“That’s what we will do. We do not need to fear that he will not come out.”
“We absolutely cannot let this fellow advance to Martial Emperor. Otherwise, he will trample all of us. Remember his expression. He looked like he wished he could eat us all up.”
The few half-step Martial Emperors quickly communicated. After expressing their thoughts, they quickly came to a joint decision.
Hence, the group stood guard outside the stone stele and waited for the Human-Demon Paradise to close and eject Xiao Chen.
---
At an unremarkable valley in the depths of the Human-Demon Paradise, Xiao Chen laid a simple illusion formation, concealing himself and his companions in this complex environment.
He walked over and looked at Dugu Ao, who was covered in wounds. His face turned so sullen, he looked incredibly frightening.
“How is he doing?” Xiao Chen asked Mu Xiyan, who was currently treating Dugu Ao.
Mu Xiyan shook her head, grief stark on her face. Her voice trembled as she replied, “His wounds are way too severe. His injuries are very complicated, and there is no way to completely treat them. His entire body seems completely wrecked.
When Xiao Chen heard this, his heart sank. Just from appearances, no part of Dugu Ao’s body remained intact. Unexpectedly, the internal injuries were even graver than these horrifying external injuries.
“Let me see.”
After walking over, Xiao Chen used the methods in the Compendium of Cultivation to take Dugu Ao’s pulse and inspect Dugu Ao’s injuries.
Moving his Spiritual Sense, Xiao Chen saw that nearly all the internal organs in Dugu Ao’s body had shattered. They wriggled about, looking like clumps of meat paste. When he saw this, he felt very hurt.
Xiao Chen finally understood why Mu Xiyan said that there was no way to treat him.
Aside from these internal injuries, Dugu Ao’s meridians were also shattered, intertwined together, and clogged up. Thus, he could not circulate any Law Energy.
If not for a mysterious energy in Dugu Ao’s blood vessels, slowly healing his injuries, he would have died long ago.
However, it vaguely seemed like the unconscious Dugu Ao was resisting the healing of that mysterious energy.
With a quick thought, Xiao Chen somewhat understood that if this mysterious energy occupied Dugu Ao’s body entirely, the Demon mixed-blood would only be able to cultivate Demonic Qi, surviving in this world through the means of the Blood Demons and living a life that he abhorred.
This subconscious impulse drove Dugu Ao to resist this mysterious energy, preventing it from healing his body even though he was unconscious.
However, if Dugu Ao persisted in his resistance and exhausted his lifeforce, there would be no hope for saving him.
If Xiao Chen were given a choice, he would rather let Dugu Ao turn into a Demon. Perhaps, there might be a way for him to revert to his original state in the future.
Xiao Chen released Dugu Ao’s hand and remained silent for a long time. The scene of Dugu Ao facing twelve half-step Martial Emperors alone and shouting kept replaying in his mind.
Twelve half-step Martial Emperors surrounded and attacked Dugu Ao, but Xiao Chen could only watch. Xiao Chen would never forget this scene of humiliation.
“Go! Go! Go!”
That desperate voice still resounded in Xiao Chen’s ears. Each “go” gave those twelve half-step Martial Emperors an opportunity to severely injure Dugu Ao once.
However, Dugu Ao never forgot. Even when the Blood Demon Transformation unraveled, he still did not forget to call out to Xiao Chen to go.
Xiao Chen thought, If Dugu Ao did not care so much about me, perhaps he might not have gotten this severely injured.
Guilt, self-reproach, murderous intent, and all sorts of other emotions pervaded Xiao Chen’s heart. At this moment, he craved strength.
There had never been a moment when he desired strength as much as he did now. There had never been a moment when he wanted to kill some people as much as he did today.
Xiao Chen unsealed the Immortal Spirit Ring and let Ao Jiao out. Then, he requested, “Little Ao Jiao, please do not let him die. No matter what, please do not let him die. I beg of you.”
Ao Jiao was originally about to blow her top. However, when she saw Xiao Chen’s eyes full of complicated emotions, she felt a pang in her heart.
Even back then, the Thunder Emperor had not suffered as many difficulties as Xiao Chen did as he tried to progress to Martial Emperor.
It could even be said that since ancient times, there never had been an outstanding talent who met with as many difficulties as Xiao Chen did on their path to Martial Emperor.
“I will do my best,” Ao Jiao said softly.
With Ao Jiao’s abilities, even if Dugu Ao did not wake up, she should be able to stop his lifeforce from continuing to drain away.
With a flip of Xiao Chen’s hand, both the Flower of Life and the Death Fruit appeared in his palm.
Their respective Life Aura and Death Aura immediately clashed, resulting in two clumps of energy—one white and one black—pus.h.i.+ng against each other.
This sight startled Ao Jiao somewhat. She exclaimed, “You are choosing to make your breakthrough here? The time is too short, right?”
The Human-Demon Paradise opened for only ten days. Ten days later, it would expel everyone within it.
If Xiao Chen was forcefully interrupted while condensing a Heart of an Emperor, he would definitely fail, cutting off his only method to advance to Martial Emperor within five years.
The time was too short; making the attempt now was too risky.
Ao Jiao shook her head and advised, “Xiao Chen, don’t be rash.”
Xiao Chen’s eyes gleamed with determination. He said calmly, “I am not acting rashly. Actually, this is also my last chance. Even if all my injuries heal, ten days later, with eight half-step Martial Emperors standing guard outside, I still will have no hope of survival.
“I will have a chance of defeating them only by condensing the Heart of an Emperor and advancing to Consummation quasi-Emperor.
