Four Corpses Form an Array, Wang Hao Breaks Through Yet Remains Suppressed

But it was already too late.

The Slaughter Ancient Corpse, empowered by the formation, thrust its broken spear through the air.

Before the spear tip even arrived, a bloody hole burst open on the Demon Lord's back.

The Spirit Ancient Corpse's laughter rang out, and the demonic light in the Demon Lord's eyes instantly plunged into chaos.

The Death Domain Ancient Corpse's domain swept out, and the wound on the Demon Lord's chest began to rot and spread.

Once the four corpses formed the formation, every single strike from one of them was equivalent to all four striking together.

No matter how strong the Demon Lord was, he couldn't withstand it.

Yue Ji gritted her teeth. Nine illusory moons manifested at once, forcibly slashing toward the Spirit Ancient Corpse.

"Old hag, save him!"

Ghost Granny said nothing. Her white hair stood on end, and she spat out a mouthful of her lifeblood venom.

The venom transformed into an ink-green poison dragon, coiling around the Flesh Ancient Corpse's arm.

Yue Ji seized the moment to flash before the Demon Lord. Her hands formed seals, and the power of the illusory moons became silver-white chains, attempting to pull the Demon Lord out from under that fist.

Ghost Granny's poison dragon also furiously corroded the ancient corpse's arm.

But the four-corpse killing formation rotated once.

The Spirit Ancient Corpse suddenly fixed its gaze on Yue Ji.

"Heh."

Yue Ji's body went rigid.

Her soul felt as if it were being gripped by an icy-cold giant hand.

The next moment, spear light swept toward her in a horizontal arc.

Ghost Granny lunged forward, her walking staff raised to shield Yue Ji.

Crack!

The staff shattered.

Ghost Granny was sent flying by the spear light, a massive wound split open across her chest from left shoulder to right abdomen, nearly cleaving her in two.

Yue Ji was also struck by the residual force, sent tumbling hundreds of zhang away, smashing through a crumbling stone pillar, her white robes stained with blood.

The Demon Lord was finally freed when Wang Hao sliced through the ancient corpse's arm with a single sword stroke, forcibly dragging him back.

But the hollow hole in his chest was horrifying to behold, and his aura plummeted by more than half in an instant.

"Your Majesty..."

The Demon Lord tried to speak.

Wang Hao hurled him toward the rear.

"Shut up."

"I didn't give you permission to die. If you dare die, we'll see about that."

The Demon Lord grinned, blood seeping through his teeth.

"As you command."

On the other side, Shadow was locked down by the death-aura domain.

His speed had been the fastest on the entire field, able to leap between shadows in an instant.

But now, the ancient killing formation had sealed off all shadows.

His body was forcibly squeezed out of the void.

The Death Domain Ancient Corpse raised a hand and grabbed.

Black mist formed two rotting giant hands, seizing Shadow's left and right shoulders respectively.

Crack!

Shadow's body was nearly torn in two.

He let out a muffled grunt, yet still refused to scream.

Xue Wuhen's eyes instantly turned bloodshot.

"Let him go!"

He burned his vital essence, transforming into a streak of blood-colored light that slammed into the death-aura domain.

Yin Jiuyou also gritted his teeth and charged in, unleashing his Nine Nether true power with reckless abandon.

"This old man has truly hit rock bottom today!"

"Following this tyrant, it's either fighting peak Martial Gods or fighting half-step Transcendents every single day!"

Wang Hao heard him from afar and roared, "Who are you calling a tyrant?"

Yin Jiuyou spat blood even as he shouted back, "Your Majesty, this old man speaks only out of affection!"

Wang Hao: "..."

That excuse was somehow infuriatingly familiar.

Xue Wuhen reached Shadow's side and slashed through the death-aura giant hand with one knife stroke.

But the next instant, spear light pierced through his shoulder, pinning him to the void.

Yin Jiuyou had just moved to help when the spiritual laughter drilled into his mind. His vision went black, blood seeped from his seven orifices, and he nearly tumbled from midair.

Everyone was fighting with everything they had.

