A golden wheel began to s.h.i.+ne with incandescent light. It was bright enough to cover the skies. At the same time, a sacred white flame with an aura capable of purifying the entire world descended, and whatever its light touched, the worldly natural energy was transformed into light resonant power. The entire place had become as bright as day.
Jiang Qing'e floated in the air with the three sacred halos rotating behind her. They were the physical manifestations of her triple ninth-grade light resonances, and each halo sucked in copious amounts of worldly natural energy as they spun, funneling the purest light resonant power into her body, supplementing the energy she consumed when she used her arts. Her resonant power recovered at a frightening rate.
Meanwhile, the Sacred Crown of Thorns had turned blood-red. The ever-s.h.i.+mmering scarlet brilliance reflected a certain hue on her fair, white face, making her seem a little devilish.
The contrasting holy and devilish auras seemed to have fused spectacularly into one, giving her a unique sense of beauty.
Her golden eyes were filled with indifference as she observed the world before her. The area was in ruins, completely disintegrated by the holy flame.
What had also vanished... were the four Duke Bergfrieds and their owner, Guardian General Zhao Baisun of the Golden Peng Guardians.
Not far away, the Golden Peng Guardians' Envoy turned pale. His eyes were full of abject terror and he began to shake in fear as he looked at the spot in the void where Zhao Baisun had completely vanished.
He had personally witnessed Jiang Qing'e's terrifying attack; she had crushed Zhao Baisun as easily as a brittle twig despite the latter going all-out.
In fact, he had been wiped out of existence, leaving not even a strand of hair behind.
As an upper third-grade Duke, the Envoy was no weaker than Zhao Jiyun. He had originally thought that Jiang Qing'e was courting death, since she was merely an upper first-grade Duke daring to challenge both him and Zhao Baisun at the same time. But when they exchanged blows, he seemed like a harmless chick before her.
She had dealt with the situation in a completely different manner from Li Luo, who had opted to get rid of the weaker ones first. The first thing she had done was target Zhao Baisun, and what was most shocking was the fact that he had been suppressed the entire time. The battle between the two hadn't lasted for very long either. Jiang Qing'e had opened the battle with an explosive killing move, demonstrating a horrifying Destiny-grade Duke Art. Even though Zhao Baisun had tried his best to defend, even activating his Duke's Spirit Insignia, something unique to middle-grade Dukes, he was unable to withstand her blow and had been slain on the spot.
A first-grade Duke had slaughtered a fourth-grade Duke! While this scene completely frightened the Envoy, those watching from the shadows felt even more terrified.
Was this the might of an unrivaled genius with a Ten-Pillar Duke Bergfried? Wasn't that just too scary?
Jiang Qing'e's raging energy gradually subsided. The immense amount of resonant power consumed by her Duke Art had been rapidly replenished by the three halos behind her. The blood-tinged hue of the Sacred Crown of Thorns subsided as well, gradually dimming.
"As expected, it wasn't easy to kill a fourth-grade Duke," she said to herself. Her objective was to kill Zhao Baisun instantly, so she had not held back at all, layering two Destiny-grade Duke Arts together. Zhao Baisun had only thought that she was using the Radiant Divineflame Heavenly Ring; he had never expected a Seven Treasures Glazed Sword of Light to be concealed inside it. They had been perfectly fused together, a splendid display of her remarkable talent when it came to light resonant power arts.
Her eyes then s.h.i.+fted towards the Golden Peng Envoy. She lifted the holy sword, which flowed with radiant, multicolored light.
However, before she so much as pointed the sword at him, he started to retreat at breakneck speed with a horrified expression on his face. He had completely lost the will to fight. His reaction wasn't that surprising. If even Zhao Baisun had been killed with nary a trace left behind, what could he, a third-grade Duke, do?
There was a possibility that Jiang Qing'e's energy was completely spent, but after being in the presence of her previous attack, he had lost the courage to even retaliate.
Thus, he had chosen to flee.
When she saw the Envoy turn tail and run, she didn't bother chasing. There were still many unkind individuals with questionable intentions all around them. She had to remain behind and on alert, to prevent them from disturbing Li Luo as well.
It was then that she hurriedly turned towards his direction.
