"Brother~" Xiao You cried out mournfully when she saw Lei Dong's resolute action. Yet, she harbored no thought of stopping him. The current situation was too clear; she could not maintain the Youming Hesha Formation for much longer, and once the formation failed, death would surely greet them both.

However, Lei Dong being forced to swallow the Demon King's Essence Soul enraged Xiao You. She glared fiercely at the pale-faced Xuan Yuanzi, spitting venomously, "Old man Xuan Yuan, even if my brother and I perish by your hand, you will not fare well. Father will surely avenge us."

Xuan Yuanzi was momentarily stunned, his face a picture of utter misery. This trip to Kangzhou was supposed to be effortless. As a formidable expert at the Divine Transformation stage, in a backwater place like Kangzhou, shouldn't everything go exactly as he willed? Yet, unexpectedly, it had stirred up so much trouble. If he had known this brat surnamed Lei was so tenacious, he would never have come to support the Hehuan Sect, let alone dragged him into this dueling space.

Now, he was caught in an impasse. To attack aggressively would be pure suicide against the Youming Hesha Formation. To simply wait was to invite unknown horrors. In truth, Xuan Yuanzi almost wished Lei Dong would succeed in absorbing the Demon King's Essence Soul. With his current power, even if Lei Dong advanced just one stage after absorbing it, he would merely become an Infant Soul. Xuan Yuanzi scoffed, never believing a newly promoted Infant Soul and that intermediate Ghost King girl could pose any real threat to him.

He actually hoped Lei Dong would lose the battle for dominance against the Demon King's consciousness; otherwise, he would face a far more terrifying Demon King.

As for Lei Dong, the moment the Essence Soul entered his system, he felt a colossal aura swelling up from his lower abdomen. A perverse, dark, and ferocious wisp of divine thought rapidly assaulted his mind. In his sea of consciousness, it materialized as a fanged, clawing monstrous beast, attempting to devour him whole.

"Hmph, a petty trick." Lei Dong might not possess supreme innate talent, but he had heavily invested in strengthening his divine sense. Repeated purifications and tempering had rendered his divine sense far stronger than that of a typical Golden Core cultivator, nearly matching that of an intermediate Infant Soul expert.

His confidence in the might and purity of his divine sense was the most crucial reason Lei Dong dared to swallow the Demon King's Essence Soul. He sat cross-legged, suspended in the void, while simultaneously, the exotic Dimohe slowly materialized on his forehead, lending him a touch of demonic allure. His brows were tightly furrowed as he seemingly directed his divine sense to battle the Demon King's consciousness.

This war within the sea of consciousness was the most perilous kind. One slight misstep, and Lei Dong's body would be seized by the Demon King's will. The demonic life factors hidden within the Essence Soul would then swiftly corrupt every cell in his body, transforming him into a pure-blooded demon.

"Hiss~" Xuan Yuanzi, seeing Lei Dong's unusual state from afar, sucked in a sharp breath. He hadn't paid close attention before, but now seeing the third "eye" emerging on his forehead—was this the inheritance of the Demon Emperor Sect, which vanished for unknown reasons in the late ancient era?

The Grand Supreme Sect had a long, storied history dating back to the ancient era. Perhaps others believed the Grand Supreme Sect was supremely powerful then, dominating all aspects of life. But Xuan Yuanzi, having read countless untold scriptures within the sect, knew that compared to the truly formidable human sects of the ancient era, the Grand Supreme Sect was merely a minor footnote. The texts clearly recorded that the Demon Emperor Sect was the supreme power of that time, capable of crushing small sects like the Grand Supreme Sect with a mere wave of the hand. Yet, even in the primordial ancient times, how and why the Demon Emperor Sect vanished remained a mystery.

This brat held too many secrets. Xuan Yuanzi felt profoundly depressed, though he couldn't gauge the exact level of the Dimohe on Lei Dong's forehead. If it represented the Dimohe of the Demon Emperor lineage, then this kid was utterly monstrous. He deeply regretted crossing swords with him. Given another choice, Xuan Yuanzi would have fled far away. This text is provided by the Qihang Update Group, by Dai Bi Qi Shen.

The devouring efforts of the Black Winged Demon King's consciousness were ferocious and tyrannical. The most brutal clash reached its peak almost immediately. It seemed determined not to allow the consumed party any time to acclimatize; the Black Winged Demon King's offensive was surging and potent. But how could the inheritance of the Dimohe be underestimated? The Demon Emperor Sect of fifty thousand years ago reigned supreme, unmatched. Even the major talent races had to bow their heads before them.

And the inheritance of the Dimohe, belonging to the supreme leader of the Demon Emperor Sect, could not be simple. Consider the heaven-defying artifact, the Soul Devouring Main Pagoda—how many hands had it passed through over these fifty millennia? But who managed to uncover its true secret?

In fact, if Lei Dong himself hadn't possessed exceptional natural aptitude and an innate willpower that others could neither match nor discover, how could he have sensed the special resonance from the Soul Devouring Main Pagoda? If the Pagoda hadn't chosen Lei Dong, he would have, like everyone else, missed it. And the tower platform where the Dimohe resided could not be sensed by anyone lacking the Soul Devouring Main Pagoda. Lei Dong obtaining the Dimozhong through the Pagoda appeared to be luck on the surface, but it was, in reality, an inevitable certainty.

