BOOM!
A thunderous explosion tore through the sea as monstrous waves crashed sky-high. The ocean split open, and a colossal gray ridge surfaced from the depths—so massive it sent a chill down the spines of all sea-dwellers nearby. Countless aquatic creatures trembled in fear and fled in panic. Even the Soul-Eating Ants that had infested the sea scattered like frightened insects, as if faced with their natural predator.
More and more of the ridge emerged, revealing a majestic, solitary island rising from the sea. Suddenly, a bluish-gray, four-clawed ancient drake burst from the mountain, spiraling into the sky! The sheer force of its aura weighed down the space itself—it was a Half-Saint level beast! The moment its oppressive pressure spread, the Ants below stirred uneasily.
These were creatures who would charge recklessly at even a dou Saint-level powerhouse without hesitation. And yet, the instant this ancient dragon appeared, they faltered in fear. Why? Because this very creature was one of their sworn nemeses! In ancient times, the dragon had served the Profound Nether Mystic Tortoise, helping suppress the Ant race so thoroughly they didn't dare resist, forced to obediently guard this lair. Now, with that terrifying being reappearing, their panic was instinctual and unavoidable.
Thousands upon thousands of Ants let out shrill screeches, their bodies trembling. They knew exactly who had come—the Abyssal dragon of Dividing Waters, a feared name throughout this sea. It had once ruled these waters, subduing the Ants alongside the Profound Nether Mystic Tortoise. Even their Ant queen would tread carefully in its presence.
"Hmph! Just because the Profound Nether Mystic Tortoise is no longer here, you pitiful ants think you can rise up? Have you already forgotten who I, Qing Yun, am? Or do you wish for a repeat of the nightmare from a thousand years ago?!"
A deep, ancient voice boomed from the ancient dragon's mouth, echoing like thunder across the sea. It carried an eerie magical force that made some Ants explode into pieces with a pop, dying instantly under the sheer force of his fury.
With Qing Yun's arrival, a terrifying radiance of cyan light enveloped the sky. One roar killed tens of thousands of Ants. One lash of his tail summoned a torrential downpour—but this rain wasn't water. It was Nethersea weakwater, and when it struck the Demon Ants below, they shrieked in agony as their bodies corroded and melted away. Within seconds, they were reduced to foul-smelling pools of blood and flesh.
The air was filled with a dense, pungent stench of blood, causing even Goku to frown slightly.
"Nethersea Weakwater? Didn't expect it to have such a devastating effect on the Demon Ants."
He had learned about it from Yao Lao's memories—this strange substance could only be produced by certain ancient magical beasts. It regenerated within their bodies and was capable of extinguishing even Heavenly Flames.
"Not only can it suppress Heavenly Flames… it's this effective against Soul-Eating Ants too?"
Goku muttered, staring at the hundred-meter-long dragon coiling in the sky, his expression tinged with intrigue.
Suddenly, a cold voice rang out from a jagged cliff: "Qing Yun, you dare slaughter my children? Do you think the Soul-Eating Ants still fear you?"
A horrifying aura erupted into the sky as a shadowy figure appeared amidst the rippling space. A woman emerged—clad in black robes that perfectly outlined her graceful curves. Her stunning face bore a seductive smile, yet beneath the charm was the undeniable authority of a queen. Her glowing blood-red eyes were icy and devoid of emotion—filled only with murderous intent.
She was the Queen of the Soul-Eating Ants: Demonstar. Most of the Ants present were her direct descendants.
From the moment she appeared, Goku felt it—that suffocating stench of blood, the chilling, chaotic energy of darkness and madness. For the first time, he felt disgust toward such a beautiful woman. No… this wasn't a woman at all. It was a bloodthirsty beast wearing human skin. Her essence was made of slaughter and destruction.
The Soul-Eating Ants had, since their birth, existed solely to massacre and consume all life.
"Even after evolving into human form, your murderous nature hasn't changed. No wonder people say you Ants were born for slaughter," Goku muttered, frowning at the figure in the sky. It was the first time he had ever felt such vile energy radiating from someone. Even her inner power was twisted—cold, dark, and malevolent.
"Hm? You've broken through?" Qing Yun's eyes widened in alarm. Then, his pupils suddenly shrank. "You activated the Blood Soul Devouring Array?!"
