The Prophecy of the Doom

Xiao Chen stepped onto the massive stone steps and surveyed the half-wrecked Ancestral Lord Warship. It was shattered, nearly broken apart, covered in traces of annihilation. He and the others stared at the few small, blood-colored paw prints, their hearts filled with foreboding.

They searched the interior of the warship carefully. There were many dark red stains inside—the dried remnants of blood. This was a bad omen.

"Bam!"

Xiao Chen pried open a deck panel with force, clearing away a heap of debris from the warship. Hundreds of skeletons lay exposed before them.

"This..."

The Nine-Headed Serpent sucked in a cold breath. So many corpses, so appalling. These had to be cultivators of the Nine Provinces who had fled here, only to meet their end.

Upon closer inspection, they found that the bodies had not been corroded by the gray mist of this place. Though broken and dilapidated, the Ancestral Lord Warship could still resist the erosion of the dread power within that mist.

"Every one of them died from severe wounds," the Little Defiant Dragon said after a careful examination, making that judgment.

Most of the white bones were covered in cracks. They had suffered unimaginable injuries in life, and one could faintly sense the lingering power of divine laws.

This was the remnant aura of divine laws left by Super Ancestral Gods or Supreme Ancestral Gods. It was the work of peak figures—they had shaken the Ancestral Lord Warship and destroyed everyone inside.

But over a hundred thousand years had passed. Many of the bones had decayed; even a light touch turned them to ash. It was impossible to identify who was who.

Perhaps that skull with the hole through it had been Liu Mu, perhaps that skeleton with its upper body crushed had been Niu Ren, perhaps the few remaining ribs had been Chen Fang...

Xiao Chen, the Little Defiant Dragon, the Nine-Headed Serpent, and Sha Polang were both sorrowful and enraged. They stood there in silence for a long time.

"Rest in peace. Those who slaughtered you will not endure forever. I will offer up their lives..."

Xiao Chen stowed the wreckage of the Ancestral Lord Warship. Then they continued up the stone steps and arrived before the great palace. At the entrance to the central grand hall, dozens of enormous stone pillars stood on either side, supporting the first tier of the palace. Each was like a sky-supporting pillar.

Xiao Chen remembered well: within each pillar, a sovereign had once been sealed, a sight that had made his hair stand on end in the past. Dozens of sovereigns had fallen here.

But now, coming here again, it was no longer as perilous as before, with danger lurking at every step.

This time, Xiao Chen directly pointed a finger and blasted open the tightly shut gate of the Death Heavenly Palace. He strode in first, now that he had reached the Ninth Heaven of the Half-Ancestor realm, he feared nothing.

This time, no rotting evil corpse sovereign came out to ambush them. The dark grand hall was utterly still, without a sound.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Clear footsteps echoed as Xiao Chen and the others walked forward. Their footsteps resounded on the stone floor of the first empty hall.

They could easily have concealed their footsteps, but they chose not to. After witnessing the tragedy aboard the Ancestral Lord Warship, they needed an outlet. If any evil corpse dared to ambush them in this Death Heavenly Palace, it would be the perfect target for their anger.

Passing through the first great hall and entering the gloomy second grand hall, Xiao Chen's eyes shot out two brilliant beams in the darkness.

"So someone is here after all..."

Crossing through many shadowy halls without altering his stride, Xiao Chen maintained a steady rhythm, as if stepping to a certain beat. With his powerful divine consciousness, he locked onto that faint, elusive presence.

"Who dares trespass in my heavenly palace?"

The powerful being hidden in the depths of the darkness had long since awakened from slumber. At that moment, he could no longer remain calm, and a deep voice rang out.

Xiao Chen said nothing. He led the others forward, still unhurriedly approaching, the rhythm of his steps never changing. Slowly, the entire Death Heavenly Palace began to tremble under his feet, vibrating in sync with his pulse.

"This is my forbidden ground! Trespassers die!"

The voice in the Death Heavenly Palace rolled like thunder, growing louder and mightier, surging toward them like a violent wave.

But when it reached Xiao Chen, it all subsided. The energy vanished without a trace.

"Who are you people?" The being deep within the grand hall clearly realized the strength of his enemies, and his tone was no longer so forceful.

A flash of light bloomed—a brilliant multicolored radiance shone in the deepest hall. Xiao Chen and the others appeared there directly.

The blood of the Ancestral Lord that had once stained the floor was gone; the place was now shrouded in darkness.

The sound of dripping water echoed. Five bright blood beads suddenly materialized and shot toward Xiao Chen and the others.

"A grain of sand contains a world; a blade of grass encompasses a heaven." In that moment, the five drops of blood transformed into five blood-colored worlds, sealing each of them separately.

"Trespassing into my forbidden ground—you must bear the fury of a Supreme Ancestral Lord..."

The rumbling voice reverberated through the hall, but soon it stopped, because the five blood-red worlds silently collapsed. Five figures stood still in the hall, unchanged in the slightest.

