Chapter 1761: Dark Mark
Looking at Kui Hongyu kneeling on the ground, his entire body trembling, Yun Che narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "What? Kneeling before this Demon Lord makes you feel wronged?"
"No, I wouldn't dare." Kui Hongyu lowered his head and said, "My Kui Tian Realm sincerely surrenders this time. All the major clan forces have also decided to no longer fight against the demon people... no, to no longer fight against the profound practitioners of the Northern Domain. All prohibitions and kill orders related to the Northern Divine Realm and Dark Profound Force have also been completely abolished."
"Hmm?" Yun Che let out a very faint cold laugh. "That sounds as if your Kui Tian Realm is forgiving my Northern Domain."
"No," Kui Hongyu quickly said, "I absolutely did not mean that!"
"There is something you better remember clearly." Yun Che's chilling words pierced into the depths of everyone's soul. "The loyalty this Demon Lord demands is only once. The chance I grant you is also only once!"
He cast a sidelong glance at Kui Hongyu. "If you want to surrender at the feet of this Demon Lord, you must at least show the most basic sincerity. The sincerity this Demon Lord demands is very small... Now, slap your own face until all your teeth are shattered. Not even half a tooth can remain. Understood?"
As soon as these words were spoken, all the Realm Kings changed color. Kui Hongyu suddenly raised his head and said with a trembling voice, "Demon Lord, you..."
"Or, you can choose death." His voice was icy cold, devoid of any human emotion. "Of course, you won't die alone. Your clan, your sect—they will all be buried with you."
"..." Kui Hongyu's pupils dilated.
"Speaking of which, a piece of trash like you—who would turn around and kill the person who saved your life, and then grovel before demons just to survive—what need do you have for teeth?"
Every single word of these remarks was like an incredibly heavy slap, delivered in front of everyone, fiercely striking the faces of the Upper Realm Kings.
Kui Hongyu's body trembled, his features twitching. He suddenly lifted his gaze, gritted his teeth, and said with a hoarse voice, "I, Kui Hongyu, have been a king for ten thousand years. I can lose my life, but I cannot lose my dignity!"
At these words, everyone was shocked. A Realm King in a green robe, who seemed to have deep ties with him, exclaimed in alarm, "Realm King Hongyu!"
"Hahahaha!" Yun Che laughed loudly, his eyes full of mockery. "You can lose your life but not your dignity? Do you even deserve to say those words!?"
"Back then at the edge of Chaos, when you turned against me—the one who had just saved the world—in front of Long Bai, Qianye, and Nanming, and wanted to kill me, why didn't you feel your own backbone? Why did you forget about dignity then?"
"All these years, you've kept the truth tightly sealed, not daring to reveal a single word—where did your sense of shame go? Where is your dignity?"
"Now, this Demon Lord, in his great mercy, grants you and your sect a chance to live and atone for your sins, yet you shamelessly demand dignity from me? Heh... heheheh. Do you even deserve it?"
Under the Demon Lord's might, Kui Hongyu's muscles and bones shrank, and his body broke out in sweat. Facing the humiliation of having to break all his own teeth in public, he was filled with hatred. But the moment those words left his mouth, he had already regretted them. Now, under Yun Che's mockery and intimidation, his teeth went from clenched to chattering. With eyes full of pleading, he said, "Demon Lord, it... it was a slip of the tongue. Since we have chosen to come and surrender, we... have no other intentions. Why must the Demon Lord... push so hard?"
"So you're saying that since you came to surrender, this Demon Lord should completely forgive past grievances?" Yun Che laughed darkly and said with a deep tone, "Then how would I be worthy of these years of blood and hatred!"
"Tianxiao." Yun Che suddenly turned his gaze. "On the Kui Tian Realm side, who is stationed there?"
Yan Tianxiao immediately replied, "Reporting to the Demon Lord, the overall commander of that star region is Yan Huo. The one in charge of Kui Tian Realm is the Zi Mo Realm. The Zi Mo Realm King is ready at any time."
Yun Che ordered calmly, "Slaughter the Realm King sect of Kui Tian Realm. The Zi Mo Realm will take its place."
