Strongest War Emperor

There are only two ways to break the Death Realm.

The first is to endure the ravages of the Death Realm with an unyielding mind. While remaining lucid, one must see through all its illusions, find the flaw within it, and then step out from its shadow.

If you fail to see through the illusions, then no matter how you move within it, to an outside observer, you’ll appear to be merely walking in circles.

The second is to counter one Realm with another—for instance, if Shen Lang were to use his Sword Intent to directly cut through the Death Realm.

Success or failure in that case would depend entirely on which of the two was stronger.

Nangong Yan’s greatest fear was that Shen Lang would act on impulse and try to shatter the Death Realm with his Sword Intent!

If that happened, it would surely mean a fight to the death between the Xue Family and Shen Lang!

Even if Master Kong Jing himself were here, he might not be able to save Shen Lang...

”Hmph. You all underestimate Shen Lang.” Shark’s Kiss gently shook his head, his voice echoing in their minds via Divine Thought. ”Not only is the boy’s Cultivation heaven-defying, but his intellect is so sharp it’s almost demonic. He wouldn’t do something so foolish.”

At that moment, Nangong Yan and the others, along with the eight King Martial Realm experts atop the Flood Dragon in the sky, all fixed their burning gazes on Shen Lang, who was enveloped in shadow, eager to see what astonishing move he would make next.

Then, the Shen Lang within the shadows suddenly seemed to transform into a different person entirely.

His aura was now retracted, gone was the domineering arrogance from before, the kind that heralded the drawing of a Demon Saber.

Instead, he became as deep as an abyss and as still as placid water, exuding an inscrutable and profound air.

He simply stood there, his entire being seemingly having weathered endless ages, tempered by the passage of countless years. Within his eyes, mountains and rivers flickered into existence, winds and clouds swirled, all as ephemeral as a dream.

”The Death Realm is nothing special.”

”In just three steps, I will shatter this Realm and make you regret ever coming to Celestial Phoenix City!”

Shen Lang barked, his upper body bare, and simply began to walk forward.

Just three steps. Only three steps!

His steps weren’t large, nor was he moving quickly.

As Shen Lang took his first step...

An imperial aura began to emanate from his body!

His long hair whipped about him, his eyes blazed like those of a Demon God, and every single movement radiated majesty.

He was clearly just a sixteen-year-old boy, yet his calm composure and the aura emanating from him gave everyone the impression that he was an emperor who held the world in his palm!

Just as this strange feeling—the sense that Shen Lang was a supreme emperor—arose in the hearts of the crowd...

A soft cry of surprise came from the hitherto silent Jade Chariot in the sky. ”Emperor’s Will?”

Upon hearing this voice, the expressions of Shark’s Kiss, Shangguan Feiyue, and Nangong Yan changed dramatically.

”When the Two Lives Flower blooms, the Emperor Star shall appear; when Heaven and Earth are overturned, the world will fall into great chaos!” These words immediately surfaced in their minds.

This was a prophecy now known to all the Sects in the world.

Many powerful, reclusive Sects had already begun searching for the Emperor Star. And now, this boy, Shen Lang, a mere sixteen-year-old, was emanating the Emperor’s Will!

’Could it be... just a coincidence?’

Nangong Yan and the other two stared with wide, unblinking eyes, their gazes locked on Shen Lang. Their powerful Divine Thoughts swept over him, trying to probe for something.

To their eyes, it was as if Shen Lang carried a mountain on his back. Each step he took seemed powerful enough to make the very earth tremble!

Everyone knew perfectly well that the ground wasn’t actually shaking, yet watching Shen Lang’s steps gave rise to this utterly unbelievable sensation!

As for Xue Jingyuan, who was facing Shen Lang directly, the pressure was immense. His face was pale, and sweat poured from him like rain.

Shen Lang’s first and second steps had filled him with a sense of facing an incomparably powerful force, like an ant before a god!

