In the crowd...

Lui Yifa’s face changed drastically. His whole body trembled, and he nearly fainted.

Memories of his life with Lui Guan, from childhood to the present, flashed through his mind. His father had been simple and honest, always earnestly teaching him to be truthful, to repay kindness, and so on...

But now, Lui Guan had met such a tragic end?

"Dad..."

Lui Yifa’s eyes looked ready to split as he let out a hysterical roar. "You bastards from the Qinghuo Gang! I’ll fight you to the death!"

Filled with hatred, Lui Tiantian and the other members of the Lui Family gripped their weapons and charged at the Qinghuo Gang.

Zhao Qinghuo had been watching coldly from the side. The moment Lui Yifa and his men launched their attack, he waved a hand. "Take them down!"

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Experts from the Qinghuo Gang swarmed forward, capturing Lui Yifa and the other members of the Lui Family.

Although Lui Yifa had already reached the True Martial Realm First Stage, he was still no match for Zhao Qinghuo. He was severely wounded and pinned under Zhao Qinghuo’s foot. His hands clawed weakly at the ground, his eyes filled with hatred and pain as he roared again and again, "You bastards... You sons of bitches, why did you do this to my father? Why...?"

"Tell me who the killer is, and I’ll let your father go!" Zhao Qinghuo said.

"I... don’t... know..." Lui Yifa said, his words clipped.

Zhao Qinghuo frowned and continued, "Then where is Jiang Chen? Why has everyone else come out, but he’s nowhere to be seen?"

"I don’t know."

Lui Yifa said.

"Damn it, you’re just as stubborn as your father!"

Zhao Qinghuo snorted coldly and kicked Lui Yifa in the mouth, shattering his teeth. He tossed the whimpering Lui Yifa to Zhao Qingshui to watch over, then turned to the others. "If you don’t want to die, then confess. Who was it that killed my son?!"

No one said a word.

"Fine. Very good. You all have a lot of spine. Since you won’t talk, from now on, I will kill one of you every hour. I’ll continue until you decide to remember!"

His cold gaze swept over the still-open exit of the Celestial Demon Ancient Realm as he said coldly, "These people aren’t nearly strong enough to threaten my Kun’Er. Only that Jiang Chen has yet to appear. And before he even entered the Celestial Demon Ancient Realm, he had the strength to defeat Qian Luohao and the others. That makes him the prime suspect. You won’t show yourself? Then I’ll kill every last one of them to force you out. Let’s see which of us has more patience!"

Inside the Celestial Demon Canyon, the pungent smell of blood filled the air, and the atmosphere was incredibly tense.

Every hour, Zhao Qinghuo executed another person.

In the blink of an eye, nearly four hours had passed...

Of the four members of the Lui Family who had entered the Celestial Demon Ancient Realm, three had already been executed, leaving only Lui Yifa.

Zhao Qinghuo hauled him up, a savage grin on his face. "There are ten minutes left until the four-hour mark. Either you tell me who the killer is, or you tell me where Jiang Chen is. Otherwise, I’ll be twisting that head right off your shoulders!"

Despair was etched on Lui Yifa’s face, but he remained silent.

"Hmph. You’d better cherish the last ten minutes of your life!" Zhao Qinghuo snorted, throwing Lui Yifa back to the ground and pinning him under his foot. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

In the crowd...

Si Xiaosheng and Yulan Tianpeng’s faces were filled with helpless rage. They both looked back at an inconspicuous white figure behind them, their expressions anxious. "Little White, it’s all up to you now! You have to contact Jiang Chen, quickly..."

In the most inconspicuous spot in the crowd, Little White was anxiously sending a message via Soul Sensing. ’Boss, Boss, where in the world are you? If you don’t show up soon, Afa is a dead man...’

...

「Within the Celestial Demon Ancient Realm, in the Land of the Far East.」

Above a murky black lake, pillars of poisonous gas rose as if connecting heaven and earth, spreading out like a giant, toxic net.

