Chapter 138 The Fall

The Dragon Clan Divine Treasury was as vast as the Major Thousand Worlds.

In the Void Realm, a silver-white halo rippled out.

Wherever the halo swept, the violent True Qi between heaven and earth was cleansed away.

Lin Qingyue sat cross-legged in the Void Realm, eyes closed, her body floating in mid-air.

She opened her eyes, and a silver divine light flashed through her pupils instantly.

At the center of her brow, that silver-white mark seemed to come alive, pulsating like a cluster of flames.

God Lord Realm.

She had finally crossed this chasm.

Lin Qingyue raised her hand.

Her fingertips gently touched the Void Realm in front of her.

"Crack—"

A crisp sound rang out. Space cracks spread from her fingertips like a spiderweb, diffusing into the air. Before the space storm could rush out, the cracks were smoothed over by the God Lord Law.

She stood up and looked around this world.

This world had once been coveted by countless great clans across the heavens and myriad worlds.

It was said to contain the Foundation of the Dragon Clan for half an epoch. A supreme Divine Treasury.

At this moment, the scene was desolate.

Looking around, it was cleaner than a desert in the mortal world.

The top-grade Immortal veins that had originally floated in mid-air were now long dried up, turned into gray-white stone powder that scattered at the slightest breeze.

The Primordial Divine Herbs sealed in ancient crystals, once radiant and colorful, didn't even have roots left.

The golden runes of the Dragon Clan's supreme Dao Origin carved on the surrounding boundary walls had also been forcibly drained, leaving only mottled spiderweb cracks.

Opportunity, Legacy, Supreme Treasure.

Empty.

Lin Qingyue turned her head, her cold, delicate face slightly tilted. Her gaze seemed to pierce through the thick spatial barriers of the Divine Treasury.

She looked out into the endless Void Realm.

Just a moment ago, she had captured a trace of Devilish Qi fluctuation. Extremely familiar and incredibly irritable.

"Di Shitian..."

Her cultivation had broken through to the God Lord Realm, and her strength had skyrocketed. She had used secret techniques to plunder and scavenge the Foundation of this Divine Treasury clean.

She gave a light hmph, a shallow arc curling at the corner of her mouth.

She thought of the Dragon Ancestor.

That old loach was still sleeping, waiting to recover.

Just thinking about how he had endured so much hardship, waiting until the day the Divine Treasury opened, walking in full of anticipation, only to find that the family fortune he had saved for half an epoch didn't even have a single dragon hair left.

What kind of expression would be in those turbid dragon eyes?

"Dragon Ancestor. I hope you like this gift."

Lin Qingyue restrained her smile.

She flipped her palm.

"Hum."

The Heavenly Secret Disk appeared, its mysterious runes slowly rotating at the edges.

Countless star-like points of light flickered on it, intertwining into a web, the threads representing the Karma of the heavens and myriad worlds.

Lin Qingyue closed her eyes.

Her vast Divine Sense probed into the Heavenly Secret Disk like a tide.

A moment later.

She opened her eyes, her gaze sinking.

Just as she thought. During the time she was in seclusion breaking through, that madman Di Shitian had likely paced outside the Divine Treasury more than once.

"He can't find the heaven-reaching tower. He can't find my true body either. He can only rage in vain."

What about Gu Heng?

Lin Qingyue lowered her eyes.

On the Heavenly Secret Disk, the Karma line of the Original Realm was blurry and unclear. It was shrouded in mist, as if its trajectory had been forcibly erased by a force exceeding the rules of the Universe.

"He should have returned to the Original Realm as well."

It was just that, given that man's temperament, where would he go after the matters in the Original Realm were concluded?

Lin Qingyue put away the Heavenly Secret Disk and stroked her hair bun with her slender hand.

The bun felt somewhat empty; a wooden hairpin had once been inserted there, but it was now in Gu Heng's hands.

"Knowing that there are tigers in the mountains, yet heading toward the tiger mountain. With the current unclear situation in the Divine Court, I should go to the Human God Domain first..."

She murmured softly.

As her words fell, her figure vanished like a fading moonlight, dissipating in this desolate Divine Treasury.

...

Demon God Realm.

In the deepest part.

Demon God Palace.

This was the place where all Demon Race Cultivators of the Three Thousand Great Worlds prostrated and worshipped.

The Supreme Divine Hall.

Under the towering dome, divine patterns spread, making one's Divine Soul tremble.

In the center of the great hall.

