Chapter 2101: The "Truth" That Subverts the World
The Divine Extreme Realm was originally the tenth level of the Divine Annihilation Realm, but later, no living beings in the Abyss could achieve true godhood through cultivation. The tenth level of the Divine Annihilation Realm thus became the ultimate realm attainable by Abyss dwellers through cultivation, and was therefore separated and named the Divine Extreme Realm.
The former ten levels of Divine Annihilation became nine levels, and the Divine Extreme Realm was further divided into nine minor realms. Crossing each minor realm was like drawing closer, with a mortal body, to a divine path that seemed within reach yet forever impossible to truly tread.
As a result, although the nine minor realms of the Divine Extreme Realm were the most difficult to improve, the gaps between them were not as vast and distinct as those in other realms.
But this by no means implied that they could be easily crossed.
Moreover, Yuchi Nanxing, who was at the third level of the Divine Extreme Realm, was facing the Primordial Lin Shen, which was at the ninth level peak of the Divine Extreme Realm and possessed a massive body and the advantage of Abyss Dust!
Boom——
Boom————
The star arrays shattered upon his body time and again, only to reform each time. Every struggle he made was a great calamity to this world.
Crack!
A fairly large crack finally split open on the scales of the Abyss Lin Shen, but before Yuchi Nanxing could catch his breath, he despairingly saw that the crack was clearly healing slowly at a visible rate.
Instead, it was the backlash from his own power that had caused blood cracks to burst all over his body and internal organs.
Although this was the edge of the Mist Sea, where the concentration of Abyss Dust was far lower than in the depths, it was still within the Mist Sea's range. The omnipresent Abyss Dust suppressed his strength and spiritual perception, yet granted the Abyss Beasts endless power and "vitality."
"Pathetic struggle."
The voice of the Mist Emperor rang out once more, seeming both distant as the heavens and near as the depths of the soul. Even Yuchi Nanxing could not tell for a moment which direction the voice came from.
"I have 'awakened' for barely a year. I have never been willing to kill any living being wantonly, but have instead saved countless lives from the deathly grip of Abyss Erosion. Yet you, for the sake of your own escape, did not hesitate to slaughter so many innocent people! Worthy indeed of a knight from a filthy land, worthy of the so-called Pure Land built upon filth and sin!"
Every word from the Mist Emperor was an utmost blasphemy against the supreme faith of the Abyss Knights. A surge of fury rose in Yuchi Nanxing's heart, almost breaking through the top of his skull. Profound energy surged around him, starlight blazed in his eyes, and he was about to roar in rebuke—but as his vision cleared, he suddenly froze.
The land ahead was scarred with countless ravines and fissures, splashed with patches of crimson blood, and littered with broken bones and mutilated remains, none of them intact.
His pupils dilated. He abruptly turned his head... In the distance, the profound practitioners who had followed him, originally numbering hundreds of thousands, now barely numbered less than half.
Most of the survivors were also wounded, their eyes full of terror.
Even Bai Yu had blood at the corner of his mouth. But though he had been thrown far away, he still stubbornly drew closer.
A moment of tumult flashed through Yuchi Nanxing's mind—these people had clearly died from the Divine Extreme power he had explosively unleashed in his desperate struggles!
As an Abyss Knight, he was supposed to uphold a noble soul, be just and abhor evil, tolerate no filth, and never... kill the innocent!
But today... at this moment... he had...
In that instant of heartbreak, the power that Yuchi Nanxing had gathered nearly to its limit could no longer be released, instead dissipating rapidly.
And at that moment, the Abyss Lin Shen, which had been standing quietly like a mountain, suddenly flashed a deep, strange light in its eyes. Boundless and overwhelming destructive power surged toward its massive tail, exploding mercilessly upon Yuchi Nanxing's body.
Boom-crack!
It was as if ten thousand thunderclaps overlapped in a single burst—for that was the sound of Divine Extreme bones breaking.
"Nanxing!!" Bai Yu cried out in terror.
According to their understanding, Abyss Beasts had no consciousness and therefore no cunning. But this Abyss Lin Shen, far more powerful than him, had seized with uncanny precision the fleeting flaw of his lost concentration, dealing him an almost fatal blow.
In that moment, Yuchi Nanxing felt as if all the marrow in his bones had shattered, his internal organs had burst, and his sea of consciousness was a roaring chaos.
Bam!!
With a loud crash, his broken body was slammed heavily to the ground by the Abyss Lin Shen. But he was, after all, in the Divine Extreme Realm. How fast his consciousness and power recovered! The will to counterattack formed the moment his body hit the ground... But just as his power surged up, a weight as heavy as a collapsing sky pressed down upon him.
Boom————
The Lin Shen's claw stomped heavily onto Yuchi Nanxing's body.
The earth split open with countless fissures, the longest stretching hundreds of miles to Xuanmo City.
