Chapter 1710: The Curtain of War
"Finally broke through."
Qianye Ying'er appeared beside Yun Che, giving him an up-and-down glance. "With the help of the ancient yin energy from the Eternal Dark Bone Sea, crossing two minor realms in the Divine Sovereign Realm in one year... At this rate, along with your Evil God's Mysterious Vein seemingly having no 'bottleneck,' in about four or five more years, you'll be able to break through the limit of the Divine Sovereign Realm and achieve Divine Lord."
"No need to say more." Yun Che turned directly: "Return to the Jiehun Realm."
Back at the Jiehun Sacred Domain, the demonesses Chan Yi and Yu Wu were already greeting them: "Greetings, Demon Lord."
Under the "Dark Growth" of this past year, all the demonesses, Moon Devourers, and Yan Mo had achieved a deeper resonance with the demon god powers they had inherited. Yu Wu and Chan Yi's cultivation had thus made tremendous progress, directly entering the ninth level of the Divine Lord Realm.
Under normal cultivation and resonance speed, such progress would have taken at least a thousand years.
"And your master?" Yun Che asked.
"Reporting to the Demon Lord, the master has not been in the Sacred Domain during this time. However, the master has already received news of the Demon Lord's breakthrough and should return soon."
As Chan Yi's voice fell, a soft, gentle voice came to her ears: "My Demon Lord, are you simply this impatient?"
Everyone knew that this was about Yun Che's impatience for "revenge," but when uttered from Chi Wuyue's lips, it sounded like amorous teasing in a spring boudoir. Yu Wu and Chan Yi's cheeks instantly flushed with a faint rosy hue, and their heads drooped slightly.
Chi Wuyue appeared, still as enchanting and peerlessly beautiful as ever... but with a slight trace of weariness.
Since Yun Che was crowned Demon Lord, most of his time was spent cultivating, bestowing Eternal Calamity's favor on experts from all realms, and granting Dark Growth to the core forces. The layout inside and outside the Northern Divine Region was all borne on Chi Wuyue's shoulders alone.
"Tenth-level Divine Sovereign is achieved." Yun Che's expression was blank, but a faint black aura surged on his body: "It can begin!"
For dark profound energy, Yun Che possessed the most extreme control. Such a slight loss of control over darkness was far too rare for Yun Che.
He truly... had long been impatient.
In these years in the Northern Divine Region, the demon within his heart had been raging, wanting to break through his body with every breath.
"Good." Not like Qianye Ying'er, who tried to dissuade him again, Chi Wuyue slowly nodded: "The chessboard is also set. Next is to raise this curtain of darkness."
"But before that, we need to re-clarify all possible variables." Chi Wuyue's eyes shifted gently: "Yun Che, regarding the first 'stage,' do you still insist on that place now?"
"Yes!"
Yun Che raised his hand, and a gray-white cauldron appeared before him.
It was the Void Cauldron, which he had forcibly seized when he killed Venerable Tai Yin in the Tai Chu Divine Realm.
As a divine legacy artifact of the Zhou Tian God Realm, the Void Cauldron was considered one of the strongest spatial profound artifacts not only in the Zhou Tian God Realm but also throughout the Eastern Divine Region.
The super-large dimensional array that had previously connected the Zhou Tian God Realm to the edge of Chaos due to the Crimson Calamity was built with the Void Cauldron as its core carrier.
However, the core power of the Void Cauldron needed Zhou Tian divine power to activate. In the hands of outsiders, even if it could be opened, it would only become a useless dead cauldron.
Chi Wuyue reached out, moved the Void Cauldron in front of her, and directly put it away, then said softly: "Speaking of which, the Zhou Tian God Realm did bring some good news not long ago."
"What news?" Qianye Ying'er asked.
"The Zhou Tian God Realm is preparing to establish a new crown prince, exactly one month from now. So soon, it surprised me a little." Chi Wuyue said lightly.
