Imperial God Emperor

On the old man's heavily-wrinkled and vicissitudinous face were protruding cheekbones and sunken, murky eyes, while his hair was grayish-white and nearlybarren. His expression was indescribably haggard and his breath was terribly weak. His tattered clothes were clearly not of the style of the present age.

Beneath his clothes, flesh that seemed like a layer of tree bark was pasted directly on his skeleton. This old man, apparently of an ancient age, looked like someone whose lifespan was nearly up.

Is he... the [Quasi-emperor Xiaofei]?

Ye Qingyu was stunned.

He had visualized the figure of the Quasi-emperor countless times before seeing him in the flesh, but had never imagined that Xiaofei, who was said to be an exceptionally charming and peerless Heaven's prideling, would turn out like this.

What kind of suffering has he gone through over these few thousand years of being confined in the divine temple? To think that the murderous spirit in there has nearly depleted the foundation of a Quasi-emperor.

"Go," The Celestial Phoenix Maiden shouted.

At this moment, the murderous spirit was breaking out more fiercely and terrifyingly. As the entire place tremored non-stop, the ground turned into red-hot magma, and Black Demon qi tossed like a sea of black. A deathly aura pervaded throughout.

The trio wasted no more time talking.

With Sheng Yan carrying Xiaofei on his back, the trio darted out desperately.

Three beams of flowing light zipped across the Void in a twinkling.

Three cloud tear marks lingered in the sky for a long time.

Ye Qingyu felt that this was the fastest he had run in his life.

Caring and thinking about nothing else, he lowered his head and dashed forth as if he would be devoured by the boiling demonic waves behind him if he slowed his pace by even a step.

Despite the lightning-fast speed of the trio, the billows of Black Demon qi that surged from all directions still continued to hang over them.

Apocalyptic murderous spirit was only a short distance away.

The deathly aura seemed to have reached in front of them at this moment.

The purple lightning wings behind Ye Qingyu's back began to flicker indistinctly. With the area on the verge of collapse, it appeared that his manipulation of thunder and lightning was still not good enough to withstand the murderous spirit which was overwhelming enough to kill fiendgods.

Although the Phoenix wings of the maiden remained as lustrous as ever, a tinge of graveness also appeared in her eyes.

This won't do.

If this continues, all of us will be drowned by the murderous spirit before we escape from this plane.

In his shock, Ye Qingyu hesitated no more, and thus took out the [Cloud Top Cauldron] from his dantian and tossed it upward.

The slowly-spinning cauldron burst out a dazzling radiance and instantly suspended in the air above the quartet.

A misty curtain gradually shed light downward.

Wisps of dark-yellow splendor meandered downward and circulated slowly. The terrifying and piercingly cold murderous spirit was kept outside the soft mist which shrouded the quartet as they advanced at full speed.

Ye Qingyu let out a sigh of relief.

And so did the Celestial Phoenix Maiden and Sheng Yan.

Ye Qingyu, who had been feeling stifled to the extent that he had difficulty breathing, instantly felt a lot easier.

Under the protection of the mist from the cauldron, the quartet exerted their yuan qi to the maximum level as they sped maniacally toward the entrance.

Nobody had noticed that, during that moment when the cauldron poured the mist down, [Quasi-emperor Xiaofei's] sight fell upon the cauldron and a strange luster flashed within. He even took a look at Ye Qingyu and seemed somewhat in thought, as if he was trying to recall something.

Finally, after another five minutes or so.

The party stepped out of the small world within the giant tombstone.

Ahead of them was the sea of hurricane lilies.

When he came here the first time, Ye Qingyu was amazed by the stretch of fluttering red clouds which formed a scenery that resembled a luxurious red brocade. However, a dramatic change had occurred here by now as well. The place had turned into a living hell pervaded by Black Demon qi.

As if corrupted by the Black Demon qi, countless flowers were withering and decaying at an astonishingly fast rate.

Petals floated in the air.

A boundless rain of flowers danced in the wind endlessly, showcasing a stranger and deadlier beauty than before.

"This scene of withering hurricane lilies is simply too frightening. My gosh... the apocalypse is coming, let's hurry up and go!" Sheng Yan yelled in panic.

Revealing a shivery and terror-stricken expression, he looked like a duckling caught in a storm and was completely devoid of his former valiance.

Ye Qingyu darted a look at the fat man beside him and did not know whether to laugh or cry.

Seeing the latter's cowardly look, Ye Qingyu was doubtful whether he would really have buried himself together with the Quasi-emperor.

The party swiftly swept across the sky above the sea of hurricane lilies.

Boom boom boom!

Violent tremors and noises rang out from the light curtain all around them.

Although the curled red petals appeared soft and weak, a thunderous, ear-deafening noise was made each time a petal touched the dark yellow mist released by the [Cloud Top Cauldron].

Ye Qingyu was shocked like never before.

