Chapter 488 464: Ji Shenyun: "Bring Me Pei Yuhang!

Ji Shenyun only plunged the mortals present deeper into despair.

A gale of Black Gold Gang Qi raged like a furious dragon, dissolving flesh and turning bone to ash wherever it passed.

Those once-valiant soldiers, renowned for their skill in battle, were turned into ghastly skeletons scattered across the ground before they could even let out a cry of pain.

Occasionally, a few stronger soldiers would break through the storm, but in front of Ji Shenyun, their iron armor was as fragile as soap bubbles.

She merely lifted a hand, her fingertips twitching slightly, and with a POP, those men would explode into a fine red mist, never even given a chance to struggle.

Ji Shenyun stood amidst a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, her dark robes fluttering, yet not a single speck of dust stained them.

She tilted her head slightly, her abyss-like eyes sweeping coldly across the surroundings, as if searching for something.

"Pei Yuhang, where are you hiding?"

Her voice wasn't loud, yet it pierced every ear like a cold blade, tinged with a hint of mockery and impatience.

"Is this what you call your Sword Dao?"

"Skulking around, using these mortals as your human shields while you hide like a rat."

The surrounding soldiers were still charging, but Ji Shenyun's gaze pierced through the battlefield, as if staring at some unseen enemy.

She slowly raised her hand, a wisp of Black Gold Gang Qi coiling around her fingertip.

Ji Shenyun's slender, phoenix-like eyes narrowed slightly as she glanced at the soldiers charging toward her. A chilling, playful light glinted in their depths, and her tone was cold and contemptuous.

"Even if these mortals aren't truly alive, even if they're just illusions... by using them as meat shields, you think there won't be a flaw left in your Sword Heart?"

As she spoke, the Gang Qi coiled around her fingertip shot out. Dozens of soldiers before her let out blood-curdling screams as their flesh shriveled at a visible rate, turning to ghastly white bones in the blink of an eye.

Ji Shenyun lowered her gaze to the scattered armor at her feet. She gracefully lifted a long, slender leg, the hem of her darkly embroidered skirt fluttering in the wind. With a light tap of her toe, a helmet forged from refined steel crumbled into a fine powder that drifted away.

She suddenly looked up, and the gale of Gang Qi blew a strand of her silver hair across her crimson lips.

Seeing that these mortals couldn't force the Sword Immortal to reveal a flaw, Ji Shenyun spoke again.

"Pei Yuhang, didn't you come to save your disciple?"

"The enemy who wants to harm your disciple is right here. Draw your sword! Come and strike me down! Hahaha~"

Her laughter died as abruptly as it began. She tilted her delicate chin up, revealing the elegant line of her swan-like neck.

Her fair, jade-like fist slowly clenched, her knuckles turning white from the force. The Black Gold Gang Qi wrapped around it let out a horrifying screech.

"How laughable. So this is the Sword Cultivator from a later age who bears the name 'Sword Immortal.' Nothing special at all."

With that, her eyes turned sharp, and she unleashed a punch with the force of a Flood Dragon bursting from the sea.

The Black Gold Gang Qi roared as it tore through the air. Soldiers in its path vaporized into blood mist before they could even scream. Under the force of the punch, the towering palace walls crumbled layer by layer like paper, and one resplendent hall after another collapsed.

Viewed from high above, the single punch had plowed a shocking ravine through the Imperial Palace, stretching for miles.

The billowing dust and smoke gradually settled, revealing ruins that looked as if they had been struck by a natural disaster.

Amidst the rubble and broken walls, scorched earth mingled with shattered gold. The acrid stench of smoke and blood filled the air.

In that moment, the soldiers who had just been roaring and charging forward all froze in place. Their pupils trembled as they stared, dumbstruck, at the terrifying ravine that cut through the Imperial Palace. Fear was etched on their faces, and their lips trembled, unable to produce a single sound.

"CLANG—"

The crisp sound of metal striking the ground suddenly rang out, exceptionally piercing on the deathly silent battlefield.

A long saber fell from a soldier's hand. His legs gave way, and his knees slammed heavily into the dirt.

He looked up, his gaze unfocused as it fell on Ji Shenyun. His lips trembled, and his voice was hoarse with despair.

"This... this kind of monster... How can we mortals possibly fight something like that—!"

"You bastard! Who gave you permission to kneel!"

A heavily armored general strode over, his eyes wide with fury, veins bulging on his forehead.