The nearby profound practitioners were all thrown into the air, sent flying even farther.
The Lin Shen's claw lifted. Beneath its shadow, Yuchi Nanxing's body was shattered, drenched in blood. But this was not the end of his nightmare—it was only the beginning...
Boom!!
The claw struck a second time, landing directly on Yuchi Nanxing's head.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!—
Each stomp of the Abyss Lin Shen's claw possessed the power to shatter heaven and overturn the seas. Now, maddened, it stomped wildly upon Yuchi Nanxing's body, crushing his already broken bones even more thoroughly, dragging his life and soul mercilessly toward the true abyss of death.
Boom boom boom boom boom!—
To the nearby profound practitioners, each stomp of the Lin Shen's claw was no less than the overturning of heaven and earth. They were like helpless insects caught in an irresistible dimensional storm, blood pouring from their seven orifices. But the screams that should have reached the skies were completely drowned out by the too-earth-shaking rumbles.
Only Bai Yu still struggled forward against the trembling space, desperate.
"Knight, don't... go over... ugh!" His attendant knight tried to stop him, but was sent flying by the spatial storms.
"Nanxing! Mist Emperor... stop... stop!!"
"If you dare kill an Abyss Knight... the Pure Land will never rest until you're dead!"
In his boundless terror and horror, he actually roared out words like "never rest until you're dead," which greatly compromised the dignity of the Pure Land.
Boom————
The Lin Shen's claw fell again, but when it lifted, it did not strike again. Instead, it hovered above Yuchi Nanxing, and the massive body of the Lin Shen came to a halt.
The prolonged calamity of heaven and earth gradually subsided with its stillness. A hundred miles away, one profound practitioner after another steadied themselves in disarray, but all were covered in cracks, their expressions utterly terrified.
Yuchi Nanxing lay prostrate on the ground. His silver armor had long since shattered into a pile of silver dust, and even the profound light on it had completely faded. His body trembled slightly, and faint, pained groans escaped his lips.
He was, after all, in the Divine Extreme Realm, after all, one of the thirty-six commanders of the Abyss Knights. Even after being stomped dozens of times by the Abyss Lin Shen, he had not yet died.
"Abyss Knight." The Mist Emperor's voice came from the Mist Sea in unknown depths. "I have never been willing to kill living beings wantonly. But you have offended me, and you must accept this punishment! Now, I grant you an opportunity. Bow your head and apologize to me, and I will grant you and your companion leave to go."
"Heh... hehe..." Even in his extreme weakness, Yuchi Nanxing let out an unyielding low laugh. "In this world... the one worthy of my Yuchi Nanxing bowing the head... is only the Abyss Emperor!"
"The Abyss Emperor exists in this world... and you... also claim to be an emperor!"
"Nanxing!" Bai Yu uttered a worried whisper... He knew well Yuchi Nanxing's will and conviction, and feared that he would completely enrage the Mist Emperor and truly die here.
The Mist Emperor was not angry, only cold and faintly mocking: "Heh heh heh heh. Truly, foolish beings never know their own utter stupidity."
"Abyss Knight, I ask you: in this world, who can be an emperor? Who deserves to be an emperor?"
Yuchi Nanxing raised his head slightly and answered without hesitation: "Only... the Abyss Emperor!"
The Mist Emperor's voice rang out, becoming infinitely distant: "One who can be an emperor of an era has either supported the world in times of peril or accomplished what no living being of any era could."
"Abyss Knight, answer me. Who was it that gave this world of endless calamity and endless Abyss Dust a place to live, and step by step built this Abyss world?"
Yuchi Nanxing gritted his teeth and, with a hardened will, uttered the answer known to all in the Abyss: "Of course it was the Abyss Emperor! Without the Abyss Emperor, there would be no such world!"
The Mist Emperor's voice exuded boundless contempt and mockery, with a hint of melancholy: "Ignorant understanding, pitiful beings. Then answer me: why is all the Abyss Dust of this world concentrated in the Mist Sea, instead of devouring all the living lands and the so-called Pure Land?"
Yuchi Nanxing still answered with difficulty and tenacity: "The core of the Mist Sea... the pull of the Primordial Death Abyss..."
"Hahahaha!" As if he had heard the greatest joke, the Mist Emperor laughed more wildly and sarcastically than ever before. "So this is your understanding! So this is the so-called Pure Land and Abyss Knights!"
The laughter stopped abruptly, and his voice suddenly turned heavy, like a demonic sound hammering into the depths of everyone's souls: "In the ancient Abyss, it was an eternal world of death. Only I and the Abyss Beasts were the deathly subjects of this deathly world."
"Hundreds of thousands of years ago, more and more living beings fell into this world. I could not bear to see them struggle in despair, perish, leaving behind cries and despair time and again. So I exhausted the Abyss's power, pulling all the Abyss Dust of this world toward the center, until it converged into this Mist Sea, leaving a space with thin Abyss Dust for those who fell, enough to create endless hope and vitality."
