What's the rush I, the Emperor, still have three layers of formations yet to activate.

It was not threatened by the threat of the Celestial Emperor's Sword—a mere rank one hundred and twenty-sixth strange artifact posed no danger to it whatsoever. However, Wang Hao's words reminded it of something: this man possessed the protection of national destiny and the collective will of the people, forces that naturally restrained the strange and eerie.

Though the suppression was limited in degree, in front of this man, its "invincibility" would indeed be somewhat diminished.

"Nothing more than this." The voice of the Giant Hand regained its calm. "Then let the war begin."

As the words fell, the Ten Thousand Phenomena Strange Domain expanded once more.

A purple sky, a boiling black sea, an overwhelming sense of oppression—everything enveloped the entire world in an instant. This version of the domain was even stronger than before; within it, tangible manifestations of strange rules had appeared.

In the air floated black threads visible to the naked eye, solidified forms of the strange power within the domain. Anything touched by these threads would be corroded—whether rock, metal, or flesh and blood.

But this time, Wang Hao did not passively endure the attack.

He raised his right hand, index and middle fingers pressed together, pointing to the sky.

"Activate the formation!"

At his command, tens of thousands of runic lights flashed simultaneously across hundreds of miles outside the Southern Pass. These lights were silver-white, a stark contrast to the deep purple of the strange realm.

The tens of thousands of beams wove together in the sky into a massive runic pattern—a silver phoenix spreading its wings. Every feather of the phoenix was composed of thousands of runes, radiating a sacred light meant to suppress all evil.

Ninefold Demon-Extermination Formation: First Layer, Sacred Phoenix Burns the Unholy.

The Sacred Phoenix flapped its wings, and silver-white flames scattered from its body, burning away all the black threads in the domain. The flames fell upon the sea; the water did not evaporate, but the strange power contained within the seawater was incinerated completely.

The nine ninth-level strange beings let out agonized howls in unison. The Sacred Phoenix's silver-white flames were a lethal nemesis to them—it was no ordinary fire, but a purifying flame driven by both demon-extermination runes and the power of national destiny.

"Is that all?" The voice of the Giant Hand carried a hint of disdain. "A mere formation dares to act unruly within my domain?"

It curled its fingers together, and the strange power within the domain surged violently.

The purple in the sky grew deeper, the black water on the sea began to boil, and the black threads in the air re-formed, now ten times more numerous than before.

This time, the threads were no longer as fine as hair but as thick as arms—black chains.

Chains lashed out from all directions at the silver light of the Sacred Phoenix. Each strike left a black wound on the phoenix's body.

The Sacred Phoenix let out a painful cry; the runes on its feathers began to dim.

"Second Layer!" Wang Hao shouted.

The second layer of the Ninefold Demon-Extermination Formation's runes lit up. This time, they were golden, merging with the silver-white of the first layer to form a barrier of interwoven gold and silver light.

Within the barrier emerged countless illusory figures clad in armor—the lingering spirits of all the soldiers who had died on the battlefields of the Great Xia, summoned by the collective will of the people.

The spirit army charged at the nine ninth-level strange beings, engaging them in frontal combat with their spectral forms.

Each individual spirit held negligible power, but when an untold number of them came together, they formed a torrent of force that even the strange beings could not ignore.

The tentacles of the Soul Devourer trembled violently under the onslaught of the spirit army; the faces on those tentacles were torn and mangled by the spirits' bites. The bone spikes of the Bone Dragon General were entangled by spirits that turned themselves into chains, anchoring the skeletal dragon in place.

The black mist of the Myriad Souls Matrix was scattered by the spirits; the humanoid forms within the mist fled in all directions under the attack of the hostile spirits.

"Third Layer!"

The third layer's runes lit up—an earthy yellow light rose from the ground, coalescing into a giant of rock a hundred thousand feet tall. The giant raised a fist the size of a mountain and punched the Flesh-and-Corpse Stitcher. The stitcher shattered under the blow, its chain links scattering, fragments of corpses floating on the sea.

"Fourth Layer!"

The fourth layer's runes lit up—a deep blue light surged from the sea, forming a water dragon a hundred thousand feet long. The water dragon bit down on the neck of the massive black serpent, dragging it from the sea and smashing it heavily onto the water's surface.

"Fifth Layer!"

The fifth layer's runes lit up—a cyan light coalesced from the wind into countless blades of wind. The blades rained down like a storm upon the tentacles of the giant sea anemone, severing hundreds of feelers.

"Sixth Layer!"

The sixth layer's runes lit up—a crimson light gushed from the earth's core, turning into a towering pillar of molten magma. The pillar engulfed the sphere of skulls; the skulls burst apart within the magma in a series of explosions.

Seven of the ninth-level strange beings retreated step by step under the continuous assault of the six layers of the formation.

On the city wall, everyone watched with blood boiling.

He Lanyue's fingers trembled on the armor-breaking crossbow—not from fear, but from excitement: "Your Majesty's formation is incredible! At this rate, we might actually be able to take down all the ninth-level beings!"

But the Demon Lord's eyes, swirling like black vortexes, held a trace of worry. "It's not over yet. The cores of ninth-level beings are not so easily broken—and the half-tenth-level one hasn't made its move yet."

Sure enough, as the Demon Lord's words ended, the Giant Hand acted.

Its five fingers opened at once, and the eye in the center of its palm suddenly erupted with a piercing emerald-green light.

