In Huangzhou, a battle between an Ancestral Spirit and the former hegemon of Cangming had raged for several days.
The mountains and rivers of the entire province were shattered.
The city had been incinerated by flames once and then swept by rampaging energy again, reduced completely to a field of ruins.
The struggle between the two had not yet ended, but among their subordinates, a victor had long since been decided.
The Water Qilin, the Nightmare, and the Demon Flood Dragon had slaughtered every dark creature in the province.
They stood far from the center of the battlefield, watching from a distance.
In the shadows,
The Great Spirit Lords presiding over the neighboring provinces had received intelligence and heard the commotion. They had arrived early, hiding along the borders of their territories to observe the great battle.
A living soul risen from the unknown, a monster that had wiped out four provinces, a fellow capable of standing as an equal to an Ancestral Spirit...
They wanted to help; they felt they should help.
But their rationality told them that such a war did not belong to them.
From beginning to end, they exercised restraint and did not move, using the hollow excuse that they had not received orders from the Ancestral Spirit Hall and could not cross the border to mask their own cowardice and lack of confidence...
The Twilight Emperor found the battle grueling, for he discovered that the forbidden arts he had once used to dominate Cangming were utterly unable to restrain the fellow before him.
In fact, his opponent knew some of those same forbidden arts and executed them with even more finesse than he did.
As for his undying body, the fellow before him possessed one as well...
He could crush a Great Spirit Lord in the God Immortal stage with one hand, but this fellow called an Ancestral Spirit was someone he could suppress but not kill.
This made him extremely irritable and uneasy.
If a mere Ancestral Spirit was this powerful, then how strong would those three Ancestral Spirit Forefathers they spoke of be?
He thought that perhaps some matters would have to be reconsidered in the long run.
Yet, precisely at that moment, reinforcements for the enemy arrived. Another Ancestral Spirit came from the west, lunging toward him, and the tide of battle was instantly turned.
“Another one?”
The watching dark creatures were invigorated, their faces filled with excitement.
The Nightmare and the other two, however, broke into a cold sweat for their Sovereign.
He already couldn't defeat one opponent at the Immortal King level, and now another had arrived. From the look of it, this one was even more ferocious than the first.
Would there be a third? A fourth?
On a stretch of uninhabited wasteland, the struggle reached a stalemate, and both sides pulled back to confront each other.
The Ancestral Spirit who had been pummeled by the Twilight Emperor for several days stood behind the newcomer with a weary body.
He said respectfully, “Fifth Brother, why are you here?”
The new Ancestral Spirit glanced at him indifferently, his emotions unreadable. He said softly, “If I hadn't come, you would have become the first Ancestral Spirit of the Ancestral Spirit Hall to perish in the Greedy Realm.”
The other lowered his head in shame, his fists subconsciously tightening. He then looked up, staring fixedly at the figure in the distance. “He is very strong. He knows our clan's secret arts.”
The new Ancestral Spirit frowned. Yes, he had felt it; the man was extraordinary, carrying a familiar aura.
Another outlier in the Greedy Realm.
The only difference was,
The previous outlier had a physical body that fell into darkness while his soul's obsession remained.
But the one before them,
His physical body remained, yet his soul was submerged in darkness, making it difficult to tell whether he was a dark creature or a living soul of Cangming. Judging by his appearance, however, he seemed more like the former.
He did not know the reason, but he was clear that the Leader of the Sequence had sent him to bring this man back. The debt for the Spirit Towers of the five provinces also needed to be settled.
The Sovereign stared at the new Ancestral Spirit and was the first to speak. “And who are you?”
The new Ancestral Spirit stood with his hands behind his back, his blue eyes deep and dark. He said solemnly, “Greedy Realm, Spirit Sequence Five!”
Spirit Sequence Five?
The Sovereign looked thoughtful. His gaze fell upon the defeated opponent as he asked again, “And him?”
After fighting for so long, this was the first time he had asked for his name. The other replied, “Spirit Sequence Eighteen.”
Ancestral Spirits had no names, only sequences. Spirit Sequences were kings, while Little Sequences were the young. Adult Ancestral Spirits were ranked by Spirit Sequence, all of whom were in the Immortal King stage.
