"Chu Tian... kill me."
His voice was hoarse and dry, yet it carried an unquestionable resolve. The golden left eye of the Human Emperor's True Body stared fixedly at Chu Tian, while the right half of his face, devoured by black mist, twitched violently.
"Only by shattering this body along with everything else... can you... obtain that key. The second consciousness within me has already been fully awakened by the Return-to-Silence Heavenly Emperor. Within half an incense stick, I will become his ultimate weapon for slaughtering the heavens. Do it!"
There was not a trace of tremor in the Human Emperor's voice, as though he were speaking of some trivial matter unrelated to himself. For this overlord who had once suppressed an entire era, dying in battle was his final resting place; becoming a puppet was the greatest humiliation.
Chu Tian stood where he was, the Hongmeng Human Emperor Sword in his hand angled toward the ground, its violet-gold sword radiance flickering unstably. His gold-and-black eyes stared coldly at the black key embedded in the Human Emperor's True Body's chest, which radiated an utmost aura of destruction—the seventh key, the Return-to-Silence Key.
"My sword, Chu Tian's sword, only slays enemies. It does not slay fallen heroes." Chu Tian's voice was icy, hard as ten-thousand-year black iron.
"Rumble—!!!"
The instant Chu Tian's words fell, the entire Imperial Heart Hunting Grounds suddenly erupted with an earth-shaking roar. Within the endless blood-red void around them, space shattered across vast swathes like a mirror. A million Realm-Hunting Army soldiers clad in heavy black armor and emanating annihilating death aura surged forth like a black tide crawling out of hell, tightly encircling Chu Tian and Chu Tianwang at the very center.
From above the heavens, the Return-to-Silence Heavenly Emperor's vast, mocking voice crashed down.
"Chu