Hearing the other party's negative feedback, Fire Sorrow's expression changed for the worse and as she stared at Xiong Li she could feel two wet drops sliding down her cheeks at the same time as her beautiful eyes lost some of their sparkle.
Xiong Li narrowed his eyes as he saw this, and after a moment of silence decided to talk some more to see if he could get some information before heading home.
"Over the years, there have been people from this side who have gone to our side, but at least within what I know none of them made it too far before they were killed due to different circumstances."
Xiong Li could feel the woman in front of him getting sadder and sadder with every word that came out of his mouth and this gave him the courage to keep talking in the hope of destabilizing her emotionally so that he would have a better chance of victory in the final clash to come.
"You all need to bring out the best of the best in order to stand against beings like me, but beyond the place you call Abyssal Rift none of you would be much of anything."
Xiong Li's revelation certainly came as a great shock to Crow and the others.
"Bullshit, if you guys have such strong warriors then why are you sending trash instead of sending a stronger and smarter one?" Hellscar snorted not believing a single word Xiong Li was saying.
In fact, even Valiant and the others didn't believe what Xiong Li was saying. It wasn't that they couldn't believe it but that they simply didn't want to.
They had practically reached the top of the universe after risking their lives for at least hundreds of thousands of years, they naturally wouldn't be willing to believe that beyond the Abyssal Rift they were no different from children.
"Our Golden Domain is divided into 3 Great Rings." Xiong Li scoffed. "The Outer Ring is where those we consider mortals, the cultivator base, are located. The Inner Ring is where people like me are found, true cultivators who have broken the chains of mortality and can fly through the skies and even live millennia. You would certainly be powerful up to here, but there is still one more ring left."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"It is in the Central Ring beyond the Endless Sea that the strongest, the true gods live. In the Central Ring, you as well as I would be no different than ants." Xiong Li pointed his sword at the great sphere of darkness and said disdainfully, "In the Inner Ring there are 5 realms of power above Foundation Forging that I and the wrinkled old man from before are in. Do you know what this means? It means that even the man leading you would be no more than a fart in the Inner Ring compared to the really strong ones not to mention the Central Ring."
The more they listened, the uglier Crow and the others' expressions grew.
If what Xiong Li was saying was true... and if The Golden Domain sent just one warrior who was one power realm higher than Xiong Li and the wrinkled old man... wouldn't that mean the total end of the universe the way they knew it?
Xiong Li looked at Fire Sorrow and said disdainfully, "Unless the person you seek has managed to reach the Central Ring and become one of the strongest gods there then he is definitely dead. However, don't get your hopes up too high... You guys are immediately wanted and hunted down once it is discovered that someone from this side crossed through the Rift into The Golden Domain."
For several seconds, no one said anything and Xiong Li narrowed his eyes trying to find the best moment to unleash his full strength and wipe out at least one of the enemies in front of him.
Unfortunately, that opportunity would never come for him.
"You..." Luciah looked at Xiong Li and for the first time in a long time a glint of pity shone in her eyes as she slowly said, "You have made a grave mistake."
Before Xiong Li could say anything, his expression changed as he sensed something was wrong.
The tears that Fire Sorrow had just shed and was still shedding suddenly turned into flames, and those flames soon began to spread everywhere with such speed that even the elder that Lucifer was fighting against in the great sphere of darkness could not avoid.
"Domain."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})As they looked at the back of Fire Sorrow's silhouette standing before them and under the shocked eyes of Lilith, Crow, and Hellscar; her purple hair suddenly began to gain a strong scarlet tint and soon her figure and Xiong Li's disappeared into the terrifying sea of red flames.
"This..." Crow was startled when he was engulfed by the red flames but only calmed down and sighed in relief after he realized that he wasn't suffering any damage.
"You- Pahahahahahaha! Crow, you're actually crying!" Hellscar burst out laughing.
"You stupid fucking ape, you're crying too so cut the laughter!" Crow cursed loudly.
"What?! Bullshit!" Hellscar exclaimed with wide eyes.
"What... What's going on?" Lilith was very surprised to realize that not only her teammates but even she was shedding tears all of a sudden.
"Fire Sorrow has a flame that in the past was a divine flame capable of killing both gods and demons... The name of her flame is Red Soul-Devouring Flame, and as a twist of fate it turns out that the special characteristic of this flame fits perfectly with Fire Sorrow's Domain." Valiant calmly explained as she watched the crimson flames covering everything with no gaps.
"Now that you mention it, what is the Domain of Fire Sorrow?" Hellscar tried to fight back the tears streaming down his face without much success.
