“Finally, one shows up.” Dongbo Xueying gazed coldly at the blood-robed figure. “Who is your master? How dare you cast a forbidden technique that blankets an entire city of countless lives, acting so recklessly without regard for their survival?”
The blood-robed man froze.
His master?
A faint smirk curled at the corners of his lips as he studied the black-clad youth before him. “Seems you’re not entirely foolish—you can guess this involves forces far beyond you. Yet you still dared to barge in. I must say, I admire your audacity.” Despite his words, the blood-robed man grew cautious. Suddenly, his mouth gaped open, and with a rustling sound, countless crimson insects poured forth, swarming toward Dongbo Xueying like a tidal wave, enveloping him in an instant.
“Pitiful.”
“Ah, truly foolish.”
From afar, several Unity realm experts of the city had been observing the scene, shaking their heads in silent disapproval. After nearly ten million years, they knew all too well that the source of their calamity lay within this very estate. Yet when they had once united their forces, over half had perished, leaving them without the will to resist further.
Whoosh.
The swarm of crimson insects dissipated like foam, revealing Dongbo Xueying’s figure reappearing above. With a mere flick of his sleeve, he uttered, “Die.”
The sleeve expanded, swallowing the heavens and earth, wrapping the entire space within its folds. Both the blood-robed man and the countless insects were swept into its depths. A single spatial tremor later, they were reduced to dust.
“Hmph.” Dongbo Xueying shook his head slightly. This blood-robed man was merely ‘Blood Marquis Fu,’ a Chaos realm expert from a third-rate neighboring kingdom. Yet Dongbo Xueying was certain that whoever dared to act with such brazen disregard in the shadows must wield influence far beyond the ordinary.
With another wave of his hand—
Riiip!
A void rift tore through everything. The estate below shattered like a mirror, its structures collapsing into fragments.
“He killed the blood-robed man?”
“This is no ordinary Chaos realm expert—perhaps a tenth-level Chaos realm master.” The trapped Unity realm experts watching from afar stirred with excitement, a glimmer of hope igniting within them.
Tenth-level Chaos realm!
Even an ordinary Cosmic Deity without exceptional treasures would only match this level of power. Even if their own Lord Fengzhong were to arrive, he could at best barely suppress such an opponent.
Such strength was enough to dominate an entire nation.
“Hmm?”
Dongbo Xueying surveyed the ruins below. The estate’s surface had been utterly obliterated, revealing a massive formation beneath—a dome-like barrier shielding an underground palace. Countless arcane runes shimmered across the palace’s surface as the formation pulsed with a sinister aura, the true source of the black mist plaguing the city.
“What an eerie formation. The one who set this up must be an exceptionally powerful Cosmic Deity.” A flicker of unease passed through Dongbo Xueying before the surrounding void twisted. He stepped into the swirling vortex and vanished.
Deep within the underground palace, a silver-haired elder sat cross-legged in meditation. Before him stood a grotesque, withered tree embedded with three black crystals, each pulsing with an eerie glow. The vast black mist blanketing the city outside throbbed in sync with the crystals’ rhythm.
“Foolish to barge in here. Blood Marquis Fu’s venomous insects must have finished him off already—what?! Blood Marquis Fu is dead?” The elder’s face paled abruptly.
His companion had fallen in an instant—a single exchange!
The two of them had been stationed here as guardians. Now, with his ally slain so swiftly, terror gripped him.
“Great Black Monarch,” the elder urgently sent a mental message to his superior, “a Chaos realm expert has breached our defenses. Blood Marquis Fu was annihilated in one strike.”
“Which Chaos realm expert?”
Though the Heart Realm Continent was vast and teeming with Chaos realm experts, the top factions still maintained intelligence on nearly all of them.
“Unknown! A black-clad youth, wielding Void Path techniques.” The elder’s voice trembled with urgency.
The Void Path, with its infamous cloning arts, was a favored discipline among many in the Heart Realm. The Southern Cloud Sacred Sect, one of the Ten Great Sects, specialized in it.
“Protect the Dark Tree at all costs. Stay within the hall—I will handle this personally.”