Their strength increased with their rank; the higher the Spirit Sequence, the stronger the individual.
As for the Little Sequences, they were of the Ancestral Spirit bloodline but held no rank. 'Little Sequence' served as their surname, followed by their given name. Once they broke through to the Immortal King stage, they could enter the sequences.
In the current three thousand provinces—the Greedy Realm—there were countless Little Sequences, but only eighteen held a Spirit Sequence.
Though the Sovereign did not know the specific rules, he could guess some of the nuances. He concluded, “So you are stronger than him?”
Spirit Sequence Five said candidly, “By more than just a little.”
The Twilight Emperor sounded intrigued. “Oh?”
Spirit Sequence Five said sinisterly, “If I were you, I would bow my head now and return with me to avoid unnecessary suffering.”
The Twilight Emperor bared his white teeth and sneered, “You’re quite arrogant, aren't you?”
Spirit Sequence Five replied without changing his expression, “I am merely stating a fact!”
Even though the Twilight Emperor wasn't certain he could win, he didn't yield an inch outwardly, his tongue as sharp as ever. “Then why don't you show this emperor some of your real ability?”
Spirit Sequence Five did not act overconfidently. He looked at Spirit Sequence Eighteen and said, “Let's go together. End this quickly.”
Spirit Sequence Eighteen nodded. “Fine!”
As soon as they finished speaking, they charged forward. A dark tide covered the sky and the earth, and the Breath of Darkness transformed into sharp blades that pulverized everything in their path.
The Twilight Emperor did not retreat; instead, he surged forward to meet them.
“Come then!”
Following the battle between two kings, the spectacle of two Ancestors battling the Sovereign unfolded once more.
And this time, the commotion was even greater, the combat even more brutal.
The roaring was like heavenly wrath,
Its light turned the polar night into day.
Rumble!
Rumble!
Three terrifying phantoms collided and clashed in the vast expanse.
Mountains crumbled, and the earth collapsed. Among the observers, even the Great Spirit Lords and the three subordinates of the Sovereign could not see clearly.
They only knew,
In the grey world, it was as if doomsday had descended upon the world. In Huangzhou, the wasteland sank, and the earth pulses snapped...
The entire battle lasted for another three days.
The Twilight Emperor was outnumbered and remained at a disadvantage. On the eve of his defeat, he sent a divine sense transmission.
“Run!”
The Water Qilin, the Nightmare, and the Demon Flood Dragon did not hesitate for a second. They turned and bolted toward the east.
The three of them had long since realized that the Sovereign was outmatched.
Since they couldn't help anyway, they had wanted to flee for a long time.
As soon as the three retreated, the Twilight Emperor struck the wasteland with a punch. A thousand miles of plains were instantly shattered, and he used the residual force to break away.
“We shall fight again another day!”
Spirit Sequence Five reached out with a massive hand, tearing through the soaring dust as he pursued.
“You want to run? Where do you think you're going?”
Spirit Sequence Eighteen did not stay idle either. He took a step, traversing thousands of miles in an instant to block the path of retreat.
“Suppress!”
A colossal palm descended, blotting out the sun with a force that could crush the stars.
The Twilight Emperor pointed his fingers like a sword. He didn't dodge; instead, he pierced through the palm and fled into the distance. “If I want to leave, can two dogs like you stop me?”
However,
Having just escaped the wolf's mouth, he found himself in a tiger's den. Taking advantage of that split-second opening, Spirit Sequence Five opened a third eye at the center of his brow. A beam of azure divine light shot out, arriving in an instant.
By the time the Twilight Emperor noticed, it was too late to dodge. “Damn it.”
The divine light pierced through him and swallowed him up. The light screen exploded, shredding the void.
The Twilight Emperor used a secret art to fight his way out. His soul was shaken, and half of his physical body was actually destroyed.
He manifested back into human form. His bloody, mangled half-body began to recover at a speed visible to the naked eye.
His blood-stained face became distorted with rage, but his speed did not slow in the slightest.
“Curse you!”
He was furious, but he could only be furious.
Leaving behind a parting threat, he shot away like a meteor. “When I return to my peak, I will trample your ancestral court and slay your gods!”
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