Domain Expansion!

Winnie Berrent’s mind was completely filled with the word "impossible." The awakening of the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods meant that the Night Emperor had awakened as well—yet that was impossible. After stepping into the demigod realm, the Night Emperor had been unable to resist his class's innate slumbering trait and fell into a perpetual sleep from which he would never wake. For half a century, he had never once awakened. No matter how hard the Eternal Night Church tried, they had failed to rouse this demigod. Had the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods broken free of the slumbering curse on their own? That was equally impossible. If the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods could break free of the curse, they wouldn't have fallen into slumber in the first place. The nature of the Eternal Night class dictated that the longer one slept, the closer one's soul and physical body drifted toward total extinction. The longer it dragged on, the more impossible it became to awaken. Just as Winnie Berrent was about to ask, "Has this been confirmed?", the Spirit Realm notification chimed by her ear: [Ding! Morality Points of Thunder God and Boreas have been reset to zero. Slaying both will yield generous rewards.] ... [Ding! Morality Points of Thunder God and Boreas have been reset to zero. Slaying both will yield generous rewards.] At this moment, every Spirit Realm walker present in the real world received the notification. The culprits behind last December's catastrophe—which had crippled an entire city and claimed more than a hundred thousand lives—the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods, had made their comeback! High-ranking figures across both factions were instantly plunged into panic. ... The capital, Five Elements Alliance headquarters. Inside a conference room equipped with advanced anti-wiretapping, anti-spying systems, soundproofing, and anti-wraith arrays, nine beams of light projected down. The Nine Elders materialized within the fluorescent-blue beams, exchanging glances. A heavy tension spread through the silence; no one spoke. After a moment, Grand Elder Di Hong spoke first, his tone somber: "The Wind and Thunder Twin Gods have awakened. Heaven's Punishment just sent a plea for aid, hoping to gather the strength of all peak Dominators in the orthodox faction to confront them together." The Grand Elder of the Red Fire Gang slammed the table and snarled, "That's not asking for help—that's inviting us to march to the underworld with them!" Elder Miao sighed. "There are no longer any demigods in the real world. Facing an entity of such high standing, all we can do is watch and pray. Insisting on acting like a mantis trying to stop a carriage is just throwing our lives away. It serves no purpose." Once fused, the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods' standing reached Level 12. Even if every peak Level 9 across the globe joined the fray, the Twin Gods could hack them down from south to north and back again without their arms ever growing tired. The Grand Elder of the Water God Palace looked around and asked, "So we just stand by and watch?" "What else?" Elder Miao said coolly. "The Twin Gods' standing is too high. With the demigods absent, how could we stop them? Realistically speaking, this is far beyond our limits. "Selfishly speaking, it won't affect our territory anyway. Matters in the Free Federation should be handled by the Free Federation. There's no reason for us to risk our necks cleaning up Heaven's Punishment's mess. We only need to look after our own backyard. "Besides, though the Twin Gods have gone mad, their instinct to hunt evil classes remains. They might even wipe out quite a few masters of the evil faction. While they'll no longer care about civilian lives, that's beyond our control." As they spoke, Spirit Realm notifications chimed continuously in their ears, indicating that the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods were slaughtering indiscriminately—points deducted again and again, bounties issued after bounties. The eight peak Dominators exchanged glances, neither refuting Elder Miao nor explicitly endorsing his view. Yet in times like this, silence was tacit consent. At this point, the Sword Pavilion Elder tapped the table and said in a deep voice, "You're missing the point entirely. Shouldn't the real question be why the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods awakened in the first place? "If they've awakened, what about the Night Emperor?" The elders' hearts trembled as a strong, inexplicable dread welled up within them. ... Free Federation, an office building in New York County. Her face pale with panic, An Dieqi rushed into her boss's office, only to see Zhai Cai—clad in a black mink coat—stuffing expensive liquor and cigars into a backpack. She stammered, "Boss, the W-Wind and Thunder Twin Gods have appeared again... Boss, what are you doing?" "What else would I be doing? Your boss is preparing to run," Zhai Cai barked irritably. "Dieqi, grab that box of watches worth five million federal dollars for me." An Dieqi froze. "Shouldn't we answer Heaven's Punishment's call, discuss a plan, and face the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods together? Isn't it bad to become deserters right after joining Heaven's Punishment?" "Fool!" Zhai Cai scoffed. "The demigods have all entered the instance, and the President even borrowed my armor. With ants like us, how could we possibly fight the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods?" "Sacrifice is a Knight's destiny—you said that yourself." "Sacrifice isn't suicidal stupidity." After hurriedly packing up, Zhai Cai produced a teleportation jade talisman and said, "The Wind and Thunder Twin Gods track spiritual energy to slaughter Spirit Realm walkers. The higher your standing, the easier you're targeted. Come with me to China to find Yuanshi Tianzun. If China gets hit too, we'll just join his guild and take refuge inside a guild scenario." With that, a crisp crack sounded as he crushed the teleportation jade talisman in his hand. ... Return of the Dead group! [Sun Miaomiao: Holy crap, what's going on?! Weren't the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods sealed? How did they break out again?] [Tianxia Guihuo: Clearly, the higher-ups of the