223: The Emperor's Coffin Collapses, and the Hidden Hand Finally Revealed

"Suppress—!!!"

Xiao Chen roared, his eyes burning with intertwined light of chaos and stars! He poured his lifelong cultivation, the origin of his chaos emperor heart, and even his bloodline connection with the star tower, into this final strike!

The towering star tower, carrying the supreme power to suppress all ages and annihilate all evil, descended like the collapse of nine heavens, crashing down upon the wildly trembling burial emperor coffin!

"Clang—!!!!!!!!"

A destructive sound, as if the cores of two worlds had collided, exploded! The sound transcended the limits of hearing, transforming into a pure Soul Impact that swept across the entire Land of Gui Xu! Flame Emperor, Dragon Emperor, and the other four, despite being protected by Xiao Chen's Emperor Domain, felt their souls violently shake, their vision turning black, almost fainting!

At the center of the impact, time and space were completely chaotic! A tiny yet utterly black singularity suddenly appeared, madly devouring everything around it! Light, energy, and even shattered fragments of laws!

"Crack...crackle...rumble—!!!"

Under the crushing power of the star tower, the burial emperor coffin—its indestructible dark-red crystal body—finally could not bear it! Striking cracks, like a spider web, instantly spread across its entire surface! Immediately after, under the Coffin Guardian's desperate and frenzied gaze, it exploded!

Countless dark-red fragments, carrying dense emperor death qi and monstrous resentment, shot out in all directions! The bloody demon god phantom that had just formed let out an unwilling roar, then was annihilated! The monstrous sea of blood, as if its source had been drained, quickly dried up and dissipated!

"No—!!! My master's painstaking effort—!!!" The Coffin Guardian let out a heart-wrenching wail! His aura, with the destruction of the Emperor Coffin, plummeted like an avalanche! Blood gushed from his seven orifices like a fountain! Cracks also began to appear on the surface of his body!

"Did... did we win?" Flame Emperor gasped, looking at the fragments of the Emperor Coffin flying everywhere, murmuring in disbelief.

However—

Right at the core where the burial emperor coffin completely shattered! A point of extremely deep dark-red light did not perish with it! Instead, it pulsed violently, like a heart!

"Buzz—!!!"

A terrifying will, far purer, colder, and more aloof than before, suddenly awakened, like a primordial beast that had slept for eons! A blurry, gigantic phantom slowly emerged from that dark-red light point!

That phantom was neither human nor any known creature! It seemed to be composed of countless twisted lines of law and pure destructive intent! The aura it emitted caused an indescribable chill to rise from the depths of Xiao Chen's soul, even though he had just become an Emperor!

"Finally... still... disturbed You, Master..." The dying Coffin Guardian looked at the phantom, a distorted smile of fanaticism and relief appearing on his face, then he completely turned to dust!

"Ant... how dare you... destroy My... foundation for descent..." The blurry phantom emitted an extremely cold wave of consciousness, directly resounding in everyone's souls! Just a single thought made Flame Emperor and the others feel as if they had fallen into an ice cellar, their blood almost freezing!

"You... are... the mastermind?" Xiao Chen, suppressing the tremor in his soul, straightened his back. His Chaos Emperor Domain operated at full power, resisting the terrifying will and pressure! The star tower also floated above his head, casting down streaks of starlight to protect his body!

"Hmph... a newly born... native Emperor... a broken... Emperor Tower..." The phantom's consciousness was full of disdain and condescension, "You have ruined My great plan... then... use the origin of your world... to repay Me..."

As the words fell, the phantom slowly raised an arm made of lines of law and pointed it at Xiao Chen from afar!

"Perish!"

There was no earth-shattering energy explosion! But Xiao Chen felt that his connection with this world was being forcibly stripped away! A kind of rejection and destructive will, originating from the world's core, surged towards him like a tide! It was as if the entire world was against him!

"External... laws... controlling... world will?!" Xiao Chen was horrified! Such a method had already exceeded his understanding of the Emperor Realm!

"Chaos... Genesis... Break for me!" Xiao Chen gritted his teeth and roared! He gathered all his power into one punch! And struck at the invisible force of world rejection!

"Boom—!!!"

The power of the punch collided with the world's repulsive force! Xiao Chen's entire body shook violently! He spat out another mouthful of blood! His body staggered backward! The opponent was merely a projected consciousness, separated by endless void, yet it possessed such terrifying power!

"Oh? Chaos... aura? That's... a bit... interesting..." The phantom seemed to have noticed something, a hint of surprise flashing in its consciousness, but then it turned into an even more intense greed! "When My true body descends... you... will be... the best... tonic..."

After speaking, the phantom, perhaps due to the immense distance, or the obstruction of this realm's seals, began to blur... and finally, along with that dark-red light, dissipated into the void... The terrifying will and pressure receded like a tide. The Land of Gui Xu returned to dead silence. Only the fragments of the Emperor Coffin flying everywhere proved the existence of that world-shaking battle just now.

"Is... is it over?" Flower Without Shadow's voice trembled slightly.

Xiao Chen slowly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his expression extremely solemn. He looked at the place where the phantom had dissipated and shook his head.

"No... quite the opposite."

"The real war... has just... begun."

"We... merely... destroyed... one of his... tools... but... attracted... the attention... of the master... behind the tool."

A pressure far heavier than when facing Pavilion Master Tianji and the burial emperor coffin enveloped everyone's hearts.

The enemy from beyond the border had finally revealed a corner of its iceberg! And the future of this continent was still precarious!