Liu Xing decided to kick the ground as hard as he could and shot toward the former emperor. He held his stone sword with both hands, and as he arrived he swung his stone blade with all his might, trying to cut the headless abomination diagonally. The former emperor deflected the stone sword with a single flick of his wrist and, with a punch that shone golden, tried to pulverize Liu Xing.

Seeing the punch coming, Liu Xing poured more qi into his Lightning Cloak Technique, summoned his shield, and kicked it to dodge to the side. The golden fist made the air explode and shot a ball of pure wind that hit one of the golden gates, toppling it over. Liu Xing channeled qi from the Ethereal Pearl inside his gut to his bullets, creating Exploding Fist bullets, and fired repeatedly. As they struck the former emperor, six powerful explosions erupted around him, sending up a cloud of dust and forcing him to step back. Seizing the opportunity, Liu Xing lunged forward, swung his stone blade, and struck. The blow sent the former emperor flying backward, crashing into the advancing army like a baseball hit out of the park.

"He's so tough!" Liu Xing shouted as he looked to the side.

Yang Hongyin floated in the air, fire surrounding her, twelve bird heads appearing above her like twelve beheaded birds. Each bird head opened its mouth, forming a ball of fire. One was orange, another blue, another yellow as the sun; there was a white fireball, a black fireball, and many more shades of red and orange. When Yang Hongyin swung both her hands like a dancing maiden, each fireball began to attack. Some shot toward the center of the rushing army and exploded into a giant inferno. Some turned into lasers, some into thousands of tiny fireballs, and more.

Prince Yang Jinyan slapped a talisman into the air, creating a giant firebird that swooped down on multiple humanoid abominations—some with wriggling hair and long nail-blades, others that looked like disfigured dogs with twelve legs.

Yang Suyin zoomed through the battlefield, clearly targeting the weaker abominations, and the rest of the clan used their treasures and techniques to attack.

Liu Xing, trying to maximize the time and finish off Lihuo's army as soon as possible, also began to move like blue lightning. His gun fired repeatedly. Each shot was fast, and each shot caused an abomination to explode. His stone blade sliced through the abominations like a sickle through grass. Their formation was simple. Liu Xing at the front, clearing a path; Yang Hongyin in the air, bombarding the nearby abominations; and Prince Yang Jinyan and the rest of the clan advancing along the path created by Liu Xing and Yang Hongyin.

As Liu Xing cut down an abomination with a head as big as a cow, he saw the former emperor, shining with a golden aura, crouching and ready to jump. “Prince, give me some information about your father!”

Prince Yang Jinyan, who was controlling a firebird while spewing hundreds of fireballs at Lock Opening abominations, paused his attack and replied, “My father was a close combatant. He mastered three simple yet versatile techniques. First is Myriad Fire. It’s fire compressed and controlled so perfectly that it almost looks like light. It makes him so durable he wouldn’t die even if a mountain crushed him. Sun Fist is a fighting style incorporating explosive fire with his punches. He has hundreds of variants of this technique, and lastly—” A loud boom echoed; the headless former emperor shot toward them. “Careful when he gives you some space!”

As Prince Yang Jinyan hastily finished shouting, the former emperor had already arrived in front of him. His right fist was coated in a thin orange fire, and seeing this, Liu Xing let his instincts take control and summoned his shield right in front of the fist. The suddenly materializing shield was hit by the punch, and when they collided, his shield shot toward him like a cannonball, flying at him with tremendous force. Before the shield could hit his face, Liu Xing dismissed it, only to see the former emperor’s fist come to his face.

Liu Xing instantly sent a surge of qi into the gauntlets on his left hand, lowered his stance, materialized a ball of lightning in front of him, and struck it with his palm. A torrent of lightning shot from the lightning ball, engulfing the emperor completely in lightning so dense it looked like he was swallowed by a horizontal waterfall. The lightning pillar swept into the army behind, decimating some of the abominations as collateral damage. Yet, Liu Xing could see the emperor’s silhouette coming at him, his punch—no longer shining with golden light—emerging from the ball of lightning, destroying it, and hitting Liu Xing straight in the face.

Liu Xing’s mind rattled, and his body lifted into the air. The punch wasn't too strong; even his nose didn’t break. Yet, it was still a fact that the punch had landed.

