Swallowed Star: Lord of the Wolf

Only after Mo Chen and Shi Kui's auras completely disappeared from the area did Elder Hei Sha's cold, eerie green eyes shift slightly, as if confirming that no one was watching.

He slowly stood up, his movements carrying a strange sense of heaviness and sluggishness.

He walked up to the pile of materials, but did not collect them immediately. Instead, he stood silently for a moment.

Then, he raised a hand covered in thick calluses, as if cast from black iron, and placed it on the huge black stone door covered with writhing purple runes.

hum...

The purple runes on the stone gate suddenly lit up, like countless tiny venomous snakes awakening, rapidly moving and combining.

The stone gate silently cracked open, creating a gap just wide enough for one person to pass through.

At the very instant the stone gate opened!

A very faint, almost imperceptible stream of air, mixed with the raging chaotic energy, drifted out from the crack in the door!

This air current carried a faint, bloody scent that stirred the depths of one's soul.

This bloody smell was not the ordinary smell of rust, but an ancient, decaying, and indescribably sweet evil.

Even more bizarrely, this aura also contained a trace of pure darkness and resentment!

As soon as this current of air appeared, it was like a disturbed ghost, instantly trying to merge into the omnipresent chaotic currents around it and disappear.

However, just as it was about to completely dissipate, the purple runes on the surface of the stone gate suddenly flashed.

An invisible force of attraction arose out of nowhere. The stream of air, carrying evil, blood, and resentment, was as if gripped by an invisible hand, forcibly pulled and drawn back into the stone gate.

Elder Black Fiend's figure disappeared into it.

The stone door closed silently and tightly, isolating all outside prying eyes.

Inside the door was not the magnificent cave dwelling one had imagined, but a deep, dark passageway that sloped downwards.

The walls of the passageway were no longer made of the molten rock found outside, but of a dark red, crystalline substance that looked as if it had been soaked in dried blood, emitting a strong, nauseating stench of blood... This smell was not the sweet, pungent smell of fresh blood, but rather the decaying odor that had settled over countless years, mixed with corruption, resentment, and the remnants of some kind of evil ritual.

Elder Black Fiend seemed completely unaware of this.

He walked as if on a familiar road, his steps steady, even a little light, as he stepped into the suffocating blood-red abyss.

The passageway was not straight, but winding and twisting, like the internal organs of some huge creature. On the ground, one could occasionally see some unidentifiable biological remnants that looked as if they had been forcibly crushed, making a sticky sound when stepped on.

The deeper one goes, the dimmer the light becomes, with only the dark red crystals on the walls emitting a faint, ominous blood-red glow.

The viscous, bloody stench was almost tangible, like countless cold, slippery tentacles, coiling around the intruder's mouth, nose, and soul. The air was heavy and oppressive, filled with a mental pollution formed from madness, pain, and endless resentment, enough to drive even the most unsteady Void God insane instantly!
But Elder Black Fiend's face, as black as iron and cold as ever, remained expressionless, as if he were walking in an ordinary garden.

The massive sword on his back, bathed in the glow of blood, seemed to come alive with its dark blood grooves, greedily absorbing the negative energy permeating the air.

After dozens of breathtaking twists and turns, the tunnel suddenly opens up at the end!
A colossal underground cavern came into view.

The sight here is enough to terrify any sane being!

The cave's dome and walls were no longer covered in blood-red crystals, but rather a thick, writhing, dark red membrane. This membrane was riddled with large, pulsating veins, and countless holes oozing foul, viscous fluid. From some of these holes protruded twisted, agonizing skeletal limbs, silently testifying to the inhuman torture they had endured in life.

In the center of the cave, instead of the ground, there was a huge, churning pool of blood composed of viscous, dark red plasma.

The blood plasma was thick and sticky, constantly bubbling with foul-smelling bubbles. When the bubbles burst, they released an even stronger stench and a dizzying mental shock.

On the surface of the blood pool floated countless indescribable fragments of limbs, broken bone armor, and some broken organ remains that shimmered with faint energy but were dulled by the corroded blood.

In the heart of this hell, at the deepest part of the blood pool, stands a twisted platform forcibly piled up from countless pale skeletons and congealed flesh!
On the platform, a figure was emitting intermittent, painful gasps, like the strain of a broken bellows.

That... was once the renowned and powerful old patriarch of the Burning Flame Tribe.

But now, it looks more like a lump of rotten flesh that is barely maintaining a human shape, forcibly glued together by resentment and dark power!

