Boom!

　　At that instant, the System granted Xu Que an unseeable force. It perked up Xu Que, as a tremendous power flowed out of his body.

　　“Here comes a 40,000 points of King of Tough-Acting Fist!” Xu Que bellowed and swung a punch!

　　Thud!

　　The whole Imperial Palace shook violently. After Lord Zeng’s intentional blow, the dome-shaped spell barrier protecting it was already filled with cracks and nearing collapse. Now that Xu Que had struck it directly with his strongest King of Tough-Acting Fist, the light screen exploded into many shining fragments.

　　Almost at the same time, the Holy Weapon-Keeping Pavilion unleashed its powers. With its unstoppable, overwhelming, and thunderous force, it engulfed the whole Imperial Palace.

　　Boom!

　　The next second, the whole Imperial Palace shook with a huge crashing sound. Someone had uprooted it entirely from the ground!

　　“Atrocious! Who dares to lay a finger on our Imperial Palace!”

　　Instantly, countless silhouettes shot out of the Imperial Palace. Imperial guards, generals…a huge, crowded mass of people streamed out at once They were horrified deep down. The guards had just sent away Lord Zeng, but who would have thought that a demon would suddenly descend and shake the whole Imperial Palace!

　　However, they were stunned when they saw just a young man at the Form Synthesis Stage floating above the Imperial Palace.

　　“What’s the situation?”

　　“Where’s the person who shook the Imperial Palace?”

　　“Lowlife! I’ll give you three seconds to come clean about your accomplices’ whereabouts!”

　　The generals at the Great Vehicle Stage stared down at Xu Que, their gazes and auras crushing, coercive, and authoritative.

　　“Accomplices? Nah, they don’t exist! One is enough for most missions – that’s how we, the Exploding Heavens Faction, roll!”

　　The System had determined that the Imperial Palace was a Multifunction Low-Grade Celestial Artifact.

　　While Xu Que had no clue on what its functions were, since it was a celestial artifact, the rest was easy. Without any hesitation, he changed his initial plan from seizing the God-realization Tree to capturing the whole Imperial Palace!

　　Boom!

　　The immense power was still in force, swallowing the Imperial Palace and shaking it. The speed at which the System collected the celestial artifact was not that fast, as it needed to compress the Imperial Palace bit by bit.

　　All of the generals and imperial guards shook at Xu Que’s move.

　　“How’s that possible?”

　　“That lad could make the whole Imperial Palace tremble!”

　　“He’s just a mere Form Synthesis Stage cultivator! How did he do that?”

　　“Not good. We need to kill him fast!”

　　The crowd came to their senses and quickly charged toward Xu Que, riding on Magic Arts.

　　“How insolent!”

　　A crystalline and melodious, yet authoritative, voice suddenly came from behind. All of the generals and guards paused for a second and stood stunned when they saw who it was that floated in the air. The incomer was Jiang Hongyan, the Empress of this Tong Tian Nation! Her appearance made everyone present turn pale!

　　“Greetings to the Holy Senior!” At once, countless Imperial guards and generals all bowed in fearful respect.

　　Jiang Hongyan did not respond; instead, she scanned them coldly and emotionlessly. Her regalness was overwhelming and crushing.

　　Crash!

　　Xu Que was still taming the Imperial Palace. He raised the entire palace higher into the air, compressing it further. He didn’t forget to turn and wink cheekily at Jiang Hongyan.

　　His childlike behavior amused Jiang Hongyan, who struggled not to smile, lest her domineering aura broke.

　　“Holy Senior, this man is attacking our Imperial Palace! Please give us an order to kill him!” A general at the Great Vehicle Stage stepped out and awaited Jiang Hongyan’s orders.

　　Jiang Hongyan scanned him indifferently but did not answer.

　　That general froze apprehensively.

　　At the same time, a few other generals also came out and bowed, as they shouted, “Holy Senior, please give us an order to execute the invader!”

　　“Holy Senior, please give us an order!”

　　“Holy Senior, please give us an order!”

　　At that instant, the atmosphere infected everyone else, and they yelled in cohesion as if trying to overthrow the Empress in a coup!

　　“Relay my verbal order!” Jiang Hongyan finally spoke up. While her expression may have seemed indifferent, her tone was final, “Anyone who gets up without my permission shall be executed right away!”

　　“What?”

　　The generals and Imperial guards all raised their heads in shock. They couldn’t believe their ears.

　　“Ha ha, there must be something wrong with your head, trying to kill me! Can you even do it? Stand up if you’ve got guts! Stand up! Let’s see who’ll die first!” Xu Que booed as he tamed the Imperial Palace.

　　However, the crowd ignored him. They continued to look at Jiang Hongyan in shock, and asked loudly, “Holy Senior, why…why are you doing this? If we don’t move now, he will destroy the Imperial Palace!”

