Divine Emperor of Death

"No way…"

Nadia expressed her disbelief.

For the past few days, she was casually moving around such a person…? She almost died to Wicked Tamer Jaxon Harrow's tamed Vacuous Beasts, so she knew that she had escaped from the jaws of death when she chose to disperse her doppelganger.

Although it was her energy body, her soul was still strongly connected to it. It was no different than an avatar if she had one, which meant that if Accursed Warlock Fraser Herrion or Vile Enchanter Kieran Hartley unleashed a karmic attack at her, she would've suffered critical injuries that could lead to her death or could even have her consciousness taken over.

She knew that was how dangerous they were.

However, her expression twitched as she didn't know it was them. Instead, she dispersed her doppelganger because she merely wanted to avoid confrontation with the Empyreal Monarchs who had returned there. Therefore, when she was attacked by that person from the Lanfric Family, she instantly chose to disperse herself as it wasn't worth getting surrounded by Empyreal Monarchs and captured.

It would be an insult to her and her master.

That was what was going on in her mind back then, but she never expected to have escaped from two madmen that even her Master and Myria feared.

"Well, I could be exaggerating as it might be the strength of that man from the Lanfric Family. Perhaps he could've even found a heavenly treasure or an inheritance here and improved himself considerably, but if he was daring enough to try to pull you into a dream, a being of death into an illusion, not to mention carrying the burden of offending me, then his bravery must be out of this world. If not, he must be one of those two…"

Davis speculated as he smiled, "What else did you notice?"

"That man's name should be Arrain Lanfric. He should be staying together with the Northern Divide's Alliance still if no one found him out. I also saw the Celestial Fairies who were captured, but they were treated alright, allowed to freely roam around as far as I could see with the semblance of order enforced in the shelter."

"As for the Empyreal Monarchs and the other transcendents, everyone whom we saw in the hidden temple was also there. They collectively headed out with the immortals in the shelter, marching towards the center of the Astral Forgeheart Minor Realm as that's where the realm concoction would take place, presumably according to the conversations I heard. However, eight giant obstructions seem to be blocking the path to the center…"

Nadia's expression became solemn. Surprisingly, she took out a map of the Astral Forgeheart Minor Realm collected from who knows where and marked the center in a neat circle with her death energy. It didn't even cover ten percent of the map, but Davis's eyes squinted as it covered the entire center.

And then, he also saw her draw an inner circle, which separated the center of the realm from the outer circle.

"Everyone in that shelter was talking about how there were eight immortal beasts at this outer circle, guarding the pathway to the realm concoction."

"Oh?" Davis became amused, "Magical Beasts? Not Feral Beasts? Are they at the Peak Stage of the Immortal Emperor Beast Stage?"

"Yes, but actually, these immortal beasts are said to be closer to the Empyrean level than any creature in this realm."

"What?"

Davis's expression churned as he still kept his smile, "Are you serious?"

"Yes, Master." Nadia replied, a tough smile spreading across her face, "It seems that they're chained to some places and can only move for a certain distance before the chains pull them back. As for the reason, I heard that they seem to be death row inmates who are kept here in order to be executed along with the collapse of the realm, burned by the apocalyptic flames till they all return to ashes in retribution."

"…"

Davis blinked.

He was supposed to cross this treacherous path with a ton of people by his side?

Moreover, the entire shelter consisting of the immortals of the First Haven World was also headed to that place?

How were they supposed to traverse this pathway when magical beasts that were almost at the Empyrean level were blocking their path? He couldn't understand.

This information wasn't in any memories he plundered, so this must have been recently obtained by the transcendents who headed to the central region of the realm. All he knew was there was a huge danger in the central region, which they went around avoiding the outer circle, but as for what danger it was, they didn't know, but it was finally revealed now with Nadia bringing this information.

"If they know the background of these beasts, there's likely some information etched in some mountain, or the magical beasts themselves are allowed to talk freely."

