Venerable Yuming was a low-level Universe Venerable from the Demon Clan Alliance, leading a subordinate faction within the broader demonic forces.
The Sixth Battlefield lay closest to demon territory, allowing the Demon Clan to respond faster than any other faction when news of the Lotus Ancient City's opening spread through the extraterritorial battlefields.
However…
When Venerable Yuming finally arrived at the Lotus Continent, intending to locate a demon King and assess the situation firsthand, he discovered something shocking.
Only a handful of demon powerhouses remained.
"King Wind Nightmare, what happened here?" Venerable Yuming asked, his tone sharp with concern.
The last surviving high-ranking demon on the continent stood before him, and King Wind Nightmare's condition was… poor, to put it mildly.
Not only had he lost a top-tier soul treasure to escape with his life, but his divine body had sustained catastrophic damage. After fleeing Lotus Ancient City, he'd been forced into hiding to slowly regenerate his divine mass, barely maintaining combat power at the invincible King threshold. Even the attempted ambush on those four human geniuses had been orchestrated by King Snake Neck and King Water Lion while Wind Nightmare remained in recovery.
Of course, that plan had failed spectacularly. King Snake Neck was dead now, and King Water Lion… his fate was worse than death.
It would take King Wind Nightmare tens of thousands of years, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, to fully recover his divine body to its former glory.
With only a handful of peak-level Kings remaining in the demon camp, the Sixth Battlefield's power balance had shifted dramatically. The demons had gone from dominant force to the weakest faction overnight!
"Venerable Yuming," King Wind Nightmare began, his voice heavy with reluctant respect tinged with bitterness. "The human faction has produced a genius the likes of which appears once every hundred million eras, Star Sea King. He's actually an avatar of that prodigy Han Jue from the Virtual Universe Company. There are also several other exceptional human talents on this battlefield, all with close ties to Han Jue."
He paused, gathering his thoughts before continuing with evident frustration.
"King Snake Neck has already been killed by Star Sea King. King Water Lion's situation is even worse, he's been captured alive and his fate is uncertain. Currently, the human forces completely dominate the Sixth Battlefield. We can barely mount any effective resistance. They obtained vast quantities of treasures from Lotus Ancient City, and I expect several more peak-level Kings to emerge from their ranks soon, possibly even additional invincible Kings."
King Longdu had transmitted a desperate message before his death.
Though the demon race lacked anything as sophisticated as humanity's virtual universe network, they still possessed basic communication devices. Han Jue's failure to eliminate King Longdu immediately had allowed this intelligence leak, though in the grand scheme, it mattered little.
King Water Lion, now a soul slave, served as an invincible-level ally whether or not his true allegiance was known. His value as a spy or enforcer remained unchanged.
"Han Jue? That top-ranked genius from the Pinnacle Genius Battle? He's already broken through to Immortality?" Venerable Yuming's frown deepened, his expression darkening.
"Yes, and he possesses a special technique for burning divine power that can somehow suppress others from accessing their own reserves," King Wind Nightmare elaborated, his tone grim.
He'd mistaken Han Jue's Annihilation Soul technique for some unprecedented divine power manipulation ability. The confusion was understandable, the benefit of burning one's soul typically fell far short of burning divine power, since divine power inherently incorporated soul essence. However, Han Jue's Annihilation Soul technique could transfer the effect of an enemy burning their divine power to himself, creating the illusion that Han Jue was also burning his own reserves while actually draining theirs.
"Hmph, humans!" Venerable Yuming sneered, contempt dripping from his words.
"We must eliminate this genius immediately. If allowed to continue developing, he could become a catastrophic threat to our demon race's future, perhaps even ascending to Universe Master!" His eyes gleamed with cold determination.
King Wind Nightmare nodded in complete agreement. Everyone who'd witnessed Han Jue's combat prowess understood the implications.
How long had Han Jue been cultivating? Yet immediately upon breaking through to Immortality, he'd killed an invincible King!
If given time to grow stronger, wouldn't he become a Universe Venerable? With such monstrous talent, should he ever reach the Venerable realm, he'd rapidly ascend to Universe Overlord status, or even top-tier Universe Overlord. At that level, he'd pose an even greater danger than most Universe Masters!
After all, Universe Overlords could be resurrected.
"It seems Star Sea King obtained additional treasures inside Lotus Ancient City, beyond what we initially estimated. Otherwise, there's no way he could have killed King Snake Neck," Wind Nightmare added reluctantly.
