My skills have mutated again!

Chapter 398 Ghosts and Beasts

Luo Zhidao, whose cultivation skills had been sealed by martial arts techniques, looked utterly bewildered.

Dude... you only said you'd use me as cannon fodder, you never said you'd use me as a pledge of loyalty!
Xia Lin said none of that mattered.

I brought you along so you could be useful, and now you're proving that you're being useful.

Poor Luo Zhidao, even with his cultivation sealed, kept giving Qin Tai cold and indifferent winks, unaware that these two had already latched onto a powerful figure. Who would bother with Luo Zhidao's "endurance, dormancy, and explosion" tactics anymore?
The demons on the rhombus-shaped spaceship were also completely bewildered.

After hesitating for a moment, the demon reached out and took Luo Zhidao. After testing Luo Zhidao's physical strength by squeezing his bones, his expression immediately changed.

The hostility has vanished, replaced by goodwill.

"I can feel your sincerity."

He must have been able to sense it...

This demon was not weak; it was roughly at the level of the villain from the Black Domain who had died from the corrupting demonic energy upon entering the arena. With the added power of the corrupting demonic energy, it was only slightly stronger than that person.

This level of strength is inferior to any member of Xia Lin's cannon fodder team, and far inferior to Luo Zhidao's.

Luo Zhidao had just been caught by Xia Lin with a single palm strike.

Given the vast disparity in strength, Xia Lin's sincerity is beyond doubt.

"Where do you want to go?"

The demons probed Xia Lin and the others about their goals and objectives.

Lacking information, Xia Lin couldn't fabricate anything, so he simply pointed to the northeast where Wuxin was and said vaguely.

“We want to go over there…you know, friend, it’s like a gut feeling, like there’s something I need over there.”

This statement was utterly unbelievable, but the demons suddenly understood.

He chuckled: "You're quite capable, and your intuition is sharp. You've even realized that the other side is the only Eden in the universe."

As he spoke, he stepped out of the spaceship and gestured for Xia Lin and the others to proceed.

"Get on the ship. I need to go back to the Demon Palace to report, so I'll give you a ride."

He does not mean that.

Xia Lin paused, a jolt running through her mind.

……

In such a vast universe, there are many people with the same name.

There are no taboos regarding the Six Pillars of Destiny, and they don't care about offenses from other people or things in their names.

This can be seen from names like Black Star and Pillars of Eternity.

Therefore, it is normal for a place or building to be named after a demon temple, and there is nothing strange about it.

Xia Lin did not overlook this detail.

The spaceship turned around and headed northeast.

Thick smoke billowed from the rhomboid edges, continuously releasing a worsening, demonic pollution.

—That burnt smell when you first enter the venue comes from here.

Xia Lin, however, sat in the passenger seat, next to the demon.

"Nikolai".

He reached out his hand, and the demon switched the spaceship to autopilot mode, turned around and grasped Xia Lin's hand.

"Lei Lei".

Their eyes met, and Xia Lin's eyes blazed with a bloodthirsty aura, turning them a deep crimson.

Lei Lei's gaze briefly wavered before returning to calm, but he had already fallen into a hypnotic state.

With overwhelming combat power, Xia Lin had many ways to extract information from Lei Lei, and the method he was using now was the most covert, least troublesome, and most efficient.

Lei Lei turned his head again and looked out the porthole.

He then spoke slowly, his deep voice resounding throughout the control room and heard by Xia Lin, Qin Tai, and Leng Mo.

"Time, the Eighty-second Era of Destruction."

"It has been more than 800,000 years since the Demon Emperor and the Immortal Emperor started their war."

"The battle horn has already sounded, but the scales of victory have not yet tipped."

"Immortal Emperor, you have taken our homeland. We must pay for this blood feud with our blood."

"The Demon Emperor used the power of balance to destroy the Immortal Emperor's scheme, but as long as the Immortal Emperor is alive, the Demon Emperor's heart will never be at peace."

A low voice suddenly sounded from behind.

"This is... the old universe..."

With a trembling voice, Leng Mo uttered these words, but Xia Lin simply nodded and uttered four words: "The old days are back."

