"ah--"
"It's a demon! A demon!"
Caught off guard, several immortals and gods perished in an instant.
"God Emperor—" A figure stumbled and ran from the direction of the Heavenly Gate, his body covered in red. It was not a red robe, but a battle robe stained entirely with blood.
"The Heavenly Gate has breached! There's a—teleportation array—"
After delivering the message he wanted to announce in fits and starts, he collapsed with a thud, and countless black mists burst forth from his body.
The God Emperor, who had been standing quietly to the side with an air of superiority, suddenly panicked.
"What's going on? Quick! Send people to investigate!"
As he waved his sleeve to extinguish the mist sweeping towards him, he roared at the huddled immortals and gods.
The Demon Emperor's smile froze on his face, his fierce eyes glaring in a certain direction.
Lingyan followed his gaze and saw the young lord's compassionate face.
She had never seen that expression on Shaojun's face before.
Lingyan withdrew her foot from the phoenix and turned towards the Heavenly Gate.
"Lord Lingyan, where are you going?"
The Demon Emperor flashed to her side and asked in a sinister tone, his eyes filled with anger and annoyance.
"When the divine realm is in trouble, we should naturally go together to the Heavenly Gate to defend against the enemy."
The answer was righteous and stern, but the Demon Emperor insisted on continuing to obstruct it relentlessly.
"As for defending against the enemy, we, the demons, and your divine race will handle it. You need not worry about it, so just don't delay the auspicious time."
As he spoke, he reached out and grabbed Lingyan's wrist, trying to push her onto the vehicle frame.
"Isn't the Demon Emperor's action rather inhumane?"
Lingyan nimbly dodged the attack.
"Or does the Demon Emperor have ulterior motives?"
"It seems the High God is going to refuse a polite offer and then suffer the consequences?"
As the black mist spread further, the Demon Emperor grew agitated. He stopped exchanging witty remarks with Ling Yan and revealed his hidden fangs.
The golden whip, flowing with flames, lashed out at Lingyan, attempting to bind her, just as before.
Shaojun flashed in front of the Demon Emperor, grabbed his golden whip with his bare hands, and urged Lingyan on.
"Xiaoyan, let's go!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Ling Yan took a step and headed straight for Tianmen.
—Will Gu Zhong be there?
What exactly do you mean?
The Demon Emperor leaned close to the young lord and asked in a low voice, full of confusion.
"You shouldn't have even considered hitting her. Aside from that, you've got everything you wanted, haven't you?"
A strange smile appeared on Shaojun's face.
The Demon Emperor's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly loosened his grip on the whip, transforming into a firebird and retreating backward.
Chapter 158 The Supreme God and the God of War (18)
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A tremendous shockwave emanated from Shaojun's body, and layers of golden light spread wildly outward from her center.
Seeing this display of force, the Demon Emperor knew that she had gone for the kill, and was both shocked and furious.
However, he did not expect that the young lord's divine power would be so strong. Even though he dodged quickly, half of the feathers on his wings were burned off by the scorching golden light.
If he hadn't noticed, the whole bird would probably have been burned bald.
Raging with anger at being betrayed, the Demon Emperor let out a loud cry towards the ground beneath him.
The demon race, which had fought alongside the gods against the demons, suddenly turned against them, turning their swords against their unsuspecting allies.
"Demon Emperor! What do you mean by this?"
The series of unexpected twists and turns left the God Emperor looking ashen-faced.
"What do you mean? God Emperor, you should ask your well-trained prince how you managed to breach this Heavenly Gate!"
The Demon Emperor hovered in the air, uttering human words from his bird beak, full of malice.
"For the sake of all realms, the divine realm must perish today!"
"You talk too much."
Before the Demon Emperor could even react, the young lord had already gotten close to him from behind.
With another full-force attack, the demon emperor was blasted straight to the ground.
The Demon Emperor crashed to the ground, his once incredibly hard body easily pierced through. Blood splattered, mixing with the black and white mist, drawing in demonic energy to erode him even more aggressively.
"What have you done to me?"
A mouthful of black blood spurted from the corner of his mouth, his bird-like eyes filled with disbelief.
Shaojun looked at her hand, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes. With the Demon Emperor's abilities, even if she couldn't dodge in time, she wouldn't have been defeated instantly by that attack.
—Is there some other reason? She stared intently at the Demon Emperor's condition and discovered that his demonic power was rapidly diminishing.
For thousands of years, the Demon Emperor has been able to rival the God Emperor because of the faith provided by the Demon Realm.
As long as the demon realm exists, the demon emperor will live forever, just like the god emperor. At most, he will only encounter the five signs of decay of heaven and man, and then someone else will become the emperor.
However, the time of the five signs of decay for the celestial beings has not yet arrived, yet the Demon Emperor is visibly weakening.
