226: Chapter 226 Stepping Forward

And this was only the beginning!

"My armor! My armor has shattered!"

"Heavens! My long spear! My long spear has also turned to sand!"

"Cannons! Look! Those 'God-Killing' cannons of ours! They... they are also weathering! Dissolving!"

In an instant, shrill screams filled with endless terror and despair spread like the most terrifying plague to every corner of the vast Wu Dynasty army formation!

Whether it was the sharp blades in the soldiers' hands, the sturdy armor on their bodies, or those hideous-looking, death-filled giant siege weapons and cannons!

Everything composed of "steel" had its original structure fundamentally altered by the terrifying Law power of that mysterious figure, which functioned like the Heavenly Dao, where words became Law.

They were all weathering, shattering, and disintegrating at a terrifying speed visible to the naked eye!

In the end, they all turned into piles of cold, black iron sand filled with an Aura of death and decay.

In just a few breaths, that invincible Wu Dynasty iron-blooded army of millions, once armed to the teeth like a steel torrent, had been forcibly and completely "disarmed" in an instant!

All the surviving soldiers stood blankly in the cold autumn wind like a group of naked, fragile infants, their faces left with only endless dullness and the most primitive, extreme fear from the depths of their Soul!

The shrill screams filled with endless terror and despair swept through the entire vast Wu Dynasty army formation, which had already fallen into a death-like silence, like the most terrifying and swift black plague.

All the surviving soldiers of the Wu Dynasty, like poor lambs completely terrified by a natural predator, stared blankly at their own empty hands and the piles of cold, black iron sand filled with the Aura of death and decay scattered on the ground, their faces left with only endless bewilderment and the most primitive, extreme fear from the depths of their Soul!

It was over!

Everything was over!

These Mortals, who were long accustomed to relying on the sharp blades in their hands and the sturdy armor on their bodies to fight, had their most important claws and teeth, which they relied on for survival, forcibly stripped away in an instant by that terrifying existence who was like a true god!

They were like a group of fierce tigers whose teeth and claws had been pulled out, turning into a group of defenseless, pitiful sheep waiting to be slaughtered!

With what could they possibly contend against that high and lofty, terrifying existence who was like a Creator God?!

Despair!

A cold despair, unprecedented and sufficient to completely freeze and shatter a person's entire Soul, surged wildly into the hearts of every Wu Dynasty soldier like the most terrifying black tide, ruthlessly swallowing and drowning their Battle Intent, which had been tempered into something indestructible by nine years of blood and fire, bit by bit!

"No—!!!" A terrifying roar, filled with endless anger and unwillingness, like that of a wounded beast, suddenly exploded from the direction of the central army!

An Aura of a Peak Martial Saint, sufficient to make the wind and clouds change color, erupted violently from the iron tower-like, burly body of "Overlord" Xiang Hao!

His tiger eyes, filled with endless dominance and Battle Intent, were already covered with hideous bloodshot veins like spider webs, and his entire person was like a prehistoric Vicious Beast about to fall into a complete rampage!

"My spear... my overlord spear..." He stared blankly at the peerless divine weapon in his hand, which had long since turned into a handful of cold iron sand and had accompanied him his entire life. His lips trembled as he muttered, emitting a series of dream-like whispers filled with endless sorrow and disbelief.

That was the symbol of his invincibility, carved out step by step from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood!

That was the ultimate manifestation of his honor and dignity as the "Overlord"!

Yet now, it had been forcibly destroyed in such a humiliating way by that damned bastard!

Unforgivable!

Absolutely unforgivable!

"Ahhhhhh—!!!" Xiang Hao roared at the sky, a terrifying sound filled with endless madness and killing intent!

The Overlord Protective Aura within his body, which he had long since Cultivated to the extreme, began to circulate wildly without reservation!

A dark golden, terrifying wave of energy, visible to the naked eye and filled with endless dominance and destructive Aura, erupted from his body like the most violent volcanic eruption, forcibly pushing away the ubiquitous, terrifying Law power filled with an Aura of decay and decline from around him!

"You dog bastard! Pay with your life!" He let out a heaven-shaking roar, and then his whole body, like a dark golden cannonball fired from its chamber, violently shattered the air in front of him and charged toward the high and lofty, god-like mysterious existence in the sky!

"Xiang Hao! Don't be impulsive!" A cold shout, filled with anxiety and gravity, suddenly rang out!

"Phoenix Wings Soaring to the Heavens!" A massive, illusory Phoenix, burning with brilliant crimson-gold flames and filled with endless nobility and magnificence, suddenly soared into the sky from the southern army formation!