This is not only an accurate description of the current situation, but also the name of a skill that Junyou once possessed.

Using the past Junyou incident as a thread, the true nature of the underworld is thus revealed.

Qin Tai wanted to say something more, but Xia Lin reached out and put her index finger to her lips, signaling Qin Tai to shut up.

Lei Lei's voice continued to ring out.

"At the beginning of the Destruction Era, after the first balance, the Immortal Emperor used his great power to reshape the Earth, preserving some of the remaining souls of the Immortal Clan, and refining the planet into his Immortal Soul as a protection and barrier."

"In the same year, the Immortal Emperor seized the Lori Star Cluster, polluted the will of the universe with the Heavenly Dao Equation, and altered the rules of the Heavenly Dao: the human race will prosper forever, and every newborn human must be born with a spiritual root. This laid the foundation that all races are inferior, and only the human race is superior. The prosperity of the Immortal Dao began from this point."

Thirty years later, the Immortal Alliance was established. In the same year, the Demon Emperor infiltrated the Lori Star Cluster, corrupted the Immortal Alliance headquarters with the first version of the corrupted demonic energy, and sounded the horn of the final battle, launching the first war between immortals and demons. In this war, the Lori Star Cluster was destroyed, and only the Immortal Emperor survived.

"Twenty years later, the Demon Emperor activated the will of the universe with the Soul Creation Technique, distorting the Heavenly Laws set by the Immortal Emperor: those who possess spiritual roots will be punished by heaven and will not live past adulthood."

"In the same year, the Immortal Emperor used bloodline incantations to curse and kill all the divine beast species in the universe, and used the remains of all the divine beast species in the world to refine the Heavenly Corpse Dragon."

"Ten years later, at the heart of the cosmic lake, where the activated cosmic will resided, the second war between immortals and demons broke out. In this war, the Heavenly Corpse Dragon was killed, and the activated cosmic will was destroyed. The fundamental rules of the universe began to collapse."

"Eighteen years later, the Immortal Emperor took the place of Heaven and became the will of the universe, modifying the rules of the universe: all newborn beings of all races in the universe regard the Immortal Emperor as their Heavenly Father and offer their loyalty."

"Twenty years later, the Demon Emperor used a large-scale material activation technique to activate all things in the universe, and the first cosmic war between humans and things began."

"Thirty-five years later..."

"At the beginning of the second era of the Destruction Era, the third war between immortals and demons broke out..."

Lei Lei's voice kept ringing out.

The entire story of the Destruction Era was thus slowly unfolded before Xia Lin and his companions.

However, the three of them felt no joy at uncovering the mysteries of history... they only felt a chill that penetrated to the bone.

Xia Lin finally understood what the King of Kings meant by "no bottom line".

—Any matter…not people, but matter itself, became a weapon in the hands of the two.

The pitiful cosmic will, before the existence of two high-ranking beings, was like a toy, destroyed, rebuilt, destroyed again, and rebuilt again. The Soul Creation Technique revitalized the cosmic will, transforming it into a weapon. The Immortal Emperor, in place of Heaven, became the cosmic will. The Demon Emperor, with his dream come true, refuted the Immortal Emperor's technique of substituting man for Heaven. The Immortal Emperor, using the Heavenly Dao Equation, modified the river of time, retrieving the cosmic will from the past.

Space, time, dimensions. Flesh and blood, life and soul. Before these two, they were like clay, molded into all sorts of shapes. They cared nothing for the life and death of all races in the universe, until the entire ancient universe was riddled with holes from their manipulation.

"Now……"

Lei Lei's voice rang out again.

"The universe has collapsed, leaving nearly ten million people. Some are hiding in the Demon Palace, as demons, under the protection of the Demon Emperor. Others are hiding on Earth within the Immortal Emperor's body, as immortals, under the protection of the Immortal Emperor. The scattered survivors, like you, are barely surviving in various parts of the silent universe and can be ignored."

"There are 1865 remaining planets in the universe, all of which are dead and do not have the foundation to support life."

