"This aura... you... you are!!!"
The ancient Supreme expert before Ling Xiao froze, the terror on his face solidifying.
As he stared at the terrifying demonic shadow manifesting between heaven and earth, his eyes held not only despair but also profound fear.
"Heavenly Demon... You are the Heavenly Demon!!!!"
"You know too much."
Ling Xiao grinned sinisterly. The demonic shadow behind him suddenly opened its enormous mouth and swallowed the ancient Supreme's remnant soul whole.
Crunch. Crunch.
Ye Fan had long been paralyzed with fear on the ground, the sounds of the ancient expert being chewed and swallowed by Ling Xiao filling his ears.
With his limited knowledge and experience, he naturally didn't know about forbidden physiques like the Heavenly Demon True Body.
But the demonic intent radiating from Ling Xiao was utterly terrifying.
With his mere Soul-Awakening Realm cultivation, he didn't even have the courage to look up in the former's presence.
Ye Fan finally understood why the demonic ape had willingly submitted to Ling Xiao.
A demonic entity that could even swallow a Supreme expert must be the great demon spoken of in legends.
"You... you can't kill me..."
Ye Fan's face was pale, his body curled up in a corner of the ancient hall, trembling uncontrollably.
He regretted it!
If he had known Ling Xiao was this powerful, he should have escaped when Ling Xiao was fighting the ancient expert.
Humans truly died because of greed.
Ding! The Chosen One's Dao Heart has shattered. Congratulations, Host, on obtaining 200 Destiny Value and 2000 Villain Value. Eliminating the Chosen One will grant additional rewards.
Hearing the system prompt in his mind, a smile instantly spread across Ling Xiao's lips.
"Why can't I kill you?"
Ling Xiao grinned, his expression mocking.
The ancient expert's remnant soul power and Lightning Dao Principles had been completely fused by the Heavenly Demon Scripture.
Although Ling Xiao's current realm was only Mid-Xuanqing Realm, the strength of his soul palace far surpassed that of an Immortal Ascension Realm expert.
Of course, the Immortal Ascension Realm was considered the pinnacle of power in the Four Wastelands.
But in the Holy State, so-called "Immortal Ascension" was just a broad generalization.
Beyond the Illusion-Breaking Realm lay Immortal Ascension.
It was because those who shattered the Illusion-Breaking Realm and crossed the barrier into the Holy State became the "immortals" in the eyes of the world.
As for the realms beyond Illusion-Breaking, the people of the Four Wastelands had no way of knowing.
In truth, the Holy State didn't have the concept of "Immortal Ascension."
And the realm classification wasn't as flashy as in the Four Wastelands.
Beyond Illusion-Breaking was the true threshold of cultivation.
The subsequent realms were: Divine General Realm, Divine Marquis Realm, Divine King Realm, Divine Emperor Realm, Primal Origin Realm, Saint Realm, and finally, the Supreme Realm of Heaven and Earth.
Each realm was divided into nine grades, with the ninth grade being the strongest.
For example, Elder Yin's realm was at the Ninth Grade Divine General Realm.
Only by transcending Illusion-Breaking and achieving a Divine General body could one open a soul palace, nourishing the soul with the palace and building the palace with the soul.
But Ling Xiao, leveraging the ancient divine object Pangu Stone, had successfully opened his own soul palace at the Soul Sea Realm.
Moreover, its resilience was exceptionally rare in the world.
Compared to the Heavenly Demon True Body, this trump card was equally terrifying.
Nowadays, the Holy State was filled with freaks and geniuses everywhere.
But truly reaching the Illusion-Breaking Realm at seventeen or eighteen was exceedingly rare.
Most geniuses' cultivation lingered around the Soul Sea and Xuanqing Realms.
Of course, Ling Xiao's actual combat strength was already beyond what any Illusion-Breaking Realm expert could match.
But once he returned to the Holy State, he couldn't easily use his many trump cards.