Though each of Shen Lang’s steps was light, it felt as if each one stomped directly on Xue Jingyuan’s heart. In his mind’s eye, visions of mountains collapsing and the earth sundering played out!

With each step, Shen Lang’s figure grew taller in Xue Jingyuan’s eyes, until he seemed like a primeval Giant, his feet planted on the earth and his head scraping the Azure Vault!

The immense pressure continued to climb!

Emperor’s Will, crushing the Death Realm!

”Imperial authority that can topple nations is mine to command! Defy my path of the sovereign, and you shall be slain without mercy!”

As Shen Lang took his final step, a soft POP resounded. Xue Jingyuan screamed, his body flying backward to land half-kneeling on the ground. He clawed at his hair like a man possessed, his face contorted in unspeakable agony.

The shadow of the Death Realm he had unleashed vanished in an instant.

Shen Lang’s tyrannical aura instantly swept across the entire field!

The people of Celestial Phoenix City were ecstatic. They desperately suppressed the urge to roar, their eyes fixed on Shen Lang with a fiery passion!

Just then, several wisps of divine radiance materialized from thin air, swirling around the kneeling Xue Jingyuan. A woman in courtly robes appeared beside him.

TCH-TCH-TCH!

The woman in courtly robes tapped her slender fingers against Xue Jingyuan’s body.

Xue Jingyuan had been screaming in unbearable agony, but after those few taps, he went limp like a deflated ball and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Two figures flashed down from the sky. The two King Martial Realm experts collected Xue Jingyuan and carried him up to the Jade Chariot.

Only then did the woman in courtly robes slowly turn to face Shen Lang.

Shen Lang met her gaze calmly, his own eyes unflinching.

To Shen Lang’s slight surprise, he found himself looking into a pair of crystal-clear eyes, as pure and unblemished as amethysts from the depths of the ocean.

Yet, these eyes held none of the imposing majesty one would expect from a person of high status.

It was as if the woman before him wasn’t an Emperor Martial Realm expert at all, but simply a woman who had never been exposed to the world of Martial Arts.

He saw that the woman bore a slight resemblance to Xue Dangdang, though she was only a few years older.

Her skin was like snow, her waist as slender as if bound by silk, and her teeth were like perfectly set pearls. Her very presence exuded a captivating charm.

”So, you’re Shen Lang? You’re quite capable...”

The woman’s celestial voice suddenly rang out.

Before Shen Lang could reply, a storm of flower petals suddenly swirled up, instantly enveloping him in a fragrant, multicolored vortex of vibrant reds and purples.

’The Xue Family’s Flying Flowers Filling the Sky!’

Shen Lang was startled but did not resist.

’Now that Zuo Wentian is dormant, my greatest trump card is gone. Besides, she’s Dingdang’s elder. Attacking her will only make the situation worse.’

The Xue Family’s Flying Flowers Filling the Sky was a Cultivation Technique, not a Realm, but it achieved a remarkably similar effect to a floral Realm.

Within this world of flowers, every single petal contained the subtleties of a Realm. They could bind a person or transform into razor-sharp blades, capable of slicing through anything!

’This woman’s Cultivation is at least at the Seventh Heaven of the Emperor Martial Realm. An expert of this caliber... even if my body could withstand using the Demon Blade Technique, she’s not someone I can fight right now.’

With the memories of a War Emperor, how could Shen Lang not know the power of an Emperor Martial Realm expert?

This was the kind of expert who could conjure clouds and summon rain with a turn of their hand—someone who could reduce the little Celestial Phoenix City to dust with a mere flick of their wrist.

The moment Shen Lang felt a flicker of alarm, the countless petals began to spin rapidly around him. In the blink of an eye, they enveloped him completely, binding him so tightly he couldn’t move!

The unimaginable pressure was so great that Shen Lang could even hear his own bones creaking under the strain!

CRACK!

A series of dull cracks sounded from beneath Shen Lang’s feet as the ground actually began to cave in under the pressure!

