Immortal Martial Emperor

’I can’t accept this!’

’Father, Mother, Yaoyao, Tianshuang...’

’I can’t accept dying like this! I still have to get stronger! I have to reach the peak of the Martial Dao. I can’t accept this... I can’t accept this!’

Hong Yu roared in fury.

The vicious sneer on Qi Tianbao’s face was starkly clear, his features practically bunched together in unbridled arrogance. "Tsk, tsk. So what if you surpassed Zheng Tian and Blood the First? So what if you’re recognized as the strongest genius of the new generation in the Qin Kingdom? In the end, didn’t you still fall into my hands?"

Amidst his sinister, cold laughter, the halberd’s aura pulsed with formidable Elemental Power fluctuations.

"SWOOSH!"

The sharp, gleaming blade whistled through the air.

The threat of death was imminent. He watched the sharp Halberd Aura, like the Death God Scythe itself, about to sever his head.

Hong Yu’s consciousness was fading. He no longer had the strength to even lift a finger...

"Die!"

Qi Tianbao’s face was cold as he uttered the low, harsh command.

Just as the battle halberd cut the skin on Hong Yu’s neck, on the verge of decapitating him, the sound of a heartbeat—a deep ’THUMP’ like muffled thunder—suddenly rang out.

A faint beat came from the heart of the Thousand-Year Tai Sui, which had been pierced by the Yama Shuttle.

A heavy power radiated out, instantly enveloping both Hong Yu and Qi Tianbao.

At the sound of that "THUMP," Qi Tianbao felt his own heart begin to beat faster and more violently. As his heart rate accelerated, his face flushed red, and he could barely breathe.

"CLANG!"

Qi Tianbao clutched his chest weakly, no longer even able to hold the battle halberd.

He fell to his knees, supporting himself with his hands, his eyes filled with disbelief. "H-How is this possible? The Yama Shuttle pierced the Thousand-Year Tai Sui’s heart! H-How is it not dead yet?"

"THUMP!"

The sound of the heartbeat echoed again.

It was like a dull thunder drum pounding against his body and soul, causing Qi Tianbao to violently spray a mouthful of blood.

An immense weakness washed over him.

He felt he didn’t even have the strength to lift his hand.

"D-Damn it, how could this happen?"

Qi Tianbao’s face was pale and drained. He glanced at Hong Yu, whose head was lolled to the side and whose heart had already stopped, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. ’Forget it. He’s already dead anyway. It doesn’t make much difference whether I take his head or not. This Thousand-Year Tai Sui is just too bizarre. I’d better get out of here first.’

Dragging his exhausted body, Qi Tianbao fled in a sorry state.

Behind him, the "THUMP" of the Thousand-Year Tai Sui’s heartbeat sounded intermittently. Each beat was like a soul-reaping demonic sound, shaking Qi Tianbao to his core.

He scrambled and crawled his way out of the Thousand-Year Tai Sui’s body, his excitement growing as he recalled the words Wang Fei had spoken when she tasked him with killing Hong Yu.

’Now that Hong Yu is dead, Senior Sister Wang said that once she takes control of the Beichen Family, she’ll reward me with Beichen Celestial Frost!’

A greedy, fervent look appeared on Qi Tianbao’s face. He licked his lips. ’Hehe, Beichen Celestial Frost... she’s the foremost of the four great beauties of Qin Royal City! Hehe, the stunner so many men dream of will soon be mine...’

...

"Why did the Thousand-Year Tai Sui suddenly go berserk?" Xue De coughed up blood, staring in shock at the demonic-looking creature.

Tie Heng’s face was also extremely pale. His aura was faint as he frowned and said in a low voice, "Could it be that Hong Yu and the others found the Heart of Tai Sui inside the creature’s body?"

"I hope so!"

"This monster is too terrifying. We’re no match for it at all."

The sheer size of a Thousand-year-old Level Tai Sui was enough to make most experts shrink back in fear.

After a fierce battle where they had severed thousands of its tentacles, the Tai Sui showed no signs of injury or weakness, which had nearly driven the two men to despair.

But just a moment ago...

This Thousand-Year Tai Sui had suddenly become extremely agitated, even hysterically crazed.

Its frenzied attacks had caught Xue De and Tie Heng off guard, leaving them both severely injured.

"BANG! BANG! BANG!"

The Thousand-Year Tai Sui roared in anger, its massive arms slamming down and flattening several mountain peaks.

Thousands of tentacles, each hundreds of meters long, swept past. With a "RUMBLE RUMBLE," mountains crumbled and the earth split. A vast forest was completely leveled, turned into a flat plain.

Two experts from the Guiyuan Sect failed to dodge in time and were impaled through the chest by the Thousand-Year Tai Sui’s tentacles.

In the blink of an eye, their bodies were devoured, leaving behind two dried-up corpses.

"Run!"

"The monster’s gone crazy, run!"

"Help me..."

Of the more than forty people who had come, only thirteen or fourteen were left, fleeing wretchedly into the distance.

"ROAR!"

The Thousand-Year Tai Sui continued its destruction.

Mountains collapsed, the earth cracked, and dark clouds gathered between heaven and earth...

The nearly hundred-meter-tall body of the Thousand-Year Tai Sui thrashed about madly. Tens of thousands of tentacles, the shortest of them a hundred meters long, danced in the air. From a distance, it looked like an Ancient Beast God bent on destroying the world.

This rampage of struggle and destruction lasted for a full day and night.

It wasn’t until the morning of the third day that the Thousand-Year Tai Sui, which had been wreaking havoc in the Tianmu Mountain Range, finally disappeared.

Such a massive disturbance had already attracted the attention of countless experts and factions.