But everyone was losing.

They weren't weaklings.

The Demon Lord was a peak Martial God.

Yue Ji, Ghost Granny, Shadow, Xue Wuhen, and Yin Jiuyou were all mighty experts in their own right.

Placed anywhere in the outside world, any one of them could suppress an entire region and force countless sects to kowtow.

But at this moment, against the ancient killing formation formed by four half-step Transcendent corpses, they were like flesh and blood trying to fill a heavenly chasm.

Every one of them was bleeding.

Every one of them was being torn apart.

Every one of them refused to retreat.

Wang Hao watched this scene. The fury he had been suppressing with jokes and banter finally ignited.

He was no sage emperor.

He was cunning, shameless, calculating, loved to scheme against his own people, and would even use the Emperor's Sword as a shield.

But these people were his subjects.

His subjects could be scolded by him.

Could be tricked by him.

Could have their salaries docked by him.

But they could not be trampled like weeds by anyone else.

"Ji Wushang."

Wang Hao slowly raised his head, golden light and black radiance intertwining in his eyes.

"You've really pissed me off."

Ji Wushang smiled faintly.

"So what?"

"What can you possibly do?"

The four ancient corpses turned at once.

The formation's power locked onto Wang Hao.

Boom!

Space around Wang Hao instantly collapsed.

The Flesh Ancient Corpse threw a punch.

The Slaughter Ancient Corpse thrust its broken spear.

The Spirit Ancient Corpse's laughter flooded his mind.

The Death Domain Ancient Corpse's domain pressed down on him.

Four layers of killing intent converged. Wang Hao had nowhere to dodge.

"Good, come then!"

Wang Hao laughed in fury.

The Thunder Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda hovered above his head, and the eighth layer's gate blasted open.

A thunder phoenix spread its wings and charged toward the Flesh Ancient Corpse.

The New Emperor Sword erupted with black-gold sword light, slashing toward the broken spear.

Wang Hao's twin palms struck out in rapid succession.

"Sky-Sealing Earth-Crushing Palm!"

"First palm!"

"Second palm!"

"Third palm!"

Golden palm prints slammed down in chains.

But with the four corpses in formation, their power had become something entirely different.

The thunder phoenix was punched apart by the Flesh Ancient Corpse with a single blow.

The New Emperor Sword clashed against the broken spear and was sent reeling, shrieking loudly.

"Damn! This old thing must be on drugs!"

The third golden palm print fell, but was mostly corroded away by the death-aura domain. Only residual force struck the ancient corpse, and it didn't even take a single step back.

The spiritual laughter was like a blade, stabbing into Wang Hao's mind.

Countless visions surfaced before his eyes.

Himself being torn apart by the four corpses.

The Great Xia Dynasty collapsing.

Hundreds of millions of people kneeling and wailing.

Ji Wushang stepping on his skull, laughing as he drank the blood of all living beings.

"Get out!"

Wang Hao roared with his divine soul.

Imperial dragon qi transformed into nine golden dragons, roaring through his sea of consciousness, tearing the illusion apart.

But the price was blood seeping from all seven of his orifices.

Then, the Flesh Ancient Corpse's fist slammed into his chest.

Bang!

Wang Hao plummeted like a falling meteor, crashing through the edge of three layers of the altar platform before barely managing to stop himself.

His sternum was cracked.

His five organs were in turmoil.

His imperial robes were stained with blood.

"Cough..."

He spat out a mouthful of blood, but his eyes only grew fiercer.

[System Notification: Host detected to be under ultimate life-or-death pressure.]

[Special location intel refreshed: The Emperor's Fallen Stele retains residual ancient extreme pressure. In resonance with the death aura of the Nine Coffin Altar, the residual thunder of the Thunder Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, and the imperial true origin, a brief resonance has formed.]

[Breakthrough opportunity detected.]

[Prompt: You may use the extreme martial pressure to forcibly break through to the second layer of the Martial God realm. Success rate: fifty percent. Failure consequence: physical body collapse, meridians completely destroyed.]

Wang Hao grinned.

