Elder Yumu’s image flickered — and his fist was already driving into Lieyan’s face.

His speed was a full hundred times greater than when he had faced Yueyang. Back on the streets of Redemption City, he hadn’t been fighting at full capacity — he had used neither artifacts nor war beast support. Now he wore a pair of Winged Silver Boots, and on both hands a pair of Acceleration Gauntlets. Most critically, he had summoned and fused with his war beast — the Lightning Flame Spitting Dragon, a Sky-rank Level 5 creature. Compared to his clash with Yueyang, both his power and speed had been multiplied a hundredfold.

The raw power was impressive enough — but that speed, surpassing the limits of sight and sense, made even the Lion Heart King’s brow furrow slightly.

Lieyan stumbled, forced back several large steps.

A few drops of blood welled from her nose.

She wiped it casually with the back of her hand, then spat out a small mouthful of bloodied saliva. “Not bad. Landing a hundred punches on my face in a single instant — worthy of the name they give you. But is that all the force you’ve got? The bite of a mosquito? Did you really think you’d scare me to death with that?”

Yumu’s face showed nothing. Even as Lieyan was speaking, he vanished.

The sound of impacts like falling rain came from the back of her skull.

Only this time, Yumu was unable to return to his original position with the same unhurried ease as before.

His fist had been caught in Lieyan’s grip.

She hadn’t even turned around.

She simply reached back, seized Yumu’s wrist behind her.

Her massive hand held it as steadily as iron tongs gripping the leg of a small insect — Yumu could not pull free.

“You thought I’d just stand here and take it with nothing to show for it? The same trick doesn’t work on me twice!” As Lieyan said this, Yueyang scratched the back of his head — that line sounded awfully familiar.

Yumu instantly launched a hundred kicks into Lieyan’s back.

Lieyan absorbed them all. She twisted at the waist, rotated her body, and with her right hand drove Yumu’s body sideways and slammed it downward with everything she had.

The crash was thunderous.

Yumu was driven into the earth by Lieyan’s full force, disappearing into a crater over ten meters deep.

That wasn’t enough. Lieyan reached down and hauled out the dazed, disoriented Elder, and he fell right back into her massive grip. She seized him by the head, drove it into the floor again, and simultaneously brought her foot down on top — hard. The impact echoed through the hall, but beneath that sound, everyone heard a different noise: the dull, dense crack of breaking bone.

The only thing that prevented Yumu from enduring more was the appearance of another figure between them.

Fortress Commander Tiejian materialized in front of Lieyan.

He extended one hand, intercepting her follow-up blow.

The moment Lieyan opened the fight, the rest of Yueyang’s group dispersed in all directions. Tianzhu and the Dragon Emperor held their position — everyone else spread out, each seeking their own opponents, moving to clear the surrounding resistance and storm the Stargazing Fortress. Only two figures remained entirely still: the Lion Heart King, watching the battle from where he stood, and City Lord Qianhu, making himself as small as possible in a corner.

Tianzhu and the Dragon Emperor moved in perfect unspoken accord toward the elderly strategist Nanpei.

As for Yueyang — he glanced at the crimson-haired Tiangui, who was still seated in his chair as though nothing was happening, and immediately turned a glare on Bi Lv. “What are you standing around for, idiot? Get to the treasury before someone empties it out!”

Bi Lv felt thoroughly aggrieved.

It was you who said no one was allowed to move without your signal. Especially those without the strength for a real fight — stay back and let yourselves be protected. And now you’re blaming me for being too slow?

She didn’t have time to produce tears of protest. She caught Luohua heading toward the inner hall at speed and rushed after her. Yueyang watched Bi Lv go and quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Given her level of cultivation, if the fighting got chaotic, someone with unclear intentions might take the opportunity to hit her with a sneak attack and finish her in one shot.

The Lion Heart King’s eyes moved between Yueyang and the crimson-haired Tiangui. He paid the fights between Lieyan and Tiejian, or Tianzhu and the Dragon Emperor against Nanpei, only the briefest of glances.

He knew where the real outcome of the entire battle would be decided.

Between these two.

Boom.

Fortress Commander Tiejian caught Lieyan’s heavy punch with one hand and sent a kick flying — launching her entirely out of the Fortress doors.

He charged after her immediately, unleashing a barrage of heavy blows.