The Yaoyue Kingdom, Yaoyue Palace, the Qin Royal Family, the Iron Soldier Pavilion, the Beichen Commerce Association, the Guiyuan Sect, and others...

Numerous powers and factions all dispatched experts to the Tianmu Mountain Range.

No matter their cultivation realm, even paramount masters like Old Sir Tie who stood at the Peak of Primordial Core Realm, all wore looks of horror and disbelief upon seeing the state of the Tianmu Mountain Range after the Thousand-Year Tai Sui’s rampage.

Nine hundred kilometers...

After the Thousand-Year Tai Sui’s day and night of hysterical destruction, a nine-hundred-square-kilometer area of devastation had been carved out of the Tianmu Mountain Range, a region of rugged mountains that stretched for thousands of kilometers.

Within this area, all the peaks had collapsed, and the valleys had long since been filled with giant boulders.

As far as the eye could see, there was only devastation. The rugged mountain range had been transformed into a vast plain.

Such terrifying destructive power was truly staggering.

"Tie Heng, are you certain this is the result of the so-called Thousand-Year Tai Sui’s destruction?"

Old Sir Tie asked in a low voice.

Tie Heng’s aura was somewhat weak; clearly, the injuries he had sustained in the battle with the Thousand-Year Tai Sui had not yet fully healed. He nodded. "Yes, Father!"

"Oh!"

Old Sir Tie fell silent.

Standing opposite Old Sir Tie, Wang Ba, dressed in fiery red martial attire, gave a cold smile as his eyes flashed. "Old Sir Tie, from the looks of it, you seem to be worried about Hong Yu, don’t you?"

"Wang Ba, what are you trying to say?" Old Sir Tie said with a frown.

Wang Ba grinned, letting out an unbridled, arrogant laugh. "What could I be trying to say? I’m just advising Old Sir Tie not to waste his time and energy. That Thousand-Year Tai Sui probably fled long ago, and I’m afraid Hong Yu has already become fertilizer inside its body."

"You bastard! Not even Yuan Cang would dare speak to me like that. Who the hell do you think you are?" Old Sir Tie snorted coldly, and the vast Peak Power of the Primordial Core Realm surged toward Wang Ba.

Wang Ba’s body and mind trembled slightly, the blood and qi within him churning.

He was only at the Mid-stage Primordial Core Realm; there was a huge gap between him and Old Sir Tie at the Peak of Primordial Core Realm. He was no match for him.

’He’s only holding back because he’s wary of the Guiyuan Sect and doesn’t want to make the Iron Soldier Pavilion their complete enemy. Otherwise, with his strength and methods, he would have attacked me long ago.’

His eyes flickered as he suppressed the venom and hatred in his heart. ’This old bastard... Just you wait. Don’t think I don’t know you have less than half a year to live. Once you’re dead, I’ll see to it that the Iron Soldier Pavilion you poured your entire life’s blood into is destroyed.’

"Alright, since everyone has arrived, let’s discuss how we will divide this ore vein," the King of the Qin Kingdom, Qin Feng, said calmly.

The other experts chimed in with their agreement...

For an ordinary ore vein, the Qin Kingdom wouldn’t have bothered to get involved, but Qin Feng had already investigated and found that this vein stretched across nearly half of the Tianmu Mountain Range.

This was definitely a mine that could be called the greatest in the Southern Ten Nations!

No one was willing to let it go!

While the various experts and factions were discussing how to divide the rich ore vein...

「Deep within the Tianmu Mountain Range, thousands of meters underground.」

A vast river flowed from north to south, deep beneath the earth.

No one knew how many ages this subterranean cavern had existed.

The cavern was so immense that its edges couldn’t be seen.

Inside the cavern, flecks of light dotted the darkness. They were Elemental Ores, all emitting a faint glow. One or two might not have been very bright.

But when the number of Elemental Ores reached an incredible amount, the light they emitted made the underground cavern as bright as day.

This was especially true for the underground river that ran through the entire cavern; its bed was almost completely paved with Elemental Ores, a vast and multicolored river of stars.

On the bank of the river...

A colossal creature lay quietly prostrate. A bluish-green liquid continuously seeped from its body, staining the entire underground river an eerie green.

This behemoth had eight massive arms, and its tens of thousands of tentacles were spread messily across the ground.

Its limp body looked like a giant jellyfish, or perhaps a mushroom that had grown legs...

This creature was none other than the Thousand-Year Tai Sui that had fled from Mist Canyon.

Although the Yama Shuttle was incredibly powerful and bizarre, and its poison was potent enough to kill a Primordial Core Realm expert, this Thousand-Year Tai Sui was simply too formidable.

Its Life Force was especially strong, comparable to the legendary cockroach—unkillable and indestructible!

As a result, the Yama Shuttle, which struck fear into the hearts of countless experts, had been unable to take its life in a short amount of time.

However...

The Thousand-Year Tai Sui’s wound was, after all, in its only weak spot, the core of its existence—the Heart of Tai Sui.

Under the tyrannical, destructive effects of the Yama Shuttle’s poison, the Thousand-Year Tai Sui’s life force was quietly ebbing away. It was likely that before long, it would die completely.

"TH...UMP..."

The dull, weak sound of a heartbeat suddenly echoed within the cavern.

The Thousand-Year Tai Sui was simply too weak now.

Each time the Heart of Tai Sui beat, the entire body of the Thousand-Year Tai Sui would tremble violently.

As the beating of the Heart of Tai Sui grew fainter, from within the chest of the young man pinned to it—his own heart pierced by the Yama Shuttle—an extremely faint "thump" could also be heard...