I was born a god, the son of the Demon Lord.

The pool water quickly turned dark red.

[Detected that the host's younger brother forcibly shared the damage from the Nascent Soul Tribulation.]

[Temporary Quest: Siblings United (Activated and Completed)]

[Rewards are being processed.]

The system screen flashed briefly, then went silent.

Shen Jiuyuan stood at the edge of the barrier.

Through the boiling steam, my gaze took in the bloodied black dragon at the bottom of the pool and the dark purple fledgling phoenix struggling to its death in mid-air.

His five fingers tightened suddenly.

His fingernails dug deep into his palms. Dark red demonic blood dripped from between his fingers and splattered onto the array.

There is no kinship in the royal family of the Demon Realm.

Back when he was crawling out of a pile of corpses, his eldest brother's bone blade pierced his back. He stepped over the corpses of his twelve brothers and sisters, crushed their souls to feed the demon beasts, and only then did he secure his position as the Demon Lord.

Betrayal, scheming, and mutual sabotage. This was his core belief. He never believed in blood ties.

But now.

Two newborn children. One was fighting desperately at the front, while the other was hiding underwater, gritting his teeth and sharing the burden.

This attitude of entrusting one's life to the other person relentlessly gnawed at his nerves. The suffocating feeling in his chest grew heavier and heavier, making it hard to breathe.

The calamity clouds overhead began to shrink rapidly.

The lightning-attribute spiritual energy within a radius of a hundred miles was instantly drained, coalescing into a terrifying vortex. Deep within the dark purple clouds, a pure white sphere the size of a fist slowly began to form.

This is the last one.

The mechanical voice carried a hint of urgency.

[The one at the center of the tribulation clouds is a lightning core. It contains the purest source of heavenly lightning. Swallowing it will instantly max out your physical body's lightning resistance. It's a trump card that gives you an extra life.]

Location marked.

A blinding red dot popped up on Xu Nanyi's retina, right in front of the white sphere of light.

"Boom!"

Thunder roared, and the world turned deathly white. A bolt of lightning as thick as a water bucket crashed down with earth-shattering force.

Xu Nanyi did not dodge.

With a sudden flap of its wings, it transformed into a dark purple streak of light, shooting straight into the sky in the face of the lightning pillar.

The first layer of lightning struck him.

Feathers flew off instantly, and the pungent smell of burning flesh filled the air.

Keep rinsing.

Shen Jiuyuan, who was in mid-air, suddenly took a step forward, and half of his body crashed into the barrier. The protective aura crushed the surrounding rocks into powder.

Break through the second layer of lightning.

The left wing bone snapped with a crack and broke completely.

Their speed, however, remained undiminished. They fought to the bitter end.

The clouds were almost within reach. Xu Nanyi opened her mouth, aimed at the red dot mark, and took a bite.

Extremely violent lightning power instantly filled his mouth.

There was no explosion.

The once raging lightning core became completely subdued the moment it touched the dark golden Thousand Flames. The violent lightning-attribute spiritual power flowed down its throat, transforming into wisps of gentle energy that rapidly repaired its riddled meridians.

"Got it."

The remaining right wing slammed down.

The thick clouds of calamity were sliced ​​in two by the force of the impact and scattered in all directions.

Golden sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone directly into the demon realm.

The clouds dispersed and the rain ceased.

Nine-colored rays of light appeared on the horizon. Nine golden beams, each as thick as an adult's arm, descended from the sky and struck Xu Nanyi squarely.

Heaven bestows blessings.

Bones were remodeled, and meridians were widened. The remaining evil energy was completely cleansed. Within a radius of a hundred miles, withered trees blossomed again, and the parched spiritual veins were revitalized.

The moment the blessing ended, the last breath I had been holding in suddenly dissipated.

The enormous image of the Nine Netherworld Emperor rapidly faded away.

The dark purple feathers faded, and its body shrank dramatically. In the blink of an eye, it transformed back into a tiny golden chick the size of a palm.

Its wings drooped limply as it crashed straight into the water.

A dark shadow flashed by.

Shen Jiuyuan tore through space and came to a steady stop in mid-air.

His large palm opened and carefully cradled the warm little bundle of flesh.

The little golden rooster barely opened its eyelids and rubbed its hands against the calloused palm.

"Father..."

Shen Jiuyuan's arm trembled violently, the calluses on his hand brushing against the soft golden down.

My heart felt like it had been hit hard by a hammer.

In the survival rules of the Demon Realm, there has never been such a warm touch. Fathers and sons killing each other and brothers turning against each other are the ironclad rules he is used to.

Above the Demon Realm.

Wu Xi looked at Xu Yuan helplessly. If they tried to take her by force, she would definitely not be able to leave this demon realm today.

She only wanted this one child and didn't want to start a war with the entire Demon Realm and the Monster Realm.

The scepter suddenly slammed into the air.

A ring of absolute black ripples spread out, forcibly severing time and space, and keeping the world outside this black curtain.

Within an independent space.

A tiny, scarlet flame suddenly ignited.

Xu Yuan conjured a human form out of thin air, releasing the pressure of a half-immortal realm without reservation.

The spear tip was pressed directly against Wuxi's throat.

The terrifyingly high temperature of the Thousand Flames instantly burned the edges of the gray robe to ashes.

Wu Xi did not dodge. She clasped her withered hands together in front of her chest and solemnly performed an ancient Nine Netherworld salute.

"Your Majesty, the Demon Emperor, Wuxi apologizes for your previous offense."

Wuxi adopted an extremely humble attitude.

"Sensing the aura of the Lord of the Nine Netherworlds descending to earth, we acted impulsively and tried to forcefully open the passage. We had no malicious intent."

Xu Yuan suddenly flipped his wrist.

The spear swept across.

It struck Wuxi squarely on the sternum.

The crisp sound of bones cracking echoed through the deathly silent space as she was sent flying like a tattered sack, crashing heavily against the spatial barrier.

"Stop this hypocritical act."

Xu Yuan picked up his gun and followed, aiming the blade at the aged head once more.

"If you mean no harm, get out of the demon realm now. If you dare to plot against my daughter again, I'll tear you apart and boil you into soup."

Wu Xi coughed up a mouthful of blood, leaning on the snake bone scepter, and forced himself to stand up straight. Deathly energy emanated from the wound, barely repairing the broken bones.

No refunds.

If we return empty-handed today, the entire Nine Netherworld will truly be finished.

"Your Majesty, even if you crush me today, the collapse of the Nine Netherworld is an irreversible dead end. And that is also the dead end of the Demon Realm."

Xu Nanyi scoffed, unmoved.

"Two hundred years ago, the previous Lord of the Nine Netherworlds perished."

Wu Xi pointed to the boundless darkness around her, her expression filled with an inescapable despair.

"From that moment on, the laws of reincarnation in the Nine Netherworlds shattered."

"The Great Dao is incomplete, and no one is there to inherit it. The entire realm has fallen into utter desolation."

In the void, as she spoke, a series of tragic scenes appeared.

Mountains of pale souls, deformed vengeful ghosts devouring each other, the entire underworld was shrouded in scarlet resentment, without a trace of reincarnation.

"No living being, whether human or beast, can enter the cycle of reincarnation after death."

"Countless souls pile up in the Ghost Land. They can only wait through the long years until they are forgotten by the world and eventually their souls are scattered. Or, they are torn apart and devoured by those soul cultivators and evil spirits who have lost their minds."

"The accumulated resentment in the world has obscured the secrets of heaven. In the past hundred years, fewer and fewer geniuses have been born in the cultivation world, and its fortune is being cut off."