Zhao Yu's heroic figure appeared atop that massive, illusory Phoenix. The crimson-gold Phoenix divine spear in his hand, also forged from extraterrestrial meteorite iron, was covered in fine cracks under the terrifying Law power, as if it could shatter completely at any moment.

However, he used his own Phoenix Protective Aura, which had also reached the Peak of the Martial Saint Realm and was filled with a scorching, destructive Aura, to tightly wrap around the divine spear that was about to shatter, slowing down its rate of weathering!

He followed closely behind Xiang Hao, who had long since been completely blinded by endless rage, and launched a desperate charge toward the terrifying existence in the sky that had brought them endless despair and fear!

"Hahaha! Killing one is worth it! Killing two is a bonus!"

"Even if I, Ma Qianli, die today! I will still tear a piece of flesh off you, you son-of-a-bitch charlatan!"

A rough, wild laugh filled with endless heroism and a lack of fear of death suddenly rang out from the northern army formation!

A dazzling, earthy-yellow light, filled with an Aura of weightiness and sturdiness, suddenly lit up on Ma Qianli's mountain-like, sturdy body!

He actually relied on his own powerful Physical Body, which had already Cultivated its defensive power to an unimaginable and terrifying Realm, to forcibly resist the ubiquitous Law erosion!

Although fine bloodstains like cracked earth appeared on his bronze skin, as if it could completely split open at any moment, he did not care in the slightest!

He let out a heaven-shaking roar and stomped his feet violently on the ground!

"Boom—!!!" The entire earth seemed to shake violently!

His massive body, like an earthy-yellow, terrifying, reverse-traveling meteorite, carried a terrifying momentum sufficient to shatter everything as it violently slammed toward the cold existence in the sky!

"And me, Du Wei!"

"Xue Biao!"

Following that, one after another, terrifying roars filled with endless determination and a lack of fear of death rose into the sky like rolling thunder from various army formations of the Wu Dynasty!

Du Wei's elegant and wise figure was completely enveloped in a layer of cyan Protective Aura filled with an Aura of elegance and agility!

Xue Biao's figure, filled with a wild and bloodthirsty Aura, turned into a hideous fierce tiger burning with blood-red flames all over its body!

All of the Wu Dynasty's top-tier, peerless fierce generals who had already reached the Martial Saint Realm made the same choice at this most critical juncture!

They were all very clear!

They all knew perfectly well!

With their meager strength as Martial Saints, challenging a terrifying existence capable of making words become Law and changing the most fundamental rules of all things in the world was no different from a moth flying into a flame or striking a stone with an egg!

It was truly and genuinely seeking their own death!

However, they could not retreat!

They had nowhere to retreat!

Because behind them were the millions of unarmed comrades and brothers who had already completely lost all ability to resist!

Behind them was also the great Emperor, Your Majesty, who had led them step by step from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood to this day, and to whom they had long since sworn to remain forever loyal with their lives and Soul!

At this moment, if they, the existences who had already stood at the Peak of the martial path in this world, chose to shrink back and fear!

Then the entire vast Wu Dynasty army would completely become fish on the chopping block of that high and lofty god, ready to be slaughtered at will!

Therefore, they had to stand up!

Even if it meant death!

They had to use their flesh, blood, and Soul to fight for even the slightest glimmer of a chance of survival for their comrades behind them and for their Emperor!

This was their honor and determination as generals of the Wu Dynasty!

Eight streaks of brilliant light, each of a different color but equally filled with an indomitable, desperate Aura, like eight Heaven-Defying, unyielding meteors, streaked from eight different directions across the gray sky, which had already been completely shrouded in endless despair and fear. They launched the most tragic and fierce desperate charge toward the only light source in the sky—that mysterious "Saint" whose whole body radiated a soft, milky-white, holy halo!

However, facing the joint siege of these eight peerless generals of the same rank, which would have made any Peak expert feel scalp-numbingly terrified or even desperate, that mysterious "Saint" who had been quietly floating in mid-air like a god statue without any emotion, showed no emotional fluctuation in his voice, which remained as calm as an ancient well.

He couldn't even be bothered to move.

He merely swept a glance at the eight streaks of brilliant light, which were charging crazily toward him with a terrifying, world-destroying momentum, with eyes filled with endless indifference and coldness, as if looking down at a group of humble ants who did not know death from life.

It was just this simple glance.

