The Evilest Place and the Ancestral Sovereign

The dark passage was thick with yin energy, seeming to stretch on forever.

Two massive slabs of blue stone, one ahead and one behind, sandwiched the group as they moved forward. Those heavy stones, which should have been ponderous, now floated as lightly as feathers.

Keke was deeply perturbed. The small snow-white beast with a grass stalk in its mouth kept flashing through its mind, making the little creature restless for the first time.

Jin Sanyi and Wu Ming, on the other hand, were intensely excited. A safe passage to the most evil place—this meant they might reach the Eternal Light.

Before they knew it, they had emerged from the dark passage. In the vast open space, specks of light began to appear.

"What is that?" Wu Ming's eyes went wide.

Beautiful points of light sparkled like pearls embedded in the night sky, crystalline and shimmering.

Jin Sanyi paid little attention to those pearl-like lights, but Wu Ming was stunned to his core. He had seen speculations about the Eternal Light on the last page of the Artifact Refining Sect's supreme treasure manual. The mysterious aura emanating from the starry sky ahead was too similar to that final page.

Wu Ming felt he was touching the Eternal Light. His heart pounded faster, his mouth went dry, and he was ecstatic beyond measure.

Seeing him so unnerved, Jin Sanyi immediately realized that the gleaming radiance ahead might be extraordinary. "The sky is full of little stars, twinkling, twinkling, so bright," the little beast Keke muttered nonchalantly.

"Shh, shh, shh—"

Under the dome of heaven, the points of light suddenly blazed with dazzling brilliance. Like stars themselves, they shot out fierce divine rays that linked together.

A massive starry gate appeared in the sky, formed entirely from those pearl-like crystalline dots.

"Such extravagance!" Wu Ming nearly fainted from excitement. He believed that when this star gate was forged, some Eternal Light must have been mixed into it.

"This is the most durable spatial passage—it can connect several worlds and will not collapse even after endless ages," Jin Sanyi exclaimed. As an assassin, he was well-versed in stealth, concealment, and traversing space, so he recognized its true nature.

The inscriptions on the two blue stone slabs radiated specks of light that resonated with the star gate in the sky. A soft, holy glow enveloped them, and in the next instant, they appeared inside the star gate.

Before the ancient demon city, a dazzling beam of light streaked across the sky, sweeping toward Bai Qi and the others. As it drew near, even the Golden Divine Halberd and the Dark-Iron Seal felt a shiver of inadequacy—they simply could not resist it.

"Kill!"

The Martial Imprint roared with heaven-shaking fury, throwing caution to the wind. He raised his fist and smashed it toward the sky.

Hand of the Supreme Being! Heaven and earth!

A blinding cyan light shot straight up into the heavens for a thousand li. This was power on par with an Ancestral God—enough to shatter millions of stars, enough to pierce through a great world.

The Martial Imprint and that divine light tangled together, moving with inconceivable speed. No trace of their forms could be seen; the entire sky was filled with their afterimages and radiance.

"Boom!"

The Martial Imprint was pierced through.

That brilliant beam of light—

"A pure Ancestral God killing thought, merged with the origin of the great heavens. They have no independent consciousness, but they are terrifying beyond imagination. They can pierce through Ancestral God-level experts and are no less formidable than the killing light we encountered earlier." An ancient demon city surrounded by two Ancestral God killing thoughts—one could imagine the danger here.

None of them had any desire to investigate. Rushing in would be suicide.

But what shocked them was that after traveling only a few dozen li, another dead city appeared on the horizon. However, this one had no Ancestral God killing thoughts circling it—just a majestic, solitary city standing there.

"We have come to the depths of the Death World. It must be so." By now, Xiao Chen was increasingly convinced they had entered the Death World.

It was too similar to the legends of the Death World's depths.

So far, they had only glimpsed the tip of the iceberg.

"Interesting. I quite agree with that conclusion." Just then, an extremely cold voice suddenly spoke.

