Chapter 1794: Soundless and Shadowless
“Demon Lord, do you intend to remain in the Southern Domain?” Yan Tianxiao asked.
“The Ten Directions Canglan Realm should be a decent place,” Yun Che said flatly.
Yan Tianxiao furrowed his brows and said, “That Cang Shitian…”
“No need to be wary. Starting today, stepping into Canglan is like stepping into the Demon Domain,” Yun Che said. “The one who should be treading carefully is him, Cang Shitian.”
“Then what about the Demon Empress?”
“She will decide for herself what to do on the Eastern Divine Region side,” Yun Che said, his gaze flickering. He had never doubted Chi Wuyue’s intelligence-gathering abilities. Even without a sound transmission, she would soon learn in detail what had happened in the Southern Divine Region and be able to accurately infer his next intentions.
Suddenly, Yun Che’s gaze turned cold, and he sharply turned his head to look at the sky in the northwest.
At that very moment, a point of cold light flew through the air from at least a thousand miles away, bringing with it a sound of tearing space that had yet to fully arrive.
It was as if the space for a thousand miles had been completely severed. When that point of cold light drew near, its speed was still terrifyingly fast. And the most frightening thing was that despite unleashing such astonishing speed, the person who launched it had an extremely faint aura at the moment of their attack. Even with Yun Che’s spiritual perception, he barely managed to catch a weak trace of it.
And that trace vanished completely in the next instant.
Before the cold light breaking through the sky had even arrived, Qianye Ying’er’s figure had already flashed out.
But suddenly, a terrifying pressure descended upon her. It was Cai Zhi, who had instantly appeared in front of Qianye Ying’er, her Celestial Wolf demonic might pressing down horizontally, forcibly halting her.
“Oh?” Qianye Ying’er twisted her slender waist and lightly floated back, but she did not forcefully charge forward again. Instead, she looked at Cai Zhi with eyes full of inquiry and curiosity.
“…” Yun Che was also briefly taken aback, then he stretched out his hand and directly caught the cold light that had arrived.
In his spiritual perception, the faint aura that had flashed by was now impossible to find.
When it came to concealing aura, Yun Che, with his Flowing Light Thunder Concealment and Moon-Breaking Shadow Flick, considered himself unparalleled in the world. Back then, with only the Divine Soul Realm cultivation, he had escaped the full pursuit of the three divine regions and entered the Northern Divine Region.
And that person from a thousand miles away, releasing such power, had only shown an extremely brief trace of aura, which then completely vanished in a very short time. It was so faint and fleeting that it was impossible to identify. If not for the cold light they had thrown through the air, he probably wouldn’t have noticed it at all—and even if he had, he would have likely dismissed it.
Such concealment ability was almost on par with his own!
To this extent, as far as he knew, aside from himself, perhaps only Hua Jin, whose body had been tempered by his Dark Eternal Calamity, could manage it.
“Cai Zhi, who is he?” Yun Che looked at Cai Zhi, who had blocked Qianye Ying’er.
“Not an enemy,” Cai Zhi said. She withdrew her aura, turned her frail body, and naturally avoided Yun Che’s gaze. “Don’t ask further.”
Those words made Yun Che relax. If such a concealment ability belonged to an enemy, it would definitely be a huge problem.
“Alright, I won’t ask,” Yun Che said, his tone softening. “It seems this is another surprise from Cai Zhi for me.”
The greatest possibility he could think of was another transcendent powerhouse from the Tai Chu Divine Realm, much like the Primordial Dragon Emperor.
Could it be that what the Calamity Demon Empress had left for Cai Zhi in the Tai Chu Divine Realm… no, what she had left for him, was more than just the Primordial Dragon Clan?
“…” Cai Zhi said nothing.
Yun Che opened his palm and looked at the white mass of light he had caught. The white light emitted a turbid aura of the Southern Abyss, clearly a barrier of Southern Abyss Divine Power, and had already been extinguished to just a thin layer.
Yun Che slightly exhaled his aura and obliterated the white light.
Instantly, a rich and pure golden light burst forth. It was not dazzling or intense, but seemed to possess a strange magic, piercing through Yun Che’s palm, through the bodies of everyone present, and reflecting into spaces unknown.
