Imperial God Emperor

Thump! Thump!

Fortunately, he had disembarked very close to shore.

The suppressive force from the waters of the Heavenly River didn't have such a large effect on him either, and his physical strength was extremely strong, thus, his speed as he jumped from one large rock to another was many times faster than Thousand Illusion Elder. He moved as agilely as a monkey or a panther and only took approximately thirty minutes to reach the shore.

The moment he arrived on the shore, he noticed some details that he missed out earlier.

The boat hadn't been moving horizontally across the river but it had sailed sideways along the river currents. This meant that the disembarkation point of each passenger would be even more arbitrary. It also explained why the small boat took such a long time to cross the Heavenly River that was one thousand meters wide. The boat had disappeared from view and he didn't know where Little Nine would be sent to either but he was certain that the longer the boat ride, the more beneficial it would be for the passenger and the disembarkation point would also be much safer.

He shook himself out of his reverie and started to examine the scene by the Heavenly River.

The dense fog was all around him.

This dense and black chaos fog completely isolated heaven from earth.

"I can't believe that the fog is so dense on the shore. No wonder I couldn't see anything on the opposite side of the river from the other end… This fog also seems a little odd. It blocks out my divine sense, so I can't survey it with my divine sense. I'm forced to rely on my eyesight but I still can't see past it and only have visibility of around ten meters."

Ye Qingyu grew more alarmed as he observed his surroundings.

He stood on the spot and activated his [Eyes of the Void]. Instantly, two beams of radiant purple flames appeared in his eyes.

His visibility increased, but merely by another ten meters.

He only had a visibility of twenty meters after using his magical ability.

He grew more suspicious and hesitated to move ahead.

Suddenly, he heard faint clinking sounds from the fog.

Hm?

What could those sounds be?

Ye Qingyu decided to go investigate further.

He activated his yuan qi and warily took a few steps toward the sound. Two rays of purple radiance shot out from his eyes as he tried to see as far as he could.

Moments later—

"I see."

Ye Qingyu walked a hundred meters into the fog and discovered the source of the sound.

He saw nine gigantic oddly-shaped nails that were as big as ancient trees stuck on a pile of black rocks up ahead. These nails looked as though they were pierced through the ground by some kind of powerful divine or magical power resulting in web-like cracks covering the surface of these rocks. The distance between each nail was about two or three meters and these nails were about five to six meters tall. They were so thick that two men could wrap their arms around the nail shank and looked dull and black as though they were crafted from a material that resembled black iron. He couldn't see any formations carved on them but they gave off an ancient and frightening demonic aura.

Black chains that were as thick as the arm of a child wrapped around every nail approximately one meter from the surface.

These chains were also black, covered in rust and had a coarse texture. The metallic rings that were strung together were pulled taut and tight, as though something was pulling them apart in eight different directions radiating toward the demon qi fog. He couldn't tell where exactly it led to but it seemed like there was a mysterious force at the end of the fog that tugged at these chains. This force alternated between tightening and loosening the chains and as the chains smacked against the floor, it would let out clinking sounds.

Ye Qingyu looked at the gigantic nails and chains in stunned silence.

Clink! Clink!

Another series of clear clinking sounds rang out once more.

This sound seemed like a mysterious and alluring sound that tempted the listener, and also seemed like it was warning the intruder that he couldn't stay here for long.

Ye Qingyu walked up to the nine gigantic nails and looked contemplatively at the chains that radiated in eight different directions as he paused to think.

"The metal chains will lead the way. Choose the one path right in the middle," the million-year-old soul said telepathically.

Ye Qingyu immediately understood what these chains were for after the million-year-old soul gave him this advice. He didn't hesitate as he reached out to grab the metal chains and slowly headed toward the center. Then, he disappeared into the rolling fog.

The fog up ahead was denser and thicker.

He felt waves of huge pressure surging toward him as though this fog was about to crush down on him like a solid object.

Suddenly ——

"Kill!"

"Charge!"

Deafening roars exploded in his ears like the sound of thunder rolling.

The fog abruptly changed without warning to turn into a dark red demonic battlefield.

Evil blood qi surged everywhere and blood flowed like the ocean and its turbulent waves dashed across the skies. Fire and lightning of different shapes and sizes shot down toward the battlefield like earth-shattering bombs, shattering the Void of the earth. Countless soldiers clad in armor were drenched in blood, their eyes bloodshot as they raised their weapons like crazed and murderous demons and hacked their weapons in all directions, an extremely horrifying sight to behold.

The scene in front of him was like a major battle of fiendgods in the Chaos Universe.

This must be an illusion! Ye Qingyu immediately decided.

However, this illusion was far too realistic and the metallic tang of blood and frightening killing intent seemed very tangible.

His expression was grave and despite his surprise and doubts, he continued to make his way forward at a steady pace.

His spirit was refined from the [Cloud Top Cauldron] and was currently even more powerful than his physical cultivation, so the illusion didn't really frighten him.

After another dozen steps forward —

The illusion of the fiendgod battlefield didn't show any signs of disappearing but grew clearer and more realistic, as though he was right there on the battlefield.

Human Race!

Demon Race!

Brute Race!

Experts from the various races appeared in the midst of the chaotic battlefield.

