The Power of the World Demon

A Heart Empyrean and a Heavenly Empyrean - these were the two child-looking figures who stared down across the cosmic army which the Sage had brought to Planet Yushu after utilising the full extent of her power. This was only possible to achieve in this current situation, where the Divine Court was too distracted to pay her any mind, during the World Planes' boundaries' weakest moment since the dawn of the 2nd Origin Era.

One Heavenly Deity and 14 Earthly Deities - these were the divinities who chose to follow the Primordial Sage. Yaan already knew that of these Deities, 11 had defected from the Primordial Alliance due to the Sage's betrayal, whilst the other four were lone divinities who had formed a secret alliance with the Primordial Sage since long ago.

The hundreds of Transcendents and thousands of immortals were a mixture of those who followed the 15 Deities, and those who were the Sage's own subordinates.

There were no other Empyreans who followed after the Primordial Sage, leaving the Primordial Alliance, or coming from elsewhere. There was a very simple reason for this - Empyreans were extremely uncommon. In fact, the number of living Empyreans in the current world could be counted on two hands…

The number of divinities living in the current world was up for debate amongst all divinities. That is, aside from the Primordial Sage. The Sage saw the world through the countless eyes of all beings below divinity, and as such, she was able to keep track of the number of divinities across the four - now three - World Planes.

At present, there were 72 divinities across the three planes, including the two to ascend very recently, Yaan and Shi. Of these 72, only 9 were Empyreans, having completed their dao heart, whilst the remaining 63 were Deities, having attained divinity via the Divine Stairway, yet to complete their dao hearts.

The Empyreans living in the world as of right now were Yaan, the Primordial Sage, the Primordial Asura, Shi, Defiance Sovereign, Law Empyrean, Rainbow Empyrean, Primal Savage and Love Empyrean.

Of the Empyreans, Yaan and the Primordial Sage had formed their own side. The Primordial Asura was now the only remaining Empyrean in the Primordial Alliance. Law Empyrean, Rainbow Empyrean and Love Empyrean were the three Empyreans in the Divine Court. Defiance Sovereign and Primal Savage were lone cultivators - both had at times worked together with the Primordial Alliance to fight back against the Divine Court, but it had become clear for all to see that they held no loyalty to the alliance in their hearts. Lastly, there was Shi…it was uncertain which 'side' she would join, if any.

Yaan was yet to meet two of these Empyreans - Primal Savage and Love Empyrean.

He knew that Primal Savage was one of the oldest Empyreans, but he had been trapped within the Eternal Prison for over one million years. He was captured during the great war that shook the World Planes one million years prior. He was a notorious demon, known for his love for chaos and carnage. He was also said to be a cannibal, often eating the hearts of his slain enemies.

As for Love Empyrean, she was said to be an old and extremely reclusive member of the Divine Court. Very little was known about her, other than the rumour that supposedly, even Law Empyrean could not order her about too wilfully. She rarely made public appearances, but according to the Sage, every time she acted on behalf of the Divine Court, all demons trembled before her aura of purity, resulting in her decisive victory each and every time she moved.

Empyreans were beings who stood at the peak of the world - be they Earthly Empyreans, Heavenly Empyreans or Heart Empyreans, all were figures that Deities would need to look up to. Only a certain few Heavenly Deities could stand on par with the Empyreans, the old Spirit Plane Lord being the most notable example of this. However, her power stemmed from her origins as a Primordial Demon, and her previous existence as the Spirit Plane's World Spirit. Now that the Spirit Plane had been destroyed, she was badly injured and over 90% of her power had been lost.

Yaan's gaze drifted towards the only Heavenly Deity who had been summoned by the Primordial Sage. This person was a reclusive divinity from the Blood Plane, someone who had once whipped up a storm of blood during her ascent to divinity, but stopped her path of slaughter after reaching the Divine Step. Ever since then, she had fallen out of the public eye, but apparently, this woman was one of the many talents that the Primordial Sage had taken notice of during her mortal years, and had been raised by the Primordial Sage since young.

Shi was not the only one to receive this sort of guidance from the Primordial Sage, there were many other divinities who could partially attribute their successful ascension to the Sage. Whether or not they remained loyal after reaching the Divine Step was another matter entirely.

