This battle raged from south to north, from west to east, engulfing land and sea alike under its destructive tide. Every stray shockwave that spread out wrought devastating havoc. Every single blow carried the terrifying might of the Yang God Realm, where one could leverage the very laws of heaven and earth and manipulate the cosmic momentum.
Naturally, the destructive power that resulted defied imagination.
Even a single divine ability landing in the ocean caused it to detonate entirely, hurling up waves of ten thousand feet and triggering a catastrophic tsunami. Countless corpses floated on the sea's surface—the scene utterly tragic. Yet, the battlefield seemed to be subtly guided by Yi Tianxing, never approaching the Immortal City, instead diverted toward uninhabited wilderness, toward lands untouched by humanity.
Of course, "uninhabited" meant only that humans weren't there.
Many alien tribes lived in seclusion, and with the shift of the battlefield, vast wilds were caught in the crossfire. Countless tribes were either devastated or completely wiped out, suffering irreparable losses. To the people of the Great Yi Dynasty, it felt like the end of the world.
Natural disasters raged one after another.
"So powerful! What kind of demon god is that Nightfiend? That wicked aura, that darkness—he can turn day into night. He's reversing the very flow of heaven. His control over the laws isn't just powerful—it's monstrous."— Ao You, watching the battle unfold above, eyes filled with deep concern. Her husband was in that very fray. If something happened to him... her worry was genuine and impossible to hide.
"The Nightfiend is terrifying. The beings corrupted by his evil energy turn into his slaves. If we let him run wild, the entire Great Yi Dynasty will become a demon nation, swallowed by Eternal Night. The damage would be... unimaginable."— Mo Xue, taking a deep breath.
"This battle has surpassed what we can intervene in. It's at the Yang God Realm. We can only hope our husband defeats the Nightfiend. No wonder he chose to seal the nation. If the Nightfiend escapes, the entire Hanhai domain will collapse into despair and ruin."— Hong Luan, her voice heavy.
They'd seen it themselves—entire alien tribes enslaved in a flash. In the Nightfiend's eyes, all living beings were nothing more than ants. Numbers meant nothing to him—he crushed them without a second thought.
"Why?! Why did my Ogre tribe get destroyed, while the nearby Elf tribe was left untouched?! How is this fair?! Is there no justice in the heavens?!"— a surviving ogre cried out in front of the ruins of his tribe.
His heart burned with injustice. His tribe was flattened while the neighboring one didn't even lose a single hair. The fury nearly drove him mad.
The battle raged for an entire day, endlessly brutal.
Just as it reached its climax, a sudden change occurred. The Eternal Heavenly Eye appeared in the void, releasing a tide of crushing divine pressure. A divine light shot down and struck the Nightfiend.
Boom!!
The blow smashed the Nightfiend from the sky into the earth, leaving him heavily wounded. Yet, in a twisted moment, he regenerated completely, and with a flicker, vanished into the Rift of Eternal Night.
"Yi Tianxing! I, the Nightfiend, cannot be killed! You think to suppress me with your dynasty's fortune and fate? Still not enough! The Gate of Eternal Night is about to fully form. As long as wicked thoughts, evil desires, and greed exist in this world—you'll never stop it from opening!"
He cackled madly. Within the rift, a pitch-black Demonic Gate was rapidly condensing out of the evil thoughts and desires in the world. If it fully materialized, the consequences would be catastrophic.
"Behind that gate... there's something terrifying."
"That door must not be completed. If it is, the Great Yi Dynasty will fall. The entire Hanhai domain will be in danger. The Eternal Night has long coveted our world. If they breach through... it's over."
"Yi Tianxing! We beg you to hold the line! Do not let the Gate of Eternal Night open!"
Meanwhile, the Iron-Blooded Great Wall was still forming—it wasn't a one-step process. It required continuous gathering of heaven and earth's power, and above all, the dynasty's national fortune. It wasn't a simple sealing treasure; it was something far more precious.
The process must remain undisturbed. Any interference would delay it or even make it impossible to complete.
Thus, no one dared interfere. Watching the destructive duel unfold, the other races were terrified. If they disrupted the sealing and the Eternal Night tribe ran rampant, no one could bear the consequences.
Instead, they prayed for the seal's quick completion.
"Xuanhuang Imperial Seal, suppress!!"Yi Tianxing shouted.
A massive Xuanhuang Imperial Seal appeared in the air, drawing in all the ambient power of heaven and earth across Great Yi. The seal rapidly expanded.
Within seconds, it blotted out the sky, smashing down toward the rift.
Boom—!!
With a thunderous explosion, Xuanhuang divine light poured down upon the rift like a flood, attempting to shatter or seal the demonic gate within. The Imperial Seal connected directly to the power of the earth, forming a powerful sealing formation designed to bury both the Nightfiend and the Gate of Eternal Night.
But the power within the gate was too immense. Even the Xuanhuang Seal couldn't destroy it. Instead, black light erupted from the gate and clashed violently with the seal—a surreal and horrifying confrontation.
"Tsk tsk... with your dynasty's fortune, you dream of sealing the Gate of Eternal Night? Once it opens, this world will belong to us. Eternal Night is eternity!"The Nightfiend laughed wildly.
The Imperial Seal and Great Yi's national fate were not enough.
"What now? If Great Yi can't suppress the gate, doesn't that mean the Eternal Night armies are about to invade the Eternal World?!"
"Even Yi Tianxing can't stop it—what do we do now?!"
"The Gate of Eternal Night draws power from the world's seven emotions and six desires—from desire itself. It's endless. We can't cut it off."
"Only national fortune can seal it. But even that isn't enough…"
"Wait—if a dynasty can't do it, what about an empire? Great Yi has a population near 10 billion. Their Fate Dragon has exceeded a thousand zhang. They could definitely become an Emperor Dynasty. Once they do, their fortune will undergo a complete transformation. Then they might be able to seal it!"
At that moment, a unified thought emerged among the alien races.
They'd long opposed Great Yi's ascension, fearful of its expansion. But now... they desperately wanted Yi Tianxing to ascend. Only a true Emperor Dynasty could suppress the gate.
Even from millions of miles away, that Gate of Eternal Night sent chills through the soul. Behind it was an unimaginable terror waiting to break free.
"Look! There are worms crawling out of that gate—is that the legendary Nightfiend Demonic Worms? They can possess and infect everything, turning the land into corrupted magic soil. Horrifying!"
From the darkness, a flood of monstrous demons emerged... and with them, countless wriggling worms, terrifying to behold.
"Yi Tianxing, please ascend to Emperor Dynasty status!"
"We beg you—let Great Yi rise!"
"Only with an Emperor Dynasty can we suppress the evil demons!"
"For the people, for the Hanhai Domain, for all races—we beg you, ascend!"
At that moment, countless alien voices echoed across the world, pleading for Great Yi's rise to an empire—to seal the gate.
Back in Great Yi, the cultivators and sects were left stunned.
They almost popped their eyeballs out in disbelief. Were they dreaming?
These were the same races who, just yesterday, wanted to suppress and destroy Great Yi. Who guarded against it like a thief. Now they were begging for it to ascend?
Like watching a weasel wish a chicken a Happy New Year—utterly insane.
The absurdity of it defied words.
"What an opportunity. Truly... heaven-sent."
"Ascend to an empire—today."
"If we miss this chance, we'll be struck by lightning for sure."
In that instant, the minds of Great Yi's officials were made up.