These few light and casual words signaled the end of an era for an upper-level star realm, along with mountains of corpses and seas of blood that would stain the sky red.
In the Kui Tian Realm, the Zi Mo Realm King looked up to the heavens and bowed, "This humble king accepts the Demon Lord's command!"
The next moment, he pointed his hand toward the Kui Tian Sacred Sect, demonic aura filling the sky. "Kill!"
With their Realm King outside, the Kui Tian Sacred Sect had lost its most important core and leader, and in fear and despair, they collapsed in a rout.
In the Zhou Tian Realm, Kui Hongyu was terrified and his face turned pale. He urgently cried out, "Demon Lord... Demon Lord! I beg you to take back the order. It was my arrogance and offense. I will break my teeth right now. From now on, whatever the Demon Lord commands, I will obey without fail. I beg the Demon Lord to take back the order, take back the order!"
"Too late." Yun Che raised his head, not even glancing at Kui Hongyu again, since he was already a dead man. "Mercy and loyalty are both given only once. How can this Demon Lord take back words spoken personally?"
"You are very fortunate. At least someone gave you a chance. But who gave a chance to my family, my homeland? If you want to blame someone, blame your own stupidity."
These few quiet words sent an inexplicable chill through everyone's heart and soul.
Blood vessels burst in Kui Hongyu's eyes. He knew what his fate would be. In extreme fear and despair, he suddenly let out a fierce roar and lunged straight at Yun Che.
Yun Che didn't move at all. But Kui Hongyu's Divine Lord aura, which had just been released for an instant, vanished completely in the next moment.
Three short, withered black figures appeared beside Kui Hongyu. No one saw how they moved; it was like true demonic shadows and phantoms.
Three pitch-black demon claws simultaneously grabbed hold of Kui Hongyu... Kui Hongyu's pupils dilated to their maximum. His power was forcibly suppressed, his body couldn't move an inch. He felt his body and blood growing cold, being rapidly devoured by darkness...
Before death, he had already seen hell in advance.
Bang!
With an explosive sound that made hearts spasm, Kui Hongyu's body directly shattered, then scattered into a cloud of rapidly vanishing dark dust.
The figures of the Three Yan Ancestors vanished with a "whoosh" and returned to behind Yun Che. They didn't forget to glare at each other... after all, one of them could have handled it alone. The other two were just meddling!
Besides, it was just a measly second-level Divine Lord. Three people acting together—how embarrassing!
To them, it was like casually crushing a fly. But all the Realm Kings present—and even everyone in the Eastern Divine Realm watching this—were nearly scared out of their wits.
Kui Hongyu... he was the Great Realm King of Kui Tian Realm, a true Divine Lord!
The Divine Lord realm is the highest level of Profound Dao in this world. Those with the power of a Divine Lord are undoubtedly the most difficult beings to destroy.
But under the claws of the Three Yan Ancestors, Kui Hongyu's Divine Lord power was annihilated in an instant. In the span of two short breaths, he died without even a corpse, let alone struggling. He didn't even have time to let out a single scream.
Boundless chill surged through everyone's bodies. The profound practitioners of the Eastern Divine Realm had never known that a Divine Lord, whom they could only look up to for a lifetime, could be so fragile. The Upper Realm Kings, in particular, learned for the first time how insignificant their own existence could be.
Yun Che's gaze remained fixed on the sky, as if the death of an Upper Realm King was to him nothing more than crushing a useless, insignificant ant.
Only when the dark dust was nearly gone did he slowly cast a sidelong glance. "It seems some people have misunderstood one thing. This Demon Lord killing you is only proper. Giving you a chance to kneel is a mercy."
"Of course," Yun Che slowly raised his hand, "you can also reject the mercy and choose death. As for dignity... Heh! A pack of ungrateful, spineless wild dogs—what dignity do you have?"
The eerie light in the eyes of the Three Yan Ancestors flickered. The black smoke from Kui Hongyu's corpse dispersed. The tragic state of the Kui Tian Sacred Sect, which had been ordered to be slaughtered, was even more unimaginable...
In the face of Yun Che's words, none of the Realm Kings present were enraged, and no one spoke.
Dignity?
