Some of them contemplated for a moment before entering the space of the Buddha Pearl, dragging their badly beaten bodies.
Fengli turned around and blended into the crowd as they entered the Buddha Pearl.
Su Yu scowled but did not stop him.
Seeing more and more of their people leave, the rest of them heaved a sigh and followed inside.
In the blink of an eye, the people of the World Annihilation Emperor were rescued.
“Is this all we can do?” Su Yu queried.
The Evil God’s heavy sigh sounded from the depths of his mind. “It’s enough. We did not let the World Annihilation Emperor down. We have found a place for them to settle.”
Su Yu chortled. “Oh? I thought you would take care of them from now on.”
“Cheh! That’s so old-fashioned. Besides, I’m just the spiritual pet of the World Annihilation Emperor. I don’t owe his descendants any debt. Saving them is already a huge favor!” the Evil God said.
“Haha, then I can put my mind at ease. Before saving them, I was really worried that you would become all loyal and start honoring them as if they were your ancestors,” Su Yu chuckled.
“If so, let us just leave.”
Two hours later, the Hideous Demonic God stood outside the hall with a gloomy look on his face and an icy glint in his eyes.
Before long, the Prince and Xiang-er returned.
The Prince’s face was distorted with wrath, and he looked atrocious. “Da*n! Who saved them?”
The Hideous Demonic God shot a dismal glance toward Xiang-er and squinted. “Prince, you should be asking who leaked the secret about them being here.”
“The tidings about the descendants of the World Annihilation Emperor being confined here were supposed to have stayed at the Prince’s mansion!”
Upon hearing that, the Prince shot a fierce glare at Xiang-er. Without another word, he raised his hand and gave her a hard slap. “Bloody thing, did you tell anyone?”
Having taken the slap, Xiang-er’s pretty, pale face turned red instantly, and the vivid mark of a palm appeared on her cheek.
She had a calm look, completely free of sadness and anger. Placidly, she replied, “If I were to spread the secret, I would have done it long ago. Why wait till now? Besides, I stayed beside you all the time. When would I have any chance to spread the news to outsiders?”
The Prince snorted coldly. “It had better not be you. If I ever find out that you were the one… humph!”
Xiang-er kept quiet, but a strange light flickered in the depths of her eyes.
“Send out orders to search the city and arrest them!” the Prince bellowed.
The Hideous Demonic God said, “Since they could venture deep into the Prince’s Mansion, they would be able to retreat safely as well. Searching blindly will not be effective.”
“What then? Without their blood to offer, our Yaksha tribe will definitely suffer destructive oppression.” Without realizing it, the Prince had let a secret slip out.
The Hideous Demonic God asked, “Prince, do you still have the blood that I handed to you?”
“I do. Do you have a way to find them?”
“Of course!” The Hideous Demonic God flashed a mocking smile. “The blood energy is not just their pride, but also a shackle that they’ll never be able to break free from!”
“As long as the tiniest bit of the blood energy remains, their presence can be sensed from afar, and catching up with them will be effortless.”
The Prince looked hopeful. “Great! I will lead my men to chase after them with you. I want to see who that bold, fearless man is. How dare he abduct the descendants of the World Annihilation Emperor?”
——
Beyond the imperial city of the Yaksha tribe, on a deserted wasteland…
With a shake of his wrist, Su Yu released all the descendants of the World Annihilation Emperor.
They were bewildered for a moment. When the scenery of the outside world was gradually reflected in their eyes, the joy of having escaped from hell filled their faces.
However, when they noticed the silver-haired human standing in front of them with his hands behind his back, the delight on their faces disappeared and was quickly replaced by panic, unease, and insecurity.
They thought that perhaps this man standing in front of them was after their blood.
“You are free now.”
Su Yu was smiling at them warmly.
They couldn’t help but be stunned. They exchanged glances to make sure that they did not hear it wrongly.
They hadn’t experienced freedom for such a long time that the word ‘freedom’ had become a far-fetched dream.
They were silent for a long time until an old man with a hunched back and ragged clothes spoke in a trembling voice. “Young lord, you, you don’t want to take our blood?”
Su Yu said calmly, “I told you, I only saved you because someone asked me to.”
