Chapter 400: The old minister weeps blood and bows to the new Emperor

Su Chen sat on a stone stool, looked at this ancient sage before him, and comforted him:

"Senior, why must you blame yourself? The Demon Emperor Di Jun had great foresight; he calculated the fall of the Demon Court, and he also calculated that single thread of survival. That you survived with the foundation and preserved the seeds for the Demon Clan's resurgence—this is the greatest loyalty to the Demon Court."

Bai Ze gave a bitter smile and shook his head, his eyes filled with the vicissitudes of time.

He understood the logic, but the infamy and torment he had borne for countless years could not be wiped away by a few words of comfort.

"And furthermore..." Su Chen's tone shifted, becoming extremely solemn, "Within that barrier, we not only witnessed the fall of the Demon Court, but after Mount Buzhou collapsed and the barrier completely disintegrated, we also saw someone."

Bai Ze raised his head, his face full of confusion.

"We returned to the Three Realms and met Dong Huang Taiyi in a space," Su Chen said.

Upon hearing this, this usually composed and infallible Semi-Sage mighty figure stood up abruptly, as if struck by a divine thunderbolt from the Nine Heavens.

His eyes widened, staring fixedly at Su Chen, his voice somewhat hysterical due to extreme agitation: "What did you say?! His Majesty Taiyi? He is still alive?!"

Bai Ze took a large step in front of Su Chen and grabbed Su Chen's arms tightly with both hands.

"When we saw him, he was not dead," Su Chen allowed Bai Ze to hold him, his expression solemn, "but he could not be considered alive either."

Su Chen looked into Bai Ze's eyes, which were filled with hope, and cruelly revealed the truth: "Senior Taiyi merged with the Chaos Bell back then, dragging seven Ancestral Witches to their deaths with him. His physical body was long destroyed, and his Primordial Spirit was shattered. What remained in the barrier was merely a remnant soul of his obsession, sustained by the Chaos Bell."

Bai Ze's hands suddenly stiffened.

"That remnant soul endured endless years of suffering in the void space," Su Chen's voice echoed within the cave dwelling. "He endured endless loneliness, refusing to dissipate. He only waited for us to appear, only to see with his own eyes what the variable that Demon Emperor Di Jun had died to calculate truly looked like."

Bai Ze's body trembled violently.

"And then?" Bai Ze's voice was hoarse.

"He saw us and confirmed that Demon Emperor Di Jun's calculation was not wrong," Su Chen took a deep breath. "Afterward, he withdrew his final Primordial Spirit imprint from the Chaos Bell, his obsession dissipated, and he returned completely to the heavens and earth."

"Thump!"

Bai Ze's knees went weak, and he knelt on the ground.

This sage of the ancient Demon Court, this Semi-Sage who had held back his tears to take away the Demon Clan's foundation during the Lich Tribulation, could no longer hold it together at this moment.

"His Majesty Taiyi..."

Bai Ze turned abruptly to face the direction of North Beiju Luzhou and knocked his head heavily against the ground.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The dull sound of kowtowing echoed within the cave dwelling.

"This old minister is guilty! This old minister is incompetent!"

Bai Ze wept blood and wailed in grief, his voice extremely shrill, permeated with endless sorrow and despair.

He hated himself for not being able to fight and die alongside the Demon Emperor back then; he hated himself for letting Dong Huang Taiyi endure such lonely suffering in the endless void; he hated this thieving heaven for being so unfair to the Demon Clan.

Sun Wukong stood to the side, watching the old man on the ground weeping bitterly, a look of respect flashing in his eyes.

Su Chen watched quietly as Bai Ze vented.

He did not try to dissuade him; this emotion, suppressed for eons, had to be released.

After a long while, Bai Ze's crying gradually weakened, leaving only heavy gasps.

Su Chen sighed softly and slowly stood up.

"Senior, before Senior Taiyi passed, he left very freely. He said the long wait was worth it," Su Chen's voice was steady. "He entrusted the future of the Demon Clan to us."

Su Chen reached out a hand.

"Hum—"

A dull bell toll sounded within the cave dwelling.

Immediately following, a ball of mysterious yellow light rose from Su Chen's palm.

Within the light, a primitive giant bell slowly emerged.

