The An Clan had lost!
Compared with the earth-shaking cheers at the scene, a shadow seemed to hang over the An Clan members.
"We lost!"
An Yujun murmured, then said solemnly, "The An Clan accepts its defeat. We'll open the restrictions on Cangwu Mountain shortly!"
Everyone was visibly excited.
Ye Xi landed, dispelled his divine ability, and released An Yudu.
An Yudu's face was gloomy. He stared fixedly at Ye Xi and said, "Who are you, really? You deliberately lured me into activating the Alien Seed just so you could wipe out the An Clan, didn't you?"
Ye Xi smiled, but calmly shook his head.
That wasn't his goal.
"Hmph!"
An Yudu gritted his teeth, then looked at his elder brother, An Yujun, and said in a low voice,
"Big brother, once Cangwu Mountain is opened, we're finished. We might as well fight with everything we have and slaughter them all. We may still have a chance..."
"Enough!"
An Yujun's expression turned stern. He cried out in shame, "Our An Clan has owed this world too much. It's time we repaid that debt!"
As he spoke, his gaze swept over the crowd and settled on Ye Xi.
"I have one last request. Spare the children of the An Clan who are under twelve."
Ye Xi considered it briefly, then nodded.
An Yujun seemed relieved. He said solemnly, "Everyone, come with me. We're going to Cangwu Mountain!"
Everyone was visibly excited.
At long last, the secret of Cangwu Mountain was about to be revealed!
Suddenly, a strange voice came from the sky. Its tones overlapped, making it impossible to tell whether it was male or female.
The sky quickly darkened, turning scarlet.
"Useless!"
"I wasted ten thousand years nurturing you, but at least today I can absorb some decent nourishment."
Everyone was startled and looked up at the sky.
An Yujun and the others looked even more grim, deep fear surfacing in their eyes.
A blood-red line appeared in the sky.
It split the azure heavens apart, then abruptly opened wide, revealing an enormous eyeball. Its pupil was a blood-red vortex.
Evil!
Terrifying!
A bone-chilling dread once again descended upon everyone.
"What is that?"
Everyone watched in horror, utterly stunned.
Only Ye Xi watched calmly, seemingly not surprised in the least.
From the blood-red vortex in the eyeball emerged a towering figure dressed in strange, ancient robes.
He wore a mask and gazed coldly at everyone.
After a moment, the Masked Figure looked at the An Clan's three ancestors. "You refined the Alien Seed and you're still useless. Then become fertilizer!"
"No!"
An Yudu pleaded in panic.
Then, to everyone's shock, the bodies of the An Clan's three ancestors suddenly floated into the air.
They were like fish hauled up on a line.
No matter how they struggled, they were dragged little by little toward the blood-red vortex in the eyeball.
Once they had been completely devoured, their cultivation, divine abilities, and Great Dao laws were all swallowed up.
The sight made everyone's scalps tingle with horror.
Those were three Great Emperors!
The Masked Figure turned to the crowd and said, "You dared to pry into the secrets of Heaven. You deserve to die too!"
"Every one of you will become fertilizer!"
As his words fell, the blood-red vortex in the enormous pupil began to spin, unleashing a terrifying force of devouring.
Every cultivator present began to rise uncontrollably into the air.
Their internal power and divine abilities were suppressed!
They weren't as helpless as the An Clan's three ancestors, but their resistance could only delay the inevitable.
The weaker cultivators rose more slowly.
"How can this be happening?"
"What kind of thing is that?"
Tens of thousands of cultivators floated helplessly in the air, inching toward the blood-red vortex.
Just then, Ye Xi smiled and took out a pitch-black orb, casually tossing it into the air.
The dark orb shone with light, enveloping the land and keeping the scarlet sky at bay.
All the cultivators who had been suspended in the air felt as though a great burden had been lifted.
The strange force of devouring that had held them vanished, and they all dropped to the ground.
The crowd scrambled to their feet, then stared at Ye Xi in shock once more.
The Masked Figure was startled by the sight. He exclaimed,
"Who are you? Why do you have the Dao-Forbidden Stone?"