Liu Xing used the momentum to rotate himself and send two crescent qi attacks toward the former emperor. When they hit their target, the emperor crossed his arms on his chest and held the attacks, but the energy pushed him back, giving Liu Xing time to slash around and send more crescent qi into the army, as well rapidly fire Exploding Fist bullets and shrinking the enemy’s numbers.

Seeing the battle happening around him, Liu Xing realized that this battle could actually be won. More than half of Lihuo’s army was now slashed, burned, charred, or reduced to pools of blood. Not all of them were Core Splitting abominations; some were even at the Lock Opening realm.

The only problem was the former emperor, Lihuo himself, who barked orders but did nothing, and the Sun Refining abomination that stood beside him. Still, Liu Xing suspected that the emperor was weaker than in his prime, Lihuo could be defeated easily, and while its appearance was disturbing, the four-headed abomination could also be defeated.

And so, the battle raged on. Looking from the air, it seemed like the fight was happening inside a large hole. Liu Xing made sure his gun fired non-stop at the abominations around him, rapidly reducing their numbers, while he himself battled the former emperor with his stone blade.

Though he hadn't even scratched him yet, the fight was even, and he had several attacks that threw the former emperor quite far, giving him time to attack the army. Yang Hongyin’s twelve firebird heads were also decimating the army, making the ground molten like lava, and the group led by Yang Jinyan fought fiercely, using their treasures to fight above their weight class.

The number of enemies was now less than a hundred, but each of them was quite strong and durable.

“You useless little brother, I’ll kill you with my bare hands!” Yang Jinyan shouted while moving around several pillars of earth he’d raised with his talisman.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Liu Xing could see Lihuo growl like a mad dog, his snail eyes twitching crazily.

“Bastard!” he shouted, then, unexpectedly, he swung his arm toward the Sun Refining abomination at his side, decapitating one of its heads easily.

Seeing this, even Liu Xing stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widening. Was this guy so strong he could kill a Sun Refining abomination, or was that Sun Refining abomination as soft as tofu?

Before this question could be answered, Lihuo grabbed the decapitated head by the hair and began eating it as if it were a simple snack. Each bite made his lips and cheeks red with blood, and the head, belonging to a man with his tongue lolling out, looked horrified beyond measure. Each bite also made the qi surge around Lihuo, strengthening him by the second.

Liu Xing realized that this Sun Refining abomination wasn’t one specialized in fighting; that’s why it hadn’t attacked. No, it was mere food for Lihuo, which was absurd. Liu Xing doubted that even if Lihuo ate all of the heads, he would break through to the Sun Refining realm.

“Behind you!” Yang Suyin shouted at him.

Liu Xing's eyes snapped to his back as he saw the former emperor—surrounded by shining light—trying to hit him. Liu Xing dodged to the side. The air next to him exploded. Then he tried to slash the former emperor.

Usually, his slashes always landed, even if they didn't scratch him. The emperor never dodged, probably because he didn't have ears, eyes, or even a nose to sense his surroundings. But to Liu Xing’s surprise, the former emperor leaned to the side, his stone blade cutting only air. A crescent of purple qi shot from his blade and accidentally slashed an abomination that was opening its mouth wide.

The former emperor unleashed another punch with his left hand, which Liu Xing dodged by jumping to the side. The emperor followed, and Liu Xing jumped from shield to shield to dodge his attacks. As he did so, the light around the emperor began to darken, from yellow to a slight orange, and Liu Xing realized his movements were becoming faster and his attacks swifter and more efficient. It was as if the former emperor was an engine that needed to warm up before it could unleash its potential, and now it was warm enough.

Liu Xing shot a dozen smaller crescent qi attacks while his gun fired rapidly at the former emperor. He moved side to side, dodging attacks that were too wide, and deflecting or punching those he couldn't dodge. At this point, Liu Xing realized he now needed full attention to fend off the emperor’s attacks. The emperor's body was big and full of muscle, yet he moved so fast that he was quicker even than Liu Xing. In hindsight, it was obvious: he was a Sun Refining abomination. Luckily though, he probably wasn't a completed abomination. There were no obvious modifications on his body, so he was likely weaker than he should have been.

Blue light and a slightly darker yellow—almost red—began to move faster and faster. They looked almost like light, clashing again and again in the air. Each of their attacks riddled the hole—the former underground level of the golden castle—with more holes, the earth churned, hundreds of gashes and wounds dotting the walls, and every second the ground trembled.

