Swallowing the Stars: Heart of the Martial God

Chapter 222 Refusing to Bow to the Emperor, One's True Fate is Lost

News of the Ice Peak Lord and the Blazing Sun Lord's fierce battle on the Primordial Star spread like wildfire, like a boulder thrown into a calm sea, instantly creating towering waves.

The powerful figures from all the major factions, whether they were in seclusion or exploring secret realms, all put aside their current tasks unless they were at a critical moment vying for a treasure that could change the fate of their race.

Powerful waves of divine energy tore through the starry sky, rushing from all corners of the universe, especially from other primordial stars that were just beginning to open, toward this primordial star where the "battle of ice and fire" was about to take place.

For these powerful beings in the universe, the infighting between these two top human universe masters is far more dramatic, informative, and even purely entertaining than an ordinary high-level treasure.

After all, treasures are common, but internal strife among humans is rare, especially such an open and intense conflict erupting within this once-powerful and dominant race.

In an instant, this ordinary primordial star became the focus of the entire universe.

In the void, figures quietly emerged, hidden behind layers of space, tacitly forming an invisible "viewing platform".

These beings, even the weakest, are at the level of cosmic overlords, while most are renowned cosmic lords.

They may still have old grudges against each other, or they may belong to opposing camps, but at this moment they tacitly maintain a delicate peace—watching the show comes first, and grudges are temporarily put aside.

"Tsk tsk, what a rare sight!" The Demon Lord of Annihilation sat atop a massive meteorite fragment, surrounded by swirling demonic clouds. His enormous serpentine eyes gleamed with undisguised excitement and mockery. "That stubborn old man Bingfeng and that powder keg Cao Benqi have actually torn off their mask! Hahaha, quick, bring me my treasured 'Star Tear Brew.' Such a good show deserves some wine!"

Although he seemed to be talking to himself, his loud voice and unrestrained divine power clearly resonated throughout the void, obviously meant for all the "audience" to hear.

Not far away, a dreamlike halo appeared in the space, and the Zerg Queen Purple Iris gracefully emerged. She covered her lips and chuckled, her eyes full of charm: "Extinction Forbidden, you're in quite a good mood. But then again, watching these two human geniuses fight so shamelessly is indeed much more interesting than exploring those boring secret realms."

Her gaze pierced through the void, firmly locking onto the core area of ​​the battlefield where ice and fire intertwined, as if she were watching a meticulously choreographed drama.

Further out, some solitary special life forms, or universe lords from secondary forces such as the Northern Frontier Alliance, were also whispering among themselves, exchanging divine thoughts secretly and rapidly in the void.

"Place your bet! I'll bet on who will prevail between Ice Peak and Blazing Sun! I'll offer three top-tier treasures, betting that Ice Peak will suppress Blazing Sun within a hundred moves!"

"I don't think so. Although the Lord of Blazing Suns has a poor temperament, the power of his 'Nine Suns Burning the Heavens' is no joke. If pushed to the limit, he might be able to unleash power beyond his usual strength."

"Fight! Fight hard! It would be best if both sides were severely injured, so that the human race could also taste the pain of losing a pillar of the nation!"

"Shh... keep your voice down, it looks like people from Virtual Universe Company are coming over there. But... they don't look too happy, haha!"

Various gloating and instigating thoughts intertwined, filling this originally desolate starry sky with a strange yet joyful atmosphere.

For these onlookers, the loss of the human race is their gain, and the human race's joke is their feast.

This sudden internal conflict undoubtedly became the most entertaining "reality show" they had ever seen in this era.

All eyes were on that primordial star, wondering how this farce would end, or even... how it would get worse.

……

Faced with Cao Benqi's devastating attack, the Lord of Ice Peak simply raised the Ice Peak Sword calmly.

"The First Sword, Ice Age."

With a gentle flick of his wrist, the tip of his sword traced an elegant and perfect arc.

In an instant, the entire starry sky seemed to be paused, and a glacier several light-years wide, formed entirely from terrifying cold, appeared out of thin air.

This is no ordinary glacier; it is an extreme chill imbued with the laws of time.

Wherever the glacier passes, everything freezes, even time and space.

