Chapter 549: Mass Fervor

Watching so many Great Teaching Territories of the Ghost Race step out to denounce Li Qiye, the Shen Ran Phoenix Lady let out a sigh of relief and a faint smile appeared on her face. She felt that victory was in her grasp; she refused to believe that Li Qiye could leave this place alive.

In the Shen Ran Phoenix Lady’s eyes, Li Qiye’s death was a foregone conclusion. There were so many Ghost Race experts present today, including Saint Venerables and Saint Emperors. Furthermore, several Great Sect Ancestors who preferred to remain hidden had also arrived. The ones who could truly deliver a fatal blow—the Elder Ancestors from powers like the Ju Que Holy Land and the Insect Emperor Dynasty—were also here. As long as these masters hiding behind the curtain were willing to strike, Li Qiye’s escape was impossible.

The situation was developing exactly as she had hoped. The Shen Ran Phoenix Lady was filled with confidence. She would absolutely not let Li Qiye leave this place alive today. No matter the cost, she had to eliminate this great enemy for her husband, Emperor’s Throne!

Li Qiye paid the agitated crowd no mind. He remained as calm and unhurried as ever. Watching the powerful figures from the Great Teaching Territories step forward one by one to condemn him, he simply gave a knowing smile.

Li Qiye cleared his throat. He looked at the agitated and excited Ghost Race dignitaries and said in a slow, measured tone, “It doesn’t matter what excuse you use. Say I have a conspiracy, say I want to exterminate your Ghost Race—say whatever you like. If you want to make an enemy of me, I don’t mind slaughtering another thirty or fifty thousand of you, or even three to five hundred thousand. The choice is yours, I couldn’t care less. Whether you leave this place alive or die without a grave, that will depend entirely on your own decision.”

At this, Li Qiye paused. Still unhurried, his gaze suddenly locked onto the Shen Ran Phoenix Lady. He smiled and said, “However, today, not even an army of a million can stop me. She… must die!”

A chill ran through the Shen Ran Phoenix Lady as Li Qiye’s gaze locked onto her. His demeanor was completely outside her expectations. Anyone else, facing condemnation from so many Great Teaching Territories of the Ghost Race, would have surely panicked.

Someone without courage would have been scared witless. Even a genius of great courage and resolve, when faced with the entire Ghost Race, would find themselves in an impossible situation, perhaps even choosing to retreat and compromise.

And yet, Li Qiye acted as if it were nothing. Even if ten thousand sects and a hundred nations of the Ghost Race were to condemn him, he remained completely unfazed, paying it no mind. Perhaps it was more accurate to say that Li Qiye had never taken the Ghost Race seriously at all; he wouldn’t even spare a second glance for an army of a million.

This gave the Shen Ran Phoenix Lady an ominous premonition. She didn’t know where Li Qiye’s confidence stemmed from, but at that moment, she understood one thing: no one could stop him.

With Li Qiye’s gaze still locked on her, a chill seized the Shen Ran Phoenix Lady’s heart. It was as if in his eyes, she was already a dead woman. At that moment, she wasn’t even worried for her own life. Her only concern was for Emperor’s Throne!

With an enemy as terrifying as Li Qiye, she couldn’t help but worry about the future of her husband, Emperor’s Throne.

“If my death can serve to awaken the Ghost Race and make them vigilant, then I will have died a worthy death!” Pinned by Li Qiye’s stare, the Shen Ran Phoenix Lady nonetheless composed herself and spoke slowly.

At this moment, the Shen Ran Phoenix Lady had already prepared for the worst in her heart. Her expression was solemn and composed as she said in a deep voice, “Your conspiracy to slaughter the future of the Ghost Race and destroy our hope will never succeed! Even in death, I will do everything in my power to stop you and make one final contribution to my people.”

Seeing the Shen Ran Phoenix Lady’s expression, as if she were calmly marching to a noble death, even Lan Yunzhu couldn’t help but sigh softly. She murmured, “This woman is incredibly cunning. If Emperor’s Throne has her by his side, I fear he could one day sweep across the entire Ghost Sacred Realm!”

Lan Yunzhu was a genius herself, so she understood the terrifying brilliance of the Shen Ran Phoenix Lady’s ploy. ‘Even if she’s truly prepared to die,’ she thought, ‘it isn’t for the Ghost Race. It’s for Emperor’s Throne!’

“If you want to kill the Young Madam, you’ll have to get through me first!” the giant-like Bronze Emperor declared in a deep voice. His words rang with forceful, righteous conviction.

“That’s right! We absolutely cannot let the Human Race’s conspiracy succeed! If you want to kill the Phoenix Lady, you’ll have to step over our dead bodies!” Many passionate Ghost Race Cultivators, especially those of the younger generation, were instantly riled up by the Shen Ran Phoenix Lady’s readiness to die a noble death. In that moment, their blood boiled with fervor, and they couldn’t help but shout, “For the sake of the Ghost Race, we will not let that human fiend harm a single hair on the Phoenix Lady’s head!”

“Exactly! We cannot let the Human Race’s plot succeed! We of the Ghost Race will absolutely not allow this Li to wantonly slaughter our people!” Taking advantage of the rising fury, many powerful figures from the Great Teaching Territories fanned the flames. They needed to use others to eliminate Li Qiye, for one reason or another!

