The Demon Empress paused briefly where she stood, extending her open palm before Ye Xiu. As a deep green light flashed in her eyes, a faint ball of ethereal light slowly gathered and rose in her palm. With a gentle push, the light drifted toward the center of the door, where a flurry of sparks erupted, instantly dissolving the light into nothingness.

"That is killing intent!" Ye Xiu felt the hairs on his body rise; those sparks alone felt equal to ten thousand swords passing through him. "What is behind that door frame?"

The Demon Empress coughed lightly. "A demonic enchantment, a barrier left by the Shadow Demon Strategist. In this world, no one can open it but himself. Now you..."

"I can go in?" Ye Xiu instinctively took a few steps back. Forcing his way through the doorway purely with his physical body would surely end badly, yet possessing the Shadow Demon's millennium-old power might allow him to try. "But I don't even know how to unlock the Shadow Demon Strategist's power? I can't control it at all."

The Demon Empress looked at Ye Xiu, hesitating slightly. "With the power of the Shadow Demon Strategist, I believe you can enter successfully, but I hope you have thought this through."

"What is there to think about..." Ye Xiu blew a few puffs of air onto his fists, stating decisively, "If I can't figure out this power of the Shadow Demon Strategist, I won't have an easy time for the rest of my life. I'm going."

The Demon Empress admired Ye Xiu's resolve a little, smiling faintly. "The Hidden Shadow Valley is a product of the Shadow Demon Strategist's ability. No one knows what the scenery looks like this moment will be in the next instant, which is precisely how you might learn something about the true essence of the Fox Demon Eye."

"If that's the case, I don't need to wait any longer." Ye Xiu leaped toward the doorway. Just as his body was about to approach the door, a thin layer of icy vapor manifested in the surrounding air.

"It is indeed resonating! Perhaps it will work," the Demon Empress exclaimed, equally astonished. She had tried countless times to cross the threshold with her own power, and every attempt had left her severely injured.

Ye Xiu gradually stepped into the layer of ice mist. At that moment, a burst of explosive energy surged directly up his right leg to his heart. He felt his whole body tremble, instantly freezing in place.

"Did it fail?" The Demon Empress, through her own Fox Demon Eye, sensed a power traversing Ye Xiu’s body. That power, clearly matching the strength of the surrounding ice mist, seemed intent on blasting out from the crown of Ye Xiu's head to merge with his own energy outside.

"Aaargh!" Ye Xiu felt his feet unable to move, while a chaotic current churned within him. "What's happening? Why is this happening?"

"The energy inside you is extremely chaotic. The Shadow Demon Strategist's power is restless. If you don't control it, you might suffer a violent backlash and go mad!" Seeing the critical situation, the Demon Empress soared up and struck Ye Xiu’s body with her palm. "You must suppress the Fox Demon power within you as much as possible; I will help you disperse it throughout your body."

Ye Xiu had barely mastered his own chaotic abilities, let alone the millennium of cultivation granted by the Shadow Demon. At this moment, a mysterious fire clearly burned fiercely in his heart; several powers were attacking and suppressing each other, attempting to block the expansion of the others. "It's no use! I can't control them at all, my body feels so bloated..."

The Demon Empress ran her fingers from Ye Xiu's back across his entire body, almost like a massage. All she could do now was use her power to guide the flow of the Shadow Demon's millennium-old strength. At this point, radiance erupted all over Ye Xiu’s body; a blue light precisely guided the purple power from his head slowly back into his chest cavity. "Follow my power, disperse the internal energy in your legs throughout your entire body."

"But I can't..." Ye Xiu sweated profusely, trying desperately to control the flow of energy. If not for Master Tianzhen's life-extending needles segmenting the various energies, he would have exploded and died long ago.

"Hoo..." Just as Ye Xiu's willpower was about to fail, the Demon Empress leaned close to his cheek and exhaled a breath of blue mist. The mist, chilling and frosty, entered his nostrils directly. "Ice Soul Suppressing Incense. It can suppress the violence within your heart."

Ye Xiu tightly shut his eyes. In the mysterious gloom, he seemed to see a flash of blue radiance moving from the darkness to the other side. That radiance spread softly, appearing exceptionally gentle. All he had to do was follow that light, drifting slightly left and right, up and down. Finally, at some point, it was as if he had suddenly walked from darkness into the light.

"The gate to the Hidden Shadow Valley has finally been breached! Ye Xiu, now!" The Demon Empress waved a hand, withdrawing her power, urging Ye Xiu anxiously. "The Shadow Demon Strategist's power is now circulating throughout your body; the barrier outside that door poses no threat to you whatsoever. Hurry!"

Ye Xiu moved, hearing the faint crackling sound of electricity around him. When he opened his eyes, he discovered that within the door frame before him, a scene of strange green trees and flowers had appeared. As he slowly lowered his head, he realized half his body had already entered the Hidden Shadow Valley. "What... what is this?"

The Demon Empress remained silent; her eyes held only encouragement. For a thousand years, no outsider other than the original Shadow Demon had entered this valley. No one knew what they might encounter there.

In the torrent of demonic power, Ye Xiu had given up any struggle. As he took steps forward, everything around him faded into irrelevance. In an environment where light and shadow intertwined, his entire being, his entire consciousness, gradually blurred and dissipated—from existence to nothingness.

Beneath the bustling metropolis, in an abandoned concrete structure, Ye Xiu was describing the strange incidents he had experienced to his master, the High God. That friend had died because of him; that colleague had returned to the underworld as if his soul had gone home. He was the God of Death, the harbinger of sin in the mortal realm; wherever he walked, life hung by a thread...