"Great Dread Nether King. Over a hundred thousand years have passed, and you've grown quite impressive..." It was only then that Xiao Chen finally spoke.

"An old acquaintance?"

At that moment, a slender figure slowly walked out from the darkness, gradually revealing his true appearance. His face was pale, almost sickly, his entire body shrouded in thick black nether armor.

He was a young and beautiful powerhouse—a broad forehead, thick lashes, a straight nose, moist red lips, teeth as white as snow. The only discordant note was his eyes, which shifted between the blue of sapphire and a lifeless gray.

He was not a woman, yet more beautiful than one. His soft black hair curled in waves, his skin was as smooth as snow, his slender frame slightly thin, and his black nether armor rustled in the wind.

This beautiful, sickly young man exuded an oppressive aura of power. He was the Great Dread Nether King of ages past.

But now he was no longer a Ninth Heaven sovereign; he had transcended to become a seventh-heaven Ancestral Lord!

A terrifying potential had been unlocked. In a mere hundred thousand years, he had achieved a great leap, taking an enormous step forward.

All his former deathly stillness was gone. At this moment, he resembled a divine Buddha with a flower in his hand, possessing an ethereal, transcendent charm.

The Great Dread Nether King's sapphire-like eyes flickered with a hint of surprise. His crystalline red lips parted slightly: "So it's you, that ant from before..."

"Bam!"

The answer he received was a huge hand, like a millstone, slapping him across the face and sending him flying.

"Boom!"

Dust billowed. A large section of the Death Heavenly Palace was shattered, but soon the broken halls reassembled—some mysterious force allowed the palace to restore itself.

"You haven't properly assessed your position."

Xiao Chen stepped forward, no longer concealing his power. His divine consciousness exploded outward, sealing the entire Death Heavenly Palace.

Looking at this Great Dread Nether King, who had once refined Heaven Beyond Heaven, Man Beyond Man, and Hero Bear for decades and tormented him for a long time, Xiao Chen approached slowly and said, "I think you should know how to deal with me by now."

"Impossible!" The Great Dread Nether King's delicate face was filled with shock. His transcendent aura vanished; he was no longer composed or confident. "The ant I once trampled underfoot has grown to this level in just over a hundred thousand years..."

"Bam!"

The millstone-sized hand slapped down again. Even though the Great Dread Nether King blocked with both hands, he could not resist. His body was sent flying once more, blood spraying from his mouth.

"You are very unwise."

Xiao Chen advanced step by step, calmly staring down at the Great Dread Nether King.

At this moment, Ruixiao's face was filled with shock. He had never imagined that the little ant he had tortured for decades had grown to such a terrifying level.

"How did you do it?" he asked, unwilling to accept it.

"Does asking that matter?" Xiao Chen sneered.

"You want to kill me..."

"Did you think you could leave this place alive?" Xiao Chen glared at this former great figure.

"I never expected that a moment of mercy back then would leave me such a great calamity. I truly should not have spared your life..." Though the Great Dread Nether King was in danger, he still maintained an elegant, transcendent demeanor, wiping the blood from his lips with a snow-white silk handkerchief.

"Save your superiority. Back then, it wasn't that you didn't want to kill me, but that you were too twisted—you tortured us for decades and wanted to act only when the Martial Ancestor stopped you." Having said this, Xiao Chen struck again, still simply swinging his palm.

"Bam!"

The Great Dread Nether King resisted with all his might, but he was thrown headlong without question. His long hair broke in many places, his neat robes were torn and tattered, making him look very disheveled.

Rage flared in his eyes. The other party clearly did not see him as an equal opponent at all; it was a condescending posture, as if teaching a child a lesson, casually striking him down.

What he found utterly unbearable was this condescending attitude—exactly the same stance he had once shown when he had humiliated the other party. Now the other party was returning the favor blow by blow, a thorough slap in the face.

"I'll give you a chance. Tell me where Heaven Beyond Heaven, Man Beyond Man, and Hero Bear are..."

Xiao Chen's voice was calm, but anxiety grew in his heart. He had sensed the lingering auras of those few here.

"Hahaha..." The Great Dread Nether King laughed maniacally. He had just made a breakthrough after bitter cultivation for over a hundred thousand years, and now he was being slapped mercilessly—it gave him a crushing sense of failure.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Laughing at your ridiculousness. I have already become an Ancestral Lord. Is there any need to investigate their fate?" The Great Dread Nether King mocked him, and his depressed mood improved somewhat. He was a proud man, always looking down on others; the previous feelings had been hard for him to bear.

But that feeling did not last long. A large hand had already reached out, containing a thousand divine laws and ten thousand Dao rhythms—impossible to dodge, impossible to resist. He was firmly caught in that palm.

What seemed like a simple blow represented Xiao Chen's ultimate sublimation of technique. Xiao Chen's heart was filled with shock and fury as he seized the seventh-heaven Great Dread Nether King and demanded, "Did you really devour them?"

"Bam!"

Then the Great Dread Nether King was slammed heavily to the ground, a large foot pressing down on his body.

