The Grand Death King's Demand

Over a dozen powerful sovereigns knelt on one knee before the king in the darkness. Even Xiao Chen and the experienced Tianwaitian felt their scalps tingle—a testament to how extraordinary the approaching figure must be.

Footsteps drew nearer, each step hammering into the hearts of the listeners, until at last it seemed a giant mallet was pounding against the chests of the seven, causing blood to seep from their lips.

It was an unbearable pressure—one with heaven and earth, synchronized with the pulse of the world, dominating the power of this realm, transforming into the will of heaven and earth.

A terrifying sight: the celestial palace, made of materials so tough that even sovereigns could not break or shake it, now leaped several feet into the air with every footfall.

The oppressive atmosphere made it hard to breathe.

At last, a slender figure emerged from the darkness. His face was deathly pale, almost sickly, his body wrapped in thick black nether robes.

He was young and beautiful, with a full forehead, long thick lashes, a straight nose, moist red lips, and snow-white teeth. The only discordant note was his eyes—completely dead gray, devoid of any luster.

Not a woman, yet more beautiful than any woman. Soft black hair curled like waves, his snow-white skin was delicate and smooth, his slender frame slightly frail, and his black nether robes rustled in the wind.

It was this beautiful, sickly young man who brought such crushing pressure that thirty-odd sovereigns knelt in submission.

Fortunately, he stopped. The footsteps ceased, or Xiao Chen feared his heart would crack and be coughed up.

"Six," the beautiful man said, his voice young but carrying a bone-deep chill that made one feel as if trapped in a frozen wilderness.

This was a kind of "force"—the force of a Half-Ancestor—every movement resonating with the great cosmos. His words were law, his speech was principle.

His dead-gray eyes swept emptily over the seven before him. The beautiful, eerie man stood as still as a mountain, inspiring involuntary awe.

Tianwaitian steadied himself and asked, "Who are you?"

The pale-faced young man parted his red lips. "Rexiao."

Hearing this name, Xiong immediately turned ashen and cried out, "Grand Death King Rexiao?! That's impossible! He was annihilated fifty thousand years ago! Which Rexiao are you?"

"Grand Death King Rexiao."

The voice was still light, but it struck like thunder in Xiong's ears, his mind roaring.

"How is this possible? The Grand Death King fell long ago! How can he reappear in the world?" Xiong seemed utterly stunned, murmuring to himself.

"What is the origin of this Death King Rexiao?" Renwairen asked softly.

Clearly, Xiong was shaken, still muttering, "This... impossible..."

There was no need to ask—this Rexiao must have been a terrifying figure fifty thousand years ago to make Xiong react this way. It took him a long time to calm down.

"Grand Death King Rexiao was once the most fearsome existence on the Death Continent!" Xiong's first words gave that verdict. He swallowed hard. "Back then, the Holy Ancestor of my Devil lineage had reached the ninth heaven of the sovereign realm, the highest in endless ages, the upper demon ancestor most likely to break into the Ancestral Sovereign realm—he could already sweep the entire Death Continent—but he was still... beaten to death by Grand Death King Rexiao."

Grand Death King Rexiao's hollow eyes held no light. He glanced coldly at Xiong. "You are the descendant of that devil."

"Was he... an Ancestral Sovereign?" Renwairen asked.

"Not yet, but only a hair's breadth away. One foot was already inside." After saying this, Xiong stared at Death King Rexiao. "What exactly do you want?"

"I need six of you sovereigns to perform a sacrifice for me," he said, expressionless and cold. Though spoken flatly, the words made everyone shiver.

"You say sacrifice and we just sacrifice?" Renwairen, despite his childlike form, had a fierce temper. "One foot into the Ancestral Sovereign realm and you think you can make us offer ourselves? Try it!"

In a flash, Renwairen transformed into a rainbow beam and charged. He had already understood the situation; the Grand Death King had made his decision and could not be swayed. Better to fight tooth and nail.

The rainbow was dazzling, moving at extreme speed, and truly struck Rexiao's body.

"Boom!"

The entire Hall of Light shook violently, as if about to collapse at any moment.

But the result was shocking.

The Grand Death King stood unmoved, steady as a mountain, as if he had not been struck at all.

Renwairen, who had reached the Half-Ancestor realm with profound cultivation and immense magical power, had both arms drooping, completely fractured, and blood sprayed from his mouth as he flipped backward.

This result was chilling. The terrifying attack of a Half-Ancestor had not harmed the Grand Death King in the slightest.

