The Dark Upheaval

In the winter of Azeron Year 10003, nearly two years after the Battle of the Firmament, a Saint Domain expert emerged from the Southern Wilderness, the land of the Sinblood, shocking the world.

The Saint Domain expert called himself Rahula.

He founded the Demon Realm, and all beings called him the Demon Lord!

Thus was the Demon Realm born, and the Dark Upheaval descended.

Beneath the night sky, Tiansheng Mountain.

As the seat of the Cooper Family, a Saint Domain family renowned throughout the Southern Continent, Tiansheng Mountain covered a vast area. With the Saint Domain ancestor behind them, the Cooper Family had made their residence on the mountain the height of luxury.

Thousands upon thousands of elegant pavilions and rooms dotted the mountain, while servants and beautiful companions were beyond counting. Magic crystal chandeliers shimmered with flowing light, and magical brilliance intertwined everywhere, displaying extravagant opulence.

Yet at that moment, the Cooper Family disciples, usually arrogant and domineering, now looked tense and uneasy. Weapons in hand, they warily faced a group of black-robed, ghostly figures.

"Heh heh heh..."

Seen from above, thousands upon thousands of sinister, black-robed ghosts surrounded Tiansheng Mountain, their mouths emitting chilling, terrifying laughter.

At the front of the crowd of ghosts stood a gloomy man in black robes. He trod through the air with his hands clasped behind his back, his impassive gaze fixed on Tiansheng Mountain.

"Rahula!" In the sky, the Cooper Family's Saint Domain ancestor warily eyed the gloomy man.

"What brings you to Tiansheng Mountain?"

"I've come to take your life!"

Bang!

As soon as the words left his mouth, Rahula attacked, reaching out with one hand to seize the Cooper Family's Saint Domain ancestor.

Facing Rahula's assault, the Saint Domain ancestor drew a dark gold staff to block him, then struck back.

"Die!"

When he saw Rahula neither dodge nor evade, but instead try to stop his attack with his bare hand, a vicious glint flashed in the Saint Domain ancestor's eyes.

"Sinblood will always be Sinblood. Even if you were lucky enough to become a Saint Domain expert, you can't hide your foolish nature. You think yourself peerless, yet you don't know the immensity of heaven and earth."

"Today, I'll teach you a lesson!"

"Die!"

Clang!!!

The dark gold staff struck Rahula's palm, but the scene the Saint Domain ancestor had imagined never came to pass.

Instead, the impact rang out like metal striking metal.

Rahula closed his hand around the staff.

"What a formidable body!"

"Uh-oh!" Feeling the immense force, the Saint Domain ancestor's expression changed. Panic-stricken, he tried to wrench the staff back.

"You think you can match strength with me? You're not worthy!"

A look of disdain flashed through Rahula's eyes. He exerted force with his hand and violently snatched the dark gold staff away.

"Die!"

Rahula's gaze turned cold. The dark gold staff swung with him, tracing a chilling arc through the air.

Bang!

The Saint Domain ancestor's head burst like a watermelon.

Rahula swept his hand, and the Ten Thousand Soul Banner behind him turned, drawing the Saint Domain ancestor's soul inside.

"A-Ancestor!!!"

The Saint Domain battle had ended too quickly.

Only after the fight was over did the Cooper Family members watching nearby react, letting out disbelieving cries of anguish.

Looking at the ancestor's headless body, then at Rahula, whose demonic flames blazed to the heavens, Bernd Cooper, the family head, wore an expression of despair.

"Kill them all."

Rahula regarded the ants before him impassively.

As ten thousand ghosts swept through the night, a merciless slaughter began on Tiansheng Mountain.

The Ten Thousand Soul Banner turned, and one illusory soul after another poured into it from all directions.

"You'll die a horrible death! A horrible death!!!"

In his final moments, Bernd Cooper stared fixedly at Rahula, his eyes filled with madness.

"Rahula, I'll be waiting for you in the Underworld. You're Sinblood from the Southern Wilderness, yet you dare commit such a monstrous slaughter. The other Saint Domain experts won't let you get away with it."

