Yan Cangming looked into the distance from the top of a tall mountain. The millions of Flood Dragon Humans below were in many groups.
Under the leadership of the Flood Dragon Human elites, they migrated in an orderly fashion.
The Flood Dragon Human cultivators remained at the edges of the groups, responsible for maintaining order and protecting the people from unexpected danger.
The old, the weak, the women, and the children were in the middle of the groups. There was neither joy nor grief on their faces; no one showed much emotion. Over the past few tens of thousands of years, the Flood Dragon Human Race had experienced too much difficulty and bitterness in the Abyssal Underworld.
The Flood Dragon Humans were already long inured to migrations like this.
Yan Cangming tightly clenched his right fist, feeling an indescribable pain in the depths of his heart.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
A few figures landed behind Yan Cangming. They showed grave expressions as they performed cupped-fist salutes. “Young Master, nearly all the scouts in front were exterminated; only a few people returned. Under the leadership of King Luohou, the nine great races of the Abyssal Underworld have surrounded us.”
They are here? Yan Cangming thought to himself. Then, he ordered calmly, “Follow the original plan. Send out the various experts to open the way in front. I will bring up the rear.”
“Young Master, you can’t do that. You are the hope of the Flood Dragon Human Race. How can you be responsible for bringing up the rear?!”
“Let us serve as the rearguard. We swear to accomplish that task.”
The others quickly tried to dissuade Yan Cangming, not wanting him to be responsible for bringing up the rear.
Yan Cangming smiled bitterly in his heart. Then, he said indifferently, “Many times, death is insufficient to solve the problem. Fighting a rearguard action requires absolute strength. If you can defeat me, then I’ll let you bring up the rear.”
“This…”
“Rumble…!”
Just at this moment, the ground trembled, and the sky shook.
The expressions of the Flood Dragon Human elites changed drastically. From the tall mountain, they saw three large dust clouds at the limits of their vision in front. Upon a closer look, they realized that those were the armies of the Rakshasa Race, the Yaksha Race, and the Phantom Race.
The three armies moved out in full force. Their numbers looked vast, like a flood of ferocious beasts, as they came at the Flood Dragon Humans from three directions.
“What fast speed!”
The people behind Yan Cangming inhaled sharply.
They were not shocked at the speed of the three Abyssal Underworld races’ movement but that the three armies were moving in full force.
The three races had mustered practically all their people to block off all escape for the Flood Dragon Humans. If the Flood Dragon Humans tried to break out, who knew how many would die?
However, even if the Flood Dragon Humans did not break out, their race would be exterminated when the enemy surrounded them.
The extermination of the entire race!
Everyone’s mind buzzed, thunderstruck, thinking the same thing and unable to stand stably.
“Convey my orders. Tell the vanguard to open a path for our clansmen at all costs, even their lives,” Yan Cangming said without hesitation, showing a cold expression.
“Yes.”
One man immediately left, riding an Underworld Ghost Bird. He circled the Flood Dragon Human groups while shouting, “Orders from the Young Master: vanguard, attack!”
“Yes!”
Ten million voices rang out in unison. A horde of fearless, young Flood Dragon Human disciples riding grounded Abyssal Underworld beasts raised Flood Dragon Human Race banners and charged forward without looking back.
The charging Flood Dragon Human cultivators seemed insignificant compared to the three flood-like armies.
However, these people did not even look back, charging forward without hesitation.
They wanted to use their lives and corpses to carve out a path for their clansmen behind.
“Yan Cangming, King Luohou has ordered that you be spared if you submit to him!”
Just at this moment, a resonant voice thundered from behind, piercing through the clouds and spreading out.
Yan Cangming turned his head back to look. He saw Abyssal Underworld cultivators gathered behind, kicking up boundless clouds of sand while charging over in overwhelming numbers.
They appeared endless, showing boundless momentum, like an ocean gushing in.
The Abyssal Underworld cultivators marched orderly and in time. With every step, the world shook.
Compared to the three armies in front, the six armies pursuing inspired even more despair.
The overwhelming killing Qi amassed inspired chills from afar, making breathing difficult.
The Flood Dragon Humans were attacked from the front and had pursuers behind. There was no place for the Flood Dragon Humans in the world.
Miserable cries rang out. The vanguard that charged out had already started fighting the three Abyssal Underworld armies.
The Flood Dragon Humans were like a river flowing into the sea, immediately drowned out. However, they continued to charge in.
“Damn it!”
Yan Cangming turned his head back and looked. He saw the various Abyssal Underworld armies obeying the call of one banner, gathering together.
A kingly banner flapped in the wind. That black banner had scarlet lights embroidering a royal totem of the Asura Race.
The totem flag, which seemed to be made of blood, waved in the wind, looking very vibrant as it gathered winds and clouds from all directions.
