299: The imperial edict has been issued to the capital! A great humiliation for the Great Xia Dynasty!

"How dare you!!!"

A furious roar, infused with boundless wrath and imperial majesty, was not merely a sound but a willful bellow fused with the entire dynasty's Luck. It exploded like thunder from the Nine Heavens, erupting from the deepest part of the imperial palace!

Boom——!!!

A visible, solidified, tangible golden Imperial Dragon Qi, like a slumbering guardian divine dragon from antiquity abruptly awakening, surged into the sky!

Within that Dragon Qi was not only the emperor's killing intent but also the anger, humiliation, and indignation born in the hearts of the Great Xia Divine Dynasty's hundreds of millions of subjects at that moment because of that edict!

This power transformed into a colossal golden hand spanning the firmament, carrying the might to shatter mountains and rivers, and viciously swatted towards Zhao Wuji, who was still floating in the air with a mocking sneer on his face!

Zhao Wuji's pupils contracted sharply. He hadn't expected this Empress to have such a fiery temper, daring to attack him outright on the spot!

But he merely sneered coldly. The arrogance of a Great Emperor made him too lazy to even defend.

As a mighty Great Emperor, how could he fear the furious strike of a Lower Realm monarch?

It was nothing but the impotent rage of an ant.

However, the moment that golden giant hand, coalesced from the will of the people and national fortune, reached him, Zhao Wuji's expression drastically changed!

He was horrified to discover this was no mere Law-based attack!

Within the giant hand, he felt the roars of the masses, the war songs of martyred heroes, and the immense national fortune that had been passed down for millions of years, deeply rooted in this land!

Within this domain, Ji Hongxue was the supreme deity!

"Not good!"

Alarm bells clanged wildly in Zhao Wuji's heart. He hurriedly mobilized all his immortal essence, erecting a thick barrier of Immortal Power before him.

"Bang——!!!"

A deafening, crisp sound, like a slap, echoed across heaven and earth!

Zhao Wuji's figure was sent flying several hundred *zhang* by the violent Imperial Dragon Qi as if swatting a fly!

The defensive barrier he had hastily set up shattered into pieces like glass!

Though uninjured, the stinging impact and the sight of being forced back with a single move before the eyes of the entire capital were a humiliation worse than death to him!

"You damned wench!"

Stabilizing his form, Zhao Wuji's face flushed a purplish-red. His overwhelming killing intent twisted the very sky.

He was about to attack recklessly.

But a figure was already standing atop the palace hall.

The golden Nine Phoenix Imperial Robe remained utterly still amidst the swirling killing intent. Ji Hongxue's peerlessly beautiful face showed no expression, only a frost capable of freezing time and space.

Her phoenix eyes blazed with a fury sufficient to grind a Great Emperor to dust.

"A dog from the Upper Realm dares to bark wildly in Our Heavenly Capital?"

Ji Hongxue's voice held not a trace of warmth. Each word was like a sharp ice blade, scraping against Zhao Wuji's dignity.

"You're seeking death!"

Thoroughly ignited by that gaze, Zhao Wuji unleashed the pressure of a Great Emperor, transforming it into a black storm that bore down upon Ji Hongxue!

The sky suddenly turned pitch black. Creatures within the capital felt their livers and gallbladders about to rupture, their Divine Souls wailing!

Ji Hongxue merely snorted coldly.

The national fortune golden dragon behind her roared towards the heavens. With a single gulp, it devoured all the Imperial Might sufficient to crush mountains and rivers, and even let out a satisfied burp.

Within the Great Xia Imperial Capital, she was an undefeated myth!

"Today, We shall first slay you, this dog, before dealing with your beast of a master!"

Ji Hongxue raised her jade-like hand.

A sword appeared in her palm.

Nine golden dragons coiled around its blade. Within its edge, mountains, rivers, the state, sun, moon, and stars flowed and shifted.

The Great Xia's Guardian Imperial Weapon—the Nine Dragon Sword!

As the sword emerged, ten thousand dragons submitted. The Dragon Qi of the entire Imperial Capital transformed into a roaring golden ocean, madly pouring into the sword's body!

Zhao Wuji's pupils shrank to pinpoints.

From that sword, he caught the scent of death!

This Empress was a lunatic! She truly dared to wield the Imperial Weapon, recklessly willing to fight him to the death!

If he delayed the Upper Envoy's important matter, not even ten thousand deaths could atone for his failure!

In an instant, his killing intent receded like a tide.

