Chapter 561: Dreams Shattered in Bluesky City
As Xu Zimo charged toward him, the God Emperor snorted coldly and disappeared into the void.
Xu Zimo looked over at Lan Ke’er and let out a small sigh.
"I didn’t expect this either," he said, shaking his head with a guilty tone.
"How am I supposed to face you after this?" Lan Ke’er looked at Xu Zimo, her eyes filled with pain.
"It was the God Emperor who killed your father, not me. But don’t worry, I’ll get revenge for you one day," Xu Zimo said.
"You murdered my family..." Lan Ke’er crouched on the ground, holding her head as she cried.
"They tried to kill me," Xu Zimo replied.
"I want to be alone for a while..." Lan Ke’er gently shook her head and whispered.
"I’m sorry that it had to come to this. I’ll always be here for you," Xu Zimo nodded.
Then he turned and walked toward the Life-Death Demon-Execution Formation.
The destruction of the Lan Clan was never what he wanted, but in the end, they had chosen to stand against him.
Once they declared war, Xu Zimo couldn’t stay indifferent. People hope for happy endings, but the truth is, life is often full of sorrow.
He would respect Lan Ke’er’s choice. No matter what happens, Xu Zimo wouldn’t regret what he had done.
In front of the Life-Death Demon-Execution Formation, Xu Zimo held Shadow Tyrant tightly. Endless blade intent poured from its edge.
With a loud boom, all that blade energy came together and slashed down with full force.
The protective barrier around the formation shattered. Ten golden chains broke apart instantly.
Inside the array, Paimon roared. His demonic energy surged like a sea of hellfire.
Paimon slowly raised his hands, grabbed the golden chains on his arms, and yanked hard.
With two loud cracks, the chains snapped. Without the array’s power, they were now fragile.
One after another, all the chains on Paimon’s body broke apart.
He stepped out of the formation, his demonic energy swallowing half the sky.
He looked like a true demon lord returning to the world, each step tearing open cracks in space.
As Paimon emerged, the sky behind him twisted into a giant, terrifying demonic face.
Xu Zimo looked at the trapped Lan Clan ancestors and said to Paimon, "They’re yours."
Paimon nodded. He raised his right hand, and a sphere of demonic energy formed between his fingers.
In an instant, the sphere expanded dozens of times and swallowed all ten Lan Clan members, including Lan Jiulin.
Just as they were consumed, the only woman among them, Invincible Jiang, began to fade.
Suddenly, a shadow emerged from her body, shining across heaven and earth, turning into a stream of light that tried to escape with her from Paimon’s domain.
"An emperor’s soul?" Paimon muttered.
"If you dare run, I’ll destroy your Invincible Domain right now," Xu Zimo’s voice echoed from behind.
The stream of light hesitated for a moment, then slowly dispersed. Invincible Jiang reappeared in midair.
She looked coldly at Xu Zimo and said, "This is all on me. It has nothing to do with my sect."
"Seems like you and the Invincible Emperor are pretty close. He actually gave you part of his emperor’s soul to protect you," Xu Zimo said with a light laugh.
The emperor’s soul is a piece of an emperor’s true spirit. To an emperor, that’s even more important than their personal artifacts.
Unless someone is extremely important, an emperor would never give away part of their soul.
"What do you want?" Invincible Jiang asked.
"How about this, you help me find someone, and I’ll consider sparing your Invincible Domain," Xu Zimo said. "Besides this incident, your sect hasn’t really had any conflict with the demon race."
"Who do you want me to find?" Invincible Jiang was silent for a moment, then asked.
"The current Holy Son of the Dao Race, Dao Tianyun, and the whereabouts of the Dao Race itself," Xu Zimo replied.
Earlier, he looked into the fate of the reincarnated Lord of Samsara and found he had been reborn as the Dao Race leader’s son.
Some debts from past lives aren’t forgotten, they’re just waiting for the right time to be paid back.
Whether it’s Baili Xiao or the Lord of Samsara, Xu Zimo wouldn’t let any of them go.
"Alright," Invincible Jiang thought for a bit and finally nodded.
Just moments ago, she had sensed someone in the void locking onto her with intense killing intent.
If she had refused, she might have been killed on the spot.
"One more thing," Xu Zimo added. "Tell your sect to spread a message. Say the entire Lan Clan were demons. Say your Invincible Domain joined forces with Beyond Heaven Sword Mountain to destroy them. But claim that the two ancestors of Beyond Heaven Sword Mountain died heroically in the fight, sacrificing themselves for the greater good."
When Xu Zimo finished speaking, the Lan Clan elders all burst into angry screams.
"You’re the real demon! May you all die horribly!" they shouted.
"Ancestors, we failed you! I, Lan Jiulin, have brought shame to the Lan Clan," he cried.
Seeing their reaction, Invincible Jiang couldn’t help feeling a moment of sorrow.
This was more than killing the body, it was destroying the legacy of a clan. Not only was the Lan Clan wiped out, but their reputation from thousands of years would be completely ruined. Branded as demons, their name would carry that stain forever unless someone cleared it one day.
"You don’t need to feel so bad. I’m just returning what the Lan Clan once did to us," Xu Zimo said calmly. "What’s wrong with being a demon? You’re the ones who gave us that label. The demons never even did anything to this continent."
Paimon pressed his hands together. The dark sphere covered the remaining Lan Clan members completely.
Then he shrank the sphere down and swallowed it whole.
"This is my Domain of Despair," Paimon said flatly. "Inside it, they will suffer endlessly in despair until they finally die in agony."
"I’ll do what you asked," Invincible Jiang said helplessly, nodding.
Xu Zimo waved her off without another word.
Invincible Jiang gave him one final deep look, then turned and left into the sky.
...
"Master, here is the Chaos Stone," Paimon brought the crystal over right away and placed it in front of Xu Zimo.
Xu Zimo looked at the crystal in his hand. It was a murky gray and impossible to see inside.
He asked, "Can it still be used now?"
"I'm afraid not," Paimon said with regret. "The Demon-Sealing Lock only appears once every thousand years, on the day the world returns to its origin. That time has already passed. To use it again, we’ll have to wait another thousand years."