Countless experts filled the battlefield like swarms of bees and they were all clad in ancient armor and let out fiendgod-like cries. Their bodies glowed with an ancient and profound combat radiance and they looked like balls of light that continuously clashed, exploded then perished… the only way in this universe was to kill.

While he was still able to look directly at this illusion at first, as time passed, things started to go south.

The combat will and primeval universal power of laws from the countless ancient soldiers fighting in the battlefield were like dazzling ripples of light that swarmed unstoppably into his eyes. He immediately felt his spirit tense up and his yuan qi seemed to be guided by a strange force as it surged out rapidly from his dantian world, causing stormy waves to rise, as though a savage beast or a wandering dragon was traveling madly through his body, forcing him to exert his combat strength to its maximum power.

This sudden change caused Ye Qingyu to feel an oppressive force that seemed very near once again.

In an instant, the situation immediately took a turn for the worse and he felt as though everything within his body was about to explode, his yuan qi was out of control and knew that these were the warning signs of him descending into madness.

Oh no!

He immediately realized that he was in trouble.

However, the situation was out of his control and everything around him turned blurry.

"Hold on tight to the chains." The million-year-old soul's voice exploded like a roll of thunder in his ear.

He instinctively held on tightly to the black metal chains in his hands for dear life.

An icy and refreshingly strange sensation slowly entered his body through his palms.

The metal chains contained a mysterious icy qi that flowed along his palm to enter his bloodstream and headed toward his five senses and heart as though it knew where it was going. In a few breaths, Ye Qingyu suddenly felt his mind and spirit become clearer and the illusionary scenes disappeared. Then, he found himself back in the boundless demon qi fog.

That illusion was so powerful that it could have only been the work of a Quasi-emperor. It had been far too terrifying.

He gulped large mouthfuls of air as though he was still frightened, then he attempted to calm his surging aura and strength.

He managed to avoid danger earlier thanks to the metal chains that contained a power with the ability to suppress the illusion from the fog and the timely reminder from the million-year-old soul.

Then, Ye Qingyu never let the chains leave his hands as he slowly made his way forward and neutralized the killing force from the illusions.

After he walked more than a thousand meters in the fog, he finally reached the end of these chains.

The demon qi fog was parted by a mysterious force and gradually dissipated in two directions to reveal a black rock arena.

Ye Qingyu was slightly stunned.

An arena?

He suddenly had a bad feeling about this.

He didn't think too much into it but carefully examined the arena in front of him.

This arena was shaped like a round disc and it had a large surface area with a radius of at least a hundred meters. It was crafted from strange and sturdy black rocks and seemed very ancient and simple as though it had existed for millions of years. All across the arena, there seemed to be an invisible net that kept the fog at bay. The fog surged and pressed madly from outside but it was unable to enter the arena.

Countless mutilated bodies were littered across the arena.

There were both corpses of the Human Race and foreign races but these corpses were all blood-stained and mutilated. Rays of different-colored blood essence and yuan qi aura skipped across these corpses to form a tightly interwoven air shield that gave off an extremely powerful dark force.

There was also a Demon Race expert with a leopard head and a human body on the arena.

He resembled a leopard from his neck up and his fur was covered in round spots while its ears stood erect on both sides of its head. His eyes gleamed with a brownish yellow glow while his teeth were as sharp as knives. Several drops of blood essence hung from his beard and looked as though they were about to fall at any moment. He had a human body from his neck down that was as burly and large as an ape and he was clad in furry leather armor. Every strand of brownish yellow fur poked upward like steel knives and it seemed like a defensive soft armor unique to the Demon Race.

He sat cross-legged on the area and held half a thigh bone in his hands that was dripping with blood as it took large bites of the blood essence and bone, looking as though he was gorging himself and feasting on delicacies.

However, those were clearly the remains of a Human Race expert!

Ye Qingyu's eyes hardened.

At that moment, the voice of the million-year-old soul rang in his ears once more.

"The arena in front of you is known as the Life and Death Platform and the victor would be determined through a fight. This fight would also determine who lives and who perishes since it would not end until someone dies. The victor is the person who lives and only the ultimate victor would have the chance to continue on his way."

Life and Death Platform?

As he looked at this arena, he couldn't help but recall the Storm Platform of the Greater One Sect.

Once he entered the arena, the only way to survive was by stepping on the corpses of his opponents.

This seemed true to the style of the Chaos Demon Emperor.

His gaze silently swept across the arena and discovered that the other corpses, including the remains that the leopard-headed expert was feasting on, had all been dead for some time. He clearly wasn't the one who had slaughtered them all.

It seemed more likely that he arrived at this arena first and started to feast while waiting for his opponent. He was probably feasting on the blood essence and flesh of the dead to increase his yuan qi and combat strength as much as possible before his opponent arrived.

Ye Qingyu understood that there was no way back now that he was here and he could only continue to make his way forward. There could only be one survivor between himself and the barbaric Demon Race expert in the arena.

At the same time, the leopard-headed expert's ears suddenly twitched as though he had sensed something.

He looked sharply at Ye Qingyu's direction.

"He he, a stepping stone has finally arrived after such a long time… Come over and prepare to die, you pitiful human worm!"