Dust and mist filled the sky; a murderous aura permeated everything!
Outside Merit City, Li Wei stood leaning on his North Star Spirit-Breaking Spear.
He had been prepared for this. As Venerable Tian Xing's numerous avatars streamed in from Changyang Prefecture, the three nuclear bombs and the antimatter bomb he'd entrusted to Li Dalong had already been detonated.
Yet...
Li Wei snapped his head up and lunged forward. For even through the swirling chaos, yet more figures were materializing, one after another – each one, without exception, a reincarnated avatar of Venerable Tian Xing! A look of furious despair filled Li Wei's eyes.
Though he fought with every ounce of his being to hold them back, still the reincarnated avatars of Venerable Tian Xing kept slipping past him, streaking relentlessly towards Merit City!
Throughout the Li family's two-hundred-year resurgence, he and his kin had confronted countless formidable foes. Yet facing this Venerable Tian Xing, for the very first time, he was overcome by such profound powerlessness and utter despair!
[System Alert: Your descendant, Li Tianshuang, has been Killed in Action!]
[System Alert: Your descendant, Li Changying, has been Killed in Action!]
[System Alert: Your descendant...]
One after another, his descendants were falling in battle!
Venerable Tianxing offered the Li family no quarter. His assault was relentless, launched with the full force of his power, holding absolutely nothing back.
Even those clan members integral to the 'Thousand-Year Blood Exchange Plan' – a cornerstone of the family's future – were not spared his merciless slaughter! It appeared that nothing – absolutely nothing the Li family did or planned within Eternal Sun Prefecture – had eluded Venerable Tian Xing's all-seeing gaze.
Two centuries of meticulous Li family stratagems, all their painstakingly crafted visions for the future – in the face of Venerable Tian Xing's power, they all amounted to nothing more than a pathetic joke.
In this maelstrom of raging, destructive energy, Li Wei hurtled forward, a desperate frenzy in his eyes.
He threw himself into the path of the oncoming avatars, determined to do everything within his power to intercept as many of Venerable Tian Xing's reincarnations as he could. "Every single one I stop," he thought fiercely, "buys our people a slightly better chance to escape!"
"Pfft!"
His North Star Spirit-Breaking Spear punched through the Golden Core-level form of one Tian Xing avatar. Yet Li Wei felt not the slightest joy, for before him still stood... over a thousand more identical figures! Even the weakest of these avatars possessed the strength of Foundation Establishment Peak!
Li Wei could perceive it clearly: the two Divinity Transformation stage protectors their clan depended on, and even the Jiang family's own Old Ancestor, were all currently bogged down, unable to assist.
"How amusing... How very amusing."
The impaled Golden Core form showed not a flicker of pain. Instead, gazing at Li Wei, who stood before it enveloped in a black mist, its face was alight with a strange joy.
"My Master informed me long ago," the avatar said, "that this world teems with individuals of remarkable and diverse talents. Ever since you killed Feng Qingyang, in fact, your Li family has been on my radar."
"Feng Qingyang?!!" For a moment, Li Wei was utterly stupefied.
"Feng Qingyang... he was one of your reincarnated forms too?!!"
Sensing the profound incredulity in Li Wei's tone, Venerable Tian Xing's avatar seemed to take even greater delight. "Oh, not merely Feng Qingyang," it chuckled. "Among those with whom you are well acquainted: Daoist Zhen, the previous Sect Master of the Skyveil; Yan Xiao, formerly hailed as a prodigy of the Azure Cloud region; that so-called genius from the Long family... All of them, without exception, were manifestations of This Seat!"
The avatar's demeanor was that of a madman, its smile utterly terrifying.
"My Master once told me," the avatar continued, "that my talent was mediocre at best — that my breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm was nothing but a fluke! But look at me now! I will make him see just how foolish those words truly were!
For ten thousand years, I have reincarnated without end, turning each new life into another avatar of myself. Every single one of these vessels has been a peerless genius, scattered across the lands of the Eternal Sun Prefecture, mastering the arts of countless lineages! Among them, six of my avatars have risen to the very peak, cultivating all the way to the Divinity Transformation realm!
And soon..." The avatar's voice boomed, thick with power. "...there will be more. Many more! Every thread of Heaven and Earth's Qi Luck within Eternal Sun Prefecture — it shall all be gathered and made mine!"
As the words fell, this Golden Core avatar of Venerable Tian Xing suddenly seized Li Wei's North Star Spirit-Breaking Spear. With cold, deliberate intent, it drove the spear deep into its own Soul!
At once, the avatar's entire cultivation, like a blinding torrent of light, erupted outward, surging into the bodies of the other avatars steadily advancing from ahead. And before Li Wei's very eyes, the power of each of those figures visibly swelled, their auras growing stronger by the breath!
They advanced on Li Wei with an unhurried, deliberate gait.
Their collective voice, when it came, was low and ethereal, like whispers from the abyss itself!
"I am... displeased."
"Ten thousand years," the voice continued, each word resonating with ancient power. "For ten millennia, I have toiled, nurturing generation upon generation of genius avatars. And then, from Azure Cloud region – that insignificant, barbaric corner of the world – there emerges ... a Li family."
"Your existence genuinely startles me. To have risen to such prominence in a mere two centuries, Nascent Soul experts emerging one after another, even Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulations becoming almost commonplace among you. Such audacity, such unbridled presumption! Your Li Clan members continuously encroach upon my territory, scheming to seize what is rightfully my Eternal Sun Prefecture!"
"What a shame," the collective voice of Tianxing continued, filled with cold amusement, "that none of you comprehend the simple truth: there are always men beyond men, and heavens beyond your paltry sky. And I..." his voice took on an even more profound resonance, "...I am the true, undeniable Heaven of Eternal Sun Prefecture! A Heaven so lofty that even the likes of Azure Mist Mountain cannot begin to touch its expanse! It ends now. The age of your Li family... is over!"
Then, avatar after avatar surged towards Li Wei!
In that instant, comprehension dawned upon Li Wei.
This wasn't truly about the Tian Xing Abode, nor was it about Azure Mist Mountain. It was far simpler, and far more terrifying.
Perhaps for centuries, Venerable Tian Xing had been silently observing the Li family from the shadows. Regardless of their struggles or successes, how they grew and developed, he had merely watched, biding his time. And now, for reasons of his own, he had finally reached the juncture where he deemed it necessary to utterly annihilate the entire Li Clan!
In a flash, Li Wei snapped his head up.
A chilling light erupted from his eyes, causing every single one of Venerable Tian Xing's advancing avatars to visibly falter for an instant.
The despair that had clouded his gaze moments before dissipated completely; his voice, when he spoke, was utterly devoid of emotion, chillingly indifferent.
"Tian Xing," Li Wei's voice cut through the chaos, "Did you just say... it was over?"
"What?" one of the avatars uttered, confused by his sudden transformation.
Before the avatar could react further, a Nascent Soul-level form among them was instantly impaled upon Li Wei's North Star Spirit-Breaking Spear.
The stricken avatar stared blankly at Li Wei, meeting only the lethal intent shining from within that shadowy, mist-wreathed figure.
As the avatar's form began to slowly dissolve, Li Wei's voice, cold and resonant, seemed to penetrate every soul present: "This has only just begun! It is far from over!"
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