The Creator of Heaven and the Demon Emperor destroyed everything in the old universe.

"But the war between immortals and demons is still undecided."

Xia Lin's lips twitched, and she unconsciously rubbed her temples.

He once did not understand why the King of Kings would say that the personal feud between the Demon Emperor and the Creator was the greatest natural disaster in the main universe, even surpassing the uncontrollable primordial dark side.

Now he understands.

When personal grudges escalate to the point of having no bottom line, and when the Six Pillars hold nothing back and go all out, they may not be able to do anything to their opponent, but they can easily destroy any being whose rank is below theirs.

These are two ticking time bombs, and the King of Kings himself erected a barrier between them, maintaining a fragile balance.

Even the King of Kings cannot choose sides.

Two against two is a delicate balance.

Three against two breaks the balance.

Once the balance is broken, unless the dominant side can eliminate the opponent in a short time, in a desperate struggle, the Heavenly Creator or the Soul-Controlling Demon Emperor, who are far stronger than before, may very well and have the ability to perform a move that returns everything to nothingness and perishes together.

"But if you think about it that way, cultivating new pillars doesn't seem to solve the problem..."

The thought had barely crossed her mind when Xia Lin nipped it in the bud.

Perhaps it is possible.

The fact that the Six Pillars couldn't have been unaware of this problem, yet still pinned their hopes for breaking the deadlock on the "unknown," proves that they believed the emergence of a new pillar could solve the issue.

Xia Lin does not believe that her vision is higher than Liu Zhu's, nor does she believe that she is smarter than Liu Zhu.

A soft murmur suddenly broke the silence.

After recounting the past history, Lei Lei broke free from the hypnotic state and woke up.

He wiped his mouth, turned to Xia Lin and smiled apologetically, "I accidentally fell asleep."

Xia Lin smiled and nodded, confirming once again that her hypnosis had left no trace, before looking up ahead.

Without Xia Lin needing to say anything more, Lei Lei had already spoken again.

"Oh, I had a long nap. Look, we've arrived at the Demon Palace."

Ahead, the dark, majestic, but dilapidated demon palace came into view.

The state of the Demon Palace can be described in four words: scarred by war.

The 1998-story Demon Palace had collapsed more than halfway, but a vast amount of energy gushed out from the depths of the Demon Palace, like glue, which kept the Demon Palace intact.

Xia Lin's gaze, however, was fixed on another light source further away.

The colorful light, like billowing smoke, soared into the sky, its momentum even more striking and eye-catching than that of the Demon Palace.

Deep within the light, a magnificent giant, no less imposing than the Demon Palace, could be faintly seen!
"That is……"

Hearing Xia Lin's question, Lei Lei grinned.

"Just an old thief."

It is the Creator of Heaven.

But the two sides were too close...

After a moment's thought, Xia Lin sighed softly and shook her head.

Because at this point in time, the old universe has collapsed beyond recognition, and the area itself is not very large, both the Demon Emperor and the Immortal Emperor can easily pinpoint each other's location.

By now, the old universe has become a deathmatch arena with a limited area.

Neither side in the battle had any external force they could utilize or rely on.

"Beast Fighting".

Two words inexplicably popped into Xia Lin's mind: a cage, two ferocious beasts.

In a limited space, they rely on their teeth and claws as weapons to determine the final winner.

It is difficult to predict who will be the winner of this beast fight.

After all, in the past timeline, these two had not yet determined a winner, and their relationship was interrupted by the intervention of a third party.

"So, are you going? To the Demon Palace? To participate in this battle where the protagonist survives while the supporting characters die in droves?"

Qin Tai secretly transmitted his question.

Xia Lin then broke the two tracking cards into pieces, pinpointing the locations of Wu Xin and Donald respectively.

The tracking card provided clear feedback: Wuxin was with the Heavenly Creator, while Donald was in the Demon Palace.

So, he nodded.

"Going."

Less than a minute had passed since he finished speaking.

The prismatic vanguard ship had already slipped through the crack in the Demon Temple and entered it.

……

Xia Lin didn't have much information about the Dark Realm.

