Because I Got Scared

The heavens and earth were dead silent, with only the scent of blood and dust drifting through the air.

Yuan Tiangang’s eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the Bronze Ancient City. His voice was hoarse with shock and incomprehension.

“Why?! The wager has yet to end, yet you have joined forces with the forbidden zones to slaughter the common people! Where is the honor of the Ancient Demon Court?!”

Chi Huang stood atop the ancient city. The astonishment and gloom had long since faded from his face, replaced by an unfathomable coldness and madness.

He did not look at Yuan Tiangang. Instead, his gaze swept over the ravaged earth as he slowly spoke. His voice was not loud, yet it reached the ears of everyone present with perfect clarity.

“Pride? Honor? Yuan Tiangang, you have ruled the demons of the present age for thousands of years, yet you are still so naïve.”

He paused, then finally turned his gaze toward Yuan Tiangang, sweeping it across all the human cultivators as well. There was not the slightest trace of guilt in his eyes—only a nearly cruel calm.

“You thought this was merely a wager to decide who would rule the Southern Region? You were wrong.”

“This is the final judgment passed by my Ancient Demon Court—and by all the beings lying dormant—for this world and for the destiny of humanity.”

“Judgment?” Yuan Tiangang roared.

“That’s right.” Chi Huang’s voice turned cold.

“In this age, the spiritual energy of the Profound Yellow Great World has revived, and the laws of the Dao have manifested. It can be called an era of unparalleled splendor.

“And your human race is especially favored by destiny. Geniuses have emerged in droves, shining like a dazzling field of stars.”

He pointed toward Xiao Ruobai, Fang Hanyu, Wang Zhan, and the others. His tone carried an undisguised wariness.

“If things continue at this rate, the Great Emperor of this age will most likely emerge from among your human race.

“When that happens, our ancient myriad races will once again be suppressed for an entire age—or even for countless ages!”

“So we made a wager. We wagered on whether the geniuses of our race could overwhelm the young generation of humanity before they attained the Dao!”

Golden light blazed in Chi Huang’s eyes.

“If we succeeded, it would prove that our race’s destiny had not yet run out and that our future remained bright.

“We could afford to wait—wait until the geniuses of our race became Emperors and openly reclaimed everything that belonged to us!”

“But you have seen the result.”

His voice suddenly grew incomparably grim, filled with the resolve to perish together with his enemies.

“We lost the wager! We were utterly defeated! All three Ancient Imperial Princes fell before the geniuses of your human race!

“What does that mean? It means that if we continue along the proper path, our race will never have a chance to rise again!”

When his words fell, a tragic madness spread among the surviving demons.

The same flames ignited in the eyes of many ancient demons. It was the most extreme impulse toward destruction—the impulse born from seeing no future ahead.

The human side was shaken by this stark declaration of racial survival. Along with their anger, they also felt a heavy chill.

Yet at that moment—

“Why?”

A voice so calm it was nearly indifferent shattered the suffocating atmosphere of grief and outrage.

It was Little Black who had spoken.

His golden eyes calmly gazed toward the several Supreme figures hovering above the Bronze Ancient City.

“The Ancient Demon Court may indeed harbor unwillingness and resentment.”

Little Black’s voice was not loud, yet it suppressed all the surrounding noise. It carried an insight that seemed to look down upon everything.

“But merely possessing such unwillingness—is that enough to make several Supreme beings who crippled themselves in the forbidden zones expend their origins and join forces to clear the path for you, carrying out an act of annihilation that affects the entire world?”

He paused. His gaze seemed capable of piercing the mist and seeing through to the truth.

“This Emperor is very curious. Can you afford such a price? Or perhaps…”

His tone suddenly turned cold, carrying the certainty of one who had seen through the conspiracy.

“You yourselves are part of that price?”

His words were like a thunderclap, splitting apart the mist that had been shrouding everyone beneath Chi Huang’s emotions.

Countless people suddenly came to their senses.

That was right. No matter how unwilling or insane the Ancient Demon Court might be, how could they possibly command several Supreme beings from the forbidden zones to risk everything for them and launch such a lightning assault across the entire region?

What kind of existence was a Supreme being?

How could they so easily draw fire for someone else?

The people of the Ancient Demon Court stiffened violently upon hearing Little Black’s final words, their faces turning deathly pale.

As if stirred by those words, the least injured and most ancient of the six retreating Supremes slowly stepped forward.

The decay and deathly aura around him receded slightly, revealing part of his true form. His humanoid body was covered in dim golden patterns that still hinted at their former glory.

His eyes were like two ancient lamps on the verge of extinguishing, yet whenever his gaze opened and closed, a trace of his former majesty still remained—enough to pierce the void.

