At Gu Qingfeng's command, the gate to the aberrant dimension suddenly swung open.
A spatial rift several zhang long tore through the void behind him.
Such a shocking transformation naturally drew the attention of the Crown Prince and his entourage. When they turned their gaze toward the rift, their scalps instantly tingled with terror.
What a scene lay within that spatial rift!
Countless demons and monsters, packed densely together, each with ghastly green faces and jagged fangs—grotesque and varied in form. Some were ferocious, others bloodthirsty, resembling malevolent spirits. The tallest stood several zhang high, while the shortest were at least half a man's height.
Their kinds were too numerous to name.
Yellow weasels, mountain goblins, chimei specters, cat-faced old women, thousand-legged centipede spirits, white-scaled giant pythons, human-faced demon spiders, ghouls, twin-tailed human-faced scorpions, carrion vultures, bloodthirsty demon bats, eye fiends...
It was as if every demon under heaven had gathered here.
Though nearly everyone present had encountered demons before, none had ever seen such an overwhelming horde.
This hellish spectacle, despite their numerical advantage, filled them with dread.
"Is this... the Gate to the Demon Realm?" The crowd erupted into chaos.
The Crown Prince no longer had the mind to scold his panicking subordinates—his own eyes were wide with shock, as if he had seen a ghost.
Then, the seemingly endless tide of demons within the rift suddenly parted, clearing a long, empty path down the middle.
The demons' movement drew the crowd's attention once more, sending a chill down their spines.
It felt eerily like a boss making their grand entrance, with underlings stepping aside in reverence.
Under the tense gazes of the onlookers, a woman emerged from the end of the path, walking with graceful steps.
The moment they saw her, everyone was momentarily spellbound.
What kind of woman was this?
She was breathtakingly beautiful, so radiant it defied description, as if heaven had lavished all its favor upon her.
She wore a strange, form-fitting leather miniskirt, her long, shapely legs exposed to the air. In one hand, she held a whip, while her feet were clad in peculiar shoes with towering heels. Her flawless face bore the haughty demeanor of a queen, her fiery red lips curled into a bewitching smile.
Every piece of her attire was something they had never seen before—utterly bizarre—yet when combined, they exuded an inexplicable allure that stirred the soul.
Slowly, the woman stepped forward, stopping before the legion of demons. She lifted her proud, swan-like neck and declared, "By our master's command, we march forth!"
Like a queen reigning over demons, she issued her orders with lofty authority.
At her command, the endless sea of demons roared in unison, their murderous intent shaking the heavens!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The thunderous stampede of the demonic army rushing out of the spatial rift echoed like rolling thunder.
For a moment, the Crown Prince and his forces were paralyzed by the sheer momentum of the demonic horde.
They sensed that these demons were like caged beasts—long suppressed, tormented, and starved for blood, their pent-up fury now unleashed in a single, terrifying wave.
And their instincts were not wrong. After all, who wouldn’t be consumed by rage after being confined day after day, forced to beat a man clad in thorns, punished for slacking, and then made to labor—building, farming, fishing—while nursing their wounds?
Add to that the inherently bloodthirsty and savage nature of demons, and it was no surprise they had reached a boiling point.
The endless tide of demons continued pouring out of the rift, gathering like an ocean behind Gu Qingfeng. The stunningly beautiful woman swayed her way to his side, her demeanor suddenly meek and submissive, like a delicate bird nestling against him.
In an instant, demonic energy blotted out the sky, shrouding the entire imperial capital.
The Crown Prince and his men grew increasingly horrified.
Suddenly—
The woman raised her fair hand and clapped twice.
As if receiving a signal, the demonic horde dropped to one knee in perfect unison. Those without legs, like the white-scaled giant python, bowed low instead.
In one deafening voice, they cried, "We pay homage to our master!"
The combined voices of tens of thousands of demons shook the earth and shattered the clouds above.
And the one they knelt before—the one they called master—was none other than Gu Qingfeng!
Gu Qingfeng glanced approvingly at Little Corpse Charm beside him. "You’ve trained them well. Good work."
Little Corpse Charm flushed with delight, murmuring coyly, "To serve you is my duty, Master. It was no trouble at all."
"Mm." Gu Qingfeng nodded, then cast a disdainful glance at the Crown Prince and his men.
"Well, dear nephew, now I’d like to see how you plan to resist me."
The Crown Prince remained silent—too stunned to speak. His eyes, fixed on Gu Qingfeng, now held unmistakable fear.
He looked upon him as if he were the sovereign of all demons.
He was terrified.
The brutality of demons was common knowledge throughout the Great Yan Dynasty.
Even as the Crown Prince, facing such an unfathomable legion of demons for the first time triggered a primal terror within him.
Humans were born with an innate fear of demons, and witnessing such numbers magnified that fear beyond measure.
"Y-you... just what are you?!" the Crown Prince stammered in horror.
"Keh keh keh..." Gu Qingfeng let out a sinister, domineering laugh. "I am the Sovereign of Demons!"
Truthfully, he hadn’t planned to use such a title—it sounded too much like a villain’s moniker—but the atmosphere demanded it.
The Crown Prince’s pupils constricted at the title. He turned to his closest advisor in desperation.
Though shaken, the advisor—a Dragon Transformation realm expert—steadied himself and said, "Your Highness, this fiend is merely bluffing. While his demonic horde is vast, it lacks elite Dragon Transformation-level fiends. They are nothing but a rabble."
The Crown Prince’s nerves settled slightly, but before he could speak, Gu Qingfeng erupted into laughter again.
"Keh keh keh... Lacking Dragon Transformation fiends? Did you fools really think this was all?"
With that, a brilliant light flashed around Gu Qingfeng, and an identical figure split from his body—a mirror image clone!
Gu Qingfeng tossed the clone a commander’s token and ordered, "Let them stretch their legs too."
The clone nodded and vanished instantly.
Moments later—
From the headquarters of the Demon Suppression Bureau in the imperial capital, a monstrous surge of demonic energy erupted, piercing the heavens!
Hundreds of dazzling streaks of light shot across the sky, while the earth trembled as if under the march of an approaching army.
Then—
The streaks of light landed behind Gu Qingfeng, revealing several Dragon Transformation-level fiends and over a hundred Martial Master-level demons.
As one, they knelt and proclaimed, "We pay homage to our master!"
At that moment, the Crown Prince’s forces completely lost their composure.
"That’s... the Evil Buddha, at the eighth level of Dragon Transformation!"
"And the Red Ghost King, at the third level!"
"The Nether Demon Lord, fifth level Dragon Transformation!"
...
As one renowned title after another was recognized, the meager morale the Crown Prince's side had painstakingly built up began to crumble once more.
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