For now, Liu Xing didn’t intend to win the fight. What he was doing was occupying the former emperor’s attention while sometimes—when he successfully threw him quite far away—he sneakily attacked the abominations around him with his gun, amassing a lot of qi inside his Ethereal Pearl. Some of it was used by his gun, while the rest he sent to his consciousness. His only core was slurping up qi like a man slurping up a long noodle. The amount is large, and it has been continuous. Although he still has a long way to go to break through, his core is getting bigger by the second.

Right now, about two minutes into the battle, Yang Jinyan and his group, accompanied by Yang Hongyin, had successfully decimated all the abominations except Lihuo, the Sun Refining Abomination whose only role was to become food, and the jellyfish he used as a platform. It was only a matter of time before Prince Yang Jinyan successfully ripped Lihuo's throat out.

“We can do it. We can win,” Liu Xing muttered.

Not splitting up had been the right choice. If he moved away from this group, Yang Hongyin would need to deal with the former emperor, and Prince Yang Jinyan’s group would have to fight the whole army of abominations by themselves.

As he used his shield to accelerate faster and faster, thrusting his stone blade toward an oncoming punch, he glanced at the sky for less than a second. The giant ball of meat now had scales around it, and it was bathed in so much qi that came from below, from the Emperors’ Tomb. It is still not completed.

When the tip of his blade collided with the punch, a shockwave so huge ruptured the ground around them. Purple and fully red light spread outward like a ripple in a lake, creating a shockwave. Liu Xing was pushed back. The power of the former emperor’s punch was quite strong, but Liu Xing didn't mind. Instead, he made his gun float above his head, sent it a lot of qi from the Ethereal Pearl until it brimmed with power, then infused the bullets with Lightning Palm and shot them all. When six lightning bullets hit the former emperor's chest, big arcs of lightning the size of tentacles danced around him and paralyzed him as if he’d been struck by a lightning bolt. He froze for a moment, and Liu Xing used this moment to charge a lot of qi into his stone blade and take a stance.

After getting the stone blade, his gun had taken a backseat, which actually made Liu Xing’s heart a little dissatisfied. His gun was still the best weapon in the world, even more valuable than his stone blade—both potentially and emotionally—yet, the gun’s attack capability was shadowed by his Thunderstrike Gauntlets and now his stone blade. He was actually having quite a hard time balancing all his attacks. But now, he had finally found a combo with great synergy.

This stone blade could unleash a strong attack the more qi he sent to it, but to do that, he needed time. Coincidentally, one variant of his bullets functioned to paralyze the enemy, enabling him to stand and charge his attack. Admittedly, it only worked if he fought one-on-one, but it was still a great combo.

After a full five seconds of charging the attack, the purple qi glowed so brightly around his stone blade that he needed to hold the blade with both hands. He shouted as he unleashed his attack.

“Eat this!”

The crescent of qi that leaped from his stone blade was only three meters long and as thin as paper, yet it was undoubtedly the strongest attack he had ever unleashed. It moved so fast that it seemed to teleport. One moment it leaped from his stone blade; less than a blink of an eye later, it had already arrived right in front of the former emperor. The emperor tried to catch it with both hands, which were glowing so red they almost looked encased in blood. Yet, he didn’t succeed. The attack collided with the emperor's body, trying to slash him diagonally. Liu Xing had thought, with the sheer power of the attack, he could split him in two, but it seemed his hopes were too high. Still, Liu Xing could see that the crescent purple qi bit into his skin, creating a shallow cut before the sheer force of the attack sent the emperor flying like a cannonball toward a wall.

Seeing this, Liu Xing nodded a little. While the attack hadn't killed him, the fact that he had successfully wounded him meant he had a chance to win, which was actually absurd, considering that he was merely a Core Splitting cultivator with only one core. What he needed to do now was repeat the same attack dozens of times, until the emperor truly split in two.

But, before he could execute his plan, a loud shout reverberated through the air. He snapped his head toward Prince Yang Jinyan, and what he saw made his blood run cold.

A decapitated head, its hair a writhing mass of hundreds of black snakes, eyes burning with a golden aura and surrounded by a red aura—identical to the one shrouding the former emperor—was now biting into Prince Yang Jinyan’s neck. Its white teeth sank deep into his throat, drenched in red blood.

“F-father,” Prince Yang Jinyan muttered, eyes wide with horror.