The Emperor Takes the Initiative

Further away in the royal palace complex, three energy barriers were rapidly increasing their power, and the Saint-level aura inside the palaces was quickly gathering.

"Divide the forces. Flamel led one team to clear out military fortresses and noble residences."

Alex led the lich mage legion to attack the teleportation nodes on the outskirts of the capital.

The remaining undead split into ten teams, advancing from different directions to eliminate all resistance.

"All resource strongholds, secret vaults, and treasure troves have been thoroughly looted."

All professionals of Saint rank or higher are to be killed. Those who surrender may be spared, but they must be disarmed and their seals removed before being placed under centralized custody.

With the order to launch the raid given, the battle officially began. The undead army, like a sophisticated war machine, started to spin and crush within the city at high speed.

The fortifications in the military fortress were quickly destroyed under the onslaught of the undead legion, and the private guards in the noble mansions were mostly powerless against the level nine Saint-rank undead.

The treasures hidden deep within the secret vault were found one by one and sent to the Ruins of Return.

The teleportation nodes within the capital were destroyed one by one by the lich mage legion, and the city's spatial network began to collapse on a large scale.

Meanwhile, in the heart of the imperial capital's palace complex, the emperor of the Abyss Empire could no longer remain idle.

A vast aura, so powerful it shook the entire capital, erupted from the depths of the palace. Purple light shot into the sky, dyeing the rock strata above the palace complex a translucent purple halo.

Immediately afterward, a middle-aged man dressed in a luxurious robe with dark gold patterns flew out from the depths of the palace, followed by more than a dozen figures with equally powerful auras—

Those were the royal elders and the commander of the Imperial Guard of the Abyss Empire, all of whom were experts at the peak of the Saint rank or above.

The emperor of the Abyss Empire, along with the empire's strongest forces, has finally made their move.

His gaze swept past countless undead and locked onto Li Xingyao, who was hovering in the distance.

Those purple-glowing pupils were now churning with an overwhelming rage and chilling killing intent that seemed about to overflow.

"Human necromancer..." The emperor's voice, as cold as ice, clearly pierced through the clamor and carnage of the entire capital.

"How dare you trespass into my royal city and slaughter my people."

"You shall stay here today."

He suddenly raised his hand, and a huge purple beam of light shot out from his palm, carrying the power of laws that could destroy the heavens and the earth, heading straight for Li Xingyao.

…… …… …… ……

The dark gray rock dome was torn open with countless jagged cracks by the aftershocks of the battle, and rubble fell from thousands of meters high, piling up on the ground to form undulating rock hills.

The once magnificent palace complex, built of dark purple crystals, has completely collapsed, and most of the precious crystals embedded in the walls have disappeared.

Only a few remain embedded in the broken walls, stubbornly shining faintly in the dust.

The scorch marks left by the power of the laws were no longer visible on the ground; only the monotonous sand was shaped into irregular ring patterns by the fluctuations of star energy.

The area stretching from the city center to the outer city, spanning nearly a thousand kilometers, looks as if it has been bombed dozens of times by nuclear weapons; no building remains taller than 1 meter can be seen.

The air was thick with dust and a pungent burning smell, with a few lingering traces of the laws flickering in the desolation.

These flickers occasionally create tiny ripples in space, as if the world is repairing the damage that just happened.

Li Xingyao hovered in mid-air, looking down at the charred burn mark on his left arm that stretched from his shoulder to his wrist.

The once intact skin has been eroded and damaged by a dark purple law power, and is now emitting an abnormal grayish-purple luster.

Deep within the wound, several wisps of purple energy, seemingly alive, could be seen slowly wriggling, as if attempting to penetrate and destroy deeper muscle tissue.

He raised his right hand and gently pressed the burn mark with his fingertips. A sharp pain immediately came from the wound, causing Li Xingyao to frown.

This was the first time he had suffered such a significant injury in battle since advancing to the Super Rank.

Although this level of injury would not be fatal given his current physical condition, the residual erosion from the laws of that abyssal artifact was exceptionally stubborn.

Ordinary bodily healing abilities have almost no effect on him; these residual forces require him to continuously repair them using the effects of the Reality Crystal to completely eliminate them.

Lowering his arm, Li Xingyao's gaze slowly swept over the underground space beneath his feet, which had been almost completely leveled. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly involuntarily.

Then, in a helpless and annoyed tone, he complained to the empty ruins, "What a mess! They fought me so fiercely, but in the end, they just made a feint and ran away."

Wouldn't it have been better to leave earlier? You've made me spend time recovering from my injury.

Li Xingyao's thoughts involuntarily drifted back to the battle an hour earlier.

At that time, he was leading the undead legion to begin clearing out the resistance forces on the outskirts of the capital. As they were advancing towards the palace complex located in the heart of the city, a terrifying aura so vast that it shook the entire capital suddenly erupted from the depths of the palace.

A magnificent purple beam of light shot into the sky like the rising sun breaking free from its restraints, dyeing the thick rock layers above the entire city with a translucent, hazy purple glow.

That was the emperor of the Abyss Empire, and the empire's last remaining top-tier fighting force.

Without uttering any further words, the emperor raised his hand, and a continuously spinning dark purple sphere of light instantly appeared in his palm. Inside the sphere, a miniature world seemed to be sealed, radiating terrifying law fluctuations far exceeding the Saint-level range.

Li Xingyao immediately recognized the item—it was the Abyss Empire's national treasure, passed down for tens of thousands of years, the "Heart of the Abyss".

The moment the dark purple orb exploded in the Emperor's palm, a humanoid metal construct emerged from it.

It was cast entirely from a purplish-silver metal, its surface covered with densely packed runes. The lines flowed slowly across the metal like blood, making the energy emanating from it grow thicker and stronger with each passing moment.

Its height is no different from that of an ordinary person, its body is slender and well-proportioned, and every part of its structure is polished to an extremely precise degree, making it seem like a real living being, exuding a smooth rhythm that transcends the realm of divine artifacts.

Its face has no facial features, only a smooth, curved metal mask. Deep purple light constantly ripples across the mask like water, as if some kind of active consciousness is contained beneath it.

Two extremely thin purple-silver metal threads extend from its shoulders, swaying gently in the air like whiskers, leaving a faint purple mark in the surrounding space with each sway.