At the peak of the sea of clouds crowned with rainbow hues, the Myriad Demon Holy Empress floated like an immortal. Her lovely face, her magnificent skirt, her captivating dance manifested and dissolved. Behind her, the figures of Xia Jie, Han Xin, and Yama—even the First Emperor and Emperor Jianwen—were vividly present. More than once, she called out the name of the Underworld King to Ye Xiu...

Mountains and rivers burned away into a sea of fire, the purple flames of the Dead Realm spreading across the Boundless Continent. This was a world of slaughter, mercy, compassion, and betrayal. Few things survived the passing of the Death God, yet it was this conflagration that buried the Death God. Could anyone recall the desolate sky above the Gate of the Dead Realm, that sunless dawn...

"Ah..." Ye Xiu shouted, waking up abruptly from the water. He reached out, trying to grasp something, but there was nothing before him. "Was it a dream, or a hallucination..."

Ye Xiu heard the sound of flowing water faintly in his ears. No! How could water flow so rapidly? He felt the sound coming from above him. He quickly looked up and discovered a massive tide descending from the sky, crashing violently beside him.

"Cough, cough!" Ye Xiu's eyes were obscured by water. It turned out the Hidden Shadow Valley was not the serene place he had imagined. In a glance, he realized he was in the bottom of a dry well, the surrounding towering cliff faces covered endlessly with moss. Most critically, although the valley was wide, there was not a single discernible drainage channel. With the water streaming down from above, this place was bound to be submerged sooner or later.

"Is the secret perhaps at the well opening?" Ye Xiu looked up slightly and saw a faint glimmer of light. He mobilized the Soul of a Hundred Insects to climb, but as soon as he placed one hand and one foot on the cliff face, he discovered he had lost the power of the demonic insects.

"Another realm where cultivation abilities are forbidden?" Ye Xiu tumbled heavily from the cliff face back into the water, raising his hands in confusion. "Susu, are you there? Susu?"

"Wuu..." Susu did not appear, but an aged voice answered instead. That voice, accompanied by the gentle sound of flowing water and the surrounding cliff walls, created several pleasing echoes.

Ye Xiu moved closer to the wall, looking left and right. There were only trickles of water, no human figures in sight, but the voice still lingered. He turned around fruitlessly. "Who are you? Who is up there!"

"Wuu..." The voice remained deep yet seemed to come and go, mysterious but untouchable.

Ye Xiu fixed his gaze on the cliff face and then realized how profound and unfathomable the surrounding walls were. He calmed his spirit slightly and asked loudly, "Listening to this voice, are you Senior Shadow Demon Thousand?"

As Ye Xiu finished speaking, a purple light shot down from the cliff face. When it splashed into the valley, it created a huge wave that drenched him completely, turning him into a drowned rat.

Ye Xiu, annoyed and surprised, spat out a mouthful of water. He wiped away the spray and looked ahead. The mysterious and stern figure of the Shadow Demon Thousand stood right before him. "Se... Senior."

At this moment, the figure of the Shadow Demon Thousand stood firmly amidst the splashing water within the Hidden Shadow Valley, appearing remarkably real. He moved his lips slightly, but his voice boomed like a great bell: "No matter who you are, since you have managed to arrive here and see the remnant illusion of my demonic arts, you must be the successor I have chosen."

"Successor? Senior, aren't you already dead?" Ye Xiu had witnessed the Shadow Demon Thousand and the Heavenly Dao die with his own eyes. But since the Shadow Demon himself claimed this was a remnant illusion of his demonic arts, what exactly was a remnant illusion?

"Since you are the successor I have chosen, please do not be surprised. Remember, everything in the Hidden Shadow Valley is an illusion; everything here is merely what my demonic barrier produces." The Shadow Demon Thousand’s tone was singular, and when he spoke, his eyes lacked any focal point. "Of course, this 'me' before you is also included."

"Like some kind of image playback scroll?" Ye Xiu patted the water off his body and cautiously approached the Shadow Demon Thousand. He had thought the Shadow Demon Thousand was looking at him while speaking, but when Ye Xiu moved to stand behind him, the figure was still gazing straight ahead. Out of curiosity, Ye Xiu extended a finger, intending to poke the arm of the Shadow Demon Thousand. Unexpectedly, his hand passed right through the entire body.

"The Hidden Shadow Valley gathers the essence of the Fox Demon's cultivation. To become my successor, one must possess the Fox Demon Eye." The Shadow Demon Thousand spoke on, oblivious to Ye Xiu.

"The Fox Demon Eye again." Ye Xiu watched as the figure of the Shadow Demon Thousand before him flickered and vanished without a trace. He turned around to survey the entire valley, only to find it completely suffused by that purple radiance.

"Please watch closely!" At this moment, the Shadow Demon Thousand's voice sounded again, no longer originating from within that physical space. Ye Xiu felt a sharp Fox Demon Eye flash in his mind. Immediately after, he stood rooted to the spot, completely unable to move, as if watching a film:

The light in the Hidden Shadow Valley was deep and profound. The Shadow Demon Thousand stood coldly amidst the myriad waters. At this moment, the sound of sharp water falling from the Ninth Heaven could be heard. When he looked up, he saw that the sky above the small valley was filled with countless droplets of water, and these droplets, as if drawn by a magnet, floated toward the Shadow Demon Thousand.

"Swish! Swish!" The Shadow Demon Thousand's eyes lit up, emitting streaks of jade-green light. Under the illumination of the green light, the trickling water droplets seemed to slow their descent. Looking again, the Shadow Demon Thousand's figure was already darting rapidly among the various droplets, his posture and speed making it impossible for even a single drop of mist to touch him. In an instant, the scene switched again; all those water droplets struck the ground beneath his feet, forming a beautiful lotus flower.

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