Yun Ming Dies, the King of Hell Calls the Roll, and Cai Yue'er Takes the Stage

"I don't feel guilty!"

Huo Yuhao grumbled inwardly. His teacher was Electrolux, the Holy Necromancer, and he even had an Undead Half-Plane.

He had no qualms about killing. He had felt a little guilty beforehand, but afterward, it had all seemed worth it.

As for Yun Ming from the other world, he had now risen to his feet. He could tell this was the last of this world's Yun Ming.

What a shame. He had never gotten to fight this Yun Ming properly.

He had wanted to see how strong his other self was.

Yet, badly wounded, Yun Ming had been killed by the Demon Empress of all people.

Yun Ming had burned his divine position, but it was clear he was no match for the Demon Empress. The outcome was settled.

Such a shame. Such a terrible shame.

Atop the arena, a flash of anger finally crossed the Demon Empress's face—an unhealthy, feverish anger.

"You dared wound me. I'm bleeding. It's been so long since I last bled.

You can die knowing you accomplished that much."

As she spoke, a terrifying Soul Sea suddenly appeared behind her. It was a sea of blood.

A dreadful pressure filled it. Countless souls of powerful humans slowly rose from its depths, making the blood sea look like the River Styx.

Every one of those souls was a vengeful spirit, gathered by the Demon Empress over tens of thousands of years.

Even she did not know how many people she had killed.

The moment the spirits appeared, they lunged at Yun Ming, tearing and biting.

The Demon Empress watched in silence as Yun Ming killed them one by one with his spear.

But each slain spirit returned to the blood sea, only to surge at him again.

For a full half hour, the fight became a grinding battle of attrition. Yun Ming tried to rush the Demon Empress, but the barrier of blood stopped him. He could only fight the spirits as they came.

As time passed, the golden sun-like divine halo behind him visibly dimmed.

The Demon Empress, by contrast, seemed to have boundless energy. She fought with ease, and everyone could see she was toying with him.

It was an old master playing with a child.

Outside the arena, Ya Li had nearly cried herself unconscious at the sight of Yun Ming's suffering.

She had long since summoned her Martial Soul, the Prayer Angel, but she did not even know where to go to support her husband. That was the most hopeless part.

Cheating was ingrained in Shrek to the bone.

"Yun Ming, don't die! Please don't die!

I worked so hard to bring you back. What am I supposed to do if you die?

How am I supposed to hold a Shrek this big together on my own?"

Gangzi: I'm still here...

At last, the half hour ended. The golden sun above Yun Ming's head shattered completely.

He finally fought his way to the Demon Empress and thrust his spear at her.

But she merely raised two fingers and gently caught his Heavenly Divine Spear between them.

No matter how fiercely Yun Ming glared or how violently his power surged, he could not drive the spear another inch forward.

"This ends here, strongest man on the continent.

I found this fight deeply unsatisfying.

I'll kill the Yun Ming from the other world too, so he can keep you company."

As she spoke, five sharp claws formed from Soul Power at her fingertips. She thrust her hand forward and punched straight through Yun Ming's chest.

She pulled out his burning heart, then crushed it in an instant.

The Heaven-Reaching Spear in Yun Ming's hand gave one last mournful cry. Its light vanished, and it fell limply from his grasp.

The shattered pieces of his armor clattered away.

Yun Ming lowered his head and looked at the gaping hole in his chest. With difficulty, he raised his eyes toward Ya Li, sobbing beyond the arena, and Shrek behind her.

From beginning to end, Shrek had been all that mattered to him.

"Teacher, I'm sorry. I can't protect Shrek Academy anymore. The Divine Examination was a trap.

A god set us up."

Then he looked at the Demon Empress.

"Do you think you've won?

You're nothing but his pawns too. In the end, he'll harvest you just the same."

"That doesn't matter.

He and I want the same thing.

Even if I die, I'm not afraid."

Her words left Yun Ming utterly stunned. His lips moved, but no sound came out.

With a casual flick, she threw Shrek's strongest man into the blood sea, where he was swallowed without a trace.

As he was engulfed, the mark of the Red-Level Nine Trials on his body turned into a streak of light and entered the Demon Empress. The Red-Level Nine Trials had transferred to her completely.

With Yun Ming dead for good, Ya Li could no longer revive him.

The backlash from the life link she shared with him struck her so hard that she passed out on the spot. The elders behind her caught her in alarm.

"What a boring fight."

The Demon Empress did not even look at Yun Ming's body. She glanced toward the Heavenly Screen, then vanished from the arena.

She did not reappear at Shrek Academy. Instead, she returned directly to the Holy Spirit Cult's Shrek.

No sooner had she left than the Nether Emperor and the Ghost Emperor stepped forward together. The Demon Empress had claimed the choicest prize; naturally, they would not pass up their share.

Ya Li, the Holy Spirit Douluo, was unconscious and could not be challenged, so they chose Silver Moon Douluo Cai Yue'er and Sunwood Douluo Lan Muzi instead.

Two Life-and-Death Arenas rose at once. Cai Yue'er and Lan Muzi were both younger than the Nether Emperor and the Ghost Emperor. Under the arena's rules, everyone's age would be brought back to the same level.

That gave Cai Yue'er and Lan Muzi a sliver of hope. Once their ages were evened out, surely the gap would not be so great?

But to their despair, even when the Nether Emperor and the Ghost Emperor were reduced to their age, their Quasi-God cultivation did not waver.

Cai Yue'er and Lan Muzi, meanwhile, were still only level ninety-eight Super Douluos.

Their opponents had already become Quasi-Gods at that age.

This fight, too, would be an old master playing with a child.

Cai Yue'er knew she was going to die, but she wanted to avenge Yun Ming. Watching him die before her eyes had nearly broken her heart.

Though she had only ever been able to admire Yun Ming from afar, even that had made her happy.

Now that he was dead, she had no wish to live.

"Nether Emperor, I'll kill you!

You killed Yun Ming before. If you hadn't, Ya Li wouldn't have wasted a chance to revive him, and he wouldn't have died today. This is all because of you."

"Mm, yes, yes. It's all because of me. Come and kill me, then."

The Nether Emperor had no idea what to do with the frantic woman before him.

A level ninety-eight Super Douluo wanted to kill a Quasi-God? The people of Shrek truly were something else.

Cai Yue'er's Three-Word Battle Armor blazed with brilliant light. Nine Spirit Rings appeared at once—six black and three red.

A huge crescent moon formed behind her.

"Silver Moon Slash!"

She slashed at the Nether Emperor with abandon.

But the Nether Emperor merely swung his sword.

Behind him, a colossal gray figure of the Nether King, a thousand meters tall, appeared in resonance with his sword. Nether King Descends.

He did not even activate his Rebirth Domain. He simply swung lightly at Cai Yue'er, and the towering Nether King behind him brought its enormous Nether King Sword down on her.

With that single strike, her attack was obliterated. Cai Yue'er herself was struck down and pinned beneath the arena, her Three-Word Battle Armor shattering instantly.

"Where did you find the nerve?

A level ninety-eight Super Douluo challenging a Quasi-God?

Did Yun Ming give you the courage?

Because he's already dead."