Paragon of Sin

"Qualified?!" 

The Legion Commander ignored that emotionally charged response, pressing his feet downwards viciously on the Tang Clan's last remaining Voidship with derisive coldness emanating from his gaze. 

ROAR! 

A lingering, intense, and explosive draconic roar resounded! The draconic bloodline energies comprising the Legion Commander's manifested body was stimulated to the maximal limits. This was an inadvertent effect. 

Yet this roar was like thunder upon the Tang Clan's ears, senses, and hearts. Highlord Scarletflame's countenance paled considerably as she felt stifled, her body was enveloped by a tremendous force that caused her eyes to widen and her knees to buckle. The other Highlords all felt this mountainous pressure descend on their shoulders and Mystic Souls. 

Pssh! Pssh! 

Two Mystic Star Phase experts were crushed flat, their bodies turned into blood pancakes where bone, organs, and flesh was nigh indistinguishable! They hadn't even had the time to shout in agony before their brutal deaths. This caused the hearts of everyone to sink, their bodies experiencing a chill as the pressure gradually increased! 

Psh! Psh! Psh!

Almost immediately, three Mystic Star Phase experts, prestigious Exalted figures, were killed in the same fashion. They laid there as a mess of blood, bones, flesh, and crushed energies that leaked from their destroyed bodies. 

"NO!" A Soul of Mysticism Phase expert felt the pressure escalate! This dragon-head Earthly Saint was slowly increasing his power to end their lives! He was toying with them, and the seven Demi-Mortal Lords could only resist and await their death sentence. This Soul of Mysticism Phase cried out with all his power, seeking to plead and beg for his life as his Mystic Soul screeched in agony alongside his meridians and bones! 

There were genuine tears in his eyes as he saw two more Mystic Stars crushed as if slammed by a steel hammer! How cruel was this?! The expert urged his power to its maximal limits, even igniting his Mystic Soul to further power! He exploded with tremendous power that allowed him.a brief respite. 

He sought to escape via spatial arts, but the Spatial Sludge restrained him. Then, he wanted to use his physical strength provided by his ignition, but it wasn't enough. He lifted two inches off the Voidship's deck before his body was pressed down by an irresistible force. He crashed into the ship and caused it to tip it slightly. 

"No!" In a burst, his body proceeded to be pressed until a loud crack followed his body being smashed flat, blood, bits of bone, brain matter, and fleshy organs intermixed together into one. Another pancake had been created.

The remaining Mystic Star Phase experts violently paled! 

The Legion Commander's eyes were extremely cold as he glanced at the others. "The Gravitational Forces are far too monstrous for a mortal…" Since taking action, the Legion Commander was continuously shaken by Wei Wuyin's energies and various forces. It was varied, adept, pure, and in immense quantity. 

While the Void Energies were incredible, the Gravitational Forces refining these energies were even more so. As a Spirit of War, he was given a library of knowledge. While it was against his typical power-set in the Nexus Battlefield, he was knowledgeable in all forms of combat, items, arts, and spells. This was needed to properly command his army, awareness of their multifaceted abilities and how to best utilize it.

He not only had a poison expert, but a spatial cultivator, formation master, and beast tamer in his army. They had all been infused with high-tier knowledge of these aspects, and he possessed this knowledge to a certain extent. Executing a few simple arts and spells was a simple matter despite not being his main form of combat. More than enough to fulfill Wei Wuyin's orders.

The Legion Commander frowned slightly behind his dragon-head helmet, "Who is this new Master of mine? And why is he-" 

"QUALIFIED?!" The Soul Rising Saint's eyebrows shot up. While the Legion Commander's words were said seemingly long ago as many lives had been lost and thoughts occurred, the actual time was extremely short. The Soul Rising Saint had just gone from baffled, thoughtful, to enraged by the insult. Seeing the dragon-head Earthly Saint kill in front of her, in her own domain, her emotions were quite flared. 

She wasn't even aware if he was a unique cultivator or an avatar, incarnation, or projection, yet this figure dismissed her so casually? He actually dared to say she, the Soul Rising Saint of the Soul-Rising Sainthall, wasn't qualified to speak?! If it was anywhere else, she might be a little cautious, but this was her Domain, her world, and even the Imperial Monarchs of the Aeternal Sky Starfield would have to be meek and differential to her here. 

She lifted her slender hand and swiped at the Legion Commander with a commanding presence.

The Legion Commander's eyes glinted as he was pushed back ten thousand miles. He halted in an unbothered fashion as he looked at the azure-robed woman that had acted against him. Then, he looked to the left and right. A light of realization emerged in his eyes.

The Soul Rising Saint's action had caused the crushing force to dissipate. The Tang Clan all were covered in cold sweat as they were ghastly pale from experiencing the precipice of death. The Tang Matriarch recovered the fastest as she tried to command the Voidship to move, but her expression darkened as she realized the formations and arrays of the Voidship had been destroyed. 

