The Fiend Emperors were special beings whose power far exceeded that of top-tier Jade Immortals. After all, fiends themselves were condensed from a wisp of demonic aura belonging to the Abyss of Demons Progenitor, and a Fiend Emperor was the ultimate form born out of an infinite horde of fiends. Calling them incarnations of the Abyss of Demons Progenitor would not be an exaggeration.
For this reason, across every Immortal-Demon War, the greatest threat to all immortals of the Immortal Realm has always been the Fiend Emperors. As for ordinary fiends? Even if they appear in endless numbers, they cannot breach the defensive arrays of the various Immortal Cities. One just has to endure until the Abyss of Demons’ descent channel disperses.
Having fought in multiple Immortal-Demon Wars, Yun Zhenzi knew perfectly well how terrifying Fiend Emperors were. Even with the support of a large-scale war-engine like an Immortal City, one could at best badly injure a Fiend Emperor, never truly kill it.
Yet now, in Yun Zhenzi’s eyes, these Fiend Emperors—who would normally require the combined might of an entire Immortal City to barely match—were helplessly struggling in the spaces between Lin Yuan’s fingers.
“Master…” Yun Zhenzi felt as though his brain were reduced to mush. When he had first entered Lin Yuan’s mental world, he had personally witnessed that towering figure, which symbolized an incomparable spiritual will, making him wonder for a moment if Lin Yuan was in fact the supreme Dao Ancestor of the Immortal Way.
But he quickly rejected that notion, because the Dao Ancestor of the Immortal Way and Lin Yuan were clearly different. The Dao Ancestor presides in the origin of the Immortal Realm, gazing down upon all immortals. Lin Yuan obviously was not doing that.
Over the years, Lin Yuan had displayed terrifying pill-refining skills and abilities greater than those of top-tier Jade Immortals, yet still far from that of the Dao Ancestor. But now Yun Zhenzi was confused once again. Capturing a skyful of fiends with a single hand—including six Fiend Emperors—what else could manage such a feat besides the Dao Ancestor? Jade Immortals?
The moment they left their city’s defenses, they were nothing but delicious prey in the eyes of a Fiend Emperor. Since the emergence of the Abyss of Demons, there had never been a case of any Jade Immortal even temporarily holding their own against a Fiend Emperor, let alone subduing one—much less subduing six at once.
“Fiend Emperors?” Lin Yuan cast a glance at his right palm, focusing on those six Fiend Emperors in his grip. He was on the verge of stepping into the seventh level of space-time, and was nearly touching the threshold. Having his efforts interrupted by these fiends left him mildly irritated, so he acted without reservation.
If one goes back to when he first descended into the Immortal Realm, he needed to keep a low profile, avoiding undue attention from the Dao Ancestor or the Abyss of Demons Progenitor.
Now, however, with his breakthrough to the seventh level of space-time imminent, there was no need to keep hiding. Indeed, Lin Yuan already possessed certain characteristics of the seventh level of space-time. For instance, capturing and subduing six Fiend Emperors with a single grasp was not a matter of absolute raw power but of domain suppression.
The Yang Primordial Spirit he was using at present, aside from his unmatched spiritual will, was in many ways not stronger than a single Fiend Emperor. Achieving rank eleven in the Immortal Realm does not involve receiving any infusion of the realm’s origin power, so even with the aid of that mysterious gourd, the Yang Primordial Spirit’s internal world was merely a few hundred million miles across.
He had also channeled most of the resources he obtained in the Immortal Realm to his true body, leaving the Yang Primordial Spirit’s physical toughness only on par with that of an average Fiend Emperor.
The fundamental reason the horde of fiends and the six Fiend Emperors were all pinned down in Lin Yuan’s palm was the suppression of his space-time domain.
With Lin Yuan’s current level of space-time insight, he could handle the Dao Ancestor of the Immortal Way or the Abyss of Demons Progenitor with composure. More importantly, he was only utilizing his Yang Primordial Spirit; if need be, he could abandon it altogether.
His true self was hidden in an unknown secret location, shielded from all cause-and-effect, so even a rank-twelve ultimate like the Dao Ancestor would need a great deal of time to sniff him out. Under these conditions, Lin Yuan basically no longer needed to fear anyone here; fully stepping into the seventh level of space-time would place him far beyond all threats.
