Chương 101: First Steps on the Demonic Path (Part 13)

In the desolate wilderness, corpses littered the ground. A pampered young man dressed in luxurious brocade robes stood frozen, staring blankly as his personal guards, his protecting elders, and his sworn protectors fell one after another before his eyes. His master had once told him he would become an unrivaled supreme powerhouse, a dazzling figure who would illuminate an entire era. He needed unshakeable confidence and a heart as steady as Mount Tai, even if it collapsed before him.

Lin Xiuyuan had always believed he could achieve it. Today, he realized he was wrong. Looking at the demonic figure that seemed to have crawled straight out of hell, terror gripped Lin Xiuyuan's heart.

"You… you can't kill me! My master will never let you go! White Cloud City will never let you go! In the future, I am destined to become a Saint, to step into the starry void and become an unrivaled powerhouse! There is absolutely no way I will die at the hands of someone like you!" Su Chen gave a wide, mocking grin.

"A divine physique… only one that grows up becomes a powerhouse. A dead one is nothing at all." Without the slightest hesitation, Su Chen struck to kill. In Lin Xiuyuan's horrified gaze, a terrifying restriction suddenly activated. In the next instant, a pale jade hand tore through the firmament, reaching down to seize Lin Xiuyuan and carry him away. Su Chen had anticipated it long ago. An ancient altar materialized around him. A saint artifact of horrifying power awakened, blocking the jade hand in midair.

"A saint artifact! Who exactly are you? Why dare lay hands on the successor of my White Cloud City?" A voice thundered from beyond the sky, tinged with panic. Su Chen offered no reply. He continued his advance toward Lin Xiuyuan.

"Do you understand that by doing this, you make yourself an eternal enemy of White Cloud City?" Su Chen severed Lin Xiuyuan's head with a single stroke.

"Very well... No matter how far you flee, no matter what orthodoxy stands behind you, White Cloud City will make you regret what you have done today!" The incarnation of White Cloud City's Saint roared in fury. A divine physique had been slain. Su Chen did not linger. He urged his saint artifact to shatter layer after layer of space and vanished without a trace. Moments later, the true foundation of White Cloud City mobilized. Terrifying auras swept across the land.

When they arrived at the battlefield and saw the carnage, rage consumed them. The entire Northern Desert was shaken. The death of a divine physique was no small matter. Ordinary prodigies could die and be replaced—perhaps only a few future Void Refining or Nirvana realm seeds lost. But a divine physique was different. At minimum, such a being would become a Saint in the future, with a high probability of reaching Saint King level.

They were the true heirs of the Northern Desert, the pillars that would anchor the next era. Across all living beings, a divine physique prodigy might appear only once in a millennium. The old ancestor of White Cloud City—a Saint King—dragged his aged body to the Central Continent. At enormous cost, he borrowed a Quasi-Emperor artifact and reconstructed the truth of what had happened. Watching his clan's divine physique genius perish, the elderly Saint King wept bitterly.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. This death meant that when his own lifespan finally ran out, White Cloud City would decline completely. Their destiny would be severed!

"What a Sun-Devouring Sacred Land! So vicious!" Rage consumed the old Saint King. Considering the current state of the Northern Desert—countless prodigies already dead, irreconcilable hatred between the two domains—he immediately visited the major powers of the Northern Desert and rallied them to launch a joint assault on the Western Regions. With a vengeful Saint King willing to serve as the vanguard, the other sacred lands, ancient clans, and orthodoxies quickly followed suit.

They saw an opportunity to plunder the Western Regions' fortunes. If they could destroy the Western Regions' orthodoxies and occupy their territory, combining the strength of two domains, could they not become a second Central Continent? Under the leadership of this aged Saint King, Northern Desert forces easily crushed many fringe orthodoxies of the Western Regions. One newly ascended sacred land was completely annihilated—its Saint perished, its saint artifact shattered.

