Divine Emperor Demon Emperor

Chapter 342: Chapter 342: The Supreme Elder’s Shock

The cataclysmic Celestial Punishment swallowed Little Ape whole. Amidst the Celestial Thunder, his roars echoed without end. It was clear Little Ape was fighting the Celestial Punishment with all his might.

A full hundred breaths later, the power of the Celestial Thunder finally began to fade. The crack in the sky slowly sealed itself, and the once-terrifying Celestial Might dissipated into the void as if it had never existed.

The moment the Celestial Punishment vanished, Lin Yun was already rushing toward Little Ape. The once-dense mountain forest had been utterly annihilated, leaving only a massive, deep crater.

He sprinted to Little Ape’s side. The ape, now a hulking fifteen meters tall, was charred black from head to toe. Numerous wounds across his body were still gushing blood.

”Little Ape...!” he cried out anxiously. Hearing Lin Yun’s voice, the scarlet glow in Little Ape’s eyes gradually subsided. He looked at Lin Yun with a hint of pride, as if to say, ’See? I made it through the Celestial Punishment.’

Confirming that Little Ape’s life wasn’t in danger, Lin Yun finally breathed a sigh of relief and immediately fed several Life Extending Pills directly into the ape’s mouth.

Surviving the Celestial Punishment meant that Little Ape was now a Tier Three Demon Beast. And, just like Lin Yun, having been baptized by the Celestial Punishment, Little Ape’s power had become even more terrifying. He could be considered invincible among Tier Three Demon Beasts, unless he ran into another with a powerful bloodline.

But the benefits of the Celestial Punishment didn’t end there. At this moment, Little Ape’s Bloodline Power became even more potent.

Such were the benefits of the Celestial Punishment. It could annihilate anything, but it could also bring endless rewards. It all came down to whether one could survive it.

Just as Lin Yun finished feeding the Life Extending Pills into Little Ape’s mouth, a figure suddenly materialized in the sky above them. It was the Supreme Elder in charge of guarding the Demon Beast Ridge.

He had sensed it the instant the Celestial Punishment descended upon Little Ape. However, since the tribulation had already taken form, he hadn’t dared to approach recklessly. No matter how powerful a person was, they could not contend with a Celestial Punishment.

’Triggering a Celestial Punishment at just Tier Three?’ the old man murmured in shock, his ancient eyes fixed on Little Ape below.

As a Supreme Elder of Flawless Palace, the old man was privy to many secrets. He knew that some peerless, ferocious beasts could trigger a Celestial Punishment as early as Tier Three.

Of course, those were all just legends. He never expected to actually witness a Tier Three Demon Beast trigger a Celestial Punishment here in the Demon Beast Ridge today.

The elder’s arrival didn’t alert Lin Yun or Little Ape in the slightest. The disparity in their power was simply too vast. As long as the old man did not wish to be discovered, there was no way they could have detected his presence.

He glanced calmly at Lin Yun and murmured to himself, ’This boy is truly remarkable. He has a chance to become the sixth great Demon Fiend of the Eastern Domain. That kid Luo Feng finally did one thing right.’

With that thought, the old man prepared to leave. The fact that Little Ape had attracted a Celestial Punishment upon breaking through to a Tier Three Demon Beast was a matter best kept secret. The fewer who knew, the better. He had no intention of questioning Lin Yun—after all, Lin Yun was now one of Flawless Palace’s own.

Just as the elder was about to depart, a thought struck him, and he cautiously used his Divine Thought to scan the surrounding Demon Beasts. The power of the Celestial Punishment was terrifying, after all, and he worried that other Demon Beasts in the Demon Beast Ridge might have been caught in the blast.

The moment he scanned the area, his blood ran cold. The elder, who had already turned to leave, froze in place. More than half of the Tier Three Demon Beasts in the entire Demon Beast Ridge were dead. Fewer than fifty had survived.