"Step. Step. Step."

Footsteps echoed in the spacious hall.

Di Shitian's true body, clad in dark red demon armor, strode in from outside the hall, his surrounding Devilish Qi turbulent and agitated. He had just rushed back from the Dragon God Domain and hadn't even had time to regulate his aura.

He raised his head.

His dark red pupils swept coldly across the hall.

There were still five or six Demon Race powerhouses standing in the hall, exuding the terrifying pressure of the Divine Venerable Realm. These Demon Venerables, who usually dominated one side, were holding their breath, not daring to make a sound.

At the head of the left side of the hall.

A figure sat upright.

The figure was wrapped in heavy shadows.

That person's slender fingers were nonchalantly playing with a white bone wine cup.

The wine cup was exquisite, and not a single trace of Devilish Qi leaked from him.

But that Dao rhyme was as eternal as heaven and earth, impervious to all Laws, and terrifyingly extreme.

That was a Divine Emperor.

Brahma Demon God Emperor.

Di Shitian glanced at Brahma.

He coldly shifted his gaze.

He looked toward the top of the great hall.

There was a towering throne there.

The Demon God Emperor had not fully emerged from seclusion.

On the throne, only a blurred will was coiled, like a twisted black hole.

Just this trace of overflowing will was enough to press all the Divine Venerables present so that they couldn't even lift their heads. They were trembling all over.

A grand and cold voice exploded directly in the depths of everyone's Divine Soul.

"You have returned."

Di Shitian knelt on one knee, his right hand stroking his chest, bowing his head.

His arrogant head was now bowed respectfully.

"Your subordinate is incompetent. I failed to detect anything unusual in the Dragon God Domain. Please, Your Majesty, forgive my sin."

On the throne, the shadow of the will moved slightly, and suffocating fluctuations drifted out from it.

"No matter."

The Demon God Emperor's voice sounded again, filled with the indifference of looking down upon the vicissitudes of the ages.

"It will take another year for this Emperor to fully recover. One year later, the Dragon Clan Divine Treasury will fully open."

"However..."

The will paused slightly, and the temperature in the entire hall dropped to freezing point. On the ground, a layer of pitch-black frost condensed.

"That Human Race Empress. Her state is indeed somewhat unusual."

Hearing "Empress," all the Demon Venerables shuddered, their eyes showing fear.

Di Shitian suddenly raised his head, a flash of extremely complex light crossing his dark red eyes.

"In that battle back then, I was heavily injured and fell into a deep sleep. But she was no better off," the Demon God Emperor's voice was deep. "She was struck by this Emperor's Origin secret technique, and her Dao Foundation was damaged."

The Void Realm around the will twisted slightly, the space undulating slowly like a black hole, and finally, the voice concluded.

"Now, I fear she has already... fallen."

Once these words were spoken, everyone looked at each other in disbelief, gasping for air.

Fallen?

Di Shitian's pupils shook, followed by ecstasy.

He stood up abruptly, his dark red Devilish Qi boiling, and the Void Realm hissed and scorched under the pressure.

"Your Majesty! Is this true?"

If that supreme Human Race Empress who had suppressed the Demon Race for countless epochs had truly fallen, it would be a once-in-a-lifetime Opportunity for the Demon Race.

"Your Majesty!"

Di Shitian took a step forward, his voice hoarse with excitement, bowing respectfully to that will. "Jiang Wanyin of the Divine Court is in closed-door seclusion to make a Breakthrough, and the Human Race is leaderless. The undercurrents of various forces within it are surging, and it is weak to the extreme."

"If we press our army forward at this time, wouldn't we be able to take the Human God Domain in one fell swoop? Flatten the Divine Court?"

Scenes even appeared in his mind: Demon Race iron cavalry trampling countless Star Domains of the Human Race, blood-washing the Divine Court.

On the throne, the will slowly shook.

"It's not that simple."

The Demon God Emperor's words were like a basin of bone-chilling cold water, extinguishing the fire that had just ignited in Di Shitian's heart.

"That Bai Wangshu was not exhausted to death by this Emperor's secret technique."

"She chose to fall voluntarily."

"W-what?"

Di Shitian was stunned, the ecstasy on his face freezing.

He even suspected that something was wrong with his ears.

"This... chose voluntarily? As one of the only two God Emperors in the Three Thousand Worlds, a powerhouse standing at the Peak. Why would she seek death voluntarily?"

"Voluntarily chose."

