Honglin felt the flow of blood in her body stall before suddenly reversing. The Dragon Emperor’s saber strike cracked her cws and flung her back from the force of the csh. Blood dripped out of her mouth as her body halted its unwanted momentum. She cared not for her injuries and stared at Donghai Longzi, whose cw was still locked against the golden saber.

  Bck qi exploded off of Donghai Longzi while golden qi exploded off of the Dragon Emperor, creating a scene of contesting gold and bck.

  The Scarletblood Dragon grew envious. She knew that she was only a first-step demon king that tempered her flesh and blood with one of the five elemental qis, but she didn’t think that even a fifth-step dragon king could stop an immortal emperor’s ssh like Donghai Longzi did. From the moment the Dragon Emperor’s attack blew her away while Donghai Longzi held strong, she knew he had the combat prowess of an immortal emperor.

  As for said Dragon Emperor, his eyes widened in slight surprise at Donghai Longzi halting his attack. He gnced at the dragon cws and saw only a white mark on those sharpened ends. “I didn’t expect to see a dragon lord with the power of a dragon king here, of all pces. But if you think you can hold me back, you are sorely mistaken!”

  With that, the Dragon Emperor increased the strength in his ssh and flung Donghai Longzi away. He didn’t chase after the transformed dragon. Instead, he set his eyes on the Scarletblood Dragon, Honglin. Demon Empress Bluefeather was already charging at him, and he couldn’t sy Donghai Longzi in such a short amount of time. Honglin, on the other hand…

  The Dragon Emperor shot towards the dragon with scales like ruby.

  For her part, Honglin didn’t shy away even in the face of the enormous murderous intent coming her way. Even if she wanted to run away, she knew her speed was cking, so she could only face the danger head on and wait for Donghai Longzi or Demon Empress Bluefeather to arrive. Much as she was loathed to admit.

  The muscles underneath the ruby red scales unduted. The strands of muscle doubled before tripling in volume, bulking up the slender and serpentine dragon into a much more intimidating mass. Even the radiant scales took on a dull tone as they thickened and sharpened. With a roar, Honglin charged straight at the Dragon Emperor.

  The Dragon Emperor only snorted. His hand fshed, and Honglin could only capture the trail ends of his saber sshes. The next thing she knew, cerations appeared all over her scales. Her enhanced scales did little to weaken his saber strikes.

  However, Honglin persevered through the pain. The blood that bled from her wounds transformed into mist and created a domain of blood mist. All that was for naught as the mist dispersed with another swing of the Dragon Emperor’s saber.

  Honglin’s action did not halt as the energy condensing in her stomach had already reached her throat . She opened her jaws and a blood red beam escaped her jaws and shot toward the Dragon Emperor.

  Still, it was for naught as the Dragon Emperor unleashed another swing. A crescent bde of energy shot out from the Dragon Emperor’s bde and struck Honglin’s head, causing her head to snap backwards. The disparity between the two’s strengths could not be made up through courage and will alone.

  The Dragon Emperor swung again. His bde cleaved through the thick scales and flesh of Honglin’s underside. The first cut sliced through the scales, the second cut revealed muscles, and the third cut exposed bone. He reached out, grabbed the Scarletblood Dragon’s flesh and pulled.

  Honglin released a roar of pain as the Dragon Emperor quite literally stripped her flesh from her bones.

  “Tch,” the Dragon Emperor didn’t have time to pull out much as he sshed again, separating the chunk of flesh from Honglin and storing it in his spatial ring. Immediately after, he turned around and swung his bde, just in time to block Donghai Longzi’s cws.

  Donghai Longzi swung his other hand, transformed as well, at the Dragon Emperor. Two cws and steel fshed tens of times in a few breaths. Finally, it was Donghai Longzi that was forced back. His two arms showed no outward harm, but they trembled without stopping.

  The Dragon Emperor snorted. “Tch.”

  He turned and shot toward the sky. Not a second ter, a blue fsh followed behind. Donghai Longzi stilled for a second and gnced at Honglin. After that, he chased after the immortal emperor and demon empress. No matter what, since his blood had started to boil, it would not quell until he had his fight’s worth.

  Honglin only stared at the three departing figures, envy in her eyes. She shrunk herself while clutching her wound. She lost about four to five percent of her flesh in that brief csh. Blood had already congregated and formed a pseudo flesh and skin. Of course, this was just emergency treatment, and it would take much longer to fully recover. Something she could only do once they relocated to the new outpost.

  With a shake of her head, she returned to the rest of the demons, who were already evacuating. Once there, she looked around and asked. “Where’s Yujiao?”

  In the Vast Void, the Dragon Emperor turned around and sent several crescent-shaped energies full of saber intent toward the incoming avian demon. Just before the crescent-shaped energies struck Demon Empress Bluefeather, her body expanded until she appeared to be a burning phoenix.

  The crescent-shaped energies struck her fming body, but never passed over the surface. They shrunk as if burned by the blue fmes. When they colpsed, they stuck to the burning blue bird’s body like splotches of gold, continuously releasing miniature explosions.

  Still, Demon Empress Bluefeather paid no heed and continued to charge forward, her talons glinting harsher than steel. Just as the Dragon Emperor readied his bde, intent on facing the demon, a thunderous roar caught both their attention.

  When the Dragon Emperor looked over, desire and greed filled his eyes. He saw an enormous dragon of bck, with tiny motes of lights glittering on his scales flying over. Even Demon Empress Bluefeather paled in comparison in terms of pure size.