"Fifty percent?"

"That's enough."

He never liked gambling.

But he hated being beaten down even more.

Especially being beaten down by the dead.

"Thunder, come!"

Wang Hao bellowed.

The Thunder Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda shuddered violently, and the residual thunder force within it surged madly into his body.

"Death aura, come too!"

He opened his mouth and inhaled, forcibly devouring the surrounding death aura into his meridians.

The Demon Lord and the others watched with faces gone pale.

"Your Majesty!"

Death aura entering the body, even the slightest error could corrode one's life force.

And this was the death aura of half-step Transcendent ancient corpses!

Wang Hao didn't care at all.

His imperial true origin churned like a furnace.

Thunder force was the fire.

Death aura was the fuel.

The residual extreme pressure of the Emperor's Fallen Stele was the hammer.

His body was the iron in the forge.

Boom!

The first crack of bone-snapping thunder exploded from within Wang Hao's body.

Then the second, the third, the fourth!

Each sound was like a heavenly drum being struck.

His flesh was torn apart, then tempered by thunder.

His meridians were corroded by death aura, then forcibly repaired by imperial true origin.

The pain was enough to shatter the divine soul of any Martial God.

Wang Hao's forehead veins bulged, and his teeth ground together with a bitter creaking sound.

Only one thought occupied his mind.

Pain.

God-fucking-damn pain.

If he had known breaking through would hurt this much, he should have let the Imperial Sword test it out for him first.

The New Emperor Sword seemed to sense his intention and immediately shouted, "Wang Hao! Are you trying to screw me over again?"

Wang Hao spat blood and smirked coldly.

"Guess."

The sword spirit trembled so hard its blade shook.

Even at a time like this, he was still scheming to screw over a sword.

This degenerate emperor was beyond saving.

The four ancient corpses weren't about to wait for his breakthrough.

The killing formation pressed down again.

The Flesh Ancient Corpse shattered the void with its step, the slaughtering broken spear pierced through darkness, the mental laughter tore at his soul, and the death-domain corroded all things.

Wang Hao suddenly looked up.

Golden light exploded from his eyes.

"Break for me!"

BOOM!

An invisible barrier deep within him was finally shattered with brute force.

Martial God Realm, Second Layer!

A burst of imperial pressure several times stronger than before erupted from Wang Hao's body.

Nine five-clawed golden dragon phantoms soared into the sky, coiling around his imperial form.

Thunder, death qi, true essence, and dragon aura—all of it was forcibly smelted into a single, tyrannically unrivaled power.

Wang Hao stepped forward, and the void trembled like the surface of a war drum.

"Sky-Sealing, Earth-Covering Palm!"

"First Palm!"

"Second Palm!"

"Third Palm!"

"Fourth Palm!"

"Fifth Palm!"

Five palms in rapid succession, each golden giant palm larger than the last, crashed into the dark killing formation like five blazing suns.

The Flesh Ancient Corpse's assault faltered for a moment.

A gap was torn open in the death domain.

Wang Hao seized the moment and drew his sword.

"NINE HEAVEN-SPLITTING SWORDS!"

"First Sword, Heaven-Split!"

"Second Sword, Earth-Rend!"

A black-gold sword light pierced through the altar, striking the broken spear of the Slaughter Ancient Corpse.

CLANG!

The spear was knocked off course.

"Third Sword, Sever the Star River!"

This slash swept outward. The Spirit Ancient Corpse's laughter abruptly stopped as a crack deep enough to show bone split across its skull.

The Demon Lord and the others all lit up at once.

"The Emperor broke through!"

"Martial God Realm, Second Layer!"

Wang Hao stood at the center of the killing formation, his imperial robe stained with blood, hair wild and scattered, yet his aura burned like a blood-soaked sovereign of humanity.

For that one instant, he truly seemed to shake the Four-Corpse Killing Formation.

Ji Wushang's eyes darkened slightly.

"Breaking through mid-battle."

"You really are a pain."

Wang Hao sneered.

"The pain is just getting started."

