The Ancestral Nest Cracks, Even the Demons Must Pay Protection Money

Zi Yuan had always believed she had died cleanly.

Only now did she realize.

Her skin had been spread out here for eighty years.

For the first time, intense hatred surfaced in Zi Yuan’s eyes.

She raised her hand and struck out with a Black Heaven Secret Seal.

The seal sank into the lake of human skin, actually disrupting the ancestral-nest formation patterns for a brief moment.

Old Man Heitian roared:

“Zi Yuan!”

“You miserable slave!”

Zi Yuan raised her head, her voice hoarse.

“You old bastard.”

“I spent my whole life keeping your accounts.”

“Today, I’ve finally settled them.”

“You are Black Heaven City’s biggest loss.”

Wang Hao glanced sideways.

“That’s a pretty insightful remark.”

“If the Ministry of Revenue ever needs someone, you can give it a try.”

Zi Yuan: “…”

At a time like this, he was poaching talent?

He really had no sense of occasion.

Wang Hao put the dark-gold Black Nail he had pulled out into his storage space.

Then he looked up at the corpse husk’s chest.

After the first nail was removed, a crack appeared in the seal surrounding the fragmentary dragon-vein map.

The aura of the map began to leak out.

Old Man Heitian’s soul twisted violently.

He knew he could not delay any longer.

Outside, the various Martial Gods were besieging his true body.

Inside, Wang Hao was dismantling the corpse husk from his First Life.

This was not a battle.

It was a raid on his estate from both above and below.

Old Man Heitian finally went completely berserk.

“Wang Hao!”

“You forced me into this!”

The crack between the corpse husk’s brows widened.

A black eyeball emerged.

It had no pupil.

Only an unfathomable darkness.

The instant it appeared, every sound inside the ancestral nest vanished.

The Demon Lord’s expression changed drastically.

“Close your eyes!”

But it was already too late.

The instant the black eyeball opened, an invisible ripple swept outward.

Yin Jiuyou, Xue Wuhen, Han Shanyue, and Zi Yuan all froze at once.

Their souls seemed to be dragged into a black heaven.

There was no light there.

No time.

No sense of self.

Only one voice echoing endlessly.

Submit.

Submit.

Submit.

Wang Hao felt it as well.

That force charged straight toward his brow, attempting to drag his imperial soul into the abyss of darkness.

But in the next instant—

The will of the people rose of its own accord to protect him.

A golden phantom of mountains and rivers blazed behind him.

Billions of faint yet resolute voices gathered into a raging flood.

We cannot kneel.

We cannot surrender.

We cannot allow our mountains and rivers to be left without a master.

The power of the Black Heaven Eye collided with the will of the people, instantly erupting into a piercing shriek.

Wang Hao grunted.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

But his eyes remained clear.

Old Man Heitian was shocked and furious.

“You can actually withstand the Black Heaven True Eye?”

Wang Hao raised his head.

“There are people behind me.”

Old Man Heitian sneered.

“Who?”

Wang Hao replied calmly:

“The common people.”

“And those who owe me taxes.”

Old Man Heitian: “…”

The next moment—

Wang Hao raised his hand.

A fragment of the Mandate Tax Register appeared.

The first line, bearing the name Black Heaven, suddenly lit up.

At the same time, the Myriad Contracts One Source Seal descended in suppression.

Wang Hao said coldly:

“Old Man Heitian.”

“You polluted Great Xia’s potential dragon-vein assets without permission.”

“You sacrificed people in blood rituals without permission.”

“You brazenly defaulted on the tax owed for the life caskets you pledged as collateral.”

“Now, I’m going to register you in the household records.”

“From this day forward, you are a fugitive tax debtor of Great Xia.”

A flash of light passed over the fragment of the tax register.

Behind the words “Black Heaven,” four additional characters appeared.

Fugitive tax debtor.

Boom!

Old Man Heitian’s true body, still battling the various Martial Gods in the distance, suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood.

Within the ancestral nest, the Black Heaven True Eye also shuddered violently.

Old Man Heitian let out an incredulous roar.

“Wang Hao!!!”

Wang Hao smiled brightly.

“Don’t be so impatient.”

“I haven’t calculated the late fees yet.”

That roar from Old Man Heitian almost shook the entire Black Heaven City.

From the half-collapsed City Lord’s Manor above—

To the dark ancestral nest below—

Everyone heard the venomous madness in his voice, madness driven to the absolute limit.

The various Martial Gods surrounding Old Man Heitian’s true body all paused in unison.

Taiyin Old Matriarch said coldly:

“Why is he vomiting blood again?”

The Yellow Springs Ancestor’s eyes were sinister.

“Something happened underground.”

The Sword Ruins powerhouse forced Old Man Heitian back with a single slash, his gaze razor-sharp.

“Wang Hao is still down there.”

The White Bone Demon Sect old monster was silent for a moment.

