Chapter 1439: Ling Yao Takes Action

The three individuals simultaneously unleashed their strongest powers. The two guardians, who appeared as a couple, suddenly merged into a single entity. This method of physical fusion, where bodies combine, had never been seen on the main continent hundreds of thousands of years ago.

However, Xu Yang and his three companions finally witnessed something novel: two guardian-level powerhouses merging into a single, unique hermaphroditic life form.

Simultaneously, powerful cultivation energy manifested as a hazy purplish-red light, enveloping the merged guardians and the third individual, protecting their bodies. This was an extremely unique energy form, capable of resisting laws and pure energy outputs of a certain intensity.

Unfortunately, the terrifying Sky Sword unleashed by Ling Yao was incredibly potent, a sure-kill technique designed to shatter everything with absolute force. In that instant, it completely shattered the purplish-red light barrier, leaving no room for resistance for the three guardian-level powerhouses.

The three were utterly stunned. They had never imagined that the girl, who appeared to be the weakest among them, possessed such astonishing explosive power, completely disrupting their defensive rhythm.

"No, we must combine!" one of them exclaimed. "Only our combined strength can withstand this sword. Otherwise, a single strike will shatter us all."

The Shepherd God Lone Wolf let out a furious roar, his body instantly transforming into a beast with ferocious fangs and thick fur rapidly covering his skin. In that instant, he almost completely transformed into a full-fledged werewolf. After this transformation, the Lone Wolf's overall strength increased by another level, nearly reaching the peak of the guardian realm.

With a roar, two streams of blood mist instantly enveloped the other two guardians (the merged entity). The three individuals barely survived within the protective barrier formed by the burning, enraged beast blood, managing to seize a glimmer of hope just as the power of Ling Yao's Sky Sword dissipated.

"Rather than waiting for death, it's better to take the initiative and strike first," one of them declared. "With our strength, conquering all four of them at once is nearly impossible, but even if we fight to the death, we must take at least one of them down!"

The merged guardian couple now possessed extremely powerful enchantment abilities. Simultaneously, they launched a special, full-moon-shaped magical artifact from behind them, which swiftly locked onto Ling Yao's true form. With Ling Yao as their next target, and bolstered by the transformed Shepherd God Lone Wolf's formidable individual combat prowess, this trio of guardians launched a ferocious assault on Ling Yao in the ensuing round, practically staking everything on inflicting severe damage upon her.

Yet, the smile on the girl's face never wavered; instead, she seemed to find the battle even more entertaining.

"Boss, it seems you were right," she murmured. "Only by fully igniting the battle lust of these arrogant individuals can this game truly become exciting."

With that, Ling Yao ceased using her formidable sword techniques. Instead, she transformed into a witch-like entity, capable of overwhelming the entire grassland. Her body slowly ascended into the air, enveloped in a deep blue glow as powerful frost energy resurfaced within her.

Then, with a gentle flick, hundreds of spiritual ice shards rained down from behind her. Each shard that struck a top grassland cultivator instantly transformed them into an ice sculpture. Their mobility and ability to resist were completely curtailed. The three guardian-level powerhouses, however, could no longer afford such caution. They resisted the attacks by burning their own life force to generate heat, all while frantically trying to create an opening to approach Ling Yao's physical body.

Unfortunately, Ling Yao, suspended in mid-air, became even more formidable and despair-inducing. The endless ice shards, continuously empowered by her released energy, grew increasingly terrifying. Just as the Shepherd God Lone Wolf, whose movement speed had reached its peak, was about to reach Ling Yao, she suddenly directed a cold smile at him.

"The distance between us may be infinitesimal," she stated, "but no matter how desperately you try, you will never bridge that tiny gap. That is the distance between mortals and gods. Unfortunately, this time, the role you play is no longer that of a god."

After speaking, Ling Yao raised her right foot and mercilessly pressed it down onto the Shepherd God Lone Wolf's head. This single action completely crushed all of the Lone Wolf's will to resist. For a guardian who valued dignity more than life, being subjected to such an attack by an opponent was far more unbearable than being instantly annihilated in a single blow.

As expected, the Shepherd God Lone Wolf unleashed a furious roar, but his actions had no impact on the outcome of the battle. An incredibly cold aura emanated from beneath Ling Yao's foot, piercing through the Shepherd God Lone Wolf from head to toe. The creature transformed into an ice sculpture, crushed beneath Ling Yao's foot in the void, and then, in the very next instant, shattered into countless fragments.

As the Shepherd God Lone Wolf, now brilliant ice light, scattered across the sky, countless warrior cultivators throughout the grassland plunged into madness and despair. Little did they know that this was their inescapable destiny. For in an era where gods stood side by side, the Great World's cultivation system had long been decreed by the supreme gods as a greedy and selfish mode of practice. These individuals, in the form of divine essence, controlled all life force within the Great World. The divine essence, converted from this life force to enhance the cultivators' power, was entirely extracted from the life force of ordinary beings who lacked the qualifications to cultivate.

Therefore, from Xu Yang and his companions' perspective, these self-proclaimed gods were nothing but exploiters of the Great World's populace. They were destined to face catastrophic destruction to atone for their crimes. Xu Yang and his four companions were merely acting on behalf of heaven, using resistance to end all this darkness. Looking across the entire Great World, only Xu Yang, who bore the ancient tree of life within him, possessed the ability to fundamentally alter the Great World's current unjust Dark Era and its cultivation model, allowing it to return to a stage of rapid development and a new civilization.

"What now?" a voice questioned. "The Lone Wolf was destroyed so easily. Are you two still going to resist?"

The two remaining guardians of the Peerless Empire, who had once held extremely high status, now wavered in their resolve for the first time, contemplating surrender. They realized that although only Ling Yao among the four had actively engaged, the power she displayed had already far exceeded the limits of what they, as guardians, understood about strength. Continuing to resist was utterly pointless. If they chose to surrender now, they could at least attempt to secure a chance at survival, which was far preferable to a meaningless death.