Chapter 993: Your Lives Now Belong to Me

Jiang Ding slashed with a sword.

This sword technique is called Moonlight Flashing Illusory World Sword.

It is one of the supreme sword arts of the Moon Line of the Sun-Moon Sword Pavilion, reluctantly surrendered under the grand scheme, now belonging to Jiang Ding, and he had slashed this sword after a century of honing.

With this slash, the world seemed to split into two independent worlds.

Before the Flame Flow Emperor Son stood a Sky Void Emperor Son.

Before the Sky Void Emperor Son stood a Flame Flow Emperor Son.

This was normal.

Yet, these were two worlds, two Flame Flow Emperor Sons, two Sky Void Emperor Sons—this was strange.

The Sky Void Emperor Son and the Flame Flow Emperor Son each had their own opponents, wielding heavy forces, fiercely battling; upon closer inspection, their opponents, though using identical methods of the Horn Demon Emperor Clan—hundred-zhang demonic bodies, ten-zhang indestructible chaotic space—were identical.

Yet, if one looked even more closely, one would notice their opponents were hazy, their bodies formed of sword qi, their attacks composed of sword qi, forcibly simulated through the Way of the Sword.

This sword technique, Moonlight Flashing Illusory World Sword, after revision by the Immortal Sect and eight Great Beings, was estimated by them to have a ninety percent chance of not triggering the Great Emperor’s backdoor on either Emperor Son.

The Great Emperor desired his children to become pillars holding up the heavens, not useless wastes; naturally, he would not trigger his own methods merely because an opponent was unusual in a peer battle.

Better to keep them at home their whole lives than let them out.

Emperor Sons need battle, need honing; as long as they do not die, the Great Emperor’s methods rarely activate.

The two Emperor Sons were locked in fierce combat within the illusion.

Around them, other Emperor Sons, Kings, and attendants watched intently, breath held, none noticing anything amiss.

“You two are weak.”

“...Weak, my fellow cultivators...”

Jiang Ding sighed: “Remember, your lives now belong to me, recorded in my ledger.”

“When you truly meet me in the future, please commit suicide according to proper etiquette.”

“Otherwise, you will be an Emperor Son without integrity, and I will be angry.”

He felt no small regret.

If he were now at Void Refinement, why bother with such trouble?

He alone, with one sword and one ship, had stormed this realm, slaying all who defied him, purging the world’s sins, securing glory for humanity, rescuing countless races from peril, forging a new order centered on humanity in the Horn Ming Domain.

What Chen Xi had achieved in the past, he could achieve—and surpass.

“Decree!”

Jiang Ding pulled out a dull gray crystal sphere—the Horn Demon Tianyan Sphere—and activated it.

The Horn Demon Tianyan Sphere blazed with light, radiating a ring of transparent, hazy glow that gradually disintegrated into countless rays of light, finally

vanished.

Invisibly, subtle changes occurred.

These changes came from fate, from the Heavenly Mechanism, from the supreme Heavenly Mechanism masterpiece of the Nine Spirit Realms, using the Emperor Son’s fortune as a catalyst to further accelerate the premature birth of the Emperor Son’s Crown.

Of course, only its birth—whether the Crown was complete, whether it was strong enough to propel the Emperor Son to Great Emperor status—

these were no longer Jiang Ding’s concern.

With all done, Jiang Ding’s figure slowly vanished, like an illusion.

No one knew where he had gone.

The two worlds created by the Moonlight Flashing Illusory World Sword began to close, the Flame Flow Emperor Son’s true body and illusion merging, the Sky Void Emperor Son’s true body and illusion merging.

The two worlds became one again.

The Sky Void Emperor Son’s Azure Spear stabbed down like lightning, imbued with the overwhelming might of heaven and earth, the ten-zhang indestructible chaotic space condensed into a single point, transforming into a dazzling, all-consuming star.

This spear, like a cosmic light, struck straight at the center of the Flame Flow Emperor Son’s halberd.

Boom!

The Flame Flow Emperor Son’s arms cracked faintly; he spat blood and retreated, his ten-zhang indestructible chaotic space shattering and healing again, his face filled with resentment.

“Hah!”

“Brother Flame Flow, I yield.”

The Sky Void Emperor Son spoke with courteous elegance, radiating unmatched grace.

“Hmph!”

“I never thought you had inherited the Azure Flame Ancient Emperor Scripture—only the Holy Sect’s heir should be allowed to...”