In the distance, a star system is still orbiting, but the planets within it have been completely frozen into ice sculptures.

"Hiss hiss hiss—"

Nine raging fireballs rushed into the glacier, and the flames on the surface dimmed and went out at a visible speed.

The core temperature inside the fireball plummeted from billions of degrees, eventually turning into nine enormous ice balls, frozen in the glacier, maintaining their forward-moving posture but unable to move an inch further.

Cao Benqi's deadly attack was so easily neutralized.

"What?!" Cao Benqi's pupils shrank sharply. He felt his connection with the Nine Suns Burning the World being forcibly severed, and the absolute chill made his soul tremble.

"The second sword strike, 'Mirror Flower, Water Moon.'"

The figure of the Ice Peak Lord suddenly blurred, and the next moment, thousands of Ice Peak Lord figures appeared in the starry sky. This was not a simple illusion, but a real mirror image created by using the laws of ice to refract light and perception.

Each of the mirror images wielded an Ice Peak Sword, and each exuded the aura of a true fourth-order universe lord.

Thousands of Ice Peak Lords simultaneously raised their swords, the tips pointing at Cao Benqi.

At this moment, the entire starry sky seemed to have turned into a huge mirror world, with countless cold killing intents locking onto Cao Benqi from all directions.

"Playing tricks!!" Cao Benqi hurriedly used the remaining energy of the Nine Suns Burning the World to defend himself, forming nine rotating suns around his body.

But this was not a specialized defensive technique, and under the corrosive chill, the light of the nine suns was rapidly dimming.

"Puff puff--"

Most of the mirror images dissipated upon contact with the Nine Yang Protection, but dozens of sword lights actually pierced through the defense and struck Cao Benqi's divine body.

"Ugh!" Cao Benqi groaned as the area struck by the sword energy was instantly covered with a thick layer of solid ice.

Although the armor blocked most of the damage, the biting cold still caused his divine power to stagnate.

He felt as if his soul was about to freeze.

"The third sword, Aurora."

The true form of the Lord of Ice Peaks had appeared ten thousand feet above Cao Benqi's head at some unknown time.

The Ice Peak Sword transformed into an aurora that was difficult to capture with the naked eye. The speed of this sword transcended thought, perception, and even, to some extent, the limitations of time and space.

Where the sword light passed, a black crack was neatly cut open in the starry sky, a trace of space being completely frozen and shattered.

"clang--!!!"

Cao Benqi barely managed to raise his halberd to block. The moment the Flaming Divine Halberd collided with the Ice Peak Sword, what erupted was not sparks, but countless ice crystals and flame fragments.

The terrifying shockwave spread out in a spherical shape, shattering all the interstellar dust, asteroids, and even a few unfortunate rogue planets within several light-years into the most basic particles.

Cao Benqi felt an indescribable chill travel along the halberd, and his hands holding the halberd were instantly covered in frost. He was then slashed down into the primordial star below by the sword.

"boom!"

Cao Benqi crashed onto the surface of the primordial star like a meteorite, creating a massive crater millions of kilometers in diameter and tens of thousands of kilometers deep. The magma at the bottom of the crater had no time to erupt before it was completely frozen by the ensuing chill.

He tried to struggle to get up, but found that he was already covered by thick ice.

This is no ordinary ice, but ice imbued with the sword intent of the Ice Peak Lord, and every inch of it is frantically eroding his divine body.

"The fourth sword strike, eternal freeze."

The voice of the Lord of the Ice Peaks came from the starry sky.

He did not pursue, but instead gently pressed the Ice Peak Sword downwards. An even more terrifying chill descended, and the mysterious ice surrounding Cao Benqi thickened and solidified at a visible speed, instantly sealing him inside an ice mountain that was 100,000 kilometers high.

Countless mysterious patterns appeared on the surface of the iceberg, radiating a chilling aura that sent shivers down one's spine. "Crack!"

The sound of cracking came from inside the iceberg.

Cao Benqi burned his divine power, and the energy of the Nine Suns Burning the World erupted from within, forcefully blasting the iceberg apart.

