“How could this be…”

“Hah, the Emperor is dead, now it’s finally going to be my turn!”

“Was that monster truly defeated? … Hey, what are you doing?”

Phallusius Maximus had appeared like a comet and left the stage just as quickly. To the demi-human's surprise, the undefeated monster that had remained their leader for centuries was gone. No tears were shed for him, instead, this was a chance for the tribe leaders that remained alive to rise to the top.

“What are they doing?”

Zhang Kuo from inside the Golden Dong Palace looked on in surprise as the various demi-humans started attacking each other. It was chaos, everyone was split up into several groups while not paying attention to the cultivators they were fighting with.

“Are some of them fleeing back through the bridge?”

While part of the demi-human tribes remained in a frenzied state, some of the smarter ones started fleeing back to their lands. They were aware that after the person that held them together as a group was dead, they would suffer a quick defeat. It didn’t matter that the United Element Sect had drained a lot of their power to defeat the Emperor, the fact that they managed to do it was enough to make them flee.

‘It won’t take long now, the bastion should be enough to clear them out now…’

Zhang Dong panted while devouring a handful of recovery pills. Luckily there was no one there to sneak in an assassination attempt as at this point in time he was quite weakened. The elders that were with him surrounded him from all sides to keep watch while he was quickly recovering. The monster was dead and he had fallen a lot sooner than he anticipated while also leaving behind a reward.

‘Bob, what is this?’

An item floated in mid-air, it was glowing purple and radiating the Dao of gravity. The item in question was the three horns belonging to the Emperor. It seemed that this was the source of his power or perhaps his power had been transferred into them through some strange art.

‘The item in question is compatible with the user’s system, do you wish to absorb it?’

‘I can use this in that way?’

Without the old system, he thought that he would be unable to gain anything after defeating his foes. To his surprise after defeating his foe by cutting of his head, the three horns burst forth and floated towards him as if they wanted him to accept them as their new master. He had seen these horns before but the ones that belonged to the other tribe leaders didn’t behave like this.

“Patriarch, please be careful.”

“It’s fine don’t worry, go back to our sect and aid them against the demi-humans, their forces are in disarray and they started fighting each other but this battle isn’t done yet. We will push forward and secure the bridge to their lands.”

He shouted out while also grasping the glowing horns, after agreeing to absorb them Bob went to work. The purple energy washed over him and was quickly integrated into his own body. To his surprise, all of the Dao headed towards the not yet bloomed seed and increased its size even further.

‘Does this mean that I can’t germinate this thing if I defeat more of their leaders?’

The increase in his power wasn’t that large but he was given the full comprehension of the gravity Dao. When thinking back to his old system he remembered that it was possible to buy new Daos. They cost an astronomical amount of spirit points but were perhaps required to get to the next stage. After adding this one, he had four whole paths of cultivation that he had a full understanding of.

‘I can increase the weight of my punches and also produce a gravity field around myself…’

He was already thinking of a few ways that he could implement his new knowledge. Some of the old techniques that he knew could be improved, even the pulsar could be condensed more to form a proper celestial body. This was however not the time to contemplate his newly gained power.

The war needed to be won, there would be enough to contemplate his next move later. Thus after grabbing the two huge blades that survived the massive explosion he headed toward his people. After he arrived out in the open, his targets were the tribe leaders that posed a threat to even the nascent soul masters here. After the large meteor fell down, the protective barrier was in shambles so now it was an all-out brawl between the two sides.

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“U die ‘umie!”

His first opponent was a large green-looking monster that was similar to an ogre in shape. He had a large horn on his forehead that radiated a wicked power. Yet compared to the Emperor he wasn’t much. The giant club that he was holding devastated the land he walked on but if it couldn’t connect with his opponent it wouldn’t be of much use.

Thanks to his new gravity attribute that he had gained, it was easy to increase the weight of that club and make it even harder to swing around. The size of this monstrous opponent would be his downfall as he soon found a giant cleaver connecting with his thigh. This was followed by an arc of golden energy that went straight for his throat.