The Flame Flow Emperor Son snorted.

In his heart, he now believed the Sky Void Emperor Son was the illegitimate son of the Azure Flame Ancient Emperor.

Otherwise, no matter how gifted, he could never have practiced the supreme scripture reserved solely for the Holy Sect’s heir; without this scripture, he would never have lost.

“This is the Azure Flame Scripture, not the Azure Flame Ancient Emperor Scripture.”

“Brother Flame Flow, you are mistaken.”

The Sky Void Emperor Son smiled faintly.

It was slightly obvious, but necessary—rules were rules.

Instantly, everyone’s gaze toward him changed.

With the full backing of an Ancient Emperor and his own formidable strength, few things in the world could challenge him.

“This is my Flame Stone Clan’s Crown...”

The Flame Flow Emperor Son felt a pain as if thousands of venomous snakes gnawed at his heart: “No, there’s still time—still a thousand years. I refuse to believe the other Emperor Sons in the Azure Flame Holy Sect...”

Boom!

Suddenly, heaven and earth roared with thunder.

Infinite golden-purple light filled the heavens, forming a fiery phenomenon that rose skyward and spread into the realm’s starry void, radiating supreme nobility, divine sanctity.

An inexplicable pressure emerged.

Golden lotuses sprang from the earth, celestial cranes danced, a brilliant golden heavenly river flowed down from the void, and scenes of countless races bowing in worship arose one after another, heralding a future vision.

In that instant, across the entire star sea—even beyond the Azure Flame Holy Sect—countless Kings, Emperor Sons, and Great Emperors awoke and turned their gaze here.

The Sky Void Emperor Son, Flame Flow Emperor Son, and others froze.

“Emperor Son... Emperor Son’s Crown...”

“The Emperor Son’s Crown has emerged!”

“Emerging! Another Great Emperor is about to be born in this star region...”

Countless voices erupted in excitement, filled with longing.

Following a new Great Emperor to maturity was undoubtedly a profitable statecraft investment; countless families and races ascended to noble status in the process.

In ancient times, the Demon Rock Clan was merely a minor race in the realm, yet because it grew alongside the Flame Stone Great Emperor, it now stood as a renowned powerful clan, ranked ninth among slave races.

Yet, this also concealed terrible danger.

Where were the previous powerful clans of the Demon Rock Clan? What glorious histories did they possess? No one remembered.

Not only were slave races rising; even the Horn Demon Emperor Clan members trembled with anticipation—many talented youths of the clan, long confined by lineage and unable to break through, now burned with fierce desire.

When the Emperor Son’s Crown appeared, a new noble house emerged.

This was the ancient tradition of the Horn Demon Emperor Clan: new replaces old; only the strongest, most outstanding bloodline becomes the clan’s aristocratic house.

“Brother Flame Flow.”

The Sky Void Emperor Son, returning from ecstatic joy, asked gravely: “Will you relinquish the Emperor Son’s Crown? I swear by heaven—I will treat your clan well. If you one day rise to Great Emperor through your own strength, I will share the Great Emperor’s authority with you, and I will not break my word!”

In his view, as soon as he defeated Flame Flow Emperor Son, the Emperor Son’s Crown coalesced.

This was fate!

This was ancestral fortune favoring him!

“Sky Void!”

Flame Flow Emperor Son’s temples bulged with veins, roaring: “This is my Flame Stone Clan’s Crown!”

“This is my Crown!”

“No, this is the Emperor Clan’s Crown!”

“Brother Flame Flow,”

the Sky Void Emperor Son smiled: “Your ancestor, Flame Stone Great Emperor, did not inherit the Emperor Son’s Crown from your grandfather—he seized it from another.”

“This is the Emperor Clan’s tradition.”

“The Emperor Clan is not those cowardly slave races—only the strongest Emperor Son may claim the Crown.”

The Sky Void Emperor Son, sensing Flame Flow Emperor Son’s answer, said no more and turned away.

All the Kings, slave race Kings, and Horn Demon Emperor Clan Kings watching this scene shuddered, as if already sensing the thick scent of blood about to stain the star region.

Amid countless deaths, countless challenges, the victorious Emperor Son would be crowned, becoming the future Great Emperor.

Amid countless deaths and countless challenges, the victorious imperial prince was crowned, becoming the future Great Emperor.

Four, completed