DEMON EMPEROR

CHAPTER 2: THE DEMON EMPEROR'S FATE

It all happened so fast. Screams erupted, followed by the sound of crushing bones. Three White Stream Emperors and ten leaders of both Black and White Stream sects were instantly killed by Ba Bel's single assault. Blood stained the desolate valley floor. However, Ba Bel himself was not spared from retaliation. He was hit by several sword energy slashes from the Emperors clashing with him, and several inner energy strikes landed squarely on his body.

Ba Bel's condition was critical. There was a wide, gaping wound on his waist, and a deep imprint on his back. The five remaining Emperors, witnessing their comrades die instantly, did not remain passive. Fear mixed with rage in their eyes. They, along with dozens of surviving Black and White Stream Sect leaders, simultaneously charged at Ba Bel, forming a tight and deadly formation. Faced with so many enemies attacking him, Ba Bel showed no fear. In fact, he fought with a wide, ironic, and bloodthirsty smile, even as his body became covered in slashes and bruises.

The battle did not last long. About ten minutes passed, and the battlefield became a graveyard for many martial artists. The five remaining Emperors and the leaders of the Black and White Stream sects retreated away from Ba Bel, looking at him with clear terror in their eyes.

Ba Bel's condition was dire. He had lost his right arm, and his entire body was covered in gaping wounds. Yet, he could still stand after losing so much blood. Ba Bel used the sword of one of the Emperors he had seized as a cane to maintain his balance. His breathing was heavy, but he still appeared capable of fighting, ready to kill anyone who dared to approach. Meanwhile, three of the five remaining Emperors had suffered serious internal injuries, while the other two sustained minor wounds. More than twenty sect leaders from both Black and White Streams died tragically, their bodies burned to ashes in Skull Valley.

Suddenly, a flash of a sword stabbed from behind. Zhou Tu, Ba Bel's beloved disciple, plunged a sword into his back. The blade pierced through his robes and flesh, sinking deep. A stab of betrayal far more painful than a thousand physical wounds. Reflexively, Ba Bel, with a final roar of fury, delivered an inner energy strike with the only arm remaining on his body.

THUD!

Zhou Tu was thrown five meters, his body hitting the ground hard. Blood streamed from his mouth.

"Why? Why did you betray me, Zhou Tu? I raised and cared for you since childhood... I even considered you my own son!" Ba Bel asked, his voice hoarse, filled with shock, pain, and piercing agony. It was not the sword wound that tormented him, but the betrayal from the only person he trusted.

"Hahahaha! You considered me your son? If that were true, why didn't you teach me the Nine Demonic Transformations Scripture, huh? Die, old demon! Hahahahaha!"

Zhou Tu laughed wildly, his laughter filled with deep greed and hatred, before finally succumbing to Ba Bel's counterattack and dying.

All the martial artists present and the five remaining Emperors shuddered in horror. They had witnessed Ba Bel, the Demon Emperor, still able to kill his own beloved disciple—someone more powerful than the sect leaders who were present and helping the Emperors to defeat him. That scene would become a horror story they would tell for the rest of their lives.

The expressions on the faces of the five Emperors, the Sect leaders, and Ba Bel instantly changed as the air temperature in the valley suddenly plummeted drastically, becoming bone-piercingly cold. Ba Bel looked in one direction and saw a girl rapidly approaching from a distance. At first glance, she looked like a woman in her 40s, yet possessed an eternal aura. When she landed before everyone, they all saw her: the Ice Island Ruler Emperor, Xiao Yue, the second strongest Emperor after the Demon Emperor, stood with her back to Ba Bel.

This girl of celestial beauty was a martial artist of the same generation as Ba Bel, someone he deeply respected. Without hesitation, the Ice Island Emperor attacked a Lightning Sword Ruler Emperor who was about to strike Ba Bel with his inner energy. With a single strike, the Lightning Sword Emperor's body froze and turned into an ice statue. The ice statue, in a single breath, shattered into fragments.

Ba Bel chuckled faintly, watching the scene unfold before him. "These so-called Emperors bore the title of Emperor too quickly," he thought. "Not like myself and the Ice Island Ruler, who already possessed a proper foundation for a martial artist at the Emperor level."

"In three breaths' time, anyone who remains here will stay here forever," Xiao Yue said softly, yet every word sounded clear and terrifying to everyone's ears.

It didn't take three breaths' time. Before Xiao Yue had even finished speaking, half of the assembled martial artists, consisting of both Black and White Streams, had already fled the Valley of Solitude. The four remaining Emperors and Sect leaders quickly followed suit, leaving the valley as fast as possible, as if escaping the angel of death. When only Ba Bel and Xiao Yue remained, Ba Bel dared to speak.

"Madam…" Ba Bel said, his voice weak, mixed with groans of pain.

"I am not married," Xiao Yue cut him off, her gaze calm, yet with a touch of warmth rarely seen.

Ba Bel swallowed, surprised that Xiao Yue would interrupt him for something he considered trivial at the brink of death. "Miss Xiao, if you are here for the Nine Demonic Transformations Scripture, you are too late. I have already destroyed it."

Xiao Yue shook her head. "No. I came here to help you, because I heard we are from the same generation, and I respect you as a true martial artist. But it seems I am too late."

Ba Bel was startled by Xiao Yue's words. It had never occurred to him that such a beautiful martial artist would come from afar just to help him. Regret filled his heart. "Miss Xiao... Thank you. I..." Ba Bel could not continue his words as he vomited blood.

His internal energy was no longer able to withstand the wounds he had sustained in the battle against the eight Emperors. Ba Bel could only smile broadly, ironically, and fresh blood flowed from his mouth. He managed to pull out the sword embedded in his back, then used it as a support for his fragile body.

Xiao Yue blinked repeatedly. She then remembered her grandfather's words, who had told her that only a true martial artist would remain standing, no matter how severe the wounds received in a fight. "I never thought I would see a true martial artist here," Xiao Yue smiled faintly. She couldn't remember the last time she had smiled. Xiao Yue removed a treasured necklace, a gift from her grandfather, then placed it around Ba Bel's neck.

"This necklace is a treasure of Ice Island," Xiao Yue said. "According to my grandfather, this relic possesses the power to change destiny."

Xiao Yue herself had never been able to unlock and discover the secret of the treasured necklace. But in the end, she felt this could be a form of her regret for not being able to fully save Ba Bel from human ambition.

Xiao Yue used her internal energy to create ice around Ba Bel's body, encasing his remains in a transparent ice coffin, freezing time for him. Xiao Yue bowed her head once, in respect, before turning and flying away from the Valley of Solitude, returning to her Northern Ice Island.

As Xiao Yue turned and flew away from the Valley of Solitude, something happened that altered Ba Bel's destiny in a way most ordinary humans could never imagine. Inside the ice coffin, the treasured necklace on Ba Bel's neck began to glow with a bright golden light, and that light enveloped the Demon Emperor's body. Instead of freezing forever, Ba Bel's body began to slowly disappear, as if pulled by an invisible force, carrying him into an unexpected temporal vortex, granting him a second chance to change his bitter past.