The Astonished Battle Emperors

The battle's aftershocks gradually faded within the Shadow Sacred Domain. At its center, the green dog's body drifted motionless in the void.

The corpse was riddled with wounds of every kind. Thin threads of corrosive blood seeped out slowly, eating away at the surrounding darkness.

Lu Yuan stared at the remains. After a moment, he felt a surge of incomparably powerful unknown energy merge into his body and flow toward the Evolution Cube nestled beside his Gene Chain.

A deep resonant rumble followed. The Evolution Cube flickered to life with an ethereal blue radiance, its glow spreading across every inch of the Gene Chain — even the white mist drifting nearby was swallowed by that azure light.

Every aspect of Lu Yuan strengthened as the Evolution Cube completed its metamorphosis. His very life essence transformed with it.

*Didn't expect the energy from this one to be so overwhelming,* he thought, a flash of pleasant surprise moving through him. *It pushed the Evolution Cube straight into a new metamorphosis.*

After this, the evolutionary ceiling for Gene Armaments and items bonded to his Gene Chain would rise as well — all the way to Divine Grade, in all likelihood. That alone would give his overall strength another meaningful boost.

And the evolution limit for external items would increase too. Previously capped at Sovereign Grade, it should now reach Emperor Grade.

If so, evolving his cultivation resources would push his training speed higher along with it.

He had expected his progress to slow considerably upon reaching Battle Sovereign rank, but with this metamorphosis, that concern simply evaporated.

He let out a quiet breath, set his excitement aside, and turned his thoughts back to the fight.

He'd found that his strength far exceeded even his own estimates.

This Saint-grade Aberration Feral Beast had been no weakling, even among Battle Saints — genuinely formidable by any measure. And yet he had killed it alone.

His original plan had been nothing more than to hold the beast off until a Battle Saint arrived to reinforce him. Somehow that had turned into a solo kill. *Did I just accidentally win?*

He couldn't help feeling a little ridiculous about it.

Still, he knew what had truly made the difference — not his seven Saint-grade Transcendent Genes, impressive as they were, but his ability to absorb Spirit Power without limit, replenishing himself endlessly.

That was what had allowed him to chain Combat Techniques without ever worrying about running dry.

Without it, his current strength simply could not have sustained a battle like this. Burning Saint-grade Combat Techniques at full output, he'd have drained his Spirit Power within minutes — no chance of finishing off a Saint-grade Aberration Feral Beast. The moment he ran empty, he would have been the one dying.

That said, the synergy between his various Combat Techniques had proven even greater than he'd imagined. No real blind spots. Ready for anything that came his way.

If not for the green dog's formidable spatial abilities, the fight would have been even more lopsided. He could have salted the surrounding area with spatial bombs and let the beast blunder into them itself — trap after trap, laid at leisure.

He finished cataloguing the battle in his mind. And then his body went still. An odd expression crossed his face as he looked toward the edge of the Shadow Sacred Domain.

Not long before, Li Xinghai and Si Qi had launched from the imperial palace and streaked toward the source of the surging auras.

They were far from alone. Other Battle Emperors and a contingent of powerful Battle Sovereigns had done the same — Li Qinghe and Si Tingyu among them.

The fastest arrived in the outer space zone in short order.

Li Xinghai, Si Qi, Wells, Adams, and the rest of the Battle Emperors were quickest, reaching the vicinity of the battle first. What greeted them was a curtain of darkness spreading across thousands of kilometers.

At the sight of it, they all faltered. A visible shock settled over the assembled Battle Emperors. Several looked to Li Xinghai, thoughts passing between them on currents of will.

"Dark Domain? Brother Li — is that your technique?"

Wells studied Li Xinghai, his expression tight with disbelief.

Li Xinghai looked just as baffled. He had sensed nothing earlier. He shook his head slowly.

"Not mine."

He reached out with his senses — and something shifted in his eyes. "The fundamental nature of that dark power... it's Saint Grade. Stronger than me."

The words sent a jolt through the group.

Adams was the first to speak. "Could a Saint passing through Great Qi Star have intervened? But why here? And I can still sense that Aberration Feral Beast's aura within..."

The mention of the Aberration drew a tightening of jaws and a wave of cold distaste through the others.

