Chapter 535 Terrifying Pressure

"No way!"

"Absolutely not!"

"This is too risky!"

An Li dug her heels in, refusing to budge.

"Then what do you suggest? Wasn’t this your plan—to throw all our QuasiEmperors at Lu Ye? Now look, our entire QuasiEmperor force is trapped! If so many QuasiEmperors perish, what’s left for the An clan? A funeral march?" An Ri roared in fury.

An Li frowned deeply.

How was she supposed to know Lu Ye had this kind of pull? Past-life Lu Ye couldn’t have scraped together half this support.

Why was it that in this life, after abandoning the Path of Protection, Lu Ye was even more revered than when he had upheld it in the past?

This Lu Ye hadn’t done a damn thing to deserve this loyalty.

If all the QuasiEmperors were annihilated, how the hell would the An clan scrounge up ritual offerings now?

Pin it on the Emperors?

How long would that take?

Then it hit her—the Devourbeast.

If an Emperor made a move, would the Great Sage of the Nine Heavens just slap them down instead of killing them? Perhaps only sealed away?

Otherwise, how else could the Devourbeast’s example be explained?

Every time it woke up, boom—smacked back into oblivion. Rinse and repeat.

The Great Sage kept batting it down like a bothersome fly—never squashing it outright. Had to mean something, right?

Perhaps maybe the Great Sage only draws the line at world-ending threats.

But what if that wasn’t the case?

What if the Great Sage just flat-out erased An Ri the second he moved? What then?

An Ri was their damn Patriarch—losing him would be catastrophic next to some QuasiEmperors. Now they were rolling dice on whether the Great Sage would vaporize An Ri for stepping in.

"I don’t know..."

An Li wasn’t about to stick her neck out—no way she’d take the fall for this.

She hadn’t lived twice by being dumb.

An Ri’s face twisted as he spat, "You were reborn, yet you don’t even know such crucial information? Some rebirth you turned out to be."

An Li’s temper flared.

"I was reborn, but this concerns the Great Sage of the Nine Heavens. You tell me, oh mighty Emperor—what’s the Great Sage’s favorite color, huh?" she retorted sharply.

"You insolent—!"

An Emperor lunged forward—"You disrespectful little—!"

"Back off! Since when do fleas bark in a dragon’s debate?" An Li shot a cold glare at the Emperor who had spoken.

The Emperor flew into a rage.

"You're not an Emperor now! You're still a nobody!"

"Then kill me if you’ve got the guts!"

The Emperor...

It was simply infuriating. An Li had the Emperor so worked up his chest was heaving.

Were it not for the Patriarch standing right there, he truly could have struck An Li dead with a single palm.

"Enough!"

An Ri bellowed.

He watched the battle in the viewing mirror—the An Clan’s Quasi-Emperors were about to buckle under the pressure again.

They couldn’t take another Quasi-Emperor loss.

"I’ll step in and pull them out. If the Great Sage of the Nine Heavens takes me down, then An Xing shall succeed me as Patriarch!"

"If the opportunity arises, I will capture Lu Ye as well!"

An Ri’s mind was made up.

But at this moment, An Xing stepped forward on his own.

"Patriarch, let me go instead. The gods’ arrival hinges on you."

"If what An Li says is true, at most ten thousand years, the Celestial Lord of the Blood Sea will be unable to hold back and unleash the Dark Upheaval. Ten thousand years of suppression? A small price!"

An Xing was also an Emperor.

An Ri opened his mouth, then closed it.

"Patriarch, it's fine. The An Clan and the gods need you more!"

An Ri sighed. "Don’t pick a fight with the Great Sage of the Nine Heavens. One hit, one kill. No second chances."

"Understood!"

An Xing gave the An Clan one last look before dropping to his knees before the massive idol.

"Gods, I answer your call!"

Anyone seeing this would’ve been stunned.

Because this was an Emperor!

Since when did Emperors grovel? Yet here was one, kneeling on the ground, bowing before a so-called statue of the gods.

This spat on the very title of Emperor.

This wasn’t an Emperor—this was a disgrace.

An Xing disappeared in a flash.

The entire An Clan held their breath, eyes glued to the viewing mirror, their silent prayers rising to the gods.

Hope this trip goes smoothly, and may the Great Sage of the Nine Heavens not go for the kill.

On the battlefield, Quasi-Emperors keep dropping like flies.

Lu Ye isn't rushing to collect souls with the Human Emperor Banner, mainly because the battle is too intense—the banner could get smashed the moment it appears in such a battlefield.

An Xing makes his way toward the battlefield.

His heart is actually nervous.

He thinks to himself: back when the Devourbeast awakened, it got to live—not because the laws left by the Great Sage of the Nine Heavens were incapable of slaying a Quasi-Emperor like the Devourbeast.

According to An Li’s words, the Devourbeast couldn't take it anymore and even resisted once, only to be shut down without breaking a sweat by the Great Sage of the Nine Heavens, who then just beat it harder.

It was likely simply because the Devourbeast wasn't causing trouble—it had merely awakened.

But what he is doing now is picking on those weaker.

Something the Great Sage of the Nine Heavens absolutely cannot tolerate.

Yet, the Great Sage of the Nine Heavens hasn't killed anyone in a very, very long time.

He will throw just one attack—just one—and then book it like hell.

Escape the Nine Heavens, flee into the outer realms.

Or even return to his clan.

But will it really work?

An Xing really has no clue.

But An Ri needs him to rescue them—losing all their Quasi-Emperors at once would hit the An Clan way too hard.

Though An Ri kept saying he'd go himself, his words were really hinting that An Xing should go instead—and An Xing understood.

But An Xing doesn't hold it against him.

The Patriarch is doing this for the descent of the gods.

Just one strike!

He will deliver only one strike!

An Xing goes all out, his divine blood boiling in his veins.

This isn’t preparation for the strike—but for escape.

Run like his life depends on it.

No—

Run for fucking dear life!

The mere mention of the Great Sage of the Nine Heavens puts the fear of god in everyone living in the Nine Heavens.

Even An Xing’s palms are soaked with sweat.

The closer he got to the battlefield, the more nervous An Xing became. If the Great Sage of the Nine Heavens made a move to kill him, he would call upon the gods.

But could the gods defeat the Great Sage of the Nine Heavens?

Gods’ phantoms versus the Great Sage’s laws—who was stronger?

Surely he wouldn’t kill me—he shouldn’t scare himself like this.

At this moment, a storm of chaotic thoughts swirled through An Xing’s mind, even making it hard for him to focus.

His heart pounded wildly.

His movements dragged.

"An Xing, hurry! An Kunlun is on the verge of collapse!" An Ri’s voice crackled through An Xing’s mind.

An Xing took a deep breath, his heart stuttered—then stopped dead.

His pupils turned vertical, like an insect’s—unnervingly alien.

"Got it!"

An Xing uttered this single word. The word came out ragged.

But by the time he arrived, An Kunlun had fallen.

Six Quasi-Emperors had entered; now only four stood.

An Xing hesitated no longer and cocked his fist.

At that very moment, eyes slit open in the void—without so much as a whisper.