
“Wait, I’ll destroy his dantian first, or we can’t hold him,” Zhong Qing said, knowing Tie Qi’s terror as a true Golden Core cultivator. If ropes could bind a Golden Core expert, they’d be worthless.
As he spoke, Zhong Qing drew his sword and thrust it toward Tie Qi’s dantian.
“Zhong Qing, you dare…” Tie Qi roared in fury as he saw Zhong Qing aim to ruin his dantian.
Zhong Qing sneered, “I don’t dare? You were going to kill me, wipe out my family and sect, and I don’t dare kill you?”
“Splat!” The sword pierced Tie Qi’s dantian, blood spraying out.
“Thud,” Tie Qi collapsed from Zhong Qing’s strike.
Zhong Qing ignored him and turned to Ding Gu, knowing he was the real threat.
“Zhong Qing, spare me, and I swear I can help you reach the Void God Realm, even the Human Immortal Realm. I keep my word,” Ding Gu said, softening his tone sincerely as Zhong Qing approached.
Zhong Qing paused. Human Immortal Realm? Forget that—even reaching Golden Core would satisfy him. But then he realised who he was. He hadn’t restrained Ding Gu and had no right to demand anything.
With that, Zhong Qing ignored Ding Gu’s words and stabbed with his sword.
Crack! To Zhong Qing’s horror, his sword snapped when it struck Ding Gu’s dantian.
“You can’t kill me. Why not cooperate instead? I’m sure with my help, you’ll…” Ding Gu began, but before he could finish, Zhong Qing saw Ding Gu’s head explode. A flame engulfed him next, reducing him to nothing without even a scream. His primordial spirit had no chance to escape.
Zhong Qing quickly bowed toward Tianyuan City. “Zhong Qing thanks the senior for acting.”
A Human Immortal, powerless under that mental force—what kind of being was this?