Li Xinghai and Si Qi exchanged a glance. Then Li Xinghai's voice turned grave.

"Si Qi and I have some knowledge of what happened here."

Every Battle Emperor's gaze snapped to them, eyes sharpening with unasked questions.

While the exchange was still underway, streaks of light poured in from the distance — the Battle Sovereigns, arriving at last. Slower than the Battle Emperors, but at their level the distance posed no great obstacle.

Li Qinghe and Si Tingyu spotted Li Xinghai and Si Qi the moment they arrived. They had caught Li Xinghai's words, and both women went rigid, eyes cutting to him with a flash of alarm.

Most of the others had heard as well. No one interrupted — they simply watched, faces alight with curiosity.

Feeling every gaze settle on him, Li Xinghai paused to gather his thoughts. Then, his tone low and deliberate, he spoke.

"Just a short time ago, that Aberration Feral Beast concealed its aura and attempted to assassinate me through spatial manipulation. Si Qi and I were together — and neither of us sensed the threat at all. But at that very moment, an unknown figure appeared, used spatial power to redirect the beast, and that is when all of you felt the aura originating from this location."

Li Qinghe went very still. Beside her, Si Tingyu's breath caught.

Li Qinghe understood exactly what that meant. The Aberration was Saint-grade. If it had gone through with the assassination, her grandfather would have had no chance of surviving — and without that unknown figure, the old patriarch would already be dead.

Si Tingyu reached the same conclusion. Her own Ancestor and the Li family's Ancestor had been together at the time. If the Li family's Ancestor had died, hers almost certainly could not have escaped either.

They were both still alive only because of that unknown figure.

Both women let out a slow, quiet breath of relief.

The Battle Emperors were no less shaken. Unease had crept into their expressions — the quiet weight of what might have been.

Adams' face was ashen and hard. "Cunning, just as I feared," he said quietly. "Lowering itself to assassination..."

The others nodded. If it had targeted Li Xinghai and Si Qi, it would target any of them.

Wells turned back to the wall of darkness. "Brother Li — are you saying that unknown figure is the one inside that domain? That they redirected the Aberration and are fighting it now?"

Li Xinghai gave a slow nod. "That would appear to be the case."

A Battle Emperor with a pallid complexion frowned and said, "By that account, this Saint possesses considerable spatial ability — and now demonstrates dark power at this scale. Earlier, most of us could faintly sense traces of other distinct elemental forces as well. As far as I know, there's no Saint in our White Cloud Star Domain who fits that description."

Glances rippled around the group.

Saints in the White Cloud Star Domain were few — fewer than the fingers on two hands. Battle Emperors moved in circles where passing knowledge of most Saints was expected. Yet not one of them had ever heard of a Saint commanding so many powerful and varied forces at once.

This baffled Li Xinghai and Si Qi as much as anyone.

After a moment of collective silence, one of the Battle Emperors spoke up. "Should we go in? That Saint is presumably still dealing with the Aberration — we can at least offer some help."

The idea sparked life back into the group. Heads nodded around the circle.

"Brother Wang is right. This is our Great Qi Star's crisis to begin with. We can't just stand here watching while some passing Saint does the work for us — we owe it to ourselves to do our part. Besides, the Aberration may have grown even stronger by now. There's no guarantee that Saint can kill it."

Adams gave a measured nod. "Then let's go in."

Li Xinghai's gaze swept over the assembled Battle Sovereigns, his expression somber.

"Battle Sovereigns stay where you are. A clash between Saints is not a place for you."

Li Qinghe and Si Tingyu looked at each other, then stood down without a word. Both understood. The gulf between their current strength and that of a Battle Saint was simply too vast.

The Battle Emperors wheeled toward the Dark Domain and advanced.

Wells, at the fore, flew straight into the edge of the Dark Domain — and stopped dead.

The others pulled up sharply and exchanged looks.

Wells extended a hand toward the boundary and found something strange: beyond the darkness lay an additional invisible barrier, as though the domain had been partitioned off into a separate layer of space — sealed away from the rest of the universe. Even entry was impossible.

"What in the..."

The Battle Emperors stared at each other, lost for words.