　　“Holy Senior, what’s going on exactly?”

　　Many generals fretted anxiously. Some even wanted to disobey the Empress’s orders and stop Xu Que, as the Imperial Palace was now lifted high into the sky and was getting smaller by the second.

　　The palace maids and eunuchs of the Imperial Palace, as well as countless soldiers, were all squeezed out of the palace and fell onto the ground.

　　Jiang Hongyan’s face was devoid of any expression. She stood powerfully in front of them, shielding Xu Que.

　　“Please give us an order, Holy Senior, or else I will have no choice but to go against your instructions,”a general said at last, unable to stay still any longer. By doing that, it was equivalent to going against the Empress’s royal decree.

　　However, all the other generals soon followed suit and chorused loudly, “We, your subjects, implore you to give us a new order, Holy Senior!”

　　Alas, Jiang Hongyan was as calm as still water and ignored them.She had said all that she wanted to say.

　　“All right. If the Holy Senior insists, forgive me for my defiance! I cannot stand by and do nothing while the Imperial Palace gets destroyed!” Said a general at Level 2 of the Great Vehicle Stage. He got up at once and raised the long spear in his hands, plunging to kill Xu Que.

　　Swoosh!

　　Suddenly, a golden light flared between Jiang Hongyan’s porcelain fingers. It shone and glittered like stars, blinding and bright, and went straight for that general’s throat!

　　The general was startled. He quickly swerved to protect himself.

　　Clunk!

　　With a crisp trembling ring, the golden gleam fell onto his long spear, as if littered with starlight. The entire long spear fell apart instantly, and the golden shimmer exploded into a massive radiance, piercing the general in a split second!

　　Puu!

　　The general vomited blood at once, the whole of his body pierced through by that golden light. He tumbled toward the ground, as dead as he could be.

　　At that moment, the whole arena fell deadly silent.

　　Every single general and guard was stunned. No one imagined that Jiang Hongyan would be so ruthless in her execution, that she would put a general at Level 2 of the Great Vehicle to death without any hesitation.

　　“Holy Senior, what are you doing? Don’t tell us that you’ll help an outsider destroy the whole Imperial Palace?” One of the generals yelled furiously, for the one she killed was his elder brother!

　　“Holy Senior, if you want to protect him, kill us all then!” One hard-headed man bellowed and got up from the ground. Once someone had made the first move, the rest naturally followed. All of the subjects looked at Jiang Hongyan directly.

　　It’s not that they aren’t afraid to die. It’s just that the guards and generals assumed that she couldn’t do anything if everybody rebelled – they didn’t believe that Jiang Hongyan would kill them all for an outsider!

　　However, they were ultimately wrong.

　　As not only would Jiang Hongyan dare to do it, she would do it without any hesitation!

　　Swoosh!

　　She raised her slender hands as her sleeves swayed with the wind; a huge, overwhelming wave of Taoist Connotation flowed out of her, and her True Core Strength shot up suddenly. It transformed into a blinding golden light, pure and holy, as it laid down onto the earth.

　　Boom!

　　A great crack resounded in the skies as the thunder toiled away; it became strands of lightning and crashed down from the heavens. The lightning bolts fused into the golden beat and swiftly condensed into a mark consisting of the might of heavens!

　　Everybody present paled instantly.

　　“This…this is the Emperor’s Mark!” Said someone, shaken to his core.

　　“That’s impossible! The Emperor’s Mark could activate the rune in our bodies; it is the art of Your Majesty, and he never taught her! Where did she learn it?” Exclaimed someone in disbelief, his face filled with horror.

　　The Emperor’s Mark was the magic art that the Emperor used to control them. He would bury the rune into the bodies of every single subject that entered the Imperial Palace. It ensured their loyalty, as he could destroy anyone who dared to commit treason with just an Emperor’s Mark.

　　That was what was meant by the saying – Subjects must obey their Emperor, even if he orders them to die!

　　Crash!

　　The Emperor’s Mark is complete.

　　All of the generals and Imperial guards present felt chills down their spine as if their lives were within the clutches of the Empress. She needs no more than a single thought to kill every single one of them!

　　“Holy Senior, are you really killing all of us for an outsider?” Yelled one of the generals who had reached his limit. He still couldn’t believe that Jiang Hongyan would dare to kill them all and thought that she was simply threatening them to follow her orders.

　　“He’s not an outsider!” All of a sudden, Jiang Hongyan spoke up calmly, and a beautiful smile graced her lips. She answered softly, “He’s my man!”

　　As her voice fell, the Emperor’s Mark that appeared in midair exploded violently!

　　Boom!

　　Immeasurable golden gleams shone brightly as they pierced through the foreheads of every single general and Imperial guard present, completely igniting the runes within their bodies!

　　Within seconds, several hundred Imperial guards and generals fell dead instantly!