He grabbed the soldier by the collar, his armored gauntlet making the fabric groan, and his voice boomed like thunder.

"Are you betraying the sacrifices of the soldiers who fell before you?! Get up!"

However—

CLANG. CLANG. CLANG...

The sound of weapons dropping to the ground was incessant, like a cold rain of metal.

The general's hand trembled slightly. He slowly raised his head, and a scene of utter despair met his eyes—

His men, the elite Forbidden Army who had once been fierce and unafraid of death, were now all deathly pale, their eyes vacant. One by one, their weapons slipped from their hands and clattered to the ground.

Some collapsed to the ground, some held their heads and wept, and some even fell to their knees, pressing their foreheads into the blood-soaked earth, their bodies shaking uncontrollably.

In that moment, everyone came to a clear realization of Ji Shenyun's power, and the gap between this Immortal Demon... and mortals like themselves.

'A swarm of ants can devour an elephant... but can they devour a True Dragon?'

'In the face of a being who is a natural disaster in human form, is there any meaning to the sacrifices we've made for Great Zhao?'

This question had now taken root in the heart of every soldier.

That single punch from Ji Shenyun—

had utterly shattered the morale of the thirty thousand soldiers of the Great Zhao Forbidden Army!

"As I thought... kneeling suits your Human Race."

Ji Shenyun stood upon the ruins, her silver hair like frost, her black robes whipping in the wind, a cold, mocking sneer playing on her lips.

Her bewitching, phoenix-like eyes narrowed, as if she were enjoying the struggles of ants, or perhaps mocking the mortals for overestimating their own abilities.

"Heh. Pei Yuhang, is this your trump card? How dull. No matter how many mortals you gather, they are still just a mob of mortals, destined to be enslaved by the strong."

As she spoke, Ji Shenyun took a step onto the empty air, walking toward Prime Minister Liu and the Crown Prince on the distant city wall.

"Quickly, quickly! Shoot that Demoness—shoot her down!!"

The Crown Prince, scared out of his wits, shrieked the order.

However, the soldiers below, who had faced Ji Shenyun directly, were even more despairing than the Crown Prince. At this point, almost no one dared to even look up at the figure of Ji Shenyun standing in the sky.

Even the few stray arrows that did fly toward her disintegrated into ash in mid-air, long before they could get close.

Watching the Silver-haired Witch stroll toward them, the Crown Prince cried out in alarm and stumbled to the ground, his magnificent Python Robe dragging a messy trail through the dust.

Beside him, Prime Minister Liu was still on his feet, but his aged face was ashen with despair.

He clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned a bloodless white, beads of grimy sweat seeping out between his fingers.

Ji Shenyun ignored the pathetic Crown Prince, her gaze fixed intently on Prime Minister Liu.

"Where is Pei Yuhang?"

"Hand him over, and I'll spare your lives."

Prime Minister Liu took a deep breath, a fine sheen of cold sweat breaking out on his wrinkled forehead.

He forced himself to straighten his stooped back and met Ji Shenyun's gaze.

"He is at Prince Ning's Mansion."

"Prince Ning's Mansion... Heh. So he deliberately showed himself at the Gilded Dragon Hall before, just to make me fight you mortals to the death and expend my Spiritual Qi?

I suppose he's forgotten that I am the ancestor of his disciple! I am the sovereign of the Asura Race! War only makes me stronger—!!"

The next instant, with a light tap of her toes, she rose into the air like a phantom and vanished from sight, leaving behind only the utter devastation on the ground and a lingering, murderous aura.

Only when that terrifying aura had completely faded did Prime Minister Liu collapse to the ground as if his bones had been removed. The hem of his official robes was soaked through.

He looked toward Prince Ning's Mansion and murmured, "Sword Immortal Pei... the rest is up to you... This was the most we mortals could do.

I hope you can succeed in slaying the Demoness and protecting our Great Zhao."

「Outside the Imperial Palace.」

Having just cut down the Emperor, a petite figure drawn by the sounds of cannon fire and slaughter from within the palace suddenly stopped in her tracks.

She looked up, and her crimson eyes narrowed as she got a clear look at the figure streaking across the sky.

'That woman—she can fly?!'

'And her hair is the same color as mine... it's silver!'

Seeing the direction the woman was flying, Little Yueqiu gripped the hilt of her sword even tighter.

That was the direction of Prince Ning's Mansion...

'Did Master come to the Capital City to deal with her?'

Little Yueqiu murmured to herself and, without hesitation, immediately sprinted in that direction.