Li Xinghai's brow furrowed. Something seemed to dawn on him.

"The domain's construction is extraordinarily refined — and woven through with spatial power. This must be a seal placed by that Saint. Knowing the Aberration commands spatial abilities, he locked it inside to prevent escape."

The explanation clicked for everyone. Expressions around the group cleared.

Adams said slowly, "So that Saint is quite confident he can defeat the Aberration?"

"...Should we still attempt to force our way in?"

Li Xinghai thought for a moment, then said, "I have an affinity with dark power. Give me a little time — I believe I can find a way through. At the very least I need to see the state of the battle inside. If things have gone badly, I can open a channel to that Saint and offer our support."

The others nodded.

Dark energy rose around Li Xinghai in slow, probing tendrils as he began carefully feeling his way into the domain's structure.

No one spoke. They watched and waited.

Time passed. Then, after a long stretch of stillness, Li Xinghai finally pierced the spatial barrier — threading himself through on the resonance between his own dark power and the domain's fundamental nature — and slipped inside.

The sight of it sent a ripple through the watching crowd.

"I'm in," Li Xinghai said, his voice still grave.

The others gave a collective nod.

In the next instant, Li Xinghai dissolved into a coil of black mist and disappeared into the darkness.

Inside the Shadow Sacred Domain, Li Xinghai's brow creased the moment he entered. Even with dark power of the same fundamental origin, his perception reached no farther than a hundred kilometers in any direction.

Still, unlike those outside who could sense nothing at all, he could faintly detect the residual tremors of immense energy somewhere within — enough to just barely gauge their source.

He was about to move toward them when the tremors went completely quiet.

*...Is the fight over? Who won?* Unease tightened in his chest, uncertainty flickering across his face.

He was still working through it when space rippled around him — and in an instant Li Xinghai found himself back in open space, the wall of darkness stretched out before him once more.

He stood there blinking, a thread of honest bewilderment in his eyes, genuinely unable to work out how he had ended up back outside.

The others stared at his sudden reappearance. Si Qi was first to speak.

"You old fossil — what's the situation in there?"

Li Xinghai's lip twitched. "...No idea. I was thrown back out the moment I got in. I don't know what happened."

Silence descended over the group like a lid.

Back inside the Shadow Sacred Domain, Lu Yuan had felt the intrusion the instant it began. When he checked, he found himself looking at Li Xinghai.

*If the old man sees that I'm the one who killed the Saint-grade Aberration Feral Beast — what would his face do?* A faint thread of amusement stirred in him. *Would he just short-circuit on the spot?*

He turned it over for a moment, then decided he didn't really have that kind of mean streak. He had no desire to show off, and explaining things afterward would be awkward anyway.

So he simply used spatial transfer to send the old man back outside.

Then he turned his gaze to the green dog's battered corpse. He frowned lightly. He still hadn't decided what to do with it.

The creature's blood had considerable corrosive potency — if left here, it would eat into the surrounding space. And there was no telling whether it might trigger some further anomaly.

After a moment's thought, Lu Yuan unfurled the Wings of Light behind him. Sacred flames surged to life, brilliant and fierce, enveloping the green dog's remains. These flames carried a powerful purifying force; given a little time, they would reduce everything to ash without a trace.

In the meantime, Li Xinghai and the others outside would have a chance to understand that the Aberration was gone — that the threat was truly over, nothing left to fear.

With that decided, Lu Yuan quietly withdrew the Shadow Sacred Domain and let his presence dissolve.

Out in space, the watching crowd had fallen into a baffled hush.

Then the darkness shifted. It contracted, pulling inward on itself — and simply vanished.

In its place, at the very center of where the domain had been, a blaze of radiant light hung in the void, rolling with scorching, purifying heat.

Every warrior present snapped to attention. Exchanging quick glances, Li Xinghai and the Battle Emperors surged forward, and the rest followed in their wake — Battle Sovereigns included, among them Li Qinghe and Si Tingyu in the distance.

As they drew close, they saw it: sacred flames blazing in the void, and within those flames, the green dog's body crumbling slowly to ash.

Every Battle Emperor who had faced the green dog before went wide-eyed, shock written plainly across their faces.

"That's the Aberration — it's *dead?!*"