Because the person he was searching for souls was not Nikolai—as a level twelve under the original dark side, Xia Lin would be crazy to try to extract anything from his brain.

Xia Lin's intelligence source was merely a level eleven villain from the Black Domain.

This guy has experience with the Dark Realm, but he doesn't have a clear understanding of its existence; he doesn't even understand its worldview.

Lei Lei's appearance filled the gap in Xia Lin's abilities, but it was not enough to support Xia Lin in making any proper plans or meticulous arrangements.

"Step by step."

During their private voice chat, Xia Lin said this, and then added more details.

"But one thing is clear: the remnants of the Immortal Emperor and the Demon Emperor are the core of the matter at hand, and may even be related to the birth of a cosmic bug."

That level eleven villain had such memories in his mind.

—A flash of white light and a deafening roar filled the entire dark realm, and a cosmic bug was born.

He was confused and knew the facts but not the reasons, but Xia Lin was able to make such a judgment.

—The moment the cosmic bug appears will be the moment the war between immortals and demons breaks out!
"That makes sense."

In the remnants of the past woven from the primordial dark side, the war between immortals and demons began, and the clash of powerful forces led to the destruction of the old universe.

This can be described as a nightmare of the primordial dark side. The primordial dark side reacted to the recurrence of the nightmare, and its power was released uncontrollably, which conflicted with the current rules of the main universe, thus creating a cosmic bug.

The logic is very sound and self-consistent.

"It's just a little too reasonable..."

As Xia Lin stepped off the flying boat, he said this.

Having grasped the essence of the Dark Realm, Xia Lin naturally had different feelings.

This entire Dark Realm is the mind and thoughts of the primordial Dark Side; it can be regarded as the dream of the primordial Dark Side.

But dreams are generally chaotic and illogical, while this one is far too logical...

He shook his head and stopped thinking about the problem: there were simply too many reasonable possibilities to answer it.

For example, the essence of this place is not a dream.

For example, the power of the six pillars is extraordinary, and even their dreams are different from others.

Too many reasonable answers will obscure the truth, and overthinking will be pointless.

Just then, I heard a notification that I had been locked by a tracking card.

Xia Lin looked up and ahead.

Then they saw a tall demon, leading four underlings of different appearances and races, walking from afar.

Even from a distance, the tall demon was already waving his arms enthusiastically.

"This way, this way!"

It's Donald.

The tracking card that Xia Lin used alerted Donald that Xia Lin had also arrived in the Dark Realm.

Donald did not want to involve Xia Lin in this incident—the man was of good character and disliked troubling others.

This is also why Donald told Charlene at the time: "Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed."

However, Ying's unauthorized actions disrupted Donald's plans. Given the situation, there was no point in discussing anything else; cooperation was the best course of action.

As they approached, Xia Lin noticed a medal hanging on Donald's chest.

The medal has three bars, two more than Lei Lei's one bar.

This made Lei Lei stand at attention and salute: "Private Lei Lei greets your superior!"

Donald simply returned the greeting, then looked at the Luo Zhidao that Lei Lei was holding in his hand.

"Give this to me."

Donald took Luo Zhidao and placed it in Xin Zhan's hand. He then said, "These people are my friends, Private. Your mission is complete. Now it's up to me."

Lei Lei: "Yes, sir."

Turn around and leave.

Xia Lin only burst out laughing after Lei Lei had walked away.

"Hey bro, you're doing pretty well."

Donald chuckled sheepishly.

"They're just taking advantage of their race."

……

Donald is an ancient demon, and the ancient demons are the Heavenly Dragon Demons among the demon races.

Status stems from strength.

Whether it's their innate racial stats, physical structure, or the fighting instinct in their genes, the ancient demons are the most powerful among the demon races. They are the divine beasts among the demons.

Therefore, as long as their development is not too distorted, every ancient demon is a strong one and can obtain a status commensurate with its strength.

Even Donald, an outsider, was given the rank of private first class because of his racial identity.

Xia Lin couldn't help but sigh, "I thought you'd gotten involved with the Demon Emperor of this day."