Zhao Wuji forced a haughty, cold sneer onto his face, but his voice carried a trace of weakness he himself hadn't noticed.

"Hmph, an overreaching ant. This Venerable One cannot be bothered to deal with you."

"The edict has been delivered. You'd best watch your step!"

Before his words finished, he turned to tear open the Void Realm. He wanted to go back!

He wanted to embellish and tell the Upper Envoy just how arrogant this Empress was!

He wanted to watch her be personally tortured by the Upper Envoy!

However, Ji Hongxue's voice sounded like a judgment from the Nine Netherworlds.

"Thinking of leaving? Did We permit it?!"

"Stay, for Us!"

Ji Hongxue frantically channeled the Great Xia's Dragon Qi, pouring it unreservedly into the Nine Dragon Sword, and slashed down towards the direction of Zhao Wuji's escape!

This sword strike made no sound.

A ten-thousand-*zhang* golden radiance cut across the sky. Where it passed, space shattered and Laws retreated!

Zhao Wuji's body froze.

He discovered his connection to space had been severed by the sword strike!

His proud spatial Divine Ability had failed!

He couldn't escape!

"Lunatic! You're a complete and utter lunatic!"

Zhao Wuji, both shocked and furious, could only summon his Lifebound Treasure Shield to block before him.

Boom!!!

The sword radiance and that hastily summoned Lifebound Treasure Shield collided violently.

There was no earth-shattering energy explosion as expected, only a teeth-grating "crack"—a crisp sound like ice shattering beside one's ear.

Zhao Wuji's pupils abruptly solidified.

His Lifebound Treasure Shield, a supreme treasure tempered by his Great Emperor Laws for millennia, now bore a spiderweb-like crack!

And at the center of the crack, a solidified, branded dragon-shaped sword scar emitted a scalding golden light that burned the Divine Soul!

A tyrannical force, utterly beyond this level, mixed with national fortune, the people's will, and imperial intent, forcibly penetrated the shield's defense and savagely rushed into his body!

"Pfft——!"

Zhao Wuji could no longer suppress his churning Qi and blood, violently spurting out a mouthful of dark red blood!

The blood sizzled in the air as it fell. The immortal essence it contained was being frantically eroded and annihilated by a completely different, golden Imperial Dragon Qi!

Pain!

Not physical pain, but the excruciating pain of his Great Dao being humiliated, his Foundation being shaken!

He, a dignified Upper Realm Great Emperor, was actually wounded by a Lower Realm Empress's national fortune!

This was even harder for him to accept than having an arm severed by a peer!

"Lunatic... you lunatic!" Zhao Wuji stared fixedly at the figure atop the hall. The killing intent in his eyes had been replaced by a deeper shock, fury, and humiliation.

This woman simply didn't play by the rules!

She truly dared to burn national fortune, just to strike down a mere messenger?

The image of Upper Envoy Lin Yu's cold, disappointed eyes flashed in Zhao Wuji's mind. A chill shot up his spine from his tailbone to the crown of his head!

The mission was botched!

And he was beaten until he vomited blood before the eyes of hundreds of millions of ants!

This utter humiliation made his Dao Heart tremble!

"Ji! Hong! Xue!"

He practically squeezed out this name between his teeth, word by word, his voice hoarse, venomous, like a wounded lone wolf weeping blood.

"You just wait for This Venerable One!"

"The day the Upper Envoy descends... the day the Upper Envoy descends will be when all hundreds of millions of living beings of your Great Xia become blood sacrifices!!"

A venomous roar to the extreme transformed into a tangible sonic curse, echoing over the Heavenly Capital's sky.

Zhao Wuji dared not linger another moment. He was afraid, afraid that madwoman would recklessly unleash a second sword strike regardless of the cost!

He fiercely bit the tip of his tongue, spitting out another large mouthful of Lifeblood Essence, this time directly onto the Void Realm before him!

"Open for This Venerable One!"

Abandoning all decorum, his hands like claws, fueled by the violent power exchanged for burning his Lifeblood Essence, he savagely tore at space!

"Riiip——!"

He tore open an extremely unstable, pitch-black rift in space. Violent spatial turbulence gushed forth from within.

Zhao Wuji didn't even have time to stabilize the passage before he plunged into it like a whipped cur, his figure disappearing wretchedly into the twisted darkness.

The sky returned to clear.

After a deathly silence, the Heavenly Capital erupted into earth-shattering, sea-roaring cheers of fanaticism!