“Mo Tianjue, surrender without a fight, and This Palace can grant you a swift death!”
The Evil Consort hated the Demon Domain Lord down to her marrow. It was this fiend who had provoked the ancient Evil Gods into a frenzy. Even after her death in her previous life, he had slaughtered the remnants of the Evil God Clan and seized the Evil God Divine Spark.
“…So it really was a trap?” The Demon Domain Lord’s voice echoed as if many people were speaking at once. “I’m quite curious—how did you predict my every move, step by step?”
Yan Zhen tapped his forehead.
“Because you’re all too stupid.”
“Heh heh haha.”
The Demon Domain Lord let out a sinister chuckle, as if he found it immensely amusing.
“You think this rabble of yours can take me down?”
The Demon Domain Lord, whose true name was Mo Tianjue, hailed from the Main World. He was a member of the Main World’s strongest race, the Holy God Clan, with a cultivation at the Divine Spirit Realm. Upon descending to the Mystic Heaven Continent, he had severed part of himself with a single slash to evade the targeting of this world’s heavenly mandate, plummeting to the Nine Star Great Saint level.
As a result, the Demon Domain Lord’s strength surpassed even Zi Tianjun and the Myriad Dragon King, who were also at the Nine Star Great Saint level.
As a former god-spirit, the Demon Domain Lord could restore his peak cultivation simply by fusing with a divine spark.
“Behold the might of a god!”
With those words, the Demon Domain Lord summoned the Sea God Divine Spark. His body then dissolved into black mist, enveloping the crystalline spark.
Faced with the encirclement by the Mystic Heaven Continent’s powerhouses, the Demon Domain Lord had no choice but to abandon the Evil God Divine Spark in the Evil Consort’s hands. Instead, he decisively fused with the Sea God Divine Spark, transforming into the Sea God of this era!
Boom!
A pillar of light shot into the heavens, scattering the winds and clouds.
Now incarnated as the Sea God, the Demon Domain Lord hovered high in the sky. Terrifying divine might swept outward from him as the Sea God’s power, filling every Mystic Heaven powerhouse present with dread.
“Bring forth the trident.”
He reached out with his right hand, summoning the Sea God Artifact: Golden Trident out of thin air. With a casual swing, he unleashed waves of divine power thousands of feet high, shattering the Dragon Vein Grand Array.
The entire Emerald Holy Land was submerged, transformed into a vast, endless ocean.
Among the Ten Great God-Spirits, the Sea God ranked near the bottom—third from last—not particularly powerful. Yet it still far surpassed a Nine Star Great Saint.
A god was still a god!
Leaning on his Sea God Trident, the Demon Domain Lord stomped lightly on the ocean surface. In an instant, he opened his Myriad Demons Cave Heaven within the sea, unleashing countless fiends he had nurtured for nearly a millennium.
The boundless seawater fused with the fiends, birthing tens of thousands of sea demonic beasts. Each one was at the Half-Saint or Mystic Saint level, akin to the beast spirits unconsciously split off from the Pseudo-God Tribulation Fire.
Though these sea demonic beasts lacked laws and cave heavens—falling short of true Half-Saints and Mystic Saints—and could only exist within this divine-power sea domain, their sheer numbers were horrifying. They could effortlessly annihilate any holy land or even god clan!
“Hear my command, sea demonic beasts—kill!”
Countless sea demonic beasts of all sizes and grotesque shapes surged toward the Mystic Heaven powerhouses hovering above the ocean surface.
Without hesitation, Yan Zhen activated his final trump card. He transformed into the Nine Star Heavenly Saint Heavenly Saint Yan Zhen, gripped the Extreme Emperor Sword, and charged forward astride his cave heaven, the Firmament Fire Domain.
The Evil Consort followed suit, summoning the Evil God Divine Spark and wielding its power to fend off the sea beasts’ assault.
Cai Lian joined Qing Ling in offering up the Snake God Divine Spark. Zi Xunyi and Long Ying each summoned the Heavenly God Divine Spark and Dragon God Divine Spark, clashing fiercely with the surging Sea God power using their respective divine sparks.
The other powerhouses unleashed their signature abilities as well.
Chen Xi attuned herself to the heavenly mandate, summoning earth, water, wind, and fire to strike directly at the Demon Domain Lord.
