Divine Emperor of Death

The entire battle arena was silent for a few moments before their smiles couldn't help but appear on their faces.

This white-robed woman known as Clara wasn't telling the truth, was she?

The Mandate Emperor sighed as he looked at the reaction of the crowd.

He had gone through numerous troubles to make various stories for her identity so that she wouldn't encounter avoidable dangers and told her to be low-key like her elder brother wanted, but she ended up introducing herself to everyone as his little sister.

He felt that both the brother and sister were a headache, not listening to him as they did as they pleased.

"She's indeed the Emperor of Death's little sister. For various reasons and competence, she will become the successor to my Heaven Mandate Temple, and unless I say otherwise, there's no changing that."

"…!"

With the confirmation from the Mandate Emperor, their hearts shook in disbelief.

How could the Heaven Mandate Temple and the Alstreim Family form an alliance? Did this mean that one party was controlled by the other? They couldn't understand the intricacies behind nor tell the mystery behind Clara's path towards becoming the successor to the Heaven Mandate Temple, although they did have many opinions and speculations forming about it in their minds.

Clara nodded her head, satisfied with the confirmation, before she looked at the lanky youth and narrowed her eyes.

"Also, we have another name, the name we went by in our earlier years and represents our origin, the Loret Imperial Family of the Forsaken Phoenix Realm. My father's name is Logan Loret, and my mother's name is Claire Alstreim. We were both named Davis Loret and Clara Loret first. You would do well to remember that."

"Y-Y-Y-Yes!"

The youth from the Twilight Physician Hall felt overwhelmed by the intensity of her words that he flinched and nodded. He watched her walk away with indifference to his plight as his expression went red.

He couldn't understand. Why did he feel so compelled to listen to her words and could even feel the aura behind them?

It made him feel humiliated and amplified by the previous humiliation he received; he cast a hateful look at her. However, coming to know that she was the little sister of the Emperor of Death, he lowered his head, quickly wanting to forget the humiliation he received from her.

Clara made her way to her group before she stood in front of her parents, revealing a little smile behind her veil.

"Clara, my little princess..."

Logan shot a genuine smile before he raised his hand and patted her head.

"With you here, I don't believe I can even come near to winning anymore."

"Father, when the time comes, I will forfeit." Clara shook her head like a filial child.

"Oh no, I'm just here for the experience." Logan shook his head, "I do not have the intentions to win, nor am I that strong. Even my daughters-in-law would beat me black and blue. Haha."

He wryly laughed, causing Sophie and Niera to panic as they spoke.

"Father-in-law. We don't dare!"

"Besides, we're powerful thanks to your son who goes out of his way to look after us."

Logan's mouth slightly parted. He wasn't sure about the specifics as he had indulged in secluded cultivation these past few months, but it looks like Davis was certainly taking care of his women.  At the same time, hearing his son act with responsibility, he wanted to see the women he left back in the Loret Imperial Castle.

However, sensing the gazes of his two main wives behind him, Claire and Nora, he felt that he and his son were living a different life of looking after their women as these two definitely wouldn't allow him to spend more time with them than them.

"That's right. Why didn't brother come?"

Clara asked with narrowed eyes, her melodious voice appearing worried. She knew that he had gone to the Spirit Lands.

Did something happen?

"Don't worry, strict little sister." Mo Mingzhi smirked, "He informed us that he would at least appear before the competition ends. Right now, he's truly cultivating, making massive improvements to his Essence Gathering Cultivation."

"I see." Clara nodded before her gaze sharpened, "Also, you should call me sister-in-law or Clara. Not strict little sister."

"Okay, little empress..."

Mo Mingzhi wandered off as she looked away with a smile, causing the others to look away and giggle while Logan and Claire were taken aback, looking quite impressed with her.

Did she not feel intimidated by Clara?

Even as her parents, they felt a bit timed with her commanding presence that grew along with her cultivation. So how could Mo Mingzhi not?

On the other hand, Clara felt that Mo Mingzhi was intentionally making trouble with her. She didn't feel like responding to this kind of teasing as she felt that it was childish before she suddenly turned around and looked at the two figures in the skies.

"Everyone…"

Honorable Elder Julian Kruse spoke at this moment. He flashed his token as an Honorable Elder of the Heaven Gazing Sect and moved his lips with solemnness in his face.

"It is time for the Seventh Stage Young Expert Competition to start. As you are all aware, the first round will be a round of mass elimination, which means to each their own. There are a total of 432 participants from the Twelve Hegemons and many Emperor Grade Powers from the Low-Sized and Mid-Sized Territories. You are free to form a team during this first round, even backstab, but not kill."

