159: Chapter 159 The Imperial Decree to Suppress the Heavens!

As far as the eye could see.

Scorched earth.

Abyss.

And the pile of python corpses, broken into several sections, lying across the wasteland like a small mountain.

The grey-white scales gleamed with a deathly light in the morning sun, and the massive python head, split in two, still held terror in its golden vertical pupils before death.

The cut was as smooth as a mirror.

Brain matter and blood had congealed into dark red, hard clumps.

Further away.

A fissure extended from underfoot to the edge of sight, intersecting with the abyss from three days ago.

Crisscrossing.

Like a hideous 'X' on the surface of the earth.

On the other side of the light screen.

Dead silence.

Secretary-General Zhou Pingyuan's mouth hung open.

He couldn't squeeze out a single word for a long time.

In the command room behind him, over a dozen pairs of eyes were wide open, staring at the screen as if they had seen something not of this world.

Three seconds.

Five seconds.

Unable to comprehend...

Forced to accept.

"My... god..."

A communications soldier's voice trembled; the tablet in his hand fell to the floor with a crisp clatter.

Secretary-General Zhou Pingyuan swallowed hard.

He finally snapped out of his petrified state.

"City Lord... this, this, this... really... just you alone? ..."

"Yes."

A single word.

Secretary-General Zhou Pingyuan's brain was buzzing.

The Seventh Realm Void-Air Realm, the nightmare that had haunted Pingan City for decades.

Just like that, dead?

Killed by an eighteen-year-old youth, single-handedly?

"Good! Good, good, good!!" Secretary-General Zhou Pingyuan slammed the table, his voice cracking. "Awesome!!"

The command room exploded instantly.

"Seventh Realm... dead?! Really, fucking dead?!"

"The Heaven-Devouring King Python! A monster that lived for three hundred years!"

"City Lord is badass!"

"I'm blown away!"

A group of grown men were shouting and jumping.

Some hugged each other and spun around, others squatted on the ground covering their faces, their shoulders shaking, unsure if they were crying or laughing.

Su Ming ignored them.

"Secretary-General Zhou Pingyuan."

"Here! Please speak!"

Secretary-General Zhou Pingyuan snapped back to attention, fiercely wiping his face.

He stood at attention.

His back was straight.

"Issue a public announcement. The five-hundred-kilometer safety zone for Pingan City is officially established. Citizens are allowed to leave the city. The Public Security Bureau is to deploy in full force to mark out safe areas. Consequences for going beyond the range are one's own responsibility."

"Yes!"

"Also, notify the Engineering Department to select sites outside the city starting today to build peripheral defensive fortifications."

"Take advantage of this vacuum period of exotic beasts to lay a solid foundation."

"Understood!"

Su Ming turned off the light screen.

Less than half an hour after the news went out, Pingan City was in an uproar.

Leave the city?

For decades, outside the city walls was a forbidden zone of death, and now they were told they could leave?

"Leave the city? We can leave the city?!"

"Is it real?"

"Country bumpkin, the Public Security Bureau has already set up checkpoints at the city gate! The official announcement is co-stamped by the Wilderness Suppression Bureau and the City Lord's Mansion!"

"Oh my goodness, did City Lord Su slaughter all the exotic beasts outside?"

"Leave the city! I want to leave the city! I want to go outside and farm!"

Some people cried.

For the first time in decades, they heard that outside the city was safe.

After the shock came uncontrollable ecstasy.

A long line formed at the city gate instantly, everyone's eyes sparkling with longing for that strange land.

An old man stood at the city gate.

Looking at the open gate, his legs wouldn't move. Go out? Walk outside the city? In the past, that was suicide.

The Public Security Bureau had already set up warning lines outside the city gate, marking out activity areas.

The Engineering Department's machinery rolled out of the city gate with a rumble.

Raising clouds of dust.

Pingan City, in Su Ming's hands, began to expand outward for the first time.

...

Wasteland.

Su Ming hung up the communication.

His gaze fell on the python corpse at his feet.

"System, refine."

[Consumed 4000 refinement points, refining Spirit: King Pythons Heaven-Suppressing Edict]

[refinement points: 4120 ↓ 120]

Boom!

A massive surge of energy poured in from the crown of his head!

It was like... the pressure of a ruler over all things!

It felt as if an ancient giant beast had awakened within his body, coiling in the center of his Sea of Consciousness, its golden vertical pupils looking down on everything.

His mental sea shook violently!

Su Ming groaned.

His knees buckled, and he almost knelt down.

That pressure was too heavy.

Like a mountain pressing down on his Soul, the Qi and blood in his body surged wildly, and his Protective Aura instinctively protected his heart.

Then, a beam of grey-white light shot straight into his brow.

Su Ming groaned.

Violent energy surged in his Sea of Consciousness.

Pain!

Tearing pain!

The mental barrier was forcibly pushed open, and a phantom of a giant grey-white python slowly condensed behind him.

It roared silently at the sky.

The pressure spread!

Gravel within hundreds of meters was crushed to powder, the ground sank half a foot, and the Spiritual Qi in the air was stirred into a visible vortex.

Three breaths.

Five breaths.

Ten breaths...

The pressure slowly faded.

The phantom coiling in the depths of his consciousness quieted down, turning into a sleeping mark branded on the core of his Soul.

