The serpent-head plunged into the gas giant's clouds, and divine blood showered Su Yan, Yuan Qi, and the bell. The blood burned where it touched them, flooding their channels with wild, inexhaustible power.
Yuan Qi had spent the frantic minutes assembling a makeshift Inner Realm from the imperial tomb treasures stored in his belly. He did not know how to activate it — until the Celestial's blood filled his Jade Pool to overflowing. Power surged through every gate and palace of his cultivated body, connecting realms he had never dreamed of touching.
He rose, laughing like thunder. "Today I drink a god's blood! I fight for the living!"
He charged a serpent-head and was promptly swatted back, bruised and humiliated.
"This realm is too strong for you," Su Yan said. He took the makeshift array Yuan Qi offered and hung it across his own shoulders. Power exploded through him — every gate, every tower, every bridge within his body blazed open at once. He stood at the threshold of Ascension, armed with the apex achievements of the Qin dynasty's artificers.
Longyuan's body swelled beyond the gas giant itself. His back split open like a canyon, and from that wound poured hundreds of serpents — not true dragons, but appendages of the Celestial's mutilated form. Their teeth were mountains. Their roars shattered space.
"I was supreme!" the serpents screamed in unison. "I judged worlds! And you — you left me with a leaf for a head!"
Su Yan laughed. "You mean like this?"
He vanished. The maple-light atop Longyuan's neck sheared away, severed by a stroke that bridged the void between moments.
"Was that the cut?" Su Yan called, hovering amid the chaos. "The one that ended you?"
Longyuan froze. Then rage consumed him. "I will devour your bones!"
The serpents lunged. The bell expanded, its tone shaking the void, and collided with a wall of fangs. Su Yan danced between strikes, Heaven's Punishment trailing light that severed neck after neck. Each fallen head became a burning star, plunging toward the gas giant's depths.
But Longyuan had one arm left. He raised it and struck.
The bell absorbed the blow. Its rim bent. Its surface cracked. It held.
"Again!" Longyuan roared, and struck once more.
A root whipped from nowhere, wrapped around Su Yan, and yanked him free. The Fusang tree rose behind him, Jiang Qi at its crown, refugees clinging to its branches.
"Go!" Su Yan gasped, blood streaming from his eyes and ears. He collapsed into Jiang Qi's arms — then opened his eyes, seized Heaven's Punishment, and stood.
His voice had changed. Deeper. Older. Infinitely certain.
"My turn."