After being granted Dark Resonance by Yun Che, even if Northern Domain profound practitioners left the dark environment, they could fully control and conceal their dark aura, no longer needing to worry about losing control and being detected instantly.
Thus, the information acquisition between the Northern Divine Region and other divine regions had long begun to show a huge deviation... The three other divine regions were completely unaware of this and had no time to realize it.
"Zhou Qingfeng?" Qianye Ying'er directly thought of the most likely candidate, then sneered: "Just another waste."
Among the same generation of the Zhou Tian God Realm, there wasn't a single person worthy of her attention.
"Who it is doesn't matter." Chi Wuyue smiled faintly: "After receiving this news, I went with the flow and helped Zhou Tian widely promote it, but I nearly exhausted Hua Jin. If the Demon Lord has leisure time, don't forget to bestow some 'rain and dew,' oh."
"...Indeed, it's a good timing." Yun Che said coldly.
"Oh?" Chi Wuyue's eyes suddenly shifted, and her smile bloomed, instantly becoming incomparably enchanting: "So, does the Demon Lord not oppose rewarding Hua Jin with 'rain and dew'? Then later, I'll have Hua Jin go to receive the reward, alright?"
"Rewarding only one, aren't you afraid of neglecting the other eight demonesses?" Qianye Ying'er snorted lightly, her brows slanting with a faint smile: "Why not have all nine demonesses together, to avoid partiality? He would certainly be very happy!"
"Before entering the 'stage,' I will naturally grant them another Dark Resonance." Yun Che dropped a sentence and turned to leave.
Chi Wuyue gave a soft exclamation, then burst into laughter: "What a lack of romance."
Qianye Ying'er said coldly: "Finally at this step, his mind must be filled with the scenes from back then."
"This is also why I didn't try to persuade him again." Chi Wuyue's charming smile slowly faded, and a coldness silently condensed in her dark eyes: "Throughout this year, I have been watching the changes in the Northern Divine Region, weighing the possible future battle situation."
"Although, in terms of upper-level combat power, the Northern Divine Region is still far inferior to any one of the Eastern, Western, and Southern Divine Regions... But the curtain of war can indeed be raised."
"Because the core that decides victory, defeat, and ultimate fate is not the comprehensive strength of both sides, but... Yun Che!"
There was no denying that the upper-level power of the Northern Divine Region had changed dramatically in this past year, but it was still far inferior to any other divine region. However, Qianye Ying'er was not at all surprised by Chi Wuyue's latter words. Her golden eyes also condensed with coldness, and she asked: "How does the outside world evaluate Yun Che becoming the Demon Lord of the Northern Divine Region?"
"A puppet." Chi Wuyue replied. "A laughable puppet."
"As expected." Qianye Ying'er smiled indifferently. She admitted that if she hadn't followed Yun Che all these years and still belonged to the Eastern Divine Region, she would certainly think the same.
After all, a junior from the Eastern Divine Region, hunted down by all realms and fleeing wretchedly to the Northern Divine Region, was actually revered as the "Demon Lord" by the Northern Divine Region?
Just because he bore the Evil God's inheritance? No matter how much of a "backwater" the Northern Divine Region was, it was truly too ridiculous.
Even if all living beings in the three divine regions knew that the Calamity Demon Emperor had once returned to the world and that Yun Che also bore the Demon Emperor's inheritance, they would still consider it a joke, and would even be more certain that he was just a "puppet."
The Zhou Tian God Emperor knew about the terrifying change in Yun Che's strength, but though this exaggerated change caused shock, it wasn't enough to raise any alarm. After all, the Northern Divine Region was the Northern Divine Region. Even if it had one or even several more Divine Emperors, it would still be just a bunch of demon humans locked in a cage.
Their fear of Yun Che was for his future.
But they would never dream that in these few short years, the Northern Divine Region had undergone such tremendous changes because of Yun Che, and even less would they imagine that the "future" would come so quickly.