Eventually, they accepted reality.
Some were so agitated that they were shuddering all over. Some elderly ones were shedding tears of joy, and some were elated beyond words…
Su Yu felt a deep sense of sympathy. When the Imperial Sacred Faction of the World Annihilation Emperor met its downfall back then, these people were the ones who suffered the most tragic fate.
Su Yu couldn’t help but ponder: if he perished one day, what would become of his people?
Xian’er would be snatched away. Whether because of her beauty or her body of a dead phoenix, she would end up a captive.
The Jiuzhou Cavern World would end up as a resource for aspiring deities once again, and refined into godly spirits.
Their fate wouldn’t be any kinder than that of the descendants of the World Annihilation Emperor.
Su Yu felt his chest tighten, and there was a heaviness upon his shoulders.
“Dare I ask who entrusted you with this mission? Could you let us know? We would like to meet our benefactor,” the old man wiped his tears and asked through his sobs.
Su Yu hesitated for a second and asked the Evil God in his head, “Would you meet them?”
Only after a long while did a swirl appear between Su Yu’s brows. A black dog whose body size had returned to normal emerged before everyone.
Seeing the dog, most of the people had baffled looks on their faces.
The old man was the only one whose eyes went wide and welled up with tears of joy. Shuddering, he knelt upon the ground. “It’s the Evil God! The first spiritual pet of our ancestor, Lord Evil God!”
“What? The Evil God? The Overlord who killed the heavens and slaughtered the lands?”
“It’s our ancestor’s spiritual pet! He has come to our rescue!”
The emperor’s descendants knelt down one by one to worship him as if they had encountered a long-dead loved one.
The black dog had a somber look on his face. Extending his paws, he pulled the old man up and said with a sigh, “Billions of years have passed, and I have been dead once. I am no longer the spiritual pet of the World Annihilation Emperor, and you do not have to pay me such respect.”
In fact, way before the advent of the evil woman, he had been released by the World Annihilation Emperor and regained his freedom.
He never had any hatred for the World Annihilation Emperor anyway, and only rescued his people out of convenience.
“Many thanks, Lord Evil God, for saving us from deep misery!” A young man stepped forth in a respectful manner.
The black dog scowled. This young man was Fengli, and his deeds and behaviors were truly appalling.
However, since he was one of the emperor’s descendants, after all, the black dog wasn’t really bothered. He nodded lightly in response.
With half a bow, Fengli said good-humoredly, “Now that Lord Evil God has returned, it is an opportunity for us descendants of the World Annihilation Emperor to rise again.”
“We are more than willing to follow Lord Evil God and rebuild the Imperial Sacred Faction, for the sake of recovering the past glory and prestige of the World Annihilation Emperor.”
Upon hearing that, the emperor’s descendants looked expectant.
He was right. If the Evil God could shelter them, would they still have to worry about being captured and having their blood taken?
Su Yu was contemptuous. It was Fengli who accused their ancestor, the World Annihilation Emperor, of not being authentic, yet now he was shamelessly talking about recovering his past prestige.
Besides, what displeased Su Yu even more was the fact that this person wasn’t acting humble and grateful after being rescued. He was even asking for shelter from the black dog!
The black dog was silent and did not respond. After all, as the spiritual pet of the World Annihilation Emperor in the past, it seemed that he had the obligation to recover the emperor’s past prestige.
However, Su Yu did not have that kind of concern. Dispassionately, he said, “Rescuing you was a favor, not an obligation, and no one gets to demand more from him. He was the spiritual pet of the World Annihilation Emperor, not yours, so do not make ridiculous requests of him.”
Many of the emperor’s descendants recoiled with looks of contrition on their faces.
The Evil God saved them from the dire distress, honoring his close ties with their ancestor, and he had no obligation to continue protecting them.
Squinting, Fengli stared at Su Yu and asked in an unfriendly tone, “Who are you to speak? You’re just a slave of the Evil God. How dare you interrupt while we, the emperor’s descendants, speak to the emperor’s pet!”
In reality, the black dog seemed more like a being who was relying upon Su Yu to live, looking at the way they got along.
Casting an indifferent look at him, Su Yu said, “So what if I am his slave? My words make sense, after all. If you have any sense of shame, you won’t keep making things difficult for the Evil God.”