"Boom~"

As the Dimozhong manifested fully, all of Lei Dong's surrounding power transformed into an unending shield of divine sense. No matter how fierce or tyrannical the Black Winged Demon King's consciousness became, it could not consume a single shred of Lei Dong's awareness.

While the Black Winged Demon King’s consciousness continued to shift its form, profound changes began occurring within Lei Dong. Since obtaining the Dimozhong inheritance, this was the second time Lei Dong had received a massive influx of information. All sorts of incomprehensible events began to manifest in his mind.

It was a vision of a tall, slender man wearing a cold mask, hands clasped behind his back, floating in the air, gazing with icy eyes upon an endless army of alien races spread before him. Among those armies were high-level demons akin to the Black Winged Demon King, Winged Gods with multiple pairs of wings, and countless strangely shaped races Lei Dong had never seen.

Behind the masked man stood an equally colossal army, its cohesive aura surging straight into the heavens.

Lei Dong seemed to vaguely sense the immense power of both armies. Even the weakest foot soldiers, though most numerous, exuded the aura of Golden Core power. Those slightly stronger all possessed Infant Soul strength. Even those at the Divine Transformation stage, who exerted immense pressure on Lei Dong, were not few in number. As for the masked man, he was so unfathomably deep that a mere glance made Lei Dong feel suffocated: Could that masked man be a being at the Creation Stage, a level beyond Divine Transformation?

The two sides clashed when the masked man waved his hand, and the armies collided with a thunderous impact. All manner of heaven-swallowing spells bombarded each other. Many experts skilled in close combat manifested their Dharma Manifestations, growing to titanic sizes, their heads touching the sky and their feet stamping the earth, every movement causing ripples of spatial distortion. Yet, even these formidable experts could not gain an advantage under the masked man's control: one hand behind his back, he flicked his finger, sending out streams of incredibly pure finger-force that shot forth, impossible to evade, piercing the magnificent and immensely powerful enemies.

Those terrifying enemies were like paper tigers in his hands, shattered with a mere touch.

But the enemies were too numerous; they could not be killed off entirely. A devastatingly brutal war raged, lasting an unknown duration. By the end, the plains were littered with corpses, and blood flowed like the sea.

Both armies suffered near-total annihilation. The masked man, too, seemed to have reached his limit. It was at this moment that three colossal phantoms appeared in the sky: One was a being similar to the Black Winged Demon King, but its height reached a hundred zhang, its majestic aura far surpassing the Black Winged Demon King Lei Dong had seen.

Another was an unparalleled warrior clad in golden armor and wielding a giant battle-axe, also towering over a hundred zhang. The third was highly peculiar: its upper body resembled a graceful woman, but its lower half was serpentine. Even stranger, after transforming, she manifested three heads and six arms: each hand gripping a unique weapon, and her body covered in emerald-green armor.

"Demon Emperor, hand over the Primal Chaos Origin, and we will spare your life," the demonic expert spoke first. "Furthermore, this Demon God can share the secrets of the Primordial Universe's cycle with you, ensuring your ascension to godhood and passage through the tribulations."

"Demon Venerable Asura, you dare call yourself a Demon God? Merely a mere demon at the Tribulation Crossing stage, yet you presume divinity? Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous," the masked man sneered. "The Primal Chaos Origin has already been absorbed and refined by me. Kill me if you have the capability."

"Demon Emperor, I concede that you possess strength equal to ours," the other tall warrior figure rumbled. "However, you are alone now, while the three of us are here, and you are already exhausted and severely wounded. Surrender sooner rather than later, lest your soul is utterly destroyed. If you are willing to surrender the Primal Chaos Origin, we can also guarantee your passage through the cycle." The Demon Emperor seemed not to respond, instead glancing towards the final figure, the three-headed, six-armed, human-upper/snake-lower woman: "Mother of Ten Thousand Spirits, you too choose to oppose me? Have you forgotten how the Immortal and Demon races attacked you in the ancient era? How many of your children they slaughtered? How much of your Primal Chaos spiritual energy they plundered?"

The serpentine woman named Mother of Ten Thousand Spirits’ eyes flickered for a moment, then hardened with resolve: "Demon Emperor, if you hoard the Primal Chaos Origin entirely, my children and I are doomed to fail the cycle of reincarnation. If you are willing to surrender it, I can open the Demon Realm for you to share, and even grant you supremacy." The Demon Emperor shook his head with pity, looking at the three strongest beings in that world, and laughed: "Laughable, utterly laughable. You do not understand, you truly do not understand. The will of the universe is not something three like you can fathom. I have already refined the Primal Chaos Origin. Come, let me witness the might of you three."

"Courting death!" The Demon Venerable, the Heavenly Emperor, and the Mother of Ten Thousand Spirits all shouted in fury, unleashing their strongest powers to strike at the Demon Emperor.

(To be continued)