Xiao Chen, Bai Qi, and the others were greatly startled. Several li ahead, a tall figure appeared, his back to them.

The Martial Imprint gazed at the distant figure, his fighting spirit gradually rising. He shouted, "It's you! You found your way here?"

The tall figure slowly turned around on the hill, revealing his true face: long gray hair draped over his shoulders, fair skin, deep blue eyes like the ocean. He was a man of noble, elegant bearing.

"So you are the weapon of the Martial Ancestor?" The gray-haired man smiled with refined grace. "Interesting. You already have a true soul."

"You are the Otherworld Ancestral God, Li Huiyou!" The Martial Imprint ground his teeth. "Your ambitions know no bounds—you even found your way here."

Xiao Chen and Bai Qi were shocked. An Otherworld Ancestral God had tracked them here. The situation was extremely grave.

"To be precise, I am Li Huiyou's first incarnation, but you may also call me Li Huiyou. Back then, I suspected that your side's Ancestral Gods had a hidden card. My suspicions proved correct—something like the Eternal Light actually exists." Li Huiyou stared solemnly at the distant horizon.

"You risked your incarnation to come here, just to confirm your speculation?"

"Indeed."

Hearing this, the Martial Imprint relaxed somewhat. He said coldly, "Then things are simpler. Eliminate you, and all the trouble is solved."

"Hahaha!" Li Huiyou laughed uproariously. "You are nothing but a weapon, even if you have gained a soul. How dare you speak such arrogance!"

The Martial Imprint remained calm. "You are merely an incarnation, not even possessing a true soul. You are even less worthy of mention."

Just then, nine figures flew swiftly from ahead—nine powerful Half-Ancestors landed, arraying themselves behind Li Huiyou.

"You brought so many people?" The Martial Imprint's pupils contracted sharply.

"Back then, we four Ancestral Gods used our supreme divine power to forcibly open the path to the most evil place. But we were trapped in chaotic time-space for endless ages. Two Ancestral Gods fell forever. Only after paying such a tremendous price did we finally find this place." Li Huiyou's voice was cold, tinged with regret.

"So there is another Otherworld Ancestral God here?" The Martial Imprint keenly felt their disadvantage.

"Rest assured. I alone am enough to deal with you. The other Ancestral God did not come here—he was severely wounded and is now in deep slumber, recovering." Li Huiyou wore a faint sneer. "Strangely enough, of the four of us, only I entered as an incarnation. In theory, I am weaker than their true bodies, yet I alone emerged unscathed."

He appeared refined, but his temperament was extremely arrogant. He did not take the Martial Imprint seriously at all.

"Four Ancestral Gods!"

Behind him, Xiao Chen and Bai Qi exchanged glances. This was utterly terrifying. Fortunately, two had already been annihilated.

"Very well. I'll finish you first, then go kill that sleeping one." The Martial Imprint strode forward. At this moment, his aura continuously soared, swallowing mountains and rivers with boundless momentum. The fighting spirit of a martial artist exploded to its fullest.

"Clang!"

Radiant light flickered across Li Huiyou's body. Sharp metal spines emerged all over his skin—a gleaming silver Ancestral God battle suit, bristling with spikes that armored him from head to toe.

Xiao Chen could not help but silently complain. The Otherworld Ancestral God Babula he had seen before had eight spear-legs and a scorpion tail, and this one was equally bizarre, covered in sharp iron thorns. Both were exceedingly difficult to approach.

Seeing this, the Martial Imprint's body shuddered, emitting a booming "Weng" sound. A divine tree appeared in his hand. He drove his weapon soul to command his own body, the two becoming one—soul and weapon fused, his combat power skyrocketed.

Seeing this, Xiao Chen, Bai Qi, the Dark-Iron Seal, and the Golden Divine Halberd also turned their gaze to the nine Half-Ancestors opposite them. War was imminent.

But just then, one of the nine Otherworld Half-Ancestors secretly transmitted a message to Li Huiyou, reporting an important matter.

