Emperor’s Domination

The battles raged violently across the region and robbed the celestials of their light. Powerful treasures and unmatched merit laws were used perfectly by the combatants. The destruction caused by them disrupted the natural laws and orders.

Spectators were smart enough to stay away from the shock waves since they had no chance of surviving. Only the powerful lords and ancestors remained relatively close.

"Clank!" Suddenly, they heard a hymn coming from the horizon. Next came a burst of murderous and chilling energy.

A sword descended with a man riding on top. His cold eyes scanned the area and made the crowd shudder. They felt sharp pains from invisible gales.

"Ninth? Why is he here?!" An expert shouted after recognizing him.

This notorious character might not be the strongest but still instilled fear. He resembled the sharpest blade, always ready to cut.

His sudden appearance caught the crowd off guard.

"Is he here to challenge Li Qiye?" Someone speculated.

Others exchanged glances and found this quite likely. After all, there was an existing feud between the two back in the Tang's plain. Li Qiye had defeated and chased him away. It would make sense for him to seek revenge today.

"Ninth?" Even the ancestors from the two behemoths were surprised.

They were mighty but still found this character frustrating. Ninth never adhered to conventions and pride. One needed to be powerful enough to kill him right away or he would always be a source of headache.

As he perused the area, he had a look of indifference as if none of this had anything to do with him. This applied even when he stared at the two overlords, even Li Qiye. He treated them as if they were thin air despite their power.

He harbored no special feeling or bloodlust towards Li Qiye either, not holding a grudge from the previous defeat.

His focus eventually stopped on an ancient ancestor standing behind Vastsea Venerable. The ancestor wore a tight robe while being awfully skinny, looking like a pole. His face was paper-thin; the cheeks looked as if they had been flayed.

He had an austere expression with the occasional flashes in his eyes, similar to a leopard hiding in the darkness - always ready to lunge at any prey.

Thus, the crowd found him quite intimidating, even more so than Sword God Jialun. The latter certainly had an oppressive aura but this ancestor resembled a deadly blade.

"Triune Sword God, I challenge you." Ninth pointed his sword for a challenge.

"He's challenging Triune Sword God?" Everyone found this surprising since they assumed Li Qiye was his target.

"Don't tell me Ninth is on Li Qiye's side too." Another expert found this hard to believe.

After all, members from Sword God Sacred Ground have always been neutral. They always did whatever they wanted and never picked a side.

"I don't think he's on Li Qiye's side. He simply got stronger." An ancestor said seriously.

The intimidating sword god stepped forward and accepted the challenge: "Very well, it has been a while since the last worthy opponent."

"Triune Sword God is a terrifying character. He never needed more than three attacks to kill an opponent. Brutality is his theme. Who knows how many top cultivators have been killed by him?" An ancestor murmured, aware of the sword god's notorious deeds including sect destruction.

Back in his era, some rather antagonized Jialun or Earthslope despite them being stronger than Triune. The former two could be reasoned with, not Triune.

"You shall die to my blade today, Ninth." Triune grabbed his hilt and exuded a bone-piercing bloodthirst.

"Tenth." Ninth coldly uttered, revealing his new title to everyone.

"Tenth!" Listeners trembled after hearing this.

"He learned the tenth slash already? But this is way too soon!" A last-gen member became emotional. Ninth's cultivation improvement was astonishing.

When he was Ninth, his targets were the Six Sectmasters and Six Kings. He then killed two of them. Now, they were no longer strong enough to be his targets. It was time for him to challenge the ancient ancestors.

"I knew it." An ancestor guessed correctly from the start.

Obtaining the next technique was a significant leap for Tenth. This meant finding more worthy foes as well.

"He's so close to the overlords then." One expert said.

"I'm afraid so." One king spoke austerely. If Tenth could take another step, his next targets should be the five overlords.

"Then he would be able to take up the mantle, potentially earning the overlord title." A big shot mused.

The group exchanged glances and didn't deny this possibility.

After all, the classification was outdated at this point. One was dead while another had retired. Once "Eleventh" showed up, the era of the five overlords would be over.