She was just in time to witness the collision of an arrow of light filled with boundless killing intent and a beam of platinum light. The arrow pierced through the air with irresistible force, shattering the counterattack completely.
When the beam of light dissipated, Zhao Jiyun, who was connected to his Duke Art, suffered an immense backlash and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. His face turned sickly white and the resonant power fluctuations coming from him weakened instantly.
He had clearly been grievously injured.
However, he had no time to worry about his injuries, because, to his surprise, the arrow of light that had not been hampered in the least—it was still arcing towards him!
Not only had it wrecked the Divine Tiger's Rotating Mirror, it still possessed enough power to kill him!
Zhao Jiyun looked at it in shock and then attempted to scurry away. At the same time, he shouted, "Help me block it!"
His cry for help was directed at Zhao Zhu and the First Grand Commander of the Golden Peng Guardians. The two hesitated for a brief moment before they clenched their teeth and activated the Duke Bergfrieds above them. Divine Mist flowed out and formed a barrier, attempting to block the arrow of light.
But with Li Luo's current strength, how could a first-grade and a second-grade Duke stop him?
The Three Dragons' Kingslayer Arrow, which was imbued with incredibly dense murderous intent, shattered the Divine Mist almost instantly. At the same time, the duo were struck by the backlash of attempting to block the arrow, and both groaned in pain. Their internals were shaken, feeling as if all of the energy in th eir bodies had been sucked out.
They could only helplessly retreat.
The Three Dragons' Kingslayer Arrow continued to thread through the void unimpeded, appearing before Zhao Jiyun with incredible speed.
Terror filled Zhao Jiyun's eyes. His three Duke Bergfrieds rushed before him like beams of light, akin to three t.i.tanic mountains that served as a wall, radiating boundless resonant power.
Bang!
The arrow of light collided with them.
Zhao Jiyun thought to himself, "This Duke Art might seem terrifying, but only a trace of its power is left. It's impossible for it to penetrate through the absolute defense of my three Duke Bergfrieds."
However, at that very moment, his eyes shrunk. The three indomitable Duke Bergfrieds had been pierced through by the arrow, and waves of killing intent raged all around. His Duke Bergfrieds began to crack.
"How could this be..." Zhao Jiyun's expression was even more pale than before. A flash of light quickly began to enlarge in his field of vision, and he felt primal fear welling up within him. Before he could say a word, the arrow pierced through his forehead.
Whoos.h.!.+
A smooth hole was punched into his skull, right through his forehead.
The shocking killing intent spilled out of the wound and instantly wiped out his spirit.
His body remained floating in the air, but his pupils had turned vacant and gray.
Meanwhile, the energy undulations from his body began to quickly vanish.
The three Duke Bergfrieds began to scatter before everyone's eyes. They started off by shattering into pieces, then they dissipated into motes of light. It was as though a rain of light had descended upon everyone present.
But no one found this beautiful scene pleasing to the eye. Instead, a cold chill filled their hearts.
Zhao Jiyun had lost his life as well.
The elites of the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Zhao had been completely stomped in the amount of time it would take for an incense stick to burn. Those who had been watching had witnessed the side that was supposed to hold an overwhelming advantage lose spectacularly. The Golden Peng Guardian General, a Divine Tiger Envoy, and a few Grand Commanders had been killed. This was a dire loss for the Ten Thousand Beast Armies.
Gazes full of fear were levied at both Jiang Qing'e and Li Luo, who were still floating in the sky.
No one had expected that the most brilliant performance of this battle was not made by the Guardian General Li Foluo. Instead, this achievement was obtained by the two youths who had just joined the Dragon's Fang Guardians.
"They are demons!" someone couldn't help blurting out.
After this battle, the notorious reputation of the Dragon's Fang Guardians' Dual Demons would likely spread throughout the Treasure Domain.
The radiance that erupted from firing the Heavenly Dragon's Sunchaser Bow gradually dimmed. Some cracks had been left on the bow, and Li Luo felt a little sad when he saw them. This triple violet-eye treasured artifact was unable to keep up with him any longer.
Though this wasn't unusual. Dukes did not use violet-eye treasured artifacts, and he could already use techniques with enough power to rival one. The strain his power caused on the treasured artifact was only normal.