“Boom!” He continued and applied more pressure.

She was instantly suppressed on the ground, unable to move an inch.

“Brat, try this then!” The scholar was next. He roared and flicked his feathered fan.

“Boom!” True fire engulfed the area with a temperature high enough to incinerate anything. Just one flick was enough to destroy an entire sect.

“Zzz...” The specks of sand scattering in the sky were melting into lava, almost like a volcanic eruption.

The true fire continued flying towards Li Qiye and wrapped around him completely, showing no mercy.

Li Qiye simply waved his hand. Extreme coldness descended and extinguished the great fire.

Under this technique, the scholar’s sky-devouring fire looked like a lonely ember amidst a world covered in ice.

Li Qiye pointed at the scholar and a chain of ice materialized, coiling around the scholar and forcing him to the ground.

It didn’t take long before the four of them failed. Only Ill Lord was left.

From beginning to end, Li Qiye only used one hand - no weapon and merit law, yet he still subdued four Eternals so easily.

“That was just for fun.” Li Qiye stood there with his hands behind his back, casually commenting: “If I become serious, even the villainous heaven will tremble with fear. Hell, I would be scared of me too if it reaches that point.”

The four Eternals were speechless and white. There was no need to elaborate on their power; just the fact that they were Lucidity King’s rivals spoke volume.

However, they lost to Li Qiye even though he was clearly going easy on them, not resorting to any technique.

What horrifying level of power was this? They realized that they have met a monster whose power exceeded their understanding.

“You want to try?” Li Qiye looked at Ill Lord and nonchalantly asked.

“It’s clear that defeat is inevitable, but one must still try.” Ill Lord sighed and instantly threw his walking stick after speaking.

Though he was stronger than the four by a large margin, he couldn’t defeat them so easily. No one in Imperial could do so.

“Boom!” He became shrouded in gray fog, no longer looking as sickly as before.

His aura became impressive just like a supreme king looking down on the world. Though he still wore the same simple robe, he looked like a natural-born conqueror - the ruler of the myriad realms.

This was his real form, not the sickly state. Remember, the word “Ill” is not the focus of his title; the word “Lord” was. It meant that he would be above everyone. [1]

One could imagine how mighty he used to be in the past.

As he walked forward, his foggy aura touched the sand and instantly corroded them. Remember, each speck of sand was tough like crystal but they still turned to powder.

This was his dao of pestilence, allowing him to destroy a sect without using any technique. A great army couldn’t last before him.

“Summon!” He roared and his gray fog soared to the sky. Even the stars would turn to powder by their corrosive property.

The aura then soared downward for Li Qiye, wanting to turn him to nothingness.

Ill Lord became the ruler of death and destruction, instilling fear into the spectators.

“Pestilence?” Li Qiye chuckled at the tempestuous aura: “Only a minor art compared to my death.”

Having said that, he casually raised one finger.

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

“Buzz.” A strand of death circled around his fingertip. It was weak, on the verge of extinguishing.

However, the aura of pestilence was instantly replaced by this affinity of death. Only remnant powders remained.

The plaque affinity was completely devoured by death. The worst pestilence was nothing in comparison.

Death was the final destination of all things, simply unavoidable.

“Boom!” Ill Lord wanted to rush forward but he paused in his tracks. His foot stomped down on the ground in order to stabilize.

In this second, Li Qiye’s finger was before him. The aura of death loomed before his throat. If he took another step forward, it would invade his body.

As a dao creator, Ill Lord certainly knew that he would die the moment this aura of death enters his body. The greatest might and strongest merit law still couldn’t stop death.

He didn’t dare to move or even swallowing his saliva, afraid that the slightest movement would trigger the aura.

“Boom!” Li Qiye flipped his hand and forced Ill Lord to the ground.

All five have been subdued - a convincing, utter defeat.

The other four were stunned and became hopeless at this sight. Ill Lord was the strongest among them; he could even take all four of them on by himself. Alas, their only hope has been defeated.

“My horn...” Wild Bull cried loudly while holding his broken horn.

It’s not easy for him to grow another one unlike Golden Dragon and his arms. The horn would need to grow inch by inch; a full re-creation wasn’t possible.

“Who gives a shit about your horn, we’re all about to die.” Golden Dragon was in a bad mood and sarcastically said: “As if you can leave it to your descendants.”

“We do! Our clan has a tradition of passing down our horns, and mine is especially priceless! It would be the ultimate heirloom!” Wild Bull was something else. He still answered seriously at this point.

The group had nothing to say. They were powerless and could be killed at any moment yet Wild Bull still cared about his horn.

“How boring, what should I do with you all?” Li Qiye yawned and glanced at his prisoners.

“Do what you want! I’m not afraid of death and will not beg for mercy!” The tough bull retorted.

“I can only blame my lack of abilities.” The scholar remained graceful, a stark contrast to the bull.

“It’s only dying sooner, no big deal. Do it, faster death means faster reincarnation, no need to suffer any longer.” The only lady here was straightforward as well.

“Do your worst, I won’t bat an eye.” Golden Dragon laughed: “We’re only awaiting death in this hellish prison anyway, we’ll be waiting for you down in the Yellow River.”

“Who says I will die?” Li Qiye was bored to death after hearing their responses.

“Haha, brat, this is Great Desolate Heavenly Prison, there’s no escaping death here. This place will be your grave, don’t ever think about leaving.” Golden Dragon added.

1. I translated his title as Ill Lord first, since that’s the more literal translation. However, I saw that his dao was pestilence, so I changed it to Pestilence Lord since it sounds much better in English. Some early readers only saw Pestilence Lord. Alas, because of this line, I have to change it back to Ill Lord for the narrative. Sorry about the confusion. I usually change names and titles many chapters back depending on new context. Most readers won’t notice it at all