Chapter 485: 484. Chapter 479: I Am the Heavenly Emperor

484. Chapter 479: I Am the Heavenly Emperor

Ding Huan was about to summon his iron pot when a vast swarm of immortal beast-demons sensed his aura and surged wildly toward him.

The once-empty wasteland quickly became crisscrossed with black lines.

At this moment, Ding Huan could have simply summoned his iron pot and fled—these immortal beast-demons could never catch him.

But Ding Huan wanted to test the soul-sucking effect of his Soul-Eating Realm Ring.

He deliberately set up a massive slaughter formation, then summoned the Wheel of Reincarnation Spear.

Within moments, the immortal beast-demons charged into the massive slaughter formation.

A cacophony of beast roars and flying flesh and blood intertwined—even Ding Huan felt his scalp prickling.

These immortal beast-demons were not merely charging blindly toward him.

Within moments, the sixth-rank immortal slaughter formation Ding Huan had set up was torn apart.

It was not shattered by brute force or array-breaking—it was torn apart by piled corpses.

Ding Huan unleashed the Wheel of Reincarnation Spear; its spear curtain exploded, turning the immortal beast-demons near him into bursts of blood mist.

The bursting blood mist further enraged the immortal beast-demons, driving them to charge at Ding Huan with even greater frenzy.

Within moments, the space within Ding Huan's line of sight was almost entirely dark—every inch of air was blocked by the immortal beast-demons.

He seemed to have made a mistake; the rate at which these immortal beast-demons gathered was faster than he'd imagined.

Not only were flying immortal beast-demons filling the sky, but countless others swarmed from underground—any misstep from Ding Huan's position would leave him crushed to dust without a trace remaining.

The spearlight from the Wheel of Reincarnation Spear continuously swept away vast swaths of immortal beast-demons; when they fell, they piled into mountains of corpses.

Ding Huan stood atop heaps of immortal beast-demon corpses, yet the distant ones still surged forward in relentless waves.

At this moment, Ding Huan felt he had wrongly blamed Ji Mi, the commander of this immortal beast-demon battlefield—these creatures simply could not be killed or exterminated.

No matter how many human cultivators there were—even a million-strong army—they still paled in comparison to the numbers of these immortal beast-demons.

Most of these immortal beast-demons were first- to third-rank; some were fourth- and fifth-rank.

This was Ding Huan—if any other cultivator had been in his place, they would have been devoured down to the last bone.

Ding Huan knew that if he kept killing like this, he might kill for months and still not break through.

Because the immortal beast-demons outside kept multiplying; if a stronger one appeared, he would be in grave danger.

He swept his spiritual sense outward and confirmed no human cultivator was nearby.

Around Ding Huan, Dao rhythms flowed, then radiated outward from him in waves of poison Dao rhythms.

At this moment, Ding Huan was the center of these poison Dao rhythms—endless poison Dao laws rippled through space.

The art Ding Huan cultivated fused all cosmic laws; while training, he had never deliberately fused poison Dao laws, yet throughout the vast universe, poison laws were everywhere.

Thus, he did not need to actively absorb these poison Dao laws—he could selectively fuse them even while training.

Ding Huan was currently at the early stage of Great Yi Immortal; since he had never specially fused higher-level poison laws, annihilating fourth-rank and below immortal beast-demons was effortless.

Vast swathes of immortal beast-demons fell, triggering a chain reaction—like cutting wheat, the carnage spread from near to far…

Instantly, the space around Ding Huan became empty.

A few fifth-rank and a handful of sixth-rank immortal beast-demons that had charged from afar froze in shock at the sight.

As the poison Dao laws seeped in, even these sixth-rank beasts, though not immediately killed, stood trembling in place.

Ding Huan had no mercy—he swung the Wheel of Reincarnation Spear, unleashing waves of spearlight to reap the immortal beast-demons still alive but paralyzed.

The immortal beast-demons behind sensed the danger and tried to retreat, only to be caught by Ding Huan's poison Dao rhythms—another vast wave died.

The distant immortal beast-demons dared not advance any further; they turned and fled en masse.

In the blink of an eye, under Ding Huan's spiritual sense, not a single immortal beast-demon remained alive.

Ding Huan swept his spiritual sense outward—it was as if he had just emerged from underground: no human cultivators, no beast aura remained.

His spiritual sense brushed against the endless corpses of immortal beast-demons; he sighed deeply—his cultivation was still too low.

If his cultivation were stronger—or if he had reached the Immortal King realm—even the distant immortal beast-demons would not have escaped.

But he could not stay here; all these immortal beast-demons were below seventh-rank—if a seventh-rank or higher one arrived, he would be in danger.

With so many low-rank immortal beast-demons slaughtered here, a seventh-rank or higher one arriving was inevitable.

Not to mention an eighth-rank Beast Emperor might come.

His spiritual sense settled on the Soul-Eating Realm Ring; its surface looked exactly as it had before.

Yet Ding Huan could clearly sense every spatial fluctuation through the ring—the spatial laws within it were now clearer and denser.