The light shone upon the nine ninth-level strange beings, and each of their forms expanded simultaneously. Their strange cores, empowered by the Giant Hand's energy, surged in recovery ability severalfold.

The tentacles of the Soul Devourer regenerated fully in just a few breaths, and now each tentacle bore an additional small, emerald-green eye—a new ability granted by the Giant Hand.

The broken bones of the Bone Dragon General mended completely; its bone spikes were now covered with an emerald-green pattern of strange markings.

The black mist of the Myriad Souls Matrix re-formed, and the humanoid shapes within it became even more terrifying—each now bore a face with the same eye as the one on the Giant Hand's palm.

The Flesh-and-Corpse Stitcher's scattered chains all flew back and reassembled, but this time, it stitched together not just one corpse—nine corpses were combined at once into a single nine-headed corpse monster.

"Now," the voice of the Giant Hand echoed through the domain, each word carrying the weight of crushing power. "Let me show you my true strength."

It clenched its fingers tight.

All nine ninth-level strange beings exploded simultaneously.

Not shattered by Wang Hao's formation—the Giant Hand had detonated them of its own accord.

The strange cores of the eight ninth-level beings all burst at once, unleashing a cataclysmic wave of energy that raged wildly through the domain. The six layers of the Ninefold Demon-Extermination Formation trembled violently in the shockwave. The Sacred Phoenix's illusion let out a mournful cry. The spirit army was torn apart. The rock giant shattered. The water dragon dispersed into droplets. The wind blades were scattered. The magma pillar was extinguished.

Within just thirty breaths, all six layers of the formation were destroyed.

But the energy from the strange cores' explosions did not dissipate. Instead, it gathered together within the domain and was consumed in a single gulp by the Giant Hand.

The presence of the Giant Hand began to surge.

Half-tenth-level, mid stage.

Half-tenth-level, late stage.

Half-tenth-level, peak.

Just one thread away from stepping into true tier ten.

"I see." Demon Lord's black vortex-like eyes flickered with understanding, but beneath that understanding lay deeper fear. "It's raising larvae—not just to let the tier-nine aberrations devour blood and grow stronger, but to devour these eight aberrations at the critical moment. The cores of eight tier-nine aberrations, plus all the blood they've consumed during this time—that energy is enough to let a half-step tier ten push through the threshold."

The cheers on the city wall abruptly stopped.

Everyone felt the shift in that terrifying aura.

Half-step tier ten peak—a presence surpassing even Li Cangming.

The Giant Hand's size was also changing. What had been a mere hundred-li black palm now swelled to three hundred li. The eye in its palm, once the size of a fist, had grown into a colossal eyeball several li in diameter. In its pupil were reflected the walls of Zhennan Pass, and the despair on every face standing upon them.

"Human Emperor," the Giant Hand's voice echoed through the fiend domain, each word making heaven and earth tremble. "Do you still believe you can win?"

On the city wall, all fell silent.

He Lanyue's fingers, gripping the armor-breaking crossbow, no longer trembled—because the aura of that giant palm was so oppressive he could not even move his fingers. Han Shanyue leaned on his crutch for his broken leg, his face deathly pale.

Despair and defiance churned in Demon Lord's black vortex-like eyes. Yue Ji’s dead-gray eyes closed, as if she had accepted her fate. Xue Wuhen wanted to curse, but his mouth opened and closed without a sound.

The Ninefold Extinction Array had been broken. Of the twelve war gods, even the strongest, Demon Lord, could only muster peak combat power—while their opponent was an aberration that had stepped into half-step tier ten peak.

The gap in power was too vast.

Too vast for any strategy, any trap, or any array to bridge.

Then everyone heard a voice.

It was light, calm, and even carried a hint of laziness.

"What's the rush? We still have three layers of arrays left to activate."

Wang Hao stood on the city wall, his smile still radiant. His imperial robe had split in several places from the oppression of the fiend domain, and a trace of golden blood streaked the corner of his mouth—an internal injury from the shockwave of the nine aberrations' self-destruction. Yet the way he stood there was still like an emperor strolling through his own back garden.

He raised his hand, his fingertip touching the void.

"Seventh layer—rise."

The ground beneath the city wall split open.

A massive runic pattern, covering hundreds of li, emerged from beneath the earth. Its shape was not a phoenix, not a dragon, not any mythic beast—it was the character "Annihilation."

The Annihilation Dao Pattern.

Wang Hao had fused the Annihilation Dao Pattern within him with the seventh-layer array runes of the Ninefold Extinction Array, creating this one-of-a-kind runic design.

The power of the Annihilation Dao Pattern was magnified infinitely within the array, transforming into a transparent shockwave that spread in all directions.

Wherever the shockwave passed, all aberrant power within the fiend domain was annihilated. Not suppressed, not restrained—it was directly annihilated, erased from the very level of existence.

Those black chains, purple mists, and boiling black waters—all the forces belonging to the aberrations vanished silently in the shockwave.

The Giant Hand's pupil shrank sharply.

It sensed the power within that shockwave—the exact opposite of its own. Aberrations were distortions of "existence," monsters formed from lingering obsessions and resentments after death. The Annihilation Dao Pattern was the power of "nonexistence," the end of all existence itself.

The two were natural enemies.

The Annihilation Dao Pattern suppressed all existence, and that naturally included aberrations.

The shockwave struck the Giant Hand, shaving off a thin layer from its edge. That layer was only an inch thick—trivial compared to the hand's three-hundred-li bulk—but it was the Annihilation Dao Pattern, a force capable of erasing even aberrations.