155: Chapter 155 [The Bloodshed Caused by the City-Building Order, the NPC Emperor Personally Leads the Expedition!]

A bloody wind swirled with warm blood mist, wailing over the deathly silent ruins.

Qin Ji casually tossed the token emitting a faint golden halo into the air and caught it steadily. The surface of the token was engraved with intricate ancient runes, and the two words "City Establishment" in the center exuded a heart-palpitating power of Law.

【Divine-Grade · city establishment token】

【Quality: Unique】

【Effect: Select an unowned land to establish a "Main City-level" territory protected by the System's Laws. This territory possesses independent taxation rights, independent legislative rights, and is not subject to the jurisdiction of any indigenous Empire.】

【Current Status: Usable (requires clearing surrounding hostile forces).】

“Not subject to jurisdiction?”

The corners of Qin Ji's mouth curled into a playful arc, his fingertips gently stroking the cold patterns of the token. “This isn't just a city establishment token; it's clearly a 'Rebellion Permit'.”

In this digitized world of God's Domain, the indigenous Empires' desire for land control had reached a pathological level. A token capable of establishing an independent regime was enough to drive those high-and-mighty NPC Emperors completely insane.

But Qin Ji was least afraid of madmen.

Because he was even more unreasonable than a madman.

...

Star Empire, the Imperial Capital, Tianxing City.

Inside the grand and solemn royal palace hall, the atmosphere was currently heavy, so oppressive it made people struggle to breathe.

“Defeated?”

Upon the throne, the Star Empire Emperor Abra suddenly crushed the pure gold wine cup in his hand. The wine, mixed with gold dust, flowed through his fingers and dripped onto the mirror-like floor. “The Sword Control Sect is the shield of my Empire's northern border, and Sect Master Blood Sword Venerable is a LV.75 Lord-rank powerhouse. Now you're telling me he was slaughtered like a chicken?”

Below the hall, a general wearing tattered armor knelt on the ground, his whole body trembling like a sieve.

He was the Imperial General responsible for overseeing the northern border, Luolin Muye.

“Your... Your Majesty... It's not that I didn't want to save him, it was simply impossible to save him!”

Luolin Muye looked up, lingering fear still in his eyes as if he had just crawled back from Hell. “That Outlander... that guy named Qin Ji, he's not human at all! He split his Sword Qi... he split his Sword Qi into tens of thousands of strands! Blood Sword Venerable couldn't even withstand a single move before he was chopped into mincemeat!”

“Absurd!”

Abra roared in anger, a terrifying pressure instantly sweeping through the hall. “A mere Outlander player is only around level forty or fifty at this stage. How could he possibly possess such power? You must have neglected your duties and fabricated a lie!”

“Your Majesty, I have a Recording Stone as proof!”

Luolin Muye hurriedly pulled a shattered crystal from his breast and injected a trace of magic power.

Buzz.

A light screen unfolded in the air of the hall.

In the image was the exact moment Qin Ji swung that sword.

What was originally just a single strand of pitch-black Sword Qi instantly fissioned, multiplied, and exploded the moment it touched the target. Those black crescents filling the sky were like a plague of locusts, instantly swallowing the towering main hall of the Sword Control Sect along with that insufferably arrogant Blood Sword Venerable.

The image came to an abrupt end.

The entire hall fell into a deathly silence.

Even the previously furious Abra was now frozen on his throne, his pupils shrinking violently.

This kind of destructive power... even for him, a LV.90 Imperial Emperor, felt a chill rush straight to the top of his skull.

“Your Majesty.”

The previously silent Prime Minister Kesenluo suddenly took a step forward, his face so gloomy it looked like it could drip water. “Discussing that Outlander's strength is no longer meaningful. The point is... according to reports from spies, after Blood Sword Venerable died, that legendary item was dropped.”

Abra's eyelid twitched. “You mean...”

“The city establishment token.”

Kesenluo spat out those four words, and the air in the hall seemed to freeze instantly. “And it is a Divine-Grade city establishment token of the highest level. That Qin Ji now occupies the former site of the Sword Control Sect. Once he uses the token, that place will become an independent main city.”

“How can we allow someone else to snore beside our own bed?”

Kesenluo's voice was bone-chillingly cold. “One country, two regimes—this is a bottom line the Empire absolutely cannot tolerate. Once he gains a foothold, those forces dissatisfied with the Empire will surely flock to him. When that time comes...”

“Enough!”

Abra stood up abruptly, a flash of decisive killing intent in his eyes. “We must never let him build that city!”

“Luolin Muye!”

“Your servant is here!”

“Assemble the Royal Griffin Legion and follow this Emperor on the expedition!” Abra waved his hand, and his magnificent robe instantly switched to a golden, shimmering epic rank battle armor. “This Emperor will lead the personal expedition. Before that city can be built, I will crush that Outlander along with his ambitions!”

“Your Majesty, you must not!”

Several old officials hurriedly knelt to dissuade him. “That Outlander's strength is strange, and Your Majesty's person is of supreme value...”

“Shut up!”

