Isn't It Reasonable for Me, the Emperor, to Level Up a Bit

The old monsters of the sacred grounds, the titans of the demonic path, and the reclusive old monsters all charged toward the ancestral nest in fury.

The scene was breathtaking.

The heavens and earth were torn apart.

Divine radiance surged like an ocean.

Demonic energy rolled like a tide.

The Martial Gods who normally sat high above the clouds, looking down upon all living beings, now all had eyes red with rage as they charged toward the same destination—like creditors chasing someone who owed them eight hundred million spirit stones.

The ancestral nest!

The remnant source of the Human-Skin Lake!

That was the Demon Lord’s final anchor point.

Break it, and the backlash from the Demon Lord’s half-immortal Dao Fruit would last for the time it took an incense stick to burn.

Fail to break it, and everyone present would die today.

There was no other choice.

Wang Hao stood atop a broken mountain more than three hundred li away. His imperial robe was stained with blood, his crown sat askew, and the sunken spot in his chest still throbbed faintly.

But his eyes were bright.

Bright as an emperor who had just seen revenue flow into the national treasury.

The New Emperor Sword hovered beside him. Its sword spirit had transformed into a translucent little figure clinging to the hilt, its expression wary.

“Master.”

“Your eyes are dangerous.”

Wang Hao wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

“This is called having everything under control.”

The New Emperor Sword sneered.

“Whenever you say that, someone ends up suffering.”

Wang Hao corrected it seriously:

“It’s not that someone ends up suffering.”

“It’s that someone is making a contribution to all under heaven.”

The New Emperor Sword fell silent for a moment.

“And what happens after they’ve made their contribution?”

Wang Hao replied:

“Your emperor will keep the accounts.”

The New Emperor Sword: “…”

As expected of you.

At the center of the battlefield, the Demon Lord stood before the shattered ancestral nest.

Behind him, the dark immortal gate had opened a crack. Within it, an endless abyss seemed to churn, as though an ancient demonic eye were gazing down upon the mortal world.

Two anchor points had been severed.

Most of the residual flames of the contract on the Myriad Contracts Platform had gone out.

The earth-vein demonic pillar had collapsed from within.

As a result, obvious cracks had appeared in the Demon Lord’s half-immortal Dao Fruit.

Even so, he remained an existence that ordinary Martial Gods could never contend with.

Half-immortal.

One step away from becoming an immortal.

That single step had crushed countless years of the Nine Provinces.

The Taiyin Old Matriarch, the Yellow Springs Ancestor, the Sword Ruins powerhouse, the Martial Gods of the Golden Tower Sacred Ground, the Martial Goddess of the Blood Lotus Sacred Ground, the Blood Prison Demon Sect powerhouse, the White Bone Old Monster, the Myriad Souls Sect Martial God…

Every one of them would have been a terrifying figure capable of shaking an entire region of the outside world.

Yet now, joining forces as they charged, they looked like hunters surrounding a black sun.

The Demon Lord merely raised a hand and swept it outward.

Boom!

A swath of dark immortal light burst forth.

The three reclusive Martial Gods at the very front were sent flying on the spot.

One had both arms blown apart, a hole punched through his chest.

Another had his brow split open, his soul nearly torn in two by half-immortal demonic will.

The third suffered the worst fate. His protective qi had only just lit up when demonic energy corroded it into black water. His entire body crashed into the ruins, his life or death unknown.

The reclusive old monsters’ expressions changed drastically.

One of them instinctively slowed his pace.

Wang Hao immediately raised the Myriad Contracts Origin Seal and shouted:

“Attention, reclusive cultivator forces!”

“Anyone who retreats will have their battle achievements wiped clean!”

“Those who die in battle will receive priority placement on the Martyrs’ Stele!”

“Those who are seriously wounded but refuse to retreat will have priority selection of three items from Blackheaven City’s inheritance after the battle!”

The few reclusive old monsters who had just been about to slow down forced themselves to speed up again.

One of them cursed:

“Wang Hao, you brat!”