Countless enormous ice blocks scattered and flew everywhere, each containing a terrifying chill capable of freezing galaxies, tracing icy paths across the starry sky. But when he broke through the ice, his aura was clearly disordered, and his divine body had suffered considerable damage.

"Is that all you know?" The Lord of Ice Peak hovered in the starry sky, coldly looking down at him. The Ice Peak Sword pointed diagonally downwards, the space at its tip constantly freezing and shattering. "Nine Suns Burning the World is indeed powerful, but in the face of truly exquisite secret techniques, it's nothing but brute force."

"Shut up! Nine Suns Burn the World!" Cao Benqi was like a madman, his eyes bloodshot, and he used his innate secret technique again, disregarding the damage to his divine body.

This time, however, his movements were noticeably slower, the nine fireballs were condensing much slower than before, and their power was only about 70% of the original.

Although the nine fireballs were still dazzling, they had lost their initial power to incinerate everything.

"The fifth sword, the end."

The Lord of the Ice Peaks has finally gotten serious.

He gripped the sword with both hands and slowly raised it above his head.

At this moment, the chill of the entire star field converged on the Ice Peak Sword, distant nebulae stopped rotating, the exploding supernova froze in the instant of its bloom, and even the river of time seemed to slow down at this moment.

Countless mysterious runes appeared on the sword, as if these runes recorded the entire process of the universe from its birth to its end, exuding an aura that would make even the Lord of the Universe tremble.

As the nine fireballs drew near, the Lord of the Ice Peaks finally unleashed his sword strike.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no dazzling clash of lights.

The Ice Peak Sword merely grazed the void, but the nine fireballs, powerful enough to incinerate a star field, disintegrated and vanished the instant the sword light approached, as if they had never existed.

This is not destruction, but the very concept of existence has been "terminated".

The divine flames burning around Cao Benqi were also completely extinguished by the intent of this sword strike.

"Pfft—" The sword light flashed, and an astonishing chill erupted from Cao Benqi's body. He looked at his trembling hands in disbelief, feeling the divine power within him almost frozen.

"The Sixth Sword, Eternal Night."

Without pausing for a moment, the Lord of Ice Peak changed his sword stance again.

With this sword strike, the entire starry sky suddenly fell into absolute darkness. It wasn't that there was no light, but rather that all light was swallowed up by this sword.

In this eternal night, only the Ice Peak Sword emitted a faint blue light, pointing at Cao Benqi like a final judgment.

Cao Benqi gritted his teeth and pushed the power of the Calamity Armor to its limit, the dark red light struggling to create a domain in the eternal night.

Divine flames reignited on the Flame God Halberd, but this time the flames appeared so weak, like a candle flickering in the wind.

"Ice Peak, that's enough!"

Just as the Ice Peak Lord's sword light, imbued with extreme cold, was about to completely engulf Cao Benqi and freeze and suppress his divine body, a calm voice suddenly resounded throughout the entire star field.

The voice wasn't loud, but it seemed to contain some supreme law, directly piercing through layers of spatial barriers and clearly entering the depths of the souls of every powerful person present, carrying an unquestionable majesty.

"Boom——"

The moment the sound faded, an incredible change occurred throughout the entire star field.

This is not an impact of energy, but a deeper resonance with the Dao!
The laws governing the universe became chaotic at this moment, the void trembled violently, all paths wailed, and the light of countless stars dimmed instantly, as if they were surrendering to some supreme being.

The distant galaxy began to distort and deform, and the entire starry sky emitted an unbearable hum.

A figure had appeared in the center of the star field at some unknown time.

He seemed to have stood there since ancient times, one with time and space, and of the same origin as all things.

He wore seemingly simple black armor that exuded a dark and profound Daoist aura. His black hair was casually draped over his shoulders, and his face was calm. Only his eyes seemed to hold terrifying images of the creation and destruction of the universe and the collapse of galaxies as they opened and closed.

A supreme imperial might, capable of making all living beings tremble and even the most powerful bow down, silently spread out from its center, enveloping every inch of space and suppressing the past, present, and future.

Most strikingly, on his seemingly slender shoulders, which appeared to support the entire starry sky, sat a cat girl with eyes as bright as jewels.

