Chapter 1357: Dreaming Back to Tianxuan

The news of the Moon God Emperor's demise sent another massive shockwave through the Eastern Divine Region, which was already under the shadow of the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor, intensifying the fear of the Devil Emperor even further.

Countless profound practitioners, like headless flies, searched everywhere for traces of the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor, driven by fear and even a grim determination to die. The various King Realms mobilized almost their entire forces. They had to find and eradicate her quickly, taking advantage of her severe injuries.

But as days turned into weeks, countless profound practitioners scoured almost every inch of the Eastern Divine Region, yet they found no trace of the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor—not even the slightest hint.

Every day that passed meant the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor could recover a bit more. The anxiety weighing on the hearts of profound practitioners in the Eastern Region, especially those from the King Realms, grew daily, and the ominous shadow intensified.

Compared to this major event, which could very well decide the fate of the Eastern Divine Region, the Star God Realm—the first King Realm in the Eastern Divine Region to face destruction—was surprisingly not the focus of most people's attention.

The once-thriving King Realm had become a desolate wasteland. Lingering devilish energy still consumed everything, and the sky was unusually dim. If anyone were to set foot here, they would never believe this was once the Star God Realm; they would only think they had entered the dangerous, barren, and grim Northern Divine Region.

"We have searched most of the Star God Realm," the Star God Grand Elder said dejectedly before the Star God Emperor. "We only found a few thousand survivors in the peripheral areas. Most of them were afflicted by the devilish energy."

"What about the subordinate star realms?" the Star God Emperor asked.

Tianxuan Star God Zi Wean replied, "That battle triggered a wide-ranging cosmic storm. The surrounding star regions were severely affected, and all the subordinate star realms also sustained significant damage."

Xing Juekong closed his eyes, then weakly raised a hand. "Elders, continue the search. Zi Wean, notify the other Star Gods to try and find a suitable subordinate star realm."

"Yes," she replied.

Zi Wean glanced at the Star God Emperor and said with concern, "My King, your injuries..."

"It's nothing," Xing Juekong said calmly. "Go."

Zi Wean's lips moved. She wanted to ask if they should search for traces of Tianlang Star God Caizhi, but in the end, she abandoned the thought. Something like that could never be forgiven, even if done by one's own father.

The remaining six Star Gods and seventeen Elders departed again. Xing Juekong remained seated where he was; he had been like this for the past few days, barely standing up.

"Cough... cough cough..."

He clutched his chest, coughing painfully. The seemingly endless black spittle again splattered across the dark ground in front of him. Although the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor's Myriad Tribulations Wheel had only recovered a minuscule amount of power, its power level was incredibly high. The devilish energy invading his body was like countless devils, constantly devouring his flesh and life force from within.

With his Divine Emperor physique, he should have been able to barely suppress it and slowly recover. However, the current state of the Star God Realm, and the root cause of everything, made his mind restless and uneasy. The mental suppression and torment far surpassed the physical pain. After several days, his injuries had not only failed to improve but had worsened significantly. His recovering Divine Emperor power could not keep up with the rate at which it was being consumed.

He wanted to calm his mind, but when he opened his eyes, he saw the scarred land of the Star God Realm. When he closed them, he saw Jasmine's dark pupils, filled with endless hatred.

He had told the Heaven Smiting Divine Emperor that he would die here if he had to. But if things continued like this, he truly might die here. Now, he had to find a place where he could find peace, but he could not go to the Heaven Smiting Realm. How could a Divine Emperor of his stature live under someone else's roof?!

The subordinate star realms of the Star God Realm were his only choice.

"Ugh..."

The devilish energy flared up again. Xing Juekong pressed a hand to his chest, struggling to suppress it. After his face contorted for a moment, he finally let out a "wah" and spat out a large mouthful of almost completely black blood.

His complexion finally improved somewhat. After a bout of heavy gasping, his breathing also calmed slightly.

However, at that moment, a flash of icy blue light suddenly shot out from the empty space in front of him. This cold light genuinely shot out from thin air, barely a zhang away from Xing Juekong's body.

It was a flawless, ice-white sword, glowing with blue light. Like a sudden flash, it pierced towards Xing Juekong's heart. The distance of a zhang was virtually nonexistent given the speed of the flashing blue light.

Xing Juekong's pupils contracted sharply, but his body, which felt infinitely heavy, and his depleted profound veins had no time to react. A cold light pierced through his heart, coldly impaling his Divine Emperor body.

"Ugh!"

Xing Juekong's eyes bulged. In his extremely contracted pupils, an icy blue female figure was reflected. The sword that pierced his Divine Emperor body was held in her hand.

