Chapter 2829: The People's Fury

"As long as I exist, Hong Huang shall have no emperor."

These eight simple words were like a verdict, a judgment on Hong Huang itself—stark and authoritative, echoing endlessly through the stars like an unbreakable curse.

"When it comes to presence, it has to be Da Chu's Tenth Emperor."

Sheng Yuan sighed in admiration. They had all been frantic with worry, watching helplessly as Shen Yi Wang was on the verge of becoming an emperor, yet no one could intervene. Ye Chen, however, had shattered that path with a single arrow. All the peak experts across Zhu Tian couldn't match the effectiveness of one half-step to great achievement.

"Hong Huang without an emperor—utterly dominant."

Kui Niu Huang was thrilled. As expected, Ye Chen wouldn't stand by and let Hong Huang produce an emperor. Their feud was to the death, so what did it matter if the other was undergoing tribulation or proving their dao? With such enmity, who cared about their process?

"He has the right to say that."

Dong Huang Tai Xin laughed, more joyfully than she had in all the eons of change. Just half a step away from great achievement, if he didn't allow it, no one could prove their dao. That included everyone in Wan Yu Zhu Tian and Hong Huang alike.

"This aura is truly dazzling."

Xiao Yuan Huang clicked his tongue in awe. Though Ye Chen was in Da Chu, his brilliance had spread here. That thunderous arrow was incredibly domineering, dragging Shen Yi Wang, who was about to become an emperor, right out of the emperor's gate.

"Zhu Tian is not without its champions."

Some unknown voice howled like a wolf, and with that, the entire Zhu Tian erupted. We have the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body, a half-step to great achievement Sacred Body. Anyone wanting to prove their dao must first answer to him.

"Ah!"

In the Emperor Dao Thunder Sea, Shen Yi Wang roared and snarled, showing incredible resilience. Struck by an arrow and swallowed by the thunder sea, he still hadn't died and was even counterattacking.

He was truly terrifying, a fact that even strong figures like Di Ji, Sheng Zun, and Jian Shen had to acknowledge. If it were them, they couldn't have done it. After all, that was Ye Chen's thunderous kill shot, which few could withstand, let alone with an emperor tribulation following.

"Ah!"

Shen Yi Wang's howls carried a touch of tragedy.

Yet, no cultivator would pity him.

Just moments ago, that soon-to-be emperor had looked at them with such cruelty and malice, his face twisted like a demon's, already treating them as insignificant insects. Even before proving his dao, he was plotting their extermination.

What was laughable was that, with such an attitude, Shen Yi Wang still assumed that the common people would protect his path and willingly sacrifice themselves for him.

In that state, only a fool would help.

"You deserve to die, you truly deserve to die."

Shen Yi Wang's eyes were blood-red, his rage boiling over.

These words were directed at Ye Chen.

Without Ye Chen, his other foot would likely have already stepped into the emperor's gate, and merging with the dao would have followed. Without mishap, he would have become an emperor, a supreme being.

"If I become an emperor, I could preserve Zhu Tian for tens of thousands of years. Why do this?"

"You will be the sinner of the common people."

"It will be a stain that lasts for eternity."

Shen Yi Wang's furious roars drowned out the Emperor Dao thunder.

"Senior, don't try to glorify yourself."

The words were faint and distant.

Accompanying them, a golden star river stretched from the depths of the stars, with Ye Chen walking upon it, step by step, drawing nearer. His expression was indifferent, his golden eyes as still as an ancient well.

"If the one about to become an emperor were from Zhu Tian, would you protect their path? If you, senior, couldn't do that, then spare us your so-called righteousness."

"Through all the eons and invasions by heavenly demons, if your Shen Yi clan had joined the fight even once, this junior would gladly protect your path and help you seal your position as a great emperor."

"Unfortunately, time and again in those catastrophic disasters, Hong Huang never sent a single soldier. You hid during heavenly demon invasions; once the demons were defeated, you emerged to cause chaos, trampling the hard-won lands that Zhu Tian had reclaimed with blood and bone. Countless heroic souls who fought valiantly were slaughtered by you repeatedly."

"You've already planned your great killings after becoming an emperor, so why should Zhu Tian protect your path? What right do you have to make the common people sacrifice themselves for you?"

"Whether this junior is a sinner or not isn't for you to decide. Guilty or not, my Desolate Ancient Sacred Body lineage has always shouldered the burden."

Ye Chen's pace didn't slow, his words flowing one after another—calm, without joy or sorrow, anger or hate. His indifferent face showed no emotional fluctuation.

His words voiced the sentiments of all in Zhu Tian.

Their anger toward Hong Huang's clans far surpassed that toward the heavenly demons.

"He is no sinner; you are."

Ren Wang said flatly, with utmost seriousness.

"A cowardly turtle like you has the nerve to call the Sacred Body a sinner? How ironic."

"Millennia from now, people will remember the Da Chu emperor, while you, your Shen Yi clan, and all Hong Huang inheritances will be eternally nailed to the pillar of shame."

"He may not be the savior, but he has rescued the common people time and again. If he faces hardship, anyone in Zhu Tian would willingly die for him."

"As for you, you're not worthy."

"It's because you're more detestable than the heavenly demons."

These words from the common people had become a shared belief. It started with Ye Chen alone confronting Shen Yi Wang, but now, all of Zhu Tian had joined in.

