In the opposite direction of Xu Xian’s flight, the area where rocky mountains once stood was now a scene of utter devastation.
Shattered rocks were scattered everywhere, and the ground was pockmarked with craters and dense, deep gouges.
Within the grey, desolate wasteland, the air was still thick with lingering water vapor, black mist, and the remnants of lightning.
Clearly, a massive battle had just taken place here.
Unfortunately, one side had been completely wiped out, while the other had yet to even have their fill.
On the open ground where the thick dust had just settled, clothes, armor, and weapons were scattered in a mess. The Sovereign, clad in his cloud fur coat, shone with golden light in the dark night.
Beside him, Lin, Jiao, and Nightmare stood nearby—one with hands on hips, one picking his ear, and one half-squatting on a rock, tossing a pebble in his hand.
Their expressions were playful, as if they hadn't quite had enough fun.
Between their arrogant stances, there was a hint of boredom.
Just like before, only the hems of their clothes were slightly soiled.
Under the Sovereign’s feet lay a massive creature with grey-black skin and blood-red eyes.
The Sovereign’s foot was planted squarely on its face.
He ground his foot down with force, not forgetting to mock it.
"Trash,"
"Weren't you quite the loudmouth just now?"
"Scream!"
"Why aren't you screaming anymore?"
The creature on the ground had a hideous face, its teeth gnashing and cracking, its eyes nearly bulging out of its sockets. Yet, its body remained completely unable to move an inch.
It could only lie there and endure the humiliation of the man before it.
It didn't understand. It couldn't accept why someone clearly in the same realm as itself was so incredibly powerful.
Under his foot, it didn't even have the strength to fight back.
It was a Spirit Lord of the Spirit-Devouring Tribe, the sole ruler of a hundred thousand miles of wasteland.
In this wasteland, it was the supreme king. All Death Spirits, Grey Spirits, and Dark Spirits were supposed to submit to it and follow its commands.
But the guy in front of it...
He was clearly only at the Heaven Immortal stage, the third stage of immortality.
Why was he so strong?
How could he even...
From the corner of its eye, it looked toward the ground. Every pile of shattered clothing and armor had once been its subordinates, yet they had been crushed to death one by one by this man.
With just one step,
They were stomped to death.
Their blood pupils extinguished, their bodies turning to dust, leaving behind nothing but scraps of cloth.
The Spirit-Devouring Tribe was eternal and indestructible. The Grey Spirits and Dark Spirits, who stood above the Death Spirits, possessed immortal bodies and undying souls; nothing less than the power of an Immortal King could extinguish them.
Even if their dark essence was refined away, their physical bodies should have remained.
But he could extinguish their spirits and destroy their bodies in an instant.
Could it be...
Was he using a concealment spell? Was this guy actually an Immortal King?
No, that couldn't be right.
It rasped, its voice squeezed through its gritted teeth, "Who... exactly are you?"
The Twilight Emperor was amused. "You dared to intercept and kill us without even knowing who I am? Is your Spirit-Devouring Tribe always this brash?"
The three beside him also laughed, taking joy in its misfortune.
Water Qilin teased, "Don't go prying into the Sovereign's business. If he told you, I'm afraid you'd die of fright."
"You won't escape. The Great Spirit Lord will not let you go," the creature threatened as it neared death.
The Sovereign was displeased. He applied a bit more pressure with his foot, causing a roar to erupt from the creature's throat as its face grew even more distorted.
"Ah!"
The Sovereign said dismissively, "The Great Spirit Lord? He's nothing. If he comes, I'll crush him just the same."
The creature gasped out, "You will pay for your arrogance. This is the territory of darkness; you won't escape."
The Sovereign leaned down slightly. Red light suddenly flickered in his deep, star-like eyes, becoming nearly identical to the pupils of the Spirit Lord beneath his foot.
The self-proclaimed Spirit Lord froze, its eyes filled with disbelief. "You... how can you...?"
The Twilight Emperor dropped his playful mockery and said with a serious expression, "Speak. How many of those old farts from the First Spirits have come out?"