“That little emperor couldn’t have done something again, could he?”

The Blood Prison Demon Sect powerhouse gritted his teeth.

“When it comes to making people so angry they vomit blood, he really is a professional.”

The Blood Lotus Valkyrie nodded deeply in agreement.

“And a professional across realms, at that.”

For a moment, everyone fell silent.

Old Man Heitian was no longer a half-step Transcendent.

But even after falling to the peak of the Martial God realm, he was still one of the ancient monsters standing at the very summit of the Nine Provinces.

To make such an existence vomit blood repeatedly—

Wang Hao had certainly set a precedent.

Black aura surged violently around Old Man Heitian’s true body.

At this moment, he wished nothing more than to return to the ancestral nest immediately and tear Wang Hao’s skin from his body and grind his bones to dust.

But Taiyin, Yellow Springs, Sword Ruins, White Bone, Blood Lotus, Blood Prison, Golden Watchtower, and the various powerhouses of the Ten Thousand Souls faction surrounded him.

Although each of them harbored their own schemes—

Although they had been trying to seize Wang Hao only moments earlier—

Their objective was now perfectly aligned.

Old Man Heitian had to die first.

Because as long as he remained alive, no one would be safe.

And the weaker he became, the easier it would be to seize the treasures on him.

That was reality.

Justice might arrive late.

But the division of spoils never did.

Old Man Heitian shouted fiercely:

“You really think that once I’m dead, you’ll be able to claim the spoils?”

“Wang Hao is the greediest one of all!”

“The life caskets are in his hands!”

“The vein-suppressing Black Nail is in his hands!”

“And the fragmentary dragon-vein map is about to fall into his hands as well!”

The White Bone Old Monster’s eyes flickered.

There was no denying it.

That made a great deal of sense.

But the Taiyin Old Matriarch immediately sneered.

“Trying to sow discord?”

The Yellow Springs Ancestor gave a sinister chuckle.

“Wang Hao may be greedy.”

“At least he isn’t planning to refine this old man into a sacrificial offering.”

The Sword Ruins powerhouse said indifferently:

“Kill you first.”

The Golden Watchtower Martial God nodded.

“For the greater good.”

The Blood Prison Demon Sect powerhouse scoffed.

“To hell with the greater good.”

“I’m just afraid you’ll turn the tables.”

Everyone actually felt that this was the most honest statement of all.

Old Man Heitian was so enraged that his skeletal body trembled.

For eight hundred years, he had dominated Black Heaven City, manipulated transactions between sacred lands and demonic sects, and maneuvered among the strongest figures beneath the heavens.

His greatest talent had always been understanding the human heart.

But today, he discovered that the human heart had been grasped even more firmly by Wang Hao.

Wang Hao had not made everyone trust him.

He had merely made everyone even less willing to trust Old Man Heitian.

That was enough.

Within the ancestral nest—

The Black Heaven True Eye was briefly shaken by the backlash of the tax register’s karma.

Wang Hao seized the opportunity and pointed upward.

“Awaken!”

The will of the people transformed into golden ripples and spread outward.

Yin Jiuyou, Xue Wuhen, Han Shanyue, and Zi Yuan simultaneously broke free from the Black Heaven illusion.

The instant Han Shanyue regained consciousness, his first reaction was not to check his injuries, but to feel for the storage pouch behind his back.

After confirming that everything was still there, he let out a long breath.

“That scared me to death.”

“I dreamed that the national treasury had been robbed.”

The New Emperor Sword looked at him with contempt.

“You really have no ambition.”

Han Shanyue replied solemnly:

“What do you know?”

“I carry the financial future of Great Xia on my shoulders.”

Zi Yuan leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.

She looked at the gray-gold fragment in Wang Hao’s hand, her expression incomparably complicated.

She had thought that the Myriad Contracts One Source Seal was already outrageous enough.

She had never imagined that Wang Hao had something even more outrageous.

Registering Old Man Heitian in the household records.

A fugitive tax debtor.

What kind of unholy maneuver was this?

And yet, it had actually worked.

Old Man Heitian cultivated the very path of contracts, souls, life caskets, and origins.

Although the fragment of the Mandate Tax Register was incomplete, it happened to counter him perfectly.

Like a blade that was not very sharp, but filthy.

It might not be able to kill him.

But it could always find his wounds and twist inside them.

The Demon Lord looked at Wang Hao and could not help asking:

“How many more trump cards do you have?”

Wang Hao thought about it.

“None.”

The Demon Lord sneered.

“Do you really think I’ll believe that?”

Wang Hao said earnestly,

“This time, it’s true.”

The Demon Lord stared at him.

Wang Hao added,

“For the moment, at least.”

The Demon Lord: “…”

He knew it.

There wasn’t a single complete truth in this brat’s mouth.

Deep within the Ancestral Nest, the thousand-zhang corpse shell moved again.

Old Man Heitian had clearly been pushed to the brink.

