"Pfft!!!"
Demon Palm Zaher's facial bones shattered instantly. His face was kicked in by Handsome Sanji, collapsing inward. His nose broke, both eyeballs burst on the spot, and every tooth was smashed to pieces!
"He… he didn't even defend against my attack… just to…"
"Kill me in one strike?"
"A madman… this damn guy is a madman…"
…
As the sound of his skull cracking echoed, those thoughts flashed through Demon Palm Zaher's mind before he lost consciousness.
The next moment—
"BOOM!!!"
With his foot still planted on Demon Palm Zaher's face, Handsome Sanji smashed straight through the East Gate the latter had been guarding. Amid shattered gate fragments and splattering blood, he charged directly into the final chamber!
"Bang!"
With a heavy crash, Demon Palm Zaher's corpse—with its crushed skull—slammed onto the ground.
Handsome Sanji stood there, stepping on Demon Palm Zaher's damn face, slowly raising his head.
Inside this underground hall—
It was packed densely with Evil God priests!
And countless powerful auras.
At the center of the hall floated a little girl. Countless dark green chains tightly bound her hands and feet.
Standing beside her—
Was Gu Aotian, who had removed his robe and revealed his true form.
At this moment, Gu Aotian had little resemblance to a human anymore!
Bones protruded outside his body. His skin and flesh had completely transformed into a dark green, insect-shell-like substance.
"!"
Gu Aotian, who was performing the ritual, turned his head—and saw Handsome Sanji.
And Demon Palm Zaher's lifeless body beneath Handsome Sanji's foot.
"Trash!!!"
Gu Aotian had never imagined that Demon Palm Zaher, that useless waste, hadn't even managed to use the power granted by the Great God before being killed!
What a damn piece of trash!
"Scum! Let go of that little girl!"
Handsome Sanji was heavily injured at this moment, half his face covered in blood, yet he still raised his hand dominantly, pointing at Gu Aotian and shouting loudly!
"Sanji… big brother?"
The little girl, bound by dark green chains, wore a dark green mask. She could see nothing and could not move.
Yet that familiar, warm voice—the one that had once given her hope—sounded again not far away!
"Little girl, don't be afraid! Your Brother Sanji is here to save you!" Handsome Sanji shouted.
"Kill him!!!"
Gu Aotian waved his hand!
Nearly a hundred guards stationed there immediately charged at Handsome Sanji.
Each one of these guards possessed around seventy percent of Demon Palm Zaher's strength!
These guards, clad in dark green armor, had long since had their minds erased. Completely corroded by the power of the Evil God Suruk, they had become terrifying, near-immortal beings!
"A mere human insect, not even at the Fifth-Order Sacred Body, dares to obstruct the descent of our god!"
Gu Aotian spoke coldly, then turned back around and continued the ritual.
As Gu Aotian muttered incantations, the dark green vortex above the little girl grew larger and larger!
Faintly, one could already sense a trace of an incomparably terrifying presence, constantly attempting to pass through the other side of that dark green vortex—enter this world—and then enter the little girl's body as a vessel.
"Boom boom boom!"
After a burst of intense explosions, everything fell silent once more.
"Heh. Foolish creature."
Gu Aotian couldn't even be bothered to turn his head. That human was definitely dead.
"Hey, scum. Your underlings are all dead. Now—it's your turn!"
Handsome Sanji's domineering voice suddenly rang out!
"!!!"
Gu Aotian spun around, his face full of disbelief!
Those guards were high-level believers. Their bodies had long since been corrupted!
Ordinary attacks couldn't damage them at all—they were practically immortal!
But when Gu Aotian looked carefully, he was instantly stunned.
The guards were all wiped out. Each one had turned into black ashes. A few who hadn't fully died yet were still being rapidly burned by heavenly fire—soon turning into black ash as well!
"Heavenly fire?"
Gu Aotian was shocked!
This human in front of him actually controlled heavenly fire?
Even someone as powerful as Gu Aotian had been unable to subdue heavenly fire!
Yet this human had completely mastered it?
Although the heavenly fire he wielded was relatively weak, it perfectly countered those undead guards!