The young King Luohou sat on a ferocious Abyssal Underworld beast under the banner. His somewhat youthful face showed no expression, appearing cold.
The experts of the six armies assembled under this banner charged out from behind.
Yan Cangming felt slightly shocked. He had not expected Luohou Yun to take control of the situation this fast.
After the Underworld God Hall fell into chaos, Luohou Yun had quickly emerged as the new sovereign of the nine layers of the Abyssal Underworld.
“Young Master, what should we do? We are surrounded.”
“Let us escort you out.”
“Young Master, there’s no time to consider!”
The group of Flood Dragon Human elites behind Yan Cangming advised him to flee immediately.
While the group spoke, the Flood Dragon Humans’ vanguard fell. The armies of the Rakshasa Race, the Yaksha Race, and the Phantom Race charged into the Flood Dragon Human troops without any fear.
Chaos immediately erupted.
The Flood Dragon Human troops—millions of Flood Dragon Human cultivators—soon crumbled, a cruel sight. A massacre immediately took place; miserable cries rang out endlessly.
To the elites’ surprise, Yan Cangming gritted his teeth and turned into a beam of light that shot towards the allied armies of six Abyssal Underworld races behind.
“Young Master!”
There were many experts among the six armies as well as countless troops.
A glance found at least ten million cultivators densely packed together, looking like a moving ocean.
With the call of the royal banner, the armies surged like waves, charging in.
Yan Cangming showed a sullen expression, remaining silent as he flew towards the royal banner.
There was only one way. Yan Cangming could resolve the Flood Dragon Humans’ danger only by taking down Luohou Yun.
However, it was extremely difficult to kill one specific person among ten million.
A blazing flame burned above the royal banner. Luohou Yun, who sat on an Abyssal Underworld beast, watched coldly as Yan Cangming turned into a beam of light and charged over.
Compared to the sea of the six armies, Yan Cangming looked even less significant than a raindrop.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
However, Yan Cangming continued to charge over. His Death Dao Domain erupted, his insignificant body kicking up a huge wave, his might and pressure like a black flood dragon angrily smashing the sea.
“Kill him!”
When this voice roared out, many Sovereign Emperor experts charged over from the six armies.
However, Yan Cangming seemed to burn his lifeforce, erupting with incredible strength. No matter how many came, they were no match for him. The longer he fought, the more ferocious he became.
An aura of massacre stained him, wildly accumulating as he chopped down the Sovereign Emperors in his way.
After a while, Yan Cangming’s might and pressure approached the level of Faux Gods—extremely horrifying.
He tore a hole in the vast army of ten million people, roaring wildly as he charged over.
His eyes turned bloodshot, filled with red lights as dense dragon scales appeared on his face.
An aura of death lingered around him, looking like tentacles of death. No one dared to touch them.
Almost there! Almost there! I can reach Luohou Yun if I persist a little more!
Yan Cangming could see every detail of that royal banner. The expression of Luohou Yun, who was on the Abyssal Underworld beast, grew increasingly clearer.
“Yan Cangming, how dare you be so unbridled here?!”
“Whoosh!”
Six figures shot out from behind the royal banner. Six old men with terrifying cultivations came out at the same time.
“Boom!”
When the six old men’s auras merged, they forcibly suppressed Yan Cangming’s might and pressure, which rivaled a Faux God’s.
“Scram!” Yan Cangming roared furiously, and his might and pressure grew again. With one attack, he managed to knock back the six old men.
“Pu ci!”
However, the combined attack of the six old men also landed on him, shaking his mind and soul, tearing his internal organs and meridians.
“Luohou Yun, you are too much of a bully, so don’t blame me for making a move and injuring you!” Yan Cangming bellowed, using the soaring might and pressure from knocking back the six experts to launch a palm strike at Luohou Yun from above.
“Thud!”
Luohou Yun’s Abyssal Underworld beast mount trembled endlessly beneath the intense pressure, forced to its knees.
The royal banner flapped as the scarlet Luohou totem embroidered on it blazed fiercely like an intense flame.
“You are just a spent force.” Luohou Yun snorted coldly, and he yanked on the reins, forcibly pulling up the kneeling mountain-like Abyssal Underworld beast.
When the Abyssal Underworld beast stood back up, a scarlet flame bloomed between Luohou Yun’s eyebrows. An ancient Demonic Might erupted.
The supreme might and pressure inherited from an ancient Demonic Sovereign instantly forced Yan Cangming’s aura back. Simultaneously, Luohou Yun countered with a palm strike.
“Pu ci!”
The instant the two palms met, Luohou Yun blasted Yan Cangming back like a sandbag in less than the time it took for one to blink.
“Whoosh!”
The might and pressure surpassing that of a Faux God plummeted to rock bottom.
“Kill him!”