There is only one possibility—the demon realm has fallen to the mortal realm and is no longer sufficient to serve as one of the three pillars supporting all realms.
Compared to immortals and gods, the power of all demons would be insignificant, like the difference between the sun and the glow of a firefly.
The young lord looked around and found that the demons who had initially gained the upper hand by surprise were now struggling to keep up. The entire source of power of the demon race had been stripped away, making it easy to kill the demons who were causing trouble here.
She sighed softly, her expression one of complete understanding.
"Gu Zhong, Gu Zhong, you're really something. 'Drawing the firewood from under the cauldron'—it's a brilliant move, but a useless one. I hope you can still make it in time."
Then Shaojun turned his gaze to the Demon Emperor, a golden, round sphere spinning in his hand.
"Demon Emperor, your demon realm must have been banished to the mortal realm. I cannot bear to see you leave, so I will send you there to keep me company."
"Varied--"
The Demon Emperor's golden eyes suddenly widened. He knew in his heart that this was the only explanation, but he was unwilling to admit it. After thousands of years of painstaking planning, he had only made someone else's wedding dress.
But before he could utter another word, he was completely annihilated in the golden light of the young lord, filled with endless regret and resentment.
The God Emperor looked at the child he had raised with fear. When had she grown to be on par with him, while he remained completely unaware?
He recalled the Demon Emperor's ambiguous words from earlier, and an impossible, insane guess took shape in his mind, refusing to leave.
"Nian Ge—you—"
The God Emperor tried to call out in a gentle tone, took two steps forward, but stopped three zhang away due to inexplicable fear and dread.
Even amidst the carnage and bloodshed around her, with gods and demons locked in a fierce battle that shook the heavens and earth, the woman in her elegant robe remained as upright and graceful as a pine or bamboo, not a speck of blood staining her body.
She looked at the God Emperor, but her eyes, which once held reverence and affection, were now filled with indifference, as if she were looking at an insect—an insect that was not worthy of her attention or concern.
"God Emperor, everything the God Realm has suffered today is retribution, cause and effect, and destiny."
What are you saying?
The God Emperor's pupils suddenly contracted, and his hands quietly moved behind his back. The kindness and gentleness on his face instantly became fake, as if a mask was engraved on his face, blocking out all the true meaning that should have been conveyed.
"Don't pretend you don't understand. You and the divine realm have clung to life for so many years, trampling upon the dead beings of countless realms. It's time for you to pay the price. Open your eyes wide and look at the divine realm, look at yourself, and see how you were destroyed—"
Shaojun glanced in the direction of the Heavenly Gate, her tone already showing considerable impatience. She disdained to entangle with the God Emperor any longer, leaving behind a sarcastic remark before turning and disappearing from the spot, her whereabouts unknown.
——
Lingyan traveled swiftly and arrived at Tianmen in just a few breaths. What she saw there stunned her.
What a living hell this is!
Before the Heavenly Gate, a huge black vortex stood upright, from which black demonic energy and demons continuously emerged, clashing with the silver-armored heavenly soldiers who were fighting desperately to defend it.
However, while the demons could be stopped, the demonic energy was too much for them to handle. The demonic energy, still possessing its own consciousness, nimbly clung to the ground, sinking beneath the white celestial mist, and swirling about everywhere.
Upon encountering immortals or deities, it is like the sudden attack Lingyan just witnessed, capable of inflicting severe damage on the opponent in an instant.
Before the Heavenly Gate, the demonic energy was no longer so discreet. It surged out from the black hole, piling up layer upon layer, engulfing the area up to waist level, and turning the light into pure black.
Several demon generals, their bodies stained with crimson flames, slowly emerged from the teleportation array. They casually swung their long maces, creating bloody holes in the silver-armored soldiers.
The heavenly soldiers, exhausted from fighting the demons, were already covered in wounds. The demonic energy, as if seeing a delicious feast, rushed into their wounds at the smell of blood.
However, unlike usual, these heavenly soldiers who were possessed by demonic energy did not die immediately; instead, they remained able to move freely.
The difference is that they seem to have become soulless puppets, turning their swords and blades towards their former comrades.
Shouts of battle, cries of agony, and the clang of weapons created a scene of intense and brutal carnage.
Even in the Abyss of Gods and Demons, Lingyan had never witnessed such a brutal battle because Gu Zhong was guarding the area.
Her face was deathly pale, and she took a slight step back, but was forced to stop.
She looked blankly at the battlefield, but still couldn't find the person she was looking for. Her panic was mixed with disappointment, and she seemed a little helpless.
"Kill me."
A celestial soldier who had just killed his colleague with his sword seemed to suddenly regain his senses.
He pressed his right hand down with his left, but still couldn't stop the longsword from swinging towards Lingyan.
After Lingyan dodged the attack, which was full of flaws, he looked at her with eyes full of despair and pleading, begging her.