Chapter 382: The Door to Darkness

The air around Madam Tang crackled with tension, a cold, suffocating energy wrapping itself around her like chains. Zhang Yiming stood a few feet behind her, his eyes gleaming with a mix of anticipation and triumph, his posture rigid with excitement. The dark energy that had enveloped him throughout the battle now seemed to pulse in sync with the Celestial Forge itself, resonating with the raw power she was about to unleash. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Her hands trembled as she continued the ritual. The ancient words spilled from her lips, foreign and guttural, their meaning long lost to time. Yet the weight of their power pressed down on her, each syllable pushing her closer to the edge. She could feel the portal stirring, an ancient beast awoken from centuries of slumber. The earth beneath her feet vibrated, and the air hummed with the weight of a thousand lost souls.

"Faster," Zhang Yiming hissed, his impatience growing with every passing second. His eyes never left the glowing fissure forming in the air before them, a crack in reality itself. "You’re almost there."

Madam Tang’s eyes flicked to the side, where Wang Ying lay unconscious, blood seeping from the wound on his side. His chest rose and fell in shallow breaths, but he was alive—for now. Her heart ached, knowing she had made the choice to save her brother’s life, but the cost weighed heavily on her soul.

*I had no other choice,* she thought bitterly, the ritual’s final words slipping from her tongue like venom. The price she had paid would haunt her for the rest of her days—however many of those were left.

With one final incantation, a deep, rumbling sound filled the air. The portal before them shimmered, its golden light flickering, and then, with a low roar, it burst open. A brilliant, blinding glow exploded outward, enveloping everything in its path. The light was so intense that Madam Tang had to shield her eyes, but Zhang Yiming merely stood there, arms outstretched, welcoming the overwhelming force with open arms.

The wind howled, rushing through the village as if the earth itself was screaming in protest. The glowing fissure expanded, its edges crackling with energy, until it was large enough for a man to walk through. And that’s exactly what Zhang Yiming intended to do.

His face broke into a wide grin, pure elation shining in his eyes. He stepped forward, his feet crossing the threshold of the portal. The glow around him intensified, swirling like a living thing, as if the darkness inside was welcoming him home.

Madam Tang watched in horror, the portal’s light casting long shadows across the ruins of the village. The warnings she had seen, the ancient texts written in blood and bone, all flooded her mind. Her heart raced as Zhang Yiming disappeared into the blinding light, his laughter fading into the distance.

She had done what he asked. She had opened the portal.

But the true horror was only beginning.

---

As Zhang Yiming stepped through the portal, he felt a strange warmth enveloping him, not the comforting kind, but something ancient and dark, like the embrace of something long forgotten. His grin widened as the glow around him shifted, wrapping him in a cocoon of shimmering light. For a moment, he was suspended in an otherworldly limbo, neither here nor there.

And then, with a pulse of energy, he landed on solid ground. The world inside the portal was nothing like what he had expected.

The walls around him were carved from dark, ancient stone, the air thick with the smell of decay and age. Dim light flickered from unseen sources, casting eerie shadows that danced along the walls. The stone corridors stretched out before him, lined with old, worn inscriptions and sigils that seemed to pulse with dark energy. The air was heavy, thick with an oppressive weight that pressed down on him, but Zhang Yiming reveled in it.

His eyes moved over the carvings on the walls. Old writings in a language no mortal had spoken for centuries were etched into the stone, each letter glowing faintly with a malevolent light. They were warnings, left by those who had created this place—messages for anyone foolish enough to cross its threshold.

**Beware what lies within.**

**The souls of the damned.**

**The demons that once reigned terror on the world.**

Zhang Yiming walked deeper into the portal, ignoring the inscriptions that would have terrified a lesser man. The darkness here was thick, palpable, and it pulsed with power—the power he had sought for so long.

The further he ventured, the more the walls told their tale. Images of long-forgotten villains and monsters, their faces twisted in agony, were carved into the stone. Some were barely recognizable as human, their bodies malformed by the dark magic they had wielded. These were the souls of ancient demons, beings who had once terrorized the world, spreading death and destruction across the lands. And now they were trapped here, locked away in this prison for eternity—or at least, until today.

Zhang Yiming’s steps echoed in the empty hall, the weight of history pressing down on him with each footfall. He stopped for a moment to study one of the carvings: a towering figure, wreathed in flames, its eyes glowing with an otherworldly light. Beneath the figure, an inscription read:

**The Demon King: Harbinger of the End.**

A shiver of anticipation ran through Zhang Yiming. The Demon King, the most feared entity of them all, was what lay at the heart of this portal. His power, once unleashed, would reshape the world in ways Zhang Yiming had only dreamed of.

But there was more. As he moved further into the heart of the portal, he began to hear whispers. Faint at first, like the wind brushing through ancient ruins, but they grew louder with each step.

*Free us.*

*Release us.*

*We will serve you.*

The voices were everywhere, swirling around him like a storm, promising him everything he had ever wanted. Zhang Yiming’s grin deepened. These were the voices of the souls trapped within, the demons and ancient villains who had been locked away for centuries. And now, they saw him as their savior, the one who would release them from their eternal prison.

As he approached the center of the portal, the corridor widened, opening into a massive chamber. It was vast, with towering stone pillars that stretched toward the ceiling, their tops disappearing into the darkness above. The air was thick with an eerie glow that emanated from the floor itself, casting the entire chamber in a sickly green light.

At the center of the chamber was a large circular dais, engraved with symbols and sigils older than time itself. And standing at the heart of the dais was a towering figure, his body shrouded in shadows, his eyes glowing with an unnatural light.

Zhang Yiming stopped at the edge of the dais, his heart pounding in his chest. This was it. This was the moment he had been waiting for.

A voice boomed out, filling the chamber, deep and resonant, dripping with malice. "You... have freed us."

Zhang Yiming grinned, his hands clenched into fists. "Yes, I have. I am your liberator."

The shadows around the figure shifted, twisting and writhing like living things. The voice spoke again, colder this time, as if weighing Zhang Yiming’s worth. "Two centuries we have waited in this prison, bound by mortal hands, and now you come to release us."

The figure stepped forward, revealing its form. The Demon King stood tall, towering over Zhang Yiming, his body composed of pure shadow and flame. His face, though obscured, bore the faint trace of a cruel smile, as if amused by the audacity of the man before him.

"Tell me, mortal," the Demon King said, his voice echoing through the chamber like the tolling of a great bell. "What is it that you desire in return for our freedom? Power? Riches? Immortality?"

The words hung in the air, dripping with temptation.

Zhang Yiming’s breath quickened, his eyes shining with greed. This was it. The moment where he could claim the power he had sought for so long. His mind raced with the possibilities. The world would be his to shape, to rule. He had worked his entire life for this, had sacrificed everything to unlock the secrets of the Celestial Forge. And now, finally, the power of the Demon King and his minions was within his grasp.

But even as the Demon King awaited his answer, something nagged at the edges of Zhang Yiming’s mind—a faint whisper of doubt. The dark power that swirled around the chamber was overwhelming, suffocating, and there was no escaping the knowledge that once he made his wish, there would be no turning back.

The Demon King’s eyes flared with intensity, the shadows growing darker, more menacing, as he asked one final time.

"Tell me, Zhang Yiming, what is it that you truly want?"

The chamber fell into silence, and Zhang Yiming’s heart raced in anticipation.

But as the Demon King’s question echoed through the chamber, Zhang Yiming hesitated, the weight of his choice pressing down on him.

And in that silence, the portal’s ancient power stirred, waiting for his answer.