Zhao Lin flew alongside nine other figures, her eyes scanning the group around her.
She clicked her tongue in annoyance.
Her heavenly palace had gone through so much trouble to create a path for her descent into the mortal realm, all so she could claim the Abyssal Void Flame.
Who would have thought the other factions had the exact same idea?
When she first arrived, her plan had been simple - destroy the other factions’ branches in this mortal world before they could even attempt to descend. But fate had other plans. They had all descended at the same time, making her original strategy pointless.
Unable to destroy the branches and with no reason to anymore, she could only curse her luck.
The ten of them had eventually agreed not to interfere with each other. Each would search for the flame independently, and whoever found it first could keep it.
After asking around, they had identified a suspect who might possess the flame. But when they arrived at the location, they found nothing. She guessed an immortal-grade concealment formation, and a powerful one at that, was blocking their sight.
Just a few hours ago, they had all sensed someone attempting a breakthrough to the transcendence realm in the eastern continent. They knew immediately this was the person they sought. But each of them had figured this out at the same time.
They tried to negotiate for hours, but nothing came of it. In the end, it was back to every person for themselves.
She studied the others around her, wondering how she could claim the flame for herself.
There were elders here in the immortal realm, but she couldn’t use them for support.
Each person flying beside her was a rare genius with mid-level earth immortal combat power.
Though their cultivation had been restricted to the transcendence realm after descending, their law mastery remained intact - meaning they still preserved their mid-stage earth immortal combat power.
The other earth immortals in this world were merely early-stage earth immortals, not even worth comparing.
Any one of them could take on all the local cultivators single-handedly.
As these thoughts filled her mind, the others were also scheming, each wondering how they would come out on top.
Suddenly, an immense aura descended upon them all.
"What?" they exclaimed in shock, turning around and deploying their defensive measures.
A towering dark hand that seemed to descend from the heavens itself pressed down on them. The space around them suddenly shifted and then disappeared entirely.
"This is..." one began.
"Void law," another finished.
The ten scattered from each other, looking around suspiciously. They wondered if this was a trap set by one of them - but to catch them all in a single attack, what powerful expert could accomplish such a feat?
Before they could speak, someone appeared before them.
"A phoenix?" they wondered, sensing her aura.
"Zhu Que," the girl said.
"What?" the group asked.
"That’s the name of the one who’s going to kill you," she said coldly.
...
"What?" The ten were surprised at her words.
But after the surprise came anger. How could they be treated like this?
They were all top geniuses of their factions - had they ever been humiliated like this before?
"This void domain doesn’t seem to be your doing," one man spoke. He had a muscular frame. "If it was that person who came personally, then maybe he’d have had a chance. But you..." he said, his aura beginning to flare, "are nothing."
He finished by sending a qi sword toward Zhu Que. The qi blast moved at extreme speed, instantly cutting Zhu Que’s head clean off.
But in the next instant, the head transformed into a flame and reattached back to her neck before transforming into her head once again.
She held her neck, feeling it. "I wanted to test the power granted to me by the lord. It’s really impressive," she thought.
She then looked at the others who had suddenly surrounded her.
"My lord has told me to grant you death. But it seems that you’re unwilling to accept his grace," she said calmly.
Tears started falling from her eyes. "What a pitiful bunch. Let this one chosen by the lord ease your pain." Her aura then flared.
"What kind of crazy is this?" one of the geniuses wondered.
"Doesn’t matter, let’s take her out first," another said.
Zhao Lin smiled. "How about this - the one who kills her gets to keep the flame," she said.
"Hahaha, that’s interesting... I’m in!" the muscular man from before shouted.
The others also laughed and agreed to join in on the fun.
Zhu Que just shook her head. She waved her hand and a fan appeared. She waved the fan and an attack was sent in all directions toward the group. She thought to herself that she needed to end this quickly. The power of condensed void law the lord had given her should only be able to last another ten minutes.
It wasn’t that she was afraid of facing these lower life forms without it - it was just that without the void domain, she might disturb the lady’s breakthrough.
The ten geniuses rushed forward in perfect coordination, their attacks coming from every angle.
Zhu Que spun gracefully, her fan creating barriers of flame, but a sword pierced through her defense and struck her shoulder. She regenerated instantly, but another attack came immediately after.
"Your regeneration won’t save you forever!" Zhao Lin shouted, launching a barrage of ice spears.
Zhu Que deflected most of them, but one grazed her cheek.
As the wound healed, she found herself pushed back by the relentless assault. The muscular man’s fist connected with her stomach, sending her flying into another attacker’s waiting blade.
"Is this all you can do?" one sneered as Zhu Que regenerated once more, breathing slightly harder now.
"You talk too much," she replied, but sweat beaded on her forehead. The constant regeneration was draining, and their coordinated attacks left her little room to counterattack.
A massive hammer crashed down where she’d been standing. She dodged, but barely.
"She’s slowing down!" someone called out.
"Keep the pressure up!"
Zhu Que ducked under a sweeping blade, then had to immediately roll away from a spear thrust.
Zhu Que stood opposite the group.
The group now had serious expressions compared to before - they couldn’t underestimate this lady at all. They needed to quickly end this. With her endless regeneration, if they didn’t finish it quickly, they would regret it.
Zhu Que waved her hand, a sword appearing in her grasp. "I didn’t want to have to use this, as I wanted to prove myself to the lord," she said, "but since time is running out, I have no choice."
"Ah... that’s..." one exclaimed in shock.
"No way... an immortal weapon!" another said.
At that moment, Zhu Que raised the sword above her head. Energy began gathering around it. The group began using all sorts of life-preserving, defensive, and even escape treasures, trying to avoid being hit by this attack.
"First sword," she said calmly.
Her sword descended onto the group. The moment the blast settled, each one of them had angry expressions. Their bodies were battered, their clothes ragged, and their treasures broken.
"Looks like you still have something left in you," Zhu Que said.
She held the sword in its scabbard with her left hand, then gripped the hilt with her right hand as if about to draw, lifting it slightly where one could see the absolute darkness of the blade beneath.
"But this ends now," she said.
"Everyone, let’s work together. It’s coming," Zhao Lin shouted.
"Coming?" Zhu Que asked.
"Oh, you haven’t realized it yet? The battle is already over," she said.
"What?" the group exclaimed before they suddenly noticed all sorts of dark blade marks across their bodies. They then exploded into nothingness as the void domain released.
Zhu Que pressed the sword back into its scabbard completely.
"Second sword," she said in a trembling voice.
She almost lost her balance in the air but caught herself.
She looked at her right hand - it was trembling.
"The lady is really a monster, to come up with such a sword technique. And this is just the second form..."