"You two seniors, this formation is quite peculiar, and within it, attacks are launched without warning. Please be careful."
This was meant to flatter the Huashan Two Jiaos, but the sort of independent-roaming emperor-level cultivators they were, they despised nothing more than having their strength questioned.
The Huashan Two Jiaos had already obtained the secrets of the formation's workings from
Even if Jiang Chen hadn't given them the breaking method, they would have had the confidence to simply brute-force their way through!
"Brother, you take the left, I'll take the right — go!" Jiao Yun called out to
The two of them transformed into twin streaks of light, shooting toward the left and right flanks of the formation respectively. Two orbs of radiance, blazing like meteors, plunged swiftly into the formation.
In Jiao Yun's grip appeared an enormous golden melon hammer. Held in his hand, he wielded it as effortlessly as a stage magician performing a trick.
As it spun between his palms, waves of brilliant, dazzling light spilled forth — a spectacle so blinding it resembled a rainbow arching across the heavens or divine radiance pouring from sacred treasure.
"Break!"
The golden melon hammer hurtled toward a specific point in empty space like an entire mountain range, trailing divine light in its wake.
At the same instant, Jiao Feng's broadsword blazed forth like a star plummeting from the sky, its piercing brilliance seeming to draw upon the radiance of the sun and moon. Saturated with overwhelming luminance, it slashed toward another point in the void.
"Sever!"
One brother wielded a hammer, the other drove a sword.
Two devastating attacks converged upon the same direction. One was savage as a starving tiger pouncing on prey; the other was dominating as a dragon leaping from an abyss.
BOOM!
The two divine weapons met in the void as though striking an invisible, impossibly solid wall, unleashing a thunderous roar that shook the heavens.
In the next instant, the entire void seemed to collapse into chaos, shaking violently in every direction.
Turbulent spatial currents whipped about in wild, erratic spirals. Fierce winds howled in fury, and the rampaging flows of energy, as though they had finally found an outlet, spread outward in every direction.
Within the void, scraps of shattered rune formations scattered like the fragments of a colossal painting torn to countless pieces — crumbling, drifting, and vanishing into nothing.
These runes were the structural patterns of the defensive formation. The two brothers had used their overwhelming power to destroy the formation's core node, shattering every last rune line in an instant.
They hadn't merely destroyed the formation's defensive capability — they had obliterated its very foundation. With no base to sustain it, the formation collapsed immediately. The rune patterns, tadpole-like symbols of light, flickered from bright to dim, vanishing patch by patch until none remained.
Once the spatial turbulence gradually subsided, the members of the three major sects surrounding the formation's perimeter — from their sect masters down to the lowliest disciples — stood utterly dumbfounded.
This was the power of emperor-realm seniors?
They, the sect members of the Scarlet Cauldron Central Domain, had certainly heard of emperor-realm experts, but not one among them had ever witnessed an emperor-realm cultivator unleash a grand Divine Ability.
Even these three sect masters — even those who had paid formal visits to emperor-realm experts — had never been fortunate enough to see one strike with their own eyes.
Now, having finally witnessed it, they were struck speechless, their mouths hanging open for a long time.
"A single blow from an emperor-realm expert — and it carries this kind of devastating power?" The three sect masters exchanged glances, an inexplicable tremor running through each of their hearts.
All three sect masters were sovereign-realm experts themselves. On the surface, they didn't appear far from the emperor realm, but that seemingly narrow gap was in truth a summit they could never reach in their entire lives.
Now, having personally witnessed the might of an emperor-realm expert, they realized the chasm between them was even wider than they had imagined.
Even more shaken were those inside the formation.
When the formation shattered, Steward Guo and Commander He, who had been inside, were just preparing to launch a surprise attack on the three sect masters beyond the perimeter.
In the very moment they were building up their power, the formation itself came under assault. They hadn't paid it any mind at first — they simply didn't believe the formation's defenses could be breached that easily and had dismissed the threat entirely.
But the combined strike of the Huashan Two Jiaos had thoroughly stunned them into oblivion.
They stood not far inside the remnants of the formation, their faces gray with dust and shock, completely exposed within the Huashan Two Jiaos' line of sight.
The scene was as absurd as it was eerie.
What made it eerie was that, in this sudden turn of events, everyone realized just how shockingly close the two sides had been to each other all along — separated by barely any distance at all.
What made it absurd was that every single person caught in that moment was a powerful martial artist, yet they all looked as though their souls had fled their bodies, standing frozen like wooden chickens.
"You three sects — what are you still standing there for? The formation is broken! Now is the time for your fight!" Jiao Yun bellowed.
The three sect masters snapped awake as though from a dream. Their initial attack had been nothing more than coercion — they had been forced into it by Jiang Chen. But after repeated failed attempts to break the formation, after suffering heavy casualties among their disciples, that reluctant compliance had transformed entirely into grinding, teeth-clenching hatred.
"All disciples of our three sects — heed our command! Charge in! Punish that tyrant and restore justice to the Scarlet Cauldron Central Domain! Eradicate the Yan Family tumor!"
"Eradicate the Yan Family tumor! Restore peace and righteousness to our Scarlet Cauldron Central Domain!"
"The Yan Family has been deceived and manipulated by the Eternal Immortal Domains, serving as their puppets! Driven by the Eternal Immortal Domains, they have brought catastrophe upon the Scarlet Cauldron Central Domain! As long as the Yan Family lives, the calamity will never end!"
The three sects had prepared these slogans well in advance during their march. These cries were, of course, not meant for the ears of the imperial court — they were intended for the people of the entire Scarlet Cauldron Central Domain.
They had no desire to earn the reputation of "regicide" once the imperial court was destroyed. They needed to march under a banner of righteousness and justice.
Commander He stared wide-eyed, raising his weapon high: "Warriors! His Majesty has fed and sheltered us for ten years, for decades — now is the day we repay our sovereign with loyalty and blood! Kill! Cut down these traitors!"