The so-called harmony between men, that is: the morale of the Jin Xia Kingdom, because it had been dragged on for too long, had entered a period of decline.
Coupled with the fact that their commanding general was beheaded, and their successive retreats under unexpected circumstances, their morale had plummeted to an unprecedented low.
Conversely, the members of the King's Mercenary Group had just broken through and were all fired up, so their morale was at its peak.
Although they were not numerous, they had all come back from the brink of death. Therefore, their reaction speed and the sharpness of their judgment were by no means comparable to these ordinary soldiers.
Furthermore, Zi Lin Ling had beheaded their general and a peak Saint King realm expert right at the start, which had boosted everyone's morale to an unprecedented high.
A dispirited army facing an excited force, the outcome was predetermined from the beginning.
In less than the time it takes for half a stick of incense to burn, more than half of the Jin Xia Kingdom's soldiers had died, which instantly terrified them.
Thus, discarding their armor and fleeing without a fight was irreversible. Even though some deputy generals continued to reprimand them, there was no room for turning back.
Seeing that the Jin Xia Kingdom was on the verge of defeat, the Zi family from the empire could no longer restrain themselves and jumped out.
Five peak Saint King realm experts, all dressed identically, appeared and immediately charged towards the members of the King's Mercenary Group.
At this moment, any "King's Pact" became utter nonsense.
To put it bluntly, the rule that "Saint King realm experts are not allowed to attack those below the Saint King realm" was aimed at those without power or influence.
As for major powers like the empire's Zi family, they simply did not care about such rules.
Zi Lin Ling's figure flickered rapidly, instantly forcing the five individuals back to their original positions.
"Your opponent is me!"
Her aura, which disdained everything, startled the five peak Saint King realm experts.
The five men's auras stagnated for a moment.
Although it was only one or two seconds, it was precisely because of this brief stagnation that their auras were no longer continuous.
In a battle between experts, there was no room for even the slightest error.
Zi Lin Ling's combat experience was incredibly rich. How could she let such a fleeting opportunity slip away?
She seized the chance to strike first, her two surgical knives slashing simultaneously at two of them.
Two massive blade energies, carrying an indomitable momentum, cut the air with a sizzling sound.
The two individuals targeted felt the immense energy contained within the blade energies and hurriedly dodged.
Zi Lin Ling smiled slyly and, with a backhand motion, slashed horizontally at the remaining three.
The three were not foolish either. In a situation of five against one, they naturally did not want to engage in a life-or-death struggle with Zi Lin Ling.
Therefore, they also chose to evade.
Whether it was intentional by Zi Lin Ling or a coincidence, after retreating, the five men happened to form a circle.
Now is the time!
"Wildfire Spreads!"
"Wildfire Burns the Body!"
"Wildfire Forges the Soul!"
Fire element spirit skills erupted, forming a wall of fire around the five of them, trapping the five peak Saint King realm experts within.
Zi Lin Ling sneered, "To prevent you from disturbing the others' battles, I have no choice but to ask you to stay in my simulated domain for a while."
Simulated domain?
What is this?
The five men looked at each other, a hint of confusion in their eyes.
It wasn't that they were ignorant, but domains were things that only existed at the Lesser God realm and above.
And on the Tian Yuan Continent, no one had broken through the shackles of the Saint King realm for thousands of years.
Therefore, they could not even enter the Emperor realm, let alone the Lesser God realm above the Emperor realm.
It could be said that they had no understanding of what a domain was, and therefore, they had even less understanding of a simulated domain.
Zi Lin Ling's simulated domain was a simulation of Ye Ling Yuan's Law Domain, injecting her comprehension of life law power into the fire element spirit skills, forming a spiritual skill akin to a divine ability.
This itself had transcended the scope of spiritual skills and reached the height of divine abilities. Thus, a group of short-sighted Saint King realm spiritual cultivators could not comprehend such power at all.
The five men exchanged glances and nodded in unison.
Then, their auras began to ascend, and they simultaneously attacked in five directions.
Zi Lin Ling smiled faintly and snorted, "I knew you would do this!"
"Word Power, Decree!"
As her crisp voice fell, the five men's attacks instantly became empty shells with form but no spirit.
These empty shells landed on the wall of fire, causing no ripples whatsoever.
"How can this be?"
The five were greatly shocked. They looked at their hands in disbelief, unable to understand the reason for this outcome.
At the same time, their perception of Zi Lin Ling underwent a 180-degree change.
From initial disdain to later importance, and now to solemnity.
Zi Lin Ling, with her own strength, blocked the full force of their five simultaneous attacks, leaving them deeply stunned.
"Who are you, and why are you opposing us?" one of them asked.
Zi Lin Ling sneered, "Who am I? Heh heh! Didn't you go to the trouble of instigating a war between two countries just to lure me here? Now that I'm standing before you, you still have the audacity to ask who I am. Isn't that laughable?"
The man's pupils contracted and he said, "You are Zi Lin Ling?"
Zi Lin Ling continued to sneer, "Oh! It seems you still have brains. I thought all the Zi family members from the empire were like fortune-bringing dogs and left their brains at home!"
"Fortune-bringing dogs?"
The five men were startled and then realized that Zi Lin Ling was referring to Zi Zhao Cai.
Their expressions changed simultaneously, and they said in unison, "You mean Third Master?"
Zi Lin Ling looked at them as if they were idiots and smiled without speaking.
It was clear that she meant, "You know it already and still ask, are you not fools?"
"What did you do to Third Master?" the man who had spoken before asked with a cold expression.
It seemed this man was the leader among the five.
Zi Lin Ling smiled casually and said, "That dog? He was disobedient, so I... killed him."
"You... seek... death!"
As the leader gritted his teeth, he launched another attack.
By the time the other four reacted, his attack had already landed on the wall of fire in front of Zi Lin Ling.
The flames on the wall of fire trembled slightly and quickly returned to calm.
This...
The leader was utterly shocked.
He knew that his attack was launched in anger, so he had used his full strength.
Yet, his full-power attack had not caused even the slightest ripple.
This meant that the combined attack of the five of them earlier had indeed been easily blocked by Zi Lin Ling.
In other words, even with the five of us joining forces, we are no match for Zi Lin Ling. Her strength is simply too terrifying!
Little did he know that receiving their combined attack earlier had not been easy for Zi Lin Ling either. She had a mouthful of blood threatening to come up.
But to intimidate the five, Zi Lin Ling had forcefully swallowed that mouthful of blood back down.