“These Fiend Emperors…” Lin Yuan observed the six Emperors pinched between his fingers. Though he was overpowering them at the rule level, he still did not underestimate them, for these Fiend Emperors were essentially part of the Abyss of Demons Progenitor, a rank-twelve ultimate.
“This feeling?” Lin Yuan frowned. When observing ordinary fiends, it was still acceptable; but with these Fiend Emperors, he sensed something completely contrary to the Immortal Dao system of the immortals—like white versus black, life versus death.
“Where is this? What is this place?!” The six Fiend Emperors had no awareness of Lin Yuan’s scrutiny, but they were suddenly seized and brought into a different realm, filling them with dread. Born in the Abyss of Demons and never before having experienced anything but the ubiquitous presence of the Abyss of Demons Progenitor, they were utterly terrified now.
“Why can’t I feel the Abyss of Demons anymore?”
“Yes, it’s gone!”
Each Fiend Emperor’s scalp prickled. For them, the Abyss of Demons wasn’t just a place of origin. It was more akin to their lifeblood. At any moment, a Fiend Emperor can sense the aura of the Abyss of Demons and, if necessary, slip back in an instant. But at this moment, the expansive Abyss of Demons, almost as vast as the Immortal Realm, had seemingly vanished—more accurately, they could no longer sense it.
“They’re of no use to me right now,” Lin Yuan murmured after a quick study, exhaling lightly. In that instant, the space-time in his palm collapsed. The endless swarm of fiends disintegrated under the fierce distortion of space-time, and the six Fiend Emperors, having resisted for only a few brief instants, also vanished in a puff of smoke.
Every fiend was crushed by the power of time and space, reverting to their most primordial form—wisps of demonic aura from the Abyss of Demons Progenitor. Lin Yuan was keeping them suppressed for research, as they derived from the sleeping rank-twelve ultimate being in the Abyss.
“Huh?” The moment the leading Fiend Emperor among those six was annihilated, an expanse of leftover demonic aura billions of miles away from Cangwu Immortal City recondensed into another figure. This new figure was noticeably smaller than a normal Fiend Emperor and far weaker, having dropped to the level of an ordinary Jade Immortal.
“I survived?” The Fiend Emperor was overjoyed. Most Fiend Emperors feel invincible and prepare no life-saving measures, but this one was paranoid by nature, so even in attacking an Immortal City that seemed as good as conquered, it had left behind a fragment of its will elsewhere. Indeed, that backup was now paying off: though the Fiend Emperor’s true form died, this will had revived, effectively granting him “resurrection.”
“Abyss of Demons…” Without hesitation, the Fiend Emperor summoned the power of the Abyss of Demons to escape back into it. He had no idea how or why his real self was killed, only that he was terrified. If he did not run, he might never get another chance.
Buzz, buzz… The grand shadow of the Abyss of Demons descended, like a gaping maw poised to swallow the Fiend Emperor in one gulp. But in the next instant, a massive hand composed entirely of time and space emerged, yanking this newly revived Fiend Emperor right out of that looming maw. The Abyss of Demons’ power lingered a moment and then faded away.
“Trying to run?” Lin Yuan said, gazing at the insignificant creature in his grasp. He crushed it again, suppressing its source demonic aura for further study.
“Still no movement from the Dao Ancestor?” Throughout this entire affair, from his initial attack to now, the majority of Lin Yuan’s attention was actually focused on the source realm of the Immortal Realm and whether the Dao Ancestor there would respond.
Seizing countless fiends in one hand—including multiple Fiend Emperors—was a display of power essentially at the level of rank-twelve, which might have drawn the Dao Ancestor’s notice. Indeed, Lin Yuan had half-intended this move as a test, to see what the Dao Ancestor’s status might be.
“Enough.” After waiting a bit and seeing no reaction, Lin Yuan gave up. He turned and re-entered his cultivation chamber, determined to cross that last step into the seventh level of space-time.
It had taken only a few breaths for Lin Yuan to easily eradicate all the fiends—capturing a resurrected Fiend Emperor before the Abyss of Demons’ eyes—and then simply resume his closed-door training. It seemed lengthy, but in reality it had happened in moments.
In Cangwu Immortal City, countless immortals who only moments before were fleeing for their lives in utter despair now discovered that the endless fiends threatening to level the entire city had vanished.
