Chapter 1051: The Empresses Against the Sandworms

The twenty-thousand-strong sandworm army charged toward the planet's atmosphere. Their killing intent was overwhelming, and their bodies were surrounded by countless sandstorms. From a distance, they looked like a dark cloud blotting out the sky, like unstoppable harbingers of doom.

The Dazheng soldiers monitoring the situation beyond the heavens immediately relayed the news back to Yongding.

Under the orders of the empresses, the strongest cultivators from across the world rushed to the scene.

The twelve golden cultivators, Ao Zhou, Yan Zhenhuo, Croak, Warble, and other top-tier cultivators were the first to arrive in the void. They were among the strongest in the world, but the number of sandworm kings they faced was far greater.

There had only been around a thousand sandworms during the last sandworm invasion. This time, there were twenty thousand. Their sheer numbers made even the strongest cultivators of the world feel a sense of dread. Could they really hold them off?

A figure surrounded by peach blossoms appeared in front of the cultivators—Madam Rouge, who had received the news and had come to intervene.

The six empresses had been guarding Xiao Nanfeng and hadn't planned to join the battle. However, the invaders were too powerful, and they couldn't ignore the threat. Someone had to step forward.

As soon as Madam Rouge appeared, the gathered Dazheng cultivators felt their morale surge.

"We greet the Heavenly Empress!" everyone said respectfully.

Madam Rouge said, "I'll deal with these sandworms. The rest of you will handle any stragglers and make sure none slip through."

Everyone was stunned.

They thought they had misheard. Madam Rouge was planning to take on the entire sandworm army alone? Was she joking? The last time Madam Rouge fought a sandworm king, it had been a difficult battle. Now, hundreds of sandworm kings awaited her. How could she possibly handle them all alone?

"Understood," the crowd replied, despite their doubts.

"Die!" the sandworms roared.

Surrounded by sandstorms, they brandished their weapons and charged forward like a raging river, intent on destroying everything in their path.

Upon seeing Madam Rouge, they were confident they could tear her apart in a single strike.

Behind Madam Rouge, more and more cultivators gathered. They too had received news of the Darkborn incursion, and though they were shocked to hear that Madam Rouge intended to take them on alone, they obeyed their orders and gathered behind her.

As the sandworms closed in, the ones at the front lashed out with their tentacles, which shot forward like swords. At the same time, countless sandstorms surged toward Madam Rouge like a torrential downpour.

Madam Rouge's eyes turned cold. She drew a peachwood sword and thrust it forward. With a resonant hum, the sword transformed and grew until it was thousands of meters long and looked like a rainbow piercing the sun. The sword was accompanied by thousands of sword-shaped shockwaves.

It tore through the sandstorms, shattering the tentacles and obliterating everything in its path.

"No, this can't be!" the sandworms at the front screamed in terror.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

The sword tore through the frontlines, instantly obliterating dozens of sandworms and reducing them to a bloody mist. The sword then struck a sandworm king, who panicked and threw a punch with all its might. However, the punch was no match for the sword.

"No!" the sandworm king screamed.

The sword tore right through the sandworm king's body and nearly a hundred sandworms behind it before it finally dissipated.

Where the sandstorm had been, there was now only a vacuum. The sandworms all gaped in terror.

The Dazheng cultivators were stunned. They knew that their empresses were powerful, but hadn't expected such an incredible level of strength. Madam Rouge seemed invincible.

"She's a Stellar powerhouse!" the sandworms cried out.

"Spread out! Avoid her and head toward the planet!" a sandworm king commanded.

Before the sandworms could do so, a hum resonated through the void. A hundred mirrors suddenly appeared around them. The mirrors shimmered with eerie light; in each mirror was a reflection of Madam Rouge.

"Die," Madam Rouge said coldly.

She swung her sword again. It shot out like a rainbow, dazzling and destructive. The sandworms in front of her scrambled to escape, but the reflections in the hundred mirrors also swung their swords. Copies of her technique shot out from the mirrors. Though they weren't as powerful as the original, their strength was still more than sufficient to obliterate ordinary sandworms.

"Block the attacks!" the sandworm kings commanded desperately.

Even more blood mist filled the air. Madam Rouge's technique had killed over a hundred sandworms, including several sandworm kings. Her mirror images had killed about two hundred, including almost a dozen sandworm kings.

Madam Rouge could have killed even more of the sandworms, but they had already scattered in fear. Of course, most of the hundred mirrors were destroyed by the sandworms in a desperate attempt to escape.

However, it took only a single thought for Madam Rouge to summon a hundred more.

"Impossible!" countless sandworms cried out in despair.

