1294: Chapter 1294 Gathering the Strongest, Blood Refining Array

At the same time, the moment Emperor Hei Fan completed his Breakthrough, he summoned Grand Marshal Hei Zhan and the other seven Grand Marshals, all royal family members above the Fifth Order, and every foreign retainer.

In the grand hall, everyone bowed and knelt, their voices shaking the universe.

"Greetings, Your Majesty! Congratulations to Your Majesty on achieving the Breakthrough to Immortality, and may you live as long as the heavens!"

Emperor Hei Fan sat upright on the imperial throne, looking down at the kneeling crowd before him.

The corners of his mouth slowly curled up, revealing a cold smile—a smile that did not resemble a monarch's satisfaction with his subjects, but rather the irrepressible excitement and cruelty of a hunter inspecting prey in a trap.

When the crowd looked up, they suddenly felt that the Your Majesty before them was somewhat unfamiliar.

It was still the face of Emperor Hei Fan, but those eyes seemed to belong to a different person—no, they had been replaced by something else.

Deep within his pupils, the composure and calculation of the past were gone, replaced by a… hunger that made people instinctively feel uneasy.

It was as if something was behind those eyes, peering greedily at them from behind this skin.

However, the current situation was too dire, and no one had the mind to delve into this anomaly.

Grand Marshal Hei Zhan spoke up first, his voice low and urgent: "Your Majesty, the forces under Wu Zhankong have launched a full-scale offensive against the Chaotic Star Domain, the Lieyang Star Domain, and a number of other Star Domains.

Although our Black Cloud Empire is located in a remote area, we are not immune.

Fortunately, Your Majesty previously implemented a closed-border policy, so the major frontier fortresses have not yet fallen, and we are currently able to hold them off."

Another Grand Marshal immediately added: "But this is not the most troublesome matter.

The most important thing is—now, a large number of powerhouses of unknown Origin have inexplicably appeared in every Star Domain.

These people have no records of their lives, as if they appeared out of thin air.

Their cultivation levels vary, but their sheer numbers are unheard of."

"What is even more terrifying," an Elder of the royal family said in a deep voice, his tone trembling slightly, "is that dozens of life-bearing planets have already been slaughtered, with not a single survivor on the entire planet, leaving them in ruins.

There are also some… some life-bearing planets, along with the billions of living beings on them, that have simply disappeared from the star map.

It is not destruction, but disappearance.

It is as if they never existed."

One critical matter after another was brought to the table, with each piece of news heavier than the last.

The atmosphere in the grand hall became increasingly oppressive, like the suffocation of the final moment before a storm.

But before they could finish speaking, Emperor Hei Fan slowly raised his hand.

He pressed his hand down gently, the movement as casual as brushing a speck of dust off his clothes.

Everyone's voices came to an abrupt halt.

"I am already aware of the problems."

Emperor Hei Fan's voice was neither high nor low, even carrying a hint of laziness.

His gaze slowly swept over the kneeling crowd, and the cold smile at the corners of his mouth did not dissipate.

"However, the solution… requires all of you to lend me a hand."

Upon hearing this, the crowd, without a moment's hesitation, shouted in unison: "We are willing to give our lives for the Empire!"

The shouts shook the heavens, their loyalty evident.

Emperor Hei Fan nodded slightly, and a flash of bloodthirsty light suddenly flickered in his eyes—the light vanished in an instant, as fast as an illusion, yet it was bright enough to send a chill down one's spine.

"Very good."

He said in a low voice, as if talking to himself.

"Then… let me see your loyalty."

Before his words had even faded, the entire grand hall underwent a sudden, drastic change.

Black-red runes emerged simultaneously from the floor, walls, and dome, as if an ancient Seal that had been sleeping for millions of years had been suddenly awakened.

The runes intertwined and entangled, dense and numerous, filling every inch of the grand hall in an instant.