orthodox and evil factions are playing games behind the scenes where we can't see, and the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods were released. Sigh, troublesome times. Who knows how many innocent people will be dragged into this.] [Brother Red Chicken: What's there to worry about? When the sky falls, the tall guys will hold it up. Didn't the five Alliance Leaders step in to handle the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods last time? It'll be the same now. It'll blow over soon.] [Xiahou Aotian: Don't you guys know? All the demigods entered the instance to vie for the Solar Origin. There are no demigods left in the real world.] The entire chat group fell dead silent. For a long time, no one said a word. ... Retreat? Everyone's first reaction, including Asura's trusted subordinate Fear, was that Asura intended to abandon this contest and choose retreat to preserve his strength. Yet in the next second, they saw the Taiyi Sect Master, who had quietly retreated behind the orthodox demigods, pull a small three-legged cauldron from his inventory. Tilting the cauldron's opening, he poured out a middle-aged man dressed in black robes—pale-faced, hairless, beardless, and without eyebrows, with emerald-green eyes. The Night Emperor?! How could the Night Emperor be here? How could the Night Emperor be inside the Taiyi Sect Master's item?! Seeing this middle-aged man appear, monstrous waves churned in the hearts of the evil demigods, their pupils shrinking violently. The hairless, beardless, eyebrow-less middle-aged man slumped onto the ground. Lowering his eyelids, he didn't even glance at the surrounding demigods, letting out a hollow yet resounding voice: "Domain," The instant those words were heard, the evil demigods vanished from their spots like startled rabbits, their speed so extreme they might as well have learned teleportation. "...expand." A profound darkness swelled outward from within the Night Emperor, expanding at incredible speed to encompass hundreds of square kilometers, extinguishing all spiritual energy and plunging all things into slumber. The orthodox demigods turned their heads in shock, only to be instantly swallowed by the deep darkness. The Lord of Stars?! Anger, confusion, and bewilderment flashed through their minds. Stumbling a few steps, their bodies, spiritual energy, and minds found themselves powerless to resist, inevitably succumbing to sleep. Thump, thump, thump... One after another, the Level 10 orthodox demigods collapsed onto the desolate earth, falling into an eternal slumber. Like the Goddess of Beauty, the Night Emperor was heavily specialized, possessing only the power to induce slumber. Yet he could drag even the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods into deep sleep, let alone them. Only the most agile Void demigod, the Level 11 Goddess of Beauty, and the Xie Family Ancestor wielding the Demon Refining Pot did not instantly fall asleep as the darkness spread, escaping the bounds of the slumber domain in time. And, of course, the Lord of Stars, who had long since used Star Escape to distance himself. "Star!!" A furious roar echoed from high above. Behind the silver-masked President, the Myriad Treasure Tree surged forth in brilliant divine radiance. He hung a black heart riddled with air holes and a dark-gold female mask at the crown of the Myriad Treasure Tree. Looking down upon the Lord of Stars from on high, the surrounding air warped and roiled around him, his rage pushed to the utmost limit: "You really are a double-crossing traitor! I'm going to flay you alive, tear out your sinews, and destroy your body and soul!" The evil demigods who had successfully escaped the slumber domain stared at the scene dumbfounded, looking at the orthodox demigods strewn across the ground, nearly wiped out in a single stroke. They couldn't comprehend what was unfolding before their eyes, unable to fathom how the Lord of Stars and the Night Emperor had teamed up. Still less did they understand the point of the Lord of Stars doing this. Only Ling Tuo knit his brows tightly. As if realizing something, his expression changed drastically. *Pfft!* Right at that moment, the bronze tip of a blade punched out through his chest. Covered in verdigris with a blood-red edge, it was a bronze scimitar. Its guard was shaped like the head of a yaksha with bell-like eyes, a prominent nose, and a wide mouth. If Heavenly King Demon Eye were here, he would recognize that this was the very bronze scimitar used by Chi You during the Battle of Zhuolu. He would discover that the legendary blade wielded by Asura was none other than the Chi You Saber. Young Demonic Bewitchers had all heard the tales: Asura, armed with a single blade, had fought his way across the realm without rival; whether in the orthodox or evil faction, not a single demigod could match him in single combat. Yet what Asura's blade truly looked like was something no one knew. This saber had slept alongside Asura in the holy mountain for decades, never once revealed to the world. Neither during his two incursions into the capital nor throughout this demigod instance had Asura ever drawn it. Now, as the Chi You Saber emerged after decades of gathering dust, the first person it pierced was Ling Tuo. Ling Tuo roared in agony, his expression contorting into a hideous, twisted grimace, as though the blade was laced with a potent poison so lethal that even he, a demigod, could scarcely endure the pain. The moment the blade pierced his heart, his body could no longer move. His internal organs felt as if they were suctioned by the demonic saber; essence blood and spiritual energy surged uncontrollably outward like a burst dam. This was one of the Chi You Saber's powers. "You once asked me why I never used this blade," the dark-skinned, tower-like Asura said calmly, standing behind Ling Tuo with his hand on the hilt. "Here is your answer: because it was meant to kill you. I deliberately starved it of blood for twenty years. The hungrier it grew, the more frenzied it became. Only then could it claim your life in a single strike." Ling Tuo twisted his neck with great difficulty to look back. Blood seeped from his seven orifices, tragic and horrifying. Straining, he rasped out word by word: "Wh-why...?" Asura's expression remained unchanged as he replied placidly, "The Lord of the Sun I truly support is your father."