The woman stared back at Yaan as he examined her with a plain expression. Her face was pale and showed very little emotion, a trait that Yaan guessed she had adopted from her teacher. She wore a robe made from beast furs, an interesting choice of attire. Venomous snake fangs hung from her two ear lobes.

Her title was Poison Deity, she had risen to prominence on the Blood Plane after slaughtering an untold number of people using her various concocted poisons. She was also said to be one of the greatest alchemists alive today.

Aside from Poison Deity, the other 14 divinities were all Earthly Divinities, having yet to comprehend the entire Heavenly Dao. Actually, Heavenly Deities were extremely uncommon, even less common than Empyreans. The reason for this was because comprehending the entire Heavenly Dao was a monstrously difficult feat, and of those who did manage to succeed in doing so, most would have already completed their dao heart. If they hadn't completed their dao heart by this point, it was likely that they would complete their dao heart very soon after comprehending the entire Heavenly Dao.

There were exceptions to this, such as the Primordial Spirit, who became a Heavenly Deity 1.8 million years ago, yet even now, for some unknown reason, she was unable to complete her dao heart.

Poison Deity was not like this. She had only recently finished comprehending the Heavenly Dao, meaning that she had a good chance of becoming an Empyrean before the end of the 2nd Origin Era.

As Yaan and the other divinities sized one another up, the Transcendents and immortals stayed in the background, their heads lowered respectfully. Even the weakest of divinities was far beyond the strongest of Transcendents. In this world, perhaps only the supreme elders of the Four Divine Clans dared to hold their ground when facing Divine Step beings, but that was only because of the arrangements left behind by their ancestors.

The tension in the air was palpable, causing the Transcendents and immortals to swallow nervously. Even though the divinities were not actively releasing their auras, since doing such a thing would knock all of those below them unconscious, their silent pressure was still so immense that those below the Divine Step struggled to keep their bearings.

The Primordial Sage naturally noticed all of this, but she allowed the silent examination between Yaan and the other divinities to go on until a certain point. Part of her agreement with Yaan in this operation, was for Yaan to occupy a position of authority no lower than her own. For this to become a possibility, it was necessary for the 15 divinities to witness his might.

Yaan emanated no aura whatsoever. He could release his natural aura, but after fusing his self-portrait into his domain, his aura had transformed into a deceptive illusion, showing the onlooker whatever it was that they hated the most. He would not reveal this aura before others unless he was going all out in a battle against them. Alternatively, he could reveal his pure killing intent - he had killed so many people that his killing aura was saturated with the thick stench of blood, just revealing this would no doubt strike fear into the hearts of all who saw him.

In fact, Yaan could reveal any sort of aura that he chose to. His dao of illusions had long since reached divine stage comprehension, but by now, he had gone so much further than that. The Heavenly Dao's earthly daos were not all encompassing of dao itself. The earthly daos were merely the Heavenly Dao's own comprehension over dao, and how that comprehension manifested itself as the laws which governed the world. It was entirely possible to comprehend aspects of the dao outside of the Heavenly Dao's scope, and this was exactly what all powerful beings sought to achieve. The dao heart itself was the best example of this.

Yaan's dao of illusions was now at the peak of the 2nd Origin Era. No being alive, nor the Heavenly Dao itself, could compare with him when it came to illusions. If Yaan wanted to deceive these Deities using his aura, he could easily do so.

But he didn't.

Instead, he stood there calmly. He seemed to be looking at every single individual present, staring directly into their eyes with a calmness and lack of strength that for some reason made them shudder in unease.

He released no aura, so naturally, the Deities attempted to see through his concealment using their various methods. However, after half a minute of silently attempting to see through him, not one person present could see past even a trace of Yaan's concealment!

They could all see him standing there, it was obvious that he was truly here with his real body, and yet, they could only perceive him using their mortal senses; Spirit Sense was completely ineffective, it showed them nothing more than their five mortal senses!

They could not see through Yaan, but they all had the distinct feeling that Yaan could see through them, as if he was staring into the depths of their very dao, unravelling their mysteries as if reading through an open book.

"Everyone, I take it that you have all had sufficient time to assess my partner, the World Demon?" The Primordial Sage finally spoke, drawing everyone's gazes towards her. However, due to the unease created by Yaan's simple concealment, many gazes flickered back and forth between the two.

