The sulfurous black smoke shrouding the Dark Demon Palace slowly faded, leaving total destruction in its wake across the main hall. The thousands of surviving demon soldiers fled in panic in every direction, no longer daring to look at the young man who had just executed Demon King Mo Zun and absorbed all his power in a matter of seconds.
Xiao Chen slowly approached the ruins of the collapsed skull throne. Amid the dust and molten black rocks, an ancient stone box carved with a coiled dragon emitted an increasingly bright, deep-red glow.
With a single wave of his hand, Xiao Chen lifted the stone box with a surge of black-gold Qi. The moment his fingers touched its surface, the coiled-dragon symbol trembled violently, responding to the presence of the Ancient God-Demon Emperor's Bloodline within Xiao Chen's body.
*Click!*
The sealing spell on the stone box collapsed on its own. Its lid opened, revealing a piece of ancient blood-colored silk covered in engraved territorial lines and mystical seals. This was the second section of the Demon Realm Seal Map, a relic left behind by his late mother, Empress Mu Rong.
When Xiao Chen combined the blood-colored silk with the bronze mirror, the Dark Soul Mirror, that he carried, a three-dimensional map projection suddenly appeared in the air!
The red-golden projection displayed a complete image of the Demon Realm and the Tianyuan Continent. At the center of the map, three enormous points of light could be seen connected in a chain of ancient seals. One point lay deep within the Demon Realm—the territory Xiao Chen had just conquered—while the other two seal points were actually embedded directly beneath the domains controlled by the Three Great Sects of the Tianyuan Continent!
*"Master Ku,"* Xue Ling'er's voice echoed softly from within the God-Demon Sword, bringing warmth to the frigid air of the Demon Realm. *"Our guess was completely correct. Empress Mu Rong deliberately split this map into several parts and hid them in the most dangerous places. Demon King Mo Zun was merely the guardian of one of the seal keys. The true seal key restraining the Ancient God-Demon Emperor's full awakening is held by the leaders of the Three Great Sects!"
Xiao Chen narrowed his golden irises, emitting a bone-piercing, icy glint. "So the old men of the Three Great Sects, cloaked in the name of justice... were actually using my mother's seals to absorb the ancient energy for their own sects?"
*"Exactly,"* Xue Ling'er replied, her voice filled with hatred. *"The Three Great Sects—the Heaven God Sect, the Eternal Sword Sect, and the Green Cloud Sect—have exploited the energy from your mother's seals for thousands of years to produce experts in the Pure Soul Realm and the Tribulation Crossing Realm. They slandered your mother as a demon witch solely to seize this relic!"
Xiao Chen's hands clenched tightly, crushing the Qi particles around him until they burst in tiny explosions. His old grudges were aimed not only at the narrow-minded Xiao Family in Awan City, but also at the boastful great sects that believed themselves to be the rulers of the Tianyuan Continent.
Suddenly, another violent tremor spread through the air. This time, however, it came from outside the dimensional rift of the Demon Realm!
Through his keen spiritual perception, Xiao Chen could sense dozens of colossal auras gathering at the Northern Border of the Tianyuan Continent while he stood at the peak of Foundation Establishment, Third Level. Those auras radiated the extraordinary pressure of practitioners from the Pure Soul Realm and the Tribulation Crossing Realm!
The death message of Demon General Kuang Sha and Xiao Chen's invasion of the Demon Realm had shaken the entire Tianyuan Continent. The Three Great Sects had mobilized all their Great Elders and elite forces to surround the dimensional rift, preparing to exterminate anyone who emerged from the Demon Realm!
Xiao Chen drew the blood-colored silk and the Dark Soul Mirror back into his storage ring. He sheathed the God-Demon Sword across his back, then folded his hands behind him beneath his black-and-gold robe, which fluttered in the poisonous wind.
"Foundation Establishment, Third Level..." Xiao Chen muttered as he stared at his hands, which were filled with streams of purple-gold lightning. "With my current strength, I'm ready to form the unrivaled Ancient God-Demon Golden Core."
Turning around, Xiao Chen looked at the dimensional rift connecting the Demon Realm to the Mortal Realm. A cold, domineering smile curved across his lips.
"The elders of the Three Great Sects have gathered outside to welcome me?" Xiao Chen whispered with a mocking tone. "Excellent. That'll save me the trouble of hunting them down one by one!"
*BOOOOM!*
With a single casual slash of the God-Demon Sword, Xiao Chen split open the dimensional space before him and shot out of the Demon Realm like a golden dragon poised to charge into and obliterate the ranks of the Three Great Sects!