Xiao Chen quickly went to support him. "Are you all right?"

In that instant, Tianwaitian moved, leaving an afterimage at his original position and appearing directly before the Grand Death King, both palms striking down like blades.

Rexiao remained motionless, his dead-gray eyes as calm as an abyss.

With two dull thuds, Tianwaitian's palms struck the Death King solidly. But the hands that could shatter mountains and summon meteorites failed to wound Rexiao at all. He too was bounced back, both arms broken.

However, this time a dozen drops of bright red, eerie blood landed on the Death King's body. Hissing sounds arose. Grand Death King Rexiao's black nether robes turned to ash.

That was the blood of an Ancestral Sovereign from the floor of the Hall of Light, which Tianwaitian had secretly gathered and flung at the Death King.

Yet the result was still terrifying and shocking. The Ancestral Sovereign's blood did not harm the Grand Death King. Beneath the black nether robes was a layer of metal armor glinting with dark light; the Ancestral Sovereign's blood only left scratches on its surface.

"Ancestral Sovereign's blood, is it? Even if it contains killing intent, it cannot harm me." Grand Death King Rexiao extended a jade-like finger, casually wiped a few blood beads from the dark iron armor, and let them roll across his palm without injury.

"You truly are infinitely close to the Ancestral Sovereign realm. Your other foot is almost inside," Xiong said, staring fixedly at Rexiao.

"Fifty thousand years ago, if the master of this celestial palace had not sealed me here, I would already have become an Ancestral Sovereign!" As he said this, Grand Death King Rexiao lost his cold composure and roared at the sky. "You wasted five whole millennia of my time!"

The deathly roar was filled with a sinister, terrifying aura. Death-attribute power surged through heaven and earth, even dispersing the gray mist in the sky.

Xiong pointed at the surrounding thirty-odd sovereigns. "They are all dead, turned into mindless puppets. You... why did you revive?"

"Because I am Grand Death King Rexiao."

That simple reason showed Rexiao's confidence and arrogance, and also his immense power and terror. The facts were plain: after being sealed by an Ancestral Sovereign, he had revived!

Fifty thousand years ago, an upper Ancestral Sovereign had walked out from the depths of the Death Continent, and none dared disobey. Many sovereigns were captured and sealed within stone pillars in the celestial palace, their war souls extracted to become death puppets—an irreversible process. Rexiao had broken that law.

"How exactly did you revive?" Xiong wanted to know the truth.

"Who am I? I am Rexiao. How could I be like them?" The Grand Death King pointed at the surrounding thirty-odd sovereigns. "My battle will never die; my hatred never ceases. Even an Ancestral Sovereign could not extinguish my resentment."

As he spoke, the Death King's hollow eyes became even emptier. He laughed wildly. "When a supreme being wielding a War Sword charged into the celestial palace and fought the Ancestral Sovereign for three days and nights, finally shattering his soul with the War Sword... I, hahaha..."

Grand Death King Rexiao laughed hysterically, his pale face looking exceptionally fierce, almost grotesque. He roared with laughter: "It was precisely because deep within the puppet's soul, the hatred for him hid a spark of my consciousness. I devoured the remaining half of his corpse and finally broke free from the puppet body, fully awakening!"

Devouring half an Ancestral Sovereign's corpse... that was too terrifying! An ordinary sovereign could not withstand it!

When they saw the pool of eerie blood on the Hall of Light floor and the three broken swords, Xiao Chen and the others felt a chill of dread.

Though the Grand Death King had returned to cold composure, they all felt the place was sinister beyond measure. This was a madman, not as calm as he appeared on the surface.

"Since you have awakened and devoured the Ancestral Sovereign's flesh and blood, why still make trouble for us?" Xiong demanded.

"Precisely because I devoured the Ancestral Sovereign's flesh and blood, I need you to perform the sacrifice. The Ancestral Sovereign's flesh and blood essence cannot fully merge with me; I cannot truly step into the Ancestral Sovereign ranks." As he spoke, he looked toward the three old men formed from Yin-Yang trees. "Don't think that hiding in the tree bodies keeps me from knowing you exist. I was merely fattening you up like pigs. Now that I have awakened, and the number of six sovereigns is right, the time to slaughter has come!"

Everything was clear. The critical situation lay before them.

"So you have read the Doomsday Prophecy?" Xiao Chen asked.

"Naturally."

"Then you surely know what is written in it. Can you tell us? Let us die with understanding."

"It depicts your end: death, and sacrifice for me."

"And?"

