Hearing the old clan leader’s command, not only the Four Holy Star Lords but also the Seven Mansions Star Officials under their command all formed hand seals in unison.
Pillar after pillar of light descended from above, enveloping the Four Holy Star Lords and their subordinate star officials. Everyone vanished in an instant, entering the star chart and igniting the star patterns at its four corners.
East: Azure Dragon. South: Vermilion Bird. West: White Tiger. North: Black Tortoise.
“Don’t get too cocky, kid!”
The old clan leader gripped the core of the divine artifact in his hand. Under the light pillar’s guidance, he slowly took his position at the central array eye.
The Great Circumpolar Star Chart fully activated, unfurling its array formation and locking onto Yan Zhen below!
Boundless starlight began gathering and compressing at blinding speed.
The three beautiful masters’ expressions shifted slightly at the sight.
“Chen Xi, it’s your turn.”
“Chen Xi, hurry and make your move! Stop the Star God Artifact!”
But there was no need for their reminders—Chen Xi had already begun forming seals.
Yan Zhen, however, raised a hand to halt her.
“Masters, there’s no need to act. Leave this to me.”
Chen Xi paused, stunned.
“Zhen’er, but…”
Yan Zhen turned his head slightly.
“Does Master doubt me?”
Chen Xi lowered her hands and offered a beautiful smile.
“Of course not. Then This Master will watch right here as Zhen’er shatters their pride with his own hands.”
Yan Zhen murmured his assent, then stored away the Extreme Emperor Sword. He held his hands in a cradling gesture, and four extreme flames blazed to life in each palm.
In his left hand burned the Gold-Silver Fire, Great Crimson Heaven Flame, Wind-Thunder Crystal Fire, and Evil Spirit Dragon Breath Flame.
In his right: Thousand Feathers Phoenix Immortal Fire, Azure Sea Tide Birth Fire, Rootless Earth Spirit Fire, and Xuan Huang Dual Qi Flame!
Yan Zhen closed his eyes and slowly brought his palms together.
Emperor-Grade Mystic Techniques such as the Heaven and Earth Incineration Art, Primeval Ashen Land, and This Realm Annihilated were merely different manifestations of fusing three extreme flames.
But the limit of three could be broken—that was the essence of Three Lives Myriad Things. Three was no restriction; it symbolized the infinite!
This was the true Emperor-Grade Mystic Technique!
Drawing on the power of Heaven’s Mandate, Yan Zhen intuited that pivotal insight in the void. He snapped his eyes open, and his palms clapped together with a resounding crack. The eight extreme flames fused in a thunderous roar!
Dazzling extreme radiance erupted, shattering the surrounding space repeatedly—it could not withstand the birth of such colossal energy.
Under Yan Zhen’s freakishly precise control, the eight extreme flames merged into an innate Eight Trigrams diagram. Within it, the great dao of heaven and earth evolved ceaselessly, revealing the Mystic mysteries of the starry heavens’ rotation. A terrifying aura, rivaling that of a divine artifact, spread outward.
The old clan leader and the others inside the star chart saw Yan Zhen unleash this horrifying Mystic technique and redoubled their efforts to compress the starlight.
“Useless! Even a Nine Star Great Saint can only flee before a divine artifact’s might!” the old clan leader bellowed, as much to bolster himself as his clansmen. “Die for this old man—Eternal Starlight!”
Boom!
Vast starlight cascaded from the heavens like a thundering river, splintering space in its path—like divine retribution.
No, this was the power of a god itself.
Yan Zhen exhaled a breath of turbid qi. With a twist of his hands, he hurled the diminutive flame Eight Trigrams diagram forward.
“Go—Eight Flames Extreme Incineration, Starry Sky Divination!”
The two forces collided headlong, shaking the heavens and earth. Then, to everyone’s astonishment, the starlight torrent was halted dead by that tiny Eight Trigrams diagram. It decomposed in a flash, utterly consumed without a trace.
The power of Divine Authority was a flawed echo of Heaven’s Mandate Power. It could never rival the genuine article—or, more precisely, the might of an emperor!
The flame Eight Trigrams diagram shot skyward. Amid the horrified stares of the Star God Clan’s old clan leader, Four Holy Star Lords, and Twenty-Eight Mansions Star Officials, it smashed into the star chart.
