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Around 80% of the Astrals that lived within the kingdom would never see the light of day.

They didn’t need light, and they didn’t like light.

In this sense, Astrals were the same as the ghosts from folklore.

Even though they weren’t afraid of light, it was true that their defenses were woefully lacking in this regard.

And now, a sun which they had not seen for a long time had appeared in the sky.

The current Gu Qingluo was different from before yet again.

Her strength had surged just by following Su Chen around.

The undoing of her bloodline restriction was already innately hastening her growth. While the other members of the Gu Clan were still carefully limiting the degree to which they awakened their bloodline to 20%, Gu Qingluo had awakened hers to 40%, since her upper limit was now 60% anyways.

The amount of power that she had access to was far greater, which also resulted in a much rapider rate of cultivation.

Su Chen’s rate of cultivation was quick because of his eyes, but Gu Qingluo only needed to expend and absorb the power of her Shining Dragon Bloodline. Her cultivation speed was no slower than Su Chen’s - in fact, she was even faster.

As such, she had reached the Thought Manifestation Realm in less time, and by now she had already reached the peak of the Thought Manifestation Realm. It seemed that she was going to ascend to the Ultimate Emperor Realm very soon.

She was most likely going to be the youngest Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator on the Primordial Continent.

A Thought Manifestation Realm cultivation base and a 40% awakened bloodline put the full power of the Shining Dragon Bloodline on display.

Even without unleashing the Shining Dragon Aspect, Gu Qingluo’s body still burned fiercely, unleashing rays of dazzling sunlight that seemed to melt away all of the defenses that the Astrals had set up.

“Hiss!!!”

Shrill shrieks could be heard echoing through the air - the pained cries of the Astrals.

Origin Energy fluctuations began to pulse through the sky, attempting to alleviate the pressure emanating from Gu Qingluo through sheer brute force.

Only when the tide was retreating was it possible to see who was swimming naked. At that moment, the Astrals’ true supporting pillars were exposed.

In the blink of an eye, Su Chen had locked onto three targets. “There, there, and there. Three in-office elders!”

Three imprints suddenly appeared on their bodies. A moment later, the three in-office elders suddenly felt the space around them distort before they reappeared and found themselves in midair.

Su Chen had used his mastery of spatial powers to directly teleport the in-office elders out of formation.

He had expended quite a bit of energy to teleport them across such a great distance. At the same time, three shadows shot forth from amongst the Boundless Sect’s ranks towards the three elders.

The Void Seahorse and two Titan-Class puppets.

Even though the Boundless Sect still had no Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators yet, they had quite a few entities that were just as strong as an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. Su Chen, Gu Qingluo, and the Void Seahorse were all stronger than an average Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, while the Titan-class puppets were roughly equal in strength.

As such, Su Chen wasn’t afraid of competing with top-tier strength either.

After the three elders were captured, the Astrals didn’t stand a chance. Gu Qingluo unleashed her full power, causing flames to spurt forth in all directions and completely eradicating a majority of the Astrals’ defenses.

Gu Qingluo was responsible for breaking down the defenses, while the Boundless Sect was responsible for reaping lives.

Streaks of sword light flew through the air. Without the barrier’s interference, the swords began to execute Astral after Astral.

The outcome of the battle had already been determined.

“So now is the time for you to use that trump card, right?” Su Chen muttered to himself.

And the Astrals were indeed doing just that.

After Ulric had seen Gu Qingluo appear in the sky, he knew that this battle had been lost. Even though he was an in-office elder, his strength was limited because he was still recovering all of the consciousness power he had lost. At this point in time, his status did not actually measure up with his actual strength. In fact, because Su Chen had managed to turn his disaster into good fortune, there was no way that Ulric would be able to compete.

He turned to face Yanto. “Come with me.”

Yanto and Ye Fenghan knew that the payoff was close and followed closely behind.

Ulric walked into the Astral Hall.

The Astral Hall was just as dismal and gloomy as before. Four in-office elders were standing guard there.

Upon seeing Ulric, the four elders paid him their greetings.

Ulric said, “Bring them out.”

An Astral elder stepped forwards and made a strange gesture, then pantomimed a tossing motion. A jar appeared out of nowhere.

This was also a spatial technique, but it was many times more sophisticated than an Origin Ring.

Ye Fenghan knew that the Astrals were not very proficient in spatial methods. As such, it was highly likely that the Astrals had expended quite a bit of energy to preserve this item.

And usually, there were only two reasons to use this kind of spatial technique to store items: either the item was incredibly valuable, or it was incredibly dangerous.

Indeed, the Astral elder’s movements were incredibly careful now that he was holding the jar.

Ye Fenghan noticed that the jar was constructed out of Brokenhearted Jade.

Brokenhearted Jade was extremely poison-repellant. Oftentimes, a small piece was enough to construct an extremely high-quality poison warding medallion, but this jar was made completely out of it. Its surface was inscribed with poison-restricting markings.

So it was related to poison after all?

Ye Fenghan immediately understood.