"You'll die too. You'll die! I'll be waiting for you in the Underworld..."

Squelch—

A pale hand pierced Bernd Cooper's chest and seized his still-beating heart, crushing it in one squeeze.

"Silence!"

Rahula's expression was grim. The Ten Thousand Soul Banner behind him turned, extracting Bernd Cooper's soul directly from his corpse.

"Once I become a god, I'll take you to the Underworld myself. Why should you wait?"

After a long while, the commotion on Tiansheng Mountain gradually died down.

Inside a ruined pavilion amid the wreckage, Rahula sat cross-legged on the floor.

His clothes bulged high as his flesh rippled beneath them. With each breath, the elements of heaven and earth visibly streamed into his body.

Washed by the elements, Rahula's body, already comparable to that of a Saint Domain magic beast, grew even more formidable, gradually approaching the level of a divine beast at the Saint Domain stage.

"Just as I thought. I still have to hunt Saint Domain experts."

"I spent more than a year hunting in the Southern Wilderness just to raise my body's strength from that of a ninth-level warrior to Saint Domain. But now, killing a single Saint Domain expert was enough to make my physical talent break through again."

"My talent in the Laws of Death has also improved greatly, and my comprehension is much faster. Before, I would have needed thousands of years of cultivation to reach the Saint Domain limit. Now, two or three hundred years will be enough. My talent is no weaker than the likes of the War God and Cesar in the original story..."

"It's no exaggeration to say I'm destined to become a god!"

"But this isn't enough. It's still far from enough. A few hundred years is too long. I have to seize the day."

Rahula looked beyond Tiansheng Mountain. He needed more fellow Daoists.

The Silver Talent [Behind Me Are Thousands of Fellow Daoists] could enhance every aspect of Rahula's talent to the very limit of Silver Talent.

In theory, as long as Rahula had enough fellow Daoists, this talent would be unbelievably powerful, without a single weakness.

With his talent enhanced to the limit, he could become a Lowgod in one year, a Midgod in ten, and a Highgod in a hundred.

With his combat prowess enhanced to the limit, Rahula could use the Laws of Death to increase his power tenfold.

With his physique enhanced to the limit, Rahula's Divine Clone could rival a Highgod Artifact in strength.

With his spirit enhanced to the limit, Rahula's spiritual power would be no weaker than that of a dual-element Soul Mutator.

And with the Ten Thousand Soul Banner further boosting his combat prowess, once Rahula matured, even Xiao Yan and Lynn together would not be his match.

What's more, [Behind Me Are Thousands of Fellow Daoists] was a talent that could advance. Its power would continue to grow after it was upgraded. Without a doubt, this clone of Rahula's was Lynn's top priority, his absolute Main Combat Clone!

On November 27, Azeron Year 10003, the Demon Lord Rahula descended upon Tiansheng Mountain. The Saint Domain family, the Cooper Family, was annihilated. Not one of the family's more than ten thousand members escaped.

Over the next three months, Rahula struck several times. First, he destroyed seven great Saint Domain families, their blood staining the Southern Continent red. Then he slew five great Saint Domain magic beasts, wiping out every beast in the Taiping Mountain Range and shocking the entire Azeron Continent.

In a mountain forest.

"Roar!!"

The Saint Domain demonic dragon let out an unwilling roar, then lost all signs of life.

Rahula claimed its soul. Feeling his talent grow stronger once again, he remained impassive.

"The Southern Continent has been unified. Apart from this stupid dragon, the other Saint Domain experts have either fled to the South Sea or joined the Church of Darkness."

"The South Sea is full of Saint Domain Ascetics. There may even be hidden Saint Domain experts at the limit, and it's also too close to Roger, the Plane Overseer. Hunting in the South Sea isn't a good choice."

"My next target will still be the Church of Darkness."

Whoosh!

Rahula vanished from where he stood.

The two great churches were never short of Saint Domain angel souls. Rahula wasn't about to pass up a prize dungeon like that.