Chapter 376 374: Deterring the East Hundred Cities

At this moment, both the Lion Roar Saint Emperor and Sikong Toutian were dumbfounded. This was simply too tyrannical. One strike had obliterated the Fate Celestial Tribulation! Before that attack, the tribulation hadn't even had the strength to retaliate. They had never seen a Fate Celestial Tribulation so utterly crushed by a single move, annihilated into nothing but dust and smoke!

With a single spear strike, the Tiger Roar Sect's Elder Ancestors, the Evil Tombs, and even the sect's Ancestral Land and Sect Territory were all instantly turned to ash. Who wouldn't be terrified speechless by such a tyrannical and invincible attack?

"Emperor Slaughter! No, it was Celestial Destruction!" Long after Li Qiye and his group had departed, those who were left stupefied finally came to their senses. They shuddered, their faces paling in horror as they spoke.

Many people stared at the Tiger Roar Sect's Ancestral Land, now a black void, and at the Celestial Mark etched into the sky that refused to fade. A chill ran down their spines.

"Celestial Destruction... the ultimate strike in all the world!" Finally, countless people collapsed limply to the ground, drenched in cold sweat.

Even the Great Sect Ancestors watching from the shadows couldn't help but tremble. In the face of Celestial Destruction, even beings of their level would face certain death!

However, they didn't know that this was neither Celestial Destruction nor Emperor Slaughter. Li Qiye's Immortal Blood Spear was not an Immortal Emperor's Treasure, let alone an Immortal Emperor True Artifact! And yet, this Immortal Blood Spear, though not an Immortal Emperor's Weapon, had drunk the blood of an Immortal Emperor and pierced an Immortal Emperor's throat!

Li Qiye was rushing toward the Yao Guang Ancient Country with Li Shuangyan and the others. He was still vexed that the Demon-Suppressing Staff had escaped. Now that the Domain God was attacking the Yao Guang Ancient Country, he wanted to snatch the staff for himself.

However, before Li Qiye could even reach the Yao Guang Ancient Country, explosive news rocked the East Hundred Cities.

"The Yao Guang Ancient Country's Guardian Divine Beast has been slain by the Domain God! The Yao Guang Ancient Country has surrendered!" The earth-shattering news shook the East Hundred Cities, leaving everyone stunned.

The Yao Guang Ancient Country, a lineage of Twin Emperors, was a behemoth in the East Hundred Cities that had stood firm for ages. Yet the Domain God alone had slaughtered them to the point of collapse, forcing them to surrender!

"The Domain God has spared the Yao Guang Ancient Country! The Yao Guang Ancient Country will compensate the Celestial Dao Academy for the losses of that past war at ten times the cost! The Yao Guang Ancient Country has announced it will seal its gates and no longer interact with the outside world!" Many people were still reeling from the first bombshell when a second, equally stunning piece of news struck.

Everyone was left dumbstruck, unable to process what was happening. The defeat of an Ancient Country was already shocking enough to take their breath away.

"The Domain God was too fast." Li Qiye heard the news before he even arrived, and couldn't help but give a bitter smile. With the Domain God having spared the Yao Guang Ancient Country, his chance to seize the Demon-Suppressing Staff was gone.

"The Domain God is too merciful," even the Lion Roar Saint Emperor couldn't help but remark.

Sikong Toutian shook his head. "The Celestial Dao Academy has always been this way. Besides, completely destroying the Yao Guang Ancient Country's Emperor Foundation wouldn't be so easy. The Domain God probably didn't want to be away from the Celestial Dao Academy for too long, which is why he spared them."

"Let's go," Li Qiye said, inwardly frustrated. 'Damn it, I missed out on an Immortal Emperor True Artifact.' He was kicking himself for being a step too slow. 'I should've just struck first and suppressed the Immortal Emperor True Artifact, then dealt with the rest.'

The Yao Guang Ancient Country was defeated, the Tiger Roar Sect was annihilated. Overnight, this terrifying news swept through the entire East Hundred Cities, and countless people were left utterly dumbfounded.

"The Yao Guang Ancient Country is finished for this generation. Although the Domain God mercifully spared them, their Guardian Divine Beast, all their Elder Ancestors, and all their Elder Guardians were slain in the battle! In a single fight, the elites of the Yao Guang Ancient Country were completely wiped out. Now, even if they seal their borders, they won't be able to recover their strength within this era. They might even decline from this point on, never to rise again!" An Elder Ancestor who had personally witnessed the world-shaking battle broke out in a cold sweat.

"Even though the Yao Guang Ancient Country was spared, it is likely fated to decline. The Domain God single-handedly swept through them, and all of the country's elites were slain. Although its Emperor Foundation remains, it will likely take one or two eras for them to regain their strength!" Seeing such an Ancient Country meet its twilight shook countless people.

The Domain God had toppled a behemoth with a legacy of Twin Emperors all by himself. How many other lineages would now dare to make an enemy of the Celestial Dao Academy?

While many were still reeling from this shocking news, a scene unfolded the very next day. Outside the Celestial Dao Academy, a large group of white-haired old men were kneeling—all of them once-illustrious figures. They were the Great Sect Ancestors from every Great Teaching Territory that had participated in the siege against the Celestial Dao Academy all those years ago!

"The Elder Ancestors of the great sects from that long-ago war are kneeling outside the gates of the Celestial Dao Academy, humbly begging for punishment and offering to take their own lives in atonement!" This stunning news also spread like wildfire.

Even many students within the Celestial Dao Academy were too shocked to process the sight. These white-haired Elder Ancestors kneeling outside were supreme, untouchable existences who could look down upon Saint Venerables and Saint Emperors. Yet today, they were kneeling outside the Celestial Dao Academy, begging for forgiveness!

