"Let them go! I told you, this has nothing to do with them!" someone from the Huangfu Clan shouted.
It was clear they were furious, these people were the future of their clan.
"It has nothing to do with them? How easily you say that," Xu Zimo replied with a smile.
"The moment your Huangfu Clan chose to guard this Demon-Slaying Ridge, none of you were innocent anymore."
"What exactly do you want?" Huangfu Long asked, looking at Xu Zimo.
"I told you, kneel, beg for mercy," Xu Zimo replied. "Maybe then I'll consider sparing them."
At his words, Huangfu Long fell silent.
He, Huangfu Long, had been proud his entire life. Ever since receiving the Holy Progenitor's legacy, he had never bowed to anyone.
For the Holy Progenitor’s mission, he was ready to die a glorious death, unyielding and unbroken.
But at this moment, Huangfu Long lifted his head and looked at his family members before him.
There were women and children, all with faces full of panic and fear.
Despair and helplessness.
Most of them were looking at him with hopeful eyes.
They wanted to live. They couldn’t embrace death like he could.
In that instant, even Huangfu Long began to question whether accepting the Holy Progenitor’s legacy had been the right choice.
He had wagered everything on this.
If they succeeded, the clan would rise in glory, gaining the Holy Progenitor’s favor, reaching even the heavens beyond this world.
But if they failed, he had planned to die bravely, leaving behind a spark of his clan to flee and start anew.
But now, he realized he had underestimated everything.
"I don’t have time to waste with you," Xu Zimo said, slowly raising his right hand.
"I’ll count to three. If you don’t kneel, you can reunite with your family in hell."
He barely got to the count of two,
With a thud, Huangfu Long and all the members of the Huangfu Clan knelt before him.
"Please, spare them. It was my fault, I was greedy for the Holy Progenitor’s legacy, foolishly trying to reach beyond my station. They have nothing to do with it. Spare them, and I’ll do whatever you want."
"Yes, it’s our fault. We were blinded by ambition and led the clan into ruin. We’ll take full responsibility."
Seeing everyone around him kneeling, Xu Zimo lifted his gaze slightly and chuckled.
"You see, sometimes righteousness and evil aren't all that important."
"Yes, yes, yes," the Huangfu Clan members nodded quickly.
Someone cautiously asked, "Could Your Excellency release them now?"
"Go," Xu Zimo turned to the remaining members of the Huangfu Clan.
Waving his hand, he said, "I won’t kill you."
The remaining clan members immediately expressed their gratitude and hurriedly fled into the distance.
Just then, the demonic aura in the sky seemed to erupt in fury.
Waves of black demonic energy plunged from above, piercing through the fleeing clan members’ bodies.
Huangfu Long and Huangfu Xiong’s eyes widened in horror as they shouted at Xu Zimo.
"You lied to us! You said you'd let them go!"
"I didn’t kill them," Xu Zimo said calmly.
"It’s just that your Huangfu Clan suppressed this Demon-Slaying Ridge for too long. The demonic energy here has grown resentful. It acted on its own, it wasn’t my will."
Huangfu Long collapsed to the ground, staring blankly ahead.
His clansmen were falling one by one in the demon aura.
They had no power to resist, only despair and cries, like lambs awaiting slaughter.
Suddenly, as if driven by a final surge of strength, Huangfu Long shot up from the ground.
He charged at Xu Zimo with the golden greatsword.
But as he reached him, Shadow Tyrant flew from its scabbard and pierced directly through Huangfu Long’s neck.
"I’ll never let you go, even as a ghost," Huangfu Long spat blood, his body drenched in it.
He glared at Xu Zimo with hatred.
Xu Zimo smiled, gently brushing the man's face with his hand.
Letting him die in peace.
Then he said softly, "I’ve killed many in this life. Those I should’ve killed, and those I probably shouldn’t have. If you get to the underworld, tell them to gather up and come for revenge. I’ll kill you all again in one go. Saves me the trouble, I hate inconvenience."
With a thud, Huangfu Long’s body crashed to the ground.
Xu Zimo wiped the blood off his hands, glanced at the remaining few, and said to Chaos.
"This place is yours now. However cruel you want to be, make them die that way."
...
Xu Zimo fixed his gaze ahead and continued walking step by step.
The deeper he went, the denser and more violent the demonic energy became.
But as Xu Zimo approached, the once-violent aura instead surrounded him, rising into the sky,
As if bowing to their new king.
The surrounding void shattered under the corrosion of the demonic energy.
In Immortal Town, Monk Great Wisdom leaned back in his chair, his eyes fixed on the distant horizon.
There, demonic energy blanketed the entire sky.
It seemed a great battle was taking place. The void shattered and healed over and over again.
He could almost picture the scene.
That man, wrapped in overwhelming demonic energy, sweeping in like a dream, unstoppable.
"Ancestor, just what kind of man did you have me follow?" Monk Great Wisdom sighed.
But now, he had no choice left.
Once the bow is drawn, there’s no turning back.
That’s fate.
...
Beyond the mountain peaks, the ground below and sky above were now completely shrouded in demonic energy.
Xu Zimo looked up, and saw a door.
A door that appeared out of thin air.
Beyond the door, there seemed to be nothing. Just the door itself, standing alone in the world.
Endless demonic energy surged from the cracks in the door.
Xu Zimo looked up, it seemed that all the demonic aura from the sky, from within Demon-Slaying Ridge, was flowing from this very door.
He slowly approached, his heartbeat accelerating.
Something on the other side of the door was calling to him.
Even though Xu Zimo knew this door didn’t lead directly to the Primordial Demon Cave, it merely allowed communication with the beings on the other side.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
But the sensation was strange. His mind was calm, but his body was reacting instinctively, longing for the call from the other side.
He slowly placed his hand on the door.
In that instant, with a deafening boom, a wave of imperial might surged from the door.
As if the seal had been disturbed, a rumbling erupted from within, and blasted Xu Zimo backward.