Su Ming gasped for air.

His back was soaked with cold sweat.

He subconsciously clicked on the Spirit details to check.

At this moment.

He was stunned.

[Spirit: King Pythons Heaven-Suppressing Edict]

[Grade: Peerless Grade]

Peerless Grade.

Su Ming's pupils dilated suddenly.

He had nine Spirits. The highest was only precious grade.

This was the first Peerless Grade Spirit he had obtained.

Su Ming suppressed his heartbeat.

He continued to read down.

[Spirit Description: King Python Suppresses Heaven, all beasts bow their heads. You have inherited the heavenly authority accumulated by the Heaven-Devouring King Python over three hundred years; your very existence is an edict. Where the edict reaches, all spirits tremble; where the python shadow appears, heaven and earth change color. Wherever you stand is royal territory; whatever you look at must submit.]

[Spirit Effects]

[Storm Purgatory: Consume Qi and blood to release a Protective Aura storm with a diameter of two thousand meters centered on yourself, continuously stripping away the enemy's Qi and blood to nourish yourself, and significantly suppressing the enemy's speed and perception. During the storm, you are at the core of the storm and are unaffected.]

[Edict: Summon the Heaven-Devouring King Python phantom to manifest behind you, capable of releasing the Seventh Realm Void-Air Realm King Python Breath. During the summoning, gain a 30% all-attribute bonus from the Heaven-Devouring King Python's body.]

Su Ming stared at the panel.

His breathing stopped for a beat.

A Qi and blood stripping storm with a diameter of two thousand meters?

When the Heaven-Devouring King Python used this move before, he had suffered quite a bit; his Qi and blood were stripped away frantically, and he was almost sucked dry alive.

Fortunately, he sacrificed even faster!

Now this move was his, and the range was even larger, and it could nourish himself.

Fighting a group? No, this is a grass-cutting god skill.

Now he knew it!

And the range was bigger!

The storm released by the Heaven-Devouring King Python only covered one kilometer, this one directly doubled to two thousand meters!

And the Edict...

Summoning the python shadow, gaining a 30% attribute bonus from the body.

The Heaven-Devouring King Python was in the Seventh Realm Void-Air Realm, what kind of concept was that attribute value? Even if it was only 30%, superimposed on his existing attributes...

He now had 32,000 Strength, nearly 30,000 Physique, plus the 30% bonus from the python shadow, conservatively estimated, after opening the Edict, his pure attributes would directly approach the Peak of the Sixth Realm!

Combined with No Moon, Desolate Heaven Bone Spine, Indomitable Killing Intent...

Try it.

Su Ming's heart moved.

"Buzz—!"

Grey-white light erupted behind him, and a hundred-meter-long Heaven-Devouring King Python phantom appeared out of thin air, coiling above his head.

A terrifying energy poured into his limbs and bones.

The attributes on the panel jumped wildly.

Strength soared from 32,000 to 42,000!

Physique, Agility, Spirit, all-round surge of 30%!

Su Ming clenched his fist.

Protective Aura compressed at his fingertips, and he flicked it at a boulder beside him.

"Bang!"

The boulder didn't even leave debris; it was directly vaporized into powder.

With a thought.

Above the sky.

The Heaven-Devouring King Python phantom lowered its head.

Grey-white light gathered in the depths of its throat.

"Boom!"

A grey-white Protective Aura beam with a diameter of ten meters sprayed out, blasting a small hill a hundred meters away into slag.

"This is Peerless Grade..."

Su Ming grinned.

With this thing, his combat power now...

Sixth Realm could be destroyed with a flick of a finger.

Seventh Realm, why fear a battle.

Eighth Realm... let's be harmonious, Senior, why go this far.

Just then.

A crisp notification sound rang in his mind again.

[Detected that the host has obtained a Peerless Grade Spirit for the first time...]

[Now opening the Spirit upgrade channel: Consume 4000 refinement points to upgrade a precious grade Spirit to a Peerless Grade Spirit.]

Su Ming's eyelids twitched.

precious grade to Peerless Grade.

4000 points?

He only had a little over a hundred points in total now.

Poor as a church mouse.

But this meant that all the precious grade Spirits on him had a chance to transform into Peerless Grade!

Eight Wastelands Mountain-Suppressing Aspect, World-Rending Heavenly Wings, Crown of All Spirits...

If they were all upgraded to Peerless Grade, the picture was too beautiful for him to imagine.

Before he could digest this news.

The System prompt popped up again:

[Now opening the Spirit Fusion channel: Consume corresponding refinement points to fuse two or more Spirits to obtain a higher-level Spirit.]

[Note: The upper limit of the Spirit level is limited by the host's existing Spirit upper limit.]

[Current Spirit grade upper limit: Peerless Grade]

Su Ming was stunned.

Countless combinations flashed through his mind instantly.

Unquenchable Tide + Eight Wastelands Mountain-Suppressing Aspect...

Fate Bond + Crown of All Spirits...

World-Rending Heavenly Wings + Eight Wastelands Mountain-Suppressing Aspect...

If he continued to fuse at this rhythm, what kind of monster would the new Spirit be?

refinement points!

He needed massive amounts of refinement points!

Su Ming looked at the rows of Spirits on the panel, his eyes gradually becoming hot...