The Demon God Emperor's will seemed to have some trepidation, pondering, "If I hadn't cast my gaze toward the downstream of the river of time while in seclusion, and spent countless epochs deducing, I wouldn't have found that trace of the Karma line that had been forcibly shielded. Even this Emperor would not know what she had actually done."

Karma shielding of the river of time.

This meant that there was a terrifying backup plan behind the Empress's fall.

"Then... why did she do this? For what?"

Di Shitian frowned tightly.

He couldn't figure it out.

Suddenly, a flash of light crossed his mind.

He remembered himself repeatedly deducing outside the Dragon Clan Divine Treasury, like a fool. Lingering for several days, and finally capturing that extremely faint aura.

"Your Majesty!"

Di Shitian's breathing began to quicken.

"When your subordinate was in the Dragon God Domain, I once deduced a trace of the Empress's aura on the periphery of the Divine Treasury! It was extremely faint. But it definitely couldn't be wrong, could she..."

"Not worth worrying about."

The Demon God Emperor interrupted him, his voice very cold.

"That was merely a trace of the Legacy Origin aura. Since she chose to fall, she would naturally leave behind some Legacy. A trace of aura cannot stir up any storms."

The Demon God Emperor's will rotated slowly, as if inspecting the entire hall.

Finally, it stopped in a certain direction.

"Compared to a fallen Empress, what this Emperor cares about more now is another place."

The will turned to Brahma the Demon God Emperor.

Brahma had been sitting quietly on the side, silent.

"Brahma."

"Your subordinate is here."

Brahma put down the white bone wine cup, stood up slowly, bowed slightly, his expression respectful.

"You go to the Demon God Domain."

In the Demon God Emperor's tone, there was a trace of very rare solemnity.

"There... a variable has appeared."

"A variable that even this Emperor cannot see through when deducing the river of time."

Once these words were spoken.

In the hall, several Divine Venerables looked at each other and gasped.

Their eyes were full of horror.

Even Your Majesty cannot see through it? In these Three Thousand Great Worlds, is there still an existence beyond Your Majesty's cognition?

"Find out the background of that variable."

The Demon God Emperor ordered coldly, "Then, one year later, assemble at the Dragon Clan Divine Treasury. That is the true battlefield."

The will turned to Di Shitian again.

"As for you, Di Shitian. You are impatient. Immediately enter seclusion and regulate your breath to restore your Peak state."

"One year later, do not let this Emperor down again."

Brahma nodded slightly, his expression as calm as water, as if nothing in the world could stir ripples in his heart.

"As you command."

He paused.

Those deep eyes swept over Di Shitian. Di Shitian's face was livid, and a playful arc curled at the corner of Brahma's mouth.

"Regarding the variable Your Majesty mentioned, this subordinate might know a thing or two."

Fantian spoke in a leisurely manner, "Not long ago, a huge commotion was reported in the Star Domain near the Original Realm. According to reports from below, an extremely unfamiliar Peak Divine Venerable of the Human Race was in that Star Domain, and it seems they have refined the Original Realm."

"What's more interesting is that this subordinate is also unable to deduce any Karma regarding this person."

Fantian looked at Di Shitian.

Di Shitian's expression grew increasingly gloomy, almost as if it were about to drip water.

Fantian continued.

"It is rumored that it was a Human Race Divine Venerable. In his hand, he held a giant tower exuding an archaic aura."

"If this Emperor is not mistaken, that should be the one rumored to have been forcibly refined and taken away when the heaven-reaching tower opened."

"Hum—"

The dark red Devilish Qi surrounding Di Shitian suddenly went berserk, and countless ferocious demonic shadows roared in the air.

His eyes were blood-red as he stared fixedly at Fantian, veins bulging on his forehead.

"The heaven-reaching tower..."

Di Shitian's teeth chattered, and he forced these words out through his gritted teeth.

How could he ever forget?

Back then, he was ordered to go to the border between the Immortal and Demon realms to retrieve the heaven-reaching tower. He was on the verge of success, ready to bring it back to the Demon God Realm and achieve an unparalleled feat.

In the end, because that madwoman Jiang Wanyin descended and stopped him at the cost of her life, and because the heaven-reaching tower was controlled by that thief, his efforts fell short at the last moment.

If it were just being stopped, that would be one thing, but what brought him even greater shame was the Youth in White behind the control of the heaven-reaching tower.

That name, that figure. He still refused to mention it in front of anyone.

