Dark star of calamity.

Liang Chen surveyed their surroundings as Yumao flew at his full speed, his gaze frequently drifting down to the seemingly endless ocean beneath them. The water was so black that it resembled tar, it could even be mistaken for solid lava if it wasn't for the violent waves that whipped up some foam. The waves themselves were also strange, mainly due to the fact that there wasn't any wind or land anywhere nearby that could cause such waves.

This was Liang Chen's first time seeing the Sun Swallowing Ocean, and he could easily see why it got its name. Surveying the ocean and stretching out his senses he discovered that he couldn't actually extend his senses particularly deep into the ocean. The first 100 meters went fine, but his senses would be violently shut out the moment he tried to go any deeper.

He guessed that it was highly likely that a tremendously powerful Demonic beast lived within the ocean, the beast might even be the reason behind the appearance of the ocean. Of course, this was no more than a guess of Liang Chen's, not even the oldest book he had read in the Storm Wolf sect knew just how this Sun Swallowing Ocean had come about.

Liang Chen stopped prying into the Sun Swallowing Ocean and returned his focus to the task he was currently focusing on, perfecting the Dragon King's Six Steps. The theory behind them was actually very simple, the fourth step would be the third step magnified by the first step, the fifth step would be the third step magnified by the second step, and the sixth step would be the third step magnified by the third step, the move he used to kill Chen Dairong.

But no matter how simple the theory behind them was, actually pulling off the steps was a bit harder. The first problem was the time it currently took him to pull them off, he needed at least two seconds, which would be far too long in a life and death battle. The second problem was that he had to figure out the best way to control the rampant energy that was born with each step, he couldn't afford to have it evaporate parts of his body each time he wanted to use it.

And the final problem was accustomization, he had to get used to the energy born when he used the three new steps. The strengthened energy that was a result of the three new steps should still be his own, but the energy born by those three new steps for some reason felt different from his own. It didn't feel hostile or evil, just foreign, he had to get accustomed to this strange energy if he wanted to properly utilize the new steps he had created.

So he closed his eyes and focused on this technique of his, it was one of his greatest trump cards so he couldn't afford to be lax about it. Of course, he never once put all his focus on it, he always kept a small part of his mind within the grand array surrounding the entire planet. Seeing Qing Lan Yong's memories allowed him to know about the appearance and aura of the woman who gave birth to Yan Ling, so right now he could use the array to keep track of her movements.

She was currently residing in the same place she had been the last time Qing Lan Yong heard anything from her, Golden Dawn city. Yumao was far faster than most Demonic beasts that had the darkness and the death elements, his rapid speed allowed them to cut right through all of the territories of the Dawn's Blade Alliance and arrive above Golden Dawn city after only six days.

Golden Dawn city was the capital and headquarters of the Dawn's Blade Alliance, a collection of sects and clans that were strong enough to control the entire western part of the planet. As such, it was by far the largest city that Liang Chen had ever seen, even from his spot in the air above it, the city still ended up stretching out further than he could see. There were hundreds of palaces of varying shapes spread throughout the city, even the smallest one was over ten kilometers in width and length, adding to the grandeur of the city.

Golden towers shaped like swords rose up from the city in various locations, each one serving as a guard tower that would usually be manned by at least 500 archers. Tracing the roads and alleys that spread like a web through the city, Liang Chen actually discovered that they connected together to form the image of a blazing sun, the crimson-golden stone used to pave the roads further adding to this image.

Liang Chen looked like little more than a small black star as he stood atop Yumao high above the city and overlooked the countless lives scurrying through the streets. But to those in the know, this tiny black star brought with it nothing but calamity, a walking apocalypse waiting to be unleashed.

Liang Chen turned his head to the eastern part of the city, his connection with the grand array allowed him to notice that Qing Lan Yong was currently doing just as he said he would, he was bringing over those he knew had worked together with the Sealing God Empyrean. But Liang Chen's gaze moved away as quickly as it had turned towards the eastern part, his gaze landing on a palace located a bit west of him.

The palace was built using light blue stones that seemed to comfort and calm down anyone who looked at it, a verdant garden spreading out in a circle around the palace. The palace itself looked somewhat strange, four rectangular buildings gathered in a large square that was open in the middle. Each of the rectangular buildings were topped with a dome that ended in a sharp spire, a flower-shaped building rising up from within the empty center of the square. If the garden was included, the palace took up about fifty kilometers of space, it could be considered a needlessly grand place.

Liang Chen's gaze swept over the strange palace, a few arcs of lightning flashing through his pupils as they moved. He didn't pull back his gaze after sweeping it across the entire palace, stretching out his right arm and pointing at the buildings, his voice cold as he spoke.

"Bring it down."

Yumao raised his head high and hissed loudly in response to the simple statement, a nearly undetectable roaring sound mixed into the hissing. Black orbs of condensed darkness started to appear around Liang Chen and Yumao, each about 200 meters in diameter, they almost resembled dark stars surrounding a tiny sun.

The appearance of Liang Chen and Yumao might not be noticed by people due to how small they looked because of their altitude, but there was no way for people to miss these tens of black orbs. At first, the people in the city just looked on with some curiosity and a hint of fear, but then Yumao truly unleashed his attack.

