Emperor Hades had left. Or rather, the former Emperor Hades had left.
The new Emperor Hades, Su Yiyun, stood proudly in the sky, gazing down at the vast populace and endless swatches of land.
The vicious beasts of the River Styx lowered their heads in submission, while the gods bowed and offered their congratulations.
Even the imperial-level vicious beasts, who’d been ready to betray Emperor Hades, watched Su Yiyun in abject terror. They no longer felt even the slightest urge to rebel.
The beast ancestor who’d died earlier had served as a warning!
The vicious beasts had served Emperor Hades loyally for generations, but this wasn’t without reason. It didn’t matter which Emperor Hades it was; all of them could force the beasts into submission through a display of absolute force.
Su Yiyun was no exception.
When he’d inherited the throne, he’d only been a diviner, but now, his aura had shot up. Now, even these patriarchs of the river denizens could only tremble before him.
His gaze swept across the ancient, powerful river denizens. Although Su Yiyun had only just ascended the throne, he’d lived in the River Styx long enough. He knew that they were the troublesome sort.
The dead beast patriarch’s corpse lay in the dirt. He understood that, before he’d taken the throne and regained consciousness, the ancient beast experts must have rebelled, only for his master to suppress them.
No one could read others’ hearts, and it was impossible to know what exactly the old monsters were thinking. It was especially hard for experts so ancient; their emotions were unreadable on the surface. Not even Su Yiyun’s predecessor had known they’d been planning a full-on rebellion.
When the vicious beasts sensed Su Yiyun’s gaze, they instinctively lowered their heads.
They were rather terrified.
At their cultivation, they were no cowards. Even if the God Emperor himself stood before them, they wouldn’t so much as furrow their brows.
But this just had to be Emperor Hades!
The vicious beasts of the river had always lived under Emperor Hades’ command, and generations of Emperor Hades had branded themselves deep onto the beasts’ consciousnesses. The beasts trembled at the sight of him, their fear originating from their very bones. That was why, when a new Emperor Hades appeared, every last beast lowered their heads in submission.
They had no way of rebelling.
Their fear had long since become a part of them. It was in their blood.
The new Emperor Hades, Su Yiyun, could sense their fear. Even so, he couldn’t trust the vicious beasts completely, especially those who’d just tried to rebel.
When he looked away, the vicious beast experts’ eyes lit up, and they seemed to relax a little.
But before long…
Boom!
The River of Time, which had shrunk down into an artifact, re-expanded, becoming the border between realms, the nightmare of yao, the guardian of god race territory once more. The palace hovering overhead sank back down into the river, retaking its former position.
Everything was the same as it had been when the former Emperor Hades sat upon the throne, without the slightest difference.
“Yiyun, congratulations on being crowned Emperor Hades.” At that moment, Ye Zichen’s transmission resounded throughout Su Yiyun’s sea of consciousness. “But I’ll have to congratulate you properly later. For now, I’ll leave the River Styx to you. We have to hurry and reinforce the foxes, so we can’t stay here any longer.”
Ye Zichen had been rather frantic this whole time. He’d been worried about the foxes ever since the Fox Empress’ message appeared in the group chat.
If not for the beasts getting in their way, then Su Yiyun’s impromptu coronation, he would have led his troops to fox territory a while ago.
Su Yan and Ke Ke were both among the foxes! He couldn’t just stop worrying for even a second.
Su Yiyun had successfully taken over his master’s mantle, but leaving so shortly after his coronation would likely prove disadvantageous. But now….
“What’s happening with the foxes?” Su Yiyun furrowed his brows, his gaze solemn.
He attached great importance to the foxes’ wellbeing too. At the end of the day, Su Yan was his little sister! There was no way he could just disregard her.
The forces of the Upheaval Alliance and Profound Pavilion were already ready and in formation, ready to set out at a moment’s notice. Xuan Ji, the Great Sage, and the other top experts were ready to go too.
Emperor Hades’ coronation had taken a full six hours. It had been six hours since the foxes’ desperate plea for reinforcements. Who knew what had happened to them in the meantime?
“I don’t know what happened between the yao and demons, but instead of launching a new assault against the River Styx, they split off en route and went to attack the foxes. The dragons, vermillion birds, and other Sacred Beast Clans have likely already sent reinforcements, but the Fox Empress still sent out a call for aid in our group chat. It’s clear that the situation is looking rather dangerous,” said Ye Zichen solemnly.
He turned to Su Yiyun and continued, “You only just ascended the throne, and I’m sure there’s a lot you need to take care of here. Your newfound cultivation boundary needs time to stabilize, too. We’ll leave you here to watch over the river, but the foxes’ plight is urgent, so we really can’t stay any longer. We’ve got to go!”
“Wait!” Suddenly, Su Yiyun reached out and called Ye Zichen back.
Ye Zichen hesitantly turned back, then saw Su Yoyun narrow his eyes and beckon the imperial-level vicious beasts back over.
“Emperor Hades!” They didn’t dare meet his gaze.
Su Yiyun glowered, then snorted, “I’ll be entrusting the River Styx to your care.”
“Yiyun….” Ye Zichen’s eyes widened. He already knew what Su Yiyun was thinking.
Su Yiyun raised his hand to silence Ye Zichen, then surveyed the ancient river denizens. The weight of his gaze bore down on them; it was difficult to bear.
“Leaving the River Styx to you is a show of trust. Whatever you do, don’t let me down or betray my faith in you. If, when I come back, I find you’ve done something…. Hmph. You’ve already lived a long time, and thinking about it, you likely already have descendants. I suppose what I do doesn’t matter.” He patted them on the shoulder, and they smiled appeasingly back at him.
Then, he looked away and turned to Ye Zichen. “Come on. I’ll go with you.”
“The River Styx…”
“They won’t dare stir up any waves.” Su Yiyun narrowed his eyes at the vicious beast elders. They instantly lowered their heads. “If they dare take advantage of my absence and let the yao in, they can just watch as I wipe out their entire race!”
The vicious beasts of the river were sinful to begin with.
In the primordial era, their clans had committed heinous offenses. They’d been consigned to the river as punishment.
That was why, when Emperor Hades killed them, he felt no psychological burden whatsoever!
The river denizens were keenly aware of this, which was part of why they feared Emperor Hades so much.
When he heard that, Ye Zichen didn’t hesitate any longer. He knew better than to underestimate his friend; although he’d only just taken the throne, his cultivation was already no lower than Yang Jian’s.
With his strength, he’d be great help when they reinforced the foxes!
“Emperor Hades is coming too?” When she saw Su Yiyun beside Ye Zichen, XUan Ji smiled. “Before we head out, there’s something we need to consider. On our way to fox territory, we’ll have to cross through the Southern Kingdom. Yao will inevitably block our way forward. How can we get there as soon as….”
“Let’s just kill our way through!” said Su Yiyun decisively.
“There’s that method too, of course, but it’ll take too long,” said Xuan Ji. “Besides, I trust you don’t want to waste too much time traveling, either!”
“Lady Providence, do you have any ideas?” asked Su Yiyun.
“I’ll send you over!” Suddenly, they heard a voice from the sky. When they looked up, they saw a young scholar in white pop into view.
