# Chapter 1798: Whispers
The air currents across the Southern Divine Region had subtly grown chaotic. Under news too sudden and too terrifying, every realm was gripped by fear. The upper star realms trembled, and the middle and lower ones needed no further mention.
Nanming had been destroyed as a realm, and once the noblest Nanming profound practitioners had become fugitives fleeing and hiding like dogs. The Three King Realms had all bent the knee, and the consequences for those resisters in the Eastern Divine Region were still vivid before everyone's eyes... Under such circumstances, all realms of the Southern Region were as silent as cicadas in winter.
Everywhere, there were profound practitioners driven by burning passion, deep hatred for the demon race, or fearless disregard for death, attempting to organize alliances to resist the great demon invasion. But few dared to respond. Not even a decent ripple could be raised.
As time passed, the air currents in the Southern Divine Region grew increasingly chaotic.
The Three King Realms' pursuit of Nanming profound practitioners was by no means an empty proclamation. It was carried out with astonishing speed and alarming intensity. Realm King realm experts, whom ordinary practitioners would rarely see in a lifetime, poured forth in great numbers, launching the most brutal investigations and killings against Nanming profound practitioners, staining the eight directions of the Southern Region with blood.
Among them, the Ten Directions Canglan Realm was the most ruthless, and its methods grew increasingly savage. Those who sheltered them died. Those who traveled with them died. Those who concealed the truth died. Those under suspicion died... Countless Nanming profound practitioners without Nanming bloodline were killed by mistake, and the innocent wrongfully implicated were beyond counting.
At the same time, the "building of momentum" that Yun Che had commanded was unfolding across the entire Southern Divine Region.
"Yun Che was once the savior Divine Son. Without Yun Che, the Divine Realm would have long become a hell ravaged by the Demon God! But the moment he saved the world, those Realm Kings and Divine Emperors turned on him and tried to harm him. These are all facts that have been made public! The projections showed every truth clearly—even a three-year-old can tell right from wrong!"
"What do you mean, 'Yun Che was born a demon'? If he was born a demon, would he have been chosen by the Evil God's inheritance? If he was born a demon, wouldn't all those Divine Emperors have sensed it over so many years? If he was born a demon, would he have been the first to stand before the Demon Emperor to save the world? He was forced into it by those Realm Kings and Divine Emperors! If you were subjected to such unspeakable betrayal and persecution, if they wiped out all your family and even your home planet to cover up the truth, wouldn't you be driven to hatred and become a demon yourself?!"
"The way those Realm Kings and Divine Emperors groveled trembling before Jie Tian Mo Di, and then their shameless ingratitude afterward—it's nauseating! Realm Kings? Divine Emperors? Pah!"
"The demon race may be cruel and fearsome, but Yun Che... Sigh. Such a sea of blood and hatred—how could he not take revenge? If he didn't, would he even be a man, or even a human?! But it's the countless innocent people who suffer..."
"Is Yun Che the root cause of all this calamity? Does anyone still think so? Surely not? Surely not?"
"Nanming Divine Realm, honored as the number one King Realm of the Southern Divine Region, concealed endless sin beneath its glorious halo... Countless pieces of evidence have been dug up by the Ten Directions Canglan Realm from secret places beneath Nanming's ruins. Those crimes are absolutely horrifying, unforgivable by heaven and earth, beyond recording—a thousand times more terrifying than anything the demon race has done!"
"Unbelievable... Unbelievable! The Nanming Divine Realm we always looked up to was filthy to this degree. It's shocking. This half-lifetime of faith was nothing but a colossal joke... So hateful, so tragic."
"Nanming's ugliness has been exposed to the world. I even want to praise the demon race: 'Well destroyed!'"
"Wah... wah wah... My wife and daughter were taken by Nanming, and half my clan was destroyed... Today, heaven finally opens its eyes... wah wah..."
"It's said that during this destruction of Nanming, the Canglan, Xuanyuan, and Ziwei realms sided with the demon race! That's how Nanming was destroyed in just a single day."
"Canglan, Xuanyuan, and Ziwei didn't put up a fight before allying with the demon race. It's not because they were afraid—they had been suppressed by Nanming for years, and they wanted Nanming's collapse. Helping the demon race is to repay the debt of saving the world back then, to atone for the persecution they were forced into, and at the same time to protect countless lives of the Southern Divine Region from the ravages of war."
"News from Canglan Realm says that their two Sea Gods who suddenly fell were actually assassinated by the Dragon God Realm. The dragon breath left at the scene was an aura that no one could fake—pure Dragon God aura! This was an important reason why Canglan was willing to side with the demon race."
"Is the demon race really that terrifying? Why would the Three King Realms willingly assist them?"
...
...
All kinds of news, rumors, statements, and speculations spread through the Southern Divine Region like a plague, easily reaching beyond its borders.
Before the profound practitioners of the Southern Region could fully process and digest one rumor, the next would arrive in rapid succession, not even giving them time to think carefully.
Their thoughts and perceptions were quietly shifting under this bombardment.
Some of the rumors were well-known facts—like the Zhou Tian projections that showed the truth to all worlds. These were repeatedly emphasized and magnified. Some were half-true, half-false. And some, upon even a moment's thought, were utterly ridiculous.
But none of that mattered. It wasn't necessary to make them believe.
All that was needed was to give these "righteous" people a reason—enough to soothe and convince their so-called beliefs, dignity, and righteous heart.
Gradually, Nanming Divine Realm's hidden sins were peeled back layer by layer, exaggerated and magnified step by step, to the point where not exterminating them would fail to quell the people's anger, and not destroying them would not comfort the heavens.