Large tentacles stretched out from every black orb and shot towards the palace, easily piercing through it and tearing it apart. But the scene of destruction was somewhat strange, some of the tentacles caused the buildings to shatter and collapse, but some of the tentacles didn't break the buildings, they seemed to simply pass through them without causing damage. But once those tentacles were pulled back, smooth holes were all that remained where they had just been, it was as if they had completely disintegrated the buildings as they passed through them.

More and more black orbs appeared around Liang Chen and Yumao, hundreds of them appearing less than two seconds after Liang Chen gave the order. Yumao had yet to be able to join Liang Chen in his battles so now that he got a chance to show off he didn't hold back in the slightest. Five seconds after Liang Chen had given the order, the entire palace had been reduced to nothing more than rubble, the only thing that remained whole was a single one of the petals that belonged to the flower-shaped building.

The building itself had already crumbled and collapsed, but the petal remained floating in the sky, a translucent barrier of energy surrounding it like a shield. Liang Chen took a step forward and walked off of Yumao, stepping into empty air and walking towards the floating petal. Each step either gathered wind beneath his feet or froze the time of the air beneath his foot, his steps unhurried as he headed for the petal. Yumao shrank down again and curled up on top of Liang Chen's head, pestering him for praise.

"Yes yes, you did very well. You're great and powerful, far stronger than any other, you're the best."

Liang Chen tapped Yumao on the head with his finger while heaping on as much praise as he could, Yumao raising his head with a prideful expression in a content manner. Liang Chen stopped the praising when he arrived in front of the pillar, ignoring the utter chaos that was spreading through the city as his gaze fell upon the open door that was present on the petal, which was about 70 meters long.

Behind the door was a simple room containing only a bed and a bookshelf, green runes covering every inch of the room's inside. Sitting at the center of the room, her hands still on some Spirit Stones that she had hurriedly placed into the array, was the woman that Liang Chen was looking for.

The woman had sapphire blue eyes and cyan hair that she kept tied into a single long braid that hung down behind her. Her eyes were a bit deeper and her figure a bit fuller, but other than this the woman was almost the spitting image of Yan Ling, it was as if she existed as no more than a mockery of the one that Liang Chen loved. The woman cast a quick glance at the Spirit Stones that she had inserted into the array, her gaze then shifting towards Liang Chen as a soft smirk appeared on her face.

"Surprised? I knew you'd come for me, I knew it the moment I discovered that you were still alive. You didn't bring that little harlot with you? Peh, she should have just done as she was told and marry Huang Dong, she should have just been a good daughter. But no, she's gotta go and drag home a worthless cur like you."

Liang Chen's gaze remained as cold as ice as he looked at the woman, Yan Qingye, who hadn't changed her name back to what it was before she reincarnated to enter the Storm Wolf sect as a spy. Liang Chen cocked his head slightly, his gaze roaming over the translucent shield that surrounded the petal as he spoke.

"Don't call her that, you've lost all right to call her that. If you ask me, just like you are no longer her mother, she is no longer your daughter. She stopped being your daughter on that day, so of course those idiotic marriage plains of yours failed."

No one who could inflict such pain upon the child they themselves had birthed deserved to be called their parent, they could at best be called a birthgiver. And Yan Qingye had not only grievously wounded Yan Ling's father, she had caused the death of Yan Ling's two siblings, she had lost all right to ever consider Yan Ling anything but her enemy. Yan Qingye actually laughed slightly after hearing Liang Chen's statement, the light in her eyes seeming somewhat unhinged.

"No longer my daughter? Hehe, that's where you're wrong. She'll always be my daughter, just like I'll always be her mother, that's a connection that can never be severed. No matter how high or how low she goes, she'll always be my daughter, it's her duty to listen to me."

Yan Qingye continued to let out somewhat erratic laughter while speaking, seemingly fully convinced that what she was saying was correct. Liang Chen stopped inspecting the shield once she finished talking, his gaze landing on her again.

"You know, she wants to kill you, she really does. She'd probably be pretty pissed if anyone other than she kills you. But I won't spare you, I won't let you live to die by her hands. Do you want to know why? because she called you mother while telling me about you. No matter how fucked up and vile you are, even if she herself doesn't know it, a tiny piece deep within her still considers you to be one of her parents. I'd rather have her be angry at me for killing you than have her kill you herself and end up feeling even worse without knowing why."

Yan Qingye didn't respond to Liang Chen's statement, her erratic laughter calming down somewhat as she continued to glance at the Spirit Stones that powered the defensive array around her. This was her trump card, she had enough Spirit Stones here to last her several years. But even this hope Liang Chen would take from her.

He stretched out his left arm and placed his hand on the translucent shield, exerting a bit of force and unleashing his law of the void. Cracks started to spread throughout the shield, Yan Qingye's expression starting to sink as she looked at the now cracked visage of Liang Chen as he spoke.

"And no, it is you that are wrong. Me and her, we will soar far higher than you could ever imagine, we'll carve our names and legacy into the very foundation of the multiverse. But there will be no mention of you, not a single trace or mark. Your actions, your name, your very existence, just like anything else that would ever hurt her, I will erase them all from history. None will ever even know of your petty and pathetic existence."