So, it was necessary to quickly improve his surface strength.
"My mother is from the Holy State. I have a token she left me. If you kill me, my mother will know, and then..."
Ye Fan regained his composure. Though to this day, he still didn't know who his mother was.
But being able to leave behind an defying heavens treasure like the Eight Desolations Glazed Pagoda clearly indicated his mother's status must be extremely noble.
But Ling Xiao was utterly indifferent to Ye Fan's threat.
Blade raised, blade fallen.
Blood splattered across the ground.
Ye Fan, deceased!
A Chosen One without a shred of Destiny Value was utterly useless to Ling Xiao.
As for that mother of his from the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox Clan...
Ling Xiao had indeed considered it. With the Nine-Tailed Clan's heritage, they shouldn't possess an ancient demon-suppressing treasure like the Eight Desolations Glazed Pagoda.
Surely, the Nine-Tailed Clan's eldest princess had encountered some other extraordinary fortune.
But given Ye Fan's character, if he didn't die today, he would inevitably stage a comeback story later.
It was better to simply kill him and be done with it.
The Nine-Tailed Clan was a royal clan of the Ten Thousand Monsters Holy Land, but the Ling family was also a top-tier ancient clan in the Holy State.
Moreover, Ling Xiao also carried the identity of the Young Master of the Ten Thousand Dao Demon Sect.
Even if the Heavenly Fox eldest princess learned he had killed Ye Fan, it would at most become a personal grudge between them.
The Nine-Tailed Clan definitely wouldn't oppose him over a half-breed.
Having figured this out, Ling Xiao reached out and tossed Ye Fan's corpse into the mouth of the demonic shadow behind him.
Simultaneously, the system's prompt sounded again.
Ding! Congratulations, Host, for successfully eliminating the Chosen One. Obtained additional reward: Nine-Layered Dantian Sea. Would you like to fuse immediately?
"Nine-Layered Dantian Sea?"
Ling Xiao was stunned, then wild joy flashed in his eyes.
The Nine-Layered Dantian Sea was far more terrifying than the Yin-Yang Dantian Sea. It was left behind by an ancient sage, exceptionally rare in the world!
"Not now."
Ling Xiao already knew how to deal with his天命 (Chosen One) younger brother back in the clan.
Hum!
A terrifying hum suddenly echoed through the ancient hall.
Then, a pitch-black ancient pagoda stood before Ling Xiao.
Beside him, the demonic ape Mi Yong's eyes flashed with fear, clearly instinctively afraid of this ancient treasure that had suppressed him for countless years.
"So this is the Eight Desolations Glazed Demon-Suppressing Pagoda?"
A gleam of excitement flashed in Ling Xiao's eyes.
He was indeed very interested in this supreme treasure.
Especially since he knew from Mi Yong that it suppressed eight demons even stronger than him.
And once Ling Xiao refined this treasure, coupled with the terrifying demonic might of the Heavenly Demon True Body, the nine demons would surely bow at his feet.
Thinking this, Ling Xiao willed it, and the ancient pagoda vanished into his soul palace.
Boom!
Overwhelming demonic aura instantly surged through Ling Xiao's sea of consciousness.
But as mysterious light glowed from the palace transformed by the Pangu Stone, the pagoda's original imposing presence was instantly suppressed.
The Pangu Stone, after all, was left behind by the great god Pangu when he separated heaven and earth, baptized by Primordial Chaos Qi.
How could a mere heaven-defying treasure dare show off before it?
Soon, the last wisp of consciousness within the pagoda was completely erased.
Ling Xiao quickly separated a strand of divine sense to fully control it.
The once overwhelmingly demonic Eight Desolations Glazed Pagoda instantly became docile, quietly hovering above the soul palace.
After a moment's hesitation, Ling Xiao's figure vanished from the spot.
He wanted to see what kind of origins the nine evil demons sealed within this pagoda had!