418: Chapter 418 The Deep Sea Royal Court

The scarlet wasteland was no longer just land, but a quagmire boiled by malice and clamor.

Filthy waves of sound surged from all directions—that was the alien Prodigies suspended in mid-air like dark clouds pressing down, the dense, greedy onlookers behind the thirteen Soul Transformation experts, and even the ancient Secret Realm itself, soaked in blood and desire for millions of years, was humming.

They roared, laughed wildly, and cursed, weaving a net with the most venomous language, intending to nail the dignity of the Human Race to a pillar of shame to be roasted, cooking despair into the appetizer for their revelry.

"Look! He's still standing! His bones are hard enough!"

"It's just a spent force, a final death struggle! Under the heavenly might of the thirteen adults, every inch of his bones is wailing, every drop of his blood is trembling; he's just desperately trying to save Face!"

"I bet he won't last five breaths! He'll definitely kneel!"

"Human Race? A race as lowly as dust, worthy of coveting the Ten Fiends Treasure Technique? That is a supreme sacred object that only our supreme Bloodlines are qualified to covet!"

"Peel off his skin to make a drum! Pull out his tendons to make strings! Refine his Soul to light a lamp! I want the wails of this wretched race to resound through eternity!"

The sound waves were like billions of poisoned files, scraping back and forth against the Soul.

Every gaze was like a red-hot iron, attempting to brand fear and submission onto those isolated figures.

However—

The figure in the center remained like a reef that had existed since time immemorial, unmoved by the crashing waves.

Behind him, Li Jiuyou's Face was like gold paper, every breath pulling at the severe pain in his internal organs, bringing up scarlet blood foam.

Yet, she gripped the blood-stained halberd in her hand tightly, her knuckles turning pale from the force, but the tip of the halberd remained steady as a rock, not shifting even a fraction.

He stood there, acting as a silent boundary marker that would never retreat.

Further back was little Luo Xiaojiu.

The fear previously on her Face was gone, replaced by a strange sense of bewilderment.

In those clear, large eyes, faint golden, ancient, and mysterious patterns flashed, as if something dormant had been quietly touched by the malice and pressure from the outside world, or as if a layer of ignorant veil had been lifted, revealing a depth she herself had not yet realized.

And that Golden Lion, the ten-headed Sacred Beast that once looked down upon the mountains and forests, now had dull fur and was covered in wounds, its ten heads hanging weakly, its breathing as heavy as a broken bellows.

But it did not give up.

Its bleeding claws dug deep into the crimson soil, its muscles spasming and trembling in severe pain, yet it still, bit by bit, propped up its massive and heavy body.

It stood unsteadily, but it had to stand, because the figure in front had not yet fallen.

In front of them, thirteen figures floated quietly, like thirteen stars burning with destructive flames of different colors, their auras connecting and resonating with each other, constructing a natural, absolute killing formation that sealed the four poles of heaven and earth.

Merely by existing there, the invisible pressure emitted caused the space to emit an unbearable "creaking" groan; the light distorted, the Law was in Chaos, as if this heaven and earth would completely disintegrate at their whim at any moment.

Yet Chu Zhanxiao still stood.

His spine was straight as a javelin, like a lonely peak, like the shadow of the legendary Buzhou Mountain, propping up the blood-stained vault of heaven that was about to collapse above his head.

There was no expression on his Face.

No paleness that should be there when facing a desperate situation, no gravity under the siege of powerful enemies, not even a ripple of emotion.

Only a deep, almost void-like... calmness.

This calmness was like the core of ten-thousand-year black ice, like the absolute silence within the event horizon of a black hole.

It was untimely, it was inexplicably strange, it was like a cold needle, silently piercing into the deepest part of the hearts of the thirteen Soul Transformation experts who held the power of life and death, stirring up a trace of anxiety that was almost imperceptible yet stubbornly growing.

"Third Senior Brother..."

A weak voice sounded; it was Luo Xiaojiu. She seemed not to have fully awakened from that dazed state, golden patterns faintly appearing in her large eyes, with a trace of ignorance and confusion, looking at the back in front of her that seemed capable of blocking all wind and rain.