“If this old man survives, I’ll settle the score with you!”

Wang Hao’s face filled with satisfaction.

“That’s the spirit!”

“Senior brothers, charge forward with your hatred for your emperor!”

“The deeper your hatred, the greater your battle prowess!”

The White Bone Old Monster’s bone fire trembled wildly.

“That damned emperor really knows how to use people.”

The Blood Prison Demon Sect powerhouse ground his teeth.

“He doesn’t know how to use people.”

“He knows how to use their lives.”

They complained, but not a single one of them stopped moving.

The Blood Prison Demon Sect powerhouse’s blood-red heart pounded furiously within his chest. The sea of blood spread once more, transforming into a colossal scarlet dragon that crashed toward the entrance of the ancestral nest.

The White Bone Old Monster burned his bone fire, turning billions upon billions of bones into a bridge of bone that forcibly spanned the fissure above the ancestral nest.

The Myriad Souls Sect Martial God wore a savage expression. From within the Myriad Souls Banner, he seized tens of thousands of shrieking souls in one grasp and refined them into a black soul nail, driving it toward the shadow cast by the dark immortal gate.

The sacred grounds’ forces fought with equal desperation.

The Taiyin Old Matriarch still had a bloodstain on her brow. After losing her silver hairpin, her aura had clearly weakened, but her eyes had grown even colder.

She raised a hand and drew it across the air.

Nine Taiyin Frost Rings appeared, locking down the void before the Demon Lord layer by layer.

The Sword Ruins powerhouse held a broken sword and said nothing.

Yet each step he took caused the mountain of swords behind him to tremble once.

On the seventh step, ten thousand swords within the sword mountain cried out in unison.

“Disciples of the Sword Ruins.”

“Today, we shall question a half-immortal with a broken sword.”

He swung his sword.

The sword light was gray-white.

It was not dazzling.

It was not magnificent.

Yet it seemed to have been slashed down from the end of time, cutting through countless ancient tombs and the rotting remains of long-dead gods before striking the wound across the Demon Lord’s chest—the wound torn open by the ancestral sword intent.

The Demon Lord’s gaze turned frigid.

“Vermin.”

He spread his five fingers, and the dark immortal gate trembled.

Half-immortal demonic energy transformed into an ancient black shield that blocked the sword.

Clang!

The sound of metal striking metal rang out across heaven and earth.

The Sword Ruins powerhouse’s tiger mouth burst open, and another crack appeared in his broken sword.

But a fissure had also been carved into the black shield.

The Taiyin Old Matriarch seized the opportunity at once.

“Freeze!”

The nine Taiyin Frost Rings contracted simultaneously, forcibly freezing that fissure in place.

The Yellow Springs Ancestor let out a strange laugh.

“Everyone, this old man shall perform one good deed today.”

“I’ll send this half-immortal to the Yellow Springs!”

He tore open his own chest with both hands and dragged out a turbid tributary of the Yellow Springs from within his body.

This was no martial technique.

It was the source of the Yellow Springs that he had nurtured with his own soul for a thousand years.

If it were destroyed, he would suffer a severe drop in cultivation at best, and his soul would be scattered at worst.

The Yellow Springs Ancestor was normally the one most afraid of dying.

But today, he had no choice but to risk everything.

If the Demon Lord succeeded, the Yellow Springs Sect would be the first to be purged.

There were simply too many shameful secrets buried in the ancestral graves of the Yellow Springs Sect.

Boom!

The tributary of the Yellow Springs surged into the fissure in the black shield, corroding the half-immortal demonic energy.

At last, the black shield shattered.

The Martial Gods’ killing intent surged.

“Charge in!”

“Sever the remnant source of the Human-Skin Lake!”

“Don’t let him complete his third breath!”

Deep within the ancestral nest, a strange lake loomed in and out of view.

It was not filled with water.

It was gray-white liquid formed from countless human skins dissolved together.

Broken faces floated upon its surface.

Old men.

Children.

Martial artists.

Mortals.