"You need not know the rest."

"You fool! The Ancestral Sovereign was playing with you!" Xiong suddenly sneered, extremely disrespectful. "Do you really think anyone can foresee events thirty thousand years in the future? It must be an illusion to confuse your mind. You are incredibly stupid. We all saw through it just now, but you have been deceived for so many years."

"Haha..." Tianwaitian also laughed loudly. "How ridiculous. A fool still boasting. I think you will never break through to the Ancestral Sovereign realm in this lifetime."

Rexiao was not angered at all. His eyes were like two pitch-black pits of death. Calm and unruffled, he said, "You need not provoke me. My emotions cannot be shaken even if an Ancestral Sovereign were to revive. I can tell you that everything recorded in the Doomsday Prophecy is true. That year, the Ancestral Sovereign gathered the full set of Oracle Bone Diagrams and entered the deepest part of the continent, a mysterious place where he learned of future events. But that very knowledge brought about his death. Before he died, he scattered the Oracle Bone Diagrams across the continent. The Doomsday Prophecy... what it contains, I will not tell you. In the coming century, you will not only taste the torment of death but also suffer the agony of never knowing this great secret."

At this point, there was nothing more to say. They could not sit still waiting for death.

Tianwaitian, Renwairen, and Xiong each grabbed a blood-dripping broken sword. The three kind-faced old tree men emanated Yin and Yang energies, black-and-white Taiji fish swirling around them. Xiao Chen re-entered the stone statue, summoned twenty-seven War Swords, and the Seven-Colored Sacred Tree blazed with light.

But the mighty Rexiao, one foot already into the Ancestral Sovereign realm, was far beyond what they could contend with.

He simply pressed a palm gently in the void, and all seven were blasted away, multiple bones broken throughout their bodies. He removed his iron armor and covered the Ancestral Sovereign's blood, blocking the skyward radiance. At the same time, he spat out a breath of Yin energy, plunging the originally blood-lit hall into pitch-black darkness.

Thirty-odd powerful sovereigns silently entered the hall, surrounding the seven.

"Fight! We will not just wait for death!"

But everything was futile. How could seven fight thirty-odd sovereigns? And the Grand Death King was overseeing them!

After only half a quarter-hour, the seven could no longer hold out. Death could come at any moment.

"I would rather die than let you have your way!" Xiong, though coarse, was fiercely resolute in a crisis. He tried to self-destruct his soul, to annihilate body and spirit, so Rexiao could not get what he wanted.

"Bang!"

A gentle deathly beam struck Xiong, freezing him in place.

"I will not let you destroy your own souls," Grand Death King Rexiao said, his beautiful pale face as calm as a millpond.

Even wanting to self-destruct and annihilate body and spirit was impossible. After the thirty-odd sovereigns suppressed the seven, Rexiao repeatedly acted to bind them.

The thirty-odd sovereigns silently withdrew from the pitch-black hall, leaving it utterly quiet, nearly dead.

"Begin the sacrifice for me..."

Death King Rexiao stood like a demonic statue, death energy sweeping across heaven and earth.

The horror began: first the three tree sovereigns, then Xiong, Renwairen, and Tianwaitian. Flesh and blood burned, souls burned, coalescing into specks of light that enveloped Rexiao.

"Sacrifice! Open the barrier of my soul! Break through the obstruction for me!"

Low roars echoed in the flickering hall, spread throughout the celestial palace, and rushed out into the world.

This was the most cruel and inhuman torture. Not a one-time sacrifice, but lasting a full hundred years!

Every day at a fixed time, part of their blood and soul would burn, transforming into light that converged on Rexiao, helping him break his soul barrier. The remaining time, Rexiao would use his arts to make the six powerful sovereign souls repair themselves.

Their freedom was imprisoned, like livestock being fattened. An unimaginable torment, like being trapped in a hell of endless suffering.

Xiao Chen's soul had not reached the sovereign realm; he did not personally experience that pain, but he watched it all helplessly, unable to stop it, feeling equally furious and tormented.

Thirty years passed in a flash. The six sovereigns had been tortured beyond recognition, not a trace of human form left, yet they could not die.

When the fiftieth year came, even their iron wills were on the verge of collapse.

Where was hope?

Were the four characters of the Doomsday Prophecy meaningless?

In the fifty-fifth year, when the Grand Death King's pale face had gained a hint of ruddiness, his body trembled slightly.

Behind him, at the entrance of the pitch-black hall, stood a withered figure. No one knew how long he had been there, silently staring at him.