He, a dignified Demon God Emperor, had his Divine Sense Incarnation lose contact in the Lower Realm, without even a shred of useful information being sent back.

What made it even harder for him to accept, and even feel a trace of fear, was that—to this day, he still did not know how the other party had managed to do it.

"That person..."

Di Shitian clenched his fists, and dark red demonic blood dripped through his fingers onto the obsidian floor, emitting a sizzling corrosive sound and wisps of blue smoke.

That guy who had humiliated him so much... had now grown to the point where even His Majesty, the Demon God Emperor, called him a "Variable."

"Your Majesty!"

Di Shitian suddenly looked up, murderous intent surging in his dark red pupils, almost coalescing into substance.

"This Emperor will go to the Demon God Domain in person!"

That brat had toyed with him so many times, back and forth. He would now go there, personally find that Variable, and ruthlessly suppress him to wash away the humiliation of the past.

"No need."

The Demon God Emperor's will indifferently interrupted him, the supreme majesty in his voice brook no argument.

"Fantian going is enough."

"You stay here, go into seclusion to adjust your breath, and prepare for battle. The Divine Treasury a year from now is where you should go. Right now, your state of mind is unstable."

Di Shitian's lips moved slightly, and his chest heaved violently.

He still wanted to say something.

But under the gaze of the Demon God Emperor's indifferent will, he felt as if his throat was being tightly gripped by an invisible giant hand, making it difficult to breathe.

He could only swallow all his humiliation and unwillingness back into his stomach.

"This subordinate... obeys the decree."

Di Shitian bowed in salute, then, under the gaze of that cold will, slowly unclenched his hands, turned around, and strode out of the palace.

The dark red demonic armor flickered at the palace gate before being swallowed by the endless darkness.

...

Demon God Domain. Ancestral land of the Nine-Tailed White Fox Clan.

In the past, this place was surrounded by Immortal Qi, with peach blossoms filling the sky. Now, it was as if the apocalypse had arrived.

Above the firmament. The clear sky was torn apart, revealing pitch-black turbulent currents of the Void Realm. Golden tribulation clouds, like a boiling angry sea, surged endlessly across the horizon, obscuring all light.

"Rumble—"

Countless purple-gold lightning bolts as thick as buckets wove through the clouds, like roaring angry Dragons, emitting dull rumbles that made one's Divine Soul tremble.

That was no ordinary Lightning Tribulation. It was the supreme power of erasure sent down by the Universe Origin upon sensing someone attempting to usurp the authority of a God Emperor.

Each lightning bolt contained the terrifying power to destroy stars.

In the center of the Origin Divine Pool. A figure in white sat cross-legged. Like an immortal deity.

The golden light around Gu Heng had become so intense that it had almost solidified into substance, forming a cocoon of light that enveloped him.

His eyes were tightly closed, his brows furrowed, and his body trembled slightly under the terrifying impact of the Origin, yet he remained as motionless as a rock. It was as if the heaven-destroying lightning outside, and the violent shaking of the entire Demon God Domain, had nothing to do with him.

In front of the ancestral palace. The atmosphere was incomparably oppressive.

More than a dozen elders of the Nine-Tailed White Fox Clan. At this moment, they knelt on the cold jade steps without any dignity, their bodies trembling, not daring to even breathe loudly.

From the moment that white-clad Excellency stepped into the Origin Divine Pool, the unease in their hearts grew like wild grass. It could no longer be contained.

"This Lightning Tribulation... is too terrifying..."

"Is the Ancestor... intending to bet the fate of our clan entirely on an outsider?"

A young clan elder's body trembled uncontrollably, his face deathly pale. He finally couldn't help but mutter in an extremely low voice.

"Shut up!"

Beside him, the oldest white-haired clan elder turned his head abruptly, lowering his voice to sternly reprimand him.

"Is the Ancestor's decision something you or I can recklessly discuss?"

The old clan elder's eyes were fierce, carrying a strong warning.

"The cautionary tale of Supreme Elder Tushan Xuan is right before our eyes! He merely said one extra word and was personally punished by the Ancestor to face the wall at the Cliff of Reflection for a year! What, do you want to go to that godforsaken place to accompany him?"

The young clan elder shivered, immediately closing his mouth in fear, burying his head deep between his arms, not daring to say another word.

But that unease, deep into their bones, spread wildly in the hearts of every clan elder.

