Immortal Martial Emperor

The Blood Demon Venerable was tall, mighty, and extraordinarily ferocious.

Its hideous form alone—with a green face and sharp tusks—made many powerhouses' hearts tremble. They barely dared to look it in the eye.

Watching the Blood Demon Venerable swallow Hong Yu in a single gulp, everyone's nerves tensed up.

"What a terrifying Blood Demon Venerable! Liang Hunran hasn't acted in years. I never imagined his strength had reached such a level!"

"Legend has it that the Blood Demon Venerable is an evolved version of the Celestial Blood Demon God. The Celestial Blood Demon God requires the slaughter of a hundred thousand people to gather enough Power of Resentment to be summoned. This Blood Demon Venerable... I'm afraid it must have required the resentment of a million souls!"

"A million souls! Liang Hunran truly lives up to his title as the Bloodthirsty Demon King. His hands are stained with the blood of countless innocents!"

"With Hong Yu's talent, his future should have been limitless. It's a shame he was so unwise as to offend Liang Hunran and bring this disaster upon himself. What a pity!"

The crowd buzzed with discussion.

After seeing the Blood Demon Venerable appear, almost everyone was certain that Hong Yu was doomed.

In reality...

If one judged by common sense, Hong Yu was indeed at a dead end.

There was absolutely no chance of survival.

After all, not even a Primordial Spirit Powerhouse could withstand the condensed resentment of a million souls!

However, the crowd had forgotten one factor.

A factor that was very easy to overlook.

Hong Yu...

Could he really be measured by common sense?

After being swallowed into the Blood Demon Venerable's stomach, Hong Yu felt a boundless tide of resentment surging toward him.

Countless vengeful spirits—some with green faces and sharp tusks, others covered in blood—assaulted Hong Yu, their forms coalesced from the furious power of their unjust deaths.

This Resentful Power did not attack his physical body.

Instead, it struck directly at his soul, like invisible hands reaching in, constantly tearing and gnawing, trying to rip Hong Yu's soul to shreds and devour it.

'What dense resentment. That old bastard Liang Hunran's hands are truly soaked in blood!'

Hong Yu took a deep breath.

Even having witnessed Qi Tian slaughter twenty thousand innocent people, he couldn't help but be shocked by such a massive amount of resentment.

'But the more this is the case, the more it proves that Liang Hunran deserves to die!'

Hong Yu's eyes narrowed to slits.

A brilliant and sharp light shot out from between his eyelids.

It was as if bolts of thunder were flashing within his eyes.

'Xingtian, lend me your Devouring Demon Tree!' Hong Yu suddenly commanded in his mind.

Within the space inside the tower...

Xingtian, who had been refining various materials to advance his Five Yin Demon Prison cultivation, abruptly opened his eyes.

A black light suddenly condensed behind him. The sound of rustling leaves, RUSTLE RUSTLE, echoed out of nowhere, and an ancient tree slowly materialized behind Xingtian.

Compared to when it had first materialized, the Devouring Demon Tree had changed somewhat.

It had grown a full three zhang taller.

The eight-zhang-tall Devouring Demon Tree swayed its canopy. Black vines thrashed about like a host of frenzied demons. Under Xingtian's control, these black vines all surged forth, writhing madly like an Eight-Clawed Demon Octopus.

At the same time!

Behind Hong Yu, who was using the Heaven-Swallowing Divine Technique to continuously counteract the Power of Resentment, a patch of black light also began to swirl.

Hundreds, even thousands, of black vines writhed like a frenzy of crazed snakes.

They thrashed wildly behind Hong Yu, a flamboyant and defiant display.

"Break!"

At his command, the black vines instantly began to writhe madly.

Xingtian, after all, had absorbed the Unjust Death Black Lotus.

And what was the Unjust Death Black Lotus?

It was a Black Lotus that fed on the resentment of the unjustly dead to grow, an incredibly rare Supreme Treasure of the demonic path.