"An enemy without vigilance is the easiest to slit the throat of." Chi Wuyue spoke slowly, then gave a self-deprecating laugh: "I never thought that the Northern Divine Region's hundred-thousand years of pitiful humility would actually become its greatest advantage."
"Are you sure we should begin?" Qianye Ying'er suddenly asked.
"Of course." Chi Wuyue looked into the distance. "I wouldn't dare to violate the agreement with the Demon Lord."
"Moreover, I have always had a feeling." Chi Wuyue continued. "The Demon Lord has also always held back and concealed things from us."
Qianye Ying'er: "..."
"To hold back from everyone, including you and me — for him, that's also a gratifying growth. At the time, it might bring us unexpected surprises." Chi Wuyue smiled again. "He is so impatient for revenge... But on the other hand, since revenge is so important to him, and no one knows better than him how he ended up in his current situation, if he didn't have enough confidence in his heart, would he take this step?"
"Hmph, you really have faith in him." Qianye Ying'er said.
"Ah," Chi Wuyue sighed softly. "After all, he is my man. If I don't believe him, what else can I do? Even if it's pure stubbornness, I have to indulge him."
As her voice fell, she glanced at Qianye Ying'er and laughed lightly: "Back then, Mu Xuanyin indulged him like this."
"..." Qianye Ying'er suddenly reached out: "Give me the Void Cauldron."
"Oh?" Chi Wuyue was first surprised. When she noticed the divine light in Qianye Ying'er's eyes, she paused for a moment: "Are you thinking..."
"The blood debts and sins on my body have long been enough to send me to the eighteenth level of hell." Qianye Ying'er said coldly. "This kind of thing should naturally be done by me, the villain."
"I have an Abyss Stone on me, which can alter my aura. Moreover... if I do it, it will least likely reveal flaws. Because I am far more familiar with Zhou Tian than you, or anyone from the Northern Domain."
After a brief hesitation, Chi Wuyue nodded lightly: "Good."
The Void Cauldron appeared and was handed to Qianye Ying'er.
With a flick of her finger, a wisp of soul light flew toward Qianye Ying'er. "These are the three most suitable star realms. When do you plan to act?"
"Now!"
Her voice still lingered in the air as Qianye Ying'er had already flown away, but not in the direction Yun Che had gone, nor did she greet him. She sped southward.
With a very light sigh, Chi Wuyue whispered: "Hua Jin, go."
Another figure rose from afar and chased after Qianye Ying'er.
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An expansive, gloomy dark star region.
Qianye Ying'er's figure halted here. Ahead of her was a rather large Northern Domain star realm. It was a lower-level star realm, relatively close to the Northern Domain's border, with a slightly thinner dark aura, but it still held a fearsome reputation in this dark star region.
Qianye Ying'er raised her hand, and the Void Cauldron appeared. The gray-white cauldron body rapidly enlarged with the power she infused, until it was several miles in size.
At the same time, an overwhelmingly heavy pressure enveloped all living beings in this star realm, causing them to instinctively look up, suffocating and trembling in unseen terror.
Though she could not use the Void Cauldron's spatial divine power, as an ancient divine object, it was excellent as a power carrier that was almost impossible to destroy with contemporary forces.
With enough power infused, as Qianye Ying'er gently pushed with her hand, the Void Cauldron turned into a pale meteor, plummeting down, mercilessly crashing into the star realm in her sight.
Boom————
The divine light of destruction and the roar filled all surrounding space. A star realm was not as fragile as a planet, but the power of a Divine Lord was still no less than a world-ending calamity for a lower-level star realm.
The moment the Void Cauldron's power erupted, the fragile star realm was instantly torn open with countless cracks. In the next instant, it directly shattered, burying innumerable mountains, rivers, and living beings.
Miserable wailing, the aura of despair, the taste of blood... Qianye Ying'er watched coldly, without the slightest emotion.
Just like the Fandi Shennü who once regarded all life as nothing but weeds.
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[There will be another chapter today, but it will definitely be very late. It is recommended to go to bed early and not wait — protect your hair!]