His body was extremely swollen and twisted, his skin a putrid bluish-purple, covered with huge lumps of pus and blood and constantly opening and closing cracks... Deep within the cracks were writhing, living dark matter and countless tiny eyeballs... His limbs were no longer distinguishable, replaced by intertwined, wildly growing dark red energy tentacles like tree roots, which plunged deep into the blood pool below, greedily absorbing nutrients.

His head... could still barely make out a trace of its former shape, but his facial features had long since shifted and become deformed!
One eye was reduced to a rotting black hole, while the other swelled into a gigantic compound eye the size of a fist, flashing with chaotic red light! Its mouth was torn to the roots of its ears, unable to close, dripping with filthy saliva and black flames, emitting incoherent roars filled with pain and madness.

An intensely dense aura of darkness, bloodshed, resentment, and madness, like a tangible black haze, emanated from the twisted figure, only to be absorbed, transformed, and nourished by the writhing flesh walls around it and the blood pool below… forming a nauseating, cyclical, and evil ecosystem.

Seeing this hellish scene, seeing the clan leader struggling in agony on the throne, who had long lost his human form, and the Black Fiend Elder, who had always been as cold as an iceberg, a smile slowly rose from the corner of his dark, stiff face in an extremely stiff and unnatural arc...

That smile was cold, mechanical, and filled with pure malice and...satisfaction.

He stood quietly on the edge of this hell on earth, as if admiring a masterpiece, letting the terrifying aura wash over his body.

Just then, an extremely chaotic wave of thought, filled with pain and violence, like countless poisonous needles stained with filthy blood, suddenly pierced out from the twisted figure on the platform, viciously striking Elder Black Fiend's consciousness. "Black Fiend... how much longer...?!"

His mind was filled with unbearable torment and a near-collapse of madness. "This... pain... is endless... the power... is growing... but... when... will this form... end?!"

A mixture of intense doubt and a hint of...regret lingered in his mind.
If he hadn't been able to clearly feel the twisted and boundless dark chaotic power within his body, far exceeding his peak strength, growing day by day, and if the secret techniques provided by Hei Sha hadn't proven the increase in power with each step, he—the former pride of the Burning Flame Clan, the peak Eternal True God patriarch 'Burning Flame'—would have long been unable to endure this inhuman torture and soul pollution, and would have preferred to self-destruct and die.

But now, he has been bound to this power, onto the abyss chariot from which there is no turning back.

Elder Black Fiend received this thought filled with resentment and longing, but showed no emotional fluctuation, responding with a cold spirit: "Endure, Burning Flame. You are undergoing the transformation of the 'Cocoon of Chaos,' and pain is the inevitable price of sublimation. Form? When you step into the realm of the Chaos Ruler, you will naturally be able to reshape your divine body, and even surpass the past."

"As for time..." Elder Black Fiend paused for a moment, his expression carrying an indifferent air of complete control, "The key conditions have been basically met. You used yourself as a furnace, and the raging source of the Chaos Ruins as fuel, intermittently refining the essence of countless vengeful souls collected and sacrificed over the past million epochs. With the nourishment of the core source power of the 'Dark Mother Nest' that I guided... your 'Chaotic Demon Body' is nearing completion."

"The final step is to nurture it for another hundred epochs, allowing the demonic body and the source energy to completely merge. At that time..."

Elder Black Fiend's will suddenly transformed into a poisoned ice blade, carrying a devilish allure: "Devoure the entire life essence, law core, and soul imprint of one hundred and eight eternal true gods. Use their eternal essence as a catalyst to ignite the boundless darkness and chaos accumulated within your body, and you will surely break through the shackles in one fell swoop and ascend to the realm of the Chaos Ruler!"

"One hundred and eight... eternal true gods?!"

Burning Flame's will instantly erupted with even greater chaos and unbelievable horror. The countless writhing eyeballs and tumors on the distorted platform convulsed violently. "Impossible! Where...where to look? One hundred and eight?!"

His mind was filled with despair and a furious sense of being fooled.

One hundred and eight eternal true gods!

This is simply a fantasy!

"Hmph." Elder Black Fiend let out a cold sneer, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue. "Short-sighted. Once you break through to the Chaos Ruler level, where in the world can't you go? At that time, how many Eternal True Gods will you have to multiply your tribes and increase your number? You should know that I currently have more than three thousand Eternal True Gods among my direct descendants alone, and the total number of Eternal True Gods in my entire fiefdom exceeds ten thousand!"