To think that these petals, each of which were thinner than a pinky finger, contains such terrifying power. Even a Saint-level expert would be instantly killed if they were struck by them.

He looked up at the cauldron and sighed as he thought about this, before silently murmuring, "Luckily I have you... or we could have died on so many occasions... I really have to thank that idiot Liu Yuanchang for gifting you to me."

The party advanced as fast as flowing light.

As the murderous spirit became more and more frightening, the world seemed to be collapsing and vanishing, and everything within would soon be buried in oblivion.

There was once again an onrush of the heavy pressure.

Even the [Cloud Top Cauldron] seemed incapable of withstanding the killing intent .

The cauldron overhead suddenly displayed an unusual change after Ye Qingyu roared and spewed a mouthful of blood essence at it.

A splendor shone on all sides of the cauldron and a dark-yellow radiance shot up into the air.

The ancient sketches carved on the sides seemed to come alive, growing and circulating non-stop. These ancient humans and beasts looked like they were reenacting the scenes and movements they represented. The dark-yellow mist became a dazzling splendor which lingered all around.

The magical power of laws instantly became rich like never before.

The party felt the pressure on them diminish.

Apparently, the [Cloud Top Cauldron] would only activate its maximum power when it felt an extremely terrifying and overbearing pressure.

Seeing the change to the cauldron, the trio all the more inhibited their thoughts and rushed forward desperately. Even the usually cool-headed Celestial Phoenix Maiden revealed a tinge of urgency and discomposure.

Before long, the sea of hurricane lilies faded away behind them.

In front of them was now the sea of tombstones.

Although they were flying across the Void, they dared not be careless and cautiously traveled along the narrow spirit path.

"That's..."

Peering down at the tombstones, Ye Qingyu felt his heart jolt and his entire body shake unconsciously.

The closely-packed black tombstones within his field of vision were trembling violently, as if something concealed beneath them was surging wildly and hoping to break out.

The other three people also discovered the peculiar change.

On the ground.

Below every tombstone, giant black skeleton claws were frenziedly prising their way out of the graves. They were attached to giant skeleton arms which were coated in a metallic texture and emitted an ancient demon qi. Indeed, black skeletons were in the process of climbing out from the tombstones.

Ye Qingyu felt a chill on his back when he saw this sight.

The Celestial Phoenix Maiden's eyes became grimmer.

Although Sheng Yan's footsteps were quick, his entire body trembled non-stop like a large sieve, and his face revealed a miserable, dying look.

Only [Quasi-emperor Xiaofei], who laid prone on the fat man's back with his eyes closed, seemed too weak to even open his eyes and was inattentive to everything happening around him.

Ten minutes later.

The Black Demon qi hanging all over them became thicker and piercingly cold, as if everything had returned to chaos. Without the dark-yellow light from the [Cloud Top Cauldron], the trio's vision did not reach fifty meters.

"We're reaching the ancient fiendgod city soon!"

Ye Qingyu let out a sigh of relief.

Finally reached the last zone.

The Doors of Life are just past the ancient fiendgod city.

Not far ahead was the ancient fiendgod city he had passed through when he first entered the 18th district.

"You... everyone... look... Damn, those nightmarish evil demons have all crawled out!" The bald and fat man suddenly exclaimed with a squeek.

Beneath the trio's feet, black skeletons had already crawled half their way out of every tombstone. These were completely intact skeletons which were extraordinarily huge. Though shaped like those of humans, they were several hundred times larger than a normal human being.

Ye Qingyu was alarmed.

These scrabbling skeletons were exactly the same as the oneshe saw while passing by the battlefields.

His heart palpitated for a moment as several images popped up in his mind.

But...

Where exactly are those giant skeletons from?

Could they be a manifestation of the apocalyptic murderous spirit?

Or... are they puppets being controlled by the murderous spirit?

Ye Qingyu grew more scared as he thought about it.

There were too many secrets hidden in this world.

The trio arrived in the center of the ancient fiendgod city in no time.

Behind their backs, the overspreading murderous spirit bobbled maniacally throughout as shrilling, hissing noises reverberated all over. It seemed as though evil demons were recklessly snatching at all the living beings using their sharp claws and tentacles.

Demonic waves dashed into the skies, bringing death upon all.

An unprecedented danger was befalling Ye Qingyu and the others.

The giant black skeletons were like devils from hell that came chasing after the party. Their movements were fast, and although they could not fly,  they piled on top of one another like a mountain range. It was a frightening sight indeed...

Could it be...

Chilly bouts emerged on Ye Qingyu's face, whose expression suddenly became odd as if he had grown conscious of something extremely terrifying.

For millions of years, these giant skeletons had probably besieged the waves of Heaven's pridelings who successively entered the Doors of Darkness, including the Seven Fingers Race and the Quasi-emperor of the Dragonblood Dynasty he had seen along the way, causing them to die in this fiendgod world.

He realized that if the party ended by being trapped in this place, their bones and innards would most likely be swallowed clean.