Stellar Transformations

by I Eat Tomatoes

  Qin Zheng’s face changes color.

  “You mean everybody in the imperial palace is dead except for me?” He simply cannot accept this outcome.

  Liang Shen says hurriedly: “Your Majesty, not everybody is dead at all. Except for you, all those who were within the range of that deep roar let out by that super loose devil in the beginning are dead. As for the other 40% of the imperial palace, even though it was devastated by the energy of the fighting between the 2 experts, the remaining princes, princesses and imperial concubines here had already gone into hiding in underground secret rooms after the roar by that loose devil.”

  Qin Zheng slightly relaxes in his heart.

  “But that does not mean anything, Your Majesty. Those 2 super loose practitioners are really too powerful. When one of their attacks lands accidentally, hiding underground or not, those within several tens of meters of it will be killed in an explosion.” Liang Shen continues.

  Qin Zheng is furious: “Tell me, how many of my princes are still living?”

  Liang Shen says respectfully: “Of the 13 princes in that 40% of the imperial palace in the beginning … 6 are still alive. These 6 princes are all hiding in underground secret rooms. However, because they do not have the protection of Lei Mountain House, if a shock wave caused by the attacks of those 2 super loose practitioners reaches them, they will probably lose their lives.”

  Two 12th tribulation loose practitioners;

  Even if a casual strike by them lands, those within several tens of meters of it below the surface of the ground will definitely die, as will those within several hundred meters of it above the ground. And the structures within several thousand meters of the site of the impact will collapse.

  But Qin Zheng is staying underground and is being protected by Lei Mountain House so he is safe, unless those 2 super loose practitioners wanted to kill him, because their stray attacks cannot blow open Lei Mountain House.

  “6 … when this battle is over, how many of them will possibly be alive?” Qin Zheng’s heart is full of frustration and abhorrence.

  “What about the empress and the ladies?” He asks for more details.

  The empress and imperial concubines all lived in the same area. In Qin Zheng’s estimation, that area should be within the range of the deep roar attack executed by that super loose practitioner in the beginning. So, it is highly probable that … all of them are already dead. Qin Zheng asked Liang Shen about them only because he finds this really hard to accept.

  Liang Shen has no choice but to shake his head.

  “Lady Wan, Lady Ling …”

  Recalling his familiar concubines, Qin Zheng feels a wave of heartache.

  “Ah ~~~~~” He yells in a deep voice, his whole body starting to shake. His hands are being clenched in fists of rage and his fingernails have already sunk into his palms, causing his blood to fall drop by drop.

  “Your Majesty, a lady is still alive. She is Lady Gong, the mother of the fifth prince. Now both Lady Gong and 5th Prince are hiding in the secret room underneath 5th Prince’s living quarters. They are both still living.” Liang Shen says all of a sudden.

  Qin Zheng is startled.

  “There’s only one left?”

  Qin Zheng quickly remembers that he visited none other than Lady Gong last night. She even told him that she would go to see her son today. Who could have thought she would be able to avoid a disaster thanks to this?

  Of course, it is still hard to tell if she will be able to survive.

  After all … the 2 super loose practitioners are still fighting like crazy.

  After some time,

  “Your Majesty, the airspace of the capital has regained its calmness. Those loose practitioner experts seem to be all gone already.” Liang Shen suddenly says. Reverend Ming Liang and Wu Kongxue are extremely powerful so their speeds are truly astonishing. In just a while, they have already gone away several thousand li towards the south while fighting each other.

  To prevent Reverend Ming Liang from using teleportation to escape, on the way Wu Kongxue keeps sending out his terrifying energy to shake the space around him. All structures are turned into powder while mortals and Xiuzhenists alike are smashed to pieces wherever the 2 of them fly past.

  A path of blood;

  This is definitely the first time Wu Kongxue and Reverend Ming Liang have gone all out to fight each other since they reached their current level.

  How can they possibly care about the collateral damage to mortals? They started the fighting in the capital of the Qin dynasty then immediately started moving south at high speeds while continuing to fight each other. They then go through several tens of cities. Even though most of these cities are not damaged so badly as the capital of the Qin empire, their structures are still destroyed almost completely and they each lose at least half of their populations.

  From the Qin empire’s capital to the Ming empire’s Lanshan City;

  This several tens of thousands of li fighting path is a path of blood. The mortal casualties along this path amount to tens of millions, which is even much larger than the number of people dying in a war. Several tens of cities have been destroyed, causing the economic loss to reach a shockingly high level.

  “Ha-ha … Wu Kongxue, this Heaven-Sundering Diagram is definitely ours. It’s time you all quit dreaming.” Reverend Chi Yang, an 11th tribulation loose immortal of the Ziyang School, says with arrogant laughter. The hidden forces of Xiuxianists have eventually appeared.

