Chapter 418 - 417: The Imperial Domain’s Betrayal, The Emperors’ Last Hope

Lin Yuan turned to face the Emperors fully. His expression remained composed, and he noticed a thought across Emperors Tianxu’s face.

The situation was already dire enough without allowing false hope to interfere with their judgment. If the Imperial Domain had refused to help them, then they needed to know that fact before deciding how to proceed.

"The Imperial Domain is closed to us," Lin Yuan stated. "When we approached the Golden Gate, the Three Thousand Great Dao Barrier had already been deployed. An Imperial Guard came forward, not to assist the Nine Provinces, but to mock our situation and make it clear that our survival was not his concern."

He paused briefly, remembering the confrontation at the Golden Gate. "When I defeated him, the gate opened only long enough to drag its defeated guard back to safety. Afterward, the barrier expelled us from the peak, leaving no opportunity for further discussion.

They know the Nine Heavens Ward has been shattered, and they know the Hollow Beyond is merging with the Nine Provinces. They have chosen not to intervene."

The words settled over the ruined courtyard, carrying a weight that none of the Emperors could ignore. For a moment, the only sounds were the distant crackling of fires and the faint groans of wounded cultivators being carried through the ruins. Lin Yuan watched the three rulers carefully, expecting that the revelation might provoke anger or disbelief.

Instead, Emperor Nanheng released a dry laugh that quickly turned into a cough. She covered her mouth with one hand, and when she lowered it, a thin trace of blood remained on her fingers. Her eyes were filled with a bitterness that seemed far older than the injuries she had sustained during the battle.

"Abandoned us?" she repeated. "You speak as though the cultivators of the Imperial Domain ever stood beside us, young Emperor. The cowards hiding behind those golden gates have done exactly what they have always done. They have simply stopped pretending that the Nine Provinces matter to them."

Emperor Beiming gave a low, rumbling grunt. He shifted his damaged shield against his arm, wincing slightly as the movement aggravated his injuries. "We are not surprised, Lin Yuan. We expected nothing less from those lineages. To them, the Nine Provinces has never been a true homeland. It has been a buffer zone, a barrier placed between their precious domain and the demonic forces beyond."

His expression hardened as he looked toward the distant rift. "They allowed generations of cultivators to fight and die so that the demons would remain occupied here. As long as the Nine Provinces continued to absorb the pressure of the Hollow Beyond, the Imperial Domain could preserve its own peace.

Why would they lower a rope into a burning pit when they can simply seal the entrance and pretend the fire does not exist?"

Emperor Tianxu remained silent for several moments. His gaze drifted toward the sky, where the enormous spatial rift continued to pulse with dark energy. He had spent countless years serving as one of the most powerful rulers of the Nine Provinces, and he had long understood that the relationship between the Nine Provinces and the Imperial Domain was far from equal.

Yet witnessing the consequences of that relationship during an existential crisis was different from merely understanding it in theory.

"We are truly alone," he finally murmured.

The words were quiet, but they carried the exhaustion of an entire era. Tianxu had once believed that the ancient order, however flawed, would remain intact when the world faced a threat powerful enough to endanger everyone.

Now, the collapse of the dimensional boundaries and the refusal of the Imperial Domain to intervene had destroyed that assumption. The surviving rulers would have to confront the crisis with whatever strength remained to them.

However, Tianxu quickly lifted his head, forcing himself to focus on the more immediate danger. "The betrayal of the Imperial Domain is not our greatest concern at this moment. We have a far more terrifying reality to face, and there is little value in lamenting the actions of those who have already chosen their side."

He looked directly at Lin Yuan, and the exhaustion in his expression was replaced by a grim determination. "The Demon Emperor, has just emerged from the Hollow Beyond."

Lin Yuan nodded. "We witnessed the hand that reached into our world. It uprooted the Great Sea Realm and shattered the Exotic Realm as though they were ordinary objects. The aura it projected exceeded the limits of Peak Void Refinement, and the conceptual weight it carried was comparable to that of a Body Integration expert."

Even as he spoke, Lin Yuan recalled the enormous hand that had descended through the heavens. Its power had not resembled an ordinary technique or a temporary manifestation of spiritual Qi. The hand had reached across the dimensional boundary and seized an ancient Wonder with such ease that the resistance of the surrounding laws had seemed almost irrelevant.

Whatever the Demon Emperor’s true cultivation was, it had placed him far beyond the level of the strongest ordinary cultivators in the Nine Provinces.

Emperor Nanheng tightened her grip on the broken fan. "The realm of Demon Emperor appears only in fragments of the ancient records of the Dao Court," she said. "Those records describe supreme demonic entities that fought during the Great War, along with bloodlines that were supposedly extinguished and powerful beings that were sealed away. But for a Demon Emperor to emerge so suddenly and possess the ability to reach into our dimension, seize the Nine Wonders, and tear apart the structures that support the world..."

She stopped, unable to finish the sentence immediately. The implications were too grave to dismiss, and the memories of the enormous hand remained vivid in her mind. She had fought powerful demons before, but those battles had still followed certain rules. There had been limits to how much power a single being could exert, and there had been formations, weapons, and allies capable of resisting even the strongest attacks.

This time, those familiar limits had offered almost no protection.

"This is not merely a powerful enemy," Nanheng continued after a moment. "It is a being whose existence appears to defy the balance that has governed the Nine Provinces for countless years. An entity of that magnitude should not be able to manifest such power without provoking a response from the Heavenly Dao. Yet the Demon Emperor has already reached into our world and begun dismantling its foundations."

Emperor Beiming’s expression grew increasingly grim. "If he descends physically upon the Nine Provinces, our current strength will be meaningless. We have been reduced to the Peak of the Nascent Soul realm, while he possesses power comparable to Body Integration. Even if we combine our strongest techniques, we may not be able to force him to retreat."

He glanced toward the ruined Grand Court, where the surviving cultivators were still struggling to organize themselves. "The tactical brilliance of our forces will not save us if our attacks cannot even reach him. He could unleash a casual strike, and the resulting destruction might erase an entire province. If he decides to fight without restraint, the Grand Court will be nothing more than a temporary obstacle."

Ku Ming slowly closed his fingers around his prayer beads. "The problem is not only his strength. His ability to manipulate the foundational structures of the world means that our defensive formations may become useless before the battle even begins. If he continues removing the Nine Wonders, the laws sustaining the Nine Provinces will deteriorate further. We may lose the environment required to cultivate, heal, or even maintain the stability of our own bodies."

Lin Yuan listened without interrupting. He understood the seriousness of their concerns, but he was also aware that fear alone would not provide a solution. The Demon Emperor’s strength was beyond what the surviving forces could confront directly, and the dimensional changes had made conventional defenses increasingly unreliable. They needed an opportunity, however small, to alter the situation before the enemy completed his objective.

Emperor Tianxu seemed to reach the same conclusion. He straightened slightly, despite the pain visible in his face, and looked at the three people standing before him. His golden eyes regained a small measure of their former authority, not because his injuries had improved, but because he had finally decided to reveal the one possibility that remained.

"There is still a fragile thread of hope," he said.