Shrouding the Heavens: Empress, I am truly not the Desolate Heavenly Emperor!

Outside the rocky forest.

More than a dozen ancient bronze warships crushed the void, slowly advancing and casting large shadows.

The leading elder, Li Daoqing, stood at the bow of the main ship with a solemn expression.

The tracking compass in his hand spun wildly, its pointer firmly fixed on the depths of the fog ahead.

Something's not right.

Li Daoqing had lived for over a thousand years, and this was the first time he had ever frowned so deeply.

There were no signs of fighting here, not even a trace of spiritual energy could be felt; it was excessively clean.

But the cleaner it is, the more eerie it becomes.

Even if the Holy Son of Yaoguang was no match for the dragon-patterned black gold cauldron, he shouldn't have been unable to send out a distress signal and simply perished without a trace.

This is the outer perimeter of an ancient forbidden land, and it exudes an eerie atmosphere.

"Elder, look! There are people ahead!" A disciple suddenly pointed ahead, his voice trembling.

Li Daoqing suddenly looked up.

The fog seemed to be parted by an invisible hand, revealing an open space.

In the center of the open space, a figure sat on a blue stone the size of a millstone.

He was a young man, dressed in white with his black hair flowing freely.

He had his back to everyone, holding a fruit in his hand, slowly munching on it, juice dripping from between his fingers.

At his feet lay several twisted metal fragments, their dragon patterns faded and lifeless.

Li Daoqing's eyes narrowed sharply.

That's... a fragment of the Dragon Pattern Black Gold Cauldron!

The Holy Son's last reliance was crushed by someone's bare hands?!

"Who are you?!"

Li Daoqing shouted sharply, and the pressure from the second level of Sendai Heaven was like a mountain collapsing, instantly enveloping this open space. The void almost froze, as if it wanted to crush that figure into dust.

The young man stopped eating the fruit.

He slowly turned around.

A strikingly handsome face came into view, with traces of crimson remaining on his lips, resembling a blood-drinking demon god from legend.

Facing a battle formation composed of thousands of cultivators, and several powerful elders with profound auras.

He smiled.

There was no nervousness in that smile, only a nonchalant air that came from the very core of his being.

"Shh-"

The young man put a finger smeared with juice to his lips as a gesture to be quiet.

His voice was soft, yet it clearly reached the ears of everyone present.

"Keep your voice down."

My daughter is sleeping.

"I woke her up..."

Before he finished speaking, two dark golden vortexes suddenly appeared in his dark eyes, devouring all light as if they were about to suck in one's soul completely.

"Your entire Yao Guang Holy Land will be buried with you."

The wind stopped.

The fog had also stopped.

The outer perimeter of the desolate forbidden land was shrouded in deathly silence.

Thousands of elite disciples from the Yao Guang Holy Land, along with the Supreme Elder Li Daoqing, were frozen in place as if under a spell, not daring to move.

All eyes were fixed on that blue stone.

The young man in white didn't even get up. With just a glance and a single word, he made this army, which was capable of crushing a major sect, tremble with fear, even as they breathed cautiously.

"Gulp."

Someone swallowed hard.

Li Daoqing's heart sank suddenly.

As a powerful figure at the second level of Sendai, he was a figure whose every move shook the surrounding areas in the Eastern Wilderness. But now, he felt like an ant that had mistakenly wandered into the garden of the gods.

I can't see through it.

There was not a trace of spiritual energy emanating from this person; he was as clean as an ordinary person who had never cultivated.

But this mortal body gave him an unprecedented feeling of suffocation.

Especially that glance just now!

That dark golden vortex seemed to connect to a ruined ancient universe, and the aura emanating from it caused even his powerful Sendai-level soul to feel a stinging pain. It was an ominous power... of decay, of ending, of transcending all paths!

He had seen a similar description deep in the ancient books, which pointed to a word that even the Holy Lord was unwilling to mention—the wound of the Dao!

Then look at the fragments of the black and gold cauldron with dragon patterns at his feet...

Li Daoqing felt a chill run down his spine.

Where on earth did this old monster come from?!

