The pitch-black demonic shadow curled in the egg sac's rupture stood barely three feet tall. Its form had yet to fully coalesce, its outline blurred and twisted, while countless strands of black karmic fire coiled around it.
It had no formed flesh or blood. Its entire being had been forged from the resentful souls, grievances, Demonic Essence, and karmic force accumulated across the Southern Region over decades. It was the Origin Demon Embryo's remnant spirit, born before the embryo had fully formed.
Because it had emerged early, it was unbound by the laws of heaven and earth. It had cast off every constraint of its gestation and converted all its power into destruction.
It had no reason, no sentience—only slaughter and destruction rooted in its origin. It wanted nothing more than to tear apart Cheng Heng, who had destroyed it, and extinguish every living thing beneath these heavens.
"Come out! All of you, come out!"
The Black-Robed Altar Master knelt on the ground like a madman, both hands pressed hard against the ruined altar. He drained the last of his Demonic Essence and poured it frantically into the Demon Embryo Remnant Spirit.
His body was grievously wounded, his foundation cracked, and half a lifetime of schemes had come to nothing. He had long since resolved to die. He sought neither victory nor survival, only to use the embryo's last trace of origin to drag Cheng Heng down with him. Even the annihilation of his own soul and the utter destruction of the Demon Altar would not stop him.
"This embryo bears the karmic force of ten thousand demons across the Southern Region! It is the vilest corruption under heaven! Even incomplete, it far surpasses the power of a Half-Step Golden Core! Cheng Heng, you broke eight of my formations and