Chapter 17: The Heavenly Starvation Array
[DING! Extreme Hostility Detected. Emperor Xiao Zheng is preparing a Supreme-Tier Dark Magic Attack!]
"Look upon your beloved Crown Prince, Usurper!" I shouted, flicking my wrist.
A massive green vine whipped forward from the dragon's tail, dangling the crippled, sobbing form of Xiao Tian in plain view of the entire Capital.
"Father! Father, save me!" Xiao Tian shrieked, his shattered legs dangling uselessly. "She is a monster! She has infinite food! She crushed the Blood Cavalry!"
The courtiers on the wall gasped in horror. The invincible Crown Prince, reduced to a weeping, crippled dog? The morale of the hundred thousand Imperial Guards visibly shattered, their weapons trembling in their hands.
[DING! Mass Terror and Despair Generated! +150,000 Shock Points!]
"Useless trash!" Emperor Xiao Zheng roared, his eyes turning bloodshot. He didn't even care about his son. His absolute authority was being challenged in front of his entire court. He raised the pitch-black Dragon Vein Core high into the air. "I am the master of this realm! I control who eats and who starves! If you want to play god, little girl, let me show you true starvation!"
The Emperor crushed a talisman in his left hand.
Instantly, the entire Imperial Capital glowed with a sickly, necrotic purple light. A massive dome of dark energy shot up from the obsidian walls, forming the "Heavenly Starvation Array." The temperature plummeted. I could physically see the dark array sucking the life-force out of the millions of refugees outside the walls, funneling their dying vitality directly into the Emperor’s dark core to power his magic.
"Die!" Xiao Zheng screamed.
A colossal vortex of black, corrosive wind shot from the array, hurtling directly toward my Jade Dragon. It was a wind designed to instantly age and turn any living organic matter into dust.
"Princess!" Ye Chen shouted, stepping forward to shield me with his own body.
"Stay back, Ye Chen," I said calmly, stepping around him. I didn't even blink at the approaching tornado of death. I opened my system interface.
System. I have over a million Shock Points. Upgrade Dragon Qi to Max Level. Unlock the Domain Expansion: The World Tree's Genesis.
[DING! Deducting 1,000,000 Shock Points! Dragon Qi: MAX LEVEL (God-Tier).] [Domain Expansion Unlocked. Warning: Output will permanently rewrite the laws of physics in this region.]
"You steal the life of my people to power your cheap parlor tricks?" I whispered, my voice echoing directly into the minds of every living soul within fifty miles.
I didn't raise my hands. I simply opened my glowing, molten-gold eyes and took a single step off the Jade Dragon.
I didn't fall. The air itself solidified beneath my bare foot into a staircase of glowing white lotus flowers.
BOOM!
The vortex of black, corrosive wind slammed into an invisible wall of golden energy three feet in front of me and instantly shattered into harmless purple sparks.
The Emperor’s jaw dropped. The courtiers shrieked.
"My turn," I said softly.
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