"Those who kill will be disqualified and subjected to severe scrutiny as we understand that accidents do happen, but intentional moves to kill when it is clear that such a situation could be avoided will end you in a public execution. At that time, you could accept your death or revolt. Here, where the powerhouses of the righteous hegemons have gathered, it'll be all the same."

Some who had bad blood with each other gulped before they abandoned all thoughts of planning to kill them secretly or fake it in an accidental manner.

"You are all young people who are going to prop up your powers within a short period of time, so behave accordingly as your actions will represent the image of your powers and vastly move the reputation."

Honorable Elder Julian Kruse nodded before he raised his hand, a formation core appearing in his hand.

"The space you're standing will extend, and you will be sent to a random location at the start. To win a battle, all you have to do is make your opponent faint or make them admit defeat, upon which they'll be promptly thrown out of the battle arena. Once we have only thirty-two participants left, the first round will end. Do we understand?"

"Yes!"

A loud noise of agreement resounded out from the youths, some looking eager and some already looking around whom to meet up with, even taking it beforehand.

"Any questions?" Honorable Elder Julian Kruse asked.

Seeing that none spoke, he nodded before activating the formation. The glow on the edge of the battle arena became more prevalent before the entire 432 participants disappeared from their sight, causing their eyes to go wide. However, replacing them was 432 projections that concentrated on each participant as it revealed their locations and actions.

What appeared in the crowd's view was a sandy environment that was devoid of mountains. Just plain desert till the end of the horizon. However, there were many crevices where it seemed that it led to the abyss, seemingly capable of devouring them.

"The environmental factor dictates that falling into the crevices would figuratively mean your death. In other words, you are defeated and would be sent out of the battle arena. The first round of the Seventh Stage Young Expert Competition begins!"

The voice of Honorable Elder Julian Kruse could be heard by both the contestants and the crowd.

"Yes!!!"

The latter cheered when the 432 participants almost simultaneously started to move, flying with immense speed as they began their search for their opponents or allies.

Sophie, Niera, Mo Mingzhi, Fiora, Logan, Claire, Nora, and Clara all released their soul sense at the same time, instantly finding the plethora of participants moving around them. They were simultaneously astonished to sense that their sensory range had been drastically decreased by the spatial formation, but they also felt that it should merely be a side-effect of the expansion of space or the illusive environment they were in.

Nevertheless, they took a step a second later, heading in the direction of their allies.

However, Clara suddenly stopped and looked back.

Behind her was a crevice, but flying above that was a black-robed cloaked person who seemed to be invisible to the common eyes but not to her senses. The black-robed man was quickly startled when Clara saw him before he clenched his teeth and shot forward instead of retreating.

"Curses! You're just a High-Level Law Dominion Stage Fairy who's a bit powerful, but defeating you means a lifetime of glory! It's your own fault for entering this compet-"

"You shall not fly nor move~"

"What the-...!"

That youth suddenly lost the feeling of control over his body that he froze, feeling paralyzed. His green pupils were dilated in shock before he started plunging into the crevice.

"Ahhh!!! Wait!!!!"

He screamed with fear as darkness enveloped his surroundings.

Abruptly, he felt like he had crashed into a rock before he found himself looking at the battle arena that was full of projections as he sat on the ground. He blinked three times before he could recover himself, and what resounded in his mind was a cacophony of mocking laughter and what he saw was the image of Clara turning around to leave after making him plunge into the abyss.

His cheeks turned crimson in shame as not only was he at the Peak-Level Law Dominion Stage but had also conjured a Supreme Domain, and even though it may not be a Perfect Domain, he felt that he possessed fair chances to defeat her out by surprise as he didn't underestimate her but was found out instead, which eventually ruined his chances but what was even more shameful was that when he looked at the timer above every projection and saw that it didn't reach ten seconds into the fray, and no one was outside, meaning that he was the first participant out of the 432 youths to be ousted!

'… I just want to die...'

His heart broke in more ways than just one, feeling like he couldn't battle or face anything with confidence anymore or look at another woman the same way he looked at that white-robed woman, for she had taken his heart when their gaze connected but shattered it into pieces.

This loss of being defeated within an instant as he helplessly fell into the abyss was world-shattering to his law heart, essentially ruining his cultivation path unless he could overcome it through introspection or lucky chances, like defeating or capturing Clara to acquire her, which clearly isn't possible when she was the little sister of the Emperor of Death!