Nobody knows how to be a villain better than me.

“However, you have been removed from the list of Kunlun, and are now neither a celestial maiden nor a human emperor. You have no right to issue orders to me.”

"Never mind that for now, we're here to get down to business!"

Seeing that this old fellow guarding the Guixu Realm showed no respect whatsoever, Tamamo-no-Mae couldn't help but grit her teeth in anger.

"A demonic star has descended upon the world; it must be destroyed and eliminated. Anyone who harbors it will be considered an accomplice and executed on the spot!"

The ancient god guarding the Ruins remained unmoved. His killing intent coalesced, the sea surged, and the entire dark world trembled, revealing a majestic figure stretching for countless miles.

Seeing that the old dragon opposite her actually intended to take care of her, who was trying to mediate the fight, Tamamo-no-Mae was furious and started cursing.

"Zhu Jiuyin! You're getting senile!"

At this moment, Samael had a rough idea of ​​the identity of the ancient god guarding the Ruins of Return.

It has a human face and a snake's body, and is red in color. Its eyes are straight and upright. When it closes its eyes, darkness descends; when it opens them, light shines. When one eye is open, the world is in daylight; when the other eye is closed, all things are shrouded in darkness. It neither eats, sleeps, nor rests, and it summons wind and rain. Its name is Zhulong, also known as Zhujiuyin.

Chapter Twenty: Let's learn about our Heavenly Father and our Savior.

"Senior Zhulong, wait!"

In the tense atmosphere, Jiang Ziya, who arrived late, quickly rushed in front of the two glowing objects, shouted to stop them, and explained his purpose.

"A great calamity is about to begin, and we have come to fulfill our promise and retrieve the treasure left behind by the gods!"

The eyes in the sky closed, and the world returned to darkness and deathly silence.

After a brief silence, light returned, and a massive dragon head emerged from the void, taking a deep look at the God-Slaying Whip and the Investiture of the Gods in Jiang Ziya's hand, before slowly uttering an aged voice.

"Since it's you in person, then so be it..."

Immediately, Zhulong opened its mouth, and a jade disc emitting a hazy blue light flew out from the body of this ancient god and landed in Jiang Ziya's hand.

Is this some kind of double standard?

Seeing the starkly different treatment the two people received, Tamamo-no-Mae was seething with hatred, her expression shifting between anger and uncertainty.

Samael stepped forward, patted the fox spirit on the shoulder, and shook his head with a sigh.

In short, Fox's character is terrible; back in his hometown, he'd be universally reviled.

You're not much better off!

Feeling subtly insulted, Tamamo-no-Mae turned and glared at Samael, who was just as dark-skinned as herself, silently grumbling to herself.

Just as the two enemies were exchanging greetings with their eyes, Jiang Ziya, who was in front, glanced at the jade disc in his hand, where runes were faintly visible, and was taken aback.

"Book of Life and Death?"

"The Book of Humans? The immortals and gods are gone, the Three Realms are in chaos, and even the Void of Return is about to cease to exist. What use is such a thing?"

Upon hearing the answer, the First Emperor frowned and snorted coldly.

Of the three books, the Book of Life and Death, which records the lifespan of all things, is the most useless one.

Today, the underworld of China has long since ceased to exist in name only, and the original divine eras of various civilizations have been integrated into the Great Source of the entire Earth after the Holy War.

The power of life and death recorded in the Book of Life and Death is so thin that it is at best a tombstone that can record and update information about the deceased, with its ornamental value far outweighing its practical use.

Especially when this calamity is about to occur.

"I am unaware that this is the only item left behind by the celestial beings. Since it is useless here, you may take it if you wish."

Zhulong shook his head slightly, his aged voice revealing a cold indifference that kept people at a distance.

"If there is nothing else, please leave as soon as possible. The Void does not welcome the living."

After a long and winding journey, Samael ended up with nothing but a hollow shell, his brow furrowed deeply, and he couldn't help but step forward to ask more questions.

"How do you use this?"

"I don't know..."

"Did the celestial being leave any words before departing?"

"I don't know!"

Where did they go?

"No comment, now get out of here!"

The repeated inquiries gradually made Zhulong irritable, and his harsh tone became quite unfriendly.

What era are we living in? Why don't the dragons change their arrogant and conceited ways?