"..." Fen Yan's consciousness fell into a deathly silence.

Seeing Fen Yan hesitate, Elder Hei Sha pressed on, "As for how to 'invite' them here..."

Like the most insidious demonic whisper, it murmured in Fenyan's chaotic and painful consciousness, "When the time is ripe, simply use pretexts such as 'comprehending the origin of chaos,' 'repairing the tribe's vital artifacts,' or 'discussing matters of vital importance to the tribe's survival' to lure them into this 'Chaos Source Chamber' in batches... I have already set up the 'Ten Thousand Souls Sacrifice Demon Array' here. Once they enter, their lives will be out of their hands! You are the clan leader; how dare they disobey your summons?"

The flesh and blood churning and the writhing eyeballs on the twisted platform seemed to have frozen in place.

Only the blood pool below continued to churn silently with filth.

He will devour 108 eternal true gods... The vast majority of them will be his relatives, the pillars of the tribe he has nurtured, and even... his bloodline descendants!
A surge of conscience and kinship, originating from the deepest recesses of the soul and forcibly suppressed for millions of epochs, struggled weakly like a dying flame, trying to resist this inhumane plan.

But this glimmer of light was instantly swallowed up by the vast, alluring, and chaotic dark power within his body, as well as the deep-seated, endless pain and the ultimate desire for "liberation" and "supreme power."

For power... to escape this eternal torment... to ascend to the supreme realm of the Lord of Chaos...

Sacrifice... is inevitable.

Sacrifice...everything.

As long as I can break through and survive, it will be easy to go to a new world and reproduce another Burning Flame Tribe.

In Fenyan's enormous compound eyes, chaotic red light flickered violently before finally being covered by a deeper, purer darkness.

On the platform, the screams and convulsions that represented painful struggles gradually subsided, replaced by a kind of... chilling, deathly silence... tacit acceptance.

Although there was no explicit mental response, the deathly silence and the mental fluctuations of no longer resisting clearly expressed his choice.

Seeing that Fenyan finally succumbed to the temptation of power and completely abandoned his last human struggle, the cold and eerie smile on Elder Heisha's dark and stiff face reappeared, and... suddenly widened!
“Hahaha…hahahahaha!!!”

This time, it was no longer a telepathic exchange, but a deep, hoarse laugh that was filled with endless smugness and madness, emanating from his throat, which sounded like rusty iron scraping against each other.

Laughter echoed through the enormous cavern filled with writhing flesh and blood, mingling with the gurgling of the blood pool and the creaking of the flesh walls, creating a chilling and evil symphony from the depths of hell!
Elder Black Fiend, or rather, the will of the Chaos Ruler of the Huo Kingdom who controlled this body, raised his head, his eerie green eyes flashing with madness and satisfaction.

The plan has finally reached its final stage.

The "dark seed" rooted in the flesh and blood of the Burning Flame Tribe is not far from finally breaking through the soil and blooming into a flower of destruction!
……

Inside the Flame Heart Palace, the vast chaotic energy flowed like a gentle tide, guided by an invisible force, nourishing every being within.

Facing the many gazes, Xu Yang bowed slightly: "Elder, I am flattered by the kindness of all the elders. Your clan is magnificent and profound, and you even have the Chaos Ruins, a sacred place for cultivation, which is truly a place that the strong dream of."

He paused, then changed the subject, his tone carrying just the right amount of frankness and caution: "However, Bai Yu has become accustomed to wandering the world, and his temperament is undisciplined. I'm afraid he is not up to the heavy responsibility of a core elder, and I'm also afraid he will fail the tribe's trust. Moreover, he is new to the tribe and is not yet familiar with many of its rules and affairs. If he were to be placed in a high position rashly, it would probably not be a good thing for either himself or others."

Upon hearing this, Elder Zhuyin's eyes flashed with understanding, but his smile remained gentle, as if he had expected it: "I understand your concerns, young friend. The position of core elder carries great power and responsibility, and indeed requires careful consideration and time to integrate into the tribe."

He paused for a moment, as if considering it seriously, and then slowly said, "In that case, I have a compromise. I wonder if young friend Baiyu would be willing to condescend to become a 'guest elder' of my Burning Flame Tribe?"

"Guest Elder?" Xu Yang asked, his expression revealing a hint of inquiry. (End of Chapter)