The Dao-Forbidden Stone could suppress the invasion of the alien Dao, which was how it had helped everyone escape being devoured.
Ye Xi's aura shifted. His terrifying presence erupted, and his voice, infused with power, resounded across the land:
"You may not know my name!"
"But my Master is the Immortal Great Emperor. You can call me Great Emperor Nicholas!"
At those words, everyone was utterly stunned, their faces filled with shock.
They had all guessed that Ye Xi came from an extraordinary background!
But none of them had dared imagine he was the Immortal Great Emperor's disciple!
Even the Masked Figure standing before the giant eye was overcome with shock. For a long while, he said nothing.
The next moment,
Ye Xi suddenly shot into the air, his Dao Domain erupting!
An Immortal Mountain appeared beneath his feet.
In addition, palace after palace materialized, a celestial river cascaded down, radiant clouds streamed across the sky, and ethereal music drifted through the air.
This was his true strength. His Dao Domain was like the Immortal Realm, and he was its ruler!
"Attack!"
A long spear appeared in Ye Xi's hand. He charged at the giant eye in the sky, unleashing earth-shaking power.
Right after, black fog surged in from the distance, boundless and endless, instantly shrouding the entire sky.
Great Emperor Zhitong had arrived too!
Seeing this, Ye Qingge and Yuan Ruoyu almost simultaneously soared into the air and launched their attacks without hesitation.
Rumble!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In an instant, everyone present felt as if the world had been turned upside down.
Space shattered like a broken mirror, riddled with holes.
The earth trembled and mountains shook.
Mountain ranges burst apart, splitting open into ravines hundreds of feet deep.
Then all the upheaval quickly subsided, and everything fell calm.
The sky gradually brightened again.
"Is it raining?"
Everyone opened their eyes, feeling raindrops patter down on them.
But when they looked closer, they saw a sea of crimson, and a stench of blood filled their nostrils.
It wasn't rain. Blood was falling from the sky.
They looked up.
The enormous eyeball was slowly closing. The Masked Figure had fled inside, and a long spear was still embedded in the eye.
Blood poured out without end, raining down and staining the land red.
The Masked Figure's furious voice rang out: "Great Emperor Nicholas, very well! You've truly angered me!"
"Even the Immortal Great Emperor never wounded me this badly in our first encounter!"
Ye Xi's white robe was stained with blood. He stood proudly and said, "That's because we chose different paths."
"He followed the Way of Survival!"
"And I follow the Way of Dominance—a path of invincibility!"
At that moment, Ye Xi was peerlessly imposing. His calm yet powerful voice thundered across the world.
It echoed between heaven and earth.
"I won't let any of you get away!"
The Masked Figure's voice faded. The giant eye closed completely and vanished from the sky.
Ye Xi's killing intent surged. "I'll drag you aliens out of hiding and destroy you one by one!"
Watching that towering figure,
everyone knew that a new Great Emperor had appeared in this world.
Great Emperor Nicholas!
His name might sound strange, but he was yet another peerless Great Emperor with world-shaking strength.
Just then, Yuan Ruoyu, Ye Qingge, and the others came over.
Ye Qingge gave him a cold look. "Quit pretending, or I'll castrate you!"
Ye Xi's expression changed at once!
He feared no one, but he didn't dare show disrespect to his Mistress.
A flicker of emotion crossed Ye Qingge's eyes. She asked, "You planned all of this, didn't you?"
"Starting from the moment Great Emperor Zhitong appeared!"
"The An Clan's three ancestors wouldn't have refined that Alien Seed if no Great Emperor had appeared."
Ye Qingge continued, "If they hadn't refined the Alien Seed, that strange eye might not have taken the bait!"
Yuan Ruoyu looked over at him too.
Ye Xi immediately felt the pressure mounting and explained, "I didn't mean to hide it from you..."
He thought to himself, Not one of these Mistresses is simple.
Ye Qingge smiled seductively, her voice icy. "If you don't explain yourself, don't blame me for showing your Master no respect!"
Before you continue