The Jialan Fairy conjured Half-Saint-level lotus root people, forming an army of them to build defensive lines.
Zi Tianjun and the Myriad Dragon King also erupted with the formidable might of Nine Star Great Saints, extinguishing sea demonic beasts with every casual gesture.
Yi Xian’er, Jiu Youyue, and Yun Xiu poured forth their full strength to resist the Sea God’s wrath!
Yet even after transforming into the Nine Star Heavenly Saint and wielding the power of heaven’s mandate, Yan Zhen was no match for the Demon Domain Lord. The Sea God Divine Spark combined with the Sea God artifact granted the full might of a god-spirit!
Divine power was also a form of heaven’s mandate power—Yan Zhen could not suppress the Demon Domain Lord with it.
“Too weak!”
The Demon Domain Lord swung the Golden Trident, effortlessly sending the Heavenly Saint Yan Zhen—who was clad in the Flame Emperor Armor and wielding the Extreme Emperor Sword—flying thousands of miles away. The Firmament Fire Domain vanished in tandem.
Having struck down Yan Zhen, the Demon Domain Lord unleashed the Sea God’s power without restraint. Single-handedly, he forced the allied forces of the five great god clans and three holy lands into a rout.
“Without being a god yourself, you cannot slay a god. That’s an ironclad law you cannot defy—you’ll never defeat me!”
“—Is that so?”
Yan Zhen climbed to his feet from the ocean surface. To everyone’s shock, he dispersed his Heavenly Saint power, allowing his cultivation to regress to the One-Star Mystic Saint level.
The god clan powerhouses stared in stunned confusion, unable to fathom Yan Zhen’s intentions.
It was strange, really. A full year had passed, yet with Yan Zhen’s talent, his cultivation showed no progress whatsoever.
Even without advancing a star, his aura should have grown denser and more Mystic. Instead, it remained stagnant, exactly as it had been a year ago.
The plan to encircle and slay the Demon Domain Lord—forcing him into becoming the Sea God so he couldn’t touch the Evil God Divine Spark—had been Yan Zhen’s own proposal.
The Myriad Dragon King’s expression grew grave.
“What’s this brat up to?”
Zi Tianjun narrowed his eyes.
“Just watch. He wouldn’t act without purpose.”
For some reason, the Demon Domain Lord sensed an ominous premonition. His blood-red eyes fixed intently on Yan Zhen.
—He can’t be allowed to act again!
The thought flashed through his mind. The Demon Domain Lord transformed into a streak of divine light, hurtling toward the distant Yan Zhen, only to be blocked by the three beautiful masters and the four god clan women acting in unison.
Yan Zhen flipped over his right hand. A feeble spark of fire flickered to life in his palm—it was his own Origin Fire.
The spark remained as it always had: tiny, pitiful, on the verge of extinguishing at any moment.
Yan Zhen gazed at it calmly, a faint smile touching his lips.
“Sorry it took so long, but I’ve finally learned your name.”
The Origin Fire spark swayed gently, as if responding to its master’s words.
“I’m a transmigrator from another world. You’re a fire seed born from my body. Neither of us belongs to this world, so I’m an anomaly… and you are—Exotic Fire!”
The instant Yan Zhen uttered the fire seed’s true name, the feeble Origin Fire erupted into blazing fury. It unleashed incomparable power, its translucent, crystalline flames surging toward the heavens.
Rumble!
The firmament split with enormous fissures. The heavenly mandate at their far end trembled before projecting downward, merging into Yan Zhen’s body.
At this moment, in this instant, Yan Zhen once more seized heaven’s mandate and proved the Dao—becoming an emperor!
—The Flame Emperor!
“How is this possible!?” The Demon Domain Lord could scarcely believe it. “Jumping straight from One-Star Mystic Saint Realm to Heavenly Mandate Emperor Realm? Impossible—utterly impossible!”
It wasn’t just the Demon Domain Lord. Even the Mystic Heaven Continent’s powerhouses were dumbfounded, with Zi Tianjun and the Myriad Dragon King particularly aghast.
Yan Zhen—the Flame Emperor Yan Zhen—clenched his right hand into a claw, cradling the roaring Exotic Fire. The mystic power around him retracted into his body, his aura gradually fading into nothingness.
He stood there plainly enough, yet no one present could sense his presence.
“It’s time to end this.”
