Li Yi came to a halt about a thousand feet away from the massive warships. He stood suspended in the air, his presence expanding as he began to absorb and spread his energy throughout the entire area, effectively weaving an invisible wall that blocked the ships' advance.
"You are trespassing on the territory of the Ten Elements Sect; entry is strictly forbidden to outsiders!" Li Yi's voice thundered, amplified by his energy so that every soul on those decks could hear it clearly.
On the ships, confusion rippled through the ranks. Cultivators looked at each other with furrowed brows; none of them, despite their travels and studies, had ever heard the name of such a sect.
Wu Qiang had already stepped out onto the main deck to observe the obstacle. Upon hearing the boy's proclamation, he paused to search his memory. He found nothing regarding a "Ten Elements Sect," which led him to believe it couldn't be a power of any significant standing. A sneer of pure disdain twisted his features.
"Oh? Does a powerful sect truly exist in this barren area? And why is it that we have never heard of it mentioned anywhere? We, who belong to the great sects of the City of a Thousand Petals, are well-acquainted with every major power. Above all, if you truly belonged to such a grand sect, why are you out here alone blocking us?"
At his words, the other cultivators onboard felt a wave of relief and began to nod. It stood to reason: if a grand sect truly held this territory, they wouldn't have sent a single youth to stop a fleet; at the very least, a dozen high-ranking guards or an elder should have appeared.
Yan Qing, observing from her own vessel, came to the same conclusion. She was certain the cultivator was lying, but in her eyes, the boy remained an enigma. His energy was far too stable for his apparent age, and because of that, she was hesitant to make the first move.
Li Yi felt the tension mounting. He knew his lie was a thin veil that wouldn't hold for long, but he had to try. His main concern was tactical: there were eleven exceptionally powerful cultivators before him. If he didn't deal with them with overwhelming speed and ruthlessness, several of them might escape his reach. As for the warships themselves, he knew he could dismantle them easily with his sword techniques; their immense size made them slow and incapable of dodging focused strikes.
"Our sect has remained hidden for thousands of years, choosing not to meddle in the trivial affairs of the world," Li Yi lied with cold conviction. "The fact that I have come here alone simply means we have enough confidence that I, a mere disciple, can handle the likes of you. I will say it one last time: leave now, or stay here forever."
With a sharp movement, Li Yi unsheathed his sword and activated his Sword Intent. The energy surrounding him suddenly contracted, turning into a terrifying, solid dark energy of annihilation. To the onlookers, Li Yi's body now looked like a shifting dark shadow from which wisps of black flames emanated.
"Hmph, arrogant brat. Just because you have a bit of talent, you think you can stand there and spout such grand words?" Wu Qiang looked at him with murderous contempt. "But I will admit, your techniques are marvelous. After we capture you, we will take you back to the sect leaders so they can peel away every secret you know; perhaps you even know who executed that massive sword strike we've been following."
Wu Qiang turned his gaze toward the other ships, addressing the leaders of the various missions.
"Fellow Daoists, let us capture him together. He clearly possesses divine techniques to display such power while only being in the Warrior Realm. We shall divide whatever we extract from him equally among us."
Most of the mission leaders found the proposal logical. Greed quickly replaced caution, and they moved their warships into a synchronized line to close in.
Yan Qing was the sole outlier. She signaled her crew to withdraw her ship, distancing herself from the unified front.
"Fellow Wu Qiang, our Misty Clouds Sect was only tasked with finding the cultivator responsible for the divine sword technique. We have no interest in this wandering youth."
Wu Qiang didn't care about her withdrawal; he kept his eyes locked on Li Yi.
"Everyone, follow my command! Bring him to me alive... or at least half-dead!"
The other leaders echoed the order. A swarm of King Realm cultivators and low-level Emperors launched themselves from the decks, a frantic race to see who would claim the prize and the subsequent rewards from their superiors.
"So, you have chosen the path of death. Allow me to open the gates to the depths of hell for you," Li Yi said, his voice becoming eerily indifferent as he watched the wave of cultivators descending upon him.
Under his breath, he began to chant the words of his divine technique, his voice saturated with a cold, absolute killing intent. To the ears of everyone present, a faint whisper arrived—a phrase they could hear but not truly comprehend, followed by a sudden, stabbing pain in their minds, as if needles were being driven into their brains.
«The world is annihilated before my sword, and destiny is cut by my Dao.»
A crushing sword intent blanketed the entire region as thick, black clouds condensed in the sky above. The cultivators who had been charging Li Yi suddenly froze mid-air; even those still on the ships felt a wave of horror. Blood began to seep through the pores of their skin; every passing second, the sheer pressure of the sword aura generated thousands of microscopic cuts on their bodies.
