31 Annihilation
Dark heavy clouds loomed over the battlefield, blocking off the light rays from the sun.
Two armies stood facing each other. On the left side was the imperial army, consisting of cultivators ranging from Qi Formation to the early stages of Core Formation stage. Their strength numbered around 6,000. At the forefront was 7,000 knights adorned in white metal armors. Together, they possessed a force that was pretty much unrivaled across the continents.
On the right side was 5,000 ferocious beasts. Despite being severely outnumbered, the soldiers knew that ferocious beasts possessed immense combat power, capable of incapacitating several soldiers in just mere seconds.
Profound ranked beasts, however, were on an entirely different level. Their intelligence, coupled with their unique abilities, even strike fears into the heart of Core Formation cultivators.
Not knowing the superior combat abilities of his own army, Shadow narrowed his colored eyes as he worriedly observed the imperial army.
'We are severely outnumbered.' Shadow surveyed the Imperial army.
Waiting for the opponent to make a move, the tension on both sides steadily climbed.
After contemplating for awhile, Shadow silently casted [Hidden Dark Swords] across the battlefield before retreating amidst the ferocious beasts and started to recover his Spirit Qi. Although Shadow was beyond Spirit Ascension stage, casting thousands of [Hidden Dark Swords] still took quite a bit of Spirit Qi.
Finally, the imperial army could not hold back anymore as they courageously charged towards the intimidating force ahead of them.
Just when the ferocious beasts were about to charge forward too, Shadow held them back and commanded them to hold their ground. With Shadow' command, the ferocious beasts adopted a defensive position.
When the first wave of knights stepped onto the [Hidden Dark Swords] Formation, Shadow used a small bit of Spirit Qi to delay the activation. Just like that, 7,000 knights charged onto the formation unknowingly.
Just when the two armies were about to clash, Shadow activated all the formations.
SHIIING!
Piercing sounds echoed throughout the battlefield as the dark swords emerged from the ground and directly pierced through the knights that were standing on it.
Since Shadow's cultivation was the highest, each dark sword was enough to deal an instant death to the knights.
Blood gushed out from the knights' wounds as the dark swords pierced through their white armor, smearing the white armor into a bloody red.
Across the battlefield, blood from 7,000 knights painted the ground red, eventually forming streams of blood. The bloody stench emitted from it ignited the bloodlust of the ferocious beasts.
With just one spell and one entity, 7,000 lives were lost.
Staring at the scene that has unraveled before them, the 6,000 cultivators were dumbstruck. In all of their battles, they have never encountered a spell capable of annihilating thousands of troops. Even if the opponent prepared a rune formation before hand, it could only cover a small area.
Moreover, most of them specialized in range spells, hence, with the knights gone, it was the same as running to the battlefield stark naked with just a sword.
Now that it was 5,000 ferocious beasts against 6,000 cultivators, even if there were 10,000 cultivators, it would still be difficult to tell who would emerge victorious.
Glancing at the remaining imperial army, Shadow gave the signal for the attack and in that instant, all sort of ferocious beasts charged forward, causing the ground to tremble.
Before a Profound ranked beasts by Shadow's side could charge forward, Shadow solemnly told it to stop the attack once all the imperial army was wiped out. With that, the eagle-like beasts nodded before flying off into the battlefield, piercing several cultivators with its jade like claws.
Once Shadow was confident of winning the battle, he stopped overseeing the battlefield and flew towards the imperial palace.
'I will avenge you Lin Fan. I'm almost there!'
…
"Argh…" The Human Emperor let out a raspy groan as he regained consciousness.
Memories of the deal with Evil itself flooded his head as he attempted to recall what just happened.
Looking down at his hands, he saw that one of his arms was completely normal while the other was turned into a gruesome looking monsterified arm. There were five black claws protruding from his fingertips.
Upon closer inspection, however, he saw that faint green scales covered his entire body.
Closing his eyes, the Human Emperor laughed in ecstacy, "Finally! I have transcended mortality."
He could feel a colossal amount of power coursing through his veins, drowning him in euphoria.
Harnessing the immense power within his body, the Human Emperor punched out towards the roof of the chamber.
Although that punch was extremely simple, it produced several shockwaves that blasted the stone roof into smithereens.
As the sunlight shone through the hole, the Human Emperor squinted for awhile before flying out.
When his eyes had adjusted to the brightness, the Human Emperor saw a dark figure standing before him.
That dark figure was completely black with wisps of dark mist flowing around him. Beneath its conical bamboo hat was a golden and red eye that seemed to be able to pierce through him.
Before Human Emperor could ask anything, the dark figure spoke, "Are you the Human Emperor?"
