Spirit Realm

“Booom! Boooom!”

A cataclysmic rumbling suddenly roared out from within the snake-headed demon-shaped mountain. One giant stone fragment after another began to fall as obvious cracks appeared atop the peak.

A myriad of cracks resembling deep stone paths formed. It was as if they sought to destroy this mountain which the Horned Demon Race viewed as sacred—as if they wanted to destroy the figure of the evil god that they believed in.

As many of the Horned Demon warriors gradually realized that the situation was getting worse, their previous state of ecstasy had turned into their present state of fear.

In the center of the Demon God Mountain Range, amidst the lush, dense forest, numerous frail looking, elderly Horned Demon clansmen struggled to stand. They were the self-proclaimed servants of the Demon Gods who had started the tradition of sacrificing to the Demon Gods and were considered to be wise sages by the warriors of the Horned Demon Race.

Currently, many of the priests among the self-proclaimed servants of the Demon Gods watched as the snake-headed demon-shaped peak continued to break apart. Their faces were filled with fear and anxiety.

Suddenly, they all looked up towards the sky and began to emit shrill, ear-splitting screams.

One terrifying fluctuation after another shot out from amidst the center of the dense layer of nether demonic energy, revealing the depths of the clouds. From within the nether demonic energy, which was as black as ink, a myriad of vile souls suddenly began to cascade out.

Each vile soul was around ten meters tall. Before death, each one had been some kind of powerful nether beast. Their souls had been pulled out and turned into this kind of vile soul—a vile one which would eternally protect the Demon God Mountain Range and prevent the trespassing of any outsiders.

At this moment, upon having realized that the snake-headed, demon-shaped mountain peak was falling apart, clearly not intact like they had thought, these priests of the Horned Demon Race finally decided to call out the vile souls.

Upon hearing the shrill cries of the priests, the Horned Demon warriors who had originally not dared to enter finally surged in from outside the Demon God Mountain Range.

Like a tide, they streamed towards the mountain with the peak shaped like a snake-headed demon.

Within another mountain peak.

This mountain peak had been carved into a terrifying demon god with two curved horns and a pair of wide wings.

It was the mountain peak which Gao Yu and the Demon God’s shadow had entered.

Within this mountain peak, approximately where the heart of the demon god carving would have been, there was an enormous altar.

The altar covered about six thousand six hundred and sixty six square meters and had been constructed using numerous white bones of nether beasts. A countless number of human skulls were piled up at the foot of the altar. A seemingly endless, ghastly, evil aura permeated the surroundings of the altar.

At this moment, Gao Yu sat atop the altar with his eyes closed.

From within the countless white bones that made up the altar, one gloomy white wisp of soul intent after another began to emerge. Upon emerging, the soul intents began to form various ancient symbols which contained secrets of evil and entered Gao Yu’s body.

Atop Gao Yu’s forehead, the Demon God’s shadow began to perpetually shrink and enlarge like a huge silhouette which had been created by the illumination of flickering fire. Then it disappeared, returning to Gao Yu’s forehead.

As Gao Yu sat atop the altar, ancient symbols and imprints continued emerging from within the white bones and flying into his body, as if attracted to his body by some force.

—He was in the process of receiving an ancient evil inheritance.

The Demon God's shadow and Gao Yu, who was focused on accepting the legacy, paid no attention to anything that was happening outside. They ignored the quaking of the earth, the trembling of the mountain, and the shrill cries of the Horned Demon clansmen.

At the same time that Qin Lie was completely enveloped by the ball of lightning and trying to comprehend the essence of world destroying lightning, Gao Yu was receiving the Evil God’s legacy.

“Crack crack crack crack! Crack! Boom!”

The mountain peak shaped like a snake-headed demon suddenly began to shake violently, causing boulders to roll down its sides as it began to slowly collapse.

Under the gazes of the Horned Demon clansmen, this evil god mountain peak continued to fall apart, quickly losing height.

Like a fatty who visibly lost weight, the mountain peak gradually became shriveled and small. Suddenly, the snake-headed demon carved into the peak bent in an incredibly strange manner.

It remained that way until old Horned Demon priests and Horned Demon warriors with three to four horns arrived from outside of the mountain range. They watched as the vile souls formed from the souls of vicious beasts constantly charged at the peak of the mountain only to be turned to ash by lightning.

