Chapter 1770: The Emperor Strikes

"Why?"

Li Laide asked, frowning.

"The Twilight Society has not yet reached the time to open recruitment," Chen Ling replied calmly.

Li Laide was startled. No matter how he thought about it, he hadn't expected this reason... Does the Twilight Society have to pick a specific time to recruit people?

"Then when you start recruiting, can I get in?"

Hum——!!

Just as Chen Ling was about to say something, the ground beneath their feet shook violently!

With a vast and highly oppressive aura crashing down from above, Li Laide felt his eardrums tremble in pain... In a trance, he seemed to see an emperor-like figure descending from the firmament, making one’s knees go weak involuntarily, with an instinctive urge to submit and kowtow.

This is...

Li Laide’s mind was a blank slate; he couldn't even think anymore, and he hadn't even seen the figure with his own eyes... Before him were still the thick ceiling and the dim underground space.

Everything he felt was just a phantom brewed from that imperial aura.

Just the aura alone could cause such hallucinations...

Had that person’s strength reached such a terrifying level?

The emperor-like shadow seemed to arrive with an irresistible will. Even Li Laide’s Thief God Path wavered. His legs bent involuntarily, and his instincts were controlling his body, slowly kneeling toward a certain direction...

Just then, a hand rested on his shoulder.

The world-destroying pressure burrowed into Li Laide’s body, like a sudden rush of bone-chilling cold. This coldness collided with the imperial pressure, causing Li Laide’s slowly kneeling body to freeze in place!

"You are my person," a cold voice sounded from behind Li Laide.

"You... are not allowed to kneel to him."

Li Laide swallowed nervously.

Li Laide had never thought that he would one day become a target of contention between that Emperor and the world-destroying calamity. However, Ying Fu’s imperial pressure didn't seem to be aimed at him, but was an indiscriminate deterrent to all living things in the vicinity...

That Emperor... had actually taken action himself?

In Li Laide’s impression, the one in the imperial palace had never taken action. Even when major prisons encountered emergencies, he would send dukes to handle them. Even though the whole world knew that the Emperor living deep in the palace was invincible, no one had ever seen it, and over time, it had become a legend...

Some even started to spread rumors that the Emperor had long since died of old age; others said the Emperor never existed from the start and was just a story fabricated by the dynasty’s powerful to intimidate the vassals.

But Li Laide never believed he was dead; otherwise, the parasites and jackals in the dynasty would have long since completely lost control and carved up the world.

Thoughts raced through Li Laide’s mind. At the same time, the ground above his head shook violently, and dense cracks spread across it. Dust fell from the gaps, followed by a deafening roar!

Boom——!!!

The entire Taishi Bureau seemed to be uprooted by some force, and even the ground was peeled away. Li Laide felt a jolt above his head, and the original thick ground was replaced by the deep night sky.

He looked up and saw the shattered Taishi Bureau floating in the air in a bizarre posture, as if an invisible giant hand had crushed and lifted it up.

And the source of that aura... extended far into the distance, pointing straight to the deep palace.

"This aura..."

"Ninth-Order Demigod!?"

"Wasn't it said that both dukes were not in the Chengtian Domain... Could it be..."

"It’s that person who took action!!"

"Hmph, who said His Majesty was running out of lifespan and unable to fight?"

"With this vast imperial might unleashed, the rumors in the court and the restless little thoughts of those people will probably disappear completely..."

"However, this Calamity of Mockery invasion has been going on for a while now, why did His Majesty only take action now?"

“……”

It wasn't just Li Laide who was shocked, but all the nobles, aristocrats, and wealthy merchants on the Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Azure Dragon avenues.

They all looked at the magnificent palace under the night sky and knelt down without hesitation under the vast imperial might. Their foreheads touched the ground simultaneously, but their thoughts were different. Some were excited, some confused, some relieved, some wary, and some felt like their hearts were turning to ash...

Besides that.

Dim starlight flickered silently. Behind the deep palace walls, He Jing and Eunuch Zuo also turned back in shock to look at the gate of the sleeping quarters...

The white gauze inside the sleeping quarters danced wildly without wind. Amidst the flickering candlelight, a figure sitting quietly on the bed showed no joy or anger. As he pointed toward the direction of the Black Tortoise Avenue, two God Path stars lit up from the void simultaneously!

The door of the sleeping quarters was flung open with a bang, as if hit by a hurricane. He Jing and Eunuch Zuo retreated frantically to both sides in horror. At the same time, vast imperial might poured out from the sleeping quarters!

Black Tortoise Avenue, above the ruins.

Chen Ling saw the two God Path stars light up from the firmament, and a look of gravity appeared in his eyes.

Two demigod paths merged rapidly. In an instant, the starlight across the sky seemed to be wrapped in the grid of a chessboard, descending from the firmament... It was like an incredibly huge star-filled water droplet, and directly beneath it were Chen Ling and Li Laide on the Black Tortoise Avenue.

Immediately after, sharp brushstrokes emerged from the surface of the starry sky. They intertwined with each other, turning into a sloppy and huge character for "Fist." It contained the weight of the entire starry sky and smashed down toward Chen Ling and the other like a meteor!

The violent wind pressure blew away the stones on the ruins, and the hem of his opera robe rose with it. Chen Ling narrowed his eyes as he looked at this starry fist, wondering what he was thinking.

Li Laide, standing to the side, was pale with nervousness.

Ying Fu’s strike was definitely at the demigod level, and it was a fusion ability of two God Paths. Ordinary demigods would find it hard to parry... Li Laide was only a Fifth-Order, and facing a demigod strike, the pressure was too great for him; he found it difficult to even move a finger.

He could only watch helplessly as the starry fist swung down rapidly above the palace, intending to wipe him and Chen Ling out completely!

"His Majesty has taken action!!"

"Such a strong aura... Is this His Majesty’s strength?!"

"With this strike, even a world-destroying calamity would find it hard to parry, right? Long live His Majesty!!!"

"Drive this damn world-destroying calamity out of the Chengtian Domain!!"

"Kill it!! Kill it!!"

“……”

Ying Fu’s strike directly ignited the high fighting spirit of the entire domain. Shouts rang out one after another under the night sky, and the malice of millions of people followed the starry fist, pointing straight at Chen Ling above the ruins!

"What should we do?" Li Laide looked at Chen Ling with a pale face.

Chen Ling looked up at the starry fist calmly. The next second, patterns like lava cracks spread from the mark between his eyebrows, cracking toward his whole body bit by bit...

An equally surging aura poured out from his body!!

"Do you think that just because you’ve become a demigod..."

"You can kill me?"

……

……

I’ve had a serious case of writer’s block today, only managed to squeeze out one chapter... Yi Jiu wishes everyone an early Happy New Year.