The Mandate Emperor appeared solemn as his black hair swayed in the air. The white robe he wore was full of grandeur, increased his hint of authority, and added a layer of distinctiveness to his profile. He arrived before Davis and Isabella, maintaining a distance of ten kilometers before the Karmic Guardian Emperor, clad in a refined and pure white robe, arrived beside him.
"Emperor of Death, stop this madness." The Mandate Emperor spoke in a calm voice.
"Are you picking a fight with me?" Davis widened his eyes threateningly as his sapphire eyes shone, "Would you like me to say that you are courting death instead? I said that I would kill those who obstruct my path. Didn’t you hear?"
Mandate Emperor shook his head.
"I’m not here to fight. I’m here to say that the Zlatan Family is already done for...."
"It’s not done until I say it’s done."
Davis harrumphed with a cold voice before he looked at Isabella, who had her eyes closed.
"Emperor of Death. Are you not willing to reconsider?"
The Karmic Guardian Emperor asked, his silky white hair flailing in the wind.
Davis didn’t answer, nor did he look at them. He simply waited for Isabella to react for a while before he saw her finally open her eyes.
"Do I not have the right to kill these people who tried to kill or force me time and time again?"
"Earth Dragon Queen, you absolutely have the right to do so." The Mandate Emperor nodded, "The Zlatan Family’s actions this time have certainly been terrible and dishonorable, even more so than the other three Dragon Families combined. However, all we’re saying is that it isn’t worth it to kill these unknown characters below. It’ll stain your illustrious name."
"I don’t care about my na-" Isabella spoke but sighed, "I should say that I do care about my name, but not now, not after what they caused to happen to my husband, my sisters, my family."
She reached out her hand to the side when suddenly, soul force surged out her palm, transforming into a dull golden radiant light before it shot towards multiple targets in the distance.
"Slave seals..."
The Mandate Emperor narrowed his eyes as he saw those numerous slave seals flew and affixed themselves on the Dragon Family’s remaining powerhouses.
There were still twenty-two powerhouses left, but all of them were newly risen powerhouses; Martial Overlords, who were force-cultivated from Peak-Level Martial Sage Stage due to the lack of powerhouses to protect the Zlatan Family. Their power was subpar, but they still couldn’t be underestimated by ordinary people as they possessed the blood of the Golden Dragon.
But surprisingly, the young powerhouses didn’t resist and let the slave seals be implanted on them. At the same time, they all came to know that the Earth Dragon Queen’s Soul Forging Cultivation is at the King Soul Stage, perhaps even stronger in prowess.
Isabella took a step forward towards them and appeared in front of a young female powerhouse.
"Ahh!~"
She staggered back and fell mid-air but hovered, feeling fear before she tried to invoke the courage from her heart.
Isabella gazed down at her as her lips moved.
"Tell me, for what reason did you people try to distract us by flying away from here?"
That young female powerhouse’s eyes became wide before she stood up and went on her knees. Her golden hair shone from the moonlit night while her eyes became teary, making her appear quite tragic.
"We... we were sacrifices for you two to appease. You can kill us all but not the family..."
Isabella narrowed her brows.
"Then what was the formation for? To kill us if we ignorantly flew into the city?"
"No..." The woman frantically shook her head, "The plan was to exhaust your strength and let you two go in exchange for an everlasting truce between both parties. I swear... this plan was what the Ancestor came up in the last minute..."
Isabella calmly blinked before she turned to look at Davis, who nodded his head.
Davis used his Heart Intent, and he actually found no lies. Then again, with Nadia and Evelynn unbound on this world, he could understand that the Ancestor finally gave up everything, from trying to be prideful to completely lowering himself in order to receive amnesty from them.
Isabella finally smiled. Her smile was one of relief as she turned to look at the people she enslaved.
"Alright, I’ll let you people live."
"...!?"
The young powerhouses of the Zlatan Family appeared shocked that they didn’t know how to react or explain their happiness. They looked at each other, wondering if they were granted amnesty before they all knelt and clasped their hands together towards Isabella.
"The Earth Dragon Queen is magnanimous!"
Isabella brightly smiled before her lips moved again.
"Now cripple yourselves~"
"...!?"