As soon as he said this, Donald sighed.

The two stood side by side, looking out at the towering Heavenly Dao Creator. Donald spoke slowly, "They have no connection... Wuxin probably has a connection with the Heavenly Dao Creator of this era, but my situation is different."

Donald had obviously also used the tracking card on Wuxin to pinpoint Wuxin's location—right where the Heavenly Dao Creator was.

Donald, who had received prior warnings and intelligence, knew far more than Xia Lin.

He raised his hand and pointed to the center of the Heavenly Dao Creator's forehead.

On the forehead of the Creator of Heaven, there is a mole that is slowly rotating and faintly glowing.

"That is Earth, the homeland of the Demon Emperor, but the Immortal Emperor has usurped it."

"Later, the Immortal Emperor refined it into his own immortal soul. Unless the Immortal Emperor is killed, you cannot touch that place in the slightest."

"And at this moment, Wuxin is located there... inside the body of the Immortal Emperor."

Xia Lin nodded in understanding, then grinned and said, "In other words, we have to deal with the former Immortal Emperor first before we can deal with Wuxin..."

This is ridiculously difficult.

Donald grinned: "There's no need... Wuxin can't stay in the Immortal Emperor's body forever. Anyway, we'll talk about this later. The key is that Wuxin is indeed the Immortal Emperor's son, there's no doubt about that. Therefore, his blood relationship with the Immortal Emperor allows him to receive the Immortal Emperor's protection in this recreated scene of the past on the first level."

The first level... the old days reappear...

Donald used two terms that Xia Lin didn't understand at the moment, but Xia Lin didn't rush to ask about them and just listened to Donald continue.

"As for me, I have no blood relation with the Demon Emperor... Our relationship is too distant."

Xia Lin nodded in understanding.

"That's only one reason... The second reason is that the Demon Emperor of this period is untouchable and uncommunicable."

"He's gone mad with bloodlust..."

Before Xia Lin could savor the true meaning of those words, a piercing alarm suddenly blared throughout the Demon Palace.

At the same moment the alarm sounded, the Demon Palace was instantly covered by red light!

A bone-chilling cold instantly filled my bones.

It even forced Xia Lin to remain stationary on the spot, unable to move an inch except for his thoughts.

The heavy breathing echoed deep within the Demon Palace, reaching everyone's ears.

Like a wild beast.

Outside, as if responding to the breath of a wild beast, the towering Immortal Emperor slowly raised his head, and the corners of his mouth began to turn upwards little by little.

A deep, visceral fear was suddenly awakened.

In his stiff state, Xia Lin watched as the Immortal Emperor's mouth stretched wider and wider, revealing a mouthful of jagged, sharp teeth... until His eyes narrowed into slits, and that exaggerated smile, like that of a circus clown, covered half of his face!
He is no immortal being at all!

He is clearly a demon who has long lost his mind!

The perspective suddenly reversed.

However, the entire Demon Palace was instantly flung by immense force to the edge of the shattered ancient universe.

The red light slowly faded and softened, and the stiff body returned to the control of the will.

A voice suddenly rang out, as if making a declaration.

"The 38925th war between immortals and demons has begun!"

Xia Lin ignored the announcer who spoke like a narrator and simply looked into the distance.

Right where the Demon Palace originally stood.

A ghostly figure appeared out of nowhere.

A cacophony of beastly roars emanated from within the shadowy figure. Accompanied by the chaotic roars, the shadowy figure rapidly solidified, eventually transforming into a physical entity whose size was comparable to that of the Creator of Heaven.

He has the same physique and facial features as the Demon Emperor in the new universe, and looks relatively normal.

His breathing was accompanied by suppressed, low-pitched bursts of sound; his eyes were like dragons, cats, and all sorts of beasts, the shape of his pupils constantly shifting; his entire being exuded a ferocious aura like that of a wild beast.

After a brief standoff, both of them laughed exaggeratedly.

Immortal Emperor: "Hehehe..."

Demon Emperor: "Hehehe..."

Then they crashed together with a loud bang.

(End of this chapter)