A thick stench of blood and decay permeated the air, as if this majestic imperial palace had turned into an ancient altar in an instant.

"Your Majesty, this is—"

A royal powerhouse spoke in horror, but halfway through his sentence, his expression changed drastically.

He discovered that the dao marks within his body were trembling violently, as if an invisible force was forcibly pulling and extracting them.

He tried to mobilize his dao marks to resist, but found that the powers that were once at his beck and call were now completely unresponsive, as if they no longer belonged to him.

It was not just him—everyone in the grand hall felt that terrifying pulling force at the same instant.

"Your Majesty! What are you doing?!"

Before the terrified questioning voice could even fade, that royal powerhouse couldn't even manage a scream before his body suddenly collapsed.

Flesh, bones, dao marks, Divine Soul… everything was compressed, condensed, and refined in an instant, finally turning into a round human pill emitting a dark red light, hovering in the air and radiating a heart-palpitating, rich energy.

Emperor Hei Fan didn't even glance at that human pill.

He raised his hand and gave a light wave, and the human pill streaked across the hall like a meteor, precisely entering Grand Marshal Hei Zhan's body.

Grand Marshal Hei Zhan's entire body jolted violently, his eyes widening, and dense dao marks suddenly appeared on the surface of his body—those markings greedily devoured the power contained within the human pill, as if parched land had received sweet rain.

Following that, the second, third, fourth…

One royal powerhouse after another turned into a human pill, with screams rising and falling, yet they all came to an abrupt halt the moment they left their throats.

Emperor Hei Fan expressionlessly raised his hand and waved his arm, striking one human pill after another into Grand Marshal Hei Zhan's body.

His movements were precise, calm, and even carried a kind of eerie elegance, as if what he was doing was not a massacre, but a carefully prepared ritual.

Then, he reached out his own hand.

That hand reached into his own chest; there was no blood, no screaming.

He just calmly reached his hand in, as if reaching into a bottomless abyss.

A moment later, he slowly withdrew his hand—in his palm, he held a deformed heart.

That heart was not large, but it was as heavy as if he were holding a star core.

Its shape was twisted and strange, with its surface covered in dense black blood vessels and dark red runes, and every beat was accompanied by the trembling of the Law, as if it were not an organ, but a living, forbidden artifact.

Emperor Hei Fan integrated it into Grand Marshal Hei Zhan's body.

Grand Marshal Hei Zhan's body convulsed violently, and he let out a low, beast-like roar.

His aura began to grow wildly—the Peak of the Fifth Order Bottleneck shattered like paper at this moment, and his aura surged and climbed like a bursting flood, rushing wildly toward the Sixth Order.

Emperor Hei Fan did not stop.

He followed the same method, sacrificing and refining one royal powerhouse after another, extracting all their talents, dao marks, and life Origin, and striking them into the bodies of the eight Grand Marshals.

After Grand Marshal Hei Zhan, it was the second Grand Marshal, the third, the fourth… everyone's aura was climbing crazily, launching a charge toward that once unreachable realm of Immortality.

Finally, someone in the grand hall broke down.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, spare me! I have fought for the Empire for three hundred years! Three hundred years—"

Pleas for mercy rang out.

"Mad! You are mad! You are not Your Majesty! You are not—"

Screams rang out.

There were also some who, after seeing the situation clearly, slowly closed their eyes, saying nothing, waiting for the irresistible end as if accepting their fate.

But everything, in front of Emperor Hei Fan, a true Sixth Order, seemed meaningless.

The black-red runes sealed every inch of the grand hall like a spider web; no one could escape, no one could resist, and no one could even close their eyes to avoid looking—those harrowing scenes were branded into the eyes of every survivor.

Screams were endless, echoing within this grand hall that once symbolized the supreme majesty of the Black Cloud Empire.

And on the imperial throne, Emperor Hei Fan quietly watched all of this.

At the corners of his mouth, that cold smile remained.