The Demon Lord and the Human Emperor

Since falling into darkness, the Spectral Ape Demon had scarcely feared anything.

The only thing it dreaded was the enigmatic and unfathomable Demon Lord!

And just moments ago, Jiang Che's methods had directly instilled a psychological shadow within it.

He was clearly an ant that could be crushed at will, yet he simply couldn't be crushed!

He even produced some kind of light cone that annihilated one of its True Lives!

Now it only had its last True Life remaining, and its strength was greatly diminished, likely only possessing the combat power of a First Tribulation Peak.

Fear!

"Monkey, what did you say? You lost a True Life to the Demon Ancestor?" a tentacled, octopus-shaped Evil God inquired.

"That's right... wait, no, that man absolutely cannot be the Demon Ancestor! The Demon Ancestor couldn't possibly possess such terrifying means... he... he was clearly just a mere Martial God stage insect," the Spectral Ape Demon argued evasively.

"Hahaha, I told you long ago the Demon Ancestor had heaven-defying methods, but you refused to believe it? Serves you right now!" The Ghost-Faced Evil God Mother, who had suffered at Jiang Che's hands before, laughed heartily.

"You—" The Spectral Ape Demon's expression darkened, but it still felt lingering fear.

But at that very moment!

"Tap, tap, taptap!" The sound of footsteps slowly approached, now distant, now near... yet it seemed to tread upon each being's heart.

In an instant, all the stone carvings on the eighty-one Evil God Pillars fell silent.

A figure with an illusory form slowly walked out, draped in a black gown whose hem fell to the ground like flames, with black fire igniting behind it.

With each step, a black lotus fire seal was left upon the ground, as if walking gave birth to lotuses.

"De... Demon Lord!"

All the Evil Gods held their breath in silence. Even as lofty Evil Gods, with some among the pillars being powerful Fourth or even Fifth Tribulation beings, they could only bow their heads before this Demon Lord.

For the Demon Lord had founded the Path of Evil Spirits, also the Path of the Bizarre. All these fallen Evil Gods had attained their positions through the Demon Lord's power!

In other words, with a single word from the Demon Lord... even a Fifth Tribulation Evil God would instantly revert to a mindless, ordinary evil spirit.

"Have you done... what I asked you to do?"

The voice seemed to have two different tones overlapping, giving an extremely eerie feeling, though it also sounded somewhat languid.

The Demon Lord's gaze did not shift, but the Spectral Ape Demon began to tremble all over.

"De... Demon Lord, your subordinate... used your hairpin to shatter the barrier between realms and did meet that... Demon... Ancestor, but his methods were excessively formidable..."

"Heh—" The Demon Lord let out a light laugh, the smile seemingly filled with disdain.

"I told you to bring him back, yet you tried to kill him?" The Demon Lord mused to herself, as if hearing some joke.

"I... I..." The Spectral Ape Demon was too terrified to move, its two slender arms curling in on themselves.

"You... you think you're worthy of killing him?"

The voice seemed to emanate from the depths of the Nine Nether Abyss. The Spectral Ape Demon felt a fatal sense of crisis and panic.

"No..."

But the next second, black flames ignited out of thin air upon the Spectral Ape Demon's body.

"Ahhh!!!" Its scream had just begun when the Demon Lord slowly raised a finger to her lips.

Silence!

The demon ape couldn't even make a sound of agony, gradually enveloped by the black fire, burned from skin and flesh down to bone and blood, finally beginning to scorch its soul.

"Boom—"

With the dissipation of the demon ape's last True Life, the corresponding stone carving of the Spectral Ape Demon on the pillar shattered completely.

All the Evil Gods remained silent. The Demon Lord usually resided deep within the Demon Palace; the last time they had seen her was eighty thousand years ago.

This was the first time they had witnessed the Demon Lord personally execute one of her subordinate Evil Gods.

The Demon Lord flicked a finger, and a black thread appeared in her hand.

With a mere lift of her hand, the black thread gradually condensed into a human form, and the aura of a Second Tribulation Evil God began to spread!

"Demon Lord!" The newly formed Second Tribulation Evil God immediately knelt!

"The Twenty-Seventh Pillar is dead. From now on, you shall take his place," the Demon Lord said lazily with a yawn, before slowly walking back into the depths of the Demon Palace. It seemed she had emerged only to deal with a disobedient subordinate.

As the founder of the Path of Evil Spirits, the Demon Lord was its one and only true deity!

She could casually create Evil God-level subordinates for her use!

Only after the Demon Lord disappeared did the Evil Gods dare to relax.

The pressure the Demon Lord exerted on them was truly... too terrifying.

...

The deepest part of the Demon Palace.

This place was not a bedchamber, but rather a secluded paradise.

A valley amidst mist-shrouded mountains, with a waterfall splashing down, its babbling stream split in two by a massive bluestone.

A delicate wooden cottage stood by one side of the stream, next to which was a swing.

Upon entering this paradise, the black flames on the Demon Lord's body rapidly receded. She walked slowly to the swing and sat down.

Just then, another voice abruptly appeared, "Demon Lord, you certainly have refined tastes, don't you? Not emerging for tens of thousands of years... was it just to kill a subordinate?"

Though there was a voice, no person was seen!

The Demon Lord gently swayed the swing, kicking her long legs slightly, not resembling the demon king who founded the Path of Evil Spirits at all, but rather looking exactly like a pure maiden.

"Human Emperor, why are you unwilling to merge with me? Only your Samsara Great Dao origin is missing. Why not completely open your heart... and merge with me... Once the Path of Evil Spirits is perfected, we can then establish the cycle of the Evil Path, and all shall attain eternal life!"

The Demon Lord parted her lips slightly, speaking softly and gently.

"Madwoman! You madwoman! Eternal life... like those monsters? Eternal life? What a joke!"

"Just you wait... I still have one Samsara incarnation out there. One day, my Samsara incarnation will return to slay you! And you will be trapped here forever, haha!"

The Demon Lord lowered her eyelids slightly, her fair hand gently stroking the vine of the swing. Her gaze was complex and profound, lost in unknown thoughts.

"Human Emperor, I am curious... I have imprisoned you for five hundred thousand years, yet time has not worn down your soul?"

"Pah! Wear down my soul? I'm waiting for the day I can return and overthrow you!"

"Do you think everyone is like you? A pitiful wretch that no one wants! I can already sense it... though my person is imprisoned here, my Dao methods are still widely passed down in the world, with many cultivating them."

"This is the charm of me, the Human Emperor, understand? If I went out and raised a rallying cry, I would have hundreds of millions of followers. And you? You're just a pitiful, unloved, unwanted wretch!"

The Demon Lord did not seem angered. Such arguments had occurred countless times over the hundreds of thousands of years.