Specter’s Garden was a place where poison thrived, so it made sense that this ultimate killing technique also relied on poison.

Ulric said, “Specter’s Garden has countless kinds of poisons, but most of them can be targeted and nullified. Though the wave of poison is powerful, it is possible to survive it. But there are some poisons that leave no possibility of survival whatsoever. They are usually quite transient, because nature forbids their perpetual existence. But as soon as they are brought into being, they are bound to unleash a calamity.”

Ye Fenghan’s heart sank.

Ulric accepted the jar, then walked towards Yanto.

He said, “Every thousand years, Specter’s Garden produces a special kind of poison that we call...... Annihilation. This poison is completely impossible to defend yourself against. Even Astrals will die if they come into contact with it. It is able to corrode through every known entity until it is completely consumed, so it cannot be stored. The only way to preserve it is to keep it in an isolated void. This Brokenhearted Jade jar is not its container - the small void it contains is. There, Annihilation cannot contact any physical substance. It contains all of the Annihilation that the Astrals have spent countless lives to gather for the past twenty thousand years. As soon as it is unleashed, everything will be destroyed, and nothing will survive - not the humans, not the Astrals, and not even the ground itself.”

Ye Fenghan was stunned when he heard this.

He had never heard of a poison like that before.

“This poison, however, has one flaw - it does not spread rapidly,” Ulric continued. “As such, you cannot expect to use it against any powerful expert, because it won’t be able to catch up to them. It will need to be spread extremely discreetly in order for it to take effect.”

Yanto asked, “How should we use it?”

Ulric replied, “There is an underground tunnel here. Go through it and you will find yourself behind the Boundless Sect’s front lines. Your job will be much easier after that.”

Yanto said, “Charge into enemy lines and open the jar.”

“Yes.” Ulric nodded. “That’s why I said that you need to be prepared to die. Yanto, the future of the Astrals will depend on you.”

Yanto nodded. “Rest assured, Elder!”

Ulric let out a long sigh. “You may go.”

He waved with his sleeve, and a tunnel appeared underground.

Everything had obviously been planned out a long time ago. If the Astrals were ever forced to use this poison, they would deliver it via this underground tunnel.

Yanto said nothing more and left with Ye Fenghan in tow.

As Ulric watched them leave, he suddenly felt his heart skip a beat, as if he was missing some key piece of information. A sense of unease began to spread over him.

What am I thinking?

Perhaps this was because of the pressure the humans were putting on him.

Uric shook his head, wanting to shake off the shadows in his heart.

Even so, those worries only seemed to sink in the more he tried to brush them off.

He didn’t realize anything in the end, however, and chalked it up to being overly stressed.

He didn’t try to chase after them. Tens of thousands of years of history triumphed over his personal feelings. Ulric walked out of the Astral Hall and began to wait for their plan to come to fruition.

He was completely confident in Annihilation.

Perhaps it would not kill Su Chen or Gu Qingluo, but it would at least do great damage to the Boundless Sect. If the jar was opened smack dab in their midst, it was very possible that the Boundless Sect would lose 90% of their soldiers all at once.

The Boundless Sect would not be able to continue their campaign against the Astrals if they suffered that kind of loss.

Time slowly trickled by.

The scene that Ulric was waiting for, however, never appeared.

This made him a bit impatient.

What was happening?

Why hadn’t Annihilation taken effect?

His emotional state slowly began to grow unsteady.

At this point, the Astral army was being suppressed quite heavily by the Boundless Sect’s soldiers.

The subservient races had been scattered, and the cowardly Kobalos had lost all motivation. Even the techniques stirring up their bloodthirst were unable to override their intuitive desire to flee.

The streaks of sword light gave chase relentlessly. Soon, Ulric himself would be thrown into the mix.

Why? Why hadn’t it activated yet?

Ulric was growing more and more anxious, and the uneasy sensation in his heart grew stronger and stronger until it permeated his entire being.

In that moment, Ulric suddenly understood.

Even though he wasn’t aware yet of what exactly had happened, he knew that the plan had failed.

It was a complete failure!

Boom!

The pained cries had not ceased, and the Boundless Sect was still advancing fearlessly. The Astrals were beginning to fall apart.

“Elder Ulric, why hasn’t Annihilation taken effect yet?” the four elders in the Astral Hall asked, panicking.

In that moment, Ulric seemed to have calmed down significantly.

He turned around to leave. “The plan is a complete failure. Order the remaining Astrals who are lucky enough to still be alive to retreat.”

“Failure? How could it have failed?” the other elders asked.

“I don’t know!” Ulric finally lost his temper and roared. “The only thing we can do now is hurry and leave this place to try and preserve the remaining numbers we have left!”

A low bugle cry gave the cue for the Astrals to retreat. At the same time, the puppets they controlled charged forwards with reckless abandon, holding the line in their masters’ stead.

“Trying to run?” Su Chen glanced at the Brokenhearted Jade jar next to him as a smile broke out on his face. “Attack!”