Dignity was, in the blink of an eye, reduced to the tiniest ashes, along with the sacrifice of all clan members and sects.
Yun Che shifted his gaze slightly to the green-robed man who had stepped forward earlier. "What? Are you going to plead for that idiot just now?"
The green-robed man's body stiffened. He was so shocked that his liver and gallbladder nearly split. "No, it's not..."
After speaking those words, he barely managed to recover his wits. With a "thump," he fell to his knees and said hurriedly, "This one is Duanmu Yan, Realm King of Wunian Leiyin Realm. The matter back then, though forced by circumstances, was indeed a profound betrayal of the Demon Lord. I deserve to die ten thousand deaths."
"The Demon Lord's grace in sparing my life is as great as a rebirth. From now on, I am willing to serve under the Demon Lord, to spend the rest of my life in loyalty and atonement. I will obey without fail, even unto death."
Everyone's will has a limit. This is true even for Realm Kings and Divine Lords.
Everything that had just happened had clearly scared Duanmu Yan's soul to pieces. He no longer cared about status or dignity, nor about the public eye.
"Break your teeth." Yun Che looked at him and spoke two words, extremely cold.
Duanmu Yan raised his hand and, without any hesitation, slammed it into his own face.
Bang! Bang!
Two heavy sounds, one left and one right. Duanmu Yan's cheeks instantly turned blood red and swelled up high. Broken teeth, along with blood and all his dignity, gushed out of his mouth, spreading onto the ground before his knees.
Drip...
Drip...
Among the blood, a few transparent droplets quietly mixed in.
Breaking all one's own teeth signifies being shameless. This scene would be an eternal brand of disgrace.
Watching Duanmu Yan, not only the Eastern Domain Realm Kings but also the Dark Profound practitioners of the Northern Domain were deeply shaken. But thinking of Yun Che's past suffering, the faint sympathy that had just arisen quickly dissipated.
Were they innocent? Perhaps. Back then, under the irresistible might of One Emperor and Two Divine Emperors, they had no choice if they wanted to protect themselves and their own star realms.
But since they made that choice back then, they have no reason or face to resent today's consequences.
Yun Che did not issue a demonic order to exterminate the entire Eastern Divine Realm, but how could he possibly forgive them lightly!
Looking at Duanmu Yan, who was keeping his head low and didn't dare meet anyone's eyes, Yun Che stepped forward. He raised his hand, and a faint, profound black light condensed on his fingertip. "This demonic light will plant an eternal Dark Mark on you. Even if you drain all your blood, even if your profound veins are destroyed, even until death, you will never be able to shake it off."
Duanmu Yan's body trembled. The bodies of all the Eastern Domain Realm Kings trembled.
Yun Che looked down at him, his voice like a demon's chant. "Since you have chosen to kneel to the darkness and claim unwavering loyalty unto death, then you have no reason to refuse this dark blessing, right?"
"..." Duanmu Yan lowered his head another inch and said in a low voice, "Thank you, Demon Lord... for your blessing."
"Very good."
The demonic light shot out, piercing through Duanmu Yan's heart, directly targeting his heart meridian.
Turning a person's body into a dark body—Yun Che could indeed do that. Zhou Qingchen was his first "work." But this act consumed a great deal of power. Moreover, back then, Zhou Qingchen was unconscious. If he had struggled, it would have been very difficult to accomplish.
This Dark Mark would not change the body, nor would it change one's profound power. But it was imprinted on the life meridian, causing a person's life aura to forever carry a trace of darkness, making it impossible to ever discard.
"Congratulations. You have become a new child of darkness." Yun Che withdrew his hand, a cruel and mocking smile on his lips. "Now, you can return to where you belong and do what you need to do... Remember, your loyalty is only once."
Duanmu Yan remained kneeling on the ground. After a full silence of several breaths, he finally raised his head. His face was still swollen and red, but there was no longer any distortion or fear.
"As the Demon Lord commands." He bowed deeply, then stood up. Without saying a word to anyone, without making eye contact with anyone, he quickly turned and left.
In a corner not far away, Chi Wuyue shook her head with a smile and murmured to herself, "They didn't need me at all."