"You're courting death!!!"
Gu Aotian was furious!
At this most critical moment, not a single one of these subordinates was of any use!
They were all damn trash!
Gu Aotian waved his hand, ordering several priests to continue the ritual in his place. Although the speed would be far slower than if he personally presided over it, the ritual absolutely could not be interrupted.
As for Gu Aotian himself—
With a single step, he shifted and appeared right in front of Handsome Sanji.
"Teleportation?"
Handsome Sanji was instantly startled.
But he quickly realized—
It wasn't teleportation!
It was movement so fast that it vanished from both his field of vision and his Observation Haki, creating the illusion of teleportation!
"I am the Human Emperor Gu Aotian of the Ten Thousand Beast Realm Domain!"
"I possess the power of tens of thousands of Ancient beast bloodlines!"
"I stand invincible across the entire Ten Thousand Beast Realm Domain!"
"With this power alone, I can suppress and kill you!!!"
…
Gu Aotian spoke coldly.
"BOOM!!!"
The next moment, Gu Aotian stomped heavily and instantly appeared before Handsome Sanji!
The speed was simply too fast!
Completely beyond the detection of Handsome Sanji's Observation Haki!
There was no time to dodge, so Handsome Sanji hastily raised both arms to defend!
"BANG!!!"
But with a single lift of his leg, Gu Aotian blasted Handsome Sanji hundreds of meters away, smashing him straight into the wall!
The force of this strike was overwhelmingly tyrannical. In the air—and splattered across the wall where Handsome Sanji crashed—were blood, shattered bones, and torn flesh.
"Hmph. A mere insect."
Gu Aotian sneered disdainfully.
He was the strongest Human Emperor among more than a dozen surrounding domains!
A Seventh-Order Sacred Body at Great Completion!
And this brat who came out of nowhere dared to fight him?
"I shall continue presiding over the ritual! I must summon our god into this world as soon as possible—to cleanse those foolish humans!!!"
Gu Aotian turned around, too lazy even to confirm whether Handsome Sanji was dead, intending to resume the ritual.
However—
"Hey! I'm not dead yet!"
A hoarse voice sounded from behind him.
"!"
Gu Aotian turned his head and frowned.
Handsome Sanji's figure staggered to his feet.
One arm had been shattered halfway through—essentially useless.
The other arm was twisted and sunken, broken bones piercing through flesh and blood.
Clearly, in order to block Gu Aotian's casual strike, Handsome Sanji had completely sacrificed one arm, and the other had nearly lost all combat capability.
"You can still stand?"
Even Gu Aotian hadn't expected Handsome Sanji to get back up!
The meridians in Handsome Sanji's body were almost entirely ruptured. His internal organs were severely damaged. Even more bones were broken.
That single strike—despite Handsome Sanji sacrificing both arms—had left the remaining force crashing into his body, causing devastating physical damage!
After all—
Gu Aotian's body was at the Seventh-Order Sacred Body Great Completion!
In the future era, that would be equivalent to the pure physical strike of a Divine Transformation Realm powerhouse!
The fact that Handsome Sanji hadn't been kicked into an explosion was already a miracle!
"Get lost!!!"
Gu Aotian raised his hand and threw a punch through the air!
"Pfft!"
Handsome Sanji was blasted over a hundred meters again, blood spraying across the sky!
"BOOM!"
Then came the heavy sound of him crashing to the ground.
"Heh."
Gu Aotian curled his lip in disdain.
If you'd just obediently lie there and wait for death, wouldn't that be the end of it? What's the point of standing up again?
Yet just as Gu Aotian turned around, about to walk toward the altar—
"Hey! I've still got one breath left!"
Handsome Sanji's voice rang out yet again!
"!"
Gu Aotian abruptly turned around—
And saw a bare-chested man, drenched in blood, trembling as he pulled out a cigarette and placed it between his lips.
"Finished attacking?"
"My turn!!!"
…
Handsome Sanji spoke hoarsely. With every word, a stream of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
The next moment—
The Intent around Handsome Sanji suddenly began to undergo a strange and unfathomable transformation…