At the same time, with Selena the Scarlet Phoenix's death, the immortal essence throughout the Immortal World suddenly grew much denser.
The 18th-layer Ancestral Immortals are truly too powerful. After reaching this realm, they've stolen vast amounts of immortal essence. Now, with their deaths, the energy within them returns to heaven and earth, becoming immortal essence once more.
Victor Grandridge, Marcus Five-Gates, Trent Three-Lives, and Damien the Heaven-Devouring Sword Lord breathed a sigh of relief when the Heavenly Dao vanished, but this was quickly replaced by fury—Selena had actually been tricked to death by that woman, Hannah Murong.
"I know you all want to kill me! But I'll give you a chance—which of you will come first?"
Hannah Murong stepped forward into the sky, holding the Crimson Haze Divine Sword and pointing it at the four remaining 18th-layer Ancestral Immortals.
"You don't know your place. You've just broken through, and you really think wielding a Divine sword makes you qualified to face us?"
Damien the Heaven-Devouring Sword Lord strode forward, his expression icy. With a single grasp, a massive black Divine sword appeared in his hand—a weapon he had refined for countless millennia, now fully heart-linked to him.
"Whether I'm qualified to face you—let's find out!"
Hannah Murong showed no fear. She slowly raised her sword, and faint strands of sword light seeped from the blade, flickering between bright and dim.
"Die!"
With a crisp shout, Damien swung his black Divine sword in a slashing attack.
This strike didn't look especially powerful, but it faintly tugged at the aura of Heavenly Dao.
"Clang!"
Hannah Murong blocked with her sword. A thunderous crash rang out, and her body was blasted hundreds of meters backward.
"Again!"
Damien advanced through the air, chasing relentlessly. His black Divine sword radiated waves of unmatched power, slashing out as countless beams of sword light flew toward Hannah Murong.
He was called the Heaven-Devouring Sword Lord, with sword Dao at its absolute peak. In terms of sword technique, no one in the entire Langya Immortal World could match him. With his heart-linked Divine sword, after just a few exchanges, Hannah Murong was forced to retreat again and again, blood already trickling from the corner of her mouth.
"Well? Is that all you've got? You think you deserve to be our opponent?"
Damien jeered loudly, his sword attacks growing ever more ferocious.
"Pfft!"
After several more moves, a long, narrow wound appeared on Hannah Murong's left arm. Even though she poured immortal yuan force into it, she found she couldn't heal the injury.
"Don't waste your effort. Wounds from my sword can't be healed at all!"
Damien sneered coldly and launched another wave of savage attacks.
"Pfft, pfft, pfft!"
More wounds appeared on Hannah Murong's body. Knowing she couldn't heal them, she simply ignored the injuries. Behind her, the Hall of Reincarnation manifested once again, and her aura surged—she actually started to turn the tide.
"Kill!"
Hannah Murong's eyes turned icy. The Crimson Haze Divine Sword in her hand transformed into a crimson sword dragon, roaring furiously.
"Hmph, a dying struggle!"
Damien looked utterly contemptuous, though his eyes showed a hint of caution.
Time slowly passed, and the wounds on Hannah Murong's body multiplied. Yet the fighting intent she radiated only grew stronger.
At last, after hundreds more exchanges, Damien grew impatient.
He summoned his Ancestral Dao—a colossal, lifelike black tiger, a thousand zhang tall, looming in midair and radiating an invincible kingly aura.
"Roar, roar!"
With the giant tiger's roar, Damien's speed increased severalfold.
"Pfft, pfft, pfft!"
In an instant, he inflicted several new wounds on Hannah Murong. Blood covered her body, and she looked utterly miserable.
But just then, a look of grim resolve flashed in her eyes. The Crimson Haze Divine Sword in her hand erupted with divine light, and she transformed into a streak of blood-red light, charging straight at Damien.
"Courting death!"
Seeing this, Damien sneered. The black Divine sword in his hand erupted with invincible brilliance, slashing out tens of thousands of sword beams to seal off the entire world.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
Hannah Murong darted through tens of thousands of sword beams, her body accumulating hundreds of new wounds until she was truly transformed into a figure of living blood.
Soon, Hannah Murong broke through Damien's blockade and appeared before him, thrusting her sword like a bolt of lightning.
"Hmph!"
Damien snorted coldly and slashed straight for Hannah Murong's head. If she didn't pull back, he would kill her outright.
But Hannah Murong refused to withdraw her sword.
"Pfft!"
Damien let out a miserable scream as his entire left arm was shredded by Hannah Murong's sword light. Yet his Divine sword also severed her head. Unsatisfied, he unleashed a burst of sword energy, grinding her body to dust.
Witnessing this, the ministers of the Great Qin Immortal Kingdom below showed expressions of utter despair.
His Majesty was dead. Now even the Empress had fallen.
The Great Qin Immortal Kingdom was finished!
Staring at his empty left arm, Damien's eyes flashed cold. Immortal yuan force surged, and a new arm quickly grew in its place. But the new arm was weaker than the original, and would take tens of thousands of years of cultivation to recover its former strength.
"Damn woman!"
Damien cursed aloud.
But at that moment, he sensed an extreme danger. Before he could dodge, a palm struck his back, flooding his body with overwhelming power and pulverizing his organs. He quickly used immortal yuan force to simulate new organs and swung his sword in retaliation.
He struck only empty air!
In the next instant, a palm appeared above his head out of nowhere. With a sickening sound, Damien's head exploded.
"How is this possible?"
Seeing Damien slain, the other three Ancestor Immortals of the eighteenth layer finally snapped out of their shock.
"Long live the Empress!"
"Long live the Empress!"
As Hannah Murong reappeared in the sky, the ministers of the Great Qin Immortal Kingdom were moved to tears—except for Master Heaven-Secrets, who looked as though he had known all along.
"How are you still alive?"
Fanzhi stared at Hannah Murong and asked.
"Not only is she alive—I'm alive too. Surprised? Didn't expect that, did you?"
A mocking voice rang out, and Song Yan appeared beside Hannah Murong out of thin air.
Fanzhi cried out in shock, "Impossible! You're only a tenth-layer Ancestor Immortal—how could you survive the Scarlet Phoenix's true flame?"
Song Yan's face twisted in anger. "So it was that wretched woman who ambushed me! Hmph, it's lucky the Heavenly Dao erased her. Otherwise, I would have made her wish for death!"
"Hmph, you may have survived, but we can kill you all over again!"
Elder Three-Lives snarled, "Everyone, attack! Wipe out everyone present—leave no survivors!"
"I don't know where you get your confidence!"
At that moment, Song Yan activated a thousand Divine Summoning Talismans. Instantly, a thousand pillars of light descended from the sky, and a thousand Divines flew out from the beams.
"A thousand Divines?"
Seeing so many Divines descend, Fanzhi, Elder Three-Lives, and Five-Gates Daoist were all stunned. The hundred-plus ancient monsters present showed terror on their faces.
"Kill them all!"
Song Yan pointed at the group of ancient monsters.
At once, the thousand towering Divines moved, swinging their Divine weapons and charging into battle.