Chapter 86: Fire Clan Interception
The thick emerald energy of the shattered Wood Clan core was completely refined by the palace’s internal loops, transforming into a deep, liquid golden current that flowed effortlessly into the Void-Emperor Imperial Haven. Outside the viewports, the green spiritual mist of the lower higher-plane vanished entirely, replaced by a harsh, blinding crimson glare as the fortress forcefully tore through the spatial boundaries of the next Empyrean .
They had dropped directly inside the outer defensive lines of The Blazing Fire Clan.
The landscape here was an apocalyptic vista of high-tier cultivation dread. Floating within an endless sea of churning, white-hot magma rivers were hundreds of colossal, dark-iron mountain peaks that formed the foundation of the Volcanic Citadel. Encircled around the burning airspace was a massive blockade of over one hundred and fifty thousand crimson war-galleys, their reinforced copper hulls pulsing with high-frequency fire-law symbols that systematically heated the surrounding atmosphere to a suffocating degree.
Min-jae stood firmly at the forward apex of the viewing deck, his hands casually stuffed inside the pockets of his tailored trousers. His loose black silk lounging shirt fluttered slightly against his lean, muscular shoulders under the sudden thermal draft. Resting over his right shoulder was the massive, five-foot-long hilt of his heavy Sovereign World-Splitter Greatsword, its dark-alloy crossguard completely still, waiting for the next transaction.
"Min-jae, the spiritual pressure outside has shifted completely to the fire element," Major General Shin Ye-rin reported, her voice carrying a sharp tactical clarity as she stepped away from her command pedestal. Her long silver-and-white silk gown swept the white marble blocks gracefully as she looked at the central display glass. "The primary radar has locked onto the sector leader. It is Fire Commander Vulcanus (High Stage of the Divine Soul Realm). He has spent centuries refining his internal flame channels, and his array is actively charging a multi-layered burning strike."
Sprinting down from the highest dark-iron peak at supersonic velocity was Vulcanus, his nine-foot frame draped in interlocking ruby-plated chest plates, his face contorted into a mask of pure, aristocratic arrogance. He looked across the spatial rift toward the palace’s open-air deck, his burning crimson eyes locking straight onto Min-jae’s unmoving frame.
"Mortal heretic!" Vulcanus roared, his voice sounding like the collective crashing of volcanic plates. He raised a massive crimson greatsword that crackled with high-density flame-law energy, pointing it directly at Min-jae’s chest. "You have broken the order of the lower skies, dismantled the Venerable Wood Clan, and dared to bring your crude mechanical sanctuary into our sacred magma domains! Your cultivation sequence terminates inside my execution court! All units—execute the multi-layered Soul-Burning Reality Disintegration!"
The command tore the dimensional fabric into absolute ribbons. The one hundred and fifty thousand crimson war-galleys and the High Commander opened fire at the exact same millisecond, completely bypassing standard physical trajectories. A massive, miles-wide column of white-hot conceptual disintegration fire and magma artillery converged directly toward the viewing deck, designed to molecularly rewrite their soul bonds and dissolve Min-jae’s entire lineage into raw system noise.
"Let me clear his forward vanguard fleet, husband!" Yoo Ji-a voiced fiercely, her long midnight-black ponytail whipping through the intense thermal wind as her violet eyes flashed with an intense, blood-red protective fury.
She lunged forward through the spatial rifts at supersonic velocity, her flowing clothes gown of radiant light violet and soft lavender silk billowing like gentle mist around her narrow waist. She brandished her newly upgraded Empyrean Calamity Sun Piercer, her slender fingers locking around the wrapped grip as she unleashed her Venerable Wood Fracture trait.
The execution of the immortal-tier spear was pure demolition. Yoo Ji-a spun the heavy weapon with effortless, supersonic velocity, cutting a massive, horizontal crescent line of white-hot solar lightning straight through the front-line galley barricades. The un-blockable True Damage treated their reinforced copper hulls and high-tier fire shields like thin glass, forcefully draining 10% of their immortal mana pools upon contact. In less than three seconds, the entire forward fleet division was completely shattered into pieces, turning over fifteen thousand elite defenders into a clean cloud of white experience particles before they could even finish compiling their primary arrays.