"What? Someone has beaten us to it? Why didn't you say so earlier!" Li Huiyou transformed into a beam of light, shooting forward at incredible speed. The nine Half-Ancestors followed closely, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

The Martial Imprint, Xiao Chen, and the others gave chase without hesitation. This time, the situation was extremely serious. The Eternal Light concerned the future safety of the Nine Provinces and the Four Worlds. If the Otherworld Ancestral God got there first, the consequences would be disastrous.

Along the way, they passed two more colossal ancient demon cities. Their oppressive majesty made their hearts tremble.

Ancient demon cities were so densely clustered—one could imagine that, even without considering the Eternal Light, the area ahead must be of great importance.

The most evil place was not far now. Soon, they rushed to their destination.

A hazy curtain of light, like a heavenly drape, blocked everything ahead. It was dim and misty, making it impossible to see what lay within.

The Martial Imprint immediately cried out, "This is the most evil place! I can sense the aura of the Eternal Light, just beyond that hazy curtain!"

Xiao Chen and the others had finally reached the true most evil place.

The Otherworld Ancestral God Li Huiyou, leading his nine Half-Ancestors, had already stopped before the light curtain. Not far from them stood another row of powerhouses, both sides locked in a standoff, the atmosphere extremely tense.

"That is—" Xiao Chen's eyes shot out two divine beams. He stared in shock at the other party.

On the other side, the leader was as white and pure as jade—a skeleton. His fire seed overflowed from his skull, enveloping his entire body in a shimmering, crystalline glow that radiated the aura of an upper Ancestral God.

This was an Ancestral Sovereign of the Death World.

A powerful fire seed being, having reached such a realm, could regenerate flesh and blood with a single thought. But he had not done so.

An absolute powerhouse.

A true Ancestral Sovereign was no different from an Ancestral God—their strength was equally unmatched.

Behind him stood eight fire seed beings in a row, all existing in skeletal form. Four were white bones, and four were colored diamond bone bodies. They had all reached the sovereign realm and could also regenerate flesh and blood, but like the Ancestral Sovereign at the front, they had not done so.

The three parties had encountered one another here, each regarding the others with hostility.

Without question, the powerful Ancestral Sovereign easily suppressed both the Martial Imprint and Li Huiyou in terms of raw power.

Just then, within the domain shrouded by the light curtain, a divine rainbow flashed with breathtaking brilliance—so bright that even the curtain could not conceal it—streaking across the sky and flying through that region.

"The Eternal Light!" The Martial Imprint stared in shock at the divine rainbow, which was gradually fading away.

"So this is the place. That was just a small beam of radiance. There should be a massive source of Eternal Light." The Otherworld Ancestral God Li Huiyou also wore a grave expression.

"Within the domain covered by the light curtain, besides the Eternal Light, there are likely other things," Xiao Chen judged.

"You are not beings of the Death World," the powerful Ancestral Sovereign said. His voice was not loud, but it pressed down on heaven and earth, causing even the light curtain before him to tremble with his words.

"Where we come from is unimportant. Shall we join forces to collect the Eternal Light?" The Otherworld Ancestral God Li Huiyou naturally recognized the Ancestral Sovereign's strength. Since his true body had not arrived, he could not contend with this Ancestral Sovereign, so he spoke thus.

The powerful Ancestral Sovereign, his entire body translucent and crystalline, nodded his skeletal head. "This region does need to be opened. It blocks the path to the deepest part of the Death World." Then he shook his head. "But why would I need to join forces with you?"

Not far away, Xiao Chen was greatly astonished. Forgetting his own situation, he could not help asking, "Does this place still not count as the deepest part of the Death Continent?"

"Here? Far from it. This is merely a special region." The Death World's Ancestral Sovereign answered thus.

This left Xiao Chen profoundly shaken. The deepest part of the Death World was still far ahead. It seemed that in the past, he had truly only seen a corner of the Death Continent.