Shattering The Heavens (2)

"This is impossible. You can't exist! You're supposed to be dead! "

Shi Xiaofei's body trembled as the blade in his hands fell. His tears started to erratically dash out as he looked towards the womanly figure cloaked in gold. Even though she resembled a humanoid chunk of gold and lacked any type of facial features, her voice was enough to convince she was his wife.

A sweet voice ruefully croaked near his ears, "Shi'gege, I died and couldn't perform the duties of a wife. Please, let me stay with you... Don't abandon…m-me. "

"I don't have…ah-anyone else… "

Towards the end, her voice broke down as she coughed and began to softly cry.

Shi Xiaofei felt his heart tear. He ignored any type of warnings in his brain and darted towards the sorrowful woman in the empty space.

The golden woman, or in other words, his wife, had no reaction as he locked her in his arms and cried. Her crying sounds disappeared, and she felt worryingly cold to the touch — it felt like a certain scene in his mind was being replayed, where he found his wife's cold body in her own house.

Shi Xiaofei was too immersed in his sadness and memories to notice his surroundings changing. The golden light in the space disappeared as the blade lifted and flew towards his wife's hands.

"Shi'gege, I've yearned for this for so…long! Hahaha! "

She let out an ear-numbing screech and raised her blade, and slashed Shi Xiaofei's neck with blinding speed.

Shi Xiaofei's eyes widened as a thunderous pain assaulted his soul. Anger and hatred coursed through his mind as he realized, due to the pain, that it was an illusion.

He tried to move, but he couldn't. Before he could even think, his vision shook and his head fell off. He didn't fall head-first, thus he could see his body, and the golden figure from before.

Strangely, there was no blood on his served neck. It was as if it…

…

Interrupting his thoughts, a refined and arrogant voice started reverberating throughout the space, " What a weakling! Let alone him, someone a billion times better than him wouldn't suffice for this sovereign's throne.]

A thunderous boom sounded in Shi Xiaofei's mind as he instantly fainted.

…

…

…

A distinct rotting smell invaded his nose and stunned him awake. As soon as he opened his eyes, he was greeted by his own naked body floating on a river of blood.

The crimson blood provided a gut-wrenching contrast between its own color and his skin. Due to him being in a flat lying position, he could see his well-defined abdominal muscles and muscular legs.

Strangely, even though he was drifting above a river, his body wasn't wet nor could he feel anything. The only thing that told him he was still alive was his eyes and his nose — which he wanted to chop off since the smell of the blood was too horrendous.

Shi Xiaofei tried to find a way out of the river, or at least find land but was horrified when he lifted his head saw no end to the river beyond the horizon. He started to panic, but unfortunately he couldn't do much.

He inhaled and exhaled, and tried to calm himself. Panicking wouldn't do anything…

"Did…did I die again? "

Shi Xiaofei harshly cried out as he began to bitterly curse himself. He had two chances at life, but ruined both due to being an idiot!

Why?! Why?! He thought he had a new lease at life; one where he wouldn't need to struggle!

Shi Xiaofei strained his teeth as he steeled his mind. He couldn't falter now, because he hadn't died yet. He was one of the top experts of the new world! He wasn't some chicken that'd be beheaded at a single chop!

No matter what, he had to find a way out! He was, and still is, the Demon Sovereign!

Immediately as if in sync with his thoughts, a bloody aura started to emanate from Shi Xiaofei's body and attracted the blood from the river towards him. Within seconds, the blood rose like steam and turned the entire river cloudy.

While the clouds started to condense, the remaining blood left behind started to quake.

In the center of the river, it at least, in the center if his view the river fell inwards into the ground and was quickly replaced by crackling rift.

Slowly from beyond the rift, a bloody mountain rose and attracted the mist to its peak. Like the rings around Saturn, the bloody mist rotated around the mountain's axis.

Out of nowhere, a diabolical scream descended from the sky, "You son of a thief, how dare you steal our[¹] body! "

Shi Xiaofei looked up, and immediately regretted it. For only a second, his eyes looked at the 'thing'…but the damage done was irreversible.

It was horrid. A creature only meant to arouse meek trembling from its foes — that was the impression Shi Xiaofei had.

The creature floated in the endless sky, free from any laws governing the world. With black sky as its throne, the beast flew unhindered as if it was the ruler of the universe.

Along with his mind, his soul repeated only one thing: 'I am unworthy of such…such beauty…!'

So horrendous, that it was beautiful.

Its long, serpentine body stretched millions and millions of miles long. His mind couldn't comprehend it, but he saw millions of drop-sized worlds rotating around its tail. Its body was in fact, only a few inches big. But it was only an illusion — it was like an image viewed from a telescope, its real size couldn't be comprehended by human eyes.

The rest of its body was blurry, and unfortunately too taxing for his mind to conceive.

"I, Mirvarred, Demon Sovereign of the Dead Nether and the Nineteen Realms, ask the artifact to burn the imposter's soul in the Nine Hell Flames! He doesn't deserve a chance; not even a single one to compete for my body! "

The infernal voice arrogantly decreed — as if he was the ruler and Shi Xiaofei was his ignorant slave.

