As the battle unfolded, it became clear that these Martial Saints were not to be underestimated. Each one of them, having persevered through countless trials, had risen to become some of the most formidable figures in Dongzhou Continent. Their strength was undeniable, their power awe-inspiring.
At first, they fought bravely, their auras blazing like rainbows as they met the fierce charge of Yan Yun's Eighteen Cavalry head-on. Their confidence, however, was soon shattered.
"What... how can they be this strong?" one of the Martial Saints gasped, eyes wide with disbelief.
The battle that had seemed balanced from the outside was anything but. Each of the Martial Saints felt it—the suffocating pressure bearing down on them, making it impossible to keep up with the Eighteen Cavalry's relentless onslaught. Despite being on the same level in name, the gap in power between them and the Eighteen Riders was as vast as the heavens and earth. It felt as though they were being ruthlessly beaten down, helpless beneath the overwhelming might of their opponents.
Without the pseudo-imperial weapons they carried, they would have already fallen. But even those powerful artifacts would only delay the inevitable.
"I can't hold on... I'm at my limit!" one of the Martial Saints, a junior among them, cried out. His face was ashen, blood trickling from his mouth, his internal organs battered by the intensity of the clash. Sensing the grim shadow of death looming over him, he decided to stake everything on one final desperate move.
With a roar, he summoned a gleaming hammer, engraved with intricate runes of immense power. "Haotian Hammer!" The hammer exploded forth with violent energy as the Martial Saint burned his own life force to fuel the attack. The devastating strike briefly forced the Cavalryman in front of him back, creating a fleeting window for his escape.
But escape was a foolish hope.
Watching the scene unfold, Orion couldn't help but smirk. How naive. Did they really believe they could flee from him?
"Reserve team, join the fight," Orion called out with a calm, almost bored tone.
In response, the nine riders from Yan Yun's Eighteen Cavalry who had been held in reserve stepped forward, their combined aura surging like a tidal wave. The junior Martial Saint who had fought so desperately for his life barely made it a few meters before the reserve team descended upon him.
In moments, the tide of battle turned completely. The once mighty Martial Saints, revered across the continent, fell one by one. Their pseudo-imperial weapons clattered to the ground as their lives were snuffed out in bursts of brilliance across the sky.
Eight top-tier powerhouses of Dongzhou Continent—all annihilated.
A chime echoed in Orion's mind.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for slaying eight powerful Martial Saints. You have gained 6.4 million luck points!]
Orion grinned. The rewards weren't quite as high as he had hoped, but it was a satisfying haul nonetheless. More importantly, his luck points had once again crossed the 10 million mark, bringing him close to 16 million total.
"Time for another draw," Orion muttered eagerly, pulling up the system's lottery interface. "System, give me a sub-emperor level lottery."
[Ding! The host has selected the emperor-level lottery. Drawing now...]
[Ding! Congratulations! You have received an Imperial Power Upgrade Card!]
Orion blinked in surprise. "Another one? Seriously?"
This was the second time he had won such a card. It wasn't a bad reward by any means, but the repetition caught him off guard.
"Still, this card has its uses," he mused, though he couldn't help but wonder if there was a way to stack the effects of multiple cards on a single force, such as his elite Dragon Cavalry Army.
[Ding! Each force can only use the Imperial Power Upgrade Card once. Stacking is not permitted.]
The system's cold voice cut through his thoughts, dashing his hopes. Orion sighed but wasn't too disappointed. After all, the card was still incredibly valuable.
Now the question remained—who should he give it to?
The Dragon Cavalry Army had already benefited from one of these cards, so they were out of the running. Intelligence-focused groups like Drizzle didn't need the extra combat power, and spreading the card's power across a large force would dilute its effect.
Which left the question: should it go to an individual powerhouse like Li Sandao or Xu Chu? Li Sandao was already a formidable fighter, and the card would certainly push him to new heights. But Xu Chu, though slightly weaker, had been with Orion the longest and could benefit from the power boost more.
"Xu Chu it is," Orion decided after some thought. "System, use the card on Xu Chu."
[Ding! The Imperial Power Upgrade Card has been successfully used on Xu Chu.]
Immediately, a surge of energy rushed into Xu Chu's body. His eyes widened in shock as his cultivation, long stuck at a bottleneck, suddenly began to flow freely. His meridians, previously blocked like clogged rivers, opened up, allowing his energy to rush through uninhibited.
Boom!
Xu Chu's aura exploded outward, shaking the very air around him. His long-awaited breakthrough had finally come.