But the Fire Commander’s multi-layered soul-burning disintegration curse—bypassing physical root constraints—slammed squarely into the center of Min-jae’s dark chest plate with absolute, planet-crushing force.
Min-jae didn’t even bother to pull the heavy greatsword from his shoulder. He stood perfectly stationary with his hands casually stuffed inside his trouser pockets, his deadpan black eyes watching the descending erasure wave with an entirely unbothered, mocking clarity as his Ancient Vajra World-Breaker Core passive calculated the impact data.
"A numerical head start doesn’t change the baseline rules of the ledger," Min-jae murmured flatly.
The world-ending conceptual disintegration fire slammed squarely into the center of his chest with absolute, planet-crushing kinetic force. But the moment the lethal strike made contact, trying to wipe his database and bypass his physical plates, his un-blockable passive, Vajra Retribution, fired off its calculations at supersonic velocity.
[Warning! Received 18,000,000 points of High-Stage Divine Soul and Soul-Burning Disintegration Damage from Commander Vulcanus.]
[Ancient Passive Active: ’Vajra Ward’ converts 18 Million Damage into Physical Impact... Successful.]
[Sovereign Talent Active: ’The Ancient Vajra World-Breaker Core’ triggered! Total Damage Negated. Health Pool: 100/100.]
[Sovereign Passive Active: ’Vajra Retribution’ triggers 250% True Damage solar amplification!]
[Reflecting 45,000,000 points of True Damage permanently imbued with ’Solar Fracture’!]
A catastrophic, blinding white-hot counter-blast violently erupted from Min-jae’s skin, turning the entire volcanic citadel sector into an instantaneous burning inferno of primordial solar fire. The 45,000,000 points of True Damage traveled instantly in reverse along the one hundred and fifty thousand tracking lines, treating the remaining crimson war-galleys and the Commander’s nine-foot frame like thin air.
The entire armada of one hundred and fifty thousand war-galleys violently exploded outward from the inside out in a gruesome display of collapsing engines and fracturing metal plates. Fire Commander Vulcanus didn’t even have time to compile a defensive bypass code; the moment his soul-burning curse touched his armor, the 45 million True Damage backlash forcefully vaporized his ruby-plated body into ash.
His crimson eyes snapped wide in unadulterated, primal horror as his life bar hit absolute zero.
"Noooo..." the Commander’s voice broke, a fractured, desperate gasp that echoed across the empty, burning void. "Noooo! How can the sacred fire-laws of the Empyrean plane be overturned by a lower-plane heretic?! Noooooooo!"
With a final, earsplitting shriek of collapsing system data, he dissolved entirely into dust, leaving behind a giant mountain of premium system gold and a pulsing, diamond-like Fire Commander Sovereign Core right before Min-jae’s boots. The entire highest cosmic empire of the Fire Clan alliance had been completely, flawlessly dismantled into a clean cloud of white experience particles in less than three seconds without scratching a single fraction of his god-armor.
Han Chae-won ran out to the edge of the smoking viewing platform, her face flushed with an absolute, fanatical exhilaration as she raised her small hands toward the sky. "The core treasury of the volcanic sector is officially ours, boss! Global Spatial Devour!"
A colossal, sweeping wave of purple spatial energy vacuumed up the millions of gold coins, one hundred and fifty thousand shattered flagship cores, eighty high-tier immortal skill books, and the massive commander core straight into her infinite void inventory, leaving the entire atmosphere pristine and spotless.
[Ding! Your team has achieved a World-First Absolute Clearing of the Volcanic Citadel! Gained 5,000,000 EXP!]
[Global Announcement Triggered: Player ’Min-jae’ has permanently unseated the Fire Clan Vanguard on ]
[You have leveled up! You are now Level 60!]
The vast volcanic void fell into a dead, terrifying silence, the green starlight of Liu Xiao’s buff humming softly as it converted 20% of the reflected damage into absolute healing, fully locking the party’s vitality at maximum capacity. Min-jae casually spun his space-cutting claymore onto his shoulder, his deadpan black eyes looking out over the empty, quiet cosmic sector. Behind his flank, his ten flawless queens lined up perfectly, their long lavender and sapphire silk trains sweeping the stone, their hearts completely locked to his presence with an ironclad, eternal love that had just rewritten the rules of the universe.