As Shiheng stood quietly in the void, waiting for the Demon Race Asura Clan Chief to give his final answer, the flames of war across the battlefield slowly subsided.
In the shattered airspace that had just endured fourteen days of fierce fighting, countless fragments of ruptured space slowly floated and settled. The constantly trembling planar barrier gradually steadied as well, though the biting aftershocks of raging divine power still lingered.
Above the void, the atmosphere was suffocatingly silent.
Faced with Shiheng's two nonnegotiable conditions, the Demon Race Asura Clan Chief's face was iron-gray. Humiliation, fury, and utter unwillingness churned in his savage, scarlet demonic eyes, almost bursting through his divine soul.
The material-defense Sovereign Artifact he wore, engraved with ancient Azure Dragon patterns, had an extraordinary origin.
It was a supreme treasure he had only recently obtained by venturing alone into the most dangerous Secret Realm in the Life God Realm, narrowly surviving repeated brushes with death and fighting bloody battles.
He had spent ten thousand years scheming for this Sovereign Artifact. It had always been his greatest hidden trump card, the fundamental asset behind his secret preparations and accumulation of strength, which would one day allow him to invade the Hell Demon Realm and contend for the position of supreme chief of the Demon Race.
An opportunity so central to his future and his race's secrets, one that even involved a Paragon, was something he would never reveal a word about.
"I will never tell you where the Sovereign Artifact came from!"
The Asura Clan Chief clenched his teeth, forcing a hoarse, bone-chilling growl from his throat. The demonic aura around him surged violently with his extreme rage.
After a brief moment of crushing restraint, his broad chest heaved. As though cutting away his own flesh, he made a