Strange sounds began to resonate from within the mouths of the priests wielding white bone scepters as they began to chant in the ancient language of the Nether Realm.

One vile soul after another began to gather high up in the sky and look down from above, as if they were helping the priests observe the scene within the cave.

An extremely clear picture suddenly appeared above all of their heads—in the center of the lightning pool within the cave, Qin Lie was enveloped by a sphere of thunder and lightning. He was using the liquid of the lightning pool to aid in his cultivation. The giant python was growing larger and larger as it devoured the liquid of the lightning pool.

The liquid within the lightning pool rapidly dried up, seeming as if the bottom would be revealed at any time.

“Arghhhh!”

Upon seeing this, the old priests of the Horned Demon clan finally understood what had happened.

Tears fell from their eyes and they began to emit crazed, piercing screams. The white bone scepters in their hands shook wildly, releasing wave after wave of evil soul fluctuations.

“Boom!”

An earth-shattering rumble that sounded as if could destroy the heavens resonated out from the crumbling mountain peak. Several giant boulders fell as the entire mountaintop collapsed amidst clouds of stone powder.

The peak had suddenly crumbled and fragmented into pieces.

As for Qin Lie within the giant ball of lightning, the sound of these great tremors caused him to suddenly awaken.

He shuddered violently as he saw rocks fly around him wildly. He watched as the numerous statues of the evil god beside the lightning pool exploded around him and turned into nine wisps of misty smoke, which then turned into remnant souls that flew below Qin Lie.

Within the sphere of lightning, Qin Lie subconsciously looked below him and was stunned.

At this moment, he was no longer within the heart of the mountain but atop the head of the Evil God!

He was atop the actual body of the Evil God!

With the collapse of the mountain, the snake-headed Evil God had emerged from within it. He was tens of meters tall and had the enormous body of a demon and the head of a snake. Strange sharp spikes grew from its shoulders and its neck was covered in scales. Within its pair of ice cold eyes that could penetrate to the bone, one could see that an actual soul and consciousness was forming!

It was as if this Evil God was actually alive!

It had actually been hidden within the depths of the mountain, sealed within its heart!

The lightning pool was like a hat which had been covering the Evil God’s head. Qin Lie and the python had been atop its head this entire time, constantly stealing away its power!

The nine remnant souls didn’t enter the Evil God’s mind. Nobody knew how many thousands or even tens of thousands of years this Evil God had slumbered but, at this moment, it was slowly waking up!

At the foot of the Evil God were the numerous old priests of the Horned Demon Race. They were still waving their white bone scepters and chanting their spells loudly.

As for the vile souls that had been summoned, they were seemingly suppressed by some power and restrained. They were unwillingly thrown into the snake mouth of the Evil God.

They were being devoured one after another!

The Evil God’s consciousness continued to grow as the nine remnant souls condensed into one. Upon devouring the vile souls, this soul seemingly became increasingly restless.

The Evil God seemed like it was about to awaken!

Qin Lie’s expression changed.

He hadn’t known that, within this Demon God Mountain Range, each mountain contained the body of an Evil God—the bodies of the slaughtered primordial Demon Gods!

From the humanity’s perspective, these were Demon Gods. They were the most evil, sinister beings, and were considered the sources of all evil.

However, in the eyes of the evil races of the Nether Realm, they were respectfully addressed as Demon Gods and also known as evil gods. These beings were their guardians and the ones who had bestowed power unto them. They were also their ancestors!

The evil races of the Nether Realm worshipped these Evil Gods who had been sealed within these mountain with utmost reverence. Steeling their own beliefs, ideals, and souls, individuals of these evil races had wandered throughout the vast unknown world, searching for the scattered remnant souls of these Evil Gods. Following the will of the Evil Gods, they searched for wisp after wisp of soul in an effort to help the Evil Gods reform their souls and emerge within this world once again!

The nine statues which had contained the remnant soul fragments of the snake-headed Evil God had been created through countless years of devout worship by the evil races. The evil races had combed the various battlefields of the Nether Realm and gradually gathered and condensed wisps of soul fragments to form these sculptures.

