Chapter 2854: Having Tens of Millions

In the black hole, all was dark and desolate. The massive altar floated like a vast continent, dotted with wandering figures. The Quasi-Emperors were truly in a leisurely mood, moving in pairs or small groups of three, strolling and examining their surroundings. Some of the more restless ones even lifted their feet to stamp on the altar, testing its extraordinary thickness.

"Good mysterious array patterns."

Di Ji's eyes were deep and profound as she walked along, carefully studying the array patterns on the altar. They were incredibly extraordinary; she had seen many Emperor Dao array patterns before, but the ones carved here were unlike any she had encountered. As for Zao Hua Shen Wang, he was even more dedicated, holding an ancient scroll and making rubbings of the patterns. These were true treasures in the field of formations, and mastering them would lead to a profound breakthrough.

"Good domineering copper pillar."

Hao Mie Shen Wang had his hands tucked away as he circled a copper pillar for what must have been dozens of laps. It was no smaller than the pillars in the Ling Xiao Treasure Hall, forged from some unknown material. If it were melted down and reforged into a weapon, it would undoubtedly become a divine artifact.

"Good sturdy jade stone."

Chu Jiang Wang and Di Liu Shen Jiang crouched side by side at one edge of the altar, their heads nearly touching as they inspected the jade embedded in it. Even a sword strike left no mark, and it occasionally flashed with a piercing, brilliant light.

In contrast, Ye Chen remained utterly serene, like a statue carved from ice, motionless as he focused his mind and breath. He was trying to capture the faint traces of space-time force, much like the force of reincarnation—it was formless, elusive, and incredibly difficult to grasp, though he knew it existed.

Nearby, Di Xuan stood gracefully, ever vigilant and protecting Ye Chen's path. In a few fleeting moments, her expression turned slightly dazed as she looked at him, reminding her of her brother from years past. He was a master of mischief, yet when serious, he was more steadfast than anyone.

Also standing guard were Jian Shen and Jian Xian, the two disciples of the Emperors, never straying far. Like Di Xuan, their gazes toward Ye Chen were filled with a sense of ancient weariness.

"Every time I see that face, I just get an inexplicable urge."

Di Wu Shen Jiang spoke meaningfully, perhaps out of boredom or intent, as he passed by with his hands behind his back for the umpteenth time. His eyes were slanted, particularly fixated on Ye Chen's face. Once, that scoundrel called the Emperor had tricked him badly.

Hm?

As they observed, the Quasi-Emperors on the altar all turned their heads in unison, narrowing their eyes toward the surrounding darkness. They had detected the aura of the Calamity Demons and Heavenly Demons, and in vast numbers.

In fact, they were already surrounded.

"See? They always have to give us something to do."

Di Si Shen Jiang drew his immortal sword, huffed on its blade, and polished it with his sleeve.

"The more, the better."

Zhan Wang cracked his neck forcefully, his great halberd already in hand.

"There must be tens of millions."

Hong Huang Qi Lin clicked his tongue, his war spear humming with energy.

At this critical moment, the peak powerhouses proved reliable, positioning themselves on the altar and forming a circle at its edge. Each stood like an unyielding monument, guarding the frontier. Anyone who wanted to set foot on the altar would have to get past their weapons first.

"There's an Emperor."

Both Sheng Zun and Di Ji murmured softly, their gazes piercing the darkness. If it were only Heavenly Demons and Calamity Demons, they wouldn't dare act with such boldness—there had to be a Great Emperor lurking behind them.

As they suspected, there was indeed an Emperor: Hei Pao Di. In recent times, he had devoured countless Heavenly Demons and Calamity Demons, restoring some of his Emperor Dao divine power. He couldn't allow these intruders to take the altar away.

Thus, with the authority of a Great Emperor, he summoned a massive army of Heavenly Demons and Calamity Demons, intent on launching a fierce assault to reclaim the altar.

"Forbid them all."

From the darkness, Hei Pao Di's cold command echoed, his Emperor Dao seals freezing in place. The altar bore restrictions he had placed, and he sought to awaken them, trapping everyone on it in one fell swoop.

The altar hummed to life, its densely carved array patterns springing into vivid action. What had been a calm structure now crackled with lightning and thunder, streaks of annihilating immortal light crisscrossing it. Sealing and destructive forces awakened, while chains of runes slithered like serpents, rattling loudly.

"Forbid my foot."

Hun Dun Ding roared in fury, soaring into the air and expanding rapidly to the size of a mountain. Escaping armor characters manifested on its body, rearranging themselves, with chaotic energy cascading down like a waterfall.

The Emperor weapons brought by the peak powerhouses also shot upward in unison, unleashing their ultimate Emperor might. The Emperor Dao laws intertwined, complementing Hun Dun Ding and forcefully suppressing the altar's chaos, stabilizing it once more.

A spurt of blood echoed from the darkness—it was Hei Pao Di, vomiting a copious amount of fresh blood. It wasn't that his restrictions were weak; it was that he, as an Emperor, was too feeble to unleash their full power. In just two or three instants, the restrictions were quelled, and he suffered a terrible backlash.

"Kill! Kill them all for me."

Hei Pao Di howled in rage. If the restrictions failed, they would attack head-on, relying on sheer numbers to overwhelm them. Fortunately, he had plenty of Heavenly Demons and Calamity Demons. He planned to exhaust those intruders to death, one by one.

