Dongbo Xueying was like a hunter, quietly investigating every place—the cave abode of the Windmoon Demon Monarch, his retreats, and even the locations frequently mentioned in intelligence reports.
“Nothing.”
“It seems the worst-case scenario has come to pass.” Dongbo Xueying appeared alone in a tavern in a remote small town, sipping fine wine and enjoying delicacies. “After all, he’s a second-level Cosmic God, a true master. The moment the Heartworld Palace begins to open, he’s so terrified that he doesn’t even dare stay in his own cave or retreat?”
The Floating West Nation was one of the most infamous gathering places for fiends across the entire Heartworld Continent.
Apart from the two supreme overlords—the Floating West Ancestor and the Severing Heaven Overlord—there were the Four Fiends of Floating West, all second-level Cosmic Gods. Though they lacked peak-tier treasures, their cultivation alone made them formidable. Even overlords were only a single tier above them, and killing them was no easy task! Dongbo Xueying was far from overlord-level in strength, yet he was confident in dealing with the Windmoon Demon Monarch.
This was because, with the aid of the ‘Demon Emperor Robe,’ his soul-based techniques were potent enough to threaten second-level Cosmic Gods.
“Among the Four Fiends of Floating West, the Windmoon Demon Monarch has a flaw in his mental state—he’s the only one I’m certain I can eliminate with soul techniques,” Dongbo Xueying mused.
The other three had no such weaknesses. In terms of mental fortitude, they were nearly on par with overlords. The only thing they lacked was a peak-tier treasure.
“No other choice. I’ll have to scout and investigate one place at a time.” As he drank, Dongbo Xueying employed the Voidbreaker Teleportation Technique to conduct his surveillance.
—
Voidbreaker scouting was the most tedious yet straightforward method. Back in the Maze Corridor, searching for Golden Armor-level nests had taken him trillions of years—and he still hadn’t covered everything. Voidbreaker scouting was slow, requiring a painstaking, inch-by-inch approach. This mission, however, had a strict time limit of only ninety thousand years!
“Pity I’m not skilled in tracking. If I were, I could bypass concealment methods and locate targets directly—that would be something,” Dongbo Xueying lamented inwardly.
Take the Stone Sage, for example—his tracking abilities were extraordinary. Within a single Source World, nothing escaped his notice.
The vast Heartworld Continent had countless beings far more adept at tracking than Dongbo Xueying. His only backing was his master, the Southcloud Monarch, and he didn’t want to trouble him with this matter.
“I’ll just have to take it slow.”
“Besides, I’m sure other experts from the ancient nations are also keeping an eye on this place.” Dongbo Xueying remained patient.
—
Time passed. Dongbo Xueying continued his Voidbreaker surveillance, and before he knew it, three thousand years had gone by.
Night.
“Hmm? That fiend?” In a small courtyard, the white-robed youth ‘Dongbo Xueying,’ drinking alone, suddenly narrowed his eyes with a cold glint. His Voidbreaker sight had just locked onto a distant estate.
Far away, within the Zhe Yong Estate—
Deep beneath the estate lay a prison holding countless prisoners. They were subjected to relentless torment, some driven to madness.
A resplendent golden-robed man strolled through the underground dungeons. At the sight of him, the prisoners—some already deranged—flared with hatred. Those still lucid clenched their teeth, glaring at him with venom, many even cursing aloud:
“Great Eternal Night Progenitor, I offer my life as sacrifice—curse this Zhe Yong fiend, curse him to death, to death!!”
“Zhe Yong fiend…”
The air was thick with resentment as countless prisoners fixed their hate-filled gazes upon him.
Yet the golden-robed man merely smiled and turned to his subordinates. “Good. Keep torturing them. The heavier the resentment, the better.”
“Yes, yes,” the guards replied obsequiously.
The golden-robed man extended his right arm, which elongated unnaturally into one of the cells. A terrifying suction force gripped the prisoners inside—their bodies trembled before disintegrating into dust. A dense, malevolent soul energy surged into the palm of his hand, where a bottomless abyss devoured everything.
He continued his stroll through the dungeons, stopping at cells with the most intense resentment to consume their occupants.
“Master.” A shadowy figure approached from behind, materializing into a silver-haired elder.
Still absorbing souls, the golden-robed man glanced at him expectantly. “Well?”
“Master, all the citizens of that small town—billions of them—have been captured alive.” The elder raised his hand, revealing a golden bracelet. “They’re all imprisoned within this pocket-dimension treasure.”
“Excellent. You’ve done very well.” The golden-robed man grinned in satisfaction. “Now, torture them. Make them suffer. The more resentment, the better.”
“As you command.” The elder’s eyes gleamed with anticipation.
The golden-robed man chuckled and reached into another cell.
“Fiend! Fiend!” A young girl’s eyes burned with hatred. Her entire sect had been captured, tortured, and ultimately devoured by this monstrous being.
“My turn at last?” she whispered. “I curse you—Eternal Night Progenitor, Endless Night Progenitor, Annihilation God-Emperor, Xia Emperor… all you supreme existences, I offer my life, my soul—just let him die!”
Just as the golden-robed man’s hand entered the cell—
The guards and the silver-haired elder watched eagerly—when suddenly, without warning, the golden-robed man collapsed. The elder and several guards followed, crumpling to the ground, lifeless.
