An unspeakable emotion welled up, and Jin Li could not help asking, "How is he?"
The bridal red armor seemed to have anticipated her question: "Master is doing very well."
Having said this, the red armor seemed to lose all its spirit and fell completely silent.
Jin Li's heart settled. She knew this was a Robe Division Imperial Guard revived from death.
They were battle-hardened troops who had already fallen in war.
She looked toward the demon sovereign.
And that demon sovereign was currently staring at her in sheer terror.
"Impossible! Utterly impossible!"
"The Four Divisions of the Divine Court perished in the smoke of history ages ago!"
"How could the Robe Division Imperial Guard still exist in this world?!"
"You lot are nothing more than projections, mere inner demons!"
"To disturb my supreme resolve—you deserve to die!"
The demon sovereign roared, appearing ready to charge at the Robe Division Imperial Guard and shatter those phantom figures with a single fist.
Yet something that left everyone dumbfounded occurred.
He had taken only a single step forward when he spun around midair and fled toward the outskirts of the city.
At that moment, among the ten grand commanders of the Robe Division Imperial Guard, a black-armored warrior with a longbow on his back held up a great bow. Without even drawing it to a full moon, he released a shot.
*Whoosh!*
The arrow unleashed a sonic boom, carving a long contrail across the vault of heaven.
In a flash, the lightning-fast fletched arrow struck dead into the demon sovereign's body.
The demon sovereign turned back in sheer disbelief. "A Supreme... Sovereign!"
With a resounding boom, the arrow detonated, blowing his body to pieces.
A terrifying behemoth, a sovereign of the demon race, was slain effortlessly by a single arrow and blown apart.
It was just like a balloon popped by an arrow.
This scene sent shockwaves through the civil and military officials present.
It shook Sima Ting to his very core.
Beside him, the gaunt sovereign from the Heavenly Fortune Sacred Sect trembled all over, his eyes filled with disbelief.
That was an expert infinitely close to being a Supreme Sovereign, a top-ten titan even among the demons, yet he was shot dead with just one arrow?
He looked up at the sky, gazing at the Robe Division Imperial Guard who looked like celestial troops and heavenly generals; he could not muster the slightest thought of resistance.
The ten leaders each possessed an aura as vast and unfathomable as the ocean!
Those were Supreme Sovereigns!
And by no means ordinary ones!
A ten-thousand-strong imperial guard led by ten Supreme Sovereigns and nearly a hundred sovereigns!
What kind of concept was this?!
Not a single soldier among them was a mortal.
The lowest was at least Xiantian—there was not even a single Houtian among them.
Who could stand against such a Robe Division Imperial Guard?
He wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into and scurry back to the Heavenly Fortune Sacred Sect.
Right then, Sima Ting suddenly broke into mad laughter: "Why? You thieving heavens, why do you keep playing with me?!"
He suddenly pointed at the gaunt sovereign of the Heavenly Fortune Sacred Sect. "He belongs to the Heavenly Fortune Sacred Sect! Everything was planned by them!"
By this point, Sima Ting seemed resigned to his fate.
On the God-Worshiping Platform, although Jin Li had long suspected as much, hearing this confirmation still left her shaken and disappointed.
A sacred ground of humanity, the Heavenly Fortune Sacred Sect... had truly fallen from grace.
Looking at the Robe Division Imperial Guard, she thought of Qi Yuan, who was still in the forbidden ground.
She made up her mind.
She would use the Robe Division Imperial Guard to swiftly sweep away the crisis before her, and then... go beneath the Ancient Qi Toon Tree to meet that man.
The Ancient Qi Toon Tree was the divine tree of the Wangyue Continent.
Legend had it that if devoted lovers rendezvoused beneath the Ancient Qi Toon Tree, they would receive the divine tree's blessing.
"Kill!" A cold look appeared on Jin Li's face.
She would play the Empress of Southern Qian a little longer.
She had grown up sustained by the offerings and reverence of the people; it was time she did something for this country!