"Except for the name of her Domain no one knows for sure what it can do because no one has survived to tell the tale, and for obvious reasons, she's not interested in telling the secrets of her trump card either." Valiant shrugged indifferently.
"The more negative her emotions are the more powerful her Domain is." Luciah looked over and said casually, "The name of her Domain is Fire Sorrow."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Everyone knew that Fire Sorrow naturally wasn't the real name of the most powerful mage in the universe but no one ever bothered or dared to ask about it. After all, Higher Existences were eccentric creatures after having lived so long and most of them had suffered greatly in their paths; the only thing that mattered was knowing whether the other party was ally or enemy, things like names or age were never really important.
"I see." Lilith muttered and a sparkle of light flashed in her ruby eyes, "So Fire Sorrow decided to take her name of from her Domain."
Among the strongest generals of the Demonic Army, only three of them used their real names; Crow, Luciah, and Valiant.
As for Fire Sorrow, Hellscar, and Lilith; they three used aliases or names of skills or things important to them.
Of course, the fact that Lilith was using a fake name was unknown to practically everyone, but even if everyone knew it wouldn't be of any importance.
Approximately 20 to 30 minutes later, the red-colored flames began to slowly recede until finally the silhouette of Fire Sorrow standing in the distance with her six black wings spread wide appeared in everyone's view.
Her hair was slowly returning to normal, and the bright red color was beginning to fade under the eyes of the five behind her.
None of them asked what had happened to Xiong Li. There was no need to.
Not after the six had received part of the records of the existence that made up the powerful invader seconds before.
When Fire Sorrow turned to look at them, her sad expression from before was gone and she had a faint gentle smile on her face.
A moment later, however, Fire Sorrow's expression slowly changed to indifference and as she looked out into the vast world of darkness in the distance muttered softly, "We can only wait now."
Everyone looked towards that place where Lucifer's Domain had been active for the past 48 hours and waited with some apprehension for the ultimate conclusion.
...
Approximately 24 hours after Xiong Li's fall, inside the big sphere of darkness.
Hou Jie coughed up a mouthful of blood, and when he looked at his bloodied palm he noticed that his blood was now black instead of red.
His wrinkled face was now pale as a ghost and his veins now black as tree roots stood out horribly outward. His body was riddled with wounds, and from his body, there was a strange mist of darkness continually coming out. For every second that passed, Hou Jie could feel himself growing weaker and weaker.
"I didn't expect... I didn't expect you to actually be this strong." Hou Jie's voice was now not only raspy like two sandpaper rubbing together but also sounded hoarse and heavy.
"Kid, you're comparing me to the younger Leaders who haven't even lived half my age. You should know better than me that even among those of the same realm there are differences in class and status not to mention power." Lucifer wiped the trail of blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.
Lucifer was not untouched, of course.
The enemy he was facing this time was terribly powerful to the point that if not for his Soul Armament and Domain Lucifer would probably have been in a lot and greater danger.
His internal organs were slightly damaged, his golden armor was cracked, one of his wings had been blown to pieces, and from the cracks in his armor there was golden blood constantly slipping out.
Even then, this was nothing compared to Hou Jie's situation.
"Kid, uh... Few may call me that, but I suppose to someone who has lived as long as you have I'm just a kid.... Although that long time would be much less if you had been born in The Golden Domain." Hou Jie nodded calmly as his aura continued to plummet.
"But, Lucifer... don't act so full of yourself... If you're as strong as you think you are why don't you walk through the gate and visit my Golden Domain?" Hou Jie creepily laughed while more and more blood spurted out of his mouth. "You should be able to go, just like the other seven. Isn't that right?"
"Forget it, where will I have time for my naps if I go to a place like that." Lucifer dismissed it as a joke.
"You won't be able to relax for long... The next invasion will be the last. It seems some people have gotten bored of playing farm so it will soon be time to kill every plant in existence." Hou Jie smiled widely showing his yellow teeth. "And believe me, it will be much, much, much sooner than you can even come to imagine."
"Yeah, well." Lucifer held out his right hand and snapped his bloodstained fingers as he said in a low voice, "But you won't be a part of it."
Hou Jie's body began to tremble as he raised his head involuntarily. Immediately after, his body went rigid and his mouth opened wide, allowing a large amount of black smoke to pour out from his body through his eyes, nostrils, ears, and mouth.
Soon, Hou Jie's body which was already pure skin and bone became even thinner to the point of being no different from a dried mummy.
Lucifer ignored the Soul Record's message, and as he looked at the floating corpse before him he frowned hard, losing the calm attitude he had a moment ago.
Hou Jie's words had alarmed him, and Lucier began to feel a deep sense of discomfort.
* * * * * * *