Abra sneered and took out an ancient Talismanic Incantation emitting spatial fluctuations from his breast. “This Emperor has the [Great Shift Talisman] left by the ancestors. If there is true danger, I can tear through space and leave at any time. Besides...”

He gripped the holy sword at his waist, his eyes full of greed. “As long as I kill that Qin Ji, that Divine-Grade city establishment token... will be mine!”

...

Sword Control Sect Ruins.

Qin Ji didn't know he had been targeted by a LV.90 Emperor. Or rather, even if he did, he would probably only rub his hands in excitement while calculating how many attribute points the other party could drop.

At this moment, he was sitting on a broken stone pillar, a semi-transparent skill enhancement panel floating before him.

This was another good item that dropped when he killed Blood Sword Venerable, besides the city establishment token—the [Skill Cataclysm Stone].

【Item: Skill Cataclysm Stone】

【Effect: Forcibly upgrades a skill into a "Cataclysm" version, causing an unpredictable and terrifying qualitative change.】

【Cost: Consume 1,000,000 gold coins, or sacrifice a legendary rank piece of equipment.】

“One million gold coins?”

Qin Ji glanced at the string of zeros in his backpack balance that was too long to count and clicked confirm without a care. “In this day and age, problems that can be solved with money aren't problems at all.”

“System, lock skill—[Ranged Fission: Myriad Manifestations].”

Since this skill was so useful, he would make it a bit more perverted.

“Confirm Cataclysm!”

【Ding! Consumed 1,000,000 gold coins.】

【Performing Cataclysmic reconstruction on "Ranged Fission: Myriad Manifestations"...】

【Warning: Detected excessively high potential in this skill; Cataclysm direction has developed uncontrollable branches...】

【Cataclysm Successful!】

【Congratulations Player, your skill "Ranged Fission: Myriad Manifestations" has evolved into—"Calamity: Infinite Fractal (S-Rank · Forbidden)"!】

Qin Ji immediately opened the skill details.

【Calamity: Infinite Fractal】

【Original Effect: Ranged attacks split 10-1000 times (increases with proficiency).】

【Cataclysmic Characteristics (New):】

【1. Recursive Fission: The split sub-attacks can undergo "secondary fission" after hitting a target or flying over 50 meters. (Endless offspring without end)】

【2. Intelligent Target Seeking: The split attack units possess independent consciousness, automatically tracking all hostile targets within range until death.】

【3. Destruction of Energy Conservation: With each fission, damage no longer decays; instead, it increases True Damage by 1%.】

“Hiss...”

Even for a cheater like Qin Ji who had seen grand scenes, he couldn't help but take a sharp breath when he saw the last attribute... well, he didn't actually gasp, he just excitedly licked his lips.

Damage doesn't decay but increases instead?

This meant that if he shot one arrow, after ten fissions, the damage of the final wave of arrow rain would be 1.1 times the initial damage.

Coupled with that sky-covering quantity...

“This isn't just a skill; it's clearly a civilization cleaning machine.”

Qin Ji closed the panel with satisfaction, preparing to find an unlucky mob to test it out.

Suddenly.

The sky overhead darkened without any warning.

It wasn't dark clouds, but... a shadow.

A massive shadow.

Qin Ji looked up and saw that in the previously clear sky, a huge spatial rift had opened at some point.

Following that, magic airships wrapped in golden armor sailed slowly out of the rift one by one, blotting out the sun. Densely packed Griffin cavalry surrounded the entire Sword Control Sect ruins like a swarm of wasps.

A pressure as vast as the sea poured down from the largest flagship.

“Audacious Outlander Qin Ji!”

A majestic voice, amplified by magic, sounded like rolling thunder, making the rubble in the ruins tremble. “Slaughtering a Sect and intending to rebel! This Emperor is Abra, the Lord of the Star Empire. Today I lead a personal expedition specifically to take your head!”

On the deck of the flagship, Abra, clad in golden armor and holding a holy sword, looked down at the tiny figure from above, his eyes full of the arrogance of having victory within his grasp.

Behind him were a full hundred thousand royal elites, along with dozens of Magic Cannons ready to fire.

With such a lineup, let alone one player, even flattening a max-level guild would be more than enough.

“Oh? A personal expedition?”

Qin Ji, at the center of the encirclement, slowly stood up.

He brushed the dust off his hem and looked up at the legion that seemed like gods filling the sky. There was no fear on his face; instead, he revealed that signature, spine-chillingly brilliant smile.

“I was just worrying about not having a target to test my new skill...”

Qin Ji slowly raised his right hand, an inconspicuous purple light orb condensing at his fingertip.

“And here you are, delivering an entire royal express package.”

“Really... how polite of you.”

The wind rose.

The setting sun was like blood, stretching Qin Ji's lonely figure very long. Alone, he faced the Empire's fleet that blotted out the sky, the reflection of those hundred thousand troops mirrored in his purple-gold pupils, as if he were looking at a pile of shimmering golden experience gift packs about to explode. At that moment, the faint light at his fingertip was actually more dazzling than the gods and buddhas filling the sky.