The Immortal Gate Buries the World, But I, the Emperor, Do Not Agree

The Dark Immortal Gate opened a crack.

Only a crack.

Yet heaven and earth seemed on the verge of bursting apart.

Beyond the gate was not an immortal realm filled with drifting celestial energy.

Nor was it an eternal heaven bathed in radiant light.

It was an indescribable abyss of darkness.

There was no sun or moon.

No mountains or rivers.

No living beings.

Only endless falling bones, shattered stars, a flowing black celestial river, and enormous demonic shadows that towered higher than mountains.

Those shadows gazed through the crack in the Immortal Gate toward the mortal world.

Cold.

Greedy.

Hungry.

It was as if the Nine Provinces were not a world at all.

But a platter of blood-soaked meat that had finally been served to the table.

The Martial Gods were shaken to their cores.

Even after cultivating for a thousand years and witnessing countless strange and deadly dangers, they still felt a chill seep into the depths of their souls.

This was no ordinary demonic energy.

It was the power of the Demon Abyss beyond the Immortal Gate.

The Demon Lord’s so-called half-immortal breakthrough had not followed the orthodox path to immortality.

Instead, he had borrowed the eight-hundred-year foundation of Blackheaven City to forcibly open a false Immortal Gate leading to the Demon Abyss.

If he succeeded, he might truly have obtained half-immortal longevity.

But the Nine Provinces would inevitably be corrupted by the Demon Abyss.

Now that his ascension had failed, he intended to sacrifice himself and forcibly open the gate, allowing the Demon Abyss to devour everyone on the battlefield.

The Yellow Springs Ancestor’s face was deathly pale.

“He’s insane.”

“He’s really gone insane.”

A powerhouse from the Blood Prison Demon Sect knelt on one knee, his chest hollow and his vital energy almost exhausted.

He stared at the gate and gritted his teeth.

“If this thing opens completely, forget about us—even half the Nine Provinces will be demonized.”

The White Bone Old Monster had been reduced to nothing more than a cluster of bone flame floating in midair. Even his voice was so weak it sounded as if it might scatter at any moment.

“I knew it…”

“If I kept fighting alongside Wang Hao, sooner or later I’d run into some world-ending catastrophe.”

Wang Hao stood amid the ruins, gazing up at the Dark Immortal Gate.

There was no smile on his face.

For once, he did not make any jokes.

Because at this moment, the situation had truly reached its worst.

The Demon Lord’s physical body was merging into the Immortal Gate.

His half-immortal Dao Fruit had transformed into a black sun, hanging in the center of the gate.

The Dao Fruit was already covered in cracks. Yet precisely because of those cracks, it resembled a demonic star on the verge of exploding, pouring all its destructive power into the Immortal Gate.

The crack in the gate grew wider and wider.

The aura of the Demon Abyss surged forth wildly.

The earth began to blacken.

Upside-down blood-red cracks appeared in the sky.

In the distant ruins of Blackheaven City, countless skeletons began climbing to their feet once more.

They had no souls.

Only an instinctive hunger bestowed upon them by the Demon Abyss.

The Taiyin Old Matriarch struggled to rise.

“We have to close the gate.”

Wang Hao asked, “How?”

The Taiyin Old Matriarch fell silent.

The Yellow Springs Ancestor spoke hoarsely.

“Smash the Immortal Gate.”

Wang Hao looked toward the Dark Immortal Gate, which blotted out the sky.

The gate was already covered in cracks.

In theory, it could indeed be shattered.

The problem was that the Demon Lord was sacrificing himself, and the gate’s defenses were surging to their peak in its final moments.

Could they still break it?

The powerhouse from the Sword Ruins was dead.

The Martial Gods of the Myriad Souls Sect had nearly fallen.

The Golden Vault Martial God had self-detonated.

The Taiyin Old Matriarch was severely wounded.

The Yellow Springs Ancestor’s soul was shattered.