Her words just now caused ripples to flash through their minds and hearts…

"Partner?" A figure wearing a black robe and a bamboo hat spoke up with a melodic yet raspy voice. Their outfit completely concealed their appearance, making it impossible to even tell whether they were male or female. Yaan recognised this individual - they were there that day, when he killed the Primordial Devil. After Yaan made his escape, the members of the Primordial Alliance who were present had all attacked him and the Sage, aside from this individual, who merely pretended to pressure the Sage with his aura, doing nothing to actually hinder her.

A few others narrowed their eyes, looking at Yaan with a mixture of caution…and contempt.

They didn't doubt the might of the World Demon, but for the Primordial Sage to call him her partner…was this some sort of joke?

They all followed the Primordial Sage because of her terrifying scheming power which could control the flow of events throughout the world. But if the World Demon was her partner, wasn't she basically saying that they were not only her subordinates, but also his?

They could not accept this.

"Yes, partner." The Primordial Sage nodded calmly. "3,000 years ago, I betrayed the Primordial Alliance for the sake of the World Demon. He deserves every bit of his rumoured reputation, and you would do well to show him the same respect that you would show me."

"And if we don't?" A giant shadowy figure stepped forwards, past the other divinities, travelling hundreds of feet and stopping right before Yaan. He towered over Yaan by tens of thousands of feet, his size was even greater than the Immortal Step Primordial Devil whom Yaan had battled on Planet Yushu!

The moment Yaan saw this figure, his gaze flashed briefly. This 'man' was humanoid in shape, but that was where the similarities ended. His entire body looked like it was made from shadows, as if he had melded in with the darkness of the night.

He was known as the Astral King, the Divine Step leader of the Astral Clan! The Astral Clan were one of the first intelligent races to appear on the Blood Plane, and they were also the origin of the astral spirits! When a member of the Astral Clan died, their body would explode into a supernova of Astral Power, from which, countless astral spirits would be born!

The Astral Clan was an extremely powerful clan, in fact, their might rivalled that of an entire empire on the Blood Plane! There were officially only 12 empires on the Blood Plane's main continent, but the Astral Empire was in truth the unofficial 13th empire that very few knew of…because the Astral Empire, and the entire Astral Clan, was located on the Blood Plane's crimson moon!

The Astral King stared down at Yaan, his two swirling vortexes for eyes gazing at him with a darkness even darker than his shadowy form. Yaan looked at the giant calmly, waiting for him to finish whatever he had to say.

This situation, where one divinity stepped out and refused to acknowledge Yaan's place in the hierarchy…was exactly what Yaan had been hoping for.

"Primordial Sage, I left the Primordial Alliance to follow you, because without you, Defiance Sovereign, the Primordial Devil and Old Thief, the Primordial Alliance is nothing. I originally joined the Primordial Alliance because I respected the Primordial Devil, and I acknowledged your competency when it comes to scheming. The matter of the Primordial Devil dying at the hands of his own heart demon can be considered his own poor fate, I will not hold a grudge against the World Demon for this personal matter. However…I will not acknowledge this 'World Demon' as one who deserves to command my respect and action!"

The Astral King's booming voice shook the vacuum of space. A few Deities showed cold gazes, agreeing with what he said, whilst others looked irritated by this pointless conflict.

They were here to take advantage of a rare and brief situation, no? There was no time to waste on internal squabbles!

Fortunately, Yaan agreed.

Looking away from the Astral King, driving his irritation to a whole new level at being treated with such disregard, Yaan glanced back at the remaining divinities and addressed them calmly.

"If you want to avoid injury and death, move back whilst I put this fool in his place."

"You-!"

The Astral King instantly raised his arm, manifesting a sword made from pure shadows. As his killing intent exploded outwards, carrying with it a tremendous quality of darkness, the other divinities acted quickly. Some hastily retreated, either alone or with their subordinates. Others refused to back down and simply defended themselves. As for the immortals and Transcendents who were left alone in fear, the Primordial Sage flicked her wrist, sending them all flying through a spatial warp, transporting them many millions of miles away.

All of this happened in an instant, and by the time everyone was at a safe distance…or at least, at a distance they believed to be safe…the Astral King had formed a giant sword of shadows which he held in both hands, slicing down towards Yaan without holding anything back.