”This...” He was so shocked he couldn’t react for a moment. Then, following the lingering auras of the dead, the elder arrived at the spot where Lin Yun had been refining Demon Beast Essence Blood.

Dozens of Demon Beast corpses lay strewn about. Every single one had been drained of its Essence Blood, their bodies left shriveled and dry.

He could tell at a glance that these Demon Beasts hadn’t been struck down by the Celestial Punishment. They had been killed by someone, who had then refined their Essence Blood.

The situation was painfully clear. Besides the elder himself, who could enter and leave freely, Lin Yun was the only other person in the Demon Beast Ridge. And Demon Beasts certainly didn’t know how to refine Essence Blood.

”Damn it, boy! How many Demon Beasts in my Demon Beast Ridge have you slaughtered?!” the Supreme Elder, who had been about to leave, roared in fury. As his voice boomed, his figure flashed into existence right in front of Lin Yun.

He had crossed a distance of several kilometers in a single instant. The elder’s sudden appearance left Lin Yun too stunned to react, his mind automatically tuning out the man’s furious shout.

”And you are...?” Lin Yun had never seen the man before, only heard his voice. Looking at the seemingly ordinary old man before him, Lin Yun bowed respectfully and asked.

”Hmph! You still have the gall to ask who I am? Speak! What in the world have you been doing in the Demon Beast Ridge?” the elder demanded, his hair and beard practically standing on end with fury. He was absolutely livid. Every one of those Demon Beasts had been hand-picked, their bloodlines exceptionally pure.

To think that in less than four months, half of them had been slaughtered. How could the elder not be furious?

As a Supreme Elder of Flawless Palace, the old man spent most of his days in cultivation. His duty of guarding the Demon Beast Ridge was solely to prevent any problems from befalling the Demon Beasts there.

In the entire history of Flawless Palace, never before had the Demon Beasts of the Demon Beast Ridge been subjected to such a large-scale massacre.

Looking at Lin Yun, the elder felt a conflict of love and hate. He loved the boy’s undeniable talent—an ordinary person, let alone someone in the Qi Sea Realm, would be hard-pressed to kill the Demon Beasts of the Demon Beast Ridge even if they were in the Primordial Ocean Realm.

He hated that the Demon Beasts Lin Yun had killed were all treasures of Flawless Palace, each one carefully selected. For them to be killed just like that—of course the elder’s heart ached.

’Luo Feng, this was all your terrible idea. I’ll see how you explain this to me.’ Suppressing his anger, the elder ultimately decided not to blame Lin Yun. But the matter couldn’t be dropped so easily. It was Luo Feng’s idea to let Lin Yun enter the Demon Beast Ridge. Now that something so major had happened, Luo Feng would have to take responsibility.

Seeing the thunderous expression on the old man’s face, Lin Yun already knew why he was so angry.

”Senior, this Disciple was left with no choice. These Demon Beasts are all incredibly ferocious. This Disciple was only trying to protect my own life...” Lin Yun tried to explain.

But before he could finish, the Supreme Elder cut him off. ”Say no more. I will be having a word with Luo Feng about this. For now, you will leave the Demon Beast Ridge with me. You can stay at my residence.”

As he spoke, the elder made a grasping motion in the air. A vast wave of Elemental Power instantly enveloped Lin Yun and Little Ape, lifting their bodies off the ground. The three of them then flew off, heading out of the Demon Beast Ridge.

Watching Lin Yun’s departing figure, the Pure-blooded Firebird, who had been observing from a distance, felt conflicted. Lin Yun had promised to take it to the outside world, but now that he’d been taken away by the Supreme Elder, it didn’t dare to interfere.

If there was anyone it feared most, it was without a doubt this Supreme Elder. Not even Luo Feng was as terrifying as this old man.

”Brat, if you don’t take me out to see the world, I’ll eat you for sure,” the Firebird muttered menacingly, but only after the trio’s figures had completely disappeared from sight.

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