It was a well-formed hand, bulging with blood vessels and covered with rotting tentacles. Malicious and evil in appearance, it pulsed with a terrifying mightiness. And it seemed capable of holding up heaven and ripping apart space. Its astounding size could shake anyone to the core of their being. In fact, it imparted a god-like sensation that distorted everything in the area and could invade all living things.
The moment it appeared, time seemed to stop, and space seemed to hover on the verge of being ripped to shreds. Everything seemed to become secondary in comparison to this hand. It was the focus of any and all attention. Contained within it was something violent and brutal. Its will could crush all around it, causing all of the Imperial Sovereigns to tremble down to their souls and be frozen in place physically.
That was even more the case with Xu Qing and the Captain. The blood-colored hand caused blood to ooze out of their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths. The world seemed to be turned upside down, throwing their senses into chaos. It was like they were little rowboats on an angry sea, being tossed about hither and thither.
At that critical moment, as Xu Qing struggled not to explode, he pulled out the command medallion the empress had given him and pushed down on it hard. A gentle power emerged from the medallion, which surrounded both him and Erniu and reduced the tempestuous pressure from the hand.
The person most shocked by all of this was the black-robed figure in midair. The moment the hand appeared, his pupils constricted, and he unhesitatingly shot backward in retreat.
At the same time, his hands flashed in an incantation gesture. Clinking sounds rang out as a group of black chains appeared around him, like a host of black serpents that shot toward the huge hand. The chains were engulfed in terrifying flames as they quickly circled around the hand. The chains tightened in an attempt to bind the hand.
But then something gruish happened. The chains that had been so effective on the corpse earlier had now clearly encountered something far more powerful. Despite wrapping around the hand, they didn’t do anything to restrict it. The hand was like an orbiting moon or planet. It couldn’t be held back. In fact, almost instantly, the chains binding it began to snap, one by one. In the blink of an eye, they were swept away.
And then the blood-red hand was even stronger than before. Moving with enough destructive force to shatter all obstacles, it shot toward the black-robed figure.
The black-robed man’s face fell dramatically. Holding nothing back, he tapped into a secret magic that caused blood to spray out of his mouth. His goal was to avoid the huge hand, but sadly for him, he wasn’t fast enough.
The hand shattered time and sealed everything. It was impossible to evade, couldn’t be resisted, and smashed everything in front of it. Then it was right in front of the black-robed man.No matter what gruish tricks the black-robed man used, they did nothing to the blood-red hand. Ultimately, as the black-robed man’s face went pale and he howled in rage, the hand grabbed him!
All onlookers were stunned. Given everything that had happened before, everything that had played out, including Patriarch Yun’s sacrifice to awaken the immortal’s corpse and suppress all the other Imperial Sovereigns, had all been a complicated trick....
A trick to lure out the black-robed man and seize his soul! It was clearly a trap that had been baited with him in mind. And now, the bait had been taken, and the prey had fallen into the trap. Thus, the hand appeared.
A vicious expression could be seen on the face of the black-robed man as dark flames spouted out of him, along with a host of sealing marks. He was trying to fight back. And it was pointless.
The blood-red hand pulled him back toward the vortex.
However, at that critical moment... the black-robed man’s eyes glittered with a mysterious light, and he growled, “Split away!”
All of a sudden, it looked like he was splitting apart. A shadowy projection was emerging from him. Another figure was coming out from inside the black-robed man.
This figure looked completely different. He had a square face, thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a burly frame. His expression was threatening without being angry, and he abounded with a terrifying pressure.
The moment Xu Qing laid eyes on him, his mind reeled. This person... was the very same person who had escorted them to the dao altar and opened the secluded meditation facilities. He had then sat down cross-legged at the top of the dao altar to wait for everyone to return. He was... Grand Emperor Devilbird!
Obviously, the Devilbird outside wasn’t the true form. The version coming out right now was the true body. The black-robed man had obviously been an exterior layer of defense for the true body.
Because of this projection, Devilbird was now slipping out of a predicament like a cicada sloughing its skin . He was now splitting away from the black-robed man.
The moment he appeared, Grand Emperor fluctuations exploded out, and his actual body began to form. Grand Emperor treasures appeared all around him. Dao lineaments rose up from him, and concentric halos of black mist could be seen at his back. The might of a Grand Emperor was incredibly strong.
As he stared at the hand, his gaze was astonishingly aggressive, like lightning.
“So, you finally showed your face!” Grand Emperor Devilbird said.
Meanwhile, the black-robed man howled in anguish as he was dragged into the vortex by the blood-red hand. An instant later, he was gone. Everyone looking on was stunned.
Then Grand Emperor Devilbird spoke again. “I knew all along you weren’t dead, Netherflame. You were struggling at death’s door. The memory worlds from before were simply there to confuse anyone who came this way. In fact, this whole crypt is also nothing more than a smokescreen.