The youths became stunned, their bodies freezing in mid-air. Most of them began shuddering as they raised their heads and saw the smiling Earth Dragon Queen. However, looking at her wide eyes, they came to understand that she was... dead serious!
"If that’s what it takes, then..."
*Bzzzz!~*
A young man’s expression twisted before he began to cripple his middle dantian, making the martial energy inside him crazily swell as if to cause it to collapse.
"Wait."
*Gasp!~*
A voice shook his heart as he shuddered and stopped self-crippling his cultivation. Still, he was practically hyperventilating, his face looking deathly pale. He had almost blown his middle dantian into a crippled state, but thanks to Earth Dragon Queen’s melodious voice and powerful pressure stopping him, he was able to restore the stability in his middle dantian.
"I’m not a demon." Isabella shook her head, "I said for you to cripple your Essence Gathering Cultivation bases, not your main cultivation base."
"..."
This time, the youths were not shocked but just possessed crying expressions on their faces.
Why did it seem like they saw hope at the end of the tunnel, and yet when they try to reach it, it distances itself time and time again?
*Bzzz!~*
Unstable undulations began to radiate around the skies as twenty-two powerhouses crippled their Essence Gathering Cultivation bases, becoming weak as some fainted while a few others stayed conscious, although barely conscious as they sweated buckets, even hyperventilating like the young man before, who still stayed conscious at the moment before he raised his head and forcefully clasped his hands.
"Thank you... Thank you so much for sparing us, Earth Dragon Queen."
"Thank you...!"
The others also followed suit as they still kneeled and smiled at her sparing them.
"How can I ruin my precious slaves?" Isabella smilingly shook her head, "That’s a waste of resources, especially when the Zlatan Family is now under my control."
"...!?"
"What...? You..."
The young female powerhouse who was interrogated looked aghast, her expression full of disbelief. How could the noble Earth Dragon Queen go against her words? Wasn’t this despicable?
"What?" Isabella’s smile faded as she shot a cold look at them, "I only said that you people could live, but don’t worry. I won’t take away your Treasury, but the spatial rings from all the Grand Elders and your Patriarch are mine. Your manpower is mine. You will all slave yourselves for me next five hundred years. From here on out, the Zlatan Family loses its right as peak power and will become a lower power directly under my control. If you don’t like it, then say it now, for I will put an end to your despicable lives~"
Isabella’s black eyes shone with a sharp golden light as she raised her hand towards them, a brownish-golden wave beginning to surge from her palm as it heavily pressured them simultaneously.
"No...! We will follow your decision!"
"The Zlatan Family is willing to enter slavery for five hundred years to redeem ourselves of this blunder!"
The young man and the young woman both simultaneously made a decision that rattled the fate of the Zlatan Family. The Zlatan Family people were pale as they heard this, but they also felt that it was much better than being unreasonably slaughtered.
Five hundred years? Those who already lived more than a thousand years felt that it was endurable. As for the shame and humiliation that was going to be part and parcel of this arrangement, they felt that it was well deserved after losing to a little girl like her who hadn’t reached two hundred years old.
However, that wasn’t what made them accept their fate but her rank as a dragon-blooded woman, not to mention that she was still an inheritor of an immortal inheritance. Her status more or less convinced the entirety of the Zlatan Family to accept their fate as a slave power!
As Davis looked at the entirety of the Zlatan Family kneeling towards him, precisely Isabella, he finally felt his heart rest at ease. The power that dared to forcefully take her was now conquered under her feet!
"Let’s go, husband. We’re going to hunt down and kill those two bastards who escaped no matter what."
"Without a doubt, my Empress." Davis chuckled, "Otherwise, my face would be thrown into the garbage after I made a bold statement like that for the world to see."
Isabella smirked at him as she shook her head in amusement as if he couldn’t find them or kill them from anywhere he wanted to with his mystical powers that still made her feel puzzled. However, she felt that the feeling of destroying their skulls with her own hands would be great!
Davis and Isabella were about to leave when a voice echoed.
"Wait...!"
By this time, Davis found this authoritative voice quite annoying. It definitely could influence his actions and thoughts passively, although he wished that it was Clara who influenced him with Mandate Laws instead of others.
He turned to look at the Mandate Emperor and moved his lips.
"What?"
The Mandate Emperor appeared solemn before he sighed.
"Is the matter that you met with the wicked path hegemons true?"