Shi Xiaofei would normally bear such an insult and try to deal with the situation a bit more intelligently, but this time he felt angry as if his own identity was about to he stolen.

Shi Xiaofei, despite drifting in a river of blood, roared with his head up, "I…I am Shi Xiaofei, the Demon Sovereign! You…you aren't worthy to even kneel before me! "

Shi Xiaofei's mind raced. He didn't blindly threaten the unknown beast, he had his own plan! He didn't understand what situation he was facing, but he was sure that it was a fight over the Demon Sovereign's body and that the mountain was the judge!

"Spare your tongue, wretch. Do you dare think the artifact is as foolish to not even recognize soul signatures? Needless to say, you are just a wandering soul. Return me my body! "

"If you're the true owner, then why can't you just take over your body again?! Don't tell me it's rejecting you! "

The beast fell silent, and only a few moments later, like an ancient beast waking up from its slumber the mountain released a heaven-shaking roar.

"Demon Sovereign Mirvarred, you have failed me. The new Sovereign is correct, you do not have the rights to even kneel before him. You are to be, in this very moment, assimilated into the new sovereigns soul. "

An unknown voice shattered the silence after the roar, and soon evaporated into nothingness.

"What?! This, this isn't true; it cannot be! "

The bloody mist converged and transformed into a red sword. The ethereal runes that were constantly forming and changing seemed as if they could distort the very laws of reality itself and bend it to its will. Shi Xiaofei only saw a glance of it before it shot out to the sky, and hit a massive object.

The hit was so powerful that the shockwaves threw off Shi Xiaofei from the water and right toward the mountain peak.

Intense screaming and cries for mercy hit his ears, but they were suddenly silenced when he landed on a flat platform just beneath the peak.

Shi Xiaofei sighed out of relief and thanked his nineteen generations for providing excellent luck. Maybe it was a misunderstanding, or maybe it was just his luck but he managed to survive!

"So…that beast was the true owner of this body…"

Shi Xiaofei said as he looked at his body. Such a massive creature could morph into a human?

Other than that, he now had to face the artifact, or in other words, the bloody mountain.

Shi Xiaofei knew he couldn't keep up his façade in front of the artifact, and didn't want to because he didn't know what kind of future would be waiting for him if he lied to something that could one-shot the Demon Sovereign.

Just as he was wondering what he would do, the mountain started to shake. He looked around, and immediately jumped towards his right as a bloody blade hit the ground where he was standing.

Shi Xiaofei punched the ground and deflected himself back into standing. He took a heavy breath and stared at the sword in caution.

The massive two-feet tall red sword dripped blood as it stood with half of its body stuck in the ground. Shi Xiaofei looked towards the sky and didn't see the beast…

…neither did he see its body in the river.

It was logical, considering that the beast was only a soul and not a physical body.

Shi Xiaofei, after not seeing anything new happening, sighed once again and turned towards the peak.

"Sir artifact, can I request some information? I am... not from this world… as such, I fear of sounding as a stranger to my underlings. I need to learn about the world; I need to learn about myself! "

"Whatever information you need is in Mirvarred's soul. Demon Sovereign, I desire for you to absorb it. "

An orb descended from the peak and halted before Shi Xiaofei. The raw energy leaking from the orb was making the air around it shake and distort.

He inhaled and exhaled, and extended a finger towards the round orb. Its ethereal blue color was peerlessly beautiful to the eyes, but the sinister green flame burning within instilled a sense of dread within whoever saw it.

The orb turned into liquid and seeped into his nails and disappeared. In the first few moments, nothing abnormal happened.

Within the next few moments, he fainted and fell from the mountain. The sword, as if it had a will, lifted itself from the ground and followed Shi Xiaofei.

…

…

…

Inside the top room of a mysterious tower, a sickly pale man in black robe was lying on the floor. His handsome and flawless face morphed in displeasure as suddenly, a green light started to emanate from his body.

A hellish infernal flame rose from his body and started to devour the air, and lastly, the materials from the tower. Dozens and dozens of flying runes and blocks of steel, stone and spiritual items were sucked into the flame and burned into liquid. In the time it takes an incense to burn, the tower completely disappeared and was replaced by a man lying on the ground.

Once the flame came into contact with dirt, it screeched and retreated back into Shi Xiaofei's body.

Shi Xiaofei's eyes opened as he stood up, and stretched his arms elatedly.

New, strange and feral emotions awoke in the Demon Sovereign as he cackled. Truthfully, even he felt strange after assimilating with Mirvarred's soul, but the power he felt after doing it..

Shi Xiaofei calmly waved his hand and summoned a small wisp of green flame in his hand. The small wisp contained so much power that the space around it started to distort.

"This… feels wonderful. My injuries are all healed, and my memories are all back. It's … very wonderful. "

Within Shi Xiaofei's soul now floated thousands of memories associated with thousands of different people. It was as if, within an hour, he had lived millions of years.

"No wonder Mirvarred could ascend the throne so fast. He lived thousands of lives with a single soul and harnessed the powers of the deities… "

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1| Rulers, emperors, kings all use the we, our etc pronouns.