"Your Mightiness……"

Li Daoqing's throat was dry. He forcibly suppressed the turmoil in his heart and tentatively cupped his hands, saying, "We have no intention of offending you. It's just that my Holy Son of Yao Guang perished here, and guided by the Soul Lamp, we have come to investigate..."

"Can't you understand human language?"

Ye Chen didn't even bother to turn his head.

He picked up the vermilion fruit again and slowly ate it, as if the thousands of people behind him were just air.

"I told you, my sister is sleeping."

Ye Chen's voice was eerily calm, "You guys are too noisy."

After saying that, he casually tossed the fruit pit he had finished eating behind him.

call out!

An ordinary fruit pit, the moment it left my hand, was enveloped in a wisp of black electricity so fine it was almost imperceptible.

puff!

The pit landed precisely on the deck three inches in front of Li Daoqing's feet.

There was no loud noise, no explosion.

The incredibly hard bronze deck, engraved with layers of defensive arrays, silently developed a bottomless hole, like rotten wood branded by a red-hot iron. At the edge of the hole, the metal structure was rapidly disintegrating, turning into primordial nothingness.

This move was made using the trace of the law of destruction that the "Devouring Heaven Dao Evolution Scripture" had extracted from the Empress's Dao injury.

But in Li Daoqing's eyes, this was divine power! It was the power of words becoming law!

"hiss--"

A collective gasp of astonishment rose from the warship.

Could a casually tossed fruit pit have pierced through a Saint-class warship?

What the hell is this cultivation level? A Saint King? Or a Great Saint?

No! This is absolutely an unparalleled being who emerged from the depths of the forbidden land! He might even be a descendant of that ruthless Great Emperor!

Li Daoqing's face turned pale instantly, and cold sweat soaked his back.

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, and the outcome of each thought was that the Holy Land of Yao Guang would be drenched in blood and its lineage severed.

"roll."

Ye Chen finally uttered his third sentence.

There is only one word.

It was heavier than a thunderbolt.

Li Daoqing felt a chill run down his spine. The word "get lost" was like a destructive law, completely crushing the last shred of hope and fighting spirit in his heart.

He understood that he had to choose between the hatred for the Holy Son and the orthodoxy of the Holy Land.

He bit his tongue sharply, forcing himself to calm down through the intense pain. His voice was hoarse but carried an undeniable authority: "All personnel, listen to my command! Turn the ships around and evacuate the restricted area! This place is hereby designated as a forbidden zone of the Yao Guang sect, and no one may set foot here for ten thousand years!"

"Elder, the Holy Son's great grudge..." A core disciple said with a face full of resentment.

"Shut up! Do you want the entire Holy Land to be buried with you?!"

Li Daoqing slapped the disciple away with a backhand, then bowed deeply to Ye Chen's back, his posture extremely humble.

"Please calm down, senior! I'll leave right away!"

Rumble!

The dozen or so bronze warships came with great momentum, but left like stray dogs, turning their bows and fleeing desperately into the distance.

In less than ten breaths, the once overwhelming Yao Guang army vanished without a trace.

Until the last trace of the ship disappeared into the horizon.

On the bluestone.

That domineering figure, who looked down upon the world and regarded the holy land as nothing, suddenly swayed violently.

Ye Chen's body went limp, and he almost rolled off the bluestone, collapsing to the ground, panting heavily.

My clothes were already soaked with cold sweat, which now clung to my body, chilling me to the bone.

His hands, which were braced on the ground, trembled slightly. That brief standoff had been more mentally taxing than any life-or-death battle he had ever experienced.

Now, his dantian is completely empty. He can't even stand up, let alone throw away a fruit pit.

Ye Chen turned around and looked into the depths of Peach Blossom Spring, his tense nerves finally relaxing.

This stratagem of luring an empty city was extremely dangerous.

But he made the right bet. For a behemoth like the Yao Guang Holy Land, the unknown is the greatest fear.

The more mysterious and unpredictable he is, the more the other party will hesitate to act rashly, and will imagine a terrifying background that is both overwhelming and terrifying.

He, on the other hand, gained the most precious opportunity to catch his breath.

He dared not linger, quickly cleaned up the traces at the scene, forced himself to stand up, and limped into the fog.

I need to hurry back and suck up to your big shots, and while I'm at it... sneak some "junk" food.