"After that, my Abyss power was greatly depleted, and I fell into a long slumber, only awakening a little over a year ago. And that space of hope I created has become the living lands and Pure Land of this world!"
The "truth" spoken by the Mist Emperor made everyone feel as if they had heard an otherworldly scripture.
"Sheer... nonsense!" Yuchi Nanxing gritted his teeth and rebuked. "You dare... to defile... the Abyss Emperor's divine achievement of world creation..."
No sooner had his voice fallen than the sky suddenly darkened.
Endless Abyss Dust rolled in, in an instant swallowing the space where Yuchi Nanxing was, and within a few breaths spreading hundreds of miles, engulfing even the distant profound practitioners.
The Mist Emperor's voice rang out in this Mist Sea that had descended from the void: "Now, answer me. Can the Abyss Emperor you speak of control Abyss Dust like this? Control the Mist Sea?"
Yuchi Nanxing's mouth hung wide open, staring blankly at the rolling Mist Sea, unable to speak.
"If he cannot, then by what did he open up living lands in this Abyss world!"
"But I can. By what right do you question that I am the one who condensed the Mist Sea and opened up the living lands!"
His broken neck struggled again and again to lift his head. Yuchi Nanxing's lips quivered. His will and faith made him instinctively want to denounce all words disrespectful to the Abyss Emperor. But though he had the strength to roar, he suddenly found he could not find words to refute.
The Abyss Emperor could not control Abyss Dust. No one in the world could control Abyss Dust. The utmost interference the people of this world could achieve with Abyss Dust was to disperse and seal it.
At least until today, this was an unchanging, unquestionable knowledge of this world.
But he had seen with his own eyes the Mist Emperor driving Abyss Dust, seen with his own eyes him instantly covering a vast Mist Sea.
Not a rumor from others, but what he had witnessed and felt himself, without even the fluke of doubt.
"Answer me one more question."
The Mist Emperor's voice was close to his ear. To Yuchi Nanxing, whose conviction wavered, the Mist Emperor's words now brought him a fear he had never felt before—the fear of having his steadfast faith shaken:
"Why do the Abyss Beasts of the Mist Sea only roam within the Mist Sea, and rarely leave it to ravage the living lands and Pure Land where you dwell?"
Yuchi Nanxing opened his mouth, and this time his voice carried obvious weakness: "Because Abyss Beasts instinctively approach Abyss Dust."
"Is that so? Hmph!"
Still the same cold mockery, but the moment the mocking sound fell, all the profound practitioners, already terrified to the core, bulged their eyes, their souls trembling nearly to the point of tearing.
Above the Mist Sea Mist, large shadows and dim lights appeared, from a few thousand to tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands...
They were the silhouettes and eyes of Abyss Beasts—neatly arranged, densely packed, blotting out the sky and covering the sun.
Yet none roared, none pounced. They simply stepped forward uniformly from the Mist Sea Mist, as if silently contemptuous of the trembling living beings far away.
They had never seen such docile Abyss Beasts, but this scene was a thousand, ten thousand times more terrifying than the greatest dangers they had ever encountered in the Mist Sea Mist.
Yuchi Nanxing's pupils stopped trembling completely. The dense yet orderly silhouettes of Abyss Beasts reflected in his eyes, as if stabbing his pupils and all his knowledge full of holes.
No matter how absurd, no matter how unbelievable, they all could not help but clearly realize an infinitely horrifying truth: these Abyss Beasts—the Abyss Beasts they had thought only had a instinct for destruction—were being controlled by the Mist Emperor!
"Now, answer me again."
At this moment, the Mist Emperor's voice was no different from a demon's whisper in Yuchi Nanxing's soul: "Why do the Abyss Beasts of the Mist Sea only roam within the Mist Sea, and not ravage your living lands and Pure Land!"
Yuchi Nanxing did not answer, could not answer.
"It seems that even a fool like you has already thought of the answer." The Mist Emperor's voice resounded through heaven and earth, deeply penetrating every soul in this space. "Then let me speak the answer in your heart for you."
"The Abyss Beasts in the Mist Sea are all my subjects. The reason they do not leave the Mist Sea is that before my slumber, I left a sovereign's decree in the Mist Sea, commanding all Abyss subjects not to leave the Mist Sea."
"Under the sovereign's decree, whether Abyss Beasts or Abyss Ghosts, whether original subjects or later subjects, they all strictly obey, and do not ravage that land of hope opened for foreign living beings."
"But when I awoke from my long slumber, I heard that the living land I left for you had become the achievement of one calling himself the 'Abyss Emperor,' and that a so-called Pure Land had been erected on high!"
The Mist Emperor's voice was one part fury, nine parts pity: "And now, he even sends you poor, deceived fools to sanction the emperor who granted you your living world!"