“On the path to Emperor, any small mistake could lead to an irrecoverable calamity. I do not wish to take such risk, either. However, these people keep forcing me. I no longer have any room to retreat.
“I cannot share the same sky with them. I am willing to pay the price of failing to become a Martial Emperor and stake my life against this group of people. If they do not die, I will!”
As the countenances of the eight half-step Martial Emperors appeared in Xiao Chen’s mind, he exuded a heavy murderous intent from his eyes.
After speaking, he no longer hesitated to put the Flower of Life and the Death Fruit in his mouth and swallow.
Xiao Chen sat cross-legged in the air. Then, he quickly circulated the Life and Death Art, which he was so familiar with that he could even recite it backward.
The strong Life Aura and the dense Death Aura triggered an intense battle in his body like one between two vast armies.
Both sides fought for control, unwilling to submit to the other. They clashed at every moment, inflicting so much pain that Xiao Chen vomited blood and nearly gave up.
Clinging to his final bit of consciousness, he used the Life and Death Art to do his best to tame these two extremely immense energies.
Only by perfectly taming and exhausting these two energies could the Life and Death Art be materialized layer by layer to the point of rebirth. Then, Xiao Chen would directly condense a Heart of an Emperor, which only a Martial Emperor possessed.
A vast mysterious phenomenon manifested in the air. Sometimes, it appeared as h.e.l.l. Sometimes, it appeared as heaven. It changed unpredictably, looking fantastic.
Ao Jiao looked extremely worried. Ten days was simply too short.
---
At the stone stele, the eight half-step Martial Emperors of various races sat cross-legged, guarding each direction as they monitored the Human-Demon Paradise’s exit.
As the Demon mixed-blood cultivators came out off the Human-Demon Paradise, they felt an overwhelming killing intent that scared them. These cultivators of the Human-Demon Sea did not even dare to breathe deeply.
After carefully going far away, they panted heavily. When they had seen the eight half-step Martial Emperors waiting with surging killing intent, they all felt a deep fear.
Against the eight peak half-step Martial Emperors guarding this place, even an expert of the Old Black Iron Monster’s level would lose in an instant.
Everyone discussed this situation from a distance. Clearly, the matters that happened in the Human-Demon Paradise had already spread everywhere.
Everyone was surprised at the white-robed bladesman managing to flee despite twelve half-step Martial Emperors attacking him.
Dugu Ao’s final crazy action also moved countless people. It was truly the white-robed bladesman’s fortune to have made a friend like Dugu Ao.
Everyone felt envious from the bottom of their heart. In this world where friends.h.i.+ps were as thin as water, even when one made an ordinary friend, there would be some benefits involved as well.
However, at the critical moment, Dugu Ao gave up his chance to flee. He stuck his neck out and used his life to fight for a chance for Xiao Chen.
But, unfortunately, based on today’s situation, no matter what the two did in the Human-Demon Paradise, after ten days pa.s.sed and they were forced out, they would still die when they faced the combined attacks of the eight half-step Martial Emperors.
The days pa.s.sed one by one. The day of the Human-Demon Paradise’s closure approached like the countdown to death.
The many cultivators gathered outside the ancient stone stele, all of them waiting for the final scene.
This opening of the Human-Demon Paradise was eventful, which was very surprising. No one could have antic.i.p.ated it.
Twelve foreign half-step Martial Emperors had appeared in force, completely disrupting the order of the Human-Demon Paradise and prompting many people to leave ahead of time.
As of now, there were still three days to the closure of the Human-Demon Paradise, but most of the people had already come out.
The reason was safety; no one wanted to be killed by accident at the last moment. In the past days, several Demon mixed-blood cultivators had died at the hands of these half-step Martial Emperors.
They might have been killed by mistake or perhaps just because these half-step Martial Emperors were in a bad mood and wanted to vent on someone. This made everyone fear them.
Although the Demon mixed-blood cultivators were angry, they did not dare to say anything. Logically speaking, these eight half-step Martial Emperors were far from enough to suppress all the cultivators here. However, these half-step Martial Emperors had Primes behind them. This backing allowed these people to do as they pleased in the Human-Demon Sea without showing any fear.
---
Back in a desolate valley in the Human-Demon Paradise, Xiao Chen anxiously strove to break through. His body flashed black and white as the Life Aura and the Death Aura mixed.
From initially clas.h.i.+ng with each other, the two auras had started to merge. However, they were still far from reaching a balance.
Four light rings of different colors appeared behind Xiao Chen in the air. Each ring of light showed a different mysterious phenomenon.
The four rings of light meant that Xiao Chen had already broken through to the fourth layer of the Life and Death Art. There were still three more layers. As long as he successfully broke through, he would be able to condense the Heart of an Emperor in one go and advance to Consummation quasi-Emperor.
However, for the last three layers, each layer was even more dangerous than the one before. Every breakthrough would require one to visit the gates of h.e.l.l and return.
“Ka ca!”
Suddenly, tiny cracks appeared in the four rings of light behind Xiao Chen.
He lost control of the Life Aura and the Death Aura in his body. They became like wild horses struggling free of his reins, rampaging in his body.
Xiao Chen’s complexion became horrifyingly dark, like a black-faced evil spirit from h.e.l.l, then so pale that he looked bloodless as if his body were undergoing autophagy, in turns.
[TL Note: In Chinese culture, a black face means good while a white face means bad. This is reflected in Chinese opera, where good characters paint their faces black and bad characters paint their face white. However, in h.e.l.l, things get reversed. So the good becomes white and bad becomes black.]
The two lights—black and white—alternated unpredictably. This made the people who cared about him worry, unable to feel at ease.