This was a golden bead. On the bead, various divine marks of different shapes were dotted unevenly. All these divine marks were emitting similar golden light, except for one that remained dim and silent.
“Southern… Abyss… Divine… Pearl!” Qianye Ying’er’s eyes glowed with a strange light as she murmured.
Yun Che was already very familiar with the aura of Divine Legacy Artifacts. The moment the golden light burst forth, he was certain that what had flown a thousand miles into his hand was a Divine Legacy Artifact that carried the core lifeblood of the Southern Abyss.
The Southern Abyss Divine Pearl!
On it were engraved twenty-two divine marks—sixteen Abyss Gods, four Abyss Kings, plus Nan Wansheng and Nan Guizhong—a perfect match.
Truly worthy of the number one divine realm of the Southern Region. This number far surpassed that of the Star God, Burning Moon, and Yama Demon realms.
The only dim divine mark belonged to the sole surviving Abyss God of the Southern Abyss… Nan Qianqiu, who was dangling in Yan Yi’s hand.
“Congratulations, Demon Lord! It seems that before long, the entire Southern Divine Region will be trampled under your feet. And the day when you crush the Western Divine Region and descend upon the divine realms of all heavens is also within reach!”
Yan Tianxiao’s words were by no means mere flattery; every word carried a trembling excitement that was hard to suppress.
The Yama Demons and Yan Ghosts behind him also knelt with their heads bowed, not rising for a long time.
When they came to the Southern Divine Region, they had initially been testing the waters. They had never dreamed that they would simply destroy the Southern Abyss Divine Realm and frighten the other three Divine Emperors out of their wits.
…Including Yun Che himself, who had not expected it.
The hundred-thousand-year shame of the Northern Divine Region was like an eternal, indelible brand etched into the bodies and souls of all demon people. Yun Che’s arrival had, in just a few short years, nearly dreamlike, reversed the fate of the Northern Divine Region. The declaration he made on the day he became emperor was also approaching reality at a dreamlike pace.
Yan Tianxiao, once the top emperor of the Northern Domain, now knelt on both knees with utmost willingness. In his heart, Yun Che’s status had long surpassed that of the ancient demon god, who had once been the faith of the Northern Domain.
Yun Che closed his palm, and the Southern Abyss Divine Pearl vanished silently. The lifeblood of the Southern Abyss was now firmly grasped in his hand. As long as Yun Che was unwilling, there would be no chance for it to rise again.
“Killing Nan Wansheng within three breaths, and possessing such astonishing concealment ability,” Qianye Ying’er murmured, looking at Cai Zhi. “Little Celestial Wolf, is he a person of this world, or some ancient tribe you brought back from the Tai Chu Divine Realm?”
No one could remain unmoved by such an existence.
Cai Zhi had no reaction, not even deigning to give a light snort.
Qianye Ying’er shifted her gaze and did not press further. Compared to the identity of that person, what concerned her more was: why was Cai Zhi so determined to hide it?
“Yun Che,” Cai Zhi suddenly spoke, asking directly, “Tell me, on the Dragon God Realm side, what are your chances of victory?”
“I have never underestimated or looked down upon the Dragon God Realm,” Yun Che said, unwilling to deceive Cai Zhi. When speaking with Cai Zhi, his usually cold and hard face unconsciously softened considerably. He said blandly in front of everyone, “Now with you and the Primordial Dragon Clan, the Northern Divine Region’s strength is even greater, but even if we combine all our forces, it’s basically impossible to overpower the Dragon God Realm. Add in the other five realms of the Western Divine Region, and the odds are even slimmer.”
“But unfortunately…” Yun Che’s tone shifted, his eyes dimming slightly. “I am still alive.”
To put it another way… even with the forces the Northern Divine Region had now gathered, it was nearly impossible to destroy the powerful Dragon God Realm.
But he could!
Everyone’s hearts trembled. Faced with such an unbelievable claim that no one would find credible, the Yama Demons behind him suddenly flashed with a blazing black light in their eyes.