"You..."

Shock, terror, disbelief… He had never seen such cold eyes—so cold they could freeze the entire world into a frigid hell.

Although he was severely injured, his profound energy greatly diminished, and his mind agitated, he was still the Star God Emperor. Yet, he had not sensed her presence at all, and she had approached within a mere zhang!

Silent, traceless, a ruthless sword from empty space… Not to mention his current state, even at his peak, he might not have been able to dodge it.

She had eyes of extreme coldness and a face so beautiful it made all the ice and snow in the world pale in comparison.

"Snow... Song... Realm... King... Ugh!"

As the difficult words left his lips, a layer of ice crystals rapidly formed around the Snow Princess Sword, freezing his body, organs, blood, profound energy, and even his profound veins, sealing off all hope of struggle for the weakened Divine Emperor.

Mu Xuanyin made no sound. She coldly stared at him, the cold light in her icy eyes wishing she could tear him into the smallest fragments in the world.

A day earlier, she had already arrived here. Using her Vanishing Moon God Shadow, she concealed herself far away, waiting for the opportune moment.

Finally, just now, all the Star Gods and Elders had moved away, gone so far that her spiritual sense could no longer perceive anyone. She raised the Snow Princess Sword and plunged it into the emperor of the King Realm who ruled the Eastern Region with prestige, to whom all beings bowed, and whom no one dared offend except the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor.

Ice solidified layer by layer, silently, completely freezing the Star God Emperor from the inside out until not even his breath could escape.

She did not pull out the Snow Princess Sword. A cold wind lifted the ice that encased the Star God Emperor and carried him with her to a distant place.

Snow Song Realm, Netherfrost Heavenly Lake.

*Crash!*

The Snow Princess Sword flew back, and the ice crystal encasing the Star God Emperor crashed to the ground from a height, shattering into a myriad of flying ice dust. He was released from the ice but not from the frigid nightmare. The Star God Emperor lay sprawled on the ground, his body curled up and trembling, unable to stand, barely able to control himself.

He had never known cold could be so terrifying.

His Divine Emperor profound veins were completely suppressed and sealed by a wave of cold energy, preventing him from releasing even a hint of profound energy. He couldn't understand why, even with his profound energy greatly diminished but his Star God Origin Power still present, a Snow Song Realm King, whose profound energy hadn't even reached the mid-stage Divine Master realm, could freeze his profound veins to such an extent.

Even more incomprehensible, how could a mere Realm King of a mid-tier star realm have the reason and courage to attack him, a King Realm King, and brave immense danger to bring him here? Was she not afraid of the consequences?!

"Do... you... know... who... this... King... is...?" This short sentence was uttered disjointedly due to his body's violent trembling. He struggled with all his might, but his frozen profound veins couldn't release even a trace of power, unable to even dispel a little of the cold. "Aren't... you... afraid... this... King... will... destroy... your... Snow Song Realm...?"

His words did not faze Mu Xuanyin in the slightest. Only a coldness more profound than the Netherfrost Heavenly Lake emanated from her. "Xing Juekong, you forced my disciple Yun Che to his death, you forced the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor's power to awaken... yet you also told the world that he died by the Devil Emperor's hand..."

Every word she spoke was piercing, filled with hatred. The hand gripping the Snow Princess Sword trembled violently, and the icy glow shimmering on the sword's blade also gradually approached losing control. "You... deserve... ten... thousand... deaths!"

Xing Juekong froze in the biting cold. He realized Mu Xuanyin knew all this because she must have planted a soul crystal on Yun Che. He stammered with frozen, purplish lips, unable to believe it. "Just because... Yun Che died because of this King... just because... a mere disciple of your Snow Song Realm... you... you dare... to kill this King!?"

Mu Xuanyin gritted her teeth. "A mere disciple of the Snow Song Realm... Yes, in your Divine Emperors' eyes, he was just... a young profound practitioner of humble origins... no matter how outstanding, he was insignificant... But... do you know... do you know..."

Her aura completely destabilized. Her voice trembled, and she could no longer continue. The Snow Princess Sword, carrying her fiercely suppressed yet still collapsing hatred, plunged into the Star God Emperor, deeply piercing his dantian.

Beneath the Snow Princess Sword, his frozen blood could not flow out, and Xing Juekong felt no pain.

"Star God Emperor... these three words must be the most important thing in your life." Her chest heaved violently. "You destroyed my... most important... Yun Che... I... will destroy your Divine Emperor power... so you know what kind of pain this is!!"