She lazily swayed her fluffy tail, curiously surveying the starry sky shattered by the great war. This contrasted sharply with the terrifying imperial aura emanating from her master, a power capable of freezing even the soul of a cosmic ruler.

The Lord of Ice Peak was overwhelmed with shock. He was horrified to discover that his most powerful secret technique, which contained his life's wisdom and was capable of freezing galaxies, had silently disintegrated and vanished the moment that figure appeared. It was not shattered by external force, but rather directly negated and reduced to nothingness by some supreme law that transcended everything.

What terrified him even more was that he found it incredibly difficult to even move his eyes, as he was completely imprisoned by the omnipresent, heavy imperial might, as imposing as an ancient divine mountain.

"Emperor Yan is becoming increasingly unfathomable. I'm afraid even the strongest beings in the universe wouldn't be able to save their lives in front of him in the cosmic sea."

Cao Benqi was in an even worse state. Under the oppressive imperial might, which was as vast as a prison, he could barely maintain his half-kneeling posture. His head was pressed down by an invisible force and he could not lift it at all.

He could only gasp for breath from deep in his throat, feeling his immortal divine body groaning as if it would shatter into cosmic dust under this incomprehensible and terrifying pressure in the next instant.

"Isn't it embarrassing enough?" Ling Xuan's face was gloomy, his gaze like a cold blade sweeping across the surrounding star field.

Only then did Bingfeng and Cao Benqi realize that while they were engaged in fierce battle, many auras had already been concealed in the distant starry sky. The cosmic lords from various small races were watching from afar, their faces showing different expressions—curiosity, scrutiny, and even undisguised schadenfreude.

One of them, a burly cosmic lord from the "Bloodblade Clan," with dark red skin, seemed to have mustered his courage, emboldened by his clan's recent allegiance to the demon race, and spoke in a slightly flippant tone:

"Emperor Yan, your human race's fratricidal drama today is truly spectacular, a real eye-opener for us!" The Blood Blade Lord's voice reverberated through the starry sky, his sarcasm undisguised. "It seems your so-called tribal unity, which you always preach, is nothing but..."

Before he finished speaking, Ling Xuan didn't even turn his head to look at him, only a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

“Clang!”

A clear and chilling sword cry suddenly rang out from within Ling Xuan's body! At first, it was like the first cry of a fledgling phoenix, subtle yet penetrating the depths of the soul; in an instant, it transformed into a vast celestial sound that swept across the star field, causing countless stars to tremble!

A blade of light, its brilliance and majesty beyond description, shot into the sky from Ling Xuan's crown chakra, easily tearing apart the eternally unchanging Milky Way and piercing through the boundless universe!

The blade light contained the purest killing intent, as if it had existed since the beginning of time, specifically to annihilate all those who dared to desecrate the Emperor's majesty!

A long sword with an ancient design and a dark gold color slowly condensed from nothingness and hovered in front of Ling Xuan.

On the blade, countless intricate and ancient runes flowed like living things, each rune seemingly containing the ultimate mystery of the Great Dao.

The ultimate imperial weapon—the Heaven-Slaying Blade—sensed that its own emperor had been humiliated, and thus autonomously revived, reappearing in the mortal world!

The mockery and flippancy on the Blood Blade Master's face froze instantly, replaced by boundless fear and despair!
He felt as if he had become an ant being targeted by an ancient dragon, his blood frozen and his divine power stagnant. He couldn't even muster the thought of escaping; only the most primal fear filled every corner of his consciousness.

Only now did he realize just how terrifying the being he had provoked was!

The Heaven-Slaying Blade floated silently, its tip slightly raised, pointing towards the Lord of Blood Blade.

The blade trembled slightly, and a cold, indifferent voice, devoid of any emotion, resonated deep within the souls of every powerful onlooker, like a profound maxim:

"To fail to bow before the Emperor is to have lost one's destiny!"

Once these words were spoken, the law followed!
The Lord of Bloodblade was horrified to discover that the space around him had completely solidified, and he could not even use the most basic divine kingdom teleportation. All his escape routes were completely blocked!
(End of this chapter)