Seeing the situation, which had just eased, tense up again, Jiang Ziya's face turned bitter.

At this moment, Samael also lost his patience. The twelve serpentine wings behind him slowly unfurled, his vertical pupils narrowed, and his face suddenly turned cold.

"What if I absolutely have to know?"

"Then you can try it!"

Equally enraged, the Candle Dragon responded with a cold laugh, its eyes blazing with intense light, causing the surrounding seawater to evaporate violently and rise into a thick fog.

Two figures confronted each other across the void, their auras rising steadily. The invisible power collided with each other, creating a strong distortion.

Gods clashing, ready to erupt at any moment

"Boom!"

Suddenly, a dull tremor came, and the surroundings shook violently.

not good!

Zhulong's expression changed, and he looked down at the bottomless ravine beneath him, which was constantly swallowing the seawater.

boom!

At the same time, a terrifying tentacle, hundreds of millions of miles in size, stretched out from the dark abyss, stirring the seawater. Eerie whispers echoed all around, and countless ugly and twisted fish-man figures rushed out of the Guixu Great Abyss like leeches.

"Evil heretics, how dare you!"

The Candle Dragon roared, and a massive dragon claw, churning the seas and carrying thunder, crashed down.

The overwhelming dragon claws slammed down on the tentacles that stretched for hundreds of millions of miles.

Instantly, a violent shockwave spread in all directions, causing billions of tons of seawater to churn and create terrifying pressure.

One after another, the ugly, deformed fish-men exploded, turning into minced meat, and fell back into the dark ravine.

Suddenly, the Candle Dragon let out a muffled groan, and large patches of dark red dragon scales, stained with blood, scattered.

Amidst a dull tearing sound, another purplish-red whisker, hidden in the shadows, wrapped around the protruding dragon claw from the side; the inside of that whisker was adorned with purplish-red spikes.

Large swaths of pitch-black ink began to spread along the wounds on the dragon's claws.

Countless indescribable whispers echoed and assaulted his ears. In a dreamlike state, Zhulong vaguely saw in the void of another space that an indescribable monster was opening its frenzied eyes from the chaos.

It was a deformed, evil god, with a head resembling an octopus covered in numerous tentacles, and a body seemingly covered in a gelatinous, scaly substance. Its lower body was bloated, with planet-sized claws, and a pair of extremely long, narrow wings on its back. Endless space seemed to hold no barrier before it…

A few tentacles piercing through the Guixu Abyss appeared so tiny compared to the main body.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, yet it almost fills up half of the East China Sea.

The monster's disgusting green slime exuded a chaotic aura, constantly bringing filth, and its enormous green body staggered out of the dark space, gazing at the narrow gap leading to the present world.

"It's really haunting!"

The Candle Dragon roared and spewed out golden dragon breath, the flames burning everything in their path, causing the tentacles wrapped around its claws to tremble from the heat.

But then, the tentacles that had emerged from the ravine suddenly contracted, attempting to pull the Candle Dragon into the pitch-black void as well.

Zhulong, of course, would not sit idly by and wait to die; he struggled to break free.

Just as the battle was at a stalemate, a rusty harpoon flew out of the darkness with lightning speed and struck the reverse scale under the jaw of the Candle Dragon.

Clinging to the sheer cliff face of the ravine was an individual much larger and stronger than any ordinary fish-man.

It actually withstood the immense pressure of the seawater and quietly lurked here.

At this moment, Zhulong was struggling against the erosion and pulling from the abyss, clearly not expecting this sudden turn of events. He could only watch helplessly as the harpoon, shrouded in filth and malice, pierced his own Achilles' heel.

However, just as the fork was about to pierce the dragon's jaw, a slender, fair hand reached out from the side and narrowly grabbed the harpoon.

A pair of serpentine vertical pupils split open like flower petals in the darkness, looking into the pitch-black void within the Guixu Great Abyss and at that indescribable figure, its lips moving.

The Great Old Ones, Cthulhu, and their subordinate race, the Deep Ones, and their Old God, Dagon…

The last time I saw these things was apparently at Gilles de Rae's mansion.

"It's like a persistent ghost..."

Samael uttered the same murmur as Zhulong and swung his arm back.