Indeed, he could sense the realm nodes and weak points—he rejoiced; the sensation was still vague, likely because the Soul-Eating Realm Ring had absorbed too few souls.

He had just slain countless immortal beast-demons, but for the Soul-Eating Realm Ring, it was still insufficient.

Moreover, the ones he killed were mostly low-rank; few were high-rank.

First, leave this place—don't get trapped by a high-rank immortal beast-demon.

Ding Huan was about to summon his iron pot when his spiritual sense suddenly caught a faint Dao rhythm fluctuation.

His gaze fixed on a dried swamp dozens of li away; he scanned it several times—his eyes had not deceived him; there was indeed a Dao rhythm fluctuation.

This fluctuation was identical to the one he had sensed while refining the Nirvana Realm Ring underground.

Was someone hiding in this dried swamp, cultivating—or refining something, like him?

Ding Huan landed on the swamp and tossed down dozens of array flags.

Soon, the swamp was ripped open, revealing a space before Ding Huan.

Indeed, someone was hiding here.

It was a man of short stature, even appearing frail.

When Ding Huan's gaze fell upon him, his eyes immediately contracted.

Was this an Immortal Emperor?

He scanned again with his divine sense, and Ding Huan confirmed he had not mistaken it—this was unquestionably an Immortal Emperor, even a power beyond an Immortal Emperor.

But now his injuries were too severe; even though he knew Ding Huan was observing him, he could not launch any counterattack or warning.

He had revealed himself because his Poison Dao principles had also affected the other.

A series of frantic whimpers came forth, and Ding Huan knew that if he didn't leave now, he truly wouldn't get away.

It must be a Level Seven or higher Immortal Beast coming.

Ding Huan took a deep breath, raised his hand, and swept the frail man into his iron pot; the pot tore through space and vanished instantly.

An hour later, Ding Huan stopped.

The man he had pulled into the iron pot was still healing.

But his injuries were too grave; though his cultivation was formidable, healing this way, recovery might still be years away.

He casually constructed a healing Immortal array and pressed his hand against the man's third eye.

The Great Cosmos Art activated; after merely a dozen Zhou Tian cycles, when Ding Huan withdrew his hand, the frail man could open his eyes.

"Thank you," he croaked, his cracked lips struggling to form the two words.

Ding Huan did not answer him—he was using the Great Computation Art to calculate.

This man had clearly been severely wounded in battle with an Immortal Beast; on the surface his injuries seemed manageable, but in truth his Dao had been mottled, his Purple Palace cracking.

Such severe mottling of Dao resonance was even worse than a ruptured Purple Palace or torn meridians—it was nearly incurable.

So though the man could now speak, he likely knew he was beyond saving.

"Your cultivation is low, but your future is vast. Before I die, I have a few words for you."

The man ceased healing and looked at Ding Huan as he spoke with difficulty.

Ding Huan was inwardly thrilled: since entering Great Yi Immortal, he had finally sensed his own future within the calculations of an Immortal Emperor.

Even if slightly blurred, it was better than the utter void before.

His calculation showed he himself was unharmed, and this man could be saved.

Of all the injuries in this universe, only his Great Cosmos Art could heal such mottled Dao damage; Ding Huan did not rush to act, only nodded and said, "Speak."

"The cultivation method you practice is extraordinary. Have you ever been to the Immortal Court?" the man asked.

Ding Huan nodded. "I have."

The man shook his head. "Never go there again. If anyone discovers the Dao method you cultivate, you won't have a chance to live."

Ding Huan said nothing—he knew his own mind. Just as he had used the Great Cosmos Art to restore the man's ability to speak, he had weighed the risks.

First, this man had been wounded defending the Great Immortal Realm against Immortal Beasts; second, he felt no malice from him, and his Great Computation Art had revealed no danger to himself.

Most importantly, even if the man harbored ill intent now, he could do nothing to Ding Huan.

"You know the Heavenly Court has Four Emperors and a Heavenly Emperor, right?"

Ding Huan nodded.

The man gave a bitter laugh. "Do you know who the Heavenly Emperor is?"

"Lou Wushang Emperor," Ding Huan replied.

That the Heavenly Emperor was Lou Wushang Emperor—anyone in the Great Immortal Realm or the Immortal Court knew that.

The man sneered. "The Heavenly Emperor's throne was mine. They schemed against me, and Lou Wushang stole it."

"You?" Ding Huan sized up the frail man before him. Before his injury, the man's cultivation might have qualified him as Heavenly Emperor—but now, he was worlds apart from the image of one.

The man took a deep breath and lowered his voice further. "My name is Brother Xingpan. Back then, the Immortal Realm had Five Emperors: Emperor Jinhe, Brother Pingwei, Wu Kong, Du Xing, and myself, Brother Xingpan."

"The Heavenly Emperor was originally chosen from among these Five. Do you know why they finally picked Lou Wushang, who wasn't even one of the Five?"

"Why?" Ding Huan asked instinctively.

Brother Xingpan said: "Because they never regarded the human cultivators of the Great Immortal Realm as living beings. In their eyes, the cultivators and sects of the Great Immortal Realm existed only to guard the Heavenly Court."