Luohou Yun yanked the reins again, and the Abyssal Underworld beast took two steps forward. As he looked at Yan Cangming, who was on the ground miserably vomiting blood, he showed no expression.
At this moment, all the injuries that Yan Cangming accumulated as he dashed over erupted.
Yan Cangming sustained severe damage to his mind, soul, and body that he could not recover from quickly. Anyone could easily kill him.
“Stop!”
Just at this moment, a flash of saber light suddenly appeared. It swept through the sky like lightning. Everywhere the saber light passed, the world turned black and white.
Within the black-and-white world, be it the three armies massacring the Flood Dragon Humans in front or the six armies under the royal banner, they all froze in place under the illumination of the saber light. The saber light shocked them all, deterring them from taking rash action.
The world seemed to stop. Even the non-sentient Abyssal Underworld beasts could sense the extraordinariness of the saber light.
Luohou Yun frowned slightly. He tried to raise his right hand but found his movements extremely slow.
Beneath this saber light, space and time had already distorted. The weaker cultivators could not even move.
When the saber light disappeared, scarlet flame, phoenix-like wings flapped and instantly arrived before Luohou Yun.
“A Demon Blood Vulture?”
Luohou Yun saw that the Blood Phoenix in front was once Xiao Chen’s demonic pet, the Demon Blood Vulture.
However, the person riding it was not Xiao Chen.
“Senior Brother?”
When Yan Cangming, who lay on the ground in despair, looked up, he discovered that it was his Senior Brother Lin Feng who sat on the Demon Blood Vulture—the Lin Feng who had abandoned the Flood Dragon Humans and joined the Heavenly Alliance.
“Luohou Yun, Brother Xiao asked me to bring a message. If you still remember the gratitude from back then, then let Yan Cangming and the Flood Dragon Human Race leave the Abyssal Underworld,” Lin Feng said as he looked at Luohou Yun from the Demon Blood Vulture’s back.
“I am immensely grateful to Big Brother Xiao. Naturally, I will repay this favor. The Flood Dragon Humans can leave, but Yan Cangming has to remain,” Luohou Yun replied calmly without much of a fluctuation in expression.
Yan Cangming was an ambitious person in the first place. If not for the Black Dragon King’s death, he would be the one in control of the Underworld God Hall.
Furthermore, Yan Cangming charged past ten million people earlier, proving his boldness and strength. Luohou Yun could not let this person live.
Even though it was Xiao Chen’s request, Luohou Yun did not fully comply. He was no longer that foolish little Luohou Yun. He was now King Luohou, the King Luohou that commanded the nine races of the Abyssal Underworld.
Lin Feng did not appear surprised. Then, he took out a Heavenly Alliance medallion and said, “Before Brother Xiao left, he left three saber lights, one for a show of power. If you do not listen, then of the two remaining saber lights, one is for destroying you and the other, for destroying the entire Asura Race.”
“How arrogant!”
Lin Feng’s words evoked dissatisfaction in many Asura Race experts. They all showed rage on their faces.
Luohou Yun appeared uncertain. Unexpectedly, Xiao Chen was so ruthless. From the might of that earlier saber light, Lin Feng’s words were no exaggeration.
Luohou Yun’s expression flickered, turning cold again. His lips trembled slightly. After a while, he gritted his teeth and said, “Let’s go.”
“Whoosh!”
The royal banner turned around together and left with Luohou Yun. However, when he did so, his expression was extremely sullen.
Clearly, he felt very upset.
His getting frightened away by a word from a certain person would definitely impact his status after having just stabilized the Abyssal Underworld’s nine races.
When everyone left, Lin Feng patted the Demon Blood Vulture and said, “Thank you.”
“Hehe! It’s just a minor matter.”
The Demon Blood Vulture rolled over in the air happily, turning into scarlet flames that hovered in the surroundings.
Lin Feng’s figure flashed, and he landed before Yan Cangming. Then, he helped Yan Cangming up and said, “Xiao Chen already agreed to give the Flood Dragon Humans a place to establish themselves. No one will cause trouble for the Flood Dragon Human Race for one millennium. After one millennium, the new epoch will start. After the Flood Dragon Humans have rested, they will have a chance at a new life in the new epoch.”
“Exactly what epoch did Xiao Chen establish?” Yan Cangming asked.
“The Divine Dragon Epoch. However, it is not the Dragon Race’s Divine Dragon Epoch. It is one where everyone is like a dragon; everyone is equal. There is no eternal life, and there is no Epoch Master. It is a new epoch where everyone can pursue their dreams without regret.”
[TL Note: “Everyone is like a dragon” is a Chinese idiom for everyone being equal. Dragons are synonymous with the emperor. So, in this case, if everyone is an emperor, then no one rules; everyone would be of equal status. It reminds me of a line said by the villain in The Incredibles movie: When everyone is super, no one will be.]