The trembling Star God Emperor let out a twisted sneer. "Destroy my Divine Emperor power? With... you?"

The moment his words fell, the Snow Princess Sword embedded in his body suddenly burst forth with dazzling icy light, intense, as if a cerulean star had exploded. In that instant, the Star God Emperor's face drastically changed. His entire nervous system, already numbed by the ice, clearly felt countless steel needles piercing his profound veins, brutally tearing, crushing, and further crushing his profound veins, which were protected by the Heavenly Pivot Divine Power.

His remaining spiritual sense told him that it was clearly a power… almost no less than his own at his peak!

If it were the power of a mid-stage Divine Master, even in his current state, his profound veins, protected by the Star God Origin Power, would be almost impossible to truly destroy. But the power now invading his profound veins was so immense he couldn't have dreamed of it. His body twitched and contorted wildly, his face showing ten, even a hundred times the previous terror: "No... no... spare me... no!! I am the Star God Emperor... no one can do this to me... no... I will agree to anything... no... no... Ughh! Aaaah!"

*Bang!!!*

With a resounding explosion and chaotic refracting icy light, Xing Juekong's profound veins—a Divine Emperor's profound veins—were utterly shattered into fragments, so completely that they could never recover.

Glimmering specks of starlight drifted away from his body... That was the Origin Power of the Heavenly Pivot Star God. Without a vessel, it scattered into the distant sky, eventually dissipating into unknown reaches.

The Star God Emperor lay sprawled on the ground, looking up at the fading Heavenly Pivot starlight. His gaze was filled with ashes and despair.

His profound veins were destroyed, and the Heavenly Pivot Divine Power, which had accompanied him his entire life, was gone.

For a profound practitioner, the cruelest fate was undoubtedly having their profound energy crippled. Even crueler was having their profound veins destroyed.

Xing Juekong, one of the four Divine Emperors of the Eastern Region, on this day, at this moment, fell directly from the highest peak of the Eastern Divine Region, becoming the lowest of cripples. And a cripple forever.

This was thousands, even tens of thousands of times crueler than death.

"Kill me... kill... me..." He stared at the colorless sky, muttering lifelessly. In his eyes, there was no longer a hint of vitality, only grim despair and a will to die.

"Kill you?" Xing Juekong's miserable state still couldn't extinguish the hatred in her heart. She said coldly, "I truly... want to tear you into ten thousand pieces. But... you don't deserve it... you don't deserve a quick death!"

Her chest heaved more and more violently; her already prominent bosom almost burst through her snowy robes with its rising and falling. And on her icy, exquisitely beautiful face, a hint of—perhaps the most ferocious expression she had ever worn in her life—slowly emerged. "I won't let you die, I will let you live, and live well!"

"This is the Netherfrost Heavenly Lake of my Snow Song Realm, where Yun Che stayed the longest! I will seal you here in ice, making you endure the pain of icy blades piercing your heart every moment, every breath! Your Divine Emperor body and the spiritual energy here will make it impossible for you to die! You will live here forever... kneeling here... repenting to him, atoning for your sins!!"

Amidst the deafening sound of ice crystals solidifying, Xing Juekong's body was sealed within the ice. Within the ice, he knelt facing the Netherfrost Heavenly Lake. In his colorless pupils, an eternal, inescapable nightmare was reflected.

Another space.

Consciousness slowly revived. He felt the presence of his own consciousness, and gradually, the presence of his body, though it was incredibly heavy.

Where... was this?

Was it heaven or hell?

Ha... Someone like me must be going to hell.

Aching pain spread from all over his body, and his eyelids felt incredibly heavy. He tried to open them, but a faint glimmer of light harshly stung his eyes.

He instinctively reached out to block the light, but his arm was too heavy to lift. Only his fingers twitched slightly.

"Ah!"

At that moment, a young girl's exclamation sounded in his ear.

"Benefactor brother... you're awake... you're awake, aren't you!?"

It wasn't an illusion; it truly was a young girl's voice, close to his ear, trembling with excitement and urgency.

His lips moved slightly, wanting to say something, but only an incredibly hoarse murmur escaped.

This hoarse sound and the struggle of his fingers made the girl by his ear exclaim in surprise again. She suddenly ran off, her overly hasty steps seemingly tripping heavily on something. Following that, her cries, tinged with sobs, rang out: "Father... Mother... Brother... come quickly! Benefactor brother is awake... Benefactor brother is awake!"

He struggled to open his eyes.

Where was this place?

If this was hell, why would there be such a clear, ethereal girl's voice?