He raised his palm again, intending to stack another round of Sky-Sealing, Earth-Covering Palms.

But the next moment.

The four ancient corpses roared simultaneously.

The killing formation activated at full power.

From beneath the altar, the cracks in the Emperor's Fallen Stele vomited out a thick and even more sinister crimson light.

The aura radiating from the four corpses surged once more.

Wang Hao's expression changed.

The Flesh Ancient Corpse appeared in front of him without warning, throwing a punch.

Too fast.

Faster than before.

Wang Hao raised his sword to block.

THUD!

The New Emperor Sword let out a miserable shriek as it was sent flying, its blade bent into an absurdly humiliating curve.

"Wang Hao! Save me!"

Wang Hao had no time for it.

The slaughtering broken spear was already driving toward him.

He twisted his body to dodge the fatal point, but the spear tip still tore open his shoulder, ripping away a large chunk of flesh.

The mental laughter seized the opportunity and flooded into his consciousness.

His head rang with a deafening buzz.

The death domain pressed down, and his legs felt like they were dragged down by thousands of corpse hands.

The Flesh Ancient Corpse's second punch slammed into his abdomen.

THUD!

Wang Hao's body curled up like a shrimp, blood spraying from his mouth.

Third punch.

Fourth punch.

The four powers of the killing formation rotated in a cycle.

The counterattack Wang Hao had launched after his breakthrough was brutally crushed back down.

Going from Martial God First Layer to Second Layer was indeed an improvement.

But against four half-step Transcendence ancient corpses in an ancient killing formation, that improvement was nowhere near enough.

Reality hit everyone like a sledgehammer.

Wang Hao could be as monstrously talented as he wanted—he still wasn't Transcendence.

He wasn't even peak Martial God.

He was just barely a Second Layer Martial God.

And his enemies were four ancient monsters who had already touched the threshold of Transcendence.

"YOUR MAJESTY!"

Han Shanyue's eyes were splitting on the distant spirit boat, nearly charging out, but several soldiers held him back by force.

"Old general, you can't go!"

"Going there is death!"

Han Shanyue's eyes went bloodshot.

"Then I can't just stand here and watch His Majesty bear this alone!"

The Demon Lord struggled to get up but collapsed again, vomiting more blood.

Yue Ji, Ghost Granny, Shadow, Xue Wuhen, Yin Jiuyou—all were severely wounded, wanting to help but unable to.

Wang Hao was besieged by the four corpses, his imperial robe shredded, his bones snapping with constant cracks.

His left arm had almost lost all feeling.

His ribs were broken who knows how many times.

His chest, shoulders, back—everywhere was covered in wounds deep enough to show bone.

But he still didn't fall.

"Fuck..."

Wang Hao spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.

"I've been emperor this long, and I've never been beaten this humiliatingly."

The Flesh Ancient Corpse stomped down.

Wang Hao crossed his arms and took the hit.

BOOM!

He was sent crashing down from midair, slamming hard against the edge of the altar.

The stone steps shattered.

Dust and smoke shot into the sky.

The slaughtering broken spear followed immediately, stabbing toward his brow.

Wang Hao twisted his head aside, and the spear tip grazed his cheek before embedding into the ground.

The mental laughter and the death domain pressed down together.

He knelt on one knee, both hands bracing against the broken altar, blood dripping in steady drops.

The New Emperor Sword was still pinned at a distance, struggling to fly back but held down by the formation's power.

"Wang Hao!"

"Hold on! I haven't evolved to number one in the world yet—if you die, who am I supposed to tag along with!"

Wang Hao lifted his head.

His face was covered in blood.

But his eyes burned with the ferocity of a dragon backed into a corner.

He stared hard at Ji Wushang at the highest point of the altar, and a grin slowly stretched across his lips.

It was a battered smile.

Savage.

And still utterly shameless.

"Ji Wushang..."

"You'd better kill me in one shot."

"Because if you don't..."

He coughed up another mouthful of blood, his voice low as if crawling out of hell.

"I swear I'll tear down this shitty altar of yours and use your goddamn coffin lid as a toilet board."