Not just a handful of them, or most of them, but all of them at once. If not for the collapsed portions of city walls and buildings, many immortals might have thought the entire ordeal had been an illusion.
“Where did the fiends go?”
“What just happened?”
“No idea. Did they retreat?”
Instantly, people began talking among themselves, all letting out a collective sigh of relief. The ordinary populace could only guess that the fiends had fled for some reason. But the city’s high-level leaders were left in a state of shock.
“They retreated?”
“Impossible. There’s no way they pulled back.”
“Exactly. With sixty percent of our defensive arrays in ruins, just a bit more time and those six Fiend Emperors would have shattered the city’s last defenses. Why would they back off at that moment?”
“Yes.”
The higher-ups in the city possessed far more detailed information. They knew that Cangwu Immortal City’s defensive arrays were at the very brink of collapse; the horde of fiends would inevitably have devoured the city. The top-tier Jade Immortals among them would have been shared out among the Fiend Emperors.
Yet at the final critical moment, every fiend simply vanished. The leaders of the city were no fools. They knew well that fiends of that nature would never withdraw when victory was so certain.
“Then if they didn’t retreat, they must have been dealt with.”
“Dealt with? Could it be the Dao Ancestor stepping in?”
The City Lord felt his heart stir. Six Fiend Emperors working together can tear through an Immortal City’s defenses; only the Dao Ancestor could effortlessly wipe them out in an instant.
“Did the Ancestor…” murmured a youthful Jade Immortal, heir to the Dao Ancestor’s teachings, who then shook his head. He knew the Dao Ancestor was definitely not intervening right now, or else he wouldn’t have allowed three other cities to be destroyed in the first place.
“So it wasn’t the Dao Ancestor,” the City Lord and other top figures fell silent, half convinced. If the Dao Ancestor had acted, his Immortal might would have blanketed the entire realm, driving away all fiends and forcing the Abyss of Demons to withdraw. Yet fiends still rampaged across other regions of the Immortal Realm, which didn’t match how things would be if the Dao Ancestor had truly made a move.
But if it wasn’t him, who else did it? Other than the Dao Ancestor, who else in the Immortal Realm can so effortlessly annihilate six Fiend Emperors?
No one could fathom such a possibility.
“Have any of you noticed something odd in the cave dwelling district of the city?” asked a Deputy City Lord as they surveyed Cangwu Immortal City’s overall state. Under the onslaught of the fiends and six Fiend Emperors, most of the city’s defensive arrays had collapsed, and many internal formations were likewise destroyed.
Right now, Cangwu Immortal City was like a sieve riddled with holes—one could see from one end to the other. The top leaders, who still held partial control over the city’s battered arrays, could peer anywhere without obstruction, since most of the city’s defenses had already fallen.
Under those circumstances, one particular A-grade dwelling in the cave dwelling area remained fully intact, in stark contrast to the other A-grade dwellings, which lay in ruins. That alone might be chalked up to luck. But even more noteworthy, this Deputy City Lord discovered that, despite using what remained of the city arrays, he was still unable to spy into that dwelling at all.
Meanwhile, in the face of the fiend invasion, nearly every occupant of the district had fled—except, apparently, for the inhabitant of that one A-grade dwelling. All of which was suspicious enough to draw the attention of the city’s higher-ups.
“That dwelling…”
The City Lord’s expression changed slightly. As a top-tier Jade Immortal, he could sense how, unlike the panic gripping the others, that dwelling’s master had not even budged, as though he knew all along that the fiends would be handled. This inevitably led the City Lord to wonder if the person in that dwelling was connected to whoever had erased the fiend horde.
“That belongs to Master Yun Zhenzi, right?” The Palace Master of Feixian Palace was equally taken aback.
“You know this dwelling’s owner?” The City Lord turned to him, as did the others. All Jade Immortals of sufficient rank had clearance to look up the owners of A-grade dwellings, but “knowing” someone is another matter.
Within that dwelling…
Lin Yuan now sat cross-legged, his mind awash in sudden bursts of clarity. Dealing with the fiends so swiftly left him free to continue forging ahead in his space-time comprehension, pushing him to the very final threshold.
“Space-time, space-time… so that’s what it is.”
Lin Yuan opened his eyes with a smile on his face.
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