Chapter Eighteen: The Emperor's Overbearing Presence, The Battle of the Century

Inside the Xuanhuang Formation, the members of the Jiang family felt as if they had fallen into an ice cellar. Some were fearful and uneasy, while others were filled with righteous indignation.

“Clan leader, the power of the Sacred Land is too strong! We cannot resist. It’s better to seize this opportunity to surrender and save the lives of our people!” an elder trembled as he spoke.

“Surrender?!” Another elder from the war faction softened his tone slightly. “Clan leader, why not let the lady represent the Linglong Sacred Land to temporarily cease hostilities? We can forgo some benefits and recuperate. With the clan leader present, the future is promising…”

Su Ruoxi's gaze was cold and sharp as she whispered, “Husband, the situation has spiraled beyond control. To protect the Jiang family, I can represent the Linglong Sacred Land. We also have two Sacred Sons in our hands… and these two have long sought to court me…”

“Ah? I… Silence! Eyes forward, listen to the dragon’s roar, to intimidate Dongzhou…”

Jiang Cheng frowned slightly, looking toward the two Sacred Sons who had just threatened to annihilate the entire Jiang family, a strange displeasure rising within him.

Casually, he pulled Su Ruoxi into his embrace, ordering everyone to look ahead, while his right hand slid beneath her skirt.

His palm moved silently downward, as if touching two gentle new moons—the curves subtle and smooth, faintly slick and warm to the touch.

Brushing past one peak, he grabbed fiercely at the other.

His expression remained calm, but Su Ruoxi suddenly froze, her cheeks flushed like blooming clouds. She shyly glared at him and transmitted softly, “You… how dare you…”

Turning her head away, unwilling to meet his eyes, her voice softened into a coquettish whisper: “…I know I was wrong, husband…”

At that very moment…

In an instant, the sky over all of Dongzhou changed color.

The sky shifted from a bright blue to a deep, dark black, as if an infinite curtain had descended, enveloping the land and draining all color from existence.

Then, a magnificent golden light soared from within Jiang Cheng’s body, shooting straight to the heavens, piercing the clouds, traversing the starry cosmos.

“Rumble—!”

Enemies deliberately targeted by the system were met with endless thunderclaps in their divine senses, as the wild spiritual energy of heaven and earth gathered into a roaring torrent, cascading like a waterfall.

The forces of heaven and earth responded to the Emperor’s pressure, breaking through all barriers to strike the people of the Sacred Land.

At that moment, cultivators across Dongzhou all sensed the overwhelming pressure that could not be resisted.

Whether exalted sages of this realm, or the supreme beings who secluded themselves from the world, or the rank-one Qi energy cultivators who had just broken through to enlightenment, all fell to the ground like ants, their eyes wide with terror.

Across the five continents of this world, countless beings who had achieved cultivation felt an even stronger resonance than the human cultivators, as if the Way of Heaven itself was whispering.

Even those locked in life-and-death battles ceased fighting, and at this moment, they knelt from afar in the direction of the Jiang family’s location in Dongzhou.

From the depths of the void, an ethereal gate gradually emerged.

Within this gate blazed a golden radiance, faintly revealing ancient and magnificent palaces stretching across the void.

The deep, vast sound of immense bells echoed from the heavenly gate, reverberating through heaven and earth, as if proclaiming the return of the Emperor’s might to the mortal realm.

This was not Jiang Cheng’s personal pressure, but the response of the Heavenly Dao—Emperor’s Pressure, the supreme manifestation of this world’s heavenly rules.

At this moment, all the hidden supreme beings of Dongzhou, including those colossal demon beasts who had slumbered for millennia, suddenly awoke from their seclusion.

Far away, in an ancient relic deep within the endless Dongzhou mountains, a supreme figure sitting cross-legged suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze piercing through the void directly toward the Jiang family.

“This is… Emperor’s Pressure?!”

“Impossible! Dongzhou has not seen a true Emperor for tens of thousands of years. Who has attained transcendence and perfected the path to Emperor, able to awaken the long-silenced resonance of heaven and earth?”

At the same time, a translucent shadow of a transcendental being, who had long slept deep within the sacred mountain of the Sacred Land, slowly opened its eyes. Its gaze was as profound as the Milky Way, filled with shock and disbelief.

“This pressure… it surpasses the Emperor’s realm I once held by several times. The Emperor has reached transcendence! Who is this? Who can open the heavenly gate of this realm? I have hope to return to the higher realms! Hahaha! The Heavenly Dao shows mercy. I, Chen Zuanfeng, have hope for revenge. Just wait, all of you! There is a fated person… a destined one in Dongzhou!”

Before the Jiang family’s stronghold, the eight great Sacred Land elites knelt one after another, utterly unable to withstand the overwhelming power akin to the might of heaven.

Elder Bian spat blood, eyes wide with terror, his voice trembling with endless fear: “Transcendental perfection, Em-Em-Emperor’s pressure?! Impossible! Jiang Cheng actually released Emperor’s Pressure! A high being from the higher realm? An ancient giant? I… damn it… Linglong Sacred Land, you wretched bastards… you deserve to die…”

“I only wanted to seize the flames, not burn myself alive… I’m going to die, I’m going to die…” Elder Bian of the Biluo Sacred Land was nearly losing control, and if not for his full-body suppression, he might have lost control of his bladder.

The Second and Third Sacred Sons were in even worse shape, their spiritual platforms broken, trembling on the ground with cold sweat pouring down.

The Second Sacred Son’s Dao protector, at the Void Refining Realm, was already rolling his eyes.

