Ch. 1328 - The Infernal Lord’s Legacy, Chu Tian

Although the Ancestral Warden didn’t say it outright, his meaning was clear, he, too, wanted to join the cause of the Demon Race’s revival, even if it meant death without regret.

“Go on then,” said Hellfire Asura quietly.

Those three simple words seemed to drain all the strength from him, and after speaking them, he fell silent.

He had worked for eons to preserve the stability of the Ancient Demon Realm, even at the cost of abandoning his own people. Yet only after countless ages did he realize that all his efforts had been futile, worse, they had been wrong.

That kind of despair and disillusionment was not something many could endure.

“Ancient Ancestor, I’m not leaving,” the Ancestral Warden said resolutely, kneeling on the ground. “You raised me since childhood. I am willing to remain here forever and guard the Ancient Demon Realm.”

“I raised a disciple of flesh and blood, not a puppet,” Hellfire Asura said, shaking his head. “Go. I can no longer return to the Demon Race. Let your will stand in my place. When the day of battle comes, kill a few more of them for me.”

The Ancestral Warden wiped away tears that had appeared at some unknown point. Then, after bowing deeply to the Demon Mountain, he finally turned and left.

After leaping from the cliff without hesitation, Xu Zimo felt the sudden loss of weight, he couldn’t control his body at all.

The space below the cliff was like falling into a giant bubble, soft and warm, almost cushion-like.

Then the bubble burst, and the impact of his fall dissipated. Xu Zimo landed steadily on the ground.

Looking around, he saw only a desolate plain, and in the distance, a single temple.

With no other path to take, he began walking toward it.

The ground along the way was cracked and dry, and the void itself was shattered.

He reached out to touch the broken space. Normally, such ruptures in reality would heal themselves, after all, destruction by powerful beings was common, and the world possessed its own regenerative force.

But here, the space remained broken, unable to mend.

“Has time itself solidified?” Xu Zimo murmured, then shook his head. “No… even that couldn’t last this long.”

Perhaps this world had been like this for billions of years.

He recalled what the Ancestral Warden had said. This continent was carried over from a destroyed world by the previous Infernal Lord.

That meant the original world had perished, leaving this land without its natural healing force. Destroying it now would be effortless.

Ignoring the ruins along the path, Xu Zimo walked up to the temple.

The structure stood two stories tall. Its main gate was painted crimson, and the upper floor was adorned with blue and red hues.

On the red doors was a painted circle, and within that circle, a depiction of a Daoist with an immortal’s bearing.

Xu Zimo looked up. The plaque above the entrance had been broken in half, the remaining piece swaying weakly in the air.

“Heaven-Blessed,” Xu Zimo read the single remaining character softly.

He pushed the door open. With a deep rumble, a gust of wind swept out, carrying dust and the stale air of ages.

Inside, the temple was surprisingly serene.

At the center lay a lotus pond, with narrow paths of blue brick stretching on either side. Bodhi trees grew along the edges, lending the place an aura of clarity and righteousness.

At the far end stood three great halls.

The two side halls had long since collapsed, leaving only the central one intact, a grand golden structure, solemn and majestic.

As Xu Zimo crossed the lotus pond, he noticed bubbles rising from the water with soft “blub-blub” sounds.

Beneath the surface, countless golden fish churned, and suddenly, the pond echoed with the cries of dragons.

The golden fish transformed into thousands of divine dragons, soaring into the air and circling through the temple.

“Who dares trespass into my Heaven-Blessed Temple?” a golden dragon thundered, its voice filled with power.

Xu Zimo stood calm, infernal energy swirling around him. “Your obsession should have long been dispersed,” he said evenly.

He could tell, this dragon was not real, only a lingering will from beings who had once lived here.

“Nonsense! Those who invade Heaven-Blessed Temple shall die!” the dragon roared, diving at him with unstoppable might.

But Xu Zimo didn’t flinch. The dragon’s attack wasn’t physical, it struck at his spirit.

Yet with the Nine-Revolutions God-Tower Physique protecting him, he had nothing to fear.

As the golden dragons faded one by one, Xu Zimo continued walking forward.

At some point, the once-turbulent pond had gone completely dry.

Reaching the main hall, he saw that the door was not an ordinary one, it was a Demon Gate, formed from condensed infernal energy.

But this infernal energy was unlike any other; it radiated supremacy, the aura of a monarch among all demonic forces.

Xu Zimo felt a strange resonance between this energy and his own, as though some unseen force sought to unite them.

He stepped closer and slowly extended his right hand, touching the gate with his fingertip.

He sensed that if anyone else tried this, something terrifying would happen, but for him, the infernal energy behaved like a docile lamb.

His body began to merge into the gate. A moment later, the world spun, the heavens and earth reversed, and he was completely swallowed within.

Inside the grand hall, offerings of fruit and incense sat upon a raised altar, but no statue stood there.

Below the altar was a single meditation mat, and upon it sat a shadowed figure.

No matter how Xu Zimo tried, he couldn’t see the person’s face clearly.

“Who are you?” he asked, though he already had a guess.

“Call me what your heart tells you,” the figure replied with a smile.

“The previous Infernal Lord?” Xu Zimo asked.

“Previous... To be honest, I dislike that word,” the figure said, shaking his head. “There is only one Infernal Lord, there is no ‘previous’ or ‘current.’ My name is Chu Tian. Yours is Xu Zimo. Let’s speak as such.”

“If this is conversation, then stop acting all mysterious and cool. I can’t even see you clearly,” Xu Zimo said bluntly.

“The Demon has no fixed form. Whatever you perceive me as, that is what I am,” Chu Tian replied calmly.

“You waited here for me, what’s your purpose?” Xu Zimo asked.

“If I remained in the Nine Heavens, the Heavenly Dao would have discovered me and destroyed me long ago. So I hid here, within a continent torn from a shattered world,” Chu Tian explained. “I’m here to pass on my legacy to you. Your arrival in the Ancient Demon Realm proves you’ve already passed the trials, you deserve the Infernal Lord’s inheritance.”

“What kind of inheritance?” Xu Zimo asked.

“A gift of power, enough to ensure that, in the path ahead, you can at least protect yourself,” Chu Tian said. “But before that, there are a few things I must remind you of.”

“Go ahead,” Xu Zimo nodded.

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