Wu Qiang was paralyzed with shock. A sword aura powerful enough to cut his skin from a distance was inconceivable for someone so many realms below him. Even for his peers, it should have been impossible; his body had refined Heavy Earth, granting him an almost legendary, unbreakable defense.
Looking ahead, he watched in terror as the King Realm cultivators who had gotten closest to Li Yi simply fell, their bodies mangled and broken by the mere pressure of the aura before they could even draw their weapons.
"This... this is the technique! You are the one we've been searching for!" Wu Qiang's eyes flared with a mixture of fear and insane greed. "Everyone! He is the one! All mission leaders, ignore everything else and attack together!"
But in that heartbeat, before they could coordinate, Li Yi vanished. He reappeared instantly to the side, perfectly parallel to the flank of the four remaining warships.
"Sword Against Heaven and Earth — FALL!"
A blinding light erupted from his blade, illuminating the night sky with the brilliance of a fallen star.
Back in the town, Leng Lubai, along with Zu Chen and Duo Luo, were standing by the formation board. When the light flared on the horizon, the entire room was bathed in white. Leng Lubai knew the battle had begun in earnest; he couldn't help but feel a knot of dread in his stomach, worrying that the shockwaves of such a clash would level the school and the town.
When the radiance finally dimmed, the world seemed to tilt. The cultivators on the warships felt the floor beneath them give way. Using their mental power to scan the damage, they realized with horror that all four warships had been sliced perfectly in half and were plummeting toward the earth.
Those on the upper decks scrambled to levitate, but many disciples inside the hulls were trapped, unable to navigate the collapsing corridors.
"Get away! The energy cores are going to blow!" one of the leaders screamed.
With desperate speed, the survivors tried to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the falling wreckage. Only the peak King Realm experts and the Emperors managed to clear the blast radius. Yan Qing had already moved her ship far enough to remain safe. Li Yi, however, remained exactly where he was, standing still as the massive hulls slammed into the ground.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of earth-shattering explosions tore through the silence. The surrounding area was consumed by pillars of fire. Those who hadn't escaped were vaporized instantly, their screams of agony cut short by the embrace of death.
"Boss, he didn't move! He was swallowed by the blast! There won't even be ashes left of him," one survivor panted.
"I doubt he is that foolish," a mission leader countered, his voice trembling. "He must have sensed the power; he likely used a movement technique or a shield."
Suddenly, the survivors froze. Their eyes widened, and their breath hitched in their throats.
Las mushroom clouds from the explosions began to spin violently, forming a massive vortex that was being sucked inward. At the very center of this swirling inferno stood the figure of Li Yi. In just two breaths, the pillars of fire vanished completely, absorbed into his form. When he turned his gaze toward them, every cultivator felt their blood run cold.
With a single step, another explosion echoed—this one from the air itself—as Li Yi vanished. Almost instantly, he reappeared several kilometers directly above them.
Li Yi channeled every drop of his energy into his fist, combining it with the massive power he had just absorbed from the explosions. He wove it together into a volatile mixture of annihilation and death energy. From the heights, he threw a punch, releasing a colossal beam of destruction at least three li in diameter that blanketed everyone below.
It was devastatingly fast. Only the high-level Emperors and a few mid-level ones had the reaction time to flicker away; the vast majority were swallowed by the beam of light before they could even process the end of their lives.
Five seconds later, when the beam finally dissipated, the earth was gone. In its place was an enormous, bottomless crater that seemed to pierce the very crust of the world.
On Yan Qing's ship, the cultivators were trembling, some literally trying to crawl into the corners of the vessel. Even the Emperors among them were pale, their hands shaking.
"That youth... his techniques are beyond logic. He is so decisive... he gives no quarter and no time to react," a high-level Emperor whispered to Yan Qing. "Thank the heavens you chose to stay out of it, Sister Yan, or we wouldn't even have graves today."
Yan Qing remained silent, her face a mask of iron, though she didn't dare order a retreat yet. She feared that any sudden movement of the ship would be seen as a threat, and the boy would bring that same destruction down upon them.
The few survivors from Wu Qiang's group looked at the void where their comrades had been. Not even ashes remained.
Wu Qiang looked up at Li Yi, who was descending from the heights like a vengeful god.
"You dare... you dare murder the elite cultivators of the main sects of the City of a Thousand Petals? From this day forth, you are a dead man walking!"
In his heart, Wu Qiang was screaming. He knew the sect leaders would execute him for this catastrophic failure. He realized then that he had no choice.
He had to kill this boy himself, or he would never know another moment of peace as long as he lived.