The Peerless Emperor

Shen Yi, the seventh son of the thirteenth prince of the Black Corner Country, floated in the air, gazing down below. He listened to the screams and felt nothing but exhilaration.

"How wonderful the sound is, hehe..." With an intoxicated expression, Shen Yi gently closed his eyes, seemingly savoring the cries and pleas of the children and their parents below.

A Black Corner Clan elder, who was accompanying Shen Yi, suddenly descended from the sky, looking at the wailing parents of the Four Clans with disgust and said, frowning, "If you want to live, cry louder and more miserably. Our prince enjoys listening to that."

"As for you..." Turning to Lin Qian, the elder's face grew cold, "How dare you intervene earlier, disturbing His Highness's fun. Fortunately, he's merciful and bears no grudge. Kneel and beg piteously, cry out in a way that pleases His Highness, and maybe you'll save your life."

The words of the Black Corner Clan elder caused all the people of the Four Clans to glare at him with hatred.

Their group was comprised of parents from the Four Clans who had brought their children to hunt low-tier Soul Beasts, to practice their combat skills. Instead, they had encountered Shen Yi's team.

Simply because Shen Yi took pleasure in tormenting children, he had ordered his men to use them for sport.

Several children from the Black Corner Clan were thrown high into the air, left to fall to their deaths in front of their own parents.

Children from the Spirit Hoof Clan were forced to run continuously until they dropped dead from exhaustion.

The children of the Dwarf Clan were tossed into the Artifact Refining furnaces of the accompanying Artifact Refiners from the Black Corner Clan, cruelly crafted into statues while still alive.

Since there were more children from the Human Clan, they were captured with Soul Power and crushed, turning into a mist of blood.

Shen Yi found delight in the parents' suffering as they watched their children die before their very eyes, their agonized cries and weeping pleasing him immensely.

After all, these were not children of the Black Corner Clan. What did it matter to him if they were tormented? He enjoyed it, and that was all that mattered.

"Simply because you like it, they should endure such pain?" Lin Qian yelled angrily at Shen Yi, who was floating above with an expression of enjoyment, "Conflict is one thing, life and death another, but why torment these poor parents? Can't you give them a swift end?"

Lin Qian's outburst caused Shen Yi to frown slightly in his enjoyment. He slowly opened his eyes, clearly displeased by the interruption.

"No, I like it," Shen Yi stated, pointing at Lin Qian. "You four lowly races can only be enslaved by our Black Corner Clan, to be used by us. You still dream of living equally? Dream on."

"You're lowly, so know your place. If it weren't for the king grandfather being in seclusion, do you think you could still be alive?" Shen Yi lifted his chin, looking down at Lin Qian. "You're nothing but playthings for us when we're bored. It would be easy to eradicate you."

"Daddy, mommy, where are my hands, my feet?" With the strong effects of the Potion, Little Jiang had regained consciousness and was horrified to find his limbs missing, looking panic-stricken at his weeping parents.

Little Jiang received no answer but saw the sad faces of his parents, which only made him smile instead. "Dad, mom, don't cry. I'm fine. See, I'm still alive, aren't I?"

However, these brave and sensible words from Little Jiang made his parents cry even harder.

Lin Qian looked down, a cold smile spreading on his face as the spiritual energy around him surged violently, rushing into his body and pouring furiously into his core.

The spiritual energy from the Sky Trace in his Dantian became more intense, turning into pure Soul Power, which merged with three different types of Soul Power, flushing towards the Thunder Night Sword and Cloud Sword, his two Martial Souls.

He was challenging the Awakening Realm.

The tranquil aura that Lin Qian originally emitted had begun to boil over, completely influencing the atmosphere around him and whipping up a fierce tornado that lifted the fallen leaves all around.

"I hereby announce," Lin Qian said, his voice imbued with Soul Power, utterly resounding through this stretch of heaven and earth, melodiously spreading far and wide, so much so that even the distant settlements heard him clearly, causing Wang Gang to lift his head in astonishment.

"The Huaxia Empire will launch a war of annihilation against the Black Corner Country!"

As Lin Qian's words fell, the surroundings instantly became dead silent; the parents of the Four Clans, originally filled with sorrow and hatred, turned their heads in shock to look in the direction Lin Qian was speaking from, stunned by his declaration.

In midair, Shen Yi and the rest of the Black Corner Clan, after hearing Lin Qian's declaration, were unable to suppress the emotions surging in their hearts and burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, how interesting, the Huaxia Empire? Initiating a campaign of annihilation against the Black Corner Country?" Shen Yi scoffed loudly at Lin Qian's words from midair, thinking he was uttering the dreams of a fool.

"Who do you think you are to decree annihilation just like that?"

After Shen Yi finished speaking, Lin Qian's expression turned icy cold, his murderous intent unmasked: "That's right, when I say annihilation, I mean annihilation."

"Your stupidity and lack of limits led your own capital to be prematurely swept into the fires of war, and I will show no mercy because I've found that excessive kindness is foolish." Lin Qian spoke, turning to the tear-streaked parents of the Four Clans, "Compassion should be reserved for our own people. As for others, I suddenly feel that even extra time is unnecessary to afford."

"Think about it, it's absurd; since I desire to turn the Ancient Forest World into my territory, why bother pondering so much. Better to just start the war."

"Now I declare the Ancient Forest World as the territory of the Huaxia Empire; you Black Corner Clan either kneel or die."

The moment Lin Qian's words concluded, he raised his right hand and waved it toward the sky: "Kill them all, except for this Prince."

Whoosh!

Before Shen Yi and the others could react to Lin Qian's words, a gigantic arrow formed of concentrated Soul Power had already shot from afar, piercing through tree tops, shattering all branches and leaves in its path, leaving nothing in its wake.

The massive arrow aimed at the Black Corner Clan elder who had spoken earlier, causing him to hastily surge out his Soul Power in an attempt to shield himself.

The Black Corner Clan elder, a strong being within the Life and Death Soul Realm, was an unattainable force for the parents of the Four Clans, but before the advanced troops of the Imperial Army, Qiang Yu, he was but a live target.

Moreover, the Qiang Yu that Lin Qian had summoned possessed the strength of the Life and Death Heart Realm.

Bang!

The gigantic Soul Power arrow shot by Qiang Yu ruthlessly broke through the Black Corner Clan elder's Soul Power and slammed hard into his chest.

The immense impact of the Soul Power arrow swept through the Black Corner Clan elder's entire body, instantly causing him to burst into a mess of bloody fireworks in the air.

The mighty arrow from this Qiang Yu was just a beginning; one after another, the overpoweringly dominant arrows shot out from the dense forest from all directions, unstoppable in their path, shooting down one after another of the Black Corner Clan's warriors beside Shen Yi, turning them into explosions of blood and flesh.

Bang!

Condensed from the Thunder Soul Power, a pillar of red gold lightning struck down, blasting Shen Yi—who was no more than in the Sky Breaking Realm—from the sky and slammed him harshly to the ground before Lin Qian.