He didn't care about the demons' lives; no matter how many died, it didn't pain him. All he wanted was the altar, the product of his millennia of effort.

"Kill!"

The Heavenly Demons and Calamity Demons roared, charging from the darkness. They hauled attack formations into place, unleashing volleys of dark demonic light from weapons and arrays, sweeping toward the altar in an overwhelming tide.

A chorus of sword chimes rang out as Jiu Jian San Ren struck first, deploying the Slaughter Immortal Sword Formation. Sheets of sword shadows encircled the altar, forming a defensive array. The foremost Heavenly Demons and Calamity Demons were cut down in droves.

"Open!"

Shi Dian Yan Luo snorted coldly, activating their Emperor weapons in unison to form a protective heavenly barrier that enveloped the entire altar. The incoming attacks couldn't shake it.

"Kill!"

The demon soldiers and generals bellowed, gripping their war spears and charging madly. They fought like madmen, fearless in their onslaught, with one wave falling only for another to take its place.

In all fairness, they didn't want to be there, but that Emperor was ruthless, branding them with curse seals. Defy him, and they would vanish in an instant. Charging forward at least offered a chance of survival; retreating meant certain death.

Blood flowers bloomed in clusters as one side attacked and the other defended. The Heavenly Demons and Calamity Demons fought ferociously, though outnumbered in strength—their opponents, few as they were, included peak powerhouses. Even a random one among them was at the Quasi-Emperor level. While the demons had numbers on their side, they were suppressed by the heavens, and only Hei Pao Di could hold his own, though he cowered in the rear, barking orders and treating them as mere fodder.

"Can any of you even make it up here? I'll take your name if you do."

The Divine Generals shouted resoundingly, their attacks more domineering than the last. They didn't bother with single-target immortal arts; each unleashed group assault divine abilities, wiping out swaths at a time.

The other Quasi-Emperors were equally fierce, a mere few dozen holding back an army of tens of millions outside the altar. Not even demon lords could match them.

There was one who could, but Hei Pao Di seemed too cowardly to show himself. Since arriving in this darkness, all they'd heard were his howls, never seeing him step forward.

Boom! Bang! Boom!

From above, the darkness was a seething ocean of figures, while the massive altar looked insignificant, like a single grain in a vast sea.

"A suicidal charge."

Di Ji murmured softly. Even through the darkness, she could see the blood-red curse seals on the brows of the Heavenly Demons and Calamity Demons—control-type seals. No need to ask who cast them; otherwise, why would they fight so madly, knowing it meant death?

In that instant, Di Ji and Sheng Zun exchanged a glance.

Then, the two charged out from the altar, one like a divine ray and the other like immortal light, piercing through the demon army and heading straight into the darkness. They had locked onto Hei Pao Di's position—capture the leader, and the rest would fall.

Seeing them approach, Hei Pao Di gritted his teeth and fled. In his current state, he couldn't take them on. Those two Quasi-Emperors were no ordinary peak experts; both had survived Emperor Tribulations, making their combat prowess formidable.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Sheng Zun stepped through the void, slamming down a palm that covered the sky.

Unfortunately, Hei Pao Di was too quick; the palm missed. At the same time, Di Ji's lethal sword strike also failed to land.

"Kill! Kill for me!"

Deeper in the darkness, Hei Pao Di escaped while howling, a truly restless figure. His retreat was as bold as his cries, using the curse seals to drive the demon army into a frenzy.

"Don't run! Let's fight one-on-one."

Sheng Zun caught up again, firing a primordial spirit sword from his brow.

Alas, it still missed.

Boom! Bang! Boom!

Accompanied by thunderous roars, the three plunged into the depths of the black hole. Hei Pao Di fled relentlessly, while Di Ji and Sheng Zun pursued and attacked, determined not to stop until he was dead.

"Your escape posture is still quite domineering."

Ming Di said thoughtfully, watching as Hei Pao Di vanished into the darkness.

Only then did he turn his attention to Ye Chen, hoping the latter would grasp even a hint of space-time's essence, heal his Dao wounds, and remove the altar from the spatial black hole. He was curious to see if the Emperor Dao formations on it could truly connect to the ancient primordial era.

Ye Chen sat in a dignified pose, ignoring the chaos around him and focusing solely on enlightenment. The mysteries of space-time were incredibly difficult to comprehend. Though he had unique advantages, his understanding of the Great Dao still fell short of a Great Emperor's.

However, after such prolonged meditation, he wasn't without gains. While he hadn't fully grasped space-time's essence, he had made some progress in the mysteries of time and space. There were moments when time and space intertwined, manifesting space-time laws.

His body had become strangely ethereal—sometimes illusory, sometimes solid; sometimes straight, sometimes distorted. Mystical forces flickered in and out, shrouding him in an aura of enigma.

He thought of the cross-space-time kill technique, which essentially involved reversing time and space. Between these two laws lay a balance point where spatial and temporal orders would perfectly align, giving rise to a new law: space-time.

In that moment, his furrowed brow relaxed slightly. He slowly raised his hands, one performing Eternal Thought and the other Shrinking Earth into Inches—one a time immortal art, the other a space divine ability. As he gently brought his hands together, the two techniques representing time and space began to merge.

But then, his hands exploded. In his attempt to find the balance point, he miscalculated, causing time and space to chaos and unleashing a terrifying force. Not just his hands, but his arms as well, were blown apart in a spray of blood and bone.