"What... should we do?"

She was not afraid of death.

Having walked through this mountain of corpses and sea of blood, death was not unfamiliar to her.

But the current situation, this terrifying power that felt like the entire heaven and earth were about to crush down, still made her little head blank for a moment, not knowing how to respond.

Chu Zhanxiao did not answer.

He didn't even turn his head, didn't give her a comforting look.

He just, slowly, raised his eyes.

His gaze was like two pools of cold water that had frozen for countless epochs, passing calmly over those thirteen Faces—the cruelty and arrogance of the Demon Race, the greedy heat of the Sea Race, the twisted hunger of the Bug Race, the indifferent compassion of the Spirit Race, the violent devouring of the Yao Race... all reflected in his eyes.

Cold.

Utterly cold.

That was not feigned composure, nor was it desperate numbness, but a pure overlooking, as if he were an outsider.

Like a god above the Nine Heavens, lowering his eyes to scan the noisy ant colony in the mortal world.

The scarlet pupils of the Blood Moon Demon Prince contracted imperceptibly.

This look... made him feel a kind of instinctual, extreme discomfort and... disgust.

He, the Blood Moon Demon Prince, the most brilliant killing star of this epoch in the Demon Abyss, the future hegemon destined to pave his path to the heavens with blood and bones, had he ever been looked at by someone with such... eyes as if looking at a dead object?

This feeling was like a dragon in the clouds being looked at by a bug in a burrow as if it were food.

"Boy," his voice was pressed extremely low, like a cold wind blowing from the depths of the Nine Netherworlds, every word carrying a chill that froze the Soul, "At death's door, you still dare to use this look... to look at this seat?"

Chu Zhanxiao ignored him.

His gaze continued to move calmly, as if counting numbers, or as if... confirming some long-destined ending.

Then—

The corners of his mouth, extremely subtly, twitched upward.

An arc so small it was almost a hallucination.

Like a crack on a frozen lake surface that barely existed, like the sound of a speck of dust falling in absolute silence.

But this extremely subtle movement was like a thunderclap, fiercely striking the heart lake of the Blood Moon Demon Prince!

The previous anxiety suddenly turned into a bone-chilling warning, like a cold viper, instantly entwining his heart!

"Playing god!"

The patience of the Deep Sea Halberd Emperor ran out first! The trident in his hand, which seemed capable of lifting the entire ocean, slammed down heavily!

"Dong—!!!"

A dull, extreme sound, not the clashing of gold and iron, but the painful groan of the Void Realm itself being shaken by terrifying, immense force!

With the tip of the halberd as the origin, ink-blue, terrifying ripples spread in a ring, and the phantom of a heaven-toppling giant wave instantly turned from virtual to real, swallowing half the sky!

This was not ordinary seawater, but the "Xuanming Heavy Water" condensed from the pressure of the endless abyss and extreme cold; every drop was comparable to a mountain. Amidst the surging waves, phantoms of ancient sea beasts as huge as mountains swam and roared in the depths!

"Boy, final ultimatum—the treasure technique, hand it over, or not?" His voice was like the simultaneous roar of billions of sea beasts, carrying unquestionable tyranny and greed.

"Hiss hiss... chuckle..." The "laughter" of the Soul-Devouring Mother Emperor was pervasive, sounding directly in the depths of the Divine Soul of all living beings. It was the noise of billions of insect mandibles opening and closing, rubbing against each other, causing the Soul to freeze, "Unnecessary... His Divine Soul, that beautiful taste where unwillingness and anger are intertwined... is already my dish..."

The Twelve Star Envoys shook their heads slowly. The twelve "stars" around him suddenly accelerated their rotation, their light as blazing as the real sun, each emitting distinct yet equally destructive Law fluctuations—incineration, freezing, disintegration, annihilation... as if twelve destructive authorities were intertwined in his hands.

"Young man," he spoke, his tone so flat that it carried no trace of worldly smoke, yet contained the indifference of pronouncing fate, "To be enemies with thirteen Soul Transformation experts is not bravery, but stupidity. This is the last choice of your life."

"Boom—!!!"

