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The panther head hovered in the sky, and it swallowed up every last vicious beast that approached the shoreline.

In a single breath of time, the beasts’ numbers dropped by at least a third.

The other beasts came to a stop, then watched as the fleeing beasts were sucked into the leopard-headed figure’s mouth. It didn’t matter whether they were supremes, diviners, or even one of the battlefield’s few rulers; none could escape the powerful suction.

This was terrifying. The beasts didn’t even have the chance to resist before they died. 

The remaining vicious beasts couldn’t possibly be stupid enough to continue charging ahead.

They were keenly aware that taking so much as a single step forward meant their deaths. When they next looked up at the sky, the purple-robed Hermit Emperor was standing at Su Yiyun’s side. The panther head was, most likely, one of his divine arts.

“Respectful greetings, Emperor Hades.” Although they’d just watched countless members of their race die, the remaining beats hurriedly knelt. Their gazes contained no trace of anger or indignation, only endless, profound terror.

The beasts lowering their heads also put a temporary stop to the yao of the Southern Kingdom’s forward march. Countless yao looked up at the sky. They, too, had gazes of undisguised terror.

It was him. 

The man who’d single-handedly maintained the God Realm’s borders, who’d single-handedly terrified the entire Yao Realm to the point that they dared not even consider invading, for over ten thousand years. Many of the Southern Kingdom’s commanders’ pupils constricted. Many of their number had once suffered at Emperor Hades’ hands. 

All of them knew that Emperor Hades….

Was the top expert beneath the three Realm Emperors! 

“Master!” When the panther-headed man appeared, Su Yiyun knew Emperor Hades had arrived.

All of this was simply too shocking, from the way the beasts had lowered their heads, to the yao pausing their charge, to the obvious terror written in their eyes. That was why it had taken Su Yiyun a moment to greet his master properly.

After greeting him, Su Yiyun glanced at the densely packed vicious beast army. Sensing their fear of Emperor Hades, he felt as if his blood were burning up.

Ten thousand beasts quivered and bowed at his feet. Amies shivered at the mere sight of him.

 Just how shocking was that?  

“You’ve worked hard.” 

“Master, I’ve handled this poorly.” Su Yiyun hung his head.

“You’ve already done very well. The entire Yao Kingdom mobilized, and you warded them off thanks to your attainments in foundations. With just this handful of vicious beasts at your disposal, you kept the enemy at bay for hours, preventing them from so much as touching the riverbank. This is already an enormous success.” Emperor Hades smiled and patted him on the shoulder comfortingly. “Leave the rest to me.”

“Master, an hour ago, I sent a request for aid. It shouldn’t be long before reinforcements arrive from the Divine Mountains,” said Su Yiyun.

Emperor Hades was briefly stunned. “Good. We rather need the help.” He glanced pointedly at Su Yiyun, indicating that he should stand behind him. Then, hands behind his back, he walked towards the fleeing beasts who’d already abandoned their weapons.

He gazed down at them, but not one beast dared raise their heads and meet his gaze.

The Hermit Emperor had yet to speak. He simply stared at them in silence, but as they knelt on the ground, they trembled violently, their breathing rushed and ragged. They said nothing, but it was a painful silence, as if someone were grabbing and squeezing their hearts.

“Hmph.” Suddenly, Emperor Hades snorted. It was just a snort, but it boomed like thunder in the beasts’ ears, like he’d taken a hammer to their chests. Sweat poured uncontrollably down their backs.

“You’ve disappointed me.” He shook his head, then led Su Yiyun all the way up to the front lines. When the yao of the Southern Kingdom saw Emperor Hades, they couldn’t help but tremble either, but their fear wasn’t as obvious as that of the vicious beasts. They kept a tight grip on their weapons, but they didn’t dare so much as breathe too loudly. 

“What a large army.” Emperor Hades gazed at the seemingly endless army, then nodded and smiled. Next, he looked up into the sky and laughed. “Jiao Hai, you must be around here somewhere.”

“Hahahaha….” Suddenly, there was a burst of wanton laughter from above the clouds. The laughter was like a series of draconic roars; just hearing it hurt the ears.

Shortly after, a middle-aged, green-horned man strode out from the cloud cover. His forehead was covered in scales.

This was the king of the Southern Kingdom, the Sea Overturning King, Jiao Hai.

He wasn’t a pure-blooded dragon, but rather, a flood dragon. 

“Emperor Hades, you’re just as imposing as back in the day. No one else could command such respect from those vicious beasts,” said Jiao Hai, his tone prideful. “No one else could terrify the armies of my Southern Kingdom like this either. Emperor Hades, I, Jiao Hai, admire you.”

“Let’s skip the pleasantries, shall we? I’ve heard too many in my time, and I’ve lost interest.” Emperor Hades’ expression was calm, and his tone was flat, even in the face of Jiao Hai’s surging aura. “You’ve rallied the Southern Kingdom’s entire army. Jiao Hai, it seems you take me rather seriously indeed.”

“Who in the Upper Three Realms would dare underestimate you, Emperor Hades? Even if the lichs arrived, they wouldn’t dare get complacent,” said Jiao Hai.

“That’s true,” said the Hermit Emperor with a laugh. “Right, a few months ago, weren’t the yao arguing endlessly about whether to invade the God Realm or not, with no resolution in sight? What…. Have you hawks seized power?” 

“Heh, I wouldn’t put it that way,” said Jiao Hai. “ We’ve merely split into two factions.”

“That so?”

“We couldn’t reach an agreement, so there was nothing further to discuss. If they want to keep striving for peace, I’ll just let them turtle up in their paltry little homelands while we go off and seize new territories. That’s all there is to it,” said Jiao Hai.

“But I heard that you’ve attacked the fox clans?” Emperor Hades frowned.

“I don’t know anything about that. Perhaps they’ve attacked due to a personal grudge against Su Qingyan? But I’m not concerned with that. All I care about is the god race’s territory,” laughed Jiao Hai. “Emperor Hades, might you make things convenient for me?”

“What?” Emperor Hades arched his brow.

 “If we keep fighting like this, it’ll result in heavy casualties, but we still need to siege Heavenly God City. If I lose too many troops here, it’ll increase the pressure on us in the later stages of this operation. Everyone knows you were dear friends with the Five Elements Great Emperor. Zhou Wu is currently on the throne. Why act as his guard dog?” 

Jiao Hai scrunched up his brows, then let out a sigh full of lamentation. “Actually, I respected the Five Elements Great Emperor a lot. Let me cross the river, and I’ll cut down that heartless monster, Zhou Wu, on your behalf. How ‘bout it?”

“Sure.” Emperor Hades chuckled and nodded, but Jiao Hai knew better than to take his words seriously. Jiao Hai had just been joking, so naturally, Emperor Hades had joked right back. 

“You can cross, but you’ll have to step across my dead body to do so. You want to cross my River Styx with just this paltry army, and you, with your half-dragon bloodline? It doesn’t seem quite possible, now does it?”

“It’s just as you say, Emperor Hades.” Jiao Hai merely laughed, seemingly not offended in the slightest. “Everyone knows that you’re the top expert under the Realm Emperors, and quite a few people say that your cultivation has long since exceeded theirs. I, Jiao Hai, am not foolish enough to even try contending with you on my own.”

“Then who else have you brought with you? All of you, come on it?”

“I’m here too.” Another horned man suddenly descended from the clouds. “Emperor Hades, long time no see!”