“Only because of your special dragon soul?” Cai Zhi said with her milk-white face set.
“You’ll find out when the time comes,” Yun Che said with a faint smile. “If I didn’t have enough conviction to convince myself, why would I have left the Northern Divine Region? So, don’t worry too much about me.”
“Hmph,” Cai Zhi’s nose visibly tilted up a bit, and she let out a very low voice between her lips. “Big Sister said long ago that your kind of words are the ones you should trust the least.”
“Uh…” Yun Che unconsciously reached up and rubbed the tip of his nose.
“What do you plan to do next?” Qianye Ying’er asked.
“Wait,” Yun Che replied with a single word. He believed that after Chi Wuyue received the news, she would make the best judgment and choice.
“Then… how do we deal with this person?” Qianye Ying’er cast a sidelong glance at Nan Qianqiu in Yan Yi’s hand. “Need help? When it comes to torturing people, I’m far better at it than you are.”
Sensing something, Nan Qianqiu’s fish-like body twitched slightly.
The softness on his face vanished instantly. Yun Che gently pinched Cai Zhi’s little hand and said, “Wait for me a moment.”
Whoosh!
An eerie wind howled. Yun Che reached out and grabbed Nan Qianqiu into his palm, his five fingers locking around the back of his neck, and flew off with him into the distance, quickly disappearing from everyone’s sight.
The Southern Abyss King City had completely turned into ruins amidst the black mist. Even from high above, no trace of its former grandeur and prosperity could be found.
He flew a long distance before suddenly descending, flinging his five fingers and smashing Nan Qianqiu brutally against the ground.
Boom!
Nan Qianqiu’s Abyss God power had not dissipated, but all the meridians in his body had been severed by Yan Yi’s power, and his profound vein was also broken and damaged. His protective strength was extremely weak. Under this impact, Nan Qianqiu’s Divine Lord body burst open, his skin and flesh tearing, and who knew how many bones broke.
Without the direct force suppression pressing down on him, Nan Qianqiu finally regained some mobility. He tremblingly crawled up from the ground, but immediately his knee bones twisted, and he heavily collapsed again. After convulsing several times, he could no longer stand.
Nan Qianqiu slowly turned his head. A pair of blood-caked eyes looked up at the grim-faced Yun Che above. Facing this true demon who had destroyed the Southern Abyss under his feet and terrified a group of Divine Emperors, what he endured was an extreme terror like standing at the edge of a ten-thousand-fathom abyss.
“Yun… Che…” he said in a trembling voice. “Your… end… will be a thousand… ten thousand times… more miserable than mine! The Dragon God Realm… will not let you off…”
Under the soul-crushing terror and despair, he did not beg for mercy. At this point, even though he feared death immensely and his consciousness was blurry, he clearly knew that a demon like Yun Che would never let him go. Begging for mercy would only bring humiliation upon himself.
But he could never figure out why Yun Che was giving him special treatment. Before today, he and Yun Che had no history of conflict or grudges. The one he hated the most was clearly his own father.
In his current state, he didn’t have the strength to think about it.
Yun Che stomped down.
Nan Qianqiu let out a miserable scream. His spine broke, and under immense pain, his body curled backward like a shrimp. The ground beneath him split apart and quickly became stained with blood.
Cold sweat poured down his body like a storm. Under the blood that was washed away, his grayish-white skin was like that of a long-dead corpse. Every muscle in Nan Qianqiu’s body twitched in agony, and the moans escaping his mouth were hoarse and inhuman.
In a painful hell, half a step from the abyss of death, Nan Qianqiu, who was already worse than dead, unexpectedly summoned the greatest stubbornness of his life. Instead of begging for a quick death, he gritted his teeth and turned his head, trying to use his last remaining strength to hurl the most vicious curses at Yun Che.
But when he raised his head, he saw a figure of a young girl in emerald green appear beside Yun Che.
Her face was ethereally beautiful like a banished immortal, her eyes pure enough to make one dare not profane them. But when she looked at him, her gaze trembled with profound pain and hatred.
A… Wood Spirit?
Even though his spiritual perception was scattered, he could still sense the pure aura unique to the Wood Spirit.