‘I think I’ve gotten a bit stronger, is this what this scenario wants me to do? Kill the Emperors and gather all of their Daos for myself before ascending?’

It made a lot of sense, normally the person with the system would be fighting for a hundred years while gathering spirit points. Then when the main boss arrived beside the system currency they would be rewarded with a free Dao. With time they would have so many resources and easily advance to the next stage. However, what came after leaving a world like this, he did not know.

There were three other forces from the other empires that still existed. But one of them he was allied with so that limited the number of rewards that he could get. The Emerald Phoenix Emperor sounded like someone that combined both wind and fire energy while the people from the north sea would obviously be water-based. Then there was also the Azure Dragon Emperor that might also be a potential source of a reward.

While he was already looking toward the future the battle continued. Without the defensive barrier, their ships started being damaged by the demi-humans ranged attacks. Even the huge bastion was getting pelted from all sides and even attacked directly by some frenzied attackers.

Try as they might, they were not able to get through the massive golden gates and the reinforced walls. The cannon fire slowly demolished the fortress that seemed to lack many defensive features. This coupled with the infighting only brought them a fast victory.

…

“Is it over?”

After a day of fighting the demi-humans were all retreating. Now without the threat of their monstrous Emperor, they did not shy away from saving their lives. Most of them fled directly back through the bridge area while others scattered in random directions. The battle was won but it would still take some time until they captured or killed the remnants.

“They are fleeing Patriarch, should we give chase?”

“No, we shall move as we planned, take over their fortress, and reinforce our position!”

“As you wish, Patriarch!”

Zhang Zhi cupped his fists while flying into the distance. Just like with the other fortress they needed to quickly create a teleportation gate and move their engineers over. It would take some time for the next wall to be built but after it was complete they could finally rest easy. With the limited space and the casualties that the demi-humans suffered, it would be hard for them to gain a foothold again.

“Is there a problem, older brother? You should be joyful, we have met our enemies and been victorious?”

Huo Qiang appeared from the side, his clothes were almost all gone and his body was filled with wounds. He still radiated an oppressive aura of someone that had gone through a life and death experience. It seemed that his younger brother had managed to reach a new level while battling one of the tribe leaders.

“That we did but we need to look at the bigger picture, this whole war is far from over.”

“Is it about that Wang Long fellow? Don’t worry, he and the demonic cultivators will fall before us just as anyone in this Empire…”

Zhang Dong raised his eyebrow while also interrupting Huo Qiang as the conversation was going in a direction that he didn’t like.

“That’s enough, if someone was listening in, they would think that we wanted to conquer the Empire for ourselves.”

It wasn’t strange for the strong to rule above others. Huo Qiang probably just mentioned what the other cultivators from his sect were thinking. In their eyes, the sect was becoming stronger and stronger. Their Patriarch was on the level of the Azure Emperor so they were getting prideful about their existence.

“Oh, I get it, you want to keep it a secret! Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone!”

“No… We are not trying to conquer the Empire…”

“Yes senior brother, we are not!”

Huo Qiang gave Zhang Dong a wink before bursting out in laughter. Some of the other elders were of course listening in. After the reaction from his right-hand man, he wasn’t sure if the other idiots got the wrong idea as well. For the time being there was no time to correct them as his battle fortress was slowly moving into place and in need of repairs.

“My friend, you did it and with such ease.”

“Hey there Argus, thank you for your help.”

The grand wizard Argus was still here, during the battles he could see him aid his people in battle and also kill a fair share of demi-humans in the process. Now he was looking at the shabby fortress of the enemy faction that still remained.

“As I promised you can take a look around but please hurry, I will be replacing that building soon.”

“You have this old man’s gratitude!”

‘Look at him go.’

The old man pulled out a medallion and started casting various spells but Zhang Dong didn’t believe that any holy relics could be found here. He was already attuned to the energy fingerprint of the relics but could not feel even the faintest spark of energy here.

Yet this was not his problem, the magical shield would probably not help him in the coming battles. Instead, he looked towards the distant reaches where no cultivator dared to venture. The lands of the demonic cultivators were near and it was time to pay his old acquaintance a visit.