You Are Actually a Great Emperor

Facing the Nether Phoenix Flames that swept over—flames capable of incinerating stars and corroding souls and bones—Little Black stood quietly in place, his feathers unruffled.

Deep within his sharp eyes, the monstrous black flames were reflected, yet there was no ripple of emotion, as if he were gazing at a painting of destruction that had nothing to do with him.

He allowed the destructive energy to roar closer. The searing heat twisted and melted the space ahead, and the bone-chilling killing intent rushed at his face, as if reenacting the pain and despair of his near-death moment ten years ago.

Just as the black flames were about to engulf the space ten feet in front of him, and the laws of destruction were already scorching the void, Little Black moved.

He did not flap his wings; he merely raised his right claw extremely slowly.

The sharp claws gleamed with a cold, dark gold luster. The tips were incomparably sharp, seemingly able to easily tear apart stars. Beneath the claws, chaotic Dao patterns faintly circulated, exuding a supreme majesty that controlled life and death and could destroy all laws!

His sharp claws slightly opened, and facing the roaring sea of dark fire that was enough to extinguish stars, he gave it a seemingly casual, gentle squeeze.

"Buzz—!"

There was no earth-shattering explosion, nor was there any dazzling divine light.

But the moment he closed his grip, the surging sea of dark fire was suddenly frozen in midair, as if a giant invisible hand had seized it by the throat!

All the destructive energy and corrosive Dao laws were forcibly imprisoned and compressed at this moment. Finally, letting out an overwhelmed wail, they spectacularly collapsed and annihilated, turning into the most primordial particles and dissipating into nothingness!

The entire process was effortless, as if he were merely brushing away a speck of dust.

"Pfft—!"

With its attack forcibly crushed, the dark phoenix suffered a severe backlash of energy. Its massive body jolted violently, and it spewed a large mouthful of blood burning with black flames. Its aura instantly withered by more than half!

The flames around its body dimmed, and its eyes were filled with extreme disbelief and absolute horror!

"No... impossible! This is absolutely impossible!!"

The dark phoenix's screech was filled with a collapsing sense of fear and incomprehensible horror!

Its pupils, burning with nether fire, contracted violently as it stared fixedly at Little Black, as if trying to see through him from the inside out.

"Ten years! Only ten years! Back then, your origin source was completely shattered, your Dao foundation collapsed, and you were clearly heavily injured and on the verge of death. You should have been wiped out in both body and soul!"

Its voice was distorted by extreme emotional fluctuations.

"How could you possibly survive?! Not only did you survive, but your power... this isn't a mere recovery at all! Just what realm is this?!"

A tremendous sense of absurdity and fear overwhelmed it.

Over the past ten years, in order to stabilize and improve its strength, it had not hesitated to devour the essence blood and souls of countless powerful demonic beasts. It had even made a dirty deal with the Nether Supreme of the life restricted zone, paying a massive price just to stabilize at the early stage of the Quasi-Emperor realm.

It thought that even if Little Black had luckily survived, his cultivation would surely be completely crippled, or at most only slightly recovered, allowing it to easily crush him at will.

But the reality before its eyes completely shattered its understanding.

That effortless squeeze contained the power of rules that it could not understand at all—a power that surpassed the scope of a Quasi-Emperor and was unfathomably deep!

That sense of absolute suppression made it tremble from the depths of its soul.

"You... you must have used some heaven-defying forbidden art! Did you burn your remnant soul? Or sacrifice something?!"

It tried to find a reasonable explanation, its voice trembling, filled with frantic guesses that served as self-consolation.

"Right! It must be like this! You are overdrawing yourself! You are at the end of your rope, just bluffing!"

Little Black looked coldly at its incoherent struggle, as if looking down at a cornered bug biting wildly. His voice was calm but carried a bone-piercing chill.

"There are many things that seem impossible. You mongrel bird, ten years have passed, and the power you gained by devouring and clinging to others is incredibly vain and lacks any real progress. It is truly... pathetic and sorrowful."

"Pathetic? Sorrowful?"

The dark phoenix was deeply stung by these two words. Coming from Little Black's mouth, they made it go mad with shame and indignation.

But more than that, the shadow of death, like ten thousand fathoms of profound ice, had completely shrouded it!

It felt Little Black's undisguised killing intent.

The instinct to survive overwhelmed everything else, and it roared frantically: "No! You can't kill me! I have now joined the forces of Supreme Tianhuang! If you kill me, the Supreme will never let you go!

Even if you somehow obtained a fortuitous encounter to temporarily possess this kind of power, in front of a true Supreme, you are still an ant! You cannot escape! You and everyone connected to you will die!"

It tried to bring out its biggest backer for a final desperate struggle!

Hearing this, a trace of extreme mockery flashed in Little Black's eyes, as if he had heard the most ridiculous joke in the world. "Supreme Tianhuang? Hmph, perfect. I will naturally go and settle his debts later. For now, I'll send you on your way first."

Before his voice faded, Little Black's sharp claws had already condensed a wisp of profound dark light, his killing intent as cold and piercing as physical matter.

At the exact moment death descended, the extreme fear in the dark phoenix's pupils was suddenly replaced by frantic despair and ruthlessness!

"You forced me to do this! Let's die together!!"

It let out a hysterical screech. Inside its massive demonic body, a dark and bizarre rune suddenly erupted with blinding light!

That was the life-saving trump card bestowed by the Nether Supreme, which even sealed a trace of the Supreme's power!

The rune explosively shattered, and a nether imperial power that far exceeded the Quasi-Emperor realm—filled with an aura of decay and deathly stillness—erupted like a burst dam!

The gray light of death instantly tore through the surrounding starry sky. Wherever it passed, all things withered, and even the radiance of the stars was swallowed and frozen. Carrying a terrifying might capable of annihilating everything, it charged straight at Little Black!

This was an attack that truly belonged to the Supreme level, enough to easily obliterate any Quasi-Emperor!

However, facing this sudden attack, there was still not the slightest ripple in Little Black's eyes.

He didn't even adopt a defensive posture; merely, the restrained imperial might around his body rippled slightly.

The gray light of death, capable of destroying the world, let out a mournful wail the moment it touched the invisible layer of imperial might rippling around Little Black, just like snow meeting the blazing sun.

Unexpectedly, it rolled back at a speed even faster than when it came, instantly drowning the utterly terrified dark phoenix!

"No—!! How could the Supreme's power...?!!"

The dark phoenix let out one final screech of despair and confusion. Its body and its soul, under this rebounded power that belonged to its backer, instantly melted and annihilated like dry paper thrown into a raging fire!

In the final moment before its consciousness completely dissipated, it finally perceived the true realm represented by the slightly rippling aura around Little Black—it was a supreme majesty that stood above all Daos and ruled the world!

A thought that made its soul tremble, like a final clap of thunder, shattered all of its understanding:

"Imperial... Imperial Might?! You... you are actually already a... Great Emperor..."

Before its words could fade, its existence had been completely erased, its body and soul utterly destroyed!