Davis's lips curled, "We'll see what it is when we get there. For now, come here…"

He pulled Nadia closer into an embrace and kissed her sweet lips. Her ominous aura of death was no different than a kind of warmth to him, his soul at peace while his lower body twitched in chaos. After a few seconds, he let go of a satisfied Nadia, who licked her lips as she relished his taste, looking at him with an enchanted smile.

Transforming into a tiny wolf, she shot into his soul sea, appearing to want to take a rest.

"Good girl…"

Davis praised her for her efforts again, knowing that she must've practiced her techniques a lot during these few days, even improving her comprehension of Death Laws. After all, immortal beasts could learn Laws of their innate attribute.

Right now, he knew Nadia's Death Laws were already in Level Three Abstruse Intent, so any more comprehension within the same intent would only improve the quality of Death Laws, although he didn't know how much it would improve as her Death Laws emerging from her species as a Nether Springs Death Wolf was only limited.

He garnered that its tier was only as comparable to Earth Dragon and Fire Phoenixes alike.

If not, he could swear that Nadia would be way stronger for her current level as an Empress.

He could also tell this was where his Empresses like Lea, Isabella, and Evelynn fell short of the Empyreal Monarchs, who were actually King-Tier Feys. After all, these Empyreal Monarchs had the blood of Azure Dragon, Seven-Colored Phoenix, Six-Headed Hydra, and alike, which was way stronger than the likes of Earth Dragon, Fire Phoenix, or Three-Headed Hydra.

The tier of their bloodline was a level above the bloodline his Empresses carried.

But with that said, he did not wish for Nadia's bloodline to mutate into a new species, for he would not be able to make love with her as the strange karmic burden of an even higher species of a death wolf would be extremely heavy that he may not be able to remove it with Transitory Beast Taming Pact's specialty.

He had already decided that he was going to make love with Nadia when she stepped into the Immortal Emperor Beast Stage because that was the time the racial curse haunting her would finally be removed, according to his speculations. He hoped that was the case since he didn't intend to stop himself even if his hypothesis didn't come true because Nadia deserved his love more than anyone else he could think of for sticking together with him and protecting the family from the moment he made her his magical beast mount.

They had come too far for him not to reward her patience with the thing she desired the most, not that he could stop himself from making love with her as he also desired her badly, but only held back so as to not harm her because of the existence of the strange racial curse, which disallowed them from dual cultivating with natural disasters sent towards them and even if they did dual cultivate, he guessed that the chances she could conceive were close to zero and could be permanent with the racial curse fully activating.

All things considered, he decided to focus on the matters at hand.

Stepping out, he saw the skies that were supposed to be blue were already crimson with dark clouds, a sign that the apocalyptic flames had probably spread far and wide in most parts of the realm. 

He wondered what exactly happened to the Apocalyptic Flame Essence, causing him to activate his karmic powers.

Naturally, many threads stretched out to the distant horizons of this vast realm, connecting to the people he was acquainted with, disliked, hated, friendly, and so on and so forth.

The common thing was they were all heading toward the center of the realm and clouded around together, which was understandable as he guessed they must be the Empyreal Monarchs and the others he faced.

However, there was one thread that was in another direction to the east but seemed to be slowly moving toward the center. Moreover, this thread wasn't colorless as passersby, white as acquaintances, red as lovers, black as hostile adversaries, or pink as those who have familial fondness.

Instead, it was blue and yellow, one that appeared to be friendly but worried. Moreover, this thread wasn't as semi-transparent as the others but seemed to be quite opaque, as though having a strong connection to him.

"This... it can't be..."

Davis's gaze shook. He called Lea out, using his karmic powers on her as he confirmed his findings.

"Never did I expect for it to have survived...! Ahahaha!"

Davis burst out laughing with immense joy on his face, causing Lea to turn confused before her eyes widened in utter shock.

Soon enough, Davis called everyone to the exit, intending to leave for the same place eight dangerous existences were said to reside.