<h4>Chapter 498: Sacrifices of Blood and Fire</h4>


    Li Feng asked, "In that case, why haven''t we heard of the asura before in the second realm?"


    Fang Yi spoke up again. "In that case, could it be that their abilities are far more exaggerated in these tales than in practice?"


    The leader of the rock spirits shrugged. "I heard that they went to the third realm."


    Li Feng spread his arms. "If the asura have all ascended to the third realm, then surely there''s nothing to worry about?"


    Xing Bai shook his head. "No, they haven''t ascended. In our annals, it''s been recorded that their very presence will damage the sura realm, so they choose to hibernate deep within sura territory, only to be summoned in times of great crises."


    Li Feng asked, "If their continued presence hurts the realm, why doesn''t the realm remove the asura?"


    Xing Bai smiled tiredly at him. "The answer is very simple: even the will of the world can''t do anything against an asura."


    Zhang Lie frowned. Given what Xing Bai had said, the presence of the asura in the second realm was very simr to what had urred when he chose to remain in the first realm despite having absorbed disaster gene fragments.


    The second realm was even able to harbor disaster-grade creatures, so if the asura were so strong that even the second realm opposed them… were they beyond disaster-grade?!


    Xing Bai turned back to Zhang Lie. "How do you intend on dealing with the monarch of stars, Zhang Lie?"


    Li Feng folded his arms. "There''s no way our captain would lose!"


    Zhang Lie swallowed another cup of wine, his face seemingly unperturbed. "The monarch of stars might be strong, but we aren''t weak."


    Within the pce of the monarch of stars, a blood-red beam of light shot into the air. A number of officials knelt on the floor as they observed the beam of light, as though waiting for something.


    The origin of the beam was deep within the pce, in a secluded location only the monarch of stars was qualified to go. The spiritual matter in the air was so thick that it almost seemed to condense. It was difficult to imagine how many lifeforms had to be ughtered to produce spiritual matter of such density.


    Corpse upon corpse was heaped on the floor, those of humans, gic lifeforms, and sura alike. So many corpsesy on the floor that it felt as though there formed an ocean.


    Above the ocean of corpsesy countless cages. The sura and humans trapped within begged and pleaded for their lives, but no one was there to hear them cry.


    At the very heart of the ocean of corpses was the monarch of stars, who held apass in his hand.


    Thepass was unique and intricate in its design. Spiritual matter condensed and whirled around the exposed face of thepass, forming a whirlpool which gleamed with red light. This was the origin of the beam of light that the sura officials had observed from the outer reaches of the pce.


    The monarch of stars murmured what seemed to be an incantation in an ancient tongue, and golden glyphs native to the sura surrounded him. A blood-red gxy seemed to materialize around him as the monarch of stars'' eyes opened wide. As the gxy spun faster and faster, the blood of all the dead corpses snaked out of their bodies and gathered atop thepass.


    The whirlpool on thepass began to rotate, keeping time with the gxy that had materialized around the monarch of stars. That blood morphed into a blood-red dragon that devoured all the corpses whole before uncoiling and heading straight for the sky. The dragon was visible throughout the entire territory of the empire of stars.


    The caged sura and humans screamed and yelled, making such a huge ruckus that they were audible even to the sura officials at the outskirts of the pce.


    Countless ck hands suddenly emerged from within each cage, capturing and swallowing the humans and the sura within. Their blood and spiritual essence was forcibly extracted from their bodies and sucked into the draconic twister.


    As a bloody haze descended on the realm, the sura and humans were sucked dry. Within each cage were emaciated and shrunken corpses. The blood-colored twister turned ck, as ck as the abyss, as ck as outer space, darker than even darkness itself.


    The cries of babies seemed to be audible from a distance. Pairs of eyes appeared from within the twister, as though they were mocking the world.


    If Zhang Lie were present, he would immediately notice that this... creature... was very much like the peak-grade dragonsoul that he had killed in the valley described in Xuechi''s diary.


    The difference was that the monarch of stars'' creation seemed to bear ill will toward the entire world—oceans of blood and spiritual matter, tainted by death and desperation, malice, anger, rage, and hatred, had condensed into a pitch-ck, tainted creature.


    Countless feelers emerged from the twister, stretching in every direction.


    The sura of the empire of stars tried to run, but it was already toote. One after another, the citizens were grabbed by these feelers and dragged into the darkness that was darker than dark. Their resistance was futile.


    Spiritual essence and blood was forcibly stripped from their bodies and used to erge the draconic twister''s form. The empire of stars, peaceful and cid just moments ago, had transformed into a living hell.


    The sura officials trembled as they knelt, barriers of light drawn around them. The draconic feelers naturally avoided those barriers of light, as though all this had been nned in advance by the monarch of stars.


    They turned to face the empire atrge, only to see sura after sura being sucked dry of their essence—among them their friends and family.


    The entirety of the capital was a furnace; the living sura were medicine; their blood and spiritual matter was the fire that fueled the transformation.


    The entire capital was coated by a blood-red light, and the sura within were forcibly sucked dry. The haze of light expanded past the capital toward the east and west, splintering thend as it proceeded.


    The light split the empire of stars in two as it headed toward the neighboring sura empires that the monarch of stars had only recently conquered, and two bloody pirs of light simultaneously lit up thend of both empires.


    As they did so, a mysterious formation of light appeared in the skies above them, moving and transforming in patternspletely reversed from that on the monarch of stars''pass.


    As the light shone above the two conquered empires, the sura within began to scream and writhe. Blood and spirit wisped out of their mouths and skin, dyeing the skies red.


    This was what the monarch of stars had spent years nning for.


    The extracted blood and spiritual matter gushed toward the capital of the empire of stars like a flood, allowing the draconic twister to growrger andrger, devouring everything in its surroundings. The desated corpses in the capital of the empire of stars disintegrated in the wind, leaving nothing behind...