Chapter 1770: The Emperor Takes Action

"Why?"

Li Laide frowned and asked.

"The Dusk Society hasn't reached the time to open recruitment yet." Chen Ling responded calmly.

Li Laide froze. No matter how much he thought, he wouldn't have thought it was this reason... Even recruiting people for the Dusk Society has to be stuck to a specific time?

"Then when you guys start recruiting, can I enter?"

Buzz——!!

Just as Chen Ling was about to say something, the earth beneath their feet vibrated violently!

Following a mighty and extremely oppressive aura crashing down from above, Li Laide only felt his eardrums vibrating and hurting... In a daze, he seemed to see an emperor-like figure hanging down from the sky, making one's knees uncontrollably go soft, instinctively wanting to submit and bow to him.

This is...

All this that he felt was just a phantom brewing from that emperor's aura.

Just the aura alone could make people produce this kind of illusion...

That person's strength was actually terrifying to this extent?

That emperor-like shadow seemed to come bearing some kind of undeniable will. Even Li Laide's Path of the Thief swayed somewhat. His legs uncontrollably bent, instinct controlling his body to slowly kneel and bow toward a certain direction...

Right at this moment, a palm rested on his shoulder.

The World-Ending Oppressive Aura drilled into Li Laide's body, like bone-piercing coldness being violently poured in. This coldness collided with the emperor's Oppressive Aura, making Li Laide's slowly kneeling body forcefully stiffen in place!

"You are my person." A cold voice sounded from behind Li Laide,

"You... are not allowed to kneel to him."

Li Laide swallowed his saliva nervously.

Li Laide never thought that one day he would become the target of competition between that Emperor and a World-Ending Calamity. However, Ying Fu's emperor Oppressive Aura didn't seem to be aimed at him, but an indiscriminate deterrence toward living beings in a large surrounding area...

That Emperor... actually personally took action?

In Li Laide's impression, that person in the Imperial Palace had never taken action. Even if the major bastions encountered emergency situations, Dukes of the State were always dispatched to handle them. Even if everyone in the world knew that the Emperor dwelling deep in the Imperial Palace was unrivaled in the world, they had never seen it. Over time, it became a kind of legend...

There were even people who started spreading that the Emperor had died of old age long ago; there were also people who said that the Emperor didn't exist from the very beginning, and was just a story fabricated by the dynasty's dignitaries to deter the vassals.

But Li Laide never believed he was dead. Otherwise, those parasites and jackals in the dynasty would probably have completely lost control long ago and divided up the world.

Thoughts spun rapidly in Li Laide's mind. At the same time, the earth above his head trembled violently, dense cracks spreading upon it. Rustling dust fell from the crevices, followed immediately by a deafening roar!

Boom——!!!

The entire Taishi Division seemed to be uprooted by some kind of power, even the ground was lifted open. Li Laide only felt a sway above his head, and the original thick ground was replaced by a deep night sky.

He looked up, only to see the shattered Taishi Division actually floating in the air in a bizarre posture, as if an invisible giant hand had forcefully crushed and lifted it up.

And the source of that aura... actually extended all the way into the distance, pointing straight at the deep and secluded palace.

"This aura..."

"9th-rank Demigod!?"

"Didn't they say the two Dukes of the State are not in the Chengtian Domain... Could it be..."

"It's that person taking action!!"

"Hmph, who said His Majesty already has little lifespan left and is powerless to fight?"

"Once this mighty imperial prestige comes out, those rumors in the court, and those restless little thoughts of those people, will probably completely disappear..."

"However, this Calamity of Mockery has been invading for a while now, why did His Majesty only take action now?"

"..."

The ones shocked were not just Li Laide, but also all the royalty, nobles, wealthy merchants, and businessmen on the Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Azure Dragon Great Avenues.

They looked one after another at that magnificent royal palace under the night sky, bending down and kneeling without hesitation under the mighty imperial prestige. Their foreheads touched the earth simultaneously, but their respective thoughts were not the same. Some were excited, some were doubtful, some were gratified, some were apprehensive, some were dead in their hearts...

Besides this.

Hazy starlight flickered silently. Behind the deep palace walls, He Jing and Eunuch Zuo also looked back in shock toward the bedchamber doors...

The white gauze inside the bedchamber danced wildly without wind. Between the flickering candlelight, the figure sitting quietly on the bed couldn't be seen to have joy or anger. As he raised his finger to point in the direction of Xuanwu Great Avenue, two Divine Path Stars lit up simultaneously from the void!

The doors of the bedchamber seemed to be crashed open by a hurricane, abruptly opening wide with a thud. He Jing and Eunuch Zuo retreated crazily to both sides in horror simultaneously. At the same time, mighty imperial prestige poured out from within the bedchamber!

Xuanwu Great Avenue, above the ruins.

Chen Ling saw two Divine Path Stars light up from the sky, a touch of solemnity surfacing in his gaze.

Two Demigod paths blended at extreme speed. In an instant, the starlight filling the sky seemed to be wrapped by the grid of a chessboard, hanging down from the sky... It was like an incomparably massive droplet of starry sky, and directly beneath it were Chen Ling and Li Laide on Xuanwu Great Avenue.

Immediately after, sharp brushstrokes surfaced from the surface of the starry sky. They intertwined with each other, turning into a hasty and massive "Fist" character. It contained the weight of the entire starry sky, smashing down toward Chen Ling and the other like a meteor!

The violent wind pressure blew away the stones on the ruins, and the hem of the Theatrical Robe also surged along with it. Chen Ling looked at this starry sky fist with slightly narrowed eyes, not knowing what he was thinking.

Li Laide beside him was pale with nervousness.

This strike of Ying Fu's was absolutely at the Demigod level, and it was even a fusion ability of two Divine Pathways. Ordinary Demigods would fundamentally find it difficult to withstand... Li Laide was ultimately only a 5th-rank. Facing a Demigod strike directly, the Oppressive Aura was too strong for him, making it extremely difficult to even move a finger.

He could only watch helplessly as that starry sky fist swung down rapidly above the Imperial Palace, intending to completely obliterate him and Chen Ling here!

"His Majesty has taken action!!"

"Such a strong aura... Is this His Majesty's strength?!"

"Once this strike falls, even a World-Ending Calamity will find it difficult to withstand, right? Long live His Majesty!!!"

"Drive this damn World-Ending Calamity out of the Chengtian Domain!!"

"Kill it!! Kill it!!"

"..."

This strike of Ying Fu's directly stirred up the high-spirited fighting will of the entire domain. Successive shouts sounded under the night sky. The malice of millions of citizens all followed that starry sky fist, pointing straight at Chen Ling above the ruins!

"What should we do?" Li Laide looked at Chen Ling with a pale face.

Chen Ling calmly looked up at that starry sky fist. In the next second, markings like magma fissures spread from the mark between his eyebrows, gradually cracking toward his entire body...

An equally surging aura poured out from his body!!

"You thought becoming a Demigod..."

"Would mean you can kill me?"