The moment the tail sound of the word "choice" fell, the thirteen terrifying auras, which were already entrenched like primordial Vicious Beasts, erupted completely like a group of volcanoes that had been suppressed to the limit!

That was not a simple superposition, but a qualitative change! It was fusion! It was thirteen different destructive Laws resonating, vibrating, and together weaving a death net that covered heaven and earth!

The invisible pressure instantly turned into substance, turning into a visible, colorful, yet extinction-filled torrent of destruction!

Where the torrent passed, space shattered like fragile glass, revealing the violent Chaos turbulence behind it!

The entire red wasteland shook and sank crazily, as if it would completely sink into the land in the next moment!

"Pfft—!"

Li Jiuyou was hit hard, spitting out a large mouthful of blood, her delicate body trembling violently. The arm holding the halberd emitted a "clattering" sound of bones unable to bear the weight. Her knees softened, almost kneeling to the ground, but she was held up by her steel-like will, her teeth clenched, her lips dripping with blood.

Luo Xiaojiu's small body trembled violently, and blood seeped from her nose and mouth instantly. That pressure was not only aimed at the Physical Body, but also like billions of ice needles, fiercely stabbing at her fragile Divine Soul!

Everything went black before her eyes, the world spinning. In her ears, only the roar of destruction remained. Only the piece of clothing she held tightly in her hand still transmitted a trace of weak, yet unswerving warmth, becoming the last anchor point in her consciousness.

The Golden Lion let out a mournful and unyielding low roar. Its body, which had just been propped up, was pressed hard into the red soil again. Its ten heads pressed hard against the ground, plowing out ten gullies deep enough to see bone, and golden Sacred blood gushed out, staining the land beneath it red.

Only Chu Zhanxiao.

He still stood in the original place, not even the arc of his clothes fluttering had changed in the slightest.

That torrent of extinction, which was enough to cut off rivers and make stars sway, fell on him like a breeze brushing over an ancient rock, failing to stir up even a ripple.

Then, he spoke.

The voice was very light, very faint, as if talking to himself, or like a lover's whisper.

Yet it strangely penetrated the roar of the torrent that destroyed everything, overwhelmed the arrogant and harsh mocking in the sky, and was clearly imprinted on the eardrums of every living being within a hundred miles, imprinted in every inch of the air of this heaven and earth.

"Since you are here—"

He paused slightly.

His gaze, like the most precise ice blade, slowly swept over those thirteen Faces again, taking in every bit of cruelty, greed, distortion, indifference, and violence.

This look seemed to span endless years.

The faint arc at the corner of his mouth slowly deepened, finally outlining a clear and cold—

Mockery.

That was not a smile.

That was the gavel struck by the judge.

It was the last glance a hunter gave his prey before pulling the trigger.

"—then, none of you need to leave."

The words fell.

Time seemed to have its throat suddenly choked by an invisible big hand.

The boiling clamor, the hideous roars, the terrifying tide of pressure... everything, everything, in this instant, fell into an absolute, deathly, heart-stopping solidification.

Those alien Prodigies who were fanatically clamoring a second ago had their expressions instantly frozen on their Faces, their wide-open mouths forgetting to close, their widened pupils reflecting the figure in the center of the wasteland who was terrifyingly calm, and... those seven words that were light but heavier than a galaxy.

He... said what?

A Nascent Soul?

A Nascent Soul trapped in a desperate situation with no way to fly?

Said... let thirteen Soul Transformation experts, and the elite aliens behind them covering the mountains and plains...

None of them leave?

Absurd!

Extreme absurdity! Like dust claiming to devour a star, like a mayfly delusional enough to shake a tree!

The silence lasted for a full three breaths.

These three breaths were as long as three epochs.

Then—

"Ha... Hahahaha hahahaha!!!"

The explosion of laughter was like a volcano that had been suppressed for millions of years, erupting suddenly! A hundred times more violent than before! A thousand times!

The sound waves almost turned into tangible sound waves, crazily impacting the space that was already crumbling!

"What did he say?! He said none of us need to leave?! Did I get hit by an illusion?! "

"Crazy! He must be scared crazy! His Divine Soul is in Chaos!"