Each phrase carried resentment, hatred, fury, and indignation. In a way, they were more terrifying than the Emperor Dao thunder, shattering Shen Yi Wang's mind completely.

"I am the emperor; you are all mere ants."

Shen Yi Wang howled in rage, driven to madness, or perhaps already insane. His hair was disheveled, his shattered mind unable to withstand the Emperor Dao thunder any longer. He was engulfed on the spot, his body exploding and his primordial spirit collapsing.

In his final moments, his state of mind must have been a mix of bitterness, hatred, anger, sorrow, and resentment. Above all, regret—for showing such malice to the common people, fully igniting their killing intent. Without that, he might have become an emperor.

Boom! Rumble!

With the tribulation passer dead, the Emperor Dao divine tribulation vanished.

In that instant, the stars fell silent, eerily so.

"Just a bit more, and we would have witnessed an emperor's birth."

After a long while, someone murmured, still relishing the thought. What glory it would be to see a great emperor emerge firsthand. Alas, it was from Hong Huang's clan.

"Without the Sacred Body, the consequences would have been unthinkable."

Many shuddered, recalling the evil and violent look in Shen Yi Wang's eyes as he neared emperorship. If he had succeeded, Zhu Tian would likely have been destroyed.

"Heaven's sins can be forgiven."

"But self-inflicted sins lead to doom."

This was what many wanted to say, echoing Ye Chen's words. If Hong Huang had fought even once against the heavenly demons, they would have protected his path, and Ye Chen wouldn't have unleashed his killing shot.

Buzz!

Amid the discussions, Ye Chen swung his emperor sword, carving a brilliant immortal river toward the void.

Clang!

A crisp sound of metal colliding rang out.

Ye Chen's strike wasn't aimless; he had pinpointed the Shen Yi clan's ancestral land with perfect accuracy.

Ren Wang wasn't surprised by this. With Ye Chen having merged with the Di Zun's law body, he was gaining the insight of an emperor, able to find the hidden Shen Yi clan as expected.

Whoa!

As a vast realm gradually materialized, everyone's eyes lit up. They knew Shen Yi Wang was undergoing tribulation in this star space, but they hadn't realized the Shen Yi clan's ancestral land was here too, hidden so secretly.

"Timing is everything!"

The Zhu Tian cultivators pulled out their weapons from their storage bags en masse. A Hong Huang emperor dao inheritance like this was a prime target.

"You deserve to die, you truly deserve to die."

The Shen Yi clan emperor roared, cursing Ye Chen. It was he who had ruined Shen Yi Wang's path to emperorship. Their clan had been on the verge of producing another emperor, and now all hope was dashed.

The entire Shen Yi clan joined in the cursing, their eyes blood-red and teeth gritted, their twisted faces more frightening than demons'.

Ye Chen said nothing, vanishing into the heavenly dao.

Boom! Bang! Boom!

Soon after, the Shen Yi clan's barriers and formations were destroyed by Ye Chen, allowing the Zhu Tian armies to charge in. Their forces absolutely overwhelmed the Shen Yi clan, both in numbers and in expert strength.

The battle was one-sided; the Shen Yi clan was utterly defeated and exterminated, from the clan emperor down to the lowliest members, none survived.

As with any war, there were spoils.

Ye Chen only took two bolts of true thunder and three bolts of heavenly thunder before heading deeper into the stars with his emperor sword.

"Quick, keep up."

The Zhu Tian cultivators left some behind to clean the battlefield and hurried after Ye Chen. That half-step to great achievement Sacred Body had found the Shen Yi clan, so he might find other Hong Huang races too. If so, they could wipe out another wave.

Indeed, this path was marked by continuous warfare.

Ye Chen's insight was sharp; he targeted Hong Huang races without emperor dao inheritances. Whichever he found, regardless of the race, met with total annihilation.

On this day, the sky over Hong Huang was dark, for a god of slaughter was systematically settling scores with them, cold and merciless to the extreme.

"It's all because of you, all because of you, that you've doomed our clan."

Such roars echoed every time a clan was found, typically from Hong Huang members cursing their own clan emperors. Not all Hong Huang people were enemies of Zhu Tian; it was the emperors' unilateral decisions that had dragged their entire race into irreversible ruin, leading to their extermination.

"Ah!"

The Hong Huang clan emperors' roars were also filled with bitterness. Amid their anger, they likely realized their choices were wrong, but there was no remedy for regret in this world.

Boom!

Accompanied by a thunderous blast, another Hong Huang race was wiped out. Without an emperor dao inheritance, from the moment the Zhu Tian armies attacked, the fight ended in mere moments.

"Come on, cross off another one."

Ren Wang held a scroll, marking off a race's name each time one was exterminated, like an accountant tallying accounts.

Glancing at the scroll, it was densely filled with text—all names of Hong Huang races.

"You can't be serious! There are still so many?"

Xie Yun approached with his blood sword, his eyes widening. Even after accounting for the exterminated ones, the remaining Hong Huang races were staggeringly numerous, shocking him deeply.

"The first batch of beings in the world—do you think it's a joke?"

Si Tu Nan grinned and tsked. Hong Huang had survived the suppression by the Red Lotus Female Emperor, the exile by the Great Achievement Sacred Body, and the slaughter by the Heavenly Court Holy Lord, yet still had so many left. Their foundations were indeed vast. If not for Ren Wang's words, he wouldn't have believed it.

Ren Wang put away the scroll and followed Ye Chen's steps.