Chapter 1 The Fall of a King

The Necropolis, the royal city.

This was the castle of You Wang of the Netherworld.

And also, his final resting place…

Who would have thought that this monarch, who ruled the Necropolis, would become the first of the Four Pillars Gods to fall during the "Twilight of the Gods."

And what led to this result were five ruthless characters from the main universe.

They were… Zhuan Xie Zun, Dian He Wang, Samodiel, Duo Ling, and Taliom.

In terms of combat power, Zun-ge was already a high-level being second only to the Four Pillar Gods, and Lao Wang, after regaining his strength, was not far behind.

As for the other three… they had all served as second-in-commands to the Four Pillar Gods. Samodiel was once the "strongest Time Official," Duo Ling was the "Chief of the Nine Undead Overlords," and Taliom, the "Curse God Official," had always been the right-hand man of the Chief of All Demons.

Even in terms of raw power, the aforementioned three were higher than the average Time Official, Juror, or Undead Overlord, not to mention… they had secretly formed the Illusory Demon Church and accumulated a large amount of faith power.

So… the question is…

Why would these five join forces to deal with You Wang of the Netherworld?

The answer is obvious… it was Feng Bujue who orchestrated it all behind the scenes.

As early as half a month ago, on the night of the second round of the quarter-finals, Jue-ge had already arranged a plan with the three members of the Illusory Demon Church to eliminate You Wang of the Netherworld.

The key to this plan was "Fu Ling," the former Undead Overlord who was once sealed in the Great Dung Swamp of Chewing Demon Island.

According to Duo Ling himself, he and Fu Ling had fought for the position of Chief of the Nine Overlords. Logically speaking, Fu Ling was slightly better in terms of strength, but Duo Ling's cunning and scheming were far superior. He used various means to win the support of all the other Overlords…

Thus, Fu Ling lost, and the price of failure was eternal damnation…

Until many years later, by chance, Feng Bujue released Fu Ling from the seal.

And this… became an opportunity.

Even in a state of imprisonment, as a "spirit," as long as there was strong resentment, power would increase.

Therefore, after all these years, Fu Ling's strength had not only not stagnated but had become even more formidable.

After learning about the history of the struggle between Duo Ling and Fu Ling, Feng Bujue used a plan within a plan… directing a scheme of luring the tiger away from the mountain and borrowing a knife to kill.

He first ordered Duo Ling to command the Nine Overlords to a designated location to await orders, and then, with Duo Ling as bait, lured Fu Ling there as well. When the two sides met, it would undoubtedly be a bloody battle to the death.

Duo Ling himself remained aloof… taking advantage of the entanglement between the Nine Overlords and Fu Ling, he quickly joined forces with the other two colleagues of the Illusory Demon Church, and then, with Zun-ge and Lao Wang, headed straight for the royal city.

It didn't matter what happened in the battle on Fu Ling's side; in any case, the Nine Overlords would not be able to escape in a short time. Therefore… the royal city was temporarily guarded by only some shrimp soldiers and crab generals.

In front of those five fierce gods, the miscellaneous soldiers were of little use, especially since… Duo Ling knew everything about the royal city's defenses, troop deployment, and so on. With inside and outside cooperation, the undead army basically collapsed at the first touch.

Of course, You Wang of the Netherworld himself was also very strong and would not be easily defeated…

Among the Four Pillar Gods, when it came to one-on-one head-on confrontation—the Chief of All Demons was first, and You Wang of the Netherworld was second.

This god who controlled the power of the undead was not easy to deal with, but the five who came to encircle him… were not to be trifled with either.

If You Wang of the Netherworld could still complete a 1v5 counter-kill against these five guys, then he wouldn't need to cultivate any Undead Overlords. It was estimated that he could single-handedly fight two Pillar Gods without any problems… if he had enough intelligence, and played some tricks of distant alliances and close attacks, annexing the forces of the other three gods would be just around the corner.

Unfortunately, that was just a hypothetical situation. The reality was… when these five (strictly speaking, none of them were human) gathered and appeared, You Wang of the Netherworld understood… that he didn't even have half a chance of winning.

In the end, this monarch of the Necropolis chose a dignified curtain call.

He did not make any futile resistance or counterattacks, nor did he think about dragging anyone down with him…

He seemed to have his own unique view of "death."

There was no fear in his heart; on the contrary… he had a sense of relief, revealing a trace of weariness.

The time had come, the twilight was approaching, and his era was over.

The stage of the new era would be left to the newly emerging forces…

In the final moment, You Wang of the Netherworld took off the "Crown of the Undead" from his head, slowly placed it on the throne, and then… turned around and dissipated sadly… returning to the torrent of data, becoming a part of this world.

After he completely disappeared, Duo Ling… spoke.

"Everyone…" He looked around at the four people beside him and asked in a deep voice, "...is there anyone willing to covet this throne?"

The current Duo Ling was no longer a giant skull floating in mid-air.

After swallowing the [My Grass Class Holds Up Mushroom] given to him by Feng Bujue, under the effect of the item's special effect two—[Adding Mushrooms for You~ (permanently changes the art style of an NPC)], Duo Ling's appearance had become humanoid.

Now, he looked like a humanoid ice sculpture made of light blue ice crystals. Through his translucent ice skin and flesh, one could clearly see the human skeleton inside his body, as well as many blue light spots constantly floating within him like fireflies.

"Humph… you don't need to be polite with us." Dian He Wang still looked like a child, but his tone was impolite. "We were never interested in this throne in the first place."

"Hehe… you and Feng Bujue have already reached an agreement regarding the ownership of the crown, haven't you?" Zhuan Xie Zun's attitude was much more mature. He smiled and said to Duo Ling, "Why ask such a question again?" He paused, a cold light flashing in his eyes. "Could it be… you want to test our reactions?"

Duo Ling did not answer this question. He seemed not to have heard the second half of the other party's words and looked back at Samodiel and Taliom.

Those two had colluded with him for many years, so naturally, they had no objections.

Thus, Duo Ling… took a step towards the throne.

"Good, since no one has any objections…" Duo Ling ascended the steps in front of the throne, saying as he walked, "I… shall ascend this throne."

"From now on, all beings are insignificant."

"The humble redemption."

"The hypocritical guidance."

"The despairing reincarnation."

"Everything… will cease to exist and be reborn in destruction."

"I…" Duo Ling whispered in a deep voice all the way, and just as he reached the throne, he raised the Crown of the Undead, "...will be crowned as…"

Chi—

Just as Duo Ling was about to put on the crown and utter the final word "King…" a death ray suddenly struck!

In an instant, the energy knocked the crown out of his hand and onto the ground.

A cold female voice… also followed.

"You… are worthy?"