The void puppets kept coming, but I was no longer defending.
I was hunting.
Every time Hei Ming tried to press his advantage with another Void Devouring Palm, I used the God Rock to copy and counter it perfectly. My sword became a blur of fused Daos — Sword, Space, Time, Lightning, Star, and now growing strands of Void itself. Each clash carved new wounds into the Sovereign's body.
He lost his right arm in a spatial-compressed strike that severed it at the shoulder. Black blood fountained across the sky like a dark waterfall. The arm tumbled downward, still twitching with void energy, and crashed into a crystal mountain, shattering it.
"You… insect!" Hei Ming screamed, face twisted in agony and disbelief. Mid-stage Void Shattering, yet he was being pushed back by a Core Formation cultivator.
I didn't give him time to recover.
I blinked behind him using perfected Space Dao and drove my sword straight through his spine. The blade erupted from his chest in a spray of gore. He gasped, void qi leaking from the wound like smoke.
But a Sovereign was hard to kill.
He spun, sacrificing the last of his left arm to grab my sword and pull me close. His remaining hand formed a point-blank Void Implosion Sphere — a black sun that could erase anything it touched.
For one terrifying heartbeat, I felt the pull of true oblivion.
Then the God Rock flared brighter than ever.
Time slowed to a crawl around the sphere. I copied the implosion technique mid-formation, reversed its flow with my own Time and Space strands, and slammed my free palm into Hei Ming's chest.
The sphere detonated — but inward, into him.
His torso exploded in a fountain of black blood and shredded organs. Ribs, spine, and half his lungs scattered across the battlefield in wet chunks. The Void Sovereign staggered backward, eyes wide with shock, mouth opening and closing soundlessly.
I finished it cleanly.
One final Dragon Severing Slash, infused with every Dao I had stolen from him.
The blade flashed.
Hei Ming's head separated from his shoulders in a perfect, bloodless arc at first — then the neck stump erupted like a geyser. The decapitated head spun through the air, face frozen in eternal disbelief, before smashing into the ground far below.
His headless corpse hung in the sky for one final second, then collapsed into dissipating void mist.
The remaining puppets froze, then shattered into black dust as their master's will vanished.
Silence fell over Crimson Nebula World.
I stood alone in the blood-soaked sky, sword dripping, robes torn but body unharmed. The God Rock hummed with satisfaction, having devoured massive amounts of pure Void Dao and Hei Ming's personal techniques.
Li Qing rushed out from the sanctum, Xingchen and Qinglan in her arms. She threw herself against me, kissing me fiercely despite the blood.
"You did it," she whispered, tears of relief and pride in her eyes. "Our home is safe."
That night we celebrated in the palace. After the children slept, Li Qing and I made love with raw, victorious passion — her body moving against mine like fire, moaning my name until dawn.
The God Rock had grown stronger. My cultivation pushed toward late-Core Formation. New void techniques waited to be perfected.
And the news was already spreading across the Starry Sky.