Their faces bobbed up and down in the lake, their mouths opening and closing soundlessly, as though repeating the screams they had uttered at the moment of death.

The remnant source of the Human-Skin Lake!

The Demon Sovereign had once nurtured his substitutes here.

Old Man Heitian had once traded fleshly vessels here.

The Demon Lord had completed his devouring here and forcibly stepped into the half-immortal realm.

This was a lake of sin.

It was also the final anchor point.

Wang Hao gazed at the Human-Skin Lake from afar, a trace of coldness surfacing in his eyes.

There were many things in this world he could tolerate.

He could understand greed.

He had seen betrayal before.

He even considered the schemes and counter-schemes among the old monsters of the sacred grounds and demonic sects perfectly normal.

But something like the Human-Skin Lake was no longer mere scheming.

It was stripping all living beings down into materials.

The Demon Lord regarded all living beings as food.

Blackheaven City regarded all living beings as merchandise.

Wang Hao did not consider himself a saint.

But at the very least, he knew that people were not skins.

Nor were they refuse floating in a lake.

“A place like this…”

Wang Hao murmured.

“Should be sealed off.”

The New Emperor Sword glanced at him. For once, it did not make a sarcastic remark.

At that very moment, a familiar mechanical voice suddenly rang out in Wang Hao’s mind.

[Detected that the host is participating in the severing of the half-immortal Dao Fruit’s anchor points.]

[The Myriad Contracts Platform anchor point has been severed.]

[The earth-vein demonic pillar anchor point has been severed.]

[Calculating the host’s cumulative contribution to the current battle…]

【As a Martial God of the first layer, the host has repeatedly disrupted the pseudo-immortal’s meditation, prevented the collapse of Black Heaven City’s leyline, and saved 3,762 low-level martial artists.】

【Issuing rewards.】

【Cultivation increased: Martial God, second layer.】

Wang Hao’s eyes lit up.

The next instant, a vast force exploded from the depths of his body.

His shattered chest bones began to mend.

His depleted qi and blood surged wildly.

Beneath his dragon robe, his muscles and bones thundered like rolling lightning.

But before he could adjust to the change, the system spoke again.

【The host assisted the Martial Gods in besieging the pseudo-immortal, helping establish a temporary anti-demon front across the Nine Provinces.】

【Rewards added.】

【Cultivation increased: Martial God, third layer.】

【Cultivation increased: Martial God, fourth layer.】

【Cultivation increased: Martial God, fifth layer.】

Wang Hao’s breath caught.

The fifth layer!

The power of a Martial God within him burst forth like a breached riverbank.

The foundation he had originally possessed at the first layer of the Martial God realm was rapidly elevated under the system’s rewards.

His divine soul grew stronger.

His qi and blood became an ocean.

Behind him, a Martial Dao Dharma Idol appeared and disappeared.

It was a hazy imperial figure clad in a dragon robe, standing upon mountains and rivers.

The imperial figure did not bow to Heaven.

Nor did it revere the gods.

It merely looked down upon the mortal realm.

New Emperor Sword was startled.

“Master?”

“How did you suddenly become so much stronger?”

Wang Hao took a deep breath.

Before he could speak, the system continued.

【The host has been continuously obstructing the Demon Lord, a pseudo-immortal.】

【Two pseudo-immortal anchor points have broken. The Demon Lord’s Dao fruit is unstable, the destiny of the Nine Provinces is in turmoil, and the host’s schemes on the battlefield have affected the balance of the world.】

【Additional reward: consecutive cultivation breakthroughs.】

【Cultivation increased: Martial God, sixth layer.】

【Cultivation increased: Martial God, seventh layer.】

【Cultivation increased: Martial God, eighth layer.】

【Cultivation increased: Martial God, ninth layer.】

Boom!

Above the Broken Mountain, golden qi and blood shot into the sky.

The clouds exploded apart.

The heavens trembled for ten thousand miles.

A mighty imperial aura swept out from Wang Hao’s body.

Three hundred miles away, all the Martial Gods turned around at once.

Taiyin Old Matriarch’s eyes narrowed.