“So you really are a slave?” Fengli straightened up, and the way he looked at Su Yu was now completely free of the fear he had before.
“Since you’re a slave of the Evil God, it means that you’re our slave too!” Fengli held his chin up high and proclaimed arrogantly, “Evil God, you were the Emperor’s pet back then, and since you’re still alive, you should continue to fulfill your obligation by being a pet to us.”
“Right now, I command you to conquer a tribe for us, someplace where we, the emperor’s descendants, could settle down.” Fengli was so haughty and insolent that he had actually regarded himself as the World Annihilation Emperor.
The black dog shot an indifferent look at him and heaved a soft sigh. “The World Annihilation Emperor had led a magnificent life, yet his descendants get less and less impressive down the generations.”
HE turned around, not bothering to waste another minute on them. He said, “Su Yu, let’s go and end this here.”
“How dare you!” Fengli bellowed coldly, with an air of supremacy. “What a heartless animal you are! Having enjoyed the kindness of my ancestor, are you repaying him with betrayal now by leaving us behind?”
The black dog turned his head around and stared at him coldly. “Repaying him with betrayal? Alright, think of me that way if you like. All the best, getting ahead!”
When he finished, the black dog stepped into the Void, his eyes filled with an overwhelming disappointment.
“Trying to leave now? You’re such a disobedient dog!” Fengli sneered. A wave of uncanny energy surged within his body, and a vague, mighty virtual shadow emerged behind him.
The virtual shadow was none other than the World Annihilation Emperor.
The black dog, who was treading the Void, shuddered all of a sudden. Abruptly, he turned around. “What are you doing?”
Fengli sneered. “Letting you know who your master is, dog!”
“Blood Imprint of World Annihilation!” Fengli yelled thunderously. Glorious rays of light shot out from the eyes of the majestic shadow behind him.
The black dog trembled vigorously. A talisman surfaced from within his body. It was very ancient, with traces of the emperor’s will lingering on it.
This was the bloodline imprint that the World Annihilation Emperor left on the black dog when he first adopted him, and it contained the magnificent will of the emperor.
In the past, many overlords of the world perished, yet a remnant drop of the black dog’s blood was left behind, all because of the presence of this trace of will.
Right now, Fengli had activated the imprints within the black dog’s body through the emperor’s bloodline.
With the imprint activated, the black dog was completely under control once again.
And the controller was none other than the one who had activated it, Fengli!
Back then, the World Annihilation Emperor released the black dog, yet did not remove the imprint. It seemed that he had foreseen this possibility.
Perhaps he was taking a precaution against a day like this. Even if he weren’t around, his descendants would still be able to control an overlord of the galaxy.
It was a pity that the evil woman had ruined all his plans, and the Evil God was no longer as powerful as he used to be.
The imprint was triggered, and it formed a talisman on the black dog’s forehead.
The feeling of having his life and death under someone else’s control filled the black dog’s mind.
The rest of the people fell silent when they saw it. Although unfair to the Evil God, it was the only way to avoid captivity again.
Only a minority of them were outraged, especially the old man who first spoke. Furious, he questioned, “Wicked man, what are you doing now? The Evil God saved us out of his appreciation of past goodwill. How could you treat him viciously like this?”
Indeed, if the Evil God hadn’t decided to rescue them and had not shown up at all, what good would the blood of the emperor do them?
Pow!
Fengli snorted coldly and slapped the old, weathered man, sending him off flying. He yelled maliciously, “Ignorant old man! I am doing this for the good of us all!”
As he spoke, Fengli stared at the Evil God. With a cold sneer and a shift of thoughts, he maneuvered the imprint.
All of a sudden, the talisman flickered vigorously. The power of the talisman erupted from within the black dog’s body until his skin was flayed open and his flesh was torn to shreds.
Numerous bolts of black lightning wandered within the black dog’s body, so agonizing that he couldn’t help but howl in pain.
A misery that could make a past overlord of the galaxy cry out in pain! One could just imagine how terrible it must be.
Fengli was excited as his lips curled into a cunning smile, and he burst out in triumphant laughter. “Now, do you know who your master is?”
