Chapter 1

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Whoosh!

The sea of blood surged, seeming to contain all of heaven and earth within it. Even the waves stirred by countless stars falling into it were but insignificant ripples in the vast expanse.

As the blood lotus slowly bloomed, the islands nestled within the sea of blood, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, trembled. Countless demons shuddered.

"My Lord…"

Powerful demon kings stood in the surging sea of blood, gazing at the center, shivering in fear.

The sea of blood had no beginning and no end, boundless and vast. There was no true center, but from the moment the blood lotus arose, the place where it resided became the absolute center of the entire sea of blood.

For within the blood lotus sat the King of Demons, the Lord of the Demonic Realm, the unparalleled being in the universe, the First Demon of all time, the Demon Lord, Da Zizai Tian.

Crack!

In an instant, the void trembled violently. Above the crimson sky, a massive formation, interwoven and seemingly piercing through the entire Demonic Realm, appeared.

"That is the formation laid down by Da Yu!"

A demon king exclaimed in shock.

Tens of thousands of years ago, a shocking upheaval swept through the entire Demonic Realm. A human emperor from the mortal world used great divine powers to cleanse almost the entire Demonic Realm.

He used the blood of the demon kings he had slaughtered to create a great formation rooted in the Demonic Realm, severing the passages between the Demonic Realm and other great worlds.

For tens of thousands of years, countless demon kings and demon gods had tried to destroy this formation, but they were often suppressed and killed instead.

None had ever forced the formation to appear.

But at this moment, stirred by the terrifying aura, the great formation emerged, accompanied by waves of blood soaring into the sky, and lightning descending.

Rumble!

The Demonic Realm was vast, and the sea of blood was boundless. The waves of blood that soared into the sky numbered in the billions.

And in that instant, more lightning than waves fell, and the terrifying shockwaves created by their collision swept across almost the entire Demonic Realm.

"Da Yu's formation has been revived!"

Within the sea of blood, the expressions of the demon kings first froze, then changed drastically.

Because, at the same time as the indescribable roar exploded, strands of profound Dao patterns and thousands of rays of light and divine mist descended from the omnipresent formation.

In a trance, a magnificent figure seemed to coalesce in the rays of light and divine mist.

Buzz!

As the figure appeared, the entire formation was completely revived, and the terrifying pressure spread throughout the heavens, omnipresent, like a collapsing sky, trying to crush and destroy the entire sea of blood.

Roar!

The minds of the demon kings trembled. In a daze, they felt an emperor who stood tall and supported the heavens had crossed over from the river of time.

Before he even arrived, the fear he had left in this Demonic Realm long ago began to erupt uncontrollably.

Demon heads who had survived the turmoil wailed and fled, some even plunging into the sea of blood, utterly terrified.

"Da Yu! It's Da Yu!"

A demon head cried out in horror, rushing towards the blood lotus in panic, only to vanish into smoke in the next instant.

The demon kings were also terrified.

They had experienced the battle in which Da Yu had entered the Demonic Realm, and had seen the unparalleled killing power of this first emperor of the human race.

But they never imagined that this emperor of the mortal world was still alive.

"Xia Yu…you people."

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Amidst the earth-shattering events, a calm but emotional demonic voice rang out:

"This Da Dao Ji is very interesting."

Whoosh!

In an instant, the previously rolling and boiling sea of blood had fallen into complete stillness, and the thunder in the sky seemed to have disappeared as well.

Thud!

In the horrified eyes of the demon kings, the blood lotus, as large as a celestial star, bloomed in the center of the sea of blood.

A Daoist in red hair and black robes sat cross-legged in the center of the blood lotus, two blood-colored longswords resting on his lap. As they hummed and trembled, they exuded a terrifying killing intent capable of slaughtering heaven and earth, and destroying the universe.

For him, and even for the Sages, this Da Dao Ji was also an extremely special one, its importance surpassing any in the past or present.

The Heavens have their fortune, and the Sages occupy nine out of ten. Countless epochs share that one, and within one Da Dao Ji, beings that catch their attention shouldn’t be born.

But this Da Dao Ji, it just so happened, did.

Among them, the influence of that great enemy from beyond the heavens played a role, but it may not be solely because of that great enemy.

But attention was merely attention.

Without that great enemy from beyond the heavens, this Da Dao Ji, which seemed magnificent in the eyes of countless people, would not be any different from other Da Dao Ji.

So what if there are geniuses, outstanding individuals, and peerless heroes?

They can be destroyed with a mere flick of the hand!

Boom!

Boom!

Two terrifying auras collided and echoed in the Demonic Realm, creating even more terrifying pressure and shockwaves, causing the Demonic Realm to fall silent.

"Da Zizai Tian, the Demon Lord!"

The rumbling imperial voice reverberated through heaven and earth, and the imperial shadow spanning heaven and earth lowered its eyes, as if gazing at the Daoist: "I have waited for you for a long, long time!"

A demon king woke up in shock: "This, this isn't Da Yu! This, this is the battle imprint he left behind! He, he wants to challenge…"

The demon king's words were only half-spoken before his body began to tremble uncontrollably.

This Emperor of the Earth, this Great Emperor of the Human Race, was already an invincible powerhouse in the past, with no match in the Demonic Realm. What did he intend to do by leaving this battle imprint?

It was self-evident.

Could it be that he actually wanted to challenge a Sage?!