"You killed my master! I'll fight you!" Sha Polang understood what had happened. Filled with grief and rage, he charged over and began to beat Ruixiao violently.

Poor Nether King—his strength was extraordinary, but he was pinned down by Xiao Chen and could not move at all. Sha Polang beat him until his face was swollen and unrecognizable, his elegant demeanor completely gone.

"Explode!"

The Great Dread Nether King roared. He could not endure this humiliation. He wanted to self-destruct, annihilating his primordial spirit while also gravely wounding Xiao Chen and the others.

If a seventh-heaven Ancestral Lord self-destructed, the destructive force would be unimaginable. But at that moment, the Stone-Man King Puppet emerged, sealing the combat divine domain. It froze the Nether King's consciousness, making it impossible for him to even think, as if fixed in a motionless void.

"I won't let you die—you cannot die even if you want to." The Stone-Man King Puppet vanished, and Xiao Chen personally sealed his consciousness. With powerful divine thought, he began to search the Nether King's sea of consciousness.

Soon, he learned that the Great Dread Nether King's current achievement was no accident. He had been suppressed in this heavenly palace for fifty to sixty thousand years; otherwise, he would have ascended to the Ancestral Lord realm on his own.

Then, he had devoured the corpse of the original master of the palace, used Heaven Beyond Heaven, Man Beyond Man, and Hero Bear as catalysts, and also absorbed the soul power of dozens of sovereigns from the Death Heavenly Palace. After more than a hundred thousand years of bitter cultivation, he had finally taken that great step.

"Hmm, that is..." In the sea of consciousness of the Great Dread Nether King, Xiao Chen detected a faint glimmer of light—the lingering aura of Heaven Beyond Heaven and the others.

Xiao Chen immediately used his power to draw out those few weak specks of light. Several souls, so weak they might vanish at any moment, were nearly completely extinguished, with only faint traces of radiance remaining.

"Master..." Sha Polang cried out immediately.

"I never expected that what I changed was not my own fate..." At that moment, Ruixiao emitted a mental fluctuation full of regret.

"From the prophecy book, I read my own ending. It recorded that after using six souls as a catalyst to advance to the Ancestral Lord realm, I would die without a doubt. I refused to accept this—I wanted to defy heaven and change fate. So I did not completely devour the six. If these six were not truly annihilated, it would be equivalent to changing history, and my fate would also change..."

The Great Dread Nether King glared at Xiao Chen, filled with hatred. If he had known it would end like this, he would never have left the soul flames of these six alive. He had failed to change his own fate but had successfully reversed the fate of the other six. He felt utterly ridiculous—everything had been futile, working for others, personally twisting their destinies...

At this moment, Xiao Chen was deeply astonished. He quickly began to search the Great Dread Nether King's memories, trying to find the complete prophecy.

Finally, he saw part of the content: Fate can be changed; no one can completely dominate...

But just as he reached the beginning of the subsequent passage and tried to delve deeper, the prophetic imprint within the Great Dread Nether King's memory vanished without a trace. At that moment, the Great Dread Nether King himself became confused.

"Is the so-called prophecy so elusive? A memory that was there has simply disappeared?" Xiao Chen found it extremely bizarre. His powerful divine consciousness swept in all directions, and he was shocked to sense a mysterious, ineffable aura around him. In an instant, he summoned the Stone-Man King Puppet, and at the same time, the Divine Diagram, the Ancient Scroll, and the Heavenly Mark flew out together. He was on high alert, ready for battle.

"Who is it? Show yourself!" Xiao Chen shouted. "Since you have such means—erasing something from the sea of consciousness of an Ancestral Lord at will—you must have earth-shattering power and fear nothing. Come out and face me!"

Hearing this, the Little Defiant Dragon, Babra, Sha Polang, and the Nine-Headed Serpent also showed alarm, preparing for a great battle.

"Quick... go... save... Keke..."

At that moment, a weak soul fluctuation suddenly emerged.

Heaven Beyond Heaven had just regained a sliver of consciousness when he sent this mental wave.

"What? What did you say? Where is Keke?" Xiao Chen hurriedly channeled soul force into him.

"I... know where it is. Quick... go save it... it is sealed in..."

"Sigh..." At that moment, a sigh echoed simultaneously throughout the Death Heavenly Palace, making everyone's hair stand on end.

It was too terrifying—right there, as if right beside them!

Even someone as powerful as Xiao Chen, alongside the Stone-Man King Puppet beside him, had not detected any trace.

"Sigh..."

Another cold sigh sounded, right at their ears. The icy aura seemed to have already touched their skin, making all their hairs stand on end.

It was truly enough to make their scalps tingle and chills run down their spines. The cold, dark Death Heavenly Palace seemed to harbor immense danger!

The faint soul flames of Heaven Beyond Heaven, Man Beyond Man, and Hero Bear nearly went out then and there, unable to remain stable under the assault of the icy aura. Xiao Chen quickly collected them.