Although Hong Yu couldn't use the power of the Unjust Death Black Lotus himself, he could use Xingtian as an intermediary to channel its devouring abilities.

Now, Xingtian's mastery of the Five Yin Demon Prison was growing more profound by the day.

His cultivation was also growing stronger, and it wouldn't be long before he could attempt to break through to the Fourth-Tribulation Corpse Realm. Once he reached that realm, Xingtian's defense would be able to withstand attacks from the Primordial Embryo Realm.

More importantly...

A Xingtian at the Fourth-Tribulation Corpse Realm would be able to summon Execution Corpse Warriors!

Imagine it: Xingtian, capable of withstanding the attacks of a Primordial Embryo Realm Powerhouse, charges forward to tie up the enemy, while hundreds, even thousands, of Execution Corpse Warriors rush out to besiege that powerhouse.

What a shocking sight that would be!

However, for an Execution Corpse, advancing every Three Tribulations was a massive chasm to cross.

Even with the Five Yin Demon Prison cultivation technique and numerous auxiliary cultivation Treasures, it was still very difficult for Xingtian to advance to the Fourth-Tribulation Level.

But...

Liang Hunran's painstakingly summoned Blood Demon Venerable had provided Xingtian with just such an opportunity.

Wasn't a Blood Demon Venerable, formed from the resentment of millions of souls, the perfect fertilizer for the Unjust Death Black Lotus?

GURGLE GURGLE!

The black vines squirmed madly.

Like a ravenous demon, they continuously eroded the resentment that other powerhouses would avoid at all costs.

Naturally, Hong Yu could not use this resentment himself.

Therefore...

After it was devoured, it was completely converted and transferred into Xingtian's body.

As the resentment increased, the Devouring Demon Tree behind Xingtian grew larger and larger. Its canopy swayed wildly, seemingly producing a cheerful melody.

ROAR!

Xingtian let out an excited roar.

Although the Devouring Demon Tree devoured the Power of Resentment quickly, the resentment contained within a million souls was terrifyingly vast.

Even with the help of the Devouring Demon Tree, Hong Yu couldn't finish the job in a short amount of time.

Meanwhile, in the outside world.

Countless powerhouses stared at the spot where Hong Yu had been swallowed by the Blood Demon Venerable. Seeing no movement for a long time, their expressions were filled with either pity or schadenfreude.

"Sigh, what a shame. A prodigy of his generation has fallen."

"If he were still alive, perhaps he could have become a dazzling new star at the upcoming True Dragon Grand Assembly of the Xiahuang Ancient Kingdom. But alas..."

"One can escape a calamity sent by the heavens, but not one brought upon oneself. He overestimated his own abilities and dared to provoke the Blood Demon Palace. If he dies, who can he blame but himself?"

Listening to the crowd's chatter, Xu Rongchang's expression was grim.

Xu Wudi bit her lower lip, her eyes flickering with worry.

If she weren't holding Little Chenxi in her arms, she probably would have rushed forward recklessly.

Little Chenxi's behavior, however, was rather strange.

She wasn't crying or fussing. Instead, she was playing with her hands, her bright moon-like eyes occasionally glancing toward the Blood Demon Venerable, not with worry, but with a pure, innocent smile.

She let out a clear, crisp giggle.

The sound was like music from the heavens.

It should have been enchanting.

But appearing at a time like this, it made people's minds wander...

"Hong Yu, oh, Hong Yu, he's pitiful enough. He was just holding that little girl, and now that he's about to die, the girl is actually laughing?"

"That is rather ironic!"

"The man's about to die, why are you all making such cynical remarks..."

Almost no one believed that Hong Yu could survive the Blood Demon Venerable!