The sacred lands and major powers of the Western Regions grew terrified. Having witnessed the precedent, they had no choice but to unite and launch a counteroffensive against the Northern Desert. In the ensuing war, Profound Connection realm cultivators were mere ants. Void Refining realm cultivators were nothing more than cannon fodder. Only Nirvana realm Venerables could put up any real resistance. Clashes between the Saints were frequent.

This was a war even more brutal than the one that had once raged between the Southern and Western Domains. The situation had already far exceeded Zhou Hao's expectations. But… no matter how many died, Zhou Hao did not care. What mattered to him was that too many had perished. The laws and origin qi released from their deaths fed back into the world, triggering terrifying tidal surges. The opportunity to step into the Saint King realm had finally arrived! Zhou Hao's face lit up with wild joy.

He sensed the rules of heaven and earth shifting, the tidal surge of origin qi reaching its peak. This was the perfect moment to break through to the Saint King realm. But the moment the Sun-Devouring Sacred Land's phenomenon erupted, it was instantly detected by the old Saint King of White Cloud City.

"Sun-Devouring Sacred Land… Zhou Hao!" Rage consumed the old Saint King. Without another word, he raised his Saint King weapon and charged straight toward Zhou Hao, smashing the breakthrough opportunity to pieces. Zhou Hao's expression turned pitch-black as his ascension was forcibly interrupted. He immediately summoned the deepest foundation of the Sun-Devouring Sacred Land and clashed with the old Saint King. Facing the frenzied, vengeful old Saint King, Zhou Hao was quickly forced back.

His Saint King weapon was sent flying. Just as the old Saint King prepared to deliver the killing blow, a terrifying aura suddenly exploded from deep within the Sun-Devouring Sacred Land, shielding Zhou Hao at the last instant. It was the sacred land's last surviving Saint King ancestor, a figure who had long since reached the end of his lifespan and was clinging to his final breath to preserve the sect's glory.

Seeing another Saint King block his path to vengeance, the old Saint King of White Cloud City wasted no words. He burned his life essence without hesitation, forcibly restoring himself to peak Saint King combat power!

"Zhou Hao! You dared to assassinate the divine physique of my White Cloud City. Today, no matter what, you will pay with blood for blood!" His eyes blazed crimson with murderous intent. He wanted nothing more than to slaughter Zhou Hao and avenge his clan's successor. The Saint King ancestor of the Sun-Devouring Sacred Land opened his turbid eyes. His gaze flickered with complex emotions as he looked at Zhou Hao.

In the end, he let out a long sigh and burned everything he had left to stand between Zhou Hao and the old Saint King.

"Sacred Lord… I can only hold this old bastard back for five breaths!" Zhou Hao did not hesitate. Even though it meant abandoning the Saint King opportunity he had schemed for so long, being targeted by a mad Saint King left him no choice. If he did not flee now, he would truly die here. When the old Saint King of White Cloud City saw Zhou Hao attempting to escape, he ignored the Saint King ancestor's attacks entirely. He charged straight after Zhou Hao, enduring blow after blow.

Zhou Hao's body exploded and reformed several times. In the final moment, he awakened his Saint King weapon once more. While the weapon and the sacred land's Saint King ancestor held the old Saint King at bay, Zhou Hao poured every ounce of strength into tearing open space and fleeing the battlefield, returning to the Sun-Devouring Sacred Land. Back inside the sacred land, Zhou Hao went straight to the pill hall. He swallowed every single healing pill he could find in great gulps.

His storage ring had been destroyed in the battle; countless treasures had turned to ash. He immediately entered seclusion to recover from his injuries, determined to seize the next origin qi tide and break through to Saint King. However… one day, a terrifying aura rose from the two-domain battlefield—like a blazing sun slowly ascending. All origin qi in the region vanished in an instant. Zhou Hao sensed the disturbance and opened his eyes. When he looked toward the source, boundless fury surged within him.

He had spent so much effort igniting war between the two domains… only to dress another in wedding robes. …