At Jin Li's command, the silent imperial guard moved forward. One of the grand commanders brandished a spear and pinned the gaunt sovereign to the ground with a single thrust.
He retracted the spear.
As the spear was withdrawn, life was extinguished.
Sima Ting was also impaled to death with a single strike.
Witnessing this, none of the civil and military officials dared to flee. They could only tremble in fear or kneel on the ground, begging for Empress Jin Li's forgiveness.
Looking at the terror-stricken faces and the officials lying in pools of blood, Jin Li had no pity in her eyes.
The Soul-Burying Banner Array outside the city and the several demon sovereigns were the real problems she needed to resolve.
"All of you, slay the enemy!" Jin Li ordered with supreme majesty.
At this moment, the grievances she had suppressed for seventeen years seemed to pour out entirely.
Yet it was still short of complete—if only she could see that man.
***
"Xiao Jia?" Qi Yuan called, standing in the space and gently patting her.
Right now, Xiao Jia was clinging to his body like an octopus.
She was fast asleep in a daze.
Qi Yuan looked at Xiao Jia, lost in thought.
*Too bad. If only you had a face,* he thought to himself.
He did not disturb Xiao Jia.
He had realized that Xiao Jia, like him, seemed to have expended a great deal of energy and had not yet recovered.
This was the first time he had seen Xiao Jia in such a state.
Qi Yuan's expression turned pensive.
It seemed he could not be so battle-hungry in the future.
Qi Yuan decided that when he needed to lay low, he would lay low.
Just then, the slumbering Xiao Jia suddenly stirred.
If she had eyes, Qi Yuan would surely have seen her long eyelashes flutter before she opened them.
Seeing Xiao Jia wake up, Qi Yuan smiled tenderly. "You're done for. Now that you've left the Robe and Crown Forbidden Ground, you won't be able to see your clansmen for quite some time."
Within the Robe and Crown Forbidden Ground, there were many other bridal gown monsters.
Xiao Jia still clung tightly to Qi Yuan like a clingy puppy.
"I wonder if you'll have trouble adjusting to a new environment. The place we're heading next is called... the Five Elements Forbidden Ground.
"I wonder if there are many monsters in the Five Elements Forbidden Ground too?"
If there were many monsters there, Qi Yuan decided he would merge with Xiao Jia less often; he could fight on his own just fine.
Even without Xiao Jia, had he not fought his way through the Robe and Crown Forbidden Ground?
She was already clumsy—knocking things over just by walking and tripping over nothing for no apparent reason.
Besides, she had such a delicate, petite frame; if they merged all the time, Qi Yuan was worried she would not be able to handle it.
Of course, Qi Yuan was also reminded of a certain pair of siblings from a TV drama. The elder brother had claimed he could defeat the enemy army even without that sword.
The ending, however, was that the younger sister sacrificed herself to the sword, and the brother died in battle.
Naturally, such an ending was not to Qi Yuan's liking.
"Five Elements Forbidden Ground... here I come."
Holding Xiao Jia's chilly little hand, Qi Yuan finally stepped into the Five Elements Forbidden Ground with her.
It was vastly different from the Xuanyuan Forbidden Ground and the Robe and Crown Forbidden Ground.
Looking out, Qi Yuan saw no flowers, grass, or trees, nor did he spot any monsters.
The surroundings before him were exceedingly bizarre.
On one side was magma blazing with roaring flames; on another was frozen ice spewing spring water; on yet another was gold ore with sparkling specks of gold dust, some of which flowed like liquid.
The Five Elements Forbidden Ground, a gathering place of the five elements.
He held Xiao Jia's hand firmly as they walked through the Five Elements Forbidden Ground.
After all, given Xiao Jia's clumsy, airheaded nature, if she walked by herself and fell into the fire, what if her clothes burned away and she got exposed?
Well, more importantly, what if she got hurt?
Right at that moment, an aged voice sounded beside Qi Yuan's ear:
"Master of the Robe Division, this old man has awaited you for a long time!"
Chapter 54