Chapter 57: The Crimson Devil Sovereign

"Do you think I would believe that?" The Qing Emperor remained silent, unconvinced.

The dark red flame retorted, "Whether you believe it or not, what does it matter to me? All I want right now is to escape from this place!"

He communicated with the red mark, pushing the power of the curse to its absolute limit, hoping to force the Qing Emperor to surrender and willingly become the vessel for his consciousness.

As for his original physical body, it had long since been ground to dust by this tower, its Dao marks completely lost, and all its essence concentrated within the dark red flame inside the skull.

"Boy... Your name is Wan Qing, right? I will surely make your name resound throughout the world!"

The red mark deep within the Qing Emperor's glabella emitted a dazzling radiance, continuously assaulting his spiritual sea. A green lotus was, after all, not a true imperial weapon and could not fully resist this entity's bizarre abilities.

"You are... a supreme being who has stepped half a foot into that realm?!" The Qing Emperor's expression changed in shock.

"Haha! Otherwise, why did you think I could survive for ten thousand years beneath this tower? Even I had heard of this tower's mighty reputation—it is unfathomably deep! It is a legendary immortal artifact!"

That dark red flame detached itself from the skeleton beneath the Void Tower, broke through the tower's seal, and lunged toward the Qing Emperor.

"No... What is that thing inside you?" The moment the dark red flame possessed him, it suddenly cried out in horror.

"A phantom image of a mirror is suppressing your sea of consciousness... It contains the laws of time! No—my power!"

As if seeing a monster, the dark red flame bolted out from the Qing Emperor's sea of consciousness, scrambling in a pathetic state to possess the corpse of a monster instead. This narrowly avoided a fatal disaster, as the remaining power of the mirror phantom simultaneously dissipated, robbing the dark red flame of its last chance.

Realizing something, the Qing Emperor did not hesitate for a moment, breaking free and retreating from the imperial tomb.

Before leaving, he casually收走 (retrieved) the Void Tower. Having ground that skeleton to dust, the Void Tower retracted all its light, revealing no sharpness whatsoever, and fell effortlessly into the Qing Emperor's palm.

His deep dive into the imperial tomb this time had been for it all along!

It could be said that the most precious fortune within the entire secret realm was the Void Tower—the supreme treasure of the Eastern Wasteland, a genuine immortal artifact!

"Damn it! That is my property!" The monster opened its eyes, staring at the departing figure of the Qing Emperor with extreme reluctance.

Just as the Void Tower had been suppressing him, how could he not have been attempting to refine the item himself?

"Do you think that escaping this secret realm means I can do nothing to you? Just wait! I will come out and find you!" he shouted coldly.

"Next, I shall let the living beings of the outside world experience the dark age once again!"

The Qing Emperor had guessed wrong. In his past life, that being was a true imperial-grade figure, and the imperial tomb buried within this secret realm did not belong to anyone else—it belonged to "him"!

***

No one could have anticipated that the dark age of the human race would begin on this very day.

Except for the ancient immortal families and transcendent sacred lands, the entire world fell into utter chaos. Bones littered the ground, hunting down cultivators; yesterday's dearest friends had become today's most terrifying enemies!

Families and sacred lands were not unwilling to maintain order, but they were now overwhelmed by their own crises. Sage patriarchs within their clans had already turned to bones, and had not other patriarchs stepped in to suppress the situation, the entire family would have collapsed overnight.

The white bones only killed those closest to them. If a sage's skeleton were allowed to run amok, it would spell absolute disaster for the ancient families.

What was once their reliance had now become their calamity, a bitter pill they could only swallow with broken teeth.

"Father, it's me! Do you not even remember me?"

"Qing'er, I hold no hatred toward you for dying by your hand!"

"Great Emperor of the human race! Where are you? The dark age has come! We are powerless to resist..."

"Great Emperor! Can you hear us?"

Some cultivators watched as their lovers, fathers, and kin turned into skeletons, crying out in despair.

On this day, the darkness of the human race had arrived!

A humanoid monster walked out of the imperial tomb, emanating an astonishing aura akin to an ancient Great Emperor reborn, yet its Dao rhythm was incomplete. Trapped at the edge of the secret realm, it nearly broke through the boundaries of the realm several times to step into the mortal world.

"Those white bones... This person is blood-sacrificing our human cultivators!"

