In the silent sky above, Han Ming remained suspended in midair, unmoving above all things. His eyes were calm, as the pressure from tens of thousands of Supreme-tier Emperor-class puppet soldiers behind him continued to sweep through the heavens, shaking the very sky.
Yet he did not make a move right away because the white-armored army of Sui Zimeng below… seemed to know something.
They had arranged a colossal combat formation with military precision. Thousands of shields and spears had been placed in a tightly-knit battle array, forming an iron wall that left not even a sliver of space for air to pass through.
"Hmph..." Han Ming muttered softly, sweeping his gaze downward with an impassive expression.
Below, Guan Zixuan, still carrying Ye Liyin on his back, collapsed hard onto the ground. The pressure of the formation deployed by the white-armored army was far too intense for someone who had lost all cultivation. His body trembled violently, but even so, he did not allow the girl on his back to touch the ground.
Han Ming looked around slowly, then his eyes turned golden.
"System, seal off a radius of ten million kilometers. No one is to perceive the existence of this space."
[Understood.]
A quiet reply echoed in his mind, followed by a mysterious force spreading through the atmosphere.
At that very moment… the general of the white-armored army looked up to the skies and abruptly widened his eyes.
His mouth hung open unconsciously, sweat pouring down his forehead even though he hadn't moved a muscle.
Because what floated above his head… was not just the tens of thousands of Supreme-tier Emperor-class puppet soldiers, each wielding Emperor-level weapons, but the young man commanding them.
The power emanating from that man was overwhelming. His aura struck against the void behind him, twisting it to the brink of rupture.
The general steadied his breathing, composing himself as he calmly analyzed the situation before speaking up.
"Might I inquire, sir... from which divine clan or sacred land does your lineage hail? I am the 72nd deputy commander of the White Tiger Army under the Divine Golden Crow Empire. If I have in any way offended you…"
Han Ming didn't offer a single reply. He merely spoke one sentence.
"Come out."
At that moment... the void cracked open in midair, and a woman slowly stepped out from the rift.
She had long, jet-black hair, her tall and slender figure clad in a golden robe split at the chest, revealing a seductive form that seemed to invite obsession. Though she barely moved, just standing there made it feel as though she commanded the gravitational pull of the entire world.
A faint smile appeared on her stunning face. She was none other than the avatar of Sui Zimeng, mother of Wu Zhao.
Her eyes began to glow with a golden light, mirroring Han Ming's. Then, her lips moved as she spoke slowly.
"So this is it... Now I finally understand how my White Tiger Army vanished... it was you, wasn't it... you were behind it all."
Her voice was filled with confidence laced with curiosity. "But what exactly are you? Your bone age is no more than twenty, and you're not even a true Child of Destiny. And yet... I cannot predict even a single fragment of your future, no matter how much of my lifespan I sacrifice."
She paused for a moment, then stared deep into Han Ming's golden eyes. And in that fleeting instant… she understood.
"…You're a seer, like me? …No, it's more than that…"
Han Ming gave no reply. He didn't speak, didn't explain. He merely turned to meet her gaze—and what he saw was a status window displayed clearly before his eyes.
[Name: Sui Zimeng]
[Age: ???]
[Identity: ???]
[Cultivation Level: ???]
[Unique Physique: ???]
[Potential: ???]
[Comprehension: ???]
[Luck: ???]
[Loyalty: 45]
Nearly every field... was blank.
Sui Zimeng silently turned to look at Han Ming for a moment. Her golden eyes remained calm, as though trying to assess something, before she slowly closed them. She knew all too well—if battle were to break out now, there was no chance she could defeat this youth.
The body she was using at the moment was merely an avatar. Even though its cultivation had reached the level of a Great Emperor, compared to the man standing before her, the gap was too vast... so vast that even the naked eye could perceive it. She couldn't understand how such an overwhelming disparity in power could exist.
More importantly, she did not wish to lose the army below her. The one thousand white-armored warriors standing on the ground were not ordinary soldiers. Each of them had been handpicked from the White Tiger Army of the Golden Crow Imperial Dynasty. All were elite cultivators, top-tier geniuses, each possessing extraordinary luck. She had brought them to this lower world and trained them personally for a very specific purpose in the upper realms.