The Ancestor not only came out of seclusion personally, but even spared no effort to offer his incredibly precious Origin essence blood. He personally led the way. He invited that person into the clan's most sacred Origin Divine Pool for seclusion.

As subordinates, what else could they do besides kneeling here like dogs, waiting for the verdict of fate?

If that person failed in the Breakthrough and brought about the backlash of the Heavenly Dao, the entire Nine-Tailed White Fox Clan would have to be buried with him.

Just in this suffocating silence—

A sudden change occurred.

"Hum—"

A tyrannical and cold aura, carrying an overwhelming aura of death. Suddenly erupted from the extremely distant end of the Star Domain.

That aura came too fast, so fast that it transcended the common logic of space and the flow of time.

A moment ago, it was still in a desolate Star Domain billions of miles away. The next moment, that aura was already pressing heavily upon the entire ancestral land of the Nine-Tailed White Fox Clan.

"Bang!"

All the clan elders didn't even have time to react or look up before they were pressed firmly to the ground by that indiscriminate pressure.

"Pfft—"

Several young clan elders with weaker cultivation directly spat out a mouthful of blood the moment they came into contact with this pressure.

They were like being hit by an invisible giant hammer, their bodies stuck firmly to the cold ground. Their bones groaned and creaked under the heavy pressure, as if they would shatter into pieces in the next second.

"What... what is this..."

An elderly clan elder bit the tip of his tongue, and with the brief clarity brought by the intense pain, he struggled inch by inch to lift his head.

He looked in the direction from which that terrifying aura came.

The next moment. His pupils shrank to a tiny dot, his eyes filled with extreme terror.

At the end of the Star Domain. A deep, profound darkness was spreading wildly at a speed visible to the naked eye, devouring all light in its path.

That was not the natural night of the Universe, nor was it dark clouds obscuring the starlight.

That was a cloud of insects, covering the sky and the earth, obscuring the stars and the moon.

The number was enough to make anyone go crazy instantly.

Moreover, the black insect cloud was surging towards the ancestral land of the Nine-Tailed White Fox Clan like a black tsunami at an incredible speed.

Wherever the insect cloud passed, the abandoned stars along the way were like apples that had been gnawed away. They instantly dimmed and turned into powder, and the solid Void Realm was bitten to pieces by the dense mouthparts, emitting cracking sounds.

The entire Demon God Domain was trembling before that boundless darkness.

"Insect... Insect Race..."

A clan elder who saw the true nature of that black cloud had his psychological defenses completely collapse.

His voice was full of desperate hoarseness, tears mixed with blood streamed down his face, and his body kept shaking like a sieve.

"It's the Insect Empress! The Insect Empress is here!"

Once these words were spoken. The entire area in front of the palace fell into endless despair, one wave after another.

"How could she come? Hasn't she been sleeping deep in the Demon God Domain for two epochs?"

"It's over... completely over..."

Desperate whispers spread among the clan elders, each word like a ten-thousand-pound boulder, dragging them into the bottomless abyss.

No one could stand up. In the face of that absolute class suppression and terrifying pressure, no one even dared to have the thought of standing up.

The Insect Empress. That was one of the true supreme Dominators of the Demon God Domain, having lived for who knows how many epochs and devoured countless Star Domains.

Late Stage God Emperor.

In front of her, the Nine-Tailed White Fox Clan's Half-step Divine Emperor ancestor was nothing more than a slightly larger ant.

As for them, these Immortal Emperors and God Lords... they didn't even count as ants.

"Boom—!!!"

A loud noise. Sufficient to shatter the Divine Soul.

The firmament barrier of the Nine-Tailed White Fox Clan's ancestral land was torn open. Known as indestructible and passed down for countless years, it was now forcibly torn open from the outside by a force that was barbaric to the extreme.

The crack was countless billions of miles long.

The black insect cloud poured in like a breached flood. Obscuring the sky and the sun, in just an instant, the incoming insect cloud dyed the originally brilliant golden tribulation clouds dark gray.

"Hiss hiss hiss—"

The sound of insects was overwhelming. The insect sounds gathered into a heaven-destroying sound wave. It shook the entire Void Realm of the Nine-Tailed White Fox Divine Domain, causing it to tremble violently and wail inch by inch.

In the center of the endless insect cloud. The Void Realm automatically parted to both sides. As if respectfully welcoming the arrival of a Dominator.

An enchanting and slender figure, surrounded by countless ferocious insect races, exuding an aura that made all things perish and all living beings submit. Slowly descended onto this precarious land.