at the same time.

Ten thousand miles away, in the Great Xia Kingdom, in the Demon City.

The night wind howled through the steel jungle.

On the rooftop of a skyscraper, two figures stood, looking down at the city below.

One of them is the Great Sage Li Er, dressed in a gray robe.

The other one is Xiang Yu, clad in black gold armor!

Just now, far away in Donghai City, he crushed Li Er's phantom image with the Merit Orb, forcibly rewrote the laws of heaven and earth of the Abyss of Mist, and released the Mist Dispersion skill.

Words become law.

However, the price of rewriting the laws of heaven and earth is high.

Since no merit points were consumed to offset it, the backlash from Heaven descended across spatial distances!

"Long——!"

The night sky above Shanghai split open, and a bolt of heavenly tribulation lightning struck down on Li Er's head on the rooftop!

The lightning illuminated the entire rooftop in a ghastly white light.

However, Li Er remained expressionless in the face of this divine punishment. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Bang!"

The Crimson Lightning deflected when it made contact with the top of Li Er's head!

That destructive energy was transferred to Xiang Yu, who was standing beside him, through a chain of laws!

"Uh-huh—"

Xiang Yu let out a low groan.

A dark red damage number appeared above his head!

The health bar dropped a little!

His body was struck by lightning, causing smoke to billow from his body, and charred marks appeared on his black gold armor.

But that's all.

Li Er was completely unharmed!

Seeing this, Zhou Huai smiled.

This is a vulnerability that he has just discovered in the past few days while exploring.

As long as Li Er is forcibly bound to Xiang Yu's 【Immortal Oath】, all damage targeting Li Er will be unconditionally borne by Xiang Yu!

The backlash from Heaven is ultimately a form of energy damage!

Since it's damage, it can be shared by the contract!

Xiang Yu is his own chief tank! As long as it's not something too extreme, like words becoming law, the backlash and thunderous repercussions are completely within Xiang Yu's tolerance range!

They used Xiang Yu's flesh and blood to withstand the backlash, thus saving Li Er's merit points.

This deal was an absolute steal!

Zhou Huai turned his gaze to the city center of Shanghai below.

The city of Shanghai at this time has long lost its former prosperity and brilliance.

The wailing of sirens, the roar of collapsing skyscrapers, and the explosions of colliding supernatural forces mingled together. Fire and thick smoke were everywhere.

"The number of awakened beings is a bit exaggerated."

Zhou Huai was secretly alarmed.

Compared to the Awakened Ones in the Sakura Kingdom, the number of Awakened Ones in the Great Xia Kingdom is far greater!

In Shanghai alone, at least thirty ancient clansmen have awakened in just the past few days!

Moreover, Zhou Huai discovered a commonality—the vast majority of these people whose bodies were possessed by ancient souls were college students with high mental strength in higher education institutions!

This made the Great Xia military hesitant to act during the suppression, not only controlling the scope of the destruction but also trying to capture them alive to avoid harming the physical bodies of these future pillars of Great Xia.

The high-ranking military officers have been worried sick these past few days. The elite corps are working non-stop, putting out fires everywhere, and are exhausted.

Zhou Huai brought Xiang Yu to Shanghai for two reasons: firstly, it was at the request of Marshal Zhao Qingcang, and secondly... he was also there to buy goods.

These awakened ancient races are a disaster for ordinary people, but for Zhou Huai, they are walking super experience packs!

Thanks to these ancient remnants, they were all secretly transported to the Zero Underground Prison after being captured alive by the military.

Caesar, the Insect Emperor, who is based in the land of cherry blossoms, has been inhumanely and frantically squeezing juice from them for the past few days through the alien parasites lurking in their bodies.

Every day, a massive amount of divine power and experience points continuously flow in.

In less than a week, Caesar's level rapidly ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) increased, approaching the level 40 mark!

"Since we're already here, let's help ease the pressure on the military a bit more."

Zhou Huai's gaze pierced through the night and locked onto the south gate square of Shanghai University, a few kilometers away.

A siege is underway there!

The pale blue flames illuminated most of the night sky.

"Hahahaha—! Ignorant ants! You think you can stop the descendants of Zhu Rong?!"

"Turn to ashes in the ancient divine fire!"

A young male college student, his body wreathed in eerie blue flames, hovered in mid-air. His face was crazed, his eyes spitting fire, and he waved his hands, sending pillars of fire hurtling in all directions.

Below, the once smooth asphalt road had been transformed into a churning pool of lava, and the surrounding school buildings were teetering on the brink of collapse amidst the flames.

At the edge of the magma, three S-level senior generals from the Great Xia Army were struggling to hold on.

"Damn it! What the hell is this kid's flame?! The temperature is too high!"

A heavily armored ice-elemental general gritted his teeth, his hands bracing against a massive frost shield. But under the scorching heat of the eerie blue flames, the surface of the frigid shield was rapidly melting, white steam billowing around it.

"Old Zhang! Is your control formation even working?! I can't hold on much longer!" The ice-element general roared, veins bulging on his forehead.

"What are you yelling about! This monster's mental resistance is ridiculously high!"

The formation master, known as Old Zhang, was covered in blood. His hands were clenched into hand seals, his fingers convulsing. "The mental shackles I forcibly put on me didn't even last three seconds before they were burned off along with my mental energy by his evil flames! My head is about to split open!"

"Weapons of mass destruction must not be used! Marshal Zhao gave a strict order that the student's body must be kept intact! And the distant shelters must not be affected!"

Another general, wielding a heavy sword, roared as he unleashed sword energy to try and cleave the falling fireball, "Find an opportunity to get close! As long as I can attach the anti-magic chains to him, I can seal his divine power!"

"Bullshit! Are you crazy?!" Array Master Zhang cursed, "A mere speck of that blue flame can burn through even SS-grade armor, how dare you get close?!"

Three battle-hardened S-rank generals, facing this ancient awakened being who was unleashing his full firepower and had to be captured alive, were completely caught in a dead end, hesitant to act for fear of harming the innocent.

Meanwhile, Zhu Rong, who was in mid-air, also lost patience.

"I've had enough of playing with you, you ants. Let's end this!"

He clasped his hands together, and the surrounding eerie blue flames began to converge above his head, forming a giant fire lotus!

Once this fiery lotus falls, not only will these three S-class generals perish here, but the entire area within several kilometers will be turned into a wasteland!

"Oh no! He's about to unleash a powerful attack!"

"Retreat! Retreat quickly!"

The three generals looked desperate.

However, at this critical moment...

On the rooftop of a tall building a few kilometers away.

Zhou Huai watched all this and then controlled the Great Sage Li Er to take a step forward.

His gray robe fluttered in the wind.

Through the darkness of the night, Li Er locked onto the fire-elemental awakener in mid-air.

Then, he opened his lips.

He did not use any magic.

But the sound pierced through the distance of space and resounded directly in the minds of everyone above Shanghai University!

"Surrender!"

Four words.

Words spoken become law!

"Buzz!!!"

The fire-type awakener, who was laughing wildly in mid-air just a second ago, stopped laughing abruptly after hearing these four words!

The azure fire lotus above his head lost its energy and vanished in mid-air with a "poof"!

Not even Mars remains!

"What...what's going on?! My body...no!!!"