Some realized that the red curses were the handiwork of this entity. He was absorbing the essence of the cultivators of the world, fusing it into the red mark, and drawing it back into his hands to mend his own flaws and heal his injuries.

"So that's how it is! What a ruthless heart! To return to his peak, he hesitates not to sacrifice hundreds of millions of us!" Someone went mad, then charged into the secret realm with a mindset ready for death.

"With the path of life cut off, death is inevitable sooner or later. I will fight you to the death!"

Driven to a dead end, with the red curse penetrating deep into his sea of consciousness and nearly rotting him away, a cultivator burned his own vital essence and lunged toward the secret realm.

In the end, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, stirring up not a single ripple.

There were also sages who communicated with heaven and earth, burning away their remaining lifespans to sublimate to the utmost. Wielding supreme sage weapons, they charged into the secret realm to reforge a final glory.

That battle was heaven-shaking and earth-shattering, causing the sun and moon to lose their light and the stars to dim, nearly tearing the secret realm apart.

Later... another sage's corpse lay beside the monster. Of course, he had not been as relaxed as he appeared; he was heavily wounded!

The source of the red curse didn't seem particularly strong—could there be something wrong with his body? Some powerful experts sensed this and speculated!

On this day, powerful figures from all sides gathered: three Great Sages, five Sage Kings, more than a dozen Sages, and dozens of accomplished Kings carrying Imperial Weapons, joining forces to charge into the secret realm.

These were the last remaining powerful figures the human race could mobilize. Gathering all their strength, they were determined to resolve the red curse.

The Qing Emperor had once stepped forward to stop them, but was rebuffed.

These people had previously ventured deep into the imperial tomb and had similarly been infected by the red curse, lingering on until now by relying on divine medicine. If the source of the red curse could not be resolved, they wouldn't live much longer either!

In other words, they had no choice!

If that monster did not die, they wouldn't live long anyway!

Yet, such a grandiose offensive yielded an unexpected result.

The powerful figures from all paths were utterly annihilated!

The monster had previously feigned weakness, trading blows evenly with a sage to deliberately lure them into charging into the secret realm to fight him to the death.

This news was like the straw that broke the camel's back; everyone was terrified!

Even the topmost combat strength had failed to take down this monster, and the Imperial Weapons had lost their efficacy. That secret realm was extremely special, and the power of the Dao could not penetrate it. If he completed the blood sacrifice of the human race and recovered sufficient strength, who could possibly stop him?

"How can this be? That secret realm is actually so special? The power of the Dao cannot enter it at all!" powerful figures of the imperial clans turned pale with fright.

"That is the method of a Heavenly尊 (Heavenly Venerable). He refined that secret realm into nothingness, existing between the real and the illusory, precisely to prevent external cultivators from tearing it open with Imperial Weapons one day!"

Fathoming this secret, the human race felt deeply oppressed and despairing.

The sacred families began preparing to flee, moving far away from Beidou. Countless powerful experts scattered in disarray, losing all courage to resist.

Some had a premonition that the monster trapped in the secret realm was about to break free!

Once freed, the mortal world would usher in a true dark age!

Someone finally recognized the identity of the monster... the Red Demon Heavenly尊! A Heavenly Venerable from the mythological era who, after reincarnating and re-cultivating, had ascended the imperial throne again six hundred thousand years ago.

He had once protected the human race and was hailed by them as the Red Demon Great Emperor. Having fought fiercely against the Supreme Forbidden Zones of Life, he had buried himself within the imperial tomb after death. Apparently, an accident had occurred, turning him into a wicked emperor.

Who could have imagined that the Great Emperor who once sheltered the human race would become the supreme being initiating the dark turmoil?

In the Central Region of the Eastern Wasteland, inside the Fragrant Delicacy Pavilion.

Luo Yan said with a heart willing but powerless, "It is the trend of the great era; I cannot stop it!"

That was the Qing Emperor's imperial tribulation! Luo Yan had perceived the fundamental causality.

If he endured it, Wan Qing would prove the Dao as a Great Emperor in the Age of 末法 (Dharma Ending Age).

If he failed to endure it, Wan Qing would die, and the Red Demon Heavenly Venerable would replace the Qing Emperor...

"You have plucked the strings of history, and the future is changing! The Red Demon Heavenly Venerable should not have appeared; this person has manifested because of you!" The Mirror of Time appeared beside Luo Yan.