The creature's throat bobbed. Under the pressure of his gaze, it briefly forgot to think and responded as if possessed.
"Greedy Lord!"
"Delusional Lord!"
"...Wrathful... Lord!"
The Sovereign's ink-black brows furrowed. "Only three?"
"Yes!"
The Sovereign grew thoughtful. Half a breath later, he suddenly stomped down with force. Boom...
A surge of energy rippled out. The creature, whose head had still been struggling, suddenly went still like a robot that had its power cut. Its blood-red pupils faded, turning grey.
Then, the body began to weather at a visible rate, eventually scattering into countless particles of dust that were swept away cleanly by the wind.
Only the old robe of a king remained under his foot.
Water Qilin jumped down from the rock and ran over, exclaiming in confusion, "You just killed him like that?"
The Sovereign said nothing.
Water Qilin glanced back toward the path they had come from and muttered, "Those little guys got lucky. I wonder how many of them are still alive?"
Nightmare’s lips curled into a faint, proud smile, and a look of relief flashed in his eyes.
The Sovereign dusted his sleeves and strode forward. The three quickly followed.
Water Qilin trotted alongside him and asked, "Sovereign, where are we going?"
The Sovereign didn't hide it and smiled calmly. "I'm going to have a chat with those three old guys."
"Isn't that a bit reckless?"
The other two deeply agreed.
Though they didn't know who the three old guys the Sovereign mentioned were, they had captured some information from the conversation just now.
【First Spirits】
If they remembered correctly, the ancient book Annals of the Boundary Sea recorded that the First Spirits were the spirits with the strongest and purest bloodlines in the dark race. They stood above the Ancestral Spirits, and each one possessed strength comparable to an Immortal Emperor.
They were powerful enough to swallow stars.
Even back in the Era of Ancient Immortals, during the Emperor's prime, he might have struggled to defeat them. How much more so now?
They were Immortal Emperors and Immortal Kings, it was true...
But that was in the past.
The Twilight Emperor was indifferent and asked in return, "What else should we do?"
Water Qilin thought as he spoke, suggesting, "I think we should leave this godforsaken place first, find a location rich in spirit qi to rest and recover, and rebuild a Twilight Army before we go. That would be more stable..."
The Twilight Emperor gave a jovial laugh.
"Hehe!"
"I'm being serious."
The Twilight Emperor said nonchalantly, "What's there to fear? We can't die anyway."
This one sentence silenced the three, leaving them utterly helpless.
It was true; they couldn't die.
Undying and indestructible, living forever.
But over these past million years, they had truly suffered.
They had nearly been driven mad.
If another million years came, just thinking about it gave them a headache.
"Might as well be dead," Jiao, usually taciturn, complained.
The Twilight Emperor wasn't angry and remained cheerful. "If you don't want to go, then don't. Go find somewhere else to hang out, find somewhere comfortable to curl up. I've told you before, you are free to come and go as you please. I never force anyone."
To be honest, they were tempted, but they understood the Emperor and knew the current situation.
Locked away for a million years, the eras of the Heavens had changed, and the dark creatures in the Boundary Sea had returned to take over Cangming.
Going solo in this situation?
The prospects were bleak.
It was far more reassuring to follow the Emperor.
So, their legs softened, and they honestly followed him, not forgetting to say a few nice things to pledge their loyalty.
"No way. Wherever the Sovereign goes, we go. We're like bricks—put us wherever we're needed..."
"Me too."
"Me three."
The Emperor smiled proudly, still as flamboyant as ever.
Water Qilin took the opportunity to ask, "By the way, Sovereign, tell us about them. What kind of monsters are these dark creatures exactly?"
The Twilight Emperor looked up slightly at the dark canopy above, where there were no stars, no moon, and no sun. His thoughts drifted back millions of years, all the way to that time...
Back then,
He was born in the Boundary Sea.
Back then,
He had not yet become an Emperor.
His gaze grew heavy as he spoke slowly, "Dark creatures... To talk about those guys, we have to start from a long, long time ago..."
Fortunately, the road ahead was long, and he could tell the story in detail.
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