Rise of the Alchemy God

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The time it took Bai Yu to reach the location after sensing the formation's aura emanating from the imperial palace was mere seconds.

Yet, when she arrived, the battle within the created space had only just begun.

That said, while the battle among the twelve figures started, she, who was outside the formation, had to figure out how to enter it.

The formation in question was called the "Eternal Prison Formation," and, as its name suggested, it was truly a prison.

It had the characteristic of trapping its prey inside, and once someone was inside, their fate was sealed.

In essence, it was a death sentence for anyone caught within.

The ways to escape this formation were limited, and most depended on someone performing an action from outside it.

From the inside, however, there was virtually no way out.

The main issue with this formation was that it served as more than just a link to this dimension, and once destroyed, even the slight possibility of escape vanished entirely.

In other words, if she wanted to enter, she first had to arrange an escape route for herself.

After considering her next move for a moment, she made her decision, and immediately closed her eyes as her body became shrouded in a luminous layer of bluish energy.

Upon the appearance of this energy, the surrounding air began to tremble, and the temperature of the area swiftly dropped by several degrees.

Within a few seconds, where she had been standing was now a large block of ice, and if observed closely, one could see it contained the figure of a beautiful woman.

Before acting, she had also cast a barrier around the surrounding area, one that would prevent anyone who was not at least on par with a third-level, fifth-grade cultivator from entering, in other words, an almost unbreakable barrier for anyone currently present in the capital.

Even Ethan, with his strength alone, would struggle to damage it, although he did have more than just brute strength; he also had a few tricks up his sleeve to counter the barrier.

With that said, after securing the barrier and encasing herself in this pillar of ice, a light began to shine from within the pillar, and, in no time, an ethereal figure emerged from it.

This figure was none other than Bai Yu, in her spiritual form.

Seeing her current appearance, she recalled some scenes from the not-too-distant past when she had used a similar appearance to leave Ethan's sea of consciousness.

Shaking off these thoughts, she turned toward the throne room doors and, with a slight movement, directed herself toward them, passing through as if they were made of air.

"Let's see what's happening inside," she said, disappearing from the spot.

While one Bai Yu passed through the doors and entered the space linked by the formation, the emperor, who had already started his fight, was not in a good mood at this moment.

The solid ground, which previously had no imperfections, was now covered with several craters, many of which contained various figures lying scattered about, some missing limbs, others with their heads severed.

Despite the gruesome scene, he, who had just torn apart yet another part of the enemy forces, showed no signs of relief.

On the contrary, he was more cautious than ever as he continued his relentless battle with the towering figure of the demon who had once been his right hand.

"Tell me, what were you hoping to achieve by sending us to this forsaken place, hmm?

Even you yourself are almost trapped with us now," the demon said, appearing behind the emperor with his claws aimed at the emperor's head.

The emperor, anticipating the demon's move, wasted no time; with a quick swing of his arms, he blocked the attack with his sword, then twisted his torso to swing the blade and unleash a strike at the demon, who was now within his reach.

The black obsidian-like blade of the sword glowed with a dark blue light, and from it, a condensed Qi slash emerged, splitting the demon's figure in half.

The sword's slash didn't dissipate and continued to travel for several miles at high speed before finally colliding with something and producing an explosion visible even from miles away.

However, neither Long Hao nor the demon paid any attention, as each was focused on taking the other's life as quickly as possible.

The demon, who had been sliced in two, showed no sign of pain and continued to attack.

Soon, the two divided parts of his body produced several black tendrils, which grabbed the other part and, in less than a second, fused the demon's body back together.

As the emperor was dealing with the towering figure, the other ten shadowy figures, brutally mutilated by Long Hao's deadly slashes, also began to tremble as, one by one, they stood up, reattaching various parts of their bodies.

The figures, with their almost featureless faces displaying only two white circles, contorted, and soon a single horizontal line appeared across them.

The line stretched from one side of the face to the other, eventually splitting to reveal what seemed to be an exaggeratedly wide mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth.

Noticing their behavior, Long Hao narrowed his eyes, sensing that something dangerous was about to happen.

In less than a second, just as his thoughts concluded, the wide mouths of these figures produced a strange black ray that closed the distance between them and Long Hao in milliseconds, reaching him.

Immediately, a massive explosion ensued, one that would put even nuclear bombs to shame.

The blast radius was so vast that dozens upon dozens of kilometers of space were affected by it, and the energy wave it generated traveled even further.

If something of this magnitude had been unleashed in the Long Empire, a third of it would be obliterated instantly, and the remaining two-thirds would suffer the consequences from the explosion's residual effects.

The enormous cloud of smoke it created covered miles of space both in height and width, and the ten shadowy figures who were the cause of it now floated in the air, looking toward the explosion with blank expressions.

Their 'mouths,' which had opened, were now nowhere to be seen, leaving their faces once again as a mix of darkness and two pairs of circles that served as eyes.

In front of them, a large shadow materialized, eventually taking form to reach a height slightly over two meters.

The demon had survived and was currently looking toward the explosion caused by his subordinates.

Contrary to what one might expect, his expression was anything but pleased as he looked ahead and muttered.

"Worthy of the strongest man of the human race.

Even an attack of this caliber wasn't enough to eliminate you."