The powerhouse from the Blood Prison Demon Sect was half-crippled.

The White Bone Old Monster had been reduced to a mere bone flame.

The Martial Gods from the other sacred lands and demon sects were also all weakened, their auras faint.

It was not that they did not want to fight.

They had simply fought until they had almost nothing left.

Wang Hao himself was in no better condition.

His sternum was broken.

His meridians were damaged by the shockwaves.

The Thunder Abyss Suppression Pagoda could not activate the ninth level’s violet thunder dragon again anytime soon.

The New Emperor Sword was cracked.

The shield formed by the will of the people had yet to fully recover.

He looked as though he could still stand, but that was mostly because he was clinging to a final breath and relying on the physical body of a ninth-level Martial God to hold himself upright.

The New Emperor Sword spoke in a low voice.

“Master.”

“This gate won’t be easy to cut.”

Wang Hao said flatly, “Obviously.”

“If it were easy to cut, the Demon Lord wouldn’t have chosen to be buried with it.”

The New Emperor Sword fell silent for a moment.

“Then what do we do?”

Wang Hao did not answer.

He was thinking.

The items awarded by the system would never be meaningless.

The Half-Immortal Blood Tax Decree.

The Incomplete Blackheaven City Asset Map.

The increased recovery rate of the people’s will.

The Half-Immortal Blood Tax Decree had already proven that it could forcibly collect the Demon Lord’s half-immortal blood.

But what about the Incomplete Blackheaven City Asset Map?

Wang Hao immediately took it out.

It was a roll of dark yellow parchment.

Its material was strange, resembling animal hide and yet also like a fragment of some kind of contract.

When unfurled, markings appeared across the map, indicating various locations throughout the ruins of Blackheaven City.

The ruins of the Myriad Contracts Platform.

The fault line of the Earth Vein Demon Pillar.

The remaining source of the Skin-People Lake.

The Ancestral Nest.

Old Man Heitian’s secret vault.

The Demon Lord’s Substitute Palace.

Blackheaven City’s underground blood vault.

There was also one location concealed beneath layer upon layer of black markings, with only four characters visible.

Immortal Gate Tax Base.

Wang Hao’s eyes lit up.

Tax base?

What a fine name.

It sounded as if it had been made for him.

With a thought from Wang Hao, the Sign-In Intelligence System suddenly rang out.

[Special location detected: Site of the Dark Immortal Gate’s sacrifice.]

[Would you like to sign in?]

Without the slightest hesitation, Wang Hao answered inwardly.

“Sign in.”

[Sign-in successful.]

[Intelligence obtained: The Dark Immortal Gate is not a complete Immortal Gate. It is a false Immortal Gate jointly constructed from Blackheaven City’s eight hundred years of illicit assets, the Demon Lord’s substitute origin, the Demon Lord’s half-immortal Dao Fruit, the lingering remnant of the Skin-People Lake, the Earth Vein Demon Pillar, and the remaining embers of the Myriad Contracts Platform’s contract flames.]

[The three main anchors have already been severed. The foundation of the false Immortal Gate is unstable.]

[The Demon Lord is sacrificing himself and forcibly replacing the three main anchors with his half-immortal Dao Fruit.]

[Method One: Shatter the Immortal Gate with overwhelming force. Success rate: Extremely low.]

[Method Two: Detonate the Demon Lord’s Dao Fruit. Success rate: Low.]

[Method Three: Use the Half-Immortal Blood Tax Decree as the core, the Incomplete Blackheaven City Asset Map as proof, and the Myriad Contracts Origin Seal as the authority of execution to classify the Dark Immortal Gate as Blackheaven City’s illicit master ledger and forcibly seal it.]

[Tip: During the sealing process, someone must directly hold back the leakage of the Immortal Gate’s demonic abyss.]

[Tip: After the sealing succeeds, the host will gain the right to liquidate part of Blackheaven City’s legacy.]

Wang Hao’s eyes grew brighter and brighter.