The defeat of the Yao Guang Ancient Country, the death of all its elites, and its self-imposed isolation had shattered everyone's courage. The great sects that had participated in that past war had no choice but to humbly admit their guilt. Their Elder Ancestors personally knelt outside the Celestial Dao Academy, willing to give up everything to compensate for the academy's past losses. They were even prepared to take their own lives, begging only that the Domain God would spare their Sect Territories just as he had spared the Yao Guang Ancient Country!

If even a behemoth like the Yao Guang Ancient Country, with its legacy of Twin Emperors, could be defeated, the other Great Teaching Territories paled in comparison. To stand against the Celestial Dao Academy now would be like throwing an egg against a rock.

The Elder Ancestors of the various Great Teaching Territories didn't dare hesitate. They rushed over through the night to kneel outside the Celestial Dao Academy's gates, humbly begging for the Domain God to forgive their Sect Territories!

So many Elder Ancestors from Great Teaching Territories kneeling outside the Celestial Dao Academy—the scene left onlookers speechless with shock.

"This is how a true man should be." Seeing this scene, Chi Xiaodao, who had narrowly escaped death, felt his blood race with excitement.

Li Qiye chuckled and said, "That day will come. One day, the Nine Realms and Ten Thousand Races will come to worship before me, and the Ten Directions Gods and Demons will prostrate themselves at my feet!"

Such tyrannical words made Sikong Toutian and the others gasp. To anyone else, his words would sound like nothing more than ignorant arrogance. But at that moment, they could almost truly see it: a vision of the Nine Realms and Ten Thousand Races, of the Ten Directions Gods and Demons, all coming to pay homage!

The battle shook the heavens, and the entire East Hundred Cities trembled. Countless Great Teaching Territories were quaking in fear, especially those that had participated in the war of the past. For them, it was as if a cataclysm had descended. Overnight, an unknown number of great figures and powerful experts in these Great Teaching Territories were scared out of their wits.

The Domain God's overnight sweep of the Yao Guang Ancient Country had already terrified countless people. Unless an Immortal Emperor took action, it was feared that no one could stand against an existence like the Domain God.

It wasn't until the third day, after the Great Teaching Territories that had once besieged the Celestial Dao Academy paid a heavy price to obtain the Domain God's pardon, that the many powers of the East Hundred Cities finally breathed a sigh of relief. They had escaped the calamity!

Overnight, the Yao Guang Ancient Country fell into decline, sealing its borders from the world. The entire East Hundred Cities trembled at the news; it was simply too terrifying. Not since the great war between the Black Dragon King and the Ta Kong Immortal Emperor had an event of this magnitude occurred.

A behemoth with a legacy of Twin Emperors, toppled just like that, swept clean overnight. It was a truly shocking affair. If even such a great power could suffer this fate before the invincible Domain God, one could only imagine what would happen to the other Great Teaching Territories.

With the Yao Guang Ancient Country being swept clean overnight, it seemed no one was even talking about the annihilation of the Tiger Roar Sect. This was hardly surprising. Compared to the Yao Guang Ancient Country, the Tiger Roar Sect was simply not on the same level. The news of its destruction wasn't nearly as shocking as the fall of the Ancient Country.

It wasn't until four or five days later, after many had begun to recover from the shock of the Yao Guang Ancient Country's downfall, that the matter of the Tiger Roar Sect's annihilation finally began to register with the various Great Teaching Territories.

"The Tiger Roar Sect made one wrong move and lost everything, forfeiting the foundation built by generations of their ancestors." Someone remarked with a sigh after hearing of the sect's demise.

Another person said, "The Tiger Roar Sect is finished. There will be no Tiger Roar Sect in the East Hundred Cities from this day forward. It's just as Li Qiye said—the Tiger Roar Sect has been erased from the East Hundred Cities!"

Before this, Li Qiye had declared that he would erase the Tiger Roar Sect from the East Hundred Cities, and countless people had mocked him for not knowing his own limits. Now, with the Tiger Roar Sect utterly destroyed, those who had once laughed at Li Qiye thought of the sect's fate and broke out in a cold sweat. They bitterly regretted their loose tongues. What if Li Qiye held a grudge and decided to seek revenge? Wouldn't they become the next Tiger Roar Sect?

In the eyes of many, the Tiger Roar Sect was truly finished. The Yao Guang Ancient Country, though swept clean and sealed away with no hope of rising in this era, at least still had its Emperor Foundation. Even if this era was hopeless for them, there was still a sliver of hope in the distant future.

But the Tiger Roar Sect was completely different. Its ancestral foundation had been destroyed, and Li Qiye had even drained the White Tiger Major Vein of all its Heaven and Earth Essence Qi. The entire sect had been reduced to a barren wasteland.

Although many of the Tiger Roar Sect's disciples had managed to escape before the battle, their ancestral foundation was gone, and even their major Earth Vein was destroyed. This completely extinguished any hope for the Tiger Roar Sect's future.

For a Great Teaching Territory, if its elites were slain, its Treasure Weapons lost, and its Cultivation Technique Secret Manuals scattered, all of these could possibly be recovered or rebuilt in the future.

However, if the ancestral foundation was destroyed, recovery would be impossible. The ancestral foundation of a Great Teaching Territory was laid by an immensely powerful existence. It could be said that if one had not reached the level of a Great Sage, what right did they have to even speak of establishing a kingdom and laying a foundation?

A Great Teaching Territory's ancestral foundation was the culmination of effort from generations of Elder Sages, the very lifeblood of a great sect's countless generations.

Once the ancestral foundation was destroyed, restoring it was harder than ascending to the heavens.

But the greatest catastrophe was the destruction of the Earth Vein. This was a truly irremediable disaster, the most despair-inducing thing of all.