The formation shattered, and the entire Luo God-Clan was split cleanly in half under that domineering blade strike. Countless buildings collapsed, and countless clan members died in the destruction.

“Stop your arrogance!” an enraged voice roared from within the Luo estate. Their last two surviving Saint Sovereigns stepped into the air and charged toward Xu Zimo.

Both were only at the initial stage of the Saint Sovereign realm. They had been too weak to participate in the battle in the Great Beyond, so they’d been left behind. Now, the two Saint Sovereigns wore grim expressions as they approached, taking positions to the left and right to surround Xu Zimo.

“The Luo God-Clan is not a place where you can run rampant,” one of them shouted.

“Looks like you’ve been in power too long. Even now, you can still spout such nonsense,” Xu Zimo replied with amusement.

The two exchanged a glance. One drew the longsword at his waist, its sword aura surged wildly as the cold, emotionless intent of the Supreme Heartless Path erupted outward.

The Supreme Alchemy Scripture’s combat method was the Heartless Path, emotionless, detached, seeking life through death.

“Today, in the name of the Supreme Dao, the two of us will kill you.”

Both men simultaneously took out a pill. It was the Supreme Heart-Clearing Pill. Consuming it would squeeze every drop of hidden potential from their bodies, burning everything away in exchange for their strongest possible power.

With a booming eruption, the power contained within the pills spread outward. The two swallowed them, and as golden light flickered across their bodies, their auras thickened. The might of Saint Sovereigns surged into the sky. Two swords, one on each side, slashed toward Xu Zimo, their emotionless sword intent tearing open the void.

“Too weak,” Xu Zimo said with a small shake of his head.

He swung Shadow Tyrant in a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree arc. Blade force rippled from every direction. With overwhelming dominance, the strike shattered the emotionless sword intent. The emotionless Dao might have been powerful, but in the face of absolute strength, the gulf between Supreme Giant and Sage Monarch was still insurmountable.

As the sword intent broke, the two Saint Sovereigns were sent flying back.

“God Lord, take the people and run! We’ll hold him off with our lives!” one of the Saint Sovereigns shouted.

They had already consumed the Supreme Pills. Their life force was burning, their potential exhausted; when their blood and vitality ran dry, it would mean inevitable death. Even though they were heavily wounded, the two still charged again.

“Your resolve is admirable, but it doesn’t change the fate of the Luo God-Clan today,” Xu Zimo said, shaking his head.

His eyes snapped open. The Infinite-Samsara Demon-Eye rotated slowly within them. The powerful force of samsara twisted the void and dragged both Saint Sovereigns into the cycle.

“Heaven and earth revolve in samsara. All returns, all repeats,” Xu Zimo said calmly. “Even Saint Sovereigns cannot escape samsara. Since you seek death, I’ll send you to the Mirage Tides Heaven.”

The samsara void crushed inward. With thunderous explosions, two unfathomably deep vortices formed. The two Saint Sovereigns were pulled in, and vanished without another sound.

Luo Shaobin, the God Lord, witnessed this scene. His eyes cracked with fury. He drew the longsword from his waist and roared, “Even if the Luo God-Clan dies today, we will not die on our knees! All clansmen, fight with me until the last one of us falls!”

At his cry, the Luo disciples shouted in unison, “The sons of the Luo God-Clan are no cowards!”

Countless figures charged from all directions.

“If that’s the case, then I’ll send you all to destruction,” Xu Zimo said.

The demonic energy around his hands surged.

“Ten Forms of Demon, God Demon: World Annihilator.”

Shadow Tyrant returned to its sheath as Xu Zimo brought his hands together. Terrifying power gathered between his palms. A fusion of godly and demonic strength churned like a storm. The force screamed, roared, and swelled without end.

When his palms slowly opened, the world shook. A tidal wave of divine-demonic destruction erupted outward, vast enough to smother the heavens. Everything along its path was annihilated, living beings, matter, even the void itself.

This was the God Demon: World Annihilator.

The people who moments earlier had charged bravely now turned pale with horror.

“Run, run!”

“He’s not human, he’s death itself! He’s come to kill us!”

“We can’t win! Run for your lives!”

Their panicked flight trampled countless of their own people to death. Only Luo Shaobin and a few elders continued their desperate charge forward.

But within moments, the entire Alchemy God City was swallowed by divine-demonic destruction.

…

A long time later, the explosions and screams faded. Xu Zimo looked around. Everything had been wiped out. Alchemy God City had become a dead city, silent enough that even a falling needle could be heard.

He walked out. Beyond the ruins stretched an endless plain, with neatly arranged cities in the distance and mountains at the horizon.

A single person stood outside the city.

He wore a coarse long shirt. When he saw Xu Zimo emerge, he hurried over.

“Well, if it isn’t the pill-selling brother,” Xu Zimo said lightly.

“My lord, I know you’re powerful. Please don’t make fun of me,” the man said with a bitter smile.

He was the same man who had sold pills to Xu Zimo upon his arrival in the city, and the one who practiced Lin Ruhu’s Strength Scripture.

“I originally wanted to find you inside,” he said. “But when I saw people fleeing and realized you were slaughtering the Luo God-Clan, I was afraid you’d mistake me for one of them and kill me too… so I waited out here.”

“Speak. What is it?” Xu Zimo asked.

If it involved Lin Ruhu, he was interested. Anything else, he didn’t care for.

“You could tell I was practicing that Strength Scripture, so you must have some connection to it,” the man probed.

“Don’t pry into my matters. Just tell me, who taught you?” Xu Zimo asked.

“My master. I only know his surname is Lin,” the man answered.

Xu Zimo instantly understood. If it wasn’t the Tyrant Emperor, then it could only be Lin Ruhu.

“Where is he now?” Xu Zimo asked.

“My master went to the Three-Corpse Burial Ground… and never came back,” the man said with a bitter smile.

“The Three-Corpse Burial Ground?” Xu Zimo frowned.

“It’s one of the ancient burial grounds of the upper heavens,” the man explained. “We offended some people up there. After my master disappeared, I had no choice but to flee to the Absolute God Heaven.”

“So you want me to save your master?” Xu Zimo asked.