Yun Che's image as "avenger," "victim," "savior," and "one wronged by all worlds" was repeatedly reinforced, quietly overwhelming the disasters and hell he had led the demon race to create in the Divine Realm.
And the Canglan, Xuanyuan, and Ziwei realms—once mocked by all—began to shift into the image of "awakened ones" who "cared for the lives of the Southern Region."
To outsiders not caught up in it, such a shift in perception was utterly absurd and ludicrous. Yet it was happening for real in the Southern Divine Region.
And the consequence of this shift was the silent dissolution of the Southern Divine Region's already timid will to resist.
***
**Ten Directions Canglan Realm.**
The divine legacy inheritors of the Ten Directions Canglan Realm were called Sea Gods. The power they released was also deep blue, but its attribute was not water—it was a special "Canglan Divine Power." When unleashed, it surged like vast waves, roiling across ten thousand miles, covering heaven, earth, and all directions. Hence the name.
Today, the Ten Directions Canglan Realm welcomed its most special—bluntly speaking, its most disgraceful—day.
The barrier of the core Canglan Divine Region was withdrawn. The main gate was opened wide. A host of Sea Gods stood on both sides, then, following Cang Shitian's lead, they knelt to the ground, welcoming the figure approaching slowly, wrapped in murderous aura.
Half of the Sea Gods, and the Canglan Divine Guards behind them, silently gritted their teeth, their entire bodies trembling slightly.
As the pillars of Canglan, they were kneeling in their own divine region, welcoming the demon race that had been regarded as heretics and was now ravaging the Southern Divine Region.
What immense disgrace! What a colossal joke!
But strangely, this disgrace was utterly absent from the face of their Canglan Emperor. To welcome Yun Che, he had personally overseen the preparation of this grand welcoming ceremony. When Yun Che arrived, he was the first to kneel on one knee, his face showing an excitement that seemed utterly genuine.
"Cang Shitian, Realm King of the Ten Directions Canglan Realm, humbly welcomes the great Demon Lord. I beg the great Demon Lord to shower the boundless dark light of the demon race across this Canglan region."
Cang Shitian's imperial voice boomed, each word shaking the heavens. There was not a trace of humiliation or reluctance—as if he was afraid his voice wouldn't reach every corner of this divine region.
He raised his head, watching Yun Che's approaching figure. There seemed to be a mad flame burning in his eyes.
This was a great gamble. Between the Northern and Western Regions, he bet on the Northern Region. Between Yun Che and the Dragon God, he bet on Yun Che!
The odds? He couldn't calculate them clearly, because no one could truly know the ultimate strength of the Northern and Western Regions.
But without a doubt, choosing Yun Che meant that if he lost, he had a better retreat; if he won... the thought alone was mad enough to make one's soul tremble.
A gamble like this naturally required wagering all one's chips.
At the very least, until the Northern Region showed no obvious disadvantage against the Western Region, he would be the most loyal among the Three King Realms of the Southern Region!
Beneath his feet were deep blue divine jade. The air rippled like liquid water. This was Yun Che's first time stepping into the Ten Directions Canglan Realm, but he no longer had the nervous excitement of his first entry into a King Realm.
Deep, dark light condensed in his pupils. Cang Shitian's displayed fervor had made him choose this place, but he believed he wouldn't stay long.
With Canglan's submission, Xuanyuan's broken courage, Ziwei's constraint, and the momentum building that shattered morale, the Southern Divine Region should no longer hinder him. With that, he could focus all his attention on dealing with his greatest enemy—
The Western Divine Region!
By destroying the Western Divine Region led by the Dragon God Realm, he could finally ascend to dominate this vast heaven and earth. Then, in the entire Divine Realm, nothing would pose a real threat to him. The Southern, Eastern, and Western Divine Regions... all star realms, all living beings' fates would be under his command.
Next came the swift migration and integration of the Northern Region's forces. He was confident that Chi Wuyue would give him the most satisfactory result.
As for the Ten Directions Canglan Realm—now, finally facing the Demon Lord and his demon horde who had arrived with darkness, staining the Divine Realm's skies—their inner turmoil did not last long before being swallowed by a heavy, irresistible icy terror.
The Three Yan Ancestors, the Yan Emperor, the Two Fan Ancestors, the demonized Cai Zhi... Without even deliberately releasing any aura, they were enough to make all the Sea Gods feel as if they stood before a demonic abyss, making them, in their ever-deepening fear, personally experience the power that had trampled Nanming.
Resentment, dissatisfaction, restlessness... all seemed to be choked by countless demon gods, no longer daring to show even the slightest hint.
Under the eerie, silent-as-cicadas "welcoming," Yun Che went straight into the Canglan Divine Region. Guided eagerly by Cang Shitian, he stepped into the king's hall and sat upon the throne that had once belonged exclusively to Shitian Shen Di.
"Great Demon Lord, the pursuit of Nanming's remnants is already underway. Under strict orders, no one in the Southern Region dares to shelter them. The internal unrest in Xuanyuan and Ziwei is less severe than expected. The resources of Nanming Divine Realm can be fully gathered in at most seven more days. And the whispers in the Southern Divine Region are spreading quite smoothly..."
Standing below Yun Che's seat, Cang Shitian reported one item after another. His respectful posture and meticulous, cautious narration made it hard to believe he was a Divine Emperor who had never been subordinate to anyone.
This Divine Emperor, seen by the world as extremely frivolous, unorthodox, and even somewhat insane, showed terrifyingly high execution and efficiency.
Yun Che sat upright, listening quietly. Only Qianye Ying'er and Cai Zhi were by his side, equally silent.