The battle on the Void Continent raged on. The intensity increased exponentially by the second. Demon lords fell by the second, but the Immortal Court and Numinous Sword Sect weren’t unaffected, either. Although the Qilin Patriarch failed to destroy an emperor-level war formation, many monarch-level war formations collapsed from the assault of the demons.
Minister Vastlight watched all of this with cold eyes. The more time passed, the more disadvantageous it would become for the humans. He could already feel the Spacetime Chessboard losing its hold on the Void Continent. The Void Continent was countering the Spacetime Chessboard and boosting the strength of the demons.
However, Minister Vastlight was sure that there was another demon sovereign hidden on the Void Continent. The three patriarchs of the three clans were in battle and had no time to control the realm artifact, so that could only mean that there was another hidden power.
‘Who could it be?’ Minister Vastlight wondered.
His first thought was that Xuanwu, the Black Tortoise, had broken through to the Demon Sovereign Realm, but he immediately discarded that notion. The time was too short. Unless Xuanwu could awaken all his memories at once, he would not be able to accomplish this. Even if Xuanwu awakened his memories, he wouldn’t forcibly ascend to a higher realm, as that would lead to shaky foundations and stunt his divine path.
Minister Vastlight sighed. Even among the upper echelons of the Demon Clan, such an existence should be a secret few of them knew. He couldn’t help but recall the information about the Concealed Emperor. Although he is the Immortal Court’s longest standing emperor, he is just that, an emperor.
However, Minister Vastlight discovered that Minister Everpast still obeyed the Concealed Emperor’s commands. He couldn’t help but wonder if the Concealed Emperor was an ancient sovereign of the Immortal Court, or someone who reached the half-divine level.
Did the Demon Clan have such an existence, too?
The immortal minister clenched his fist. If his suspicions were correct, then it was impossible to accomplish the operation’s aim. He might as well destroy as many demons as possible and break the Void Continent as much as possible.
The three hundred and sixty-one planets which had stayed in place for the majority of the battle trembled. They spun on their axis and formed a vortex of spacetime qi. The suppression of the demons and the Void Continent increased, but it also turned turbulent. The war formations immediately started to disengage, so that they would not be affected by the Spacetime Chessboard.
The demons sensed something amiss, but only the most powerful among them had the chance to react.
The three hundred and sixty-one planets descended, resembling the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. Their surface turned red from the friction of the Void Continent’s resistance. The vortex surrounding them disappeared little by little. Those that lost the protection of the vortex shattered and plummeted to the ground.
Those that reached the Void Continent without shattering embedded themselves in the giant landmass. They resembled warts or lumps on the ground, ugly to look at, but ultimately harmless. That notion didn’t last long.
The embedded planets emitted an unbearable heat, one that scorched all the demons nearby. Those demons didn’t have much time to think as the countless planets exploded in one go. Even the shards of the shattered planets also heated up, but only a few of them exploded and with only a fraction of the power of a full planet’s explosion.
The explosion cracked the surface of the Void Continent. It engulfed the unlucky demons and sent them to their deaths. Around ten percent of the demons present perished, including one insect queen.
“Bastard!” the Dragon Patriarch shouted. He and the other patriarchs chased after the immortals, intending to use their life to pay respects to the deceased demons.
Their attacks fell short. The explosion disrupted the Void Continent’s power, making the demons lose their strength boost and allowing the war formations to retreat with minimal losses.
Minister Vastlight stopped entangling with the Void Continent as well. After exploding the three hundred and sixty-one planets, the power of the Spacetime Chessboard plummeted. Offensively, at least. Now, he just wanted for the war formations to retreat far enough from the Void Continent and teleport them inside the realm artifact once more before escaping.
“Hm?” Minister Vastlight’s eyes focused on the tallest peak on the Void Continent. Many demons were flying away from the land to avoid the collapsing ground. Those demon lords could survive, but those under the Demon Lord Realm weren’t so lucky. In fact, Minister Vastlight never expected his move would cause so much damage to the Void Continent.
“Haha, do you regret coming here?” the Qilin Patriarch ridiculed. “I’ll tell you right now, it’s the worst mistake in your life. Had you not attacked, you would have only lost one immortal emperor. Now, you’re going to lose six more!”
“What do you mean by that?” Minister Vastlight demanded.
The Qilin Patriarch sneered and said nothing. “You should worry about yourself first!”
Minister Vastlight said no more. He entered the Spacetime Chessboard and controlled it to collect as many of the war formations as possible. Under the realm beast’s pressure, the Spacetime Chessboard couldn’t absorb the war formation from afar.
The first to enter were the sovereign-level war formations, followed by the emperor-level war formations controlled by immortal monarchs with the potential to become immortal emperors. Of course, Minister Vastlight prioritized saving the members of the Immortal Court, but not too much, about a ratio of six to four.
In this short amount of time, the realm beast moved. Despite its colossal mass, it was more agile than even Minister Vastlight in the Spacetime Chessboard. The war formations attacked when it neared, but the realm beast ignored it all. It opened its mouth and bit the void, crunching on several war formations with each bite.
The only blessing the immortals could count on was the fact that the demons had retreated as far away as possible, even the three patriarchs. From this, Minister Vastlight gleaned that although the Demon Clan could subdue the realm beast, they couldn’t control it perfectly.
Still, that didn’t make their situation any better.
“Hurry and send me into the Spacetime Chessboard.”
Minister Vastlight blinked in surprise when a monarch-level war formation appeared in front of him. Even emperor-level war formations had trouble countering the gravity, yet a monarch-level war formation controlled by a true immortal actually escaped. Soon, he learned the identity of the controller of the war formation, Ye Chen.
He didn’t want to rescue one of the potential dangers of the Numinous Sword Sects, but he still absorbed Ye Chen into the Spacetime Chessboard. After that, he continued absorbing as many war formations as possible. Perhaps because the realm beast had just awakened from its slumber, its movement was cumbersome and it didn’t eat many of the immortals.
After watching the last two war formations disappear into the beast’s mouth, Minister Vastlight controlled the Spacetime Chessboard to flee. Its presence dulled and disappeared from the demons’ senses, but not the realm beast’s.
The realm beast roared in displeasure. It could tell a large amount of food was escaping, so it chased after the realm artifact.
Sweat slid down Minister Vastlight’s forehead as he felt the realm beast’s ravenous gaze. He gritted his teeth. Originally, he wanted to save this trump card, but the realm beast was approaching much faster than the Spacetime Chessboard could fly.
A thin sheet of jade appeared in his hand. Engraved on it were several profound characters. Even if you didn’t know the language, you could discern the meaning behind them.
Minister Vastlight crushed the jade sheet in his hand. At first, nothing happened, but then a radiant sphere of light appeared above the void. Anyone who saw it would feel like it was the source of all light. Upon seeing it, the realm beast stopped and growled at the sphere of light.
The realm beast reared back and prepared to jump at the sphere, but before it could, a ray of light struck it down.
Minister Vastlight only felt the suppression disappear. He didn’t dare to wait and see what happened. He controlled the Spacetime Chessboard to flee with all its might while it still could. Before he left, he heard the panic cries of the three demon patriarchs.
“Hurry! Quell it and seal it again! Don’t let it run rampant and escape!”