A terrifying mental storm, impossible to describe with any words, vast, majestic, and filled with a supreme majesty that allowed no one to disobey, swept wildly out from his deep eyes, which seemed to contain the birth and death of all stars in the Universe, like the most terrifying world-ending tsunami!

That was an absolute crushing from a higher dimension, at the level of Law!

"Pfft—!!!" "Overlord" Xiang Hao, who was charging at the very front, felt his iron tower-like, burly body tremble violently!

His dark golden Protective Aura, which he had already driven to its limit and was capable of withstanding the charge of ten thousand troops, was utterly shattered and disintegrated silently under the impact of that invisible, terrifying mental storm, like a fragile balloon being pricked, dissipating into the air as the most primitive energy particles!

Immediately following that, the peerless, terrifying force slammed violently against his terrifying Physical Body, which had been tempered a thousand times over and was harder than steel!

"Crack! Crack! Crack!" A teeth-grinding, hair-raising sound of bones shattering suddenly erupted from within his body!

Clouds of scarlet blood mist, filled with the Aura of death, instantly burst forth from his burly frame!

He was sent flying backward toward the cold earth below, with a speed even more ferocious than when he had charged forward, like a fragile fighter jet struck head-on by anti-aircraft artillery!

And those following closely behind—Zhao Yu, Ma Qianli, Du Wei, Xue Biao... the fate of every one of them was exactly the same!

Whether it was Zhao Yu's brilliant Phoenix divine flames that could incinerate all things!

Or Ma Qianli's heavy, immovable King of Wisdom body capable of crushing mountains!

Or even Du Wei's elegant, agile, and unpredictable Carefree Wind-Riding Technique!

Everything, in the face of that mysterious "Saint's" absolute Law power, which was like the Heavenly Dao itself, appeared so pale, so laughable, and so vulnerable!

Eight brilliant streams of light dimmed completely at almost the same moment!

Eight Eighth-Rank Martial Saints, who had long stood at the Peak of the martial path in this world, fell powerlessly from the high sky, spewing hot blood from their mouths like eight fragile butterflies whose wings had been snapped by a gale!

The sorrow of an ant is nothing more than this.

They did not even possess the qualifications to make that lofty god take action personally.

A single glance was enough to completely shatter all the power and dignity they prided themselves on!

"It is over." The mysterious "Saint" said slowly in a cold voice, devoid of even the slightest emotion.

He slowly raised his right hand, his palm aimed at the millions of Wu Dynasty troops below, who had long since fallen into complete silence and despair.

A milky-white, terrifying ball of energy—brighter, more dazzling, and more filled with endless light and holy Aura than the sun in the sky, capable of purifying all sin and filth in the world—began to rapidly coalesce in his palm!

He prepared to completely purify the millions of dirty and lowly Eastern heretics below, as he saw them, and erase them from this world entirely!

However, at this most critical, hair-breadth moment, just as the heaven-destroying Purifying Holy Light—capable of wiping the entire Western continent from the map—was about to descend, a black figure, who did not look particularly burly but gave one the impression of holding up the entire firmament, appeared without warning directly beneath that heaven-destroying Purifying Holy Light!

He stood there quietly at the very front of the millions of soldiers who had long since fallen into complete despair.

He faced that terrifying existence, who was like a true god descended to the world, all alone!

On his handsome face, which remained as calm as an ancient well, there was not the slightest trace of fear or retreat. All that existed was a burning, scorching Battle Intent, like the most violent volcano, capable of incinerating the entire firmament!

He slowly raised his head, and with a cold gaze filled with endless dominance and unyielding spirit, he stared fixedly at the mysterious "Saint" high up in the sky, saying word by word, "Your opponent is Us!"

That cold voice, filled with endless dominance and unyielding spirit, exploded like a peal of Chaos thunder capable of splitting heaven and earth, resounding violently through this cold world that had long been completely shrouded in endless despair and silence!

"Your opponent is Us!" These six simple words contained a supreme pride and majesty that would never bow, even in the face of a god! This was the final declaration of a human Emperor!

The millions of Wu Dynasty soldiers below, whose hearts had turned to ash and who had fallen into the abyss of endless despair, upon hearing this voice—which they were familiar with to their very bones and which they had long regarded as their life's faith—saw a faint glimmer of light struggle to coalesce once more in their eyes, which had become hollow and numb!

Your Majesty! It was their Emperor! The omnipotent, great Emperor who had led them step by step from mountains of corpses and seas of blood to where they were today!