"Hehe~ The Profound Nether Mystic Tortoise spared our kind only so we could one day activate this array—to offer a blood sacrifice and help him ascend. But too bad… he left and never returned. His preparations? Now they're mine,"
Demonstar said with eerie calm, as if recounting something utterly trivial. Yet her blood-red eyes gleamed with chilling malice.
"You actually sacrificed your own descendants for a breakthrough? Your race really has no concept of emotion. It's pathetic!" Qing Yun scoffed, his body transforming into a blue-robed elder as brilliant light pulsed around him.
"For them to die for my ascension? That is an honor. Otherwise, why would I have given birth to them?" Demonstar sneered coldly. To her, her offspring were mere tools—created to serve her goals.
"You delusional maniac... I told the Profound Nether Mystic Tortoise ages ago—your kind should never have been allowed to live. But he didn't listen, and now look at the mess!" Qing Yun sighed, but his eyes soon turned sharp. "But as long as I still draw breath, I won't let your race endanger this world. I'll put an end to this mistake!"
"Hah! You think you alone can stop me? I'll show you just how vast the gap is between a Half-Saint and a Dou Saint! The Profound Nether Mystic Tortoise is dead—and now, I will return a thousand years of enslavement… with blood!"
With a shrill roar, Demonstar's crimson aura exploded into the sky. Thick waves of blood energy filled the sky. Weaker creatures nearby collapsed under the pressure, overwhelmed by the noxious stench of blood. This was the power she had gained after sacrificing millions of her own kind—an aura so vile it tainted the entire sky crimson.
Blood clouds churned above, staining the entire sky red. It was like a realm of the damned, echoing with ghostly wails and tormented screams. The atmosphere became heavy, suffocating.
"This is the power you gained from the Blood Soul Devouring Array? Disgusting," Qing Yun said coldly. But his gaze turned grim—he could feel it. Demonstar's power was immense. Though his Nethersea Weakwater countered normal Ants, it had little effect on someone like her—especially now that she had surpassed him.
"You should be honest—it terrifies you, doesn't it? HAHAHA!!" Demonstar laughed wildly amidst the blood clouds. Her beauty had twisted into madness—she was living up to her name: a demon star, descending upon the world.
"Enough talk—let's finish this!" Qing Yun roared. He formed a strange hand seal, his Dou Qi surging. The sea below churned like it was alive, sending massive waves crashing toward Demonstar. The roar of the ocean shook the sky—but the withered cliff stood firm, untouched by the chaos.
"Hmph! You still think your Nethersea Weakwater can restrain me?" Demonstar sneered. Blood clouds around her surged like tidal waves and clashed violently with the crashing sea below.
BOOM!
When the two forces collided, the resulting shockwave was cataclysmic. Sea beasts were pulverized, Ants turned to mist. The once-pristine blue ocean was dyed black with blood.
"This fight is doing more damage to the environment than ten oil spills combined…"
Goku muttered, wrinkling his nose at the overwhelming stench of gore.
From the bloody sea, a scream rang out as a massive sea beast leapt skyward—only to be torn apart by a sudden vortex. Its remains were sucked into the depths, feeding the already sickening atmosphere.
Suddenly, the withered cliff pulsed with golden ripples, faint and gentle, spreading through the void. They absorbed the surrounding blood-soaked air like nourishment.
"Huh? That cliff... something's not right," Goku said, narrowing his eyes. He could sense a strange energy within. It was faint, yet unsettling—as though something ancient and terrible was slowly awakening.
Even the powerful sea monsters that had gathered to spectate now panicked, diving into the deepest trenches to hide. The Ants on the cliff began shrieking in fear. Something big was coming.
Qing Yun's eyes suddenly widened. "The Blood Soul Devouring Array... Don't tell me—you're trying to awaken that thing?! That's why you were willing to send billions of ants to slaughter the outside world?! That's what all of this was for?!"
Demonstar laughed softly, her voice serene but her shoulders trembling with excitement. Her crimson eyes gleamed like twin blades.
"You figured it out? Too late."
She began weaving intricate hand seals. The vortex in the sea turned faster and faster, until a blinding beam of blood-red light shot skyward—an energy so dense it had taken form.
As it pierced the sky, the withered cliff responded—the energy within growing more intense, more sinister.
That pillar of blood-red light was forged from the life essence of countless magical beasts and mercenaries who had been massacred across the continent—blood harvested by the Soul-Eating Ants under Demonstar's command. Through a dark and twisted blood ritual, Demonstar had summoned that vast tide of blood energy back to this ancient lair.
