The three True Immortal Realm elders behind the Grand Elder all stood at once. Celestial power surged off them in waves, and their eyes locked onto Darian like blades. All it would take was a single word from the Grand Elder, and they would strike immediately.
Darian’s face sank as well. The calm from before disappeared without a trace, replaced by fury that rolled off him in waves. He rose slowly to his feet. Dark red demonic aura burst from him like a tidal wave, and behind him, the phantom of a ten-thousand-yard Demon Dragon took shape. Its roar shook the hall, and a killing chill flashed through his eyes.
“Grand Elder! Are you threatening me?!” Darian’s voice scraped through the hall like ice grinding against ice, packed with savage force.
The Grand Elder let out a cold laugh and gave nothing back. “Threatening you? No. I’m reminding you to see reality for what it is. The Demon Dragon Lineage is no longer the ancient Draconians of old. You’re nothing but a pack of lingering fiends now! If you still don’t know what’s good for you, then don’t blame the Celestial Palace for showing no mercy!”
“Good… very good… the righteous bloodline of the celestials. Purging evil!” Darian laughed instead, but the sound carried no warmth. His demonic aura climbed to its peak, and the crushing pressure of True Immortal Realm Level One swept across the entire great hall. “You really think the Demon Dragon Lineage was raised on empty threats? Fine. Today, I’ll see for myself how your Celestial Palace plans to flatten my Demon Dragon Hall!”
In that instant, the two terrifying auras slammed into each other. Space shook. The Demon Dragon carvings on the pillars let out a low hum, and thin cracks spread across the blood-red jade beneath their feet. The fight was one breath away.
The Grand Elder’s face stayed ice-cold as he shouted, “Darian, I’ll ask you one last time. Will you join us against Jared, or will you not?!”
Darian’s gaze burned as he answered one word at a time, each one landing hard. “I already told you. I need time to consider it. Unless the Celestial Palace can offer guarantees that satisfy me, I will not send troops!”
Killing intent swelled in the Grand Elder’s eyes. He gave a cold snort. “Since you insist on being blind to reason, then don’t blame me for being ruthless. I’ll start with you and use your blood to warn every fiend in the Demon Marches…”
Before the last word had fully fallen, the Grand Elder moved. Golden celestial power gathered into a divine blade several yards long and chopped straight down at Darian’s head. Where the blade passed, space twisted and demonic aura scattered apart. It came down with a force that looked ready to split everything in its path, driving straight for Darian’s skull.
“Attack!”
At the Grand Elder’s command, the three True Immortal Realm elders behind him moved at the same time. One threw out a golden divine shield and sealed off Darian’s retreat. Another formed a seal and called down heavenly divine lightning, which crashed with a roar toward the seat of honor in the Demon Dragon Hall. The last one condensed a divine mark and slammed it toward Darian’s chest—every strike aimed to kill, leaving no room at all.
Four True Immortal Realm experts attacking at once—there was no need to say how terrifying that kind of force was. The entire Demon Dragon Hall shook violently. Demon crystals rained down from the ceiling, the pillars split with cracks, and the whole place looked ready to collapse at any moment.
Darian’s face changed sharply. He hadn’t expected the Celestial Palace to attack the instant they decided to, without the slightest hesitation. He roared, and scales like Demon Dragon armor spread across his body in an instant. His hands moved through the Demon Dragon rite, and dark red demonic flames surged upward. “You Celestial Palace brats really think I fear you?!”
He threw out a claw mark with one hand, and it smashed head-on into the Grand Elder’s divine blade.
Boom!
The blast shook the heavens. Celestial power and demonic aura tore through the hall wildly, and the shockwave swept in every direction. Darian was forced back three steps in a row. A thread of dark blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. It was obvious he had fallen behind. After all, he was fighting one against four, and his opponents were the Celestial Palace’s elites. Even Darian had no easy way to hold them off.
The Grand Elder saw it and let out a look of pure disdain. “Darian, if you knew it would end like this, why did you do it in the first place? Today I’ll make you understand exactly what happens when you provoke the Celestial Palace!”
Just as the four of them were about to strike again and crush Darian for good, a lazy, indifferent voice drifted out from behind the screen at the rear of the great hall. There was impatience in it, and a kind of mocking scorn from high above.
“What’s all the noise for? Throwing punches on someone else’s turf like this—are you going to let anyone get a moment of peace or not?”
The voice wasn’t loud, but every person there heard it clearly. In an instant, it pressed down over the roaring blasts and exploding force filling the great hall. Everyone froze for a beat, then stopped what they were doing all at once and turned toward the back of the great hall, staring in shock.
From behind the screen, two figures slowly stepped out. Their pace was unhurried. Their bearing was loose and easy. The one in front was a young man in black. His features were sharp, and a faint smile hung at the corner of his mouth. His eyes were cool and flat, as if the brutal fight in front of him was nothing more than children playing around.
It was Skylar.
At his side, Josephine’s purple robes swayed softly. She stood beside Skylar in still silence, cold and stunning, her gaze resting on the people from the Celestial Palace in the middle of the hall without the slightest sign of retreat.
The moment Darian saw Skylar appear, his expression changed sharply. He drew in his demonic aura at once and forcibly suppressed the surging blood and energy inside him. Then he hurried forward and bowed deeply, lowering himself even more than before. “Senior! I was incompetent. I let these people disturb your rest. I deserve death. Please punish me, Senior!”
At that moment, Darian didn’t dare relax in the slightest. If Skylar took offense over being disturbed, the result would be beyond imagining.
Skylar waved a hand, telling him to rise. Then his gaze slowly settled on the Grand Elder. He looked him over from top to bottom, and a trace of amusement flickered in his eyes. “So, you’re the Grand Elder of the Celestial Palace? The one leading this group of celestials?”
Hearing that, the Grand Elder’s brows drew tight. Looking at the young man in front of him, the Grand Elder couldn’t settle his suspicion. This young man looks no older than twenty… there wasn’t the slightest ripple of celestial power around him. So why was Darian treating him with that much respect? And not just respect… there was something much heavier mixed into it… could this young man be some old monster who had hidden himself from the world?
But no matter how the Grand Elder probed, he couldn’t see through Skylar at all. In the end, he could only treat him as some ordinary junior. He gave a cold snort right away, chin lifted, voice full of lofty rebuke. “That’s right, I am! And who are you? You’re just some nameless junior, and you dare cut in while the Celestial Palace is handling business? Step aside right now, or don’t blame me for clearing you up too!”
In his eyes, Skylar was nothing more than a guest Darian had invited over. Even if he had some strength, there was no way he could stand against four True Immortal Realm experts from the Celestial Palace.