The harpoon, radiating filth and malice, shot towards the ravine with lightning speed, striking the fish-man who was different from the norm and pinning it to the cliff face.

"Gulu..."

Dagon, struck in the throat, gurgled and murmured, seemingly oblivious to the pain, as he slowly pulled the harpoon from his chest.

Large streams of dark green blood surged in all directions, and sea fish rapidly twisted and mutated, growing limbs and torsos, transforming into disgusting fish-men.

Immediately, these newly born monsters surged upstream from the Great Ravine, attempting to break through the blockade and return to that familiar sea.

But at the same time, those who were a step behind reacted rushed to the rescue.

"The azure divine fire of the constellation star summons—the barbarians, to be annihilated…!"

"Celestial Ascension, Blood Curse Corpse Dissolution!"

Yang Yuhuan and Jie Chuzi, one playing the pipa and the other wielding a sword, attacked together the swarms of ugly fish-men rising from the deep ravine.

In an instant, azure flames and crimson petals drifted down, burning the charging mermen to ashes or shredding them into pieces.

"Demons and monsters are terrified, spirits and monsters are carried away—Thunder Department, heed my command! Nine Heavens Punishing Thunder Technique, boom!"

"Swords cleave the floating clouds, crossbows shoot down the sea fish—the battle begins!"

"The sun is dead, the thunder star has arrived—Thunderous Sunlight, Calamity Star Falls!"

Meanwhile, Taigong Wang, the First Emperor, and Yuzao Qian all focused their fire on the tentacles that emerged from the Guixu Great Abyss.

In an instant, the seawater churned, and the indescribable thing, which wanted to break through the blockade, let out a low roar and involuntarily retracted its blown-off whiskers.

But then, a bloated, deformed, dark green body slowly emerged from the dark abyss. Its long, narrow bat wings swept across the cliffs on both sides of the ravine, and countless fish-men were slammed against the cliff walls, crushed into a ghastly green mass of flesh.

"We absolutely cannot let this evil creature reach the shore!"

The Candle Dragon roared, its eyes wide open, and the surroundings became as bright as day. Its scorching dragon breath transformed into a blazing torrent, pouring down on the monster's bloated body and scorching large patches of blackened skin.

At the same time, the thunderbolts from the heavens, the crossbows that blasted like gods, and the light of the calamity star followed one after another.

But facing the fierce attacks from multiple sides, the evil god, whose flesh was constantly blasted away and whose tentacles were blown off, seemed to feel no pain and had no concept of death, as it squeezed out inch by inch from that dark crevice.

Unspeakable murmurs echoed all around, as if countless invisible, slippery tentacles were drilling into everyone's brains and stirring wildly, gradually alienating and eroding their reason and thinking.

Fight!

The Candle Dragon's eyes were bloodshot, and it gritted its teeth and roared. A golden inner core the size of a fist, covered with cracks, was spat out from its abdomen.

Under the light, the dark abyss within the Guixu Great Ravine began to sway and ripple like the surface of water tossed with a pebble, and everything inside began to slow down and stagnate.

When one eye is open, the world is in daylight; when one eye is closed, all things are in darkness.

The dragon holding the candle can control not light, but time.

But even with the immense power of this ancient god, over millions of years, he could only temporarily block the gaze from the void and slow down the infiltration from beneath the Great Abyss of Return to Nothingness.

Since that great calamity, their clan's mission has been to fill and suppress the sea eyes of the four seas to purify the filth beyond the realm.

Even he, the ancestor of all dragons, is nearing the end of his life, having persevered to this day.

Since that's the case, then let's go all out!

A resolute glint flashed in Zhulong's eyes as he activated the inner core of Zhulong before him and charged headlong into the extraterrestrial evil god who was about to break through the Great Abyss of Return to Nothingness and descend into the mortal world.

However, a hand that rested on his dragon horn used incredible strength to forcefully halt his forward momentum.

At the same time, he made a loose fist with his other hand and uttered a low murmur as his lips moved.

"—Holy Lance, pull anchor!"

In an instant, not only Guixu, but the entire sea area, or rather the entire external world, trembled violently. Spiral beams of light shot up from all over the world, converged into a single point in the sky, and then fell into Samael's palm.

Immediately, Samael opened his eyes and swung the spiraling light band in his hand down in a circle.