Chapter 1411: Against the Star Empress

The Fourth Prince's birth mother smiled alluringly.

“Haven't you noticed what the overall outline of this entire Treasure Mountain resembles? This place is the Yun Clan Dynasty's true royal mausoleum. The three special locations you previously investigated were all the actual entrances to this entire Treasure Mountain. It's just a pity you didn't investigate further; otherwise, with your strength and ability, you definitely would have found the entrance to the treasure's depths. And this was actually my initial intention in guiding you. If you had truly entered the treasure's interior, you absolutely wouldn't have been able to escape within three months. And I would then have naturally accomplished my true goal.

By devouring the Seed of Life, by that time, no matter how powerful you became, you would never be able to kill me within Yingzhou Continent's system. Because once I fuse with the Seed of Life, I will be bound to the fate of all beings on Yingzhou Continent, becoming a truly immortal and indestructible being. Unfortunately, your insight still exceeded my expectations. You found this place earlier than anticipated.

And I, for one, never fear any existing threat. As long as it dares to appear, I will eliminate it. Evasion is never the true way to solve problems. That's why I extended this invitation to you. You and I will have a life-and-death battle in this place. The one who survives will be the true master of Yingzhou Continent's future destiny.”

Xu Yang scoffed, “I must commend your interpretation, because it has made things exceptionally clear. But unfortunately, you absolutely cannot defeat me. Even though my strength here is already greatly restricted, I have too many concerns compared to you. I have no intention of letting this Ancient Tree of Life collapse due to the battle between us. But you, on the other hand, must have already made such plans. Even if you ultimately cannot devour the complete Seed of Life and achieve your goal, you still have many ways to fight me to the death, at least ensuring that the Tree of Life on Yingzhou Continent is reduced to ashes. But I will absolutely not let you succeed. The reason is simple. When I came in, the divine artifact, Ice Emperor Pagoda, was already handed over to Xiao Hua. With him there, you absolutely cannot destroy this ancient tree of life's legacy in front of my beloved.”

After Xu Yang finished speaking, the arrogant demonic woman before him finally burst into a fit of maniacal laughter.

“It seems you have great confidence in your own strength. Further talk is pointless. Let's speak with true strength instead. I truly want to see what level you, the supreme human expert renowned throughout Yingzhou Continent and even the Great World civilization system, have truly reached.”

In just a flash, the Star Empress, shrouded in the light and shadow of the bright moon, lightly waved her palm and conjured countless stars out of thin air around the colossal crescent moon totem behind her. This scene of stars and the bright moon simultaneously veiled beneath the endless sky seemed to be a sight Xu Yang had long awaited. However, Xu Yang clearly knew that this scene appearing before him had not yet truly materialized; it was merely a collective illusion of all beings across the continent. How to turn this illusion into reality—this was the true significance of Xu Yang's battle.

Without hesitation, Xu Yang grasped the divine artifact, Tu Tian, in his hand and gently wiped its blade. It seemed he could still feel some of the immense, boundless aura that Divine King Fenghuo Wuji once wielded. After all, the previous owner of this sword was the peerless pinnacle in the Great World system, the truly strongest in the world. And when this sword decided to be passed on to Xu Yang, it meant that Xu Yang would be an existence surpassing those of ancient times. Even Fenghuo Wuji from back then would have found it difficult to achieve what Xu Yang has today. The reason is that the world-creating power of the tenth level of the Original Power cultivation system was already not something cultivated by this world's civilization, and no one else could compare to Xu Yang at all.

How formidable was the suppressive effect of the Tu Tian divine artifact? The moment it appeared, Xu Yang immediately locked his attack target onto the Star Empress's soul body before him. Just this sharp edge alone brought unimaginable suppressive force upon the Star Empress.

“The power of your divine artifact is truly immense. If my current physical form weren't so unique, I would probably find it very difficult to withstand even a single move from you. However, precisely because of this, it will instead cause you to be hampered by the sword's presence. You simply cannot unleash your true strength in this place. This is also the fundamental reason I managed to trick you into this ancient tree's interior for a decisive battle.”

Xu Yang scoffed, “Since you already feel fear in your heart, then how could you possibly defeat me? Even if my strength is limited, and even if this Tu Tian divine artifact isn't used, I still have many ways to conquer you.”

Xu Yang never exaggerated his own strength, but he knew perfectly well what kind of powerful opponents he could conquer. The Star Empress relied primarily on two things: firstly, her extraordinary talent in wielding the power of the stars, and secondly, the Seed of Life currently bound within her body, which brought her an enhancement in the raw potency of her life force. In Xu Yang's combat strategy, as long as he could find a way to completely separate the Seed of Life from her soul, then this woman would have no basis for her arrogance.

The steps to achieve this, Xu Yang had already revealed in his subsequent actions. His body completely vanished, leaving only the main body of Tu Tian in place, emitting an exceptionally brilliant golden sword light. This sword light did not utilize the profound creation of Xu Yang's own Wuji Sword Dao. Instead, it used the heaven-penetrating and earth-shattering light released by the sword light itself to make all power attributes within the ancient tree's battlefield enter a state of suppression and deterrence. Even more remarkably, the sword spirit cultivated by Fenghuo Wuji and dormant within this Tu Tian divine artifact for an unknown number of years also began to awaken at this moment, helping Xu Yang generate an even more potent spiritual deterrent effect.

Sure enough, with the powerful awakening of this sword, all elemental energies across the battlefield were ferociously suppressed. And the greatest victim of this was naturally the stellar power condensed from the myriad stars. This was equivalent to essentially suppressing the Star Empress's control over her innate power, making the starlight, deterred by the Tu Tian divine sword, unable to flow smoothly within the Star Empress's body for her use.

When a person's cultivation method no longer flows smoothly, what kind of situation would her subsequent battle be like? The feeling was like a martial artist being forced to use an unsuitable weapon they couldn't control at all. If they abandoned it, the martial artist would be at a significant disadvantage. If they continued to use it, they would sooner or later be overwhelmed and defeated by this weapon that simply didn't suit them. The Star Empress was currently in just such a predicament.