Faster than him, however, was Yumu — who came drilling up from underground.

“Get out of my way, you bag of bones!” In the instant Lieyan was sent flying backward through the doors, she reached out and grabbed Yumu by the neck, swinging him sideways like a broom and slamming him directly into the iron doors, detonating a huge section of wall. And Tiejian, who had seized the opening to drive his heavy fist into Lieyan’s midsection — he didn’t get away cleanly either. Lieyan executed a perfectly precise spinning maneuver and landed a kick squarely on his jaw.

Without her training at the Gate of Life and Death and the Sky Stairway, Lieyan genuinely would not have been a match for Fortress Commander Tiejian.

Now, Lieyan and her former self were entirely different people.

On the other side, the fight was even more striking. Nanpei — nicknamed the Strategist, possessing peak Sky-rank Level 5 cultivation — was being completely suppressed by a Sky-rank Level 4 Tianzhu and a Sky-rank Level 3 Dragon Emperor.

The Lion Heart King stared. Even the crimson-haired Tiangui was visibly taken aback.

If Tianzhu and the Dragon Emperor had possessed exceptional artifacts and war beasts, that might have explained it.

But they didn’t.

With nothing but their own incomprehensible fighting power and endlessly refined technique, they drove Nanpei backward again and again, giving him no foothold to mount a counter-offensive.

Two fighters of lower rank, showing not the slightest awe of Nanpei’s higher cultivation pressure. Had Tiangui and the Lion Heart King known that Yueyang had been sharpening Tianzhu and the Dragon Emperor against three Divine Temple Elders, they wouldn’t have been surprised at all. Those two had fought against Temple Elders so many times they were practically tired of it — what could possibly intimidate them at this point?

“Truly impressive. Third Young Master — you are a remarkable young man. But do you really think this is enough to defeat me?” The crimson-haired, blood-eyed Tiangui remained calmly seated above.

“It’s not?” Yueyang put on an expression of genuine puzzlement.

“Ha! Lion Heart King — want to make a bet?” Tiangui turned abruptly to the Lion Heart King.

“What kind of bet?” the Lion Heart King asked.

“I’m betting you’ve made a losing investment. Within ten moves, I kill your favored Third Young Master.” Tiangui’s grin spread across his face with absolute confidence — but the scar pulling at his expression made the smile more savage than anything else.

“Gambling isn’t exactly my pastime, but they do say small wagers add to life’s enjoyment — why not have a go with Lord Tiangui?” The Lion Heart King laughed broadly, as though hearing nothing pointed in Tiangui’s words. He turned to Yueyang. “Third Young Master, the Lion Heart King is betting on you this round. You’re not going to take a dive on me, are you?”

“I’ll bet too — I’ll take him down in ten moves,” Yueyang said, delighted to join in.

“…” The Lion Heart King wanted very badly to say that was impossible — but held it back. Ten moves to kill Tiangui? Was this actually a joke? Tiangui had been a famous powerhouse ten thousand years ago. He had survived the bloodsoaked battlefields of Vivienne’s Conquest Army. How could anyone who had come through that carnage alive be finished in ten moves?

The crimson-haired Tiangui blinked.

Then let out a roar of delighted laughter.

Outside the great doors, Fortress Commander Tiejian pressed a hand against his jaw and got to his feet. Lieyan’s kick had left every steel-hard tooth in his mouth feeling loose. But against this Lieyan, famous for her righteous reputation — he still believed he could take her.

Tiejian tore the great red cape from his back and erupted into his full power. “If you think Tiejian is only Sky-rank Level 5, you are very much mistaken.”

The massive pressure of his full aura burst outward in a shockwave that shook the entire Stargazing Fortress.

To serve as a designated Fortress Commander and deployed general, Tiejian’s true cultivation was Sky-rank Level 6. With war beast, artifacts, and innate talent stacking together at maximum output, the force he could bring to bear in a single strike was enough to obliterate the earth itself. The Stargazing Fortress behind him shuddered. The ground cracked in spreading webs. Rock tore up through the surface, pulling open deep ravines, and vast quantities of earth and stone erupted skyward like volcanic explosions under the force of the shockwave.

For a moment, the sky was blotted out entirely.

The star-filled heavens vanished into absolute black — a darkness so complete one could not see one’s own hand.