Mysterious pulses of energy rippled outward from the withered cliff. It was as if a forbidden force was drawing the blood pillar in like a beacon—slowly but steadily, the blood beam arced down toward the cliff's heart.
"So secretive… what exactly is hidden in that place?" Goku narrowed his eyes at the pillar of blood that was now plunging toward the cliff's center. His curiosity piqued, he vanished in a flash and reappeared atop the cliff in the blink of an eye.
"Chiiii—!"
The moment he arrived, the surrounding Soul-Eating Ants shrieked in alarm and swarmed toward him in a frenzy. The sheer number of them was like a sea of black locusts, blanketing the sky. It was the kind of scene that made one's scalp crawl.
Goku's face darkened slightly in disgust.
"Gross." He frowned at the squirming tide of ants. With a thought, a violent black flame surged from his body, forming a howling inferno around him—a shield of pure destruction.
"Fwoooosh!!"
The demonic flamestorm engulfed everything. The incoming Ants perished on contact, their bodies incinerated instantly. Within moments, the entire cliff path was littered with charred corpses—blackened and twisted. The nauseating stench of burnt chitin filled the air.
Goku didn't even spare them a glance. These mindless beasts weren't worth his attention. With steady steps, he walked along the cliffside path, heading straight into one of the ancient cave entrances… leaving a trail of scorched corpses in his wake.
---
Meanwhile, high above the battlefield, Demonstar's expression suddenly shifted. Her brow furrowed slightly, and she turned to glance toward the cliff.
"Someone entered the cliff?" she muttered. Her eyes flickered with a trace of disbelief. "There are thousands of Ants stationed there… how did I only just notice someone breaking in?"
Her gaze sharpened, and then she noticed something else.
"That heat… it's a Heavenly Flame?"
The air above the cliff was visibly distorted, rippling from the intense temperature. Demonstar's expression became grave. To wield a Heavenly Flame to such an overwhelming degree… whoever this intruder was, they weren't ordinary.
"No wonder he slipped in unnoticed… looks like someone actually capable showed up. But no matter—strong or not, he's just fuel for the ritual,"
She sneered. Her lips curled into a sinister smile. With a flicker of red light, she vanished, leaving only space ripples behind.
"You're not getting away!" Qing Yun shouted, and without hesitation, he too vanished into the air, trailing her energy signature closely.
---
Back on the cliff, Goku continued down the winding path. Charred remains of Ants were everywhere—burned beyond recognition. But before he could go far, the entire cliff began to tremble violently.
"BOOM!"
The blood beam struck the center of the cliff with a thunderous impact. The entire island shook as if the sea itself was being ripped apart. The ocean roared. The cliffs trembled. The entire blackened structure began to split down the middle—slowly but inexorably—revealing a yawning rift between the two halves.
Goku was abruptly cut off from the opposite side. A massive chasm now separated him from the rest of the island.
"It's starting…" he muttered, watching as the cliff split open. Above, Demonstar reappeared, staring down at the scene with a twisted excitement. Her alluring figure trembled slightly—not from fear, but from anticipation.
"This is it… the moment we've waited millennia for…" she whispered, her eyes wide and manic.
"Awaken… Soul-Eating Nest!"
"So you are trying to unseal the Soul-Eating Nest! I will never let you succeed!"
As the withered cliff split open, Qing Yun's eyes widened in shock, a deep fear flickering within them.
What kind of power could strike such terror into even a Half-Saint?
"Hahaha! It's too late! Everything is already too late!"
"At last, the ancient demonic tide of my race shall return to the world by my hands!"
"Hahaha~~ Awaken, Soul-Eating Nest! Sealed for thousands of years—today, the world shall once again witness your horror! Hahaha~~~"
Demonstar threw her head back and laughed hysterically, her eyes brimming with madness. Her stunning face was twisted with uncontainable excitement.
The cliff split open, and the sea churned violently. Yet strangely, the area where the cliff had parted seemed to be protected by some invisible force—preventing even a single drop of seawater from breaching its boundary.
Slowly, a dark red ancient nest began to emerge. That blood-colored beam of light shot straight into the nest, continuously feeding it with an unending supply of sacrificial energy.
____
T/N:
Hello everyone! My Patreon is just $3 — a perfect opportunity to access 35+ advanced chapters and support the translation.
You'll also get access to firsthand girls' pics as a bonus!
🔗 patreon.com/user?u=79514336
Or simply search Translator-Sama on Patreon