Inside Lotus Ancient City, Han Jue and Lei Dong working together hadn't been able to defeat Wind Nightmare.
But after leaving the ancient city, Han Jue alone, without anyone's assistance, had defeated King Snake Neck, who was also an invincible King. The improvement was staggering.
"It doesn't matter what treasures he has. So what if he's acquired Arcana? He's just keeping them safe for me," Venerable Yuming sneered dismissively, his confidence absolute.
"King Wind Nightmare, you should focus on breaking through to the Venerable realm soon. With your talent, reaching mid-level Universe Venerable wouldn't be difficult. Stop wasting time playing games with these Immortal-realm children."
King Wind Nightmare's expression tightened, but he said nothing more.
Venerable Yuming and King Wind Nightmare were from the same generation. Wind Nightmare was actually older than even Lei Dong by a significant margin, practically an ancient veteran compared to most battlefield Kings. This extensive experience had allowed him to accumulate substantial wealth over the eons. Even after losing treasures and suffering grievous injuries to his divine body, he could still maintain invincible King-level combat power through sheer accumulation of resources and techniques.
"I'm going to inspect the entrance to Lotus Ancient City," Venerable Yuming announced, his massive form shifting and transforming into an enormous bird wreathed in azure flames. He vanished from the spot in an instant, leaving only crackling embers in his wake.
King Wind Nightmare remained behind, but after a moment's hesitation, he chose to follow at a distance.
He wanted to personally witness Han Jue being killed by Venerable Yuming!
"Star Sea King."
Venerable Yuming regarded Han Jue with open curiosity, his gaze sharp and calculating.
"I've heard you're a genius of the human race, an avatar of Han Jue from the Virtual Universe Company?"
"What?" Lei Dong jerked his head toward Han Jue in shock.
Quite a few powerful figures from various races had gathered near the Lotus Ancient City entrance, all holding King-level titles and strength.
Venerable Yuming had exposed Han Jue's identity publicly, revealing his secret to everyone present!
"These past years, I've only heard of humanity's newly crowned King on the Seventh Battlefield, King Daohe. I never imagined you, this human genius, would quietly break through to Immortality and possess such a powerful special life form, capable of slaying invincible Kings." Venerable Yuming stepped forward through the void, slowly approaching Han Jue with predatory grace.
Lei Dong frowned deeply and immediately moved to position himself between Han Jue and the approaching Venerable.
As a member of the Hong Alliance, if what Venerable Yuming claimed was true, Lei Dong had an absolute duty to protect this human genius!
"Lei Dong, let me handle this," Han Jue said calmly, his voice carrying quiet confidence.
Just a low-level Universe Venerable.
It wasn't like he hadn't fought one before!
"Overconfidence is a fatal flaw!" Venerable Yuming sneered, attacking without further warning!
Blue flames capable of incinerating heaven and earth erupted outward, terrifying azure fire that seemed drawn from hell's deepest pits. The conflagration covered nearly a million kilometers in mere seconds. Kings from various races scattered desperately, retreating from the overwhelming heat. Some peak-level Kings who couldn't escape quickly enough were caught by even trace amounts of the blue flame and burned to death on contact, their agonized screams echoing across the battlefield!
Han Jue could feel the terrifying temperature radiating from those azure flames. The intensity surpassed even the Water-Void Sacred Flame's power.
After all, the Water-Void Sacred Flame only possessed peak King-level strength. Unless multiple sacred flames were combined and layered, it couldn't even compare to an invincible King's power, much less a Universe Venerable's.
Star Sea Manifest!
Ten Directions Lotus Sea Domain!
Han Jue instantly unleashed his true form, his Star Stream Sea clone expanding to its maximum size as he released his domain to resist the terrifying flames of Venerable Yuming.
"A domain-type treasure? Was this bestowed by your human race's higher-ups, or did you obtain it from Lotus Ancient City? Regardless of its origin, I'll be taking it!" Venerable Yuming laughed cruelly, spreading his massive flaming wings and diving toward Han Jue like a meteor of pure destruction!
Whoosh!
Lei Dong instantly intervened, his body transforming into endless cascading lightning as he blocked the attack meant for Han Jue.
Boom!
Lightning and flames collided with catastrophic force, triggering a violent explosion that rippled through space itself. The shockwave sent lesser Kings tumbling through the void like leaves in a storm, while the fabric of reality groaned under the strain of such concentrated power.