“Ancient Emperor Lei Peng! And that aura…”

A demon Great Saint suddenly widened his eyes, his voice trembling.

“It’s Ancient Emperor Lei Peng, as recorded in the ancient histories! You actually…”

“That’s right.”

The figure spoke. His voice was hoarse, as though he had not spoken in far too long. It grated like metal scraping against stone, yet contained a majesty that made even Saint Kings tremble in their souls.

“I am Emperor Lei Peng. Now, however, I am merely a ferryman barely surviving within a forbidden zone.”

Ancient Emperor Lei Peng!

An Emperor who had once illuminated the heavens during the ancient era before mysteriously vanishing—he had actually crippled himself, fled into a forbidden zone, and become one of the Supreme beings who had launched today’s assault!

This realization struck the crowd like a meteor, violently shaking the minds of every human and demon, as well as all the cultivators of the present world.

The impact was even greater than that of any foreign enemy!

“L-Look at the others!”

Someone tremblingly pointed toward the other indistinct Supreme figures.

Although their auras were even more decayed and obscure, one could still glimpse traces of their identities by sensing them carefully or observing the fragments of laws that occasionally flowed around them.

Sacred light. The extreme speed of thunder. The deathly aura of the netherworld…

“Could it be that Sacred Light Ancient Emperor and Ancient Emperor Tianming are also…?!”

Exclamations rose one after another. Every one of those names represented a sealed ancient legend, an invincible imperial clan that had once ruled over an entire region.

Yet now, they had all appeared in such rotten, decrepit forms, ringing the death knell for humanity!

Ancient Emperor Lei Peng’s eyes, resembling ancient lamps, opened fully for the first time. He looked seriously at Little Black.

A complex expression beyond words flashed through them—perhaps admiration, perhaps a sigh of emotion.

“To see through the key to this situation at a glance. As expected of the Great Emperor of this age—you truly see clearly.”

He did not answer directly. Instead, he first offered his opponent the highest acknowledgment. Then, his hoarse laughter filled with endless mockery and desolation, and his words suddenly changed direction.

“Since you already know, why not tell you?”

“Why?”

He repeated Little Black’s question, and his voice suddenly became incomparably cold.

“Because… we were afraid.”

Two words, yet they struck like a thunderbolt!

An ancient Emperor who had once been invincible beneath the heavens had personally admitted that he was afraid.

“Afraid that your human race would shine too brilliantly in this age.”

He spoke slowly, every word carrying immense weight.

Yes, they were truly afraid.

Back then, the Glazed Lamp had burned its Imperial Dao origin with absolute resolve, relying on a mysterious force to drag an existence of the same level into annihilation alongside it.

Later, Little Black had driven three Imperial Armaments of the Extreme Dao and forcibly inflicted severe injuries upon another ancient existence.

They feared that this unprecedented golden age would truly give birth to an era in which several Emperors of the human race coexisted in glory.

When that happened, the forbidden zones would no longer be hunting grounds. They would be suppressed and purged, becoming the graves of these beings who were barely clinging to life.

Ancient Emperor Lei Peng’s eyes abruptly sharpened like blades. He fixed them upon Xiao Ruobai and the others, his killing intent condensing into a tangible force.

“Such threats absolutely cannot be allowed to remain! Your bloodlines shall be severed here, to the very last!”

“So we can’t wait any longer.”

Beside him, another Sacred Light Supreme, his body still wreathed in lingering holy radiance, spoke coldly.

“We must snuff it out before the threat has fully matured. With your blood, we can both eliminate future troubles and use it to extend our lives.”

“The return of the Ancient Demon Court, and your contest with them, were nothing more than a facade—a trial run designed to minimize the cost.”

The voice of Ancient Emperor Lei Peng once again returned to its icy, merciless coldness, like primordial frost.

“If your younger generation proved worthless, it would show that this era’s destiny amounted to little. We could then make our preparations at our leisure and reap the harvest slowly.

“But if you are as formidable as you are now…”

He paused and glanced at Chi Huang and the others, who had been utterly defeated.

“Then it proves that the threat far exceeds our expectations. This Southern Region shall become the burial ground of the prodigies of your generation!”

The truth was like the coldest tide, drowning everyone’s hearts.

This was not a contest. It was a hunt.

And the Ancient Demon Court, which had swept across the Southern Region with overwhelming might, was merely bait—a pawn sent to scout the way.

From beginning to end, every one of them had been nothing more than the “future threats” that the Forbidden Zone Supremes were determined to eliminate, as well as “blood food” to sustain their lives.

The despair was deeper and more bone-chilling than when death had first loomed over them.