Countless explosive rumbles echoed out as the fabric of the Qi Plane was torn apart. Cracks and holes in the World Plane's boundary appeared, and as the sword gained momentum, its aura of killing darkness grew exponentially stronger, until-

"Know your place."

The world of shadows and darkness instantly turned red. The shadows coating the Astral King's sword were extinguished by the burning crimson flames, endlessly emanated outwards by the wooden sword which had unknowingly appeared above Yaan's head, held firmly in position by an unknown force.

Yaan stood still, but as he stared into the shocked Astral King's eyes, his own eyes turned completely blood-red. In this moment, Yaan's hair also turned red, and countless primal crimson tattoos covered his body. In this moment, Yaan's entire figure seemed to set ablaze…

The entire world turned into a sea of bloody flames for as far as the eye could see. Those divinities who had retreated, showed shocked expressions and immediately retreated even further. Those who had chosen to stay in position, coughed up lungfuls of blood and hastily tried to heal their injuries. However, their hearts were palpitating wildly as a killing intent like nothing they had ever felt before threatened to crush them to death on the spot!

As for the Astral King, he was in an even worse state. His sword of shadows was burned to ash by the simple yet terrific wooden sword, shrouded in bloody flames a dozen feet above Yaan's head. As those bloody flames shot upwards and stormed across his monstrous body, the Astral King's senses span, and a mixture of disorientation and terror overcame him.

He was being burned to death under these flames, only…these were not flames!

Killing intent could take many forms. When a cultivator had killed many people, they could release an aura of killing intent. If they killed millions, perhaps they might be able to manifest gaseous killing intent. If they killed an innumerable number of people, including many at and above their own realm, they may learn to manifest liquid killing intent.

Only the strongest, most heinous and monstrous of demons, could manifest solid killing intent!

But right now, the killing intent that Yaan had manifested went beyond all of these forms, revealing a depth of killing intent that this world had never seen before. This was the killing intent of someone who had taken quadrillions of lives. This was the killing intent of someone who had experienced their own death in multiple different forms, only to find that they were somehow still living. This was the killing intent of someone who would willing kill their own Dao Clones, who would let their loved ones die, despite feeling all of the pain of going through these ordeals.

This was the killing intent of the World Demon, who had lived through several forms of life, who had devoured the Primordial Devil's dao and memories, who had slaughtered the karmic river and the entire Spirit Plane!

Burning Killing Intent!

The pinnacle of killing intent that could manifest in this 2nd Origin Era, the killing intent of the World Demon, who had killed more in this Era than any other!

The divinities who had failed to retreat felt their very dao hearts being ignited and burned. The Astral King was the worst off, enduring the backlash of his failed strongest attack, only to have these unseen before killing flames rampaging through his cultivation and dao!

Whoosh…

Suddenly, as quickly as everything appeared, it vanished. The Burning Killing Intent reversed, all injuries were unwound and returned to their original state, and the Astral King found himself standing there with a barely concealed look of terror in his eyes. staring down at Yaan, who had returned to normal.

Yaan reached out and casually grabbed his wooden sword, which looked completely ordinary now. He held it over one shoulder and looked up at the Astral King with complete disregard.

"Do you now understand your place?"

The Astral King trembled for a moment. He was a proud man, the leader of a tyrannical clan. The only man he had ever lowered his head to, was the Primordial Devil, and that was due to the respect he had felt towards him after their duel back then…

But now, when he met this child's calm gaze, behind which he knew there was concealed an entire ocean of blazing death, he shuddered…and lowered his head.

Neither he, nor any of the other Deities, properly understood what they had just witnessed. Was it a spell? An art? A treasure? A domain?

Just what the hell was that power?!

Because of their fear of the unknown, the Deities all fell silent, not daring to speak out of turn.

As the Astral King lowered his head, he sighed deeply, losing all tension and finally bowing properly. He clasped his hands towards Yaan in respect.

"I understand. I apologise for the disrespect, Lord World Demon. In this mission, I shall do as you command."

Yaan nodded expressionlessly. He felt no joy towards this result, because it was entirely within his expectations. As soon as these Deities revealed themselves, he could feel the difference in power between them.

Earthly Deities, those who made up the majority of the divinities, were not Yaan's match.