Qing Yu had slain the Monster Lord with a single stroke, the headless corpse collapsing soundlessly to the ground was testament to that.

……

On Levitating Island, an old lion roared to the sky.

“Qing Yu! The golden lions swear an unending vendetta upon your name! Ancestor!” It turned to the floating island proper, but its call went unanswered.

Scarlet Ape seemed to be paying no attention to Dusk Province at all. It sat upon a giant stone in a daze, its faint golden eyes tinged with confusion and perplexity. It had adopted this pose ever since the shamanic divine appeared; no one knew what it was thinking.

The old lion gritted its teeth and flew out of Levitating Island as a streak of golden light.

……

Hurrying to Xing Chen’s side, Qing Yu poured a stream of qi into his body.

The youth shivered as a third of the injuries the shamanic divine had dealt him melted away. His eyes widened questioningly at Qing Yu, who smiled ever so slightly.

“Moon Osmanthus.” The two words she uttered were very enlightening.

Xing Chen understood. Only a replica refined with one of the ten connate spirit roots could reach this level of seeming reality, of impenetrable perfection.

Aoxue had instantly seen through Donglin Shaohui’s embittered bamboo clone because he’d been too weak to make proper use of it. Rather than make it into his replica, he’d merely turned the bamboo into a humanoid shape. That kind of semblance was utterly insufficient against an Envoy of Samsara who’d been empowered by the Tome of Life and Death.

The replica Qing Yu was using right now, on the other hand, had been refined by Empress Myrtlestar and the Azure Dragon King after practicing the method of the immortal dao founders. Anyone who didn’t surpass those two in cultivation wouldn’t be able to see the truth of what she was.

Even the nine former celestial emperors would believe that Qing Yu and Qing Han were two separate people.

……

The Thunder Lord and Fangyang youth colored at Qing Yu’s appearance. She’d decapitated the golden lion with a single, clean stroke. Neither of them could match that, even in an ambush!

With the Monster Lord’s death, the ten lords became nine.

Xing Chen’s body shook slightly and he exhaled a long mouthful of grayish-black smoke, recovering a bit more from his wounds.

“You didn’t think much of me, did you?” Stepping forward, Qing Yu brandished a sword that blazed with lunar radiance.

Because the force inside of her came from the Moon Osmanthus, her power was just as innate as the spirit root. Her replica was every bit Xing Chen’s equal. In fact, it was stronger in some ways.

The Nine Yin Soul-Parting Wood was a sacred relic of the shamans, but it was no connate spirit root.

“I grant you a chance for a fair fight.” The girl’s voice was cold in its lethality. She cast a steely glare toward the two youths who opposed her.

The Thunder Lord and Fangyang youth stumbled back in a panic. As soon as she appeared, they knew they were no match for her, Sovereign Arena or no!

“Enter the city, you two. Join the others against Lu Yun and Qing Han.” A different voice cut through the air as a golden dragon descended from the sky, bearing a young man upon its head.

Wu Tulong.

As soon as he touched ground, the dragon he rode turned into an aureate spear in his hands. Another joined him shortly thereafter, landing neatly behind Xing Chen and Qing Yu.

Mo Qitian!

Strengthened by the supreme treasures they bore, both youths radiated powerful auras that were in no way weaker than Xing Chen and Qing Yu’s.

Qing Yu sobered up. She wasn’t afraid of the two newcomers, but they were formidable enemies nonetheless.

“I’ll hold them off. Hurry up and recover!” Her figure flickered, then turned into two. Each copy headed for a different target. Xing Chen was still seriously hurt; he needed time to get better.

An incredible amount of qi blasted into the sky. Despite fighting one against two, Qing Yu appeared evenly matched with Wu Tulong and Mo Qitian. She was more than capable of delaying them for a fair amount of time.

The Thunder Lord and Fangyang youth were positively ashen by this point. They finally realized the full extent of the massive difference between the thirty-six champions, ten lords—er, nine by now—and real geniuses of the world.

“When Dusk Province is taken and a new Sovereign Ranking is started, I can become just as strong as them!” Roaring angrily, the Thunder Lord charged into the Dusk capital with ripples in his wake.

……

“They’re just asking to die, aren’t they?” Lu Yun and Qing Han stood atop the inheritance tower, neither of them rushing to show themselves or attack. They were perfectly fine excusing themselves from the fray.

“I guess this is fine, though. Those Feng idiots absolutely ruined the city’s feng shui when they rebuilt the city. I haven’t had a chance to fix it yet, so these chumps are doing a good job as a demolition crew.”

Despite their perch atop the tower, no one dared attack them directly. Instead, fires of war ravaged the city streets. The attackers were only interested in razing the city to humiliate its ruler.

Still, there were plenty of other experts who resided here. Zhu Yan and Yue Longsha demonstrated strength beyond golden immortals and as strong as any void realm immortal. The nine lords and thirty-six champions had a hard time taking them on individually, and it took a concerted effort from all thirty-six of the champions to stave off defeat at the pair’s hands.

“Why are these Lu and Chen clan immortals acting so strange? And where did their cultivators go?” After killing an immortal with a palm strike, the Fallen Lord scanned his surroundings. There were a few Lu and Chen clansmen around him, but really not that many.

“Have they been evacuated already?” He traded a look with the Dragon Lord. “No matter—kill them all!”

At this point, their hearts were no longer beholden to any sense of right or wrong. Only conquest and massacre were left! Plus, the Lu and Chen clans were Nephrite traitors anyway. Emperor Zhao Changfeng had personally given the decree to kill them on sight.

“Bastards!”

Surrounded by several powerful void realm cultivators, a Lu immortal spun in a red-eyed frenzy. Maddened, he released his peerless immortal strength without inhibition—

Boom!

A brilliant pillar of energy fell from the sky, annihilating him utterly. The province’s immortal restriction had taken effect.

……

“All of these people are sleeper agents! Ones whose souls have been planted!” Among the crowd, Zi Chen’s face became very ugly indeed. He didn’t expect all of the soul planted cultivators and immortals to be released like this!

He’d heard absolutely nothing about any of this. Although it seemed that Lu Yun had been taken unawares, at first, his plethora of readied maneuvers showed that was not the case.

Since not even Xingzi could get rid of the planted seeds, Lu Yun had found the geniuses’ attack an excellent opportunity to excise a festering problem.