Although the Black Heaven True Eye had been weakened, the corpse shell itself remained intact.

Eight dark-gold black nails were still embedded in its chest.

Each one suppressed a massive amount of resentment from the dragon veins.

Old Man Heitian began forcibly awakening the corpse shell, heedless of the backlash.

Boom!

The corpse shell spread both arms.

The lake of human skins rolled backward into the sky.

Countless human skins flew toward the corpse shell.

They covered it like robes.

With every sheet that attached itself, the corpse shell’s aura grew stronger.

Zi Yuan’s expression changed.

“He’s putting on the skins!”

“The human skins of every former chief shopkeeper were refined into the Ancestral Nest’s outer garment. Once all of them are put on, the corpse shell will briefly regain complete mobility!”

Wang Hao’s gaze turned solemn.

“We can’t let it get dressed.”

Han Shanyue instinctively said,

“That sounds rather strange.”

Wang Hao shot him a glance.

“Are you planning to write a memorial correcting His Majesty?”

Han Shanyue immediately shut his mouth.

The New Emperor Sword had already charged forward.

“I’ll strip them off!”

It was as excited as a starving glutton who had just entered a restaurant.

A flash of silver streaked through the air.

It slashed at the vast swaths of human skin flying toward them.

But the human skins were exceedingly strange.

Even after being sliced apart by the blade, they rejoined themselves.

Moreover, a face twisted in agony appeared on each sheet of skin. They let out ear-piercing screams that assailed the soul.

The New Emperor Sword was sent flying backward.

“Whoa!”

“These skins can curse people too!”

Wang Hao raised a hand.

The Ten Thousand Contracts, One Source Seal flew out.

“Zi Yuan, tell me—do these human skins have a contract core?”

Zi Yuan gritted her teeth.

“They do!”

“Whenever a new chief shopkeeper took office, they had to establish the Black Heaven Master Contract.”

“The core of the master contract should be at the bottom of the lake.”

Wang Hao looked toward the lake of human skins.

The water churned.

Black and viscous as ink.

Deep at the bottom of the lake, a gigantic contract seal could be seen faintly.

Wang Hao made his decision at once.

“Yin Jiuyou, Xue Wuhen, protect Zi Yuan.”

“Zi Yuan, break the master contract.”

Zi Yuan’s face went pale.

“I can’t break it.”

“That master contract was personally laid down by Old Man Heitian.”

Wang Hao said,

“You only need to find the weak point.”

“I’ll handle the breaking.”

Zi Yuan drew a deep breath.

She knew she had no way out.

As long as Old Man Heitian remained alive, she would forever be nothing more than a spare skin.

She raised her hands and formed a seal.

Black Heaven contract runes flew from her fingertips and fell into the lake of human skins.

Countless interwoven lines immediately appeared across the surface of the lake.

The lines entangled with one another, resembling a black web that had spread across eight hundred years.

Every human skin was one knot in the web.

And the contract seal at the bottom of the lake was the core of that web.

Cold sweat trickled down Zi Yuan’s forehead.

“I found it!”

“But the core is protected by Black Heaven’s origin power!”

Wang Hao gazed at the bottom of the lake, his eyes turning cold.

There was no lightning dragon left.

The faith-power shield could only block fatal attacks; it could not be wasted recklessly.

The Prison-Heaven Overturn-Earth Palm had consumed an enormous amount of power just now.

The Nine Heaven-Opening Swords could still be used.

But to break a contract core like this, brute force alone might not be the best option.

Wang Hao suddenly looked toward the Demon Lord.

The Demon Lord raised an eyebrow.

“Why are you looking at me?”

Wang Hao smiled.

“Do me a favor.”

The Demon Lord sneered.

“Why should this lord help you?”

Wang Hao said,

“If Old Man Heitian recovers, you’ll die too.”

The Demon Lord replied,

“That reason isn’t enough.”

Wang Hao thought for a moment.

“I can waive your protection fee.”

The Demon Lord’s eyes turned cold.

“You were planning to charge this lord a protection fee?”

Wang Hao answered matter-of-factly,

“You’re currently standing within His Majesty’s operational zone, enjoying multiple services, including my breaking the formation, pulling out the nails, and cutting away Old Man Heitian’s karmic fortune.”

“By rights, you should pay.”

The Demon Lord was both furious and amused.

“Wang Hao, are you truly not afraid that I’ll kill you right now?”

Wang Hao said calmly,

“You can’t bear to.”

The Demon Lord’s gaze grew heavy.

Wang Hao continued,

“You still want to see how far I can go.”

The Demon Lord fell silent.

After a moment, he gave a cold snort.

“You’d better not die too soon.”

As his voice fell, the Demon Lord raised a hand and injected a stream of pure demonic energy into Wang Hao’s palm.

It was not an attack.

It was lending him strength.

The demonic energy was extremely overbearing, carrying the powers of devouring, corrosion, and annihilation.