"This is the most ridiculous, ignorant, and arrogant gibberish I have heard since I was born!"

"Poor worm! Still stiff-mouthed at death's door! Quick, quick, quick! Kill him! I want to watch him be ground into meat paste with my own eyes!"

"Kill! Seize the treasure technique! Dismember the corpse!"

Mockery, angry curses, and urging merged into a boiling ocean, full of manic pleasure and an excitement like witnessing an absurd drama.

The Blood Moon Demon Prince was also laughing.

He laughed until he leaned back and forth, laughed until the Blood Moon phantom flickered uncertainly, laughed until he almost shed tears.

"Good! Good! Good!" He drank three times in a row, each time carrying a bone-chilling coldness and cruel playfulness, "Boy, this seat must admit, you successfully pleased this seat. Being able to offer such a wonderful farce before falling, you didn't die in vain."

The laughter stopped abruptly.

All expressions on his Face faded instantly, leaving only pure, world-freezing killing intent.

"Being able to kill several Prodigies of our race with a Nascent Soul body, forcing the thirteen-race coalition to set up a net, and chasing you for thirty thousand miles... You do have some ability, you can be called a freak that the Human Race hasn't produced in ten thousand years."

The Devilish Qi around him surged violently, the Blood Moon expanded rapidly, the moonlight sticky as blood, splashing down, dyeing heaven and earth a scarlet color!

"But—"

His voice raised suddenly, like the roar of a Nine Nether Demon God, shaking the Void Realm until it cracked!

"Who gave you the dog guts—"

"To make you have the illusion that our generation of Soul Transformation experts..."

"Are the same level of existence as those trash you luckily killed...?"

"Boom, boom, boom—!!!"

The moment the last word turned into a thunderclap, the Blood Moon Demon Prince attacked fiercely! No more banter or waiting, the moment he attacked, it was a true, angry blow belonging to a peerless Prodigy of the Soul Transformation Realm!

The huge Blood Moon that covered the sky suddenly shot down a scarlet beam of light that was condensed to the extreme, with a diameter of over ten zhang!

Inside the beam of light, endless devil shadows rolled and roared, emitting the towering devil power of corrosion Laws, devouring vitality, and polluting the Divine Soul, like a blood-colored Demon Dragon from the Nine Netherworlds, opening its huge mouth and biting down towards the top of Chu Zhanxiao's head!

Before the light beam arrived, the ground below had already been eroded by the Devilish Qi, making a "sizzling" sound, turning into a pus-blood swamp emitting black smoke!

"Why waste words with him! The treasure technique should belong to the Deep Sea Royal Court!" The Deep Sea Halberd Emperor roared almost at the same moment!

The trident in his hand stabbed fiercely towards Chu Zhanxiao's direction!

"Whoosh—!!!"

The ink-colored ocean that occupied half the sky boiled and rioted completely!

A terrifying water tornado, completely condensed from "Xuanming Heavy Water", with a diameter of over a hundred zhang, connecting heaven and earth, formed suddenly!

The rotation speed of the tornado was so fast that it tore the space, and countless phantoms of deep-sea giant beasts as large as mountains appeared clearly in it, emitting roars that shook the Soul!

The tornado carried the absolute pressure of crushing stars and the extreme cold death intent of freezing all things, like an extinction demon whale, crushing and swallowing towards Chu Zhanxiao!

Where it passed, space froze, collapsed, and all things disintegrated!

"Hiss roar roar—!!!"

The Soul-Devouring Mother Emperor exploded completely! Its body, condensed from billions of Soul-devouring insects, exploded, turning into a boundless, sky-covering black insect cloud!

The insect cloud hummed, the sound acting directly on the Divine Soul level, enough to make a Nascent Soul Cultivator's Soul fly away and spirit scatter instantly!

Countless mouthparts flashing with dark blue cold light opened and closed, locking onto Chu Zhanxiao and everyone behind him, launching an indiscriminate, covering Divine Soul devouring storm!

This was a plan to wipe out the whole family, intending to swallow everything, including people and Souls, clean!