Liang Hunran was even more smug. 'The world thinks my Blood Demon Venerable was refined with a million souls. In reality, far more than a million have died at my hands! Hmph. Now that Qi Feng and Qi Tian are both dead, the two cauldrons I spent decades cultivating have been destroyed. Once I deal with this detestable brat, I'll leave the Frozen City, find a secluded place, and refine another million souls.'

'Once that's done, my Blood Demon Venerable will reach the power of ten million resentments, and its might will surely reach a new level. At that time, forget the Xu Family or the Blood Demon Palace—the entire Ice Kingdom will be mine!'

Liang Hunran's gaze was dark as he laughed excitedly to himself. 'After I seize the throne of the Ice Kingdom, I'll rename it the—Liang Kingdom! Heh heh...'

Just as he was laughing wantonly, at the height of his smugness, the expression on Liang Hunran's face suddenly froze.

His expression at that moment was utterly ridiculous.

He looked like a proud duck that had suddenly had its neck wrung. His face alternated between shades of green and white, a flickering mess of emotions.

"Wh-what's going on? Why is the Power of Resentment inside the Blood Demon Venerable decreasing so rapidly?" Liang Hunran's expression changed drastically.

"This kid is too damn bizarre! Damn it all, if this continues, a hundred years of my hard work will be for nothing! Blood Demon Venerable, disperse!" Liang Hunran roared, grinding his teeth.

But...

He was shocked to discover that the Blood Demon Venerable was not obeying his command at all.

The feeling was like being tied to a long rope. The other end of the rope was attached to a small boat, which was being dragged toward a furiously spinning whirlpool.

The whirlpool's suction was so immense that he had no way of pulling the boat back.

This feeling of powerlessness, combined with the continuous disappearance of the Power of Resentment, made Liang Hunran's expression flicker unstably.

A ruthless look flashed in his eyes. "Celestial Blood Demon Scripture! With my soul as the guide, recall the Blood Demon Venerable!"

A wave of bloody light spread out and surged into the Blood Demon Venerable.

'This should do it!' Liang Hunran let out a long sigh of relief.

But...

The moment that bloody light entered the Blood Demon Venerable's body, it vanished like a clay ox sinking into the sea—without a single ripple.

"Th-this is impossible! How could this be..." Liang Hunran's eyes turned bloodshot.

His greatest reliance was this Power of Resentment!

The very reason he was ranked among the Top Ten Powerhouses of the Ice Kingdom was because the Power of Resentment was so difficult to defend against.

Now, his ever-victorious Power of Resentment had actually lost its effect?

Even the Power of Resentment he had spent a hundred years painstakingly collecting was about to vanish into thin air. How could he possibly remain calm?

"Damn it, damn it all..."

"Hong Yu, stop! Stop, I said..."

"You stop right now, or I swear I'll tear you to pieces..."

...

"Hong Yu, I'm begging you, please stop! I-I promise I won't cause you any more trouble..."

"My little ancestor, I'm begging you, please stop!"

Liang Hunran wanted to cry but had no tears.

He could clearly feel that less than a fifth of the Power of Resentment he had gathered remained.

At this moment, Liang Hunran's combat power had been cut in half.

He had been reduced to roughly the same level as Tang Rui and Cheng Hao.

HISS!

Seeing Liang Hunran, a man famous for his cold ruthlessness and bloodlust—the great Grand Elder of the Blood Demon Palace—begging pitifully like a child who had lost his most precious toy, everyone sucked in a cold breath and stared at each other in disbelief.

"Wh-what is this situation?"

"Why is Liang Hunran acting like this?"

"Bizarre. That kid Hong Yu is just too bizarre..."

Just as the crowd was erupting in discussion.

Suddenly...

The terrifying Blood Demon Venerable let out a series of crisp, KAKA sounds as fine cracks began to appear all over its body.

And along with it came the calm, yet heart-stopping, voice of a young man...

"Sigh. Is this the Grand Elder of the Blood Demon Palace? He's not so impressive after all."

[Sorry, I'm too tired today. There's one more chapter coming!]