Before Lu Pei could finish asking what he needed to ask, a tsunamic surge of pure spiritual energy gushed from Long Di’s body as he activated his Profound Myriad Heavenseize Physique!

Within the sea of stars that littered the domain of his physique, there was a particular star that shone with a spiritual brilliance!

****

A symbol of a drake was emblazoned upon it. Its silvery radiance was a sight to behold.

The flames that burned within and without were blazing spiritual energy that Long Di needed and now had full access to.

D-Du-D-Dum!

He sat in the lotus position when his cauldrons emerged behind him and an unfettered invisible pressure spread out!

Lu Pei, Yaomu Baiyin and ZI Yu had to back off just to breathe easy!

A small patch of dark clouds appeared above him as he ran his cultivation technique. The pressure and mere air he exuded were so daunting that they bore down on their physical bodies as well.

“Heavens! What kind of cultivation technique is he using!?” Yaomu Baiyin was horrified by the effect of Long Di’s cultivation technique.

As she was a member of the Yaomu family and better yet, an assistant alchemist, she had access to many high-levelled cultivation techniques. However, none that she had seen came close to what Long Di was practising at the moment.

Long Di’s cauldrons were going full force as they drank in the spiritual energy that the star was giving off.

Giant snakes of spiritual energy exited his physique and into his cauldrons in an unceasing flood!

In addition, the Destiny Scale knew that Long Di wanted his spiritual qi to recover as fast as possible, so it drank in the divine nature that his cultivation technique was drawing so he could get back up to 100% asap.

The sight of it alone induced awe in his friends.

A powerful rumble forced them to look behind when they saw the horde of cultivators coming their way, seemingly for Long Di.

Apparently, not even Yaomu Shou and Untethered Monk were able to keep everyone back. These must have been the ones that slipped by.

“Well, I’ll protect him with my life to repay him for what he’s given me,” Lu Pei decided. At a moment’s notice, he would activate the golden King character to fight off this mob.

Zi Yu also stepped forward. “Well, I’m in it for the long haul at this point, so I’m going all out as well.”

“The lady would want him safe, so that’s enough reason for me,” Yaomu Baiyin decided.

“That mob is pretty huge though,” Lu Pei commenced when he saw the size of the people charging towards them.

“It can’t be helped,” Yaomu Baiyin stated. “Everyone wants the spiritual vein root for themselves.”

Rumble!

As they spoke another rumble nearly knocked them off their feet.

They looked to see another much smaller horde approaching them.

Zi Yu was shocked upon seeing this. “No way! A pincer attack!?”

“Wait… I don’t sense any killing intent!” Lu Pei pointed.

He was right. Though the people charging them from the side were dressed head to toe in war armour and wore savage expressions. Not a drop of killing intent leaked from them.

As soon as they were a few metres from the group, they finally stopped.

One of the bigger warriors stepped forward with his battle spear in hand. Each of his footsteps caused the ground to shake beneath them.

“Which one of you is Long Di!?” His voice was thunderous in volume and nearly deafened Lu Pei and the others.

This alone let them know that this was a true expert. The pressure he gave wasn’t something that ordinary people possessed. This was Someone who walked through seas of blood to get to where he was.

“W-What do you want with him?” Lu Pei chose to step forward although with great apprehension.

This warrior looked Lu Pei up and down before an expression of scorn appeared.

“Tch! Weak!” the warrior scoffed.

Apprehension vanished while anger took hold in an instant.

“You!”

“We’ve been ordered by Commander Taitan Xiong to protect his brother Long Di!” the warrior stated.

The anger immediately disappeared from Lu Pei’s face when he heard this.

“You’re-”

“We’re the Iron-Blooded Titan Legion.” the soldier announced with a smirk.

“That’s Savage Taitan’s personal Legion.” Yaomu Baiyin commented in shock. “They’re sworn to him alone and stand independent from the Nether Immolation War Temple.”

The soldier’s chest swelled with pride upon hearing this. To them, being a part of the Iron Blooded Titan Legion was considered the greatest glory.

Yaomu Baiyin was still a bit suspicious though and asked, “Are you not aware that Long Di has been branded a criminal that the demon race itself is supposed to kill on sight? Are you sure you want to go against that and protect him instead?”

“Commander Taitan Xiong has ordered us to protect him,” was the soldier’s only response. His expression was impassive at this point and set in stone.

After a while, Yaomu Baiyin nodded, “… We can trust them.”

“Are you sure?” Lu Pei wasn’t sure about this since he wasn’t knowledgeable about the Demon Region and the big names within it.

“You’ve seen and heard Long Di and Savage Taitan talking as brothers. These guys…” she waved in the direction of the Iron Blooded Titan Legion. “Are only loyal to Savage Taitan. They don’t even have to like us, but they’ll help if it’s what he ordered.”

Lu Pei decided to trust Yaomu Baiyin and stepped to the side so that the Legion could see Long Di.

As soon as the scene of him absorbing the waves of spiritual energy came to light, every soldier sucked in a cold breath of air.

They were even more shocked when they felt his aura! He was far above them by an entire realm. To the point where they couldn’t even gauge his strength.

“W-Worthy of being Commander Taitan Xiong’s first brother.” the soldier at the front commented.

Before this, they were displeased that their respected Commander became someone else’s brother, and their third brother at that.

Though they didn’t express this verbally, their thoughts immediately branded Long Di with a negative narrative.

However, now, after seeing Long Di, this was no longer the case. This was an existence capable of being everyone’s first brother.

“Let’s get started then!”

Recovering from their shock, the one at the front instructed everyone else to get into position. Whenever Savage Taitan was absent, he was the one to take command.

As these were seasoned warriors, though they were shocked by Long Di, they were still able to compose themselves.

Within a short moment, several ranks of soldiers stood as a bulwark against the descending horde.

They could feel their blood heating up from the mere prospect of battle they would find themselves in.

…

“Was everything you said true?”

“Yes! I was only able to escape because I was quick-witted enough to realize the situation and wanted to cut my losses while I was still able to do so.”

Outside the Spiritual Bingqi realm was a conversation that caused a pall to descend on all the demon race powerhouses present.

Yaomu Qiang stood before Ban Yan and Wan Li, the Imperial Protectors of Yaomu Shou.

With them were all the other demon race powerhouses that brought their disciples.

This included experts from the Blood Crypt Sect, Iron Forge Body Sect, Nether Immolation War Temple, Zhen family, and a host of others.

The ones mentioned before wore ugly expressions when Yaomu Qiang informed them exactly what happened up until that point.

The rest of the members of the Junior Adjudication Committee were behind him.

Just like Long Di deduced, Yaomu Qiang did escape the Spiritual Bingqi realm the first chance he got when he saw that the former was beating back the Imperial Divine Edict.

However, this didn’t mean that he was able to stay here and bash Long Di uncontested.

A familiar voice rang out that caused everyone’s expression to change.

“You’re lying, you glorified eggplant!”