He had not abandoned them! He still stood firmly at the very front of them all, like an imposing divine mountain that could never be shaken! Even when facing that invincible, terrifying existence who seemed like a true god descended to the world, he still showed not the slightest retreat or fear!

"Oh?" In the sky, that mysterious "Saint," who had been floating quietly in mid-air, his entire body radiating a soft, milky-white holy halo, had a hint of playful emotional fluctuation in his voice, which had always been as calm as an ancient well, for the first time after hearing Gao Feng's provocative declaration.

"A slightly stronger ant dares to speak the word 'opponent' in front of a god?"

"Mortal, your ignorance and arrogance truly make Me feel somewhat amused."

He slowly withdrew the heaven-destroying Purifying Holy Light that had already coalesced and was capable of easily erasing the entire Fanting Holy Capital from the map.

It was not that he had shown mercy. Rather, he felt that crushing the only interesting "toy" below that dared to face his Divine Might directly so easily was simply too boring.

He prepared to play with this Mortal Emperor, who did not know the immensity of heaven and earth, before completely destroying this Eastern barbaric Empire that was already destined to perish.

He wanted to shatter this Mortal's laughable pride and dignity piece by piece! He wanted to make this Mortal die while wailing and repenting in the deepest, endless despair and pain!

He wanted the millions of lowly ants below to watch with their own eyes how their so-called omnipotent, great Emperor was toyed with in the palm of his hand before this true god, eventually becoming a cold, lowly corpse!

This was the most merciful gift from a god to a Mortal who dared to blaspheme his Divine Might!

"Then, Mortal."

"Let Me tell you personally."

"Just how enormous the desperate gap between god and man, which can never be bridged, truly is!"

Before the words had even faded, the mysterious "Saint" slowly extended a finger, radiating a soft, milky-white holy halo, toward the black figure below, who was as small as a speck of dust in his eyes. Then, he tapped gently.

"God said, let there be light."

As this voice, filled with endless holiness and Divine Might, fell, a pure white Purifying Holy Light—which looked not particularly thick, merely the width of an arm, but contained terrifying energy capable of purifying all sin and filth in the world—instantly erupted from his fingertip!

Wherever that pure white Purifying Holy Light passed, even the incredibly solid space seemed unable to withstand that ultimate light and holy power, rapidly dissolving like fragile snow touched by a red-hot iron, leaving behind a deep, jagged black spatial trail filled with the Aura of destruction!

Facing this heaven-destroying, fatal strike that would make any Peak Eighth-Rank Martial Saint feel despair, a look of grave seriousness flashed suddenly in Gao Feng's black eyes, which were as deep as the endless starry sky!

He could clearly feel the terrifying destructive power at the Law level, coming from a higher dimension, contained within that seemingly ordinary white beam of light!

That power had long since far surpassed the scope of any pure energy attack! It was the most direct application of the most fundamental rules of all things in the world! To take it head-on meant certain death!

In the blink of an eye, Gao Feng had already made the most accurate judgment in his heart! He did not hesitate in the slightest!

"Roar—!!!" A heaven-shaking Dragon roar, filled with endless dominance and unyielding spirit, erupted suddenly from within his body!

His massive body, which had already completely fused with that thousand-foot-long golden true Dragon Emperor, shook violently!

Relying solely on his own extremely rudimentary insight into the Law of space, as well as his terrifyingly powerful Physical Body—which had been tempered a thousand times over and was harder than any Sharp Weapon—he forcibly tore open the space in front of him and dodged awkwardly to the side!

"Hiss—!!!" However, that Purifying Holy Light was simply too fast, so fast that it almost transcended the limits of time!

Even though Gao Feng had made the most correct reaction at the very first moment, he still could not completely dodge it; the white Holy Light, filled with the Aura of destruction, flashed past, almost grazing his left shoulder!

An indescribable, terrifying, and excruciating pain, capable of burning a person's Soul to ashes, instantly spread throughout his entire body!

He subconsciously lowered his head to look, only to see that on his left shoulder, which had been completely covered by a layer of indestructible golden Dragon scales filled with endless majesty and nobility, a bowl-sized, gruesome bloody hole had appeared, piercing straight through!

Not a single drop of blood flowed from the wound, because all the flesh and Meridians surrounding it had already been completely vaporized by that terrifying Holy Light, filled with the Aura of purification and destruction, turning into the most primitive void!

There were even wisps of strange, milky-white flames, filled with a holy and bright Aura, that were clinging tenaciously to his wound like maggots on a bone, burning crazily and preventing the recovery of his terrifying self-healing ability, which had already become incomparably powerful!