  Now Reverend Ming Liang, a 12th tribulation loose immortal, is supported by four 11th tribulation loose immortals, consisting of Reverend Ming Shan, Reverend Lan Bing, Reverend Chi Yang of the Ziyang School and Xue Yuyang of the Lanyang School. Among the latter four, Xue Yuyang of the Lanyang School is the most powerful.

  Reverend Ming Liang fights Wu Kongxue.

  Xue Yuyang of the Lanyang School fights Wu Hei.

  Reverend Chi Yang fights Fire Devil.

  Reverend Lan Bing fights Dame Lian Yue.

  Reverend Ming Shan leads the other 10 8th tribulation, 9th tribulation and 10th tribulation loose immortals to fight the other 10 something loose devils of the enemy.

  This fiercest battle between the devil path and the immortal path in the mortal world is simply world-shaking. They have been fighting from the capital of the Qin empire to the southernmost city of the Ming empire, Lanshan City. Now the forces of both sides are fighting in the sky above the boundless ocean desperately.

  A tinge of ruthlessness appears on Reverend Ming Liang’s face. He raises his right arm until it is horizontal. An extremely glaring point of light then emerges from the tip of this hand’s forefinger. It is dazzling like the Sun. At this moment, even the Sun’s luminosity seems to be eclipsed by this one point of light.

  Wu Kongxue’s face changes color.

  “So you want to risk your life?” He knows how formidable this move of Reverend Ming Liang is. But this move also deals to the user an amount of damage 80% as large as what it does to the enemy. Reverend Ming Liang has never used this move except when he has had to risk his life.

  However, now if he does not fight off Wu Kongxue, he simply will not be able to escape.

  “Stellar Ignition -- Space Piercer!”

  The point of light shoots at Wu Kongxue nonstop. At the same time, wherever it goes, the space is cut apart completely and a small hole seems to be pierced through the space.

  Wu Kongxue’s face changes color greatly because the terrifying attraction from that spatial rift reaches him right away and because this point of light is really too fast. He clenches his teeth. In an instant, his face turns very red and his whole body also reddens as if it is boiling. He then goes a long distance away like a beam of light to dodge.

  “Run.”

  Reverend Ming Liang shouts in a deep voice. With a swaying movement of his body, he immediately arrives in a stable area of space, uses teleportation without delay and disappears.

  Because Reverend Ming Liang has escaped,
the other loose immortals naturally do not want to fight anymore. They all evade their opponents then use teleportation to disappear.

  During this battle between the devil path and the immortal path, all the 11th tribulation experts only suffered injuries of different degrees. But quite a few 8th tribulation, 9th tribulation and 10th tribulation experts were killed as both sides were fighting each other desperately.

  Wu Kongxue, Dame Lian Yue, Fire Devil, Wu Hei and the other loose devils all have a grim expression.

  “These lowlifes,” Fire Devil is extremely furious.

  Wu Kongxue says coldly: “Let’s return to the Teng Long continent immediately. Whatever happens, we must settle this score. Humph, Ming Liang!” He has never suffered such a humiliation. The Heaven-Sundering Diagram was unexpectedly snatched by someone else when it was about to fall into his hands. How can he possibly not be furious at this?

  “Let’s go.”

  Wu Kongxue gives an order. All the loose devils immediately use teleportation to rush to the Golden Tree Island at their top speeds.

  A while after their disappearance,

  Several figures appear in the area of sky above ocean where the battle was being fought just now. The leader is none other than the central ruler and also the king of the Wilderness -- Yu Liang.

  Chapter 47: Towering Fury

  His body is very thin but his skin is beautiful like jade. His eyes are not large but there seems to be flashes of lightning gathering in them.

  This is Yu Liang, a 12th tribulation loose demon and the no. 1 expert of the Wilderness.

  There are 3 individuals standing behind him. One of them is lanky and has chilling eyes like those of a poisonous snake and his whole body is wrapped in a huge black robe, which altogether make him appear to be ice-cold, shady and terrifying. This is an expert second only to Yu Liang and is the head of the 3 big demons under Yu Liang -- 11th tribulation loose demon, divine beast hydra Kong Cao.

  Another individual is similar to Yu Liang in stature but the muscles of his body are streamlined and his skin is dark, looking like black satin. This is one of the 3 big demons under Yu Liang -- 11th tribulation loose demon, divine beast electro-leopard Xing Shou.

  The last individual has a doughty expression and is clad in red tight-fitting warrior clothes which look like flames. His whole body’s muscles seem to be carved out of rock. This is the last of the 3 big demons under Yu Liang -- 11th tribulation loose demon, divine beast fiery rocky lion Wu Shan.

  Loose demons are exceptionally powerful. These 3 big loose demons are only 11th tribulation experts but because they are divine beasts, they are clearly stronger than ordinary 11th tribulation loose devils and loose immortals. Any of them is almost equal to Wu Hei in power.

  “Sir, that ink-wash painting has already been taken away by Reverend Ming Liang. Now we …” Xing Shou asks quietly.