On the surface of the bell, the sun, moon, and stars circled, and earth, water, fire, and wind flowed ceaselessly across its walls.

Phantoms of mountains, lands, and the myriad races of the Primordial World flickered within the mysterious yellow Qi.

The Innate Supreme Treasure, the Chaos Bell!

The moment the Chaos Bell appeared in the world, a supreme pressure that suppressed the Primordial Chaos World descended with a boom.

Bai Ze raised his head abruptly, looking at the mysterious yellow giant bell floating above Su Chen's head.

"The Chaos Bell... His Majesty Taiyi's companion supreme treasure..."

Bai Ze's eyes widened, tears still hanging on his face, his eyes full of shock.

"Senior Taiyi stripped away his imprint and gifted this bell to me."

Bai Ze stared blankly at Su Chen.

"But the one Senior Taiyi truly entrusted it to was not me," Su Chen put away the Chaos Bell and turned his gaze toward Sun Wukong, who had been silent all along.

Bai Ze followed Su Chen's gaze and looked at Sun Wukong.

Sun Wukong did not speak.

He took a large step forward and walked in front of Bai Ze.

The magic power of a peak Great Luo Golden Immortal surged wildly within his body; he opened his right hand, palm facing upward.

A golden seal carved with the totem of the ancient Demon Clan appeared in Sun Wukong's palm.

It was precisely the Demon Emperor Seal that Dong Huang Taiyi had given him!

With the appearance of the Demon Emperor Seal, a supreme imperial pressure that commanded all demons swept across the entire Mount Huaguo.

In the forests and mountains, countless demon soldiers and generals who were training stopped their movements in unison.

They felt an irresistible trembling coming from the depths of their bloodlines, their knees went weak, and they uncontrollably knelt down toward the direction of the cave dwelling.

Behind Sun Wukong, the golden imperial light merged perfectly with his own violent demon Qi.

A massive, heaven-supporting phantom of a Demon Ape condensed behind him.

The Demon Ape roared at the sky, and above the Demon Ape's head, a phantom of a three-legged Golden Crow circled and cried.

The two complemented each other, radiating an overbearing aura of fighting against heaven and earth, peerless and arrogant.

In the air, the faint phantom sounds of ancient Demon Clan battle songs charging into battle could be heard.

Bai Ze knelt on the ground, looking up at the brilliant Demon Emperor Seal and the intertwined phantoms behind Sun Wukong.

He finally understood where the imperial aura that had made him feel like submitting when Sun Wukong released his pressure earlier had come from.

That was the orthodox inheritance of the Demon Clan! It was the Demon Emperor luck personally condensed and entrusted by Dong Huang Taiyi!

"Senior Taiyi said that what the Demon Clan lacks now is not someone to manage things, but an Emperor who dares to pierce through this destiny," Sun Wukong looked down at Bai Ze, his voice low like thunder, carrying unquestionable majesty. "This burden, this old Sun will take it."

Bai Ze looked into Sun Wukong's eyes, which were burning with golden flames.

At this moment, through this unruly ape, he seemed to see Di Jun, who had once ruled the Thirty-Three Heavens, and Taiyi, who had held the Chaos Bell to suppress the eons.

The Demon Court of the old era had completely come to an end.

But the Demon Clan of the new era had welcomed their Emperor.

Bai Ze took a deep breath, his trembling hands slowly lowering.

He raised his sleeves and wiped the tear stains and bloodstains from his face with force.

Afterward, he stood up and straightened his slightly disheveled clothes with extreme solemnity.

His movements were meticulous, solemn to the extreme.

After finishing, Bai Ze stepped back half a step, folded his hands in front of his forehead, and performed the most solemn and sacred monarch-subject rite of the ancient Demon Clan toward Sun Wukong.

His knees touched the ground, his spine bent, and his head buried deep.

"Old minister Bai Ze!"

"Pays respects to His Majesty the Demon Emperor!"

Every word and every syllable was resonant and forceful.

With this bow from Bai Ze, the golden light on the Demon Emperor Seal surged tenfold.

Above the entire Mount Huaguo, the wind and clouds changed color, and the vast Demon Clan luck gathered toward Sun Wukong like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.

Su Chen stood to the side, watching this scene, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.