”Stop!” Xue Dangdang cried out, her face paling as she rushed forward.

She held a Short Sword to her own throat and cried, ”Aunt, if you dare touch Brother Lang, I’ll kill myself right in front of you!”

The woman in courtly robes froze, apparently not expecting Xue Dangdang to use her own life as a threat.

”We haven’t seen each other in years, Dingdang. Is this how you greet your aunt?” The woman’s eyes dimmed slightly.

A pained expression crossed Xue Dangdang’s face. She knew her threat was unlikely to work, yet she refused to lower the Short Sword.

”Aunt... you... you have to let Brother Lang go first!”

”So-called experts are nothing but bullies who use their strength to prey on the weak. If my Cultivation was above the Emperor Martial Realm, your Flying Flowers Filling the Sky couldn’t possibly hold me,” Shen Lang said, his expression unchanging, even as his blood roiled and he could hear his bones creaking under the pressure of the petals.

”Oh?” A sharp glint flashed in the woman’s eyes. ”I didn’t expect you to know of my Xue Family’s Flying Flowers Filling the Sky. You truly are more than you seem...”

TCH!

With a flick of her slender finger, the petals binding Shen Lang’s body instantly scattered.

The storm of petals converged into a stream of light in mid-air and flowed back into her body.

”The strong devouring the weak is the law of the jungle. What’s all this nonsense about bullying? The strong will always crush the weak, and the weak deserve no sympathy.” The woman walked slowly toward Xue Dangdang, giving her a reproachful glare as she took the Short Sword from her hand.

”When Yuwen Huaji, a cultivator at the Ninth Heaven of the Xuanwu Realm, was hunting you down, you were in no position to reason with him. If you hadn’t known the Celestial Purity Sect’s Cultivation Technique, if Master of Chaos and Shark’s Kiss hadn’t stepped in, you would have been the one to die. And then what? Who would have stepped forward to accuse Yuwen Huaji of bullying the weak? If you had died, what good would anyone’s sympathy have been? Sympathy can’t erase the grief in your parents’ hearts.”

The woman spoke as if no one else were present, her opinion of Shen Lang clearly having dropped because of his words.

’An idealistic boy. One who can’t even recognize the world’s cruelty. No matter how talented he is, he’s just a frog in a well.’

”Order and justice!” Shen Lang said coldly. ”Whether you call it survival of the fittest or respect for the strong, this world still has order, and it still has justice!”

”Hm?” The woman clearly didn’t understand what he meant.

Shen Lang sneered. ”Since you find the law of the jungle so unobjectionable, then what about two thousand years ago, when the Xue Family was nearly wiped out? Do you also consider that to have been perfectly natural? Do you believe that because someone else was stronger than your Xue Family, it was right for them to slaughter you like pigs and dogs?”

”How dare you!”

The woman, who had been calm and composed, blanched the moment she heard Shen Lang’s words.

Innumerable flowers erupted from thin air, and a gale of flying sand and stones swept the entire area!

”Not even Dingdang knows what happened two thousand years ago. The number of people in the Xue Family who are aware of it can be counted on one hand. How do you know about it? Who are you?!” The woman seemed to have transformed. Her calm, breezy demeanor vanished, replaced by an overwhelming Killing Intent!

”If you don’t explain yourself clearly, you will die, even if Master Kong Jing and Dingdang try to protect you!” the woman enunciated each word with chilling precision. ”I, Xue Hongluan, do not make idle threats. You’d better think carefully!”

Xue Hongluan’s aura was immense enough to pierce the heavens and swallow mountains. Its powerful, cutting edge and sheer pressure swept across the entire field!

The atmosphere, which had just relaxed, suddenly grew taut, strained like a drawn crossbow.

Shen Lang felt an overwhelming pressure, as if the weight of the entire world was bearing down on him. A mouthful of blood surged into his throat, and he staggered back three steps. THUD. THUD. THUD.