The lightning pool was one of the mystical areas of the Nether Realm. The thunder energy within had been accumulated through an extremely difficult process and was extremely pure. Through daily refinement and condensation of this energy, it had gradually formed the lightning pool. They had done this so they could help nourish the remnant souls and allow them to gradually recover so that, one day, the Demon God would be able to awaken once more.

However, with the arrival of Qin Lie and the giant python, their plans had been completely ruined. The countless years of accumulation of lightning energy had been stolen and devoured.

They had been completely denied of the fruits of their hard labor!

This truly angered them, causing them to not hesitate at all and help condense the remnant souls immediately. Even if they had to use a messy method to awaken the Evil God, they still had to kill the perpetrators.

“Leave!”

The moment that the bottom of the lightning pool could be seen, its liquid running dry, the giant python transmitted a single thought to Qin Lie as it opened its mouth and enveloped him in one bite.

The giant python’s body swelled to ten times its original size, becoming a hundred meters long purely through the gathering of thunder and lightning. As for Qin Lie, who was still enveloped within the lightning sphere, he was in the giant python’s mouth as it carried him and fled toward the distant Nether Battlefield.

In a corner of the Demon God Mountain Range...

Song Tingyu’s body cautiously shrunk, a look of horror appearing upon her face as she observed the changes occurring in the Demon God Mountain Range. She watched as the mountain peak crumbled and a primordial Evil God emerged from within, swallowed the vile souls, formed its consciousness, and gradually awoke...

She had been completely frozen with shock. She had never expected that Qin Lie entering the Demon God Mountain Range would have incited such a heaven shaking, earth shattering change and actually awakened a primordial Evil God!

By this time, all of the Horned Demon warriors had already rushed into the Demon God Mountain Range while the old priests continued chanting at the sky.

Right when the primordial Evil God’s consciousness was about to fully form, as it was about to awaken, the python had suddenly inflated in midair, turned into a floating giant python, and swallowed the thunder sphere containing Qin Lie, fleeing towards the Nether Battlefield.

As for Song Tingyu, she had been abandoned by Qin Lie and the giant python...

“Over there! Over there! There is still one more person!” Qin Lie shouts suddenly echoed over from the distant sky, rumbling out from within the giant python’s mouth.

The giant thunder python’s body shook. It seemed reluctant but, after a moment of hesitation, it changed directions midair and began to fly towards Song Tingyu’s location.

Song Tingyu raised her head and looked up at the gray, hazy sky, watching the dazzling lightning python’s hundred meter long body slither over through it. She felt an extraordinarily powerful aura begin to surge from its body as it followed Qin Lie’s command. Her heart suddenly began to quiver.

It was the first time her heart had given birth to such feelings...

“Bring her with us! Then we can flee from here!” Qin Lie was still screaming.

The giant python’s enormous body bolted over, arriving behind Song Tingyu’s head and suddenly spitting out a streak of lightning. Like a lasso, the lightning wrapped around Song Tingyu's feminine figure. Suddenly it retracted like a tongue, bringing her to Qin Lie's side in a flash

Surprisingly, the lightning which wrapped around Song Tingyu wasn’t violent at all. Instead, it was mild and gentle like water. Shock emerged within the eyes of the terrified, pale Song Tingyu. She was extremely amazed by the the python’s skill in controlling lightning.

“Go!” Qin Lie shouted.

The giant python flew back into the sky and adjusted its direction, once again fleeing towards the Nether Battlefield. It cut through the sky like a gigantic streak of lightning, passing over the Demon God Mountain Range.

Just when the python was about to leave the area of the Demon God Mountain Range, the mountain peak which Gao Yu was receiving an evil inheritance in suddenly collapsed!

Amidst the rolling stone fragments, a pair of hideous, demonic hands that were tens of meters long pierced through the larger chunks of stone that flew around in the air and suddenly grabbed the giant python’s tail.

Countless streams of jet black demonic energy quickly entangled the giant python’s body like encroaching vines as the hideous demon hands forcefully pulled it back.

“Boom!”

The hundred meter long giant python made from thunder, lightning, and a soul consciousness was abruptly jerked from the sky and thrown at the feet of the snake-headed Evil God.

The Evil God which had bestowed its inheritance to Gao Yu was actually the first one to wake up and make a move!