In that darkness, Yumu deployed his unique innate talent: Fish Glue. An endless viscous energy, resembling thick mucus, spread through the entire sky, forming a spherical domain.

Within this domain, everyone except Yumu himself was affected — speed dramatically reduced, movement increasingly hindered. The viscous energy could eventually completely engulf a person, immobilizing them entirely, leaving them to suffocate and “drown” in it.

“Now — time to send you off,” Tiejian said, seeing Lieyan caught within Yumu’s viscous domain. He summoned his entire strength.

His fist drove forward.

A pillar of terrifying energy erupted from the front of his fist.

It struck Lieyan full in the face — the destructive force sent her flying, slamming into the earth within the domain, burying her deep. For a long moment, nothing moved below — it appeared to be an instant kill.

Fortress Commander Tiejian stood at the edge of the crater, mildly puzzled. Had Lieyan, with her dragon blood inheritance, really died just like that?

Yumu caught his look, gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. That was how it was. He could sense no living presence anywhere within his domain’s energy.

Just as Tiejian turned to head back to Stargazing Fortress — a shadow appeared behind him without a sound. When he turned back, he found the giantess Lieyan standing right there in front of him, completely unharmed.

Tiejian’s pupils contracted sharply. Impossible. He had struck with maximum force — the kind of blow that destroyed earth itself — and she was standing there without a scratch? He couldn’t work out how. His first instinct wasn’t to investigate — it was to run. Something about Lieyan in that moment felt like the shadow of death settling over his heart, driving a primal urge to put as much distance between them as possible.

Crack.

Lieyan’s massive hand came down on Tiejian’s shoulder.

She smiled, showing white teeth. “If you thought Sky-rank Level 6 made you something special, you were very wrong. Let me tell you — I’m also Sky-rank Level 6. And I’m a Sky-rank Level 6 who has comprehended the Innate Sovereign realm. Did you think I had no talents? No domain of my own?”

Countless flames erupted from her all at once — more terrifying than a hundred volcanoes igniting simultaneously.

Yumu watched his domain shatter in an instant.

Every last trace of viscous energy incinerated.

A dragon’s roar split the sky.

The image of an ancient golden dragon, approaching a thousand meters in height, blazed across the heavens in radiance beyond measure.

On the giantess’s body, flame-dragon markings appeared — densest of all on her two powerful arms, covered entirely in interweaving dragon patterns.

Lieyan raised her right hand and swung it across in a slow, deliberate arc — as casual as snapping a watermelon from its vine — and twisted the Fortress Commander’s head clean off his neck. In the instant it separated, Tiejian’s face still wore an expression of terror.

Lieyan lobbed the head toward Yumu as though passing along a casual delivery.

Yumu didn’t dare catch it. He stared blankly as Tiejian’s head hit the ground at his feet and rolled across the floor.

The moment Lieyan took her first step toward him, he turned and ran — using every last fraction of his speed to flee.

He was going back to Tiangui’s side.

Because against the Lieyan standing before him now, he had no chance whatsoever.

Lieyan followed behind at an unhurried pace. Only when Yumu fled back through the Fortress doors, flashed past Yueyang’s side, and was almost within reach of the crimson-haired Tiangui did she accelerate a thousandfold, closing the distance instantly.

One hand shot out. Her massive grip closed around Yumu’s skull.

Under Tiangui’s watching eyes — she crushed it.

“Interesting.” The crimson-haired Tiangui still hadn’t moved from his seat. He applauded with leisurely appreciation, and even attempted to offer Lieyan surrender terms: “If you’re willing to come over to our side right now, I’ll waive all charges against you. I’ll put you in Yumu’s place — you’d be promoted directly to Enforcement Elder. Someone who has comprehended Sovereign intent is not easy to find. I genuinely have no wish to destroy such a talent.”

“Ask my fist.” Lieyan swung it forward. The ancient dragon’s roar filled the entire Stargazing Fortress. Her fist energy advanced without resistance, driving straight at the crimson-haired Tiangui with everything she had.

The impact came.

The result left not only Lieyan but even the Lion Heart King watching from the side with his jaw hanging open.

Because the crimson-haired Tiangui had stopped Lieyan’s full-force blow.

With a single left index finger.

And he looked entirely comfortable doing it.

Like it required no effort whatsoever.

Every person in the room — except Yueyang — lost their composure entirely.