**Boom.**
In an instant, every prisoner in the underground dungeon—along with the golden bracelet—was forcibly teleported away.
—
Far off in a desolate wilderness, the prisoners and the countless citizens from the bracelet appeared, their restraints dissolved.
“This… this…”
The once-resentful prisoners gaped at their surroundings—the vast, starry night sky stretching endlessly above them.
“We’re… free?”
“We…”
The prisoners and the released citizens stood in stunned silence before dropping to their knees in unison.
“Thank you, exalted one, for saving us! Thank you!” Their voices echoed across the land.
They knew a supreme expert of unfathomable power had intervened. Such acts were rare—few dared oppose the fiends of Floating West, and fewer still would bother saving the weak. To most mighty beings, the powerless were mere ants.
To refrain from oppressing the weak was already commendable. To save them without cause? Almost unheard of. The Heartworld Continent was boundless, and such tragedies were countless.
—
Back in the courtyard, Dongbo Xueying’s eyes gleamed with killing intent. “Hmph. The weight of karma and resentment clinging to that fiend is unimaginable. He deserved death.”
His Voidbreaker sight swept across Floating West, a den of fiends. If he were to slay them all, he might as well declare war on the entire nation. Even the united might of the ancient nations couldn’t eradicate the Floating West Ancestor—Dongbo Xueying wasn’t yet that formidable.
Most fiends he ignored—there were simply too many.
But the truly vile ones, like that ‘Zhe Yong’ fiend, were intolerable.
Ordinary fiends were merely cruel. Zhe Yong, however, sacrificed billions for a single cultivation session. His atrocities dwarfed those of common fiends by countless magnitudes.
“He deserved it.”
Dongbo Xueying dismissed the thought and resumed his surveillance.
—
**Zhe Yong Estate.**
The death of the Chaos Realm fiend ‘Zhe Yong City Lord’ and the disappearance of all prisoners immediately alarmed Floating West’s higher-ups.
**Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.**
Figures arrived in succession—all allies of Zhe Yong.
Floating West was divided into factions.
“Dead?” Three figures stood in the underground dungeon, staring at the lifeless Zhe Yong City Lord. Nearby lay the silver-haired elder and several guards—all slain by Dongbo Xueying after he observed their karma-laden souls.
“Brother Zhe Yong’s treasures are untouched, no external injuries. His soul was annihilated?”
“Indeed. All of them—souls extinguished.”
“A soul-based attack?”
The three Chaos Realm experts exchanged uneasy glances. Soul specialists were terrifying. If someone could kill Zhe Yong so effortlessly, they could do the same to them.
“Who dares attack our brother? We must inform our master! This cannot stand!”
“Find the killer. Execute him.”
They whispered fiercely. Floating West’s fiends were notoriously ruthless—even the six ancient nations weren’t safe from their rampages under the Floating West Lord’s orders.
**Swoosh.**
A man and a woman descended gracefully. The leading figure, a cold-faced man in green robes, exuded authority.
“Senior Brother.”
The three immediately bowed. This senior brother was the strongest among them—the only one with tenth-level Chaos Realm combat power.
“Your findings?” the green-robed man asked coolly.
“Senior Brother, the killer is a soul specialist,” one reported. “He annihilated Brother Zhe Yong and his subordinates in an instant. All prisoners were teleported away.”
“An instant?” the green-robed man pressed.
“Yes. Some surviving guards confirmed it happened in a blink.”
“Senior Brother, we can’t let this slide! We must find and execute the murderer!”
The others clamored.
They knew the killer was formidable, but they had their master—and above him, even greater powers. Floating West bullied others—never the reverse.
**Hmph.**
The green-robed man snorted, his icy gaze sweeping over them. “Fools.”
They froze, even the woman beside him blinking in confusion. “Senior Brother?”
“Listen carefully,” the green-robed man said coldly. “Thousands of years ago, the Heartworld Palace began to open.”
“The Heartworld Palace?!”
Shock rippled through them.
As Chaos Realm experts, they knew the legends. The Heartworld Palace was a mythical realm—Cosmic Gods fought desperately to enter, yet few succeeded. Even the Floating West Ancestor and the Severing Heaven Overlord couldn’t gain access, let alone them.
“As the palace opens, the six ancient nations compete for entry slots. They’ve issued bounties on notorious fiends across the continent,” the green-robed man explained. “A few of Floating West’s top figures are on that list. Hunters earn merits, and slots are ultimately allocated.”
“Since thousands of years ago, experts from the six nations have infiltrated Floating West in secret.”
“They are hunters… and we are their prey.”
His voice was frigid.
“But Senior Brother, those terrifying Cosmic Gods—their targets are the bountied ones, right? Why would they bother with small fry like us?” The four Chaos Realm experts trembled. They knew the Heartworld Palace’s opening always stirred chaos.
Normally, those supreme beings wouldn’t hunt casually—it was too troublesome. But with slots at stake, the rewards lured them in. Even the Four Fiends of Floating West had gone into hiding.
“True, their primary targets are our highest echelons,” the green-robed man sneered. “But to them, killing us is like crushing ants. Just now, Brother Zhe Yong was ‘stepped on’ by one such being. From today onward, stay low. Behave. Cause no trouble. For all we know, that Cosmic God might still be watching us—unseen.”
The four shuddered, instinctively glancing around.
—
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