“That said, one thing that did surprise me, Netherflame, is how daring you are. In order to lure me in here, you actually put your fate-soul in this place. You wanted me to personally witness the fate-soul about to be assimilated, all to give me no choice but to intervene.”
Grand Emperor Devilbird looked coldly at the blood-red vortex, his eyes burning with killing intent.
The vortex spun, emitting loud rumbling sounds, but no words of response.
“But of course, how could I come here unprepared?” Next, Grand Emperor Devilbird looked, not at any of the people present, but at the final remaining stone door that hadn’t been opened. “You’re here, empress of humankind. So why haven’t you shown yourself yet?”
Every single Imperial Sovereign present was visibly surprised as they turned to look in the same direction as Grand Emperor Devilbird. After all, there was only one person who could be referred to as the empress of humankind. And that was Empress Summer Departure, who had reached godly ascension!
As everyone looked over, the empress appeared. At first, everyone saw Lu Lingzi standing there. But that form faded away, revealing the empress’ true form! Destiny aura went wild in the area, taking the shape of countless humans. At the same time, an imperial robe and crown appeared on the empress.
As of that moment, all human lands outside of the Devilbird holy land, plus the will of all humans, seethed, causing destiny aura to surge forth to bolster the empress. A terrifying aura and momentum began to build up on the empress.
It caused all of the Imperial Sovereigns to tremble and struggle to breathe. That was especially true of those who had previously considered stirring up trouble with Lu Lingzi.
All of this was both expected and unexpected. Unexpected things often happened in circumstances like this. And after Xu Qing and Erniu appeared, the arrival of the empress fell into the realm of being expected. Either way, the Imperial Sovereigns present were all taking the situation very seriously.
The empress’ expression was the same as ever as shē took a step forward and then appeared right in front of Xu Qing and Erniu. There, shē blocked the tempest and negated the pressure.
Xu Qing breathed an inner sigh of relief, as did Erniu. Both of them didn’t hesitate for a moment to clasp hands in greeting.
The empress didn’t turn to look at them. Instead, shē looked at Grand Emperor Devilbird up in midair. Clearly, shē had expected that shē would be called out by him at some point.
“The Devilbird holy land will leave human skies,” she said coolly. “And Netherflame’s soul will be given to me.”
Grand Emperor Devilbird smiled. He knew that it would be difficult to please the empress considering he had revealed hēr true identity. What was more, he knew that though he and the empress were at war, there was something far more important to him personally than victory.
And that was the life or death of Netherflame. He wanted Netherflame to die so that he could get his fate-soul. There was no conflict between him and the empress in that regard.
Back when had suspected that Lu Lingzi wasn’t really Lu Lingzi, he hadn’t interfered. He had allowed Lu Lingzi to return, and had even opened the secluded meditation facilities. In the final analysis, he had actually hoped that the empress would test him out and ultimately choose to join forces with him when things reached a critical point. What was more, the empress’ demands came as no surprise to him.
“My fate-soul has two parts. I already took the first part. But the second part is still down there.” Grand Emperor Devilbird’s eyes shone with determination. “Join forces with me. You can take Netherflame, and I’ll take my own fate-soul. When we both get what we want, the Devilbird holy land will leave human skies!”
“Deal!” the empress replied.
With that, Devilbird moved over to the vortex, stopped, and looked back at the empress.
The empress looked around at the Imperial Sovereigns, especially the old man who commanded that death energy. When the empress looked at him, he shivered and then bowed his head respectfully.
They might be enemies, but this was an Altar God he was dealing with, and not even he was brave enough to look someone like that in the eyes. That was especially true considering... he could tell that look had been a warning.
The empress looked away, then joined Devilbird by the vortex. The two of them then stepped inside and vanished.
Everyone else hesitated about whether to follow. Before any of them could decide, a will of extermination filled the crypt. Everything started withering up. It was vanishing.
Seeing that, the Imperial Sovereigns gritted their teeth and flew over to the vortex. One by one, they entered. The old man who had clashed with Xu Qing and Erniu was apparently worried about a misunderstanding. Not daring to be the last to enter, he jostled with the fifth Imperial Sovereign to beat him into the vortex. It didn’t take long for all the Imperial Sovereigns to be gone.
Xu Qing and Erniu looked at each other. They could see the determination in each other’s eyes. Both took deep breaths and burst into motion. They also entered the vortex, and rumbling sounds echoed out as they vanished.
When they reappeared, they were in a blood-red world. In this place, heaven was made of flesh, and it was covered with countless downy hairs. The lands below were covered with a transparent sea. On top of the sea was a conglomeration of flesh that looked like a huge tumor.
Inside of the tumor was a middle-aged cultivator, seated cross-legged. He pulsed with an extremely ancient and terrifying aura as he slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the group above.
“Everyone’s here. Welcome. The time has come for all of you to witness my rebirth.”
Deathblade's Thoughts
Many thanks to ToeMayToe , Re , Timeh , , and PurpleHy for the reviews!
And special congrats to Re who left review #500! Amazing!