Many children, many blessings; the twelve ancestral witches forced marriages throughout the primordi

The Heavenly Court, the Lingxiao Palace.

The air was filled with an indescribable musty smell, the smell of despair fermenting.

Di Jun stood in the center of the hall, clutching the Demon-Summoning Banner tightly in his hand. Normally, a mere wave of this thing would send the entire demon race of the prehistoric world into a daze, obeying his commands. But today, the banner felt unusually heavy, like a fire poker.

"Tens of thousands of demon generals... tens of thousands!"

Di Jun muttered to himself, his eyes bloodshot and swollen. He didn't want anything else right now; he just wanted to summon back the souls of his subordinates.

As long as the soul remains, even if the physical body is gone, it can simply seize the bodies of other living beings or be reconstructed using spiritual materials; it can still be used. But if even the soul is lost, then the demon race's wealth accumulated over tens of thousands of years will truly be wiped out overnight.

"Your Majesty, the time has come."

Kunpeng huddled behind a pillar and cautiously offered a reminder. He trembled at the sight of Dijun, terrified that the madman would suddenly slap him.

Di Jun took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the panic in his heart.

"Form ranks! Set up sacrificial banners!"

At his command, hundreds of demon gods quickly formed a circle, chanting incantations and beginning to pour their magic power into the demon-summoning banner.

On the demon-summoning banner, the originally dim runes began to glow with an eerie green light.

"May your soul return—!"

Di Jun suddenly waved the banner, his voice piercing through the Thirty-Three Heavens and reaching the Netherworld.

According to the usual script, at this time, a cold wind should be howling, and countless souls should be crying out as they fly out of the underworld and enter the banner.

Di Jun stared wide-eyed, waiting.

one second.

two seconds.

Half an incense stick has passed.

Forget about summoning a soul, they didn't even manage to utter a fart.

The demon-summoning banner fluttered forlornly, its green light flickering a few times like a faulty light bulb before finally going out with a "zzzz" sound.

"This...how is this possible?!"

Emperor Jun's hands trembled. "My Demon-Summoning Banner is a supreme treasure of the demon race, capable of controlling the true spirits of all demons under heaven. How could it fail? Is the barrier of the underworld really that thick?"

He doesn't believe in superstitions.

"Again! Increase my magical output!"

……

Meanwhile, in the underworld.

It's bustling with activity here, just like celebrating the New Year.

Lin Xuan stood with his hands behind his back at the entrance to the Eighteenth Level of Hell, with Hou Tu beside him, who had a serious expression but a smile in her eyes.

In front of them were huge cauldrons of oil, with raging hellfire burning beneath them.

Strangely, the fire burned exceptionally brightly, and its color was black, exuding an eerie aura.

"Thirteenth Brother, isn't this move... a bit too cruel?" Houtu asked, looking at the screaming souls in the oil cauldron.

"What's the harm? This is called resource recycling."

Lin Xuan pointed to the burning souls, "Look, these demon generals committed many murders and are burdened with heavy karma in their lives. If we threw them directly into reincarnation, we would have to go through a lot of trouble to purify them. Now it's great, we can use them as fuel to heat up our underworld, and we can even fry some dough sticks on the side. How cost-effective is that?"

That's right.

While Di Jun was desperately trying to summon the souls, Lin Xuan directly stuffed the souls of tens of thousands of demon generals into the stove under the oil pot.

Although most of these souls are only at the Taiyi Golden Immortal or even Golden Immortal level, their advantage lies in their large quantity. Burning tens of thousands of them is incredibly effective, even better than any kind of spiritual coal.

Just then, a pulling force suddenly came from the void.

The screaming demonic souls suddenly seemed to sense something, and they became excited, trying to float upwards.

"Oh? Is this Di Jun summoning a spirit?"

Lin Xuan looked up at the dark rocks above him, a smirk playing on his lips. "Trying to take them away? Did you even ask me, the CEO of the Underworld?"

He took out the judge's pen from his pocket and casually drew a talisman in the air.

"seal up!"

A huge golden "seal" character was placed directly on the Gates of Hell.

Immediately afterward, Lin Xuan turned to the ox-headed and horse-faced demons who were tending the fire and shouted, "The fire's too small! Can't you see the guests are getting cold and want to run away? Give it a push! Shove those wolf demon souls that are howling the loudest to the very bottom!"

"Alright! Just you wait and see, Thirteen Ancestral Witches!"

The bull-headed creature brandished its fork and shoved several demon souls that were trying to respond to the summoning banner deep into the furnace.

"Ah—! Your Majesty Emperor Jun, save me—!"

The screams abruptly ceased, transforming into an even more intense ball of flame.

……

The Heavenly Court, the Lingxiao Palace.

Di Jun was about to wave the Demon-Summoning Banner for the third time.

Suddenly, without warning, a crack appeared on one of the main poles of the banner.

"Snap!"

The sharp sound was particularly jarring in the hall.

Immediately afterwards, a terrifying backlash traveled up the banner pole.

This was not only a backlash of magic, but also mixed with the resentment and despair of those tens of thousands of demon souls who were burned as fuel before their deaths.

"puff--!"

Di Jun spat out a mouthful of blood, which was mixed with pieces of broken internal organs.

He was like a kite with a broken string, tumbling down from the high platform and falling to the ground, unable to get up for a long time.

"His Majesty!"

"Heavenly Emperor!"

The demons and gods below were in complete chaos.

Kunpeng quickly ran over and helped Dijun up, but found that Dijun's eyes were somewhat unfocused and he was muttering to himself.

"It's gone...it's all gone..."

Di Jun sensed it.

In that very instant, the true spirit imprints of those tens of thousands of demon generals within the Demon-Summoning Banner completely vanished.

It wasn't sealed away, it was erased, it was completely burned to ashes.

They don't even have the chance to be reincarnated.

"Lin Xuan! You...you have such a cruel heart!"

Di Jun gripped Kunpeng's arm tightly, his nails digging into his flesh. "He's treating my sons... like fire pokers! I can feel it! They're burning in the fire!"

The feeling of being humiliated and crushed caused the Heavenly Emperor's mentality to completely collapse.

Kunpeng winced in pain, but dared not utter a sound. He could only plead with a pained expression, "Your Majesty, as long as the green hills remain, there's always firewood to burn. We... we still have the Zhou Tian Star Array..."

"Yes! A grand formation! I have another grand formation!"

Di Jun, as if grasping at a last straw, instantly transformed his dazed look into madness. "Send the order! Speed ​​things up! No matter how many demons die, I will complete this great formation! I will make Lin Xuan pay the price! I will skin him alive to make a drum!"

Thunder rumbled outside the main hall.

It seems even the Heavenly Dao is trembling with fear at the impending catastrophe.

Meanwhile, in the underworld, Lin Xuan patted the ash off his hands, looked at the blazing furnace, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Alright, the heating's on. Now, it's time to get ready for my food festival."

He turned and walked out, his back view as relaxed as a cook who had just finished get off work.

"By the way, Sister Houtu, let's invite those brothers over for a nice meal tonight. The Dragon King of the East Sea sent over tens of thousands of catties of top-quality spirit shrimp; it would be a shame not to eat them."