This wasn't a battle at all—it was a one-sided massacre. At this rate, all twenty thousand sandworms would be wiped out in no time.

The Dazheng cultivators in the distance, in awe at Madam Rouge's prowess, cheered and declared her invincible.

Madam Rouge continued to swing her sword, unleashing carnage all around her. Mists of blood filled the air as dismembered limbs scattered everywhere. The sandworms screamed in terror as they fled in all directions.

At that moment, a figure in red emerged from the center of the sandworm army. The red figure threw a punch. A massive fist shot forward, heading straight for Madam Rouge.

"Be careful! There's a Darkborn hiding among the sandworms!"

A shout came from the distance. The three Qing Grandmasters, while battling the eighteen Darkborn, were also keeping an eye on Madam Rouge's fight. They were amazed to see her slaughtering the sandworms, and when they noticed the red figure's sneak attack, they immediately alerted her.

There weren't just eighteen Darkborn—some had been hiding in the shadows. The Darkborn were being far more cautious this time.

In the distance, Madam Rouge also noticed the anomaly and quickly changed her stance. Her peachwood sword shifted, slashing toward the red figure's fist.

With a deafening crash, the fist and sword collided, creating a massive explosion of flames that swept across the area, sending nearby sandworms flying and screaming in pain.

As the flames dissipated, the red figure, a red-clad man with three eyes, was revealed to one and all. He had been hiding among the sandworm army.

The sandworms, seeing the three-eyed man, immediately bowed in respect.

The three-eyed man ignored the sandworms and stared at Madam Rouge. "I've seen you fight. How did you become so strong in such a short time?"

"A Darkborn, forced to skulk among the sandworms. How impressive," Madam Rouge sneered.

The three-eyed man chuckled coldly. "Forcing me to reveal myself is quite an achievement, but your doom is at hand."

With a resonant hum, a silver tree thousands of meters tall appeared behind him.

It drew in cosmic energy that surged through his body and strengthened him to an incredible extent.

Madam Rouge's eyes turned cold. "It's not my doom—but yours."

The projection of a nine-colored tree appeared behind her, flooding the area with nine-colored light. It drew in vast quantities of energy from the planet and cosmic energy from the void.

"The giant nine-colored tree?!" the three Qing Grandmasters exclaimed.

The three-eyed man's pupils contracted. "The nine-colored tree was destroyed long ago—no, your nine-colored tree hasn't fully materialized yet. Impressive. You've actually comprehended the laws that make up the nine-colored tree in full? Someone like you can't be allowed to live, I see."

As he spoke, he charged forward, throwing a punch that shook the void. The power behind the punch was overwhelming, as if he intended to crush Madam Rouge with a single strike.

Madam Rouge swung her sword.

With a deafening crash, their powers collided, creating a massive shockwave that obliterated the nearby sandworms.

"How are you so strong?" the three-eyed man exclaimed in shock. How could they be evenly matched? "Die!"

"You die!" Madam Rouge retorted.

Fist and sword collided repeatedly, creating waves of fire and dark matter in the void. The two fought faster and fiercer, their battle intensifying.

This scene left the three Qing Grandmasters silent. They hadn't expected Madam Rouge's strength to rival that of a Darkborn.

The sandworms were also terrified, though they were relieved that a Darkborn was holding Madam Rouge back. Although they couldn't intervene in the battle, Madam Rouge's mirror reflections had disappeared as she focused all her attention on the three-eyed man.

The sandworms breathed a sigh of relief and turned their attention back to the Dazheng cultivators.

"Die!" they roared, charging forward.

The Dazheng cultivators tensed, ready to fight.

However, with a hum, a black-clad woman with long hair appeared in front of them in the nick of time.

"We greet the Heavenly Empress!" the Dazheng cultivators exclaimed, sighing with relief.

The Divine Emperor inclined her head, retrieved her bell, and struck it.

The bell was deafening. A golden sound wave spread through the void, unaffected by the lack of air.

Where the golden sound wave passed, the sandstorms disintegrated. The sandworms at the front were struck first. With a deafening crash, their bodies were torn apart and turned into mists of blood.

Several sandworm kings withstood the sound wave and charged forward, only for the Divine Emperor to wave her hand. Her palm turned into a shadow, then split into hundreds of black hands that grabbed the sandworm kings. Some of the shadow hands grabbed their heads and tore them off.

With a bang, the sandworm kings' heads were ripped from their bodies. The shadow hands then split open and devoured the heads with their jagged teeth, chewing on them with a sickening crunch.

The sandworms behind them were horrified and stopped in their tracks. What kind of monster was this? These shadows were terrifying!