  “Longzi? Why did you come out?” Demon Empress Bluefeather asked.

  “I’m not one to take an attack without retaliating,” Donghai Longzi simply said before charging at the Dragon Emperor.

  The Dragon Emperor only grinned and readied his bde. “Haha, I thought I would have to leave empty-handed. But it seems that I will be able to bring a prize back after all this!”

  Demon Empress Bluefeather snorted, hatred intensifying. She had promised Demon Emperor Redraco to protect his granddaughter, but what happened? Not even a year out and the Dragon Emperor had literally carved a piece of flesh from Honglin. This slight must be avenged!

  She charged behind Donghai Longzi. Unlike Honglin, it seemed that Donghai Longzi could fight the Dragon Emperor for a short while. Originally, she only pnned to chase away the Dragon Emperor, knowing that victory and defeat would not be decided in a short time, but Donghai Longzi’s presence changed the Dragon Emperor’s pns.

  The countless motes of lights shimmered brightly on Donghai Longzi’s bck scales, intensifying as the second passed. Then, they flew out of his scales and formed a domain hundreds of thousands of meters rge. Each time a star blinked, something inside the domain would vibrate and shatter.

  Still, it didn’t seem to hurt the Dragon Emperor at all, as a thin film of golden qi covered him. He unleashed a saber strike against the incoming behemoth. “I never expected you to practice the Law of Destruction and use it so skillfully with the Law of Stars, but you’re still too tender!”

  Most cultivators, demon or humans, did not use domains in the Vast Void. Domains were energy intensive techniques, and it was especially foolish to keep it for a long time in the Vast Void, where qi could not be replenished.

  Once again, saber and cw cshed. However, even without Honglin’s participation, the Dragon Emperor and Donghai Longzi could not force the other back. The Dragon Emperor frowned and increased his strength, but he discovered that Donghai Longzi’s strength had increased, and more than him at that.

  Before the Dragon Emperor could settle whether he or his foe had more strength, he retreated as a burst of blue fmes incinerated the space he was in st. He flew away as a fming blue comet chased after him, followed by Donghai Longzi.

  He gnced behind him and released a roar that resembled more beast than human. Scales materialized over his body and encapsuted him. Two draconic horns grew out of his head as tufts of golden fur materialized around his joints.

  The Dragon Emperor turned around and charged straight at Demon Empress Bluefeather. He took on her fme breath head on and shot through it and passed her straight at Donghai Longzi. The fmes left behind a scorch mark and left his scales sizzling, but he paid no heed as he reared his saber back.

  The bck dragon roared and unleashed a bck beam of destruction.

  To which the Dragon Emperor sshed his saber, bisecting the beam, just like he had done with Honglin’s breath attack. He charged forward, saber still in mid swing.

  Donghai Longzi struck forward with his cws, which were trailed by long bdes formed of destruction energy. The bdes of destruction and golden saber cshed, causing sparks of bck and gold to explode. Had it been in the Tieniu Realm, vast amounts of nd would have colpsed, and even the sky would have ripped.

  Then, Demon Empress Bluefeather arrived, forcing the Dragon Emperor away and giving Donghai Longzi time to breathe. His hands trembled even harder, unable to stop. Still, he did not shy away even as nicks and gashes appeared on his cws. Not even if blood dripped from beneath the scales on his hand.

  He released a powerful roar and chased after the Dragon Emperor. The Dragon Emperor did not shy away, avoiding Demon Empress Bluefeather’s fmes and striking the bck dragon.

  As time passed, cracks and dents appeared all over Donghai Longzi’s scales. Wounds that exposed flesh appeared all over his serpentine body. Still, his eyes were bright as he chased after the much smaller foe. Sure, his strength was weaker, but with each csh, he became more accustomed to fighting with his draconic form.

  Donghai Longzi started to use the cws on his hind limbs as well as his entire body. He would rush the Dragon Emperor and graze the tter with his scales, intent on causing bludgeon damage or slicing the tter with the sharp edges of his scales. If that didn’t work, he smmed his tail like a whip.

  The Dragon Emperor frowned as time passed. Although he firmly held the upper hand and got nothing more than a few scorch marks or scratches, he discovered that it became harder and harder to suppress the bck dragon, much less deal a devastating blow. Although his mastery of the Law of Destruction was superior, Donghai Longzi coated his entire body in a shield of destruction that continuously broke down his attack when it made contact. Not only that, but the domain of destruction was still present, forcing the Dragon Emperor to wonder how much qi the dragon had.

  He knew he couldn’t dey it for much longer.

  The Dragon Emperor retreated far away as Demon Empress Bluefeather and Donghai Longzi regrouped, both staring at him. He returned his saber into its scabbard and entered an unsheathing stance. His momentum surged and both demon empress and demon king felt an overwhelmingly threatening aura from him.

  Demon Empress Bluefeather unleashed a fiery torrent of blue and white, while Donghai Longzi charged forward. His form blurred as his speed dramatically increased, far faster than before.

  But it was all too te as the Dragon Emperor unsheathed his bde. For a brief moment, the world knew silence as if time had stilled. Then, the pained roar of a dragon and cry of a qingluan reverberated in the Vast Void. The flesh on both their bodies had parted, revealing organs and bones. Not even the domain of destruction remained intact as it split in half before disintegrating.

  “Now!” The Dragon Emperor said as he charged forward. His eyes locked onto his prey. A fsh of gold ter, another pained roar sounded as he parted the bck dragon’s arm from its body.

  D.C.Haenlien