"Full retreat!" She didn't hesitate to order this, grabbing her little sister by the shoulder. Instantly, her body started to rapidly undergo changes. The inside of her flesh, bones, and surface of her skin became red-colored flames animatedly flickering about. She became a flame-like humanoid! The temperature of the immediate vicinity rose as she entered her Demi-Mystic State, the Vermillion Flame State. 

The other Highlords realized this, and they too entered their Demi-Mystic States as if flames were burning inside their bodies. They seemed like living flames as they grabbed the nearest beings to them and shot off into different directions from the dragon-head Earthly Saint.

They had clearly bitten off far too much than they could chew. However, the Tang Matriarch wasn't foolish to think her decisions were wrong. There were variables she had rightfully believed would come into play with absolute confidence, but they hadn't. 

The Earthly Saints of the Ninestar Starfield had remained silent even after an Earthly Saint had started to kill lesser-stage cultivators! This was against the rules. Furthermore, it was a foreign Earthly Saint! They should've immediately reacted and restrained him or her, not allow them to unleash their powers within the confines of their Starfield!

An Earthly Saint could devastate a domain with utter ease! Moreover, the Trueborn was certainly after the one responsible for the destruction of their Shadow Egg! They should've immediately acted and brought the Earthly Saint into a segregated space!

Her calculations and assumptions weren't outright wrong, but Ma Sujiang and Ma Zheng had caused the Earthly Saints of the Ninestar Sainthall to hesitate due to a possible Ascendant Emperor of Neo-Dawn connection. Furthermore, the Trueborn Earthly Saints were hesitant to act after discovering the strange state of the Legion Commander. They didn't wish to be baited out into the open and bring an avatar or incarnation into their trap! How stupid must they be to risk that? 

Her Voidships and the lives of a few subordinates were lost due to these variables! If they had immediately acted, then the Fire Phoenix would've still been trapped by her arrays, her Voidships would've been unharmed, and she would be in a ripe position to capture the Fire Phoenix in its damaged state!

She wasn't wrong! 

The Legion Commander glanced at the fleeing figures leaving trails of blazing flames across the Dark Void. He couldn't help but think that the trails were quite detrimental to escaping pursuits. That must be very inconvenient. 

Idle thoughts aside, the Soul Rising Saint calmly asked with a faint smile: "Am I qualified now?"

"No," the Legion Commander didn't even skip a beat as he replied. He thought for a moment and then lifted his hand towards the scholarly Demi-Mortal Lord by the name of Highlord Solarflame. He was holding a Soul of Mysticism expert and a Starlord in his hands, traveling at his fastest pace. 

"No?" The Soul Rising Saint's eyebrows twitched.

The Legion Commander clenched his hand towards Highlord Solarflame, and a strange force vibrated throughout the Dark Void. 

"...!" Highlord Solarflame felt a terrifying force encroach on him. It was instilling sensations of tremendous deadly crisis. He didn't hesitate to ignite his Mystic Soul despite the cost, exploding with twice his speed as he blazed an even larger fiery trail. 

The Soul Rising Saint waved her hand towards Highlord Solarflame. The force that was approaching vanished without warning alongside the sensation, but he didn't look back and shot off into the vast distance. 

"No?" The Soul Rising Saint said again with a wisp of ridicule in her tone. 

The Legion Commander breathed out slightly. He turned to the Soul Rising Saint, a cold glint flickered within his eyes. "A mere 5th Runic Ascendant thinks herself powerful; I've never seen a better joke." 

"...!" The Soul Rising Saint's smile stiffened.

The Legion Commander continued derisively: "You think relying on this artificial Domain of Mysticism is sufficient to lord over me? Hinder me?" The rhetorical question was clear, and the Legion Commander gave his reply to her actions. 

He turned his head towards the far off Highlord Solarflame who was rushing away, over thirty thousand miles away at this point. His eyes shone with a sharp light. Abruptly, a saber howl resounded and two piercing beams of saber light shot from his eyes! They traveled the Dark Void with frightening speed!

The Soul Rising Saint was already insulted, her patience running on empty. She had only shown such restraint because of the Ascendant Emperor of Neo-Dawn possible connections with this foreign Earthly Saint, but she no longer considered this. She decided she'll teach him an unforgettable lesson. So what if he was aware of the Grand Mystic Domain Array that engulfed her Soul-Rising Domain granting her incredible powers or that she had Ascended using five Runes of Mysticism? Knowing did not negate her advantages!

She swiped her hand again at the rays of light, but her expression abruptly changed. Without warning, a tiny-sized Void Portal appeared before the two rays of light and they sank into it before it closed immediately afterwards. 

"AHHHH!" A shriek of abject terror, regret, and unwillingness resounded. The life aura of Highlord Solarflame abruptly ceased any emissions alongside the other two. 

"..." The Soul Rising Saint's eyes widened.

"I have orders not to kill you; don't make me cripple you," The Legion Commander calmly said. He then glanced at the directions the other Demi-Mortal Lords had escaped to and stepped forward to begin his pursuit. However, just as he was about to do so, the surrounding fixed space around him started to rapidly vibrate and distort.

"A Shell World? How troubleso-" the Legion Commander vanished in a burst of silver light.