In a blaze of light, the entire starry expanse was overlaid by the Eight Trigrams diagram. As the trigrams spun, the star chart fractured.
The primary array operators within spat blood and plummeted from the widening cracks. The star chart’s core tumbled down in their wake.
Yan Zhen seized the star chart core from afar. Channeling Heaven’s Mandate Power, he suppressed the artifact spirit’s frantic resistance. At the same time, he resummoned the Extreme Emperor Sword and flung it with all his might. It pierced the old clan leader’s chest dead-center, the blade tip bursting from his back and pinning him rigidly in midair.
The Extreme Emperor Sword’s scorching heat seared the old clan leader’s organs without mercy. Agonizing pain wrenched a guttural howl from him—like a dying beast in its final throes.
Every Star God Clan member present went pale, trembling at the sight. This included the enfeebled Four Holy Star Lords and the handful of star officials still conscious.
The old clan leader had lost. Even wielding the Star God Artifact, he couldn’t subdue Chen Xi’s disciple. Impossible!
He was that wretched daughter’s disciple—not the master herself. How could he wield such power!?
Yan Zhen gazed down imperiously at the Four Holy Star Lords.
“Care to keep fighting? You should be able to invoke the Star God Authority, no?”
Divine Authority demanded a god-level bloodline or the combined saint-level bloodlines of many. Each of the Four Holy Star Lords bore saint-level bloodlines; in theory, they could unite to wield it.
But their paltry skill could pry loose only the barest sliver—enough, perhaps, against an ordinary Eight-Star Mystic Saint. Against this monstrous Yan Zhen? Laughable.
The Four Holy Star Lords fell silent. The Vermilion Bird Star Lord was the most panicked among them, head bowed, eyes averted from Yan Zhen.
But Yan Zhen’s gaze bored straight through the Vermilion Bird Star Lord’s armored visor. In a flicker, he was before him, delivering a gauntleted slap with crushing force.
“Bitch!”
Crack!
The sharp slap echoed alongside the icy curse. The Vermilion Bird Star Lord flew back, staggering to recover his footing while clutching his swollen, reddened cheek. Humiliation and rage burned in his eyes, only to dissolve into abject terror.
The White Tiger Star Lord refused to yield. He erupted with Saint Might and lunged at Yan Zhen—only to take a kick that sent him vomiting blood once more. Yan Zhen then encased him in Rootless Earth Spirit Fire, freezing him solid as a stone statue.
The elderly Azure Dragon Star Lord and Black Tortoise Star Lord, who had stirred to action, thought better of it and held utterly still, scarcely daring to breathe.
Only then did Yan Zhen turn his attention to the few remaining conscious star officials. His eyes locked on the quivering Liusu Star Officer—Star Slave.
She was the prime culprit who had driven the beautiful master from her home, just like that Ye Fu from Rain God Peak—ganging up to bully the weak…
Before she could plead, Yan Zhen slapped her from afar with a thunderous crack, sending her spinning through the air.
“You’re a bitch too—and a worse one!”
Blood dribbled from Star Slave’s lips. She didn’t dare utter a sound. She had assumed Chen Xi’s return was surrender, ripe for revenge. Never had she dreamed Chen Xi would return so formidable—or that her disciple would be a freak who crushed even the old clan leader. The entire Star God Clan was powerless against him.
Star Slave couldn’t face this reality, nor fathom her doom. She could only pray silently for the Star Gods to descend and save them.
Alas, the Star Gods had perished over a thousand years past, their wills silenced with no heir to the authority.
Now, Yan Zhen reigned supreme over the Star God Clan!
Yan Zhen spared little thought for Star Slave or the Vermilion Bird Star Lord. After sealing the remaining two star lords and the throng of star officials, he returned to his beautiful master’s side and offered her the star chart core.
“Master, I’ve avenged you.”
Chen Xi reached out with her slender jade hand—not for the core, but to caress her disciple’s faceplate tenderly. She watched as he gradually dismissed his full-body armor, baring that handsome face with its hint of youthful innocence. Her heart swelled with emotion; she longed to embrace him, to kiss him, right there before everyone.
“You’ve worked hard, Zhen’er.”