“Fine by me,” Li Qiye said with a grin. “Whoever wants to be first, I’ll be happy to oblige. I don’t mind stepping over your corpses.”

“I will be the first!” the Bronze Emperor roared. The giant-like emperor threw his hands up as if to seal the heavens, then brought them smashing down. In that instant, the massive Giant was engulfed in Blood Qi, unleashing a strike that shook the heavens and the earth.

This was not merely the Bronze Emperor’s own ultimate strike, but the combined, all-out attack of countless disciples of the Bronze Beetle Race!

“You got it!” Seeing the Bronze Emperor’s arms crashing down like two colossal mountain ranges, Li Qiye showed no sign of retreating. He met the attack head-on as thousands of arms materialized behind him, each one seeming to hold up a Great Thousand World.

In that moment, Li Qiye’s thousands of arms fused into a single pair. The full might of the Thousand Hands Reverse Nine Realms was unleashed. As Li Qiye’s arms swung down, they carried the power to shatter the earth and pulverize the stars.

BOOM! Li Qiye and the Bronze Emperor collided head-on in a brutal exchange. Both were sent stumbling backward several steps—THUD, THUD, THUD—each step leaving a deep imprint in the ground.

“Is that brat really only at the Saint Venerable realm?” Seeing Li Qiye and the Bronze Emperor both forced back after a direct clash, many of the Ghost Race experts gasped in shock.

After all, the Bronze Emperor’s own Dao Practice was already at the Saint Venerable realm. On top of that, it had merged with countless disciples to form a Giant, allowing it to use all of their Blood Qi and power as its own. To still be evenly matched with Li Qiye under such conditions… this was simply too Defying Heaven.

Moreover, a series of CRACKING sounds echoed out. Large sections of the Bronze Emperor’s massive arms were shattering, piece by piece. The entire body of the Giant looked as if it were cast from bronze, yet after a direct clash with Li Qiye, huge patches of its arms had actually crumbled.

As large areas of the massive arms shattered, the crowd finally saw what was happening: countless bronze-colored flying insects were being crushed. This meant that in that single exchange, a great number of the Bronze Beetle Race’s disciples had been annihilated.

But then, something horrifying occurred. From the shattered bodies of the crushed bronze insects, larvae began to crawl out, one after another. These larvae were also bronze-colored, though their shade was much lighter, and they appeared far weaker.

The larvae crawling out from the corpses instantly repaired the shattered arm. The crushed husks of the dead insects fell away like flakes of dead skin shedding from the giant limb.

This scene horrified many who had never witnessed the Bronze Beetle Race in action. The Bronze Beetles were clearly crushed to death, yet larvae could still crawl from their corpses. A branch of the Ghost Race like this was simply too terrifying.

“Legend says that every disciple of the Bronze Beetle Race has three lives. Can it be true?” someone muttered, shuddering at the sight. Their blood ran cold.

Anyone would be terrified to face such an opponent. It was beyond horrifying—to be reborn from one’s own corpse! What a wicked ability!

“Human Race junior, I am unkillable!” the Bronze Emperor shouted coldly. “I am protected by countless disciples, and my clan can never be exterminated. Now, it is time for you to die!”

With a great roar, the Giant that was the Bronze Emperor suddenly transformed into a colossal mountain. Carrying endless weight and boundless, majestic power, the mountain descended upon Li Qiye, threatening to crush him into a bloody pulp.

The instantaneous transformation from Giant to Giant Peak left many onlookers dumbfounded. Weren’t the methods of the Bronze Beetle Race just too bizarre?

“Is that so?” As the massive mountain descended with incredible speed, Li Qiye remained completely still, not even batting an eyelid.

CLANG! In that instant, it was as if a giant lock had clamped down on Li Qiye’s body. Strands of Essence Fire Law emerged and coiled around him, locking him in their grasp.

In that same instant, nine suns rose slowly behind Li Qiye. It was as if they were being dragged from the Tang Valley, pulled forth by the thick chains of the Essence Fire Law.

BANG! The nine suns instantly exploded. In that split second, the ground where Li Qiye stood was transformed into a sea of fire. Li Qiye himself seemed to become the Tang Valley, unleashing an endless torrent of Sun Essence Fire that raged across the sky, threatening to refine all of creation!

“NO—!” Just as the endless Essence Fire enveloped the descending Giant Peak, a chorus of agonized screams rang out. The mountain began to fall apart, its form dissolving like countless grains of sand and losing all power to suppress Li Qiye.

In that instant, countless Bronze Beetles were incinerated. Under the Essence Fire of the Nine Yang Locking Heaven Technique, even bodies cast from bronze were instantly burned away. Larvae crawled from the charred corpses, but they too were instantly vaporized before they could escape.

BUZZ—BUZZ—BUZZ—A number of more powerful Bronze Beetles were not instantly incinerated. They scattered like a disturbed hive, attempting to flee in all directions.

However, from within the endless Essence Fire, countless thread-thin Refined Fire Divine Chains shot out like lightning. With a series of hisses—HISS, HISS, HISS—the chains pierced through the fleeing Bronze Beetles, incinerating each and every one of them.

Five chapters today in a personal burst of writing! Monthly ticket count will be tomorrow. Please vote for Xiao Sheng with your monthly tickets!!!!