The figures of the demon horde had already charged forward. The deafening drumbeats echoed in Xu Zimo’s ears.
In that instant, Xu Zimo activated his Hell-Suppressing Demon Physique. Endless demonic energy surged skyward from around him.
His eyes turned pitch black. Thick demonic energy surged from them, and streaks of dark purple-black lines spread from his forehead down to his neck.
Xu Zimo looked up, his gaze indifferent, staring straight at the incoming God Race.
...
Jiu You swore she would remember that scene for the rest of her life.
It was an afternoon in July, the sun still fairly bright.
Hundreds of demon shadows knelt on the ground, gazing reverently ahead.
The man in the black robe stood tall and alone, his back figure seeming both mighty and solitary.
The deafening drumbeats seemed to drift further away, as if growing more and more distant. In her eyes, there was only that man.
Demonic energy raged around them. Boundless demonic might spread over the land, and in that moment, the world fell completely silent.
Even the drumbeats vanished.
"My subjects," Xu Zimo slowly extended his hand, looking at the demons behind him.
He said softly, “Since you are but obsessions, then disperse. I swear, one day, I will truly reign over this world. Wherever the sun and moon shine, it shall be demon soil. Wherever rivers flow, all shall bow to me.”
The hundreds of demons behind him all prostrated, their eyes gradually clearing, and their lingering obsessions slowly dissipated into the distant sky.
As the demons faded away, the God Race’s obsessions began to dissipate as well.
The demonic energy around Xu Zimo slowly withdrew.
A breeze blew past. As if nothing had happened.
Jiu You shook her head to snap herself out of it, suddenly aware that the area had fallen into complete silence.
"Get up," Xu Zimo said as he walked over.
"You just now..." Jiu You hesitated, unsure how to ask.
"You saw nothing," Xu Zimo replied and walked on.
In the distance, Feng Changnian and the other two hadn’t gone far. Seeing the obsessions dissipate, they hurried back.
...
"Miss Jiu You! Brother Lin! Are you alright?" Feng Changnian shouted from afar.
"We're fine," Xu Zimo replied, shaking his head.
"Why didn’t you run earlier?" Feng Changnian breathed a sigh of relief as he got closer. "And how did those obsessions vanish so quickly?"
"Daybreak," Xu Zimo said calmly, looking up at the whitening sky.
"Ah, is that so?" Feng Changnian looked up. "No wonder. You two are lucky. Obsessions only appear at night. During the day, the battlefield is relatively safe."
Beside him, Jiu You remained silent, her mind filled with the scene from earlier.
She glanced at Xu Zimo, head lowered, lost in thought.
"Weren’t we going to the demon tomb?" Xu Zimo asked.
"When you didn’t come out, we were about to head back to Wind Thunder Tower," Feng Changyin scratched his head and smiled. "Let’s go together."
The five of them continued toward the tomb. Jiu You remained heavy-hearted. Feng Yuer, timid, said little.
Only Feng Changnian remained chatty, keeping the conversation going with all kinds of topics.
He gave Xu Zimo a detailed account of the God-Demon Battlefield, showing he’d done plenty of homework beforehand.
After walking for half a day, they finally arrived at their destination around noon.
The so-called Demon Tomb.
Ahead, the tomb was blocked by a group of yellow-robed disciples. It wasn’t very large and was sealed off from all four directions.
Some rogue cultivators stood around, pointing and whispering, but none dared to force their way in.
"This place belongs to everyone. Do they really think they can block us all out?" some rogue cultivators grumbled angrily.
"Those Nine Dragons Villa people are too arrogant."
"They only let powerful individuals or major sects in. For people like us, even if we resist, we're no match, so they don’t care."
Xu Zimo glanced around, then looked at Feng Changnian.
"Isn't Wind Thunder Tower a known name? You guys can’t get in either?"
"Nope. Our grand elder is only at peak Fusion Heaven Realm. Not good enough in their eyes," Feng Changnian sighed.
"Either a Fusion Heaven expert must come in person, or your sect must be at the Grand Empyrean level. Otherwise, they won’t care."
"Should we just force our way in?" Feng Changyin suggested.
...
Without a word, Xu Zimo simply walked straight toward the tomb.
"Stop right there!" Several yellow-robed disciples immediately blocked him.
Their robes bore embroidered patterns of nine coiling dragons. Each held axes or halberds, standing firmly in his way.
"Which sect are you from?" one asked loudly.
"Eternal God Sect," Xu Zimo replied as he pulled out a token that Gong Chuhe had given him.
It was a high-level badge from the Eternal God Sect, something even inner disciples rarely possessed.
When the leader of the Nine Dragons Villa disciples saw it, he immediately stepped aside and opened a path.
"Please, go ahead," the leader said politely.
Though Nine Dragons Villa had a formidable reputation, they were only among the stronger factions at the Empyrean level, still a step below true God-level sects.
Xu Zimo led the group inside.
As they reached the tomb's entrance, Xu Zimo finally looked up to inspect it.
The surface area of the tomb wasn't large. Its surrounding walls were made of Demon Glare Stone.
Inside the gate, rows of black pine trees, Demon Pines, lined the pathway, exuding a faint fragrance.
In the center of the pine grove was an open entrance to an underground chamber.
The doorway descended into pitch-black darkness, the bottom unseen.
"They say someone accidentally opened this tomb. Once inside, they were corroded by demonic energy, and that’s when it became public knowledge," Feng Changnian explained.
"Are we going in?" Jiu You asked.
Xu Zimo nodded and took the lead.
The portal beneath was a void-like space, resembling a spatial teleportation array.
As Xu Zimo entered, he immediately lost his footing and plummeted downward, into what seemed like a bottomless abyss.
In that darkness, there was no stable footing. The space was completely chaotic.
Any resistance could distort the spatial trajectory, and one might be teleported to who-knows-where.
Xu Zimo let his body fall freely. Who knows how long he descended, before the darkness faded and his feet landed on solid ground.
Soon after, Jiu You and the others fell through as well.
Xu Zimo looked up. The area around them was desolate, almost entirely barren.
Only one thing stood out ahead, a massive mountain of white bones.
This mountain was made entirely of skeletal remains. It was impossible to guess how many bodies had been used to build it.
Every bone emitted faint traces of god power. Clearly, they were all corpses of the God Race.
"This is the place," Feng Changnian said beside them. "Last time we came in, we were chased out immediately, barely escaped with our lives."