If she had been facing anyone else, not this man before her, she would have allowed that army to fight to the death without hesitation. At the very least, she could have used her resources to resurrect them again... But what she saw in the prophecy regarding the fate of the White Tiger Army if they were slain by the man standing before her...
The vision was painfully clear. The entire army would be annihilated, and when their souls returned to the Hall of Spirits, every last shred of their luck would be gone. That was a future she could not allow to pass. That was why she had chosen to stall the man in front of her.
She spoke in a calm, composed voice. "Young man, is there something you seek? I believe it would be better for us to set violence aside and have a civil discussion instead."
Han Ming remained silent. He gave no answer at all.
Then, within the span of a single breath, his figure vanished only to reappear before Sui Zimeng in the next instant. In his hand, the Sword of Light flared to life and came slicing down with a power that warped the very void.
Sui Zimeng's eyes widened as she instantly drew her short blade to parry. But in the blink of an eye, Han Ming deactivated the energy of the Sword of Light only to reactivate it again the moment it passed through Sui Zimeng's guard and drew closer to her body.
Just as the Sword of Light was about to strike her, Sui Zimeng unsheathed another blade to intercept the blow at the anticipated point of contact.
However, Han Ming's blade passed through the second sword as if it were nothing more than a beam of ordinary light, phasing through it with ease. In the next instant, a blinding white light cleaved her body in two.
Blood sprayed through the air, and the avatar of Sui Zimeng disintegrated on the spot.
From Han Ming's lips came a cold murmur.
"Stubborn to the very end."
In the next moment, the ten thousand Great Emperor-level puppets under Han Ming's command suddenly surged toward him, launching a fierce and overwhelming assault in perfect unison.
The soldiers of the White Tiger Army looked on in confusion, unable to comprehend why the puppets Han Ming controlled were now turning their weapons on him.
But before they could make sense of it, a voice resounded in the mind of the White Tiger Army's commander. His eyes widened in shock before he bellowed with every ounce of his strength, "Everyone! Commit suicide now!"
But it was already too late…
The swarm of puppet strikes vanished just before reaching Han Ming, only to reappear in a flash surrounding the entire White Tiger Army without any warning.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions erupted across the sky. Severed limbs, heads, and fragments of bodies were flung through the air as torrents of blood poured down, dyeing even the clouds red.
Han Ming hovered motionless in the sky, slowly raising his hand as he began absorbing the luck of the fallen army into his body with wild abandon. Invisible power streamed toward him in an unending torrent.
At last, a soft voice rang out from above the clouds. It was Sui Zimeng.
"So, now you've taken everything… I suppose you're satisfied?"
Han Ming gave no response to her words. He simply began returning all the puppets to the dimensional space in silence. No answer. No explanation. But instead of being angered, Sui Zimeng suddenly burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! I really do like you. When you've got some free time, drop by the Golden Crow Dynasty. I'll be sure to welcome you properly…"
Deep in her heart, Sui Zimeng was already convinced this boy had to be the descendant of some divine clan. There was no other way someone this young could possess such overwhelming power. Not to mention, he commanded an army of Great Emperor-level puppets, each wielding an Emperor-level weapon. That alone made her certain of his divine lineage.
Moreover, she had burned through over a million years of lifespan trying to divine his true identity, yet not even the faintest shadow of his destiny appeared before her. And his protector she couldn't sense them at all. But the fact that this being could completely erase an entire spatial region from her detection proved they had more than enough skill to be feared.
That was why she had chosen diplomacy over recklessly making an enemy whose background she couldn't grasp. The last thing she wanted was to find out that this young man was the divine heir of some powerful clan, the son of a Sacred Land's leader, a holy child of yet another hidden sanctuary, and the son-in-law of a reclusive supreme family.
Even though the Golden Crow Divine Emperor Dynasty was powerful, it was not invincible. And this lower realm had far too many restrictions. She couldn't move freely without leaving traces behind. After all, formations and concealment weren't her specialties. One small mistake... and Mu Nanshi's grandfather might catch on.