“Understood. I won’t leave.” The elder swallowed hard. Venturing out would mean certain death. The hall’s formation was unparalleled—even a Cosmic Deity would struggle to breach it.
Whoosh.
The elder’s expression twisted in horror as a void vortex materialized nearby, and the black-clad youth stepped forth.
“Great Black Monarch, he’s here! He used Void Shattering Teleportation!” The elder’s face turned ashen.
Void Shattering Teleportation was a near-unstoppable movement technique, with few places capable of blocking it.
Legends spoke of an even greater art—the Grand Void Shattering Teleportation—capable of traversing between source worlds and even infiltrating personal storage treasures!
“What is this tree?” Dongbo Xueying’s gaze locked onto the grotesque tree. Its bark was lifeless, devoid of vitality, yet the three black crystals embedded within radiated a loathsome aura that unsettled even him. Most startling of all—he couldn’t identify it.
He, Dongbo Xueying, a figure of such stature, couldn’t recognize this tree or these crystals!
This deepened his wariness—and why he had disguised himself as a mere Chaos realm expert for now.
“Speak!” Dongbo Xueying’s voice was ice.
“I… I don’t know! I was forced into this!” The elder pleaded desperately.
Dongbo Xueying shook his head slightly.
Hum.
An imperceptible ripple surged into the elder’s mind. Against a mere Chaos realm expert, even Dongbo Xueying’s basic Illusory Realm techniques—at the first level of Cosmic Deity mastery—were more than sufficient to seize control and scour his memories.
“Hmm?” Dongbo Xueying’s expression darkened. “Alliance Master Tian Gu? The Black Monarch?”
Within the elder’s memories, two figures stood out.
Alliance Master Tian Gu—a name renowned across the Heart Realm Continent, a Sovereign-tier expert! Yet Dongbo Xueying knew the truth: ‘Alliance Master Tian Gu’ was merely the public face of the Tian Gu Alliance. Behind the scenes lurked ‘Tian Gu the Divine,’ a Cosmic Deity at the Supreme realm, lacking only a supreme treasure.
The other figure was the Black Monarch.
Alliance Master Tian Gu had secretly gathered a group of Chaos realm experts and handed them over to the Black Monarch. Thirty-eight in total, all obedient to the Black Monarch’s command. None were fools—when a supreme figure like Alliance Master Tian Gu personally summoned them, only to place them under the leadership of the Black Monarch, a Sovereign-tier existence from the Primordial Ancient Nation, the implications were clear.
Only a fool wouldn’t realize the sheer magnitude of forces involved—perhaps even the two invincible beings of the Primordial Ancient Nation themselves. Or perhaps the Black Monarch was acting alone.
“Such formidable backing.”
“To command both Alliance Master Tian Gu and the Black Monarch?” A chill ran down Dongbo Xueying’s spine. “Since when were the Primordial Ancient Nation and the Tian Gu Alliance so closely aligned?”
Abruptly, Dongbo Xueying turned, his gaze piercing the void beside him.
Simultaneously, he flicked his hand.
Boom!
A single palm strike reduced the silver-haired elder to nothingness.
The Tian Gu Alliance was a loose coalition of nations, many steeped in chaos, where fiends often held high positions openly. The Chaos realm experts Alliance Master Tian Gu had recruited were all of vile repute—precisely because he sought to avoid unnecessary complications. Someone like Dongbo Xueying, bound by his principles, would never condone the slaughter of countless innocents, even under duress.
To experts like him, this was their Dao-heart.
The Dao-heart was inviolable.
To become a peerless powerhouse, one’s Dao-heart had to be honed to absolute clarity.
Upon reviewing the elder’s memories, Dongbo Xueying’s fury only grew. Mercy was out of the question.
“Whoosh.” Even as he obliterated the elder, Dongbo Xueying kept his eyes fixed on the void beside him. From its depths emerged a figure shrouded in black mist.
Dongbo Xueying had entered via Void Shattering Teleportation.
Yet this figure commanded the hall’s formation with effortless mastery.
“Black Monarch?” Though the figure concealed its form, its cultivation path was ill-suited for masking auras. Few in the Heart Realm had laid eyes on the Black Monarch, but Dongbo Xueying was among them. He recognized the intruder instantly.
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