“Martial God, ninth layer?”

Yellow Springs Ancestor nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Wasn’t he a Martial God of the first layer just now?”

The bonefire of White Bone Old Monster shook violently.

“What the hell did this bastard eat?”

The Blood Prison Demon Sect powerhouse stared with eyes wide open in fury.

“Why?”

“We’re taking the beating up front, while he levels up in the back?”

The Sword Ruins powerhouse remained silent for a long while before slowly uttering two words.

“Absolutely absurd.”

The Demon Lord looked over as well.

For the first time, a genuine ripple of emotion appeared in his eyes.

It was not because Wang Hao had already grown strong enough to threaten him.

A ninth-layer Martial God was still no more than an ant before a pseudo-immortal.

But Wang Hao’s method of advancing filled him with an inexplicable sense of unease.

It was too fast.

Too bizarre.

This was not normal cultivation.

It was more as if the heavens themselves were adding chips to Wang Hao’s side.

Standing atop the Broken Mountain, Wang Hao felt the surging power within him and revealed a brilliant smile.

He raised his hand and clenched his fist.

The void let out a deep, muffled boom.

Martial God, ninth layer.

He was only one step away from the peak of the Martial God realm.

More importantly, the power of his Ninefold Heaven-Prisoning Palm and Nine Swords of Creation was now worlds apart from before.

Earlier, when he had combined all nine palms into one, he could only block the pseudo-immortal’s aftershock for an instant.

Now…

Well.

He could probably block it for one and a half instants.

Wang Hao remained perfectly clear-headed.

The ninth layer of the Martial God realm was very powerful.

But pseudo-immortals were even more monstrous.

He was not about to rush over and challenge the Demon Lord one-on-one simply because he had leveled up.

That would not be courage.

That would be handing Great Xia a new emperor ahead of schedule.

New Emperor Sword said excitedly:

“Master, can you go in now?”

Wang Hao glanced at it.

“I can.”

New Emperor Sword was overjoyed.

Wang Hao continued:

“But there’s no need for me to be the first one in.”

New Emperor Sword: “…”

There it was again—that familiar flavor.

Wang Hao raised the Myriad Contracts Origin Seal, his voice once again echoing across the heavens and earth.

“Fellow seniors!”

“I have good news for everyone!”

“I just broke through!”

All the Martial Gods: “…”

How was that good news?

Good news for you, perhaps.

What about us?

Wang Hao continued:

“I’m now a ninth-layer Martial God, and my ability to oversee the battle has greatly improved!”

“Charge ahead without worry!”

“If anyone dares flee the battlefield, I can catch up to you now!”

The Blood Prison Demon Sect powerhouse was so furious that he spat blood.

“Wang Hao!”

“You broke through just so you could chase after us?”

Wang Hao answered with complete justification:

“If not, then why?”

“I can’t beat the pseudo-immortal anyway.”

The Martial Gods nearly suffered a collapse of their Dao hearts on the spot.

The Demon Lord stared coldly at Wang Hao.

“A ninth-layer Martial God is still nothing more than a slightly larger ant.”

Wang Hao smiled.

“The senior is absolutely right.”

“But this ant knows how to bite anchor points.”

As his voice fell, Wang Hao raised his hand.

The final Severing Immortal Anchor Talisman appeared in his palm.

Everyone’s eyes narrowed.

The last one!

The key to severing the remnant source of Human Skin Lake!

Wang Hao did not charge forward.

He merely raised the Severing Immortal Anchor Talisman high and looked toward the Martial Gods ahead with a beaming smile.

“Everyone.”

“Whoever can send me within a hundred yards of the ancestral nest—after the battle, I’ll let him choose two-tenths of Black Heaven City’s inheritance first.”

“Of course…”

“If you happen to die during the escort, I guarantee the inscription on your tombstone will be extremely moving.”

The faces of all the Martial Gods darkened in unison.

At last, they understood.

It was not that Wang Hao was unwilling to go.

He wanted them to stake their lives and open the way for him!