The Dark Immortal Gate.

An illicit master ledger.

Forcibly sealing it.

This system finally understood him.

Wang Hao raised his head and looked toward the Dark Immortal Gate that blotted out the sky. A smile once again appeared on his face.

The New Emperor Sword saw him smile and immediately felt a chill in its heart.

“Master, what kind of wicked scheme have you come up with this time?”

Wang Hao said, “It’s not wicked.”

“It’s lawful administration.”

The New Emperor Sword grew even more uneasy.

Whenever its master said he was acting “lawfully,” it usually meant that someone was about to suffer terribly.

Wang Hao raised the Myriad Contracts Origin Seal, his voice resounding across the battlefield.

“Senior experts!”

“I’ve found a way to close the gate!”

All the Martial Gods turned toward him at once.

The Yellow Springs Ancestor hurriedly asked, “What method?”

Wang Hao said solemnly, “Seal the Immortal Gate.”

The air suddenly fell silent.

The expressions of all the Martial Gods froze.

The powerhouse from the Blood Prison Demon Sect wondered if his injuries were so severe that he had misheard.

“What did you say?”

Wang Hao repeated seriously, “Seal the Immortal Gate.”

The White Bone Old Monster’s bone flame shook violently.

“Wang Hao!”

“This is a world-ending crisis!”

“This isn’t some account audit by the Great Xia government office!”

Wang Hao sneered.

“Senior White Bone, you’re mistaken.”

“This is precisely an account audit.”

“The Demon Lord’s half-immortal Dao Fruit was built from eight hundred years of illicit assets belonging to Blackheaven City.”

“The Myriad Contracts Platform is part of the ledger.”

“The Earth Vein Demon Pillar is part of the ledger.”

“The Skin-People Lake is part of the ledger.”

“The Demon Lord’s Substitute Palace is part of the ledger.”

“Blackheaven City’s blood vault is also part of the ledger.”

“Now all of these accounts have been consolidated into the Dark Immortal Gate.”

“In other words, this gate is not an Immortal Gate.”

A cold glint flashed in Wang Hao’s eyes.

“It is Blackheaven City’s largest illicit account!”

The hearts of all the Martial Gods trembled.

At that moment, they actually felt that Wang Hao had a point.

Though it was still utterly absurd.

There was just a strange sort of reason hidden within the absurdity.

The Yellow Springs Ancestor stared at Wang Hao.

“Are you sure you can do it?”

Wang Hao replied,

“No.”

The Martial Gods: “…”

Wang Hao continued,

“But I have a better chance than if we simply smash it apart.”

The Taiyin Old Matriarch said in a low voice,

“What do you need us to do?”

Wang Hao looked up at the Immortal Gate.

The gap in the gate had already widened to dozens of zhang.

The aura of the Demon Abyss poured out like a black waterfall.

If they delayed any longer, the entire battlefield would be swallowed up.

Wang Hao said,

“I need time.”

“Not much.”

“Ten breaths.”

A powerhouse from the Blood Prison Demon Sect gave a bitter laugh.

“Ten breaths?”

“Do you know how many lives it will cost to hold back this gate for ten breaths?”

Wang Hao fell silent.

Of course he knew.

Holding back the Demon Abyss pouring through the Immortal Gate head-on was even more dangerous than stopping the Demon Lord.

Because this was not a single person’s attack.

It was the corruption of the entire Demon Abyss behind the gate.

Yet the Taiyin Old Matriarch spoke up.

“Ten breaths it is.”

The Yellow Springs Ancestor said grimly,

“Wang Hao.”

“If you fail, this old man will come to Great Xia to haunt you even after death.”

Wang Hao nodded.

“Rest assured, Senior.”

“I’ll make sure to strengthen the imperial palace’s ghost-exorcism tax system ahead of time.”

The Yellow Springs Ancestor nearly choked.

Could this brat not stop provoking people at a critical moment?