At the center of the Death Black Lake, the gates of an ancient fortress rumbled open. A figure shot out, trailing a sky-shaking rainbow of light as shockwaves rolled outward. Above his head, a canopy of power soared into the heavens, spanning a full ten li in radius as it frantically absorbed the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

RUMBLE—

The ten-li canopy slowly faded, revealing the figure’s true form: an ecstatic Jiang Chen. "Hahaha! I never expected that fusing with the Wisdom Crystal would not only advance my Divine Thought Power to the First-Grade Middle Level, making me a First-Grade Middle Level Divine Thought Master, but also speed up my absorption of the Mixed Element Golden Pill, allowing me to break through again and step into the True Martial Realm Third Stage!"

"With the methods and power I command now, even Zhao Qinghuo at the True Martial Realm Sixth Stage would be no match for me!"

Jiang Chen pointed a finger forward. A terrifying wisp of Divine Thought condensed into a Divine Thought Blade and shot out with a WHOOSH. The Divine Thought Blade crossed the Death Black Lake and plunged into an Iron-Feathered Eagle, a Tier One Demon Beast, flying in the sky beyond the lake.

"SKREEE..."

The Iron-Feathered Eagle let out a pained cry, its Demon Soul shattered, and it plummeted from the sky.

"No wonder they say Divine Thought Masters are invincible against those at the same level! With my current Divine Thought Power, even an expert at the True Martial Realm Seventh Stage couldn’t withstand my Divine Thought Shock!" Jiang Chen clenched his fists in excitement.

Flapping its wings, the Black Emperor, who was flying beside him, said disdainfully, "You’re this happy just because you barely stepped into the realm of a First-Grade Middle Level Divine Thought Master? You’re a genius who received the inheritance of the Celestial Demon Emperor Venerable! We need to have higher aspirations, alright? Why don’t you wait until you can transcend the Union Palace Realm like the Celestial Demon Emperor Venerable before you get so smug?"

"I’ll transcend the Union Palace Realm sooner or later, but the path of the Martial Dao requires gradual progress. The foundation is just as important. You can’t get fat from a single bite; you have to give me time to grow!"

Jiang Chen glanced at the Black Emperor and said nonchalantly, "By the way, Little Black, are you sure I can’t take this Celestial Demon Ancient Castle with me?"

"Of course you can’t!"

The Black Emperor said, speechless, "This is a Ninth-grade High-level Profound Weapon forged by a Venerable Emperor! You’d need the strength of the Union Palace Realm to even have a chance of refining and taking it with you. Besides, it’s just sitting here. It’s not going to grow legs and run away. Just come back for it when you reach the Union Palace Realm!"

"That’s true!"

Jiang Chen nodded, no longer dwelling on it. "Little Black, get me out of this Death Black Lake, then. The fluctuations from my Soul Contract with Little White are very strong. Something might have happened to him. I need to meet up with them as soon as possible!"

"No need. They’ve already left!" the Black Emperor said flatly.

"Left?"

Jiang Chen paused, then smacked his forehead. ’Stupid me. I was in the Celestial Demon Ancient Castle for a whole month. The trial period in the Celestial Demon Ancient Realm must have ended already. Little Black, get me out of the Celestial Demon Ancient Realm, then!’

"Uh..."

The Black Emperor hesitated for a moment before saying, "Jiang Chen, there’s something I forgot to tell you..."

Jiang Chen looked up at the Black Emperor.

"Well... about half a month ago, a group calling themselves the Qinghuo Gang showed up at the Celestial Demon Canyon. They’ve almost completely wiped out that family with the surname Lui. And just now, when your friends left the Celestial Demon Ancient Realm, they were all captured by that guy, Zhao Qinghuo. Several of them are already dead..." the Black Emperor said, scratching its head with a fleshy wing.

"What did you say? The Lui Family was almost wiped out? Something this huge happened, and you didn’t tell me sooner?"

Jiang Chen roared, grabbing the Black Emperor by the neck.

The Black Emperor struggled desperately. "You were at a critical moment in receiving the inheritance! If I had disturbed you, it definitely would have affected it..."

Hearing this, Jiang Chen released the Black Emperor. His face was grim, and a thick killing intent began to spread from him. His somber voice, like the clang of crossing swords, slowly said, "Take me out of here."

"Uh... what are you going to do?" the Black Emperor stammered, taken aback.

Jiang Chen’s eyes narrowed as he said faintly...

"I am going to kill people."