"That Emperor of the Earth deliberately left this battle imprint after sweeping through the Demonic Realm back then, just for today?"

The demon kings exchanged glances, all shocked and terrified. Then, they fled in unison, leaving the sea of blood where an earth-shattering battle was about to erupt with all their might.

The Demon Lord’s body manifested into billions upon billions, and even though an avatar could not compare to the true body, it was still a height that countless cultivators could never surpass.

If He were to act, it would be earth-shattering.

"Waiting for me?"

The Daoist in red and black robes, sitting cross-legged in the blood lotus, laughed upon hearing this, as if he had heard the greatest joke in the world: "You want to challenge this Demon Lord?"

In the sky above, the imperial shadow lowered its eyes: "Why not?"

"This place is not the mortal world."

On the red lotus, the Daoist's smile gradually faded, and a strange light appeared in his eyes: "Now, is also not your era… relying solely on a great divine power you left behind tens of thousands of years ago, hehe…"

Throughout the Da Dao Ji, there has never been a lack of those who think they have cultivated to the pinnacle and challenge the Sages, and there have even been those who have truly reached their level.

But this was the first time He had seen someone dare to provoke Him with just a divine power left behind tens of thousands of years ago.

Buzz!

The imperial shadow raised its hand, and the invisible formation collapsed, turning into a giant rod as bright as the golden sun amidst a series of thunderous explosions like the destruction of stars.

In the next instant, dust cleared, the void trembled, and the giant rod, as vast as the sky and as thick as the earth, had already struck down from above.

Like the sky collapsing!

"God descends to the heavens, demons enter the earth… let the years change, the world transforms, and the era flows…"

In this instant, the imperial shadow radiated a divine light that had never been seen in the Demonic Realm before.

"Where my will lies, is the mortal world!"

This light was so dazzling that it penetrated the entire Demonic Realm in an instant, erupting in the heavens and worlds. The brilliance of the light momentarily surpassed the golden sun that illuminated all the heavens.

"This is? Da Yu?!"

In the heavens and worlds, in the hidden places, many powerhouses who were still immersed in the previous celestial phenomena raised their eyes.

Vaguely, they seemed to see the imperial shadow in the Demonic Realm beyond the endless light.

"Challenging a Sage?!"

Many old antiques stood up, looking at this momentary brilliance, filled with shock, complexity, sighs, and anticipation.

Whoosh~

The sea of blood churned, the red lotus rose and fell, and the Daoist sat cross-legged within, gazing at the sky, as if seeing through time and space.

As if seeing tens of thousands of years ago, an emperor of the mortal world entered the Demonic Realm, swept away all evil, stood on the earth, and faced the sky, across tens of thousands of years of time and space.

He swung out a world-shattering rod towards the present Self.

Buzz!!

In the next instant, all phenomena were extinguished, and everything seemed to disappear.

Even the ancient powerhouses in the hidden places felt a blur before their eyes, all scenes were shattered, and they could no longer see anything.

Rumble!

It was not until a long time later that a series of low roars, as if coming from beyond the heavens, like the explosions of ancient stars reaching their end, were transmitted between heaven and earth through the endless void.

A flash, then silence.

…

Boom!

In a trembling sea of stars, the roars of gods echoed.

An Qi Sheng stood in the divine court, drawing upon the shadows of the gods to transform into endless stars, falling towards the center of the sea of stars, as if suppressing a great enemy.

Or perhaps he was honing his divine powers.

In an instant, he felt something, and suddenly withdrew from the battle, looking back at the void. In a daze, he saw a giant god wielding a divine weapon, splitting down with the force of creation.

At the last moment, the giant god seemed to sense something and looked towards the void, meeting his gaze.

That was…

…

"Ah!"

In the Demonic Realm, heaven and earth were overturned.

In the boundless sea of blood, countless demons collapsed, and even the demon kings who ruled over millions of miles of blood sea roared and shattered.

The terrifying waves were like the most terrifying doomsday storm, sweeping through the Demonic Realm, wanting to sweep away everything tangible and intangible except for the sea of blood.

Endless terror descended, and countless demons were destroyed. Even a demon god who had fled to the depths of thousands of layers of dimensional void howled in despair.

They dissipated like smoke.

And all of this happened in an instant.

"Very good."

The blood lotus rose and fell on the sea of blood, which had increased rather than decreased. The Daoist looked at the destruction of countless demons, demon heads, and even demon kings, and a cold smile appeared on the corner of his mouth:

"Very good, very good divine power, even better than I imagined."

He spoke calmly, smiled faintly, but no one could hear or see him.

No one knew his joy or anger. Perhaps, he had no joy or anger at all.

"What a pity, what a pity, if you had returned tens of thousands of years earlier…"

He gently stroked the divine sword, occasionally flicking it, as if digesting something, savoring something, or regretting something.

It was not until a long time later that he shook his head and sighed with regret:

"Is there only one?"

Huh?

Before his voice fell, he seemed to sense something and looked up. A hint of surprise appeared in his indifferent eyes for the first time, as if even He had not expected this scene.

That was an extremely small yet extremely large, towering yet insignificant divine mountain, rising slowly from behind layers of void, from an infinitely distant place.

On the top of the mountain, beneath a tree interwoven with various colors, a figure also sitting cross-legged on a blood-colored lotus platform was also gazing at this place.