“What inheritance does Jiang Cheng possess? Is it the Emperor’s inheritance, spanning ten thousand years of this realm?… Am I but an ant allowed to touch this?”

“Have I committed sins for ten lifetimes, now unleashed in this moment…”

“The Jiang family… the Jiang family is about to rise to prominence!”

“Dominating an entire realm… suppressing… for eternity…”

Inside the Jiang family formation, all clan members, including Su Ruoxi, were filled with boundless shock.

“Husband, this power…!” Su Ruoxi murmured, an unprecedented expression flashing through her beautiful eyes. Her past life’s intuition told her this was the same realm she once reached: transcendental perfection, Emperor realm!

Jiang Cheng was shrouded in golden light as he stepped out of the formation, his cold gaze sweeping across the kneeling eight great Sacred Land elites, his voice rolling like thunder:

“Do you acknowledge your crimes!?”

He raised his hand and clenched the void; the sky trembled.

The Nine-Dragon True Yang Body erupted fully.

The Heavenly Punishment Imperial Scripture operated at full power.

Those in the Sacred Land who were mere mortals felt the spiritual energy of Dongzhou being summoned to Jiang Cheng, condensing into a golden longsword.

The longsword pointed directly at Elder Bian.

Jiang Cheng’s voice pierced heaven and earth, like a great bell resounding, carried by the lingering power of the Emperor. It echoed throughout Lingxiao City for thousands of miles. Countless cultivators in surrounding cities felt a strange shiver, as if their souls were warned.

“Life or death! You have the time of a single incense stick to choose! If I am satisfied, I will spare your lives. Think carefully!”

Jiang Cheng’s gaze was like a blade, sharp and penetrating, sweeping across every pale face present.

Elder Bian of the Biluo Sacred Land was especially targeted by this pressure. Arrogant and overbearing, he was sent tumbling headfirst from the clouds, crashing heavily to the ground, breaking bones in his legs and ribs.

Everyone from the Sacred Land, including him, lost their cultivation, becoming no different from mortals. Those with higher cultivation suffered even greater damage.

Their internal organs were all shaken and injured by this pressure. The Sacred Land members desperately stuffed healing pills into their mouths, but under the Emperor’s Pressure, the effect was minimal.

Suppressed by fear, Elder Bian forced his voice: “Jiang family head, no, Lord, no no, the great, wise, and all-powerful Lord of the Jiang family…” He glanced up at Jiang Cheng’s expression, trying to compose himself.

“I, little Bian, was misled by the Linglong Sacred Land. Now that your divine body has trembled, my spirit is clear. I wish to atone with my death, but I do not dare die—I fear you still have tasks for me… I want to live, whatever you say goes…”

“Whatever you command, I will obey. And… actually, my surname is not Bian. My grandmother’s surname was Jiang. I could also bear the Jiang name. Clan leader, ancestor, please spare me… I am willing to submit to the Jiang family, to serve as a beast of burden, loyal to my ancestors…”

Jiang Cheng was taken aback—this man could be so shameless?

Su Ruoxi blushed, whispering to Jiang Cheng amid his shock, “This man is infamous in Dongzhou for another reason—he’s shameless beyond belief… You… take your hand away… if anyone finds out, it’ll be disgraceful…”

Jiang Cheng calmly withdrew his hand. He waved, signaling the Dao protectors. They understood and dragged the captured Second and Third Sacred Sons to the formation front, where they knelt heavily before Elder Bian, cracking the ground beneath them.

“Little Bian, you seem more sensible. I’ll give you a chance. I hear the Second Sacred Son has admired you for a long time and has been trying to court you. Do you have any response?”

Su Ruoxi’s cheeks flushed again, making Jiang Cheng a bit nervous and embarrassed.

“Ah? What… huh?” Elder Bian, having lived for centuries, had never encountered such a nonsensical sudden turn of events.

“I-I don’t… I don’t dare… I don’t dare…” The Second Sacred Son’s feminine voice suddenly roared, no longer pretending, shaking his head frantically…

Su Ruoxi hesitated, casting an angry glance at Jiang Cheng—she never expected this guy to get jealous all of a sudden.

After all, amidst mountains of corpses, bloodshed, scheming, and struggling to reach the Emperor realm, seeing the expressions of Jiang Cheng and his wife, and this panicked Second Sacred Son…

This scene seemed almost divinely inspired…

“Little Bian, after living hundreds of years, I might finally prosper…”

A trembling heart, shaking hands…

“Kneeling to thank the clan leader! Aside from my father, you are the only one in centuries who called me by my childhood name. You’re making me acknowledge my roots… This bastard dared to covet my beauty… I…”

At this moment, the great elder of the Biluo Sacred Land seemed to forget all his wounds. His tiger-like body trembled as he staggered to his feet and grabbed the Second Sacred Son by the hair.

“Bah! You spineless bastard! I bet you don’t know how high the sky is or how thick the earth is! I have roamed for centuries, and you think you dare to covet me…”

Dragging the feminine Second Sacred Son toward the crowd of the eight great Sacred Land members.

Looking at the still stunned Sacred Land members around, Elder Bian cursed in frustration, “You fools, don’t want to live anymore? Quickly… kill this bastard…”

Hah…

Survive?

Understood!

Whether it was to show loyalty, or Jiang family’s plan to sow bloodshed and discord within the Linglong Sacred Land, or some other reason—

The Emperor’s Pressure still weighed heavily on their hearts—this was an imperial edict…

So…

For the first time in Dongzhou’s history, the combined might of the eight great Sacred Land peak experts—their punches, scissors, spit, strangling, and stealing peaches—the century’s grand brawl was about to begin.