Battle Through the Heavens: Heaven-Swallowing Demon Emperor

Having dispatched the guards on the city walls, Xiao Heng and Su Mei led their force into the city. Over a hundred operatives moved silently toward the city lord's mansion in Blood City. Su Mei, accompanied by her three Dou Wang subordinates, launched an aerial assault on the mansion.

Below, a blood-red mist churned. Four Dou Wangs, their bodies wreathed in scarlet Dou Qi, glowed like eerie flames. Behind them, the Blood Sect's signature crimson banners fluttered, their grotesque blood-eye totems seeming to leer hungrily at the scene below.

Su Mei stood atop a rooftop, her ice-blue Dou Qi flowing around her, encasing her in a fortress of chilling frost. Her ice-blue longsword quivered, its blade encrusted with crystalline frost that refracted cold light, starkly contrasting the Blood Sect's crimson hue.

"Overestimating yourselves," Su Mei sneered. She appeared before a five-star Dou Wang, her slender hand darting out like a viper. Ice-attribute Dou Qi coalesced into a razor-sharp ice blade.

The Dou Wang's pupils contracted as he raised his sword to block. A crisp crack echoed—his weapon shattered under the ice blade's edge.

Su Mei followed with a palm strike, unleashing a bone-chilling cold that invaded the Dou Wang's body, freezing his vitality and Dou Qi. In an instant, he crumbled into ice shards, scattered by the wind without a single scream.

The remaining three Dou Wangs exchanged glances, fear flickering in their eyes before giving way to ferocity. With a silent nod, they formed a triangular formation, encircling Su Mei. Their blood-red Dou Qi surged toward her like a tidal wave.

Su Mei's expression remained icy. Her ice-blue Dou Qi wings unfurled, crystallizing into massive, translucent feathers behind her. With a gentle flap, she vanished like a specter.

Simultaneously, a blood-red Dou Qi whip lashed out from the buildings below, hissing through the air like a venomous snake, striking where Su Mei had stood. A thunderous boom followed, blasting a crater several zhang deep into the ground, debris and dust billowing outward.

Su Mei reappeared, flipping midair and landing lightly on a high rooftop. Her gaze locked onto a red-robed elder rising slowly from the dust, his withered hands cloaked in dense blood-red Dou Qi, resembling a predatory claw poised to strike.

"Is the Rakshasa Sect set on a fight to the death with my Blood Sect?" Fan Lao's voice rasped, low and threatening.

"Fight to the death? Laughable," Su Mei replied, her tone devoid of warmth. "Today marks the end of your Blood Sect!" Her words hung in the air as her Dou Qi surged, the surrounding air plummeting in temperature.

In an instant, countless ice spikes erupted from the ground, hurtling toward Fan Lao. Her ice-blue longsword slashed forward, unleashing a massive ice blade that tore through the sky, carrying a frigid chill aimed at Fan Lao.

A flicker of gravity crossed Fan Lao's eyes. His blood-red Dou Qi exploded, forming a massive hexagonal shield before him.

"Blood Shield!" he roared. The shield's surface shimmered with an eerie glow. Ice spikes and the ice blade slammed into it, producing a barrage of bang sounds, ice shards scattering. Yet the shield held firm, unshaken.

"Six-star Dou Huang!" Fan Lao gasped, sensing the intensity of Su Mei's Dou Qi. Shock and fear mingled in his eyes.

Su Mei had been a four-star Dou Huang. How had she leapt to six-star in such a short time? Worse, her ice-attribute Dou Qi naturally countered his blood-attribute Dou Qi, and her strength now surpassed his by a star. A sense of foreboding gripped him.

"What is Han Feng to you?" a cold voice interrupted from behind Fan Lao.

"You've stooped to being Han Feng's dog!" Fan Lao snarled, fury and resentment lacing his words. "How else could you have gained such strength if not for his Emperor's Extreme Pill?"

His instincts screamed danger. Years of battle experience kicked in as he whirled, conjuring a blood-red palm strike toward the voice's source while retreating with the recoil.

A blazing blade aura sliced through the air, colliding with the blood-red palm. The palm was engulfed by a blue blade aura, the resulting shockwave leveling nearby buildings.

Fan Lao peered through the dust to see a man cloaked in blue flames stepping forward. The man's aura was chilling, the blue flames radiating a terrifying heat far surpassing ordinary fire-attribute Dou Qi.

Fan Lao's heart sank. He'd faced Han Feng and knew the power of the Sea Heart Flame, but this man's Heavenly Flame was leagues more domineering.

"Who are you? My Blood Sect hasn't offended you!" Fan Lao said, suppressing his fear.

In his eyes, this mysterious newcomer posed the greatest threat. Though only a three-star Dou Huang, the overwhelming Heavenly Flame made him far more dangerous than the six-star Su Mei.

"No offense, true. But you're so ugly, you startled me. Is that reason enough to kill you?" Xiao Heng said, a mocking smile curling his lips as blue flames surged around him.

Before his words faded, he flickered forward, appearing before Fan Lao like a phantom. A blood-red longsword, wreathed in blue flames, slashed down with ferocious intent.

Simultaneously, Su Mei let out a sharp cry, her ice-blue Dou Qi transforming into a torrent of ice spikes raining from above, flanking Fan Lao in a pincer attack.

Fan Lao's eyes blazed red with rage, as if bleeding. "Even a clay figure has a temper! I'll take you both down with me!"

Roaring, his blood-red Dou Qi erupted, transforming him into a boundless sea of blood that surged toward Xiao Heng and Su Mei. Within the blood sea, countless crimson tendrils writhed, staining the air itself red.

"Leave it to me!" Xiao Heng shouted, his blue flames flaring brighter. His hands formed rapid seals.

"Blue Devouring Heaven!" Blue flames burst from him like a tidal wave, spreading toward the blood sea.

Where the Blue Devouring Flame touched, the blood sea recoiled as if meeting its nemesis, burning and dissolving with anguished wails.

Despair flashed in Fan Lao's eyes, swiftly replaced by madness. He channeled every ounce of his Dou Qi.

"Blood Devouring Seal!" A massive blood-red handprint coalesced within the blood sea, radiating a heart-stopping pressure.

The handprint, over a three-meter-tall, loomed like a mountain, hurtling toward Xiao Heng. Fan Lao merged into it, intent on mutual destruction.

On the other side, Xiao Heng raised his sword and slashed downward.

"Dominion Over All!" A dazzling blue blade aura shot forth, a fusion of multiple blade strikes into a single, devastating arc, brimming with world-shattering power. The blade aura collided with the blood-red handprint in a cataclysmic clash.