The Nine Extremes Heavenly King paid no attention to those who bowed in salute.
His gaze first fell upon Kong Fang. His nebula-like eyes slowly swept across Kong Fang's Seven-Colored Tail Screen, moving from red to orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet, examining every law before returning to Kong Fang's face.
His voice was rather calm, without reproach or praise. "Kong Fang, you truly are extraordinary.
You command the five elements, time, and space. In ten thousand years of the Demon Realm, there has been no second like you.
By all rights, you should have transcended the realm of the Demon God long ago."
The Nine Extremes Heavenly King's voice was neither loud nor soft, yet every word clearly reached everyone's ears. "Unfortunately, because the Demon Realm was sealed, you have been trapped at the bottleneck for over ten thousand years.
You were unwilling to accept it. You wished to use this war to force out the Heavenly Origin Realm's hidden foundations, then charge toward the Primogenitor.
It was indeed a good plan. But the Heavenly Origin Realm is not the Demon Realm. This is not a place where you can run wild."
Kong Fang said nothing.
He stood silently in the void, his Seven-Colored Tail Screen faintly flickering.
His pupils, formed of seven concentric colored rings, stared across the distance at the Nine Extremes Heavenly King's nebulae.
There was no anger, no rebuttal—only the silence of someone whose true depths had been seen through.
The Nine Extremes Heavenly King shifted his gaze away from Kong Fang and onto Xu Changqing.
At that moment, Xu Changqing felt a scrutiny unlike anything he had ever experienced.
It was not a scan of Divine Sense, nor a probing pressure.
It was a thorough insight from a higher dimension, piercing through every