The Celestial Clan Domain Lord still stood in the void, but his aura had withered to the extreme. All the power throughout his body receded entirely at this moment.
To be precise, it was completely exhausted, leaving him unable to exert it again. Indeed, throughout the ferocious clash just now, the Celestial Clan Domain Lord had reached his absolute limit.
Although Lu Yuan had not yet officially broken through, his combat strength had grown exponentially. Coupled with his formidable foundation, the Domain Lord was naturally no match for him. By now, the victor had been thoroughly decided.
With just one more blow, everything would come to an end.
"Your strength has indeed exceeded my expectations. Losing by your hand leaves me with no resentment," the Celestial Clan Domain Lord spoke at last, his eyes completely calm.
For at this moment, he had realized his ultimate fate and had accepted it entirely.
"That is because I had you as a whetstone," Lu Yuan said impassively. Such words would surely displease anyone, but there was no need for tact.
The two sides had long been mortal enemies; there was no room for courtesy. Furthermore, what he said was the truth. Without his opponent, it would have been impossible for him to grasp the Heavenly Position Laws so swiftly. Lu Yuan knew that once this battle concluded, he would enter secluded cultivation again.
At that time, he would have the chance to break through his current realm and step directly into the stage of a Heavenly Position Immortal. Thus, those words had genuinely come from the heart.
"I have one matter to ask of you. I hope you will agree to it." The Celestial Clan Domain Lord found no reason to be angered; besides, he had already reached his limit.
Doing anything else was entirely impossible, so he could only speak the thoughts weighing on his mind.
"I know what you mean," Lu Yuan cut in directly. "You hope I will spare your clansmen. You believe they have done nothing wrong and want me to leave a spark of hope for the Celestial Clan, correct?" The other was the Celestial Clan Domain Lord; pushed to such a state, he would naturally think for his people.
Such intentions required no guessing. Sure enough, hearing this, the Domain Lord was somewhat surprised.
In the end, the Celestial Clan Domain Lord nodded and said, "I hope you can agree to it." He felt this was the last thing he could do; as for anything else, he gave it no thought.
Yet upon hearing those words, Lu Yuan merely shook his head and said, "Neither you nor the Celestial Clan shall preserve their lives at my hands. Therefore, after you die, I will slay every last one of your clansmen." The moment these words left his mouth, the Celestial Clan Domain Lord's expression shifted drastically, fury and hatred reigniting in his eyes.
Gazing at Lu Yuan, he could not help but blurt out, "Why? My Celestial Clan holds no blood feud with you!" Indeed, he could not fathom in the slightest why the young man insisted on exterminating them down to the last soul. Could he truly not leave even a single spark of hope for the Celestial Clan?
Must it truly come to this?
Yet Lu Yuan's gaze did not waver at all. He simply said softly, "When I came to this Thunderstrike Star Domain, I passed several planets teeming with life. Yet without exception, every living soul had perished, slaughtered at the hands of the Extraterrestrial Demons.
"And the ones who perpetrated that were the powerhouses of your Celestial Clan. I would like to know: did those innocent souls bear any grudge against the Celestial Clan?
"When you chose to collaborate with the Extraterrestrial Demons, you should have anticipated this outcome and prepared to bear it." At this point, he looked at the man before him, his expression turning solemn. "For that alone, the Celestial Clan now has only one outcome!"
These words left the Celestial Clan Domain Lord stunned.
In truth, from the very beginning, he had never regarded the other living beings in the Thunderstrike Star Domain as lives worthy of respect. He had simply thought that if the Extraterrestrial Demons required them, offering them up was of no consequence.
After all, doing so brought numerous benefits to the Celestial Clan. What did the deaths of a few living creatures matter?
Yet now, the Celestial Clan Domain Lord had never anticipated that this very mindset would lead the Celestial Clan down the path to ruin.
"Enough. I will waste no more breath on you." Lu Yuan spoke once more and took a step forward. Boom! A formidable aura erupted from his body in an instant. Golden vitality surged, and the Daluo sword core in his hand hummed continuously.
He simply looked at the Celestial Clan Domain Lord before him, his gaze devoid of any ripple. Then, he slashed out with his sword.
Clang, clang, clang! In a mere instant, sword intent surged forth like a roaring river, carrying horrifying power that seemed capable of cleaving an entire star apart.
Against such a strike, even the Celestial Clan Domain Lord at his peak would have had to tread with utmost caution. Now, pushed to his absolute limit with virtually no power left in his body, he had no way whatsoever of countering it. In the end, he could only close his eyes. That was the only thing the Celestial Clan Domain Lord could do.
Soon, once all the radiance and sword intent dispersed, the Celestial Clan Domain Lord was gone, as though he had never existed at all.
Lu Yuan remained standing where he was. His expression showed no change as he turned his gaze toward the Celestial Clan members gathered not far away.
Were they innocent? No, far from innocent. These Celestial Clan members had chosen betrayal and aided the wicked in their evil; every single one of them deserved death.
Thus, in the next moment, Lu Yuan stepped forward, appearing directly before the Celestial Clan members.
"I believe you all heard the conversation between your Domain Lord and me just now," he said, his tone still so impassive that not a hint of emotion could be discerned. "Now, you have two choices."
However, upon hearing that there were two different choices, hope involuntarily flared in the eyes of some Celestial Clan members.
For they believed this was him granting them a chance to live. Otherwise, he would have struck directly.
Although their Domain Lord's death filled them with deep sorrow and immense rage, the outcome was already sealed. The most important thing now was to survive.
"Fine. Tell us, what are the two choices?" one of the Celestial Clan higher-ups spoke up. Those around him fell silent as well, waiting to hear what he had to say.
Seeing their reaction, Lu Yuan could not help but let out a faint laugh. Without wasting any words, he stated bluntly, "One choice is to rise up in resistance, after which I will kill you all one by one. The other choice is to stand where you are, and I will grant you a swifter, cleaner death." Indeed.
Two choices, one outcome: death. Exactly as Lu Yuan had told the Celestial Clan Domain Lord earlier.
From the very beginning, he had never intended to let these people off. The so-called two choices were merely different manners of dying.
When the Celestial Clan members present heard this, every single one of them was left utterly dumbfounded, having never imagined such an outcome.
Chapter 506