  Wu Shan’s deep strong voice rises: “Xing Shou, those loose immortals and loose devils are much weaker than us. Don’t think too much. Won’t it be better if we just go straight to the Teng Long continent and rob them?”

  Kong Cao says nothing and only looks at Yu Liang.

  Yu Liang nods slowly and says gently: “Generally there’s nothing great about the individual power of loose immortals and loose devils. But this Reverend Ming Liang and Wu Kongxue are exceptions. They are comparable to me. Perhaps there’s little difference between us in power. However … I’m still confident of having the upper hand over them.”

  “Remember, after reaching the Teng Long continent, all of you must not be too arrogant. Loose immortals and loose devils are weaker than us when it comes to individual power but they’re good at setting up formations. When several loose immortals join forces and set up a formation, their collective power will double.” Yu Liang says sternly.

  Hearing him say so, the 3 big demons under him all understand that he has decided to head for the Teng Long continent.

  In the Wilderness, most Xiuyaoists are either running beasts or flying beasts, with the running beasts being the most powerful group among them. Xiuyaoists are divided into 3 main categories, running beasts, flying beasts and scaled beasts. The overall power of the Wilderness is definitely not weaker than that of the dragon clan.

  “Make preparations and tell the 18 guardians to get ready to gather. This time the 4 of us and the 18 guardians will go to the Teng Long continent … Phew, it’s already been over 3000 years since I last came to the Teng Long continent. I really look forward to this.” A faint smile appears on the corners of Yu Liang’s mouth. At the same time, his handlebar moustache is also raised.

  “Yes.”

  The 3 big demons bow and take the order.

  They all know that this time they are going to put up a big show. It is very extraordinary that all the top forces of the Wilderness are going to depart.

  The loose devils and the loose immortals are fighting each other while the Wilderness’s loose demons are preparing to head for the Teng Long continent to kick up a huge storm. But what about the dragon clan, which has always been hiding in the dark without taking any action despite being powerful?

  The Chaotic Astral Ocean is the strongest power thanks to having large numbers of loose demons, loose devils and loose immortals. But it is not part of any side and has no method for communicating with the higher world either. In addition, the Teng Long continent, the dragon clan and the Wilderness have all been concealing the information about the Heaven-Sundering Diagrams. Therefore, the Chaotic Astral Ocean still knows absolutely nothing about the secret of the Heaven-Sundering Diagrams.

  If it knows, it will surely get involved in the situation, which will cause even more chaos.

  But no matter how chaotic the situation will be, now the Qin empire and the Ming empire on the Qian Long continent have already suffered unprecedented blows.

  Two 12th tribulation loose practitioners attacked each other mercilessly, destroying several tens of cities and countless towns and villages of the 2 empires in the process. Several tens of millions of people were killed. All of a sudden, the Qin and Ming empires were shaken. Now even helping those tens of millions of survivors settle down alone is a big problem to them.

  The Qin empire had it the worst.

  Of the several tens of cities destroyed, the Qin empire’s capital suffered the severest damage with even over 90% of its population being killed and less than 10% surviving. Most of these survivors had to hide in cellars or underground secret rooms to get through the carnage safely. There are also those who were in certain corners of the capital and were lucky enough not to be smashed by the collapsing structures.

  ……

  At the moment, Qin Zheng is staying in a manor on the outskirts of the capital. Most of the troops who were stationed outside the capital survived and now they are dealing with the problems arising from the disaster.

  “Your Majesty, the original population of the capital was several millions. But now, the number of survivors is only about a hundred thousand. And they were able to survive only because those 2 super experts did not intend to destroy the capital.” General Wang Zhi’s face is also full of grief. After all, too many people have died.

  Wang Zhi continues: “But the greatest loss is that … most of the important officials of our Qin dynasty who lived in the capital and who were entitled to attend early morning courts are already dead. Only the Minister of Labor Li Yun is still living.”

  Qin Zheng feels even unhappier inside.

  Most of the various important civil officials and military officials of his dynasty have been killed all at once.

  To a dynasty, an incident like this is definitely a shattering blow. Luckily, the governors, commanders and armies of the other cities escaped unharmed. As long as nothing bad happens to the armies, the empire will not be plunged into chaos.

  But how can it be so easy to choose a new batch of civil and military officials?

  “Among the princes, 5th Prince, 8th Prince and 18th Prince are still alive.
Among the princesses, only Princess Mingyang is still alive. Among the imperial concubines, only Lady Gong is still alive. And less than 10% of the members of the imperial clan’s branches survived, with only 6 of the original several hundred members remaining.” Wang Zhi’s voice sounds very bitter.

  Qin Zheng’s body even begins to shake.

  “Any more news?” Qin Zheng asks in a flat voice.

  Wang Zhi shakes his head. He does not dare to say because he can feel Qin Zheng’s grief at the moment.

  Qin Zheng takes a deep breath: “General Wang, the task of helping the survivors settle down must be done well. For the moment, I’ll let you take care of the survivors in the capital. I have to calm down first. A day later, I’ll gradually handle these matters.”