Zharuk gripped the pendant tightly and squeezed it, a golden light immediately engulfing his huge body.
These days, any divine artifact from Auranys would consider beings like orcs to be beasts of darkness, exploding them during use; an effect imbued on them after a bloody war many hundreds of millennia ago.
The fact that this artifact hadn’t exploded Zharuk immediately made it clear that the item was at least a hundred thousand years old.
Qingyi took a single step back in the air, watching the golden light spread across Zharuk’s body.
The orc’s veins glowed and his blood-red eyes were filled with gold, even the reddish flames surrounding his axe changing.
That was dangerous.
"You... weakling... DIE!" Zharuk roared, striking with his axe with full force.
That finally drew a serious reaction from Qingyi, who covered his body with black scales, using the first form of the Storm Monarch Sword Art.
In front of the Heaven-Defying Thunder Sword, the huge, sharp tip of an ethereal blade appeared, stretching almost five meters above Qingyi, powerful lightning bolts engulfing everything around him.
With a single moment to prepare, he attacked, his face carrying more curiosity than concern as his Heaven-defying Thunder Sword and Zharuk’s Golden Flame Axe collided.
In the next moment, the world froze.
Below, the True Immortal who was massacring the orc troops raised a single glance, immediately being blinded by the flash of light, the world divided between the orc’s gold and Qingyi’s lightning.
This stalemate lasted a single moment before the attack of both collapsed under each other, meeting in the center and then spreading out to all sides, a breath of lightning and flames flowing towards the army on the ground.
"Fall back, now!" The general roared at the royal troops, who, engaged with the orcs, were barely able to react.
Fortunately, they managed to retreat sufficiently for the effects of the clash to fall only on the orcs, whose combat power was already limited by Qingyi’s lineage projection.
A deluge of flames and lightning fell into the center of the enemy ranks and exploded, opening a fiery tear in the ground and, in a single moment, killing hundreds of orcs.
Qingyi gritted his teeth, a thin trickle of blood leaving his lips as he punched, passing through Zharuk’s blade and hitting his ugly face.
A pained grunt escaped the Orc Warlord’s lips, his body being catapulted backwards like a cannonball.
Qingyi’s punch created a powerful shockwave, accompanied by another wave as Zharuk broke the speed of sound.
Belgrath’s officers, who were still trying to keep their army in line, preparing to fight after the orcs, could only watch in terror as the huge body of almost a ton of pure muscle flew towards them.
They tried to take cover and separate, but it was too late, the body of the orc leader landing on the compact columns with a devastating thud.
He sank dozens of meters into the ground, raising a cloud of dust, soldiers hundreds of meters away being thrown into the air as the ground beneath their feet turned to nothing but dust.
"Ugh... Damn weakling... Zharuk will..." Zharuk had barely finished his sentence when a flaming spear hit his chest with a powerful thud, stunning him again.
He tried to get up, but was soon hit by a second spear and then a third, fourth and fifth.
From the sixth spear onwards, Zharuk’s body began to sink into the ground, descending dozens of meters with each spear, the smell of burnt putrid flesh rising from the huge crater engulfed in flames.
Qingyi showed no mercy, raising his hand and calling for the ninth and final spear of the Art of the Nine Spears of Celestial Fire, his body engulfed in fiery, powerful flames.
He took a single moment to think before finally attacking.
The moment the spear left his grasp, his body was thrown backwards with the rebound, a shockwave rising from his fingers and spreading with a mighty crash.
The fire followed the spear like the wings of a phoenix, landing over the crater.
Qingyi’s clothes fluttered, his black hair; which had been carefully pinned up by the girls in the World of Mind before he left; escaped, swinging violently as the gust of hot air hit his face.
The brightness of that explosion illuminated more intensely than the sun in the sky.
Qingyi just watched coldly as the heat ceased and, little by little, the black smoke dispersed into the air, revealing Zharuk’s body.
He was naturally not in a good state, but to Qingyi’s surprise, he was still alive.
His bones were visible and even his lungs, struggling for air; every organ in his body collapsed, every inch of his skin charred.
Still, he struggled on, chanting strange names, his once golden eyes now glowing with a deep darkness.
Qingyi had heard of it; orcs had their own gods.
Their names weren’t known to most, but Qingyi knew they were powerful and one of the main reasons for the orcs’ fighting power.
If he had time, Zharuk could recover with even more power and once again try to defeat Qingyi.
Unfortunately for him, the handsome young man had already decided the end of that battle.
Zharuk’s attack had caused him some internal damage, but this had already been healed by the Seed of Life.
What really worried him was that his men were still having trouble with the orcs.
Despite the short time Qingyi had led them, they were his subordinates and respected him deeply.
With a sigh, Qingyi just stepped on Zharuk’s head and smashed it, destroying his brain and imbuing his feet with lightning, ensuring that the entire inside of Zharuk’s body was completely destroyed, reducing him to nothing but bloody goo.
Qingyi just shook his head.
Raising a single hand, the only thing intact on Zharuk’s body, the talisman he had used to gain all this power, flew into his grasp.
Qingyi was about to observe it more carefully when something broke through the air, flying towards his back and through his chest.
It was a spear, powerful and strangely stealthy, carrying the power of a True Immortal.
"Uh... what an interesting little thing." Qingyi smiled, turning around.