Chapter 1984 - Demise of the Empresses

Tianming seemed to be pushed through the tornadoes by the will of the people. The empress, witnessing that, felt a degree of crumbling shock. The brat was far too unreasonable, even for her! There was no way she could control him, let alone swallow him up!

"This is my turf!" she shrieked as she gripped her spear tight and gave it a powerful thrust, sending out powerful manifestations of tens of thousands of howling wolves whose cries shook Tianming's Soul Tower. The attack had a spiritual component in addition to the divine hazards contained within the spear itself, which gave it a piercing edge. The strike formed a formation of ten thousand other spears!

Empress Ying had singlehandedly dealt with the group assault with her own power and two divine artifacts, neither side of her defense faltering. She couldn't afford to make a single mistake, lest her house of cards all came tumbling down.

"Empress Ying, you may be able to stop me, but you can't stop the fifty billion people behind me that desire your death!" The metallic grating from the clash of the swords and spears resounded across the entire divine astralship, but the empress was still able to hear Tianming's words.

The attacks from all fronts converged at that moment. There was Tianming and his totems, Lan Huang and the prime wonder, Xian Xian and Yin Chen, and Ying Huo and Meow Meow. Among them, Xian Xian and Yin Chen were the weakest, but their task was much simpler. Xian Xian was rather angry at having its roots and vines torn apart so many times, but that didn't stop it from sending an endless stream to come writhing again and replace the torn ones. Empress Ying cursed as they bound her again and again, only for insects to creep into her open mouth and stomach.

"Agh! Disgusting!" She felt like she was going mad, only for a mind-blowing explosion to ring out. She coughed out blood right as Tianming clashed with her when the weight of Lan Huang and the Prime Mountain slammed her shield back down on her head. Given the size the shield had expanded to, it was impossible for it to miss. At the same time, she still had to deal with the attacks from Tianming's totems!

Fortunately, she was agile enough to avoid the prime mountain while she circumvented Tianming's attacks, but Lan Huang's fall clipped her shoulder, drawing blood. Despite the toughness of her body, tens of bloody bone-deep wounds formed.

"Huh?" The wounds had completely taken her aback, yet worse was still to come. She felt a burning heat behind her, from which an explosion that shook the entire Starvore came. Countless lightning bolts zipped toward her back; her abilities had failed to negate Ying Huo and Meow Meow's. By now, no matter how powerful her spear strikes were, there was no way she could face Tianming and his totems with her full attention. The lightning bolts tore through her back, drawing even more blood!

"Take my slash, pretty one!" said a sharp, snarky voice, yet its tone seemed to send chills down her spine. She felt the same kind of sword strike behind her as the one Tianming was unleashing in front of her. The phoenix had turned into a gigantic, dragon-like sword as it shot toward her back. Tianming's sword ki storm completely drowned out her battle art and pushed her spear strikes back. Instead of having a perfect answer for each of the attacks she was receiving on every side, almost all of her responses had failed to do anything! There was nothing but certain death in store for her.

It all happened in a flash and she didn't even have enough time to perceive her suffering and regret. Tianming's attacks were mercilessly quick. At the moment her spirit collapsed, her mind was completely empty. She widened her eyes, looking at the youth in the storm and seeing far too much contained within his eyes. He bore the will of a ruler that carried the wishes of his subjects, something that instilled genuine fear in her, albeit a fear that didn't last long.

"I...." She had wanted to engage in rounds of debaucherous pleasure with the youth, but that was a laughable dream to have. In the youth's eyes, she was nothing but a murderous evil being. Even the admiration she had for him was nothing but a manifestation of her selfish, perverse desires. In her moment of terror, she felt the pain in her back spread to her front. Looking down, she saw a 'chicken wing' poking out of her belly. Her divine artifact physique had been pierced through, not by another more powerful divine artifact, but by a wing!

"It makes no sense!" she spat, laughing at the absurdity despite the pain she felt.

"Yet another idiotic specter that calls us a disorderly rabble yet ended up being badly ganged up upon...." Ying Huo's mockery silenced her completely. She felt nothing but a sense of denial. After that, she watched as the totems and Grand-Orient Sword pierced through her entire body, turning her into a pincushion.

"At least leave my head on.... Being decapitated looks horrible," she said, only to see Tianming holding his sword at her and looking at her neck. The fact that she had survived being pierced through so many times showed how unrelenting specters were.

"There’s skulls all over your ship, including even specter and beast skulls. I'd have thought you were a big fan of decapitations," Tianming said. He had no patience for someone like her, not to mention he’d never cared for her looks at all. He kept his actions simple and decisive, decapitating her in an instant and taking everything she had, including the two cores of the ship. When she died, the Starvore suddenly powered down, transforming into a small dim star that fell toward the ground.

"Let's go!"

Tianming and his lifebound beasts quickly left. The sovereigns on the battlefield outside were definitely aware of his presence. Taking the formation cores and powering down the ship was the same as denying the specter sovereigns their sole escape route. They wouldn't have had to leave someone behind to look after the ship had that not been the case, and even then, they had still failed to secure their ship.

Tianming couldn't be sure what consequences slaying the empress would have, since he didn't know how the fight outside was going. Gathering information was of the utmost importance. The battle outside had probably ended already, so did the sun emperor win? Or did Grand Emperor Starvore triumph?

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

He managed to leave the ship right before it crashed into the ground. Unsurprisingly, the battle had wrought destruction all around. All of a sudden, a gigantic corpse fell from the sky right beside Tianming. It was Empress Yu, completely bloodied, charred, and marked with thousands of holes all over her body. A gigantic blade soon followed, plunging itself into her open mouth and nailing her tongue to her jaw.

The golden-haired man up above shrugged and said, "Nailed it." From his cold expression, it was clear that his earlier crass behavior was nothing more than a playful act.