“This is...”
Astonishment filled Grand Monarch Hell Demon’s face as he slowly removed his huge arm from Grand Monarch Ash Bone’s bony back. The wisps of pale white death aura wreathing his arm quickly vanished.
The second before, he had been mustering his demonic power to neutralize the death power that had been damaging the flesh in his arm.
Now, however, the pale white auras wreathing his arm vanished on their own, along with the profound wonders of the death bloodline they carried.
Grand Monarch Hell Demon’s eye shone with demonic light. “The heart is the source of bloodline power. If something happens to the heart, the bloodline wonders it releases will disappear. For beings like us, our hearts are the foundation of our bloodlines and everything.”
He pulled himself back a bit.
That was when he noticed that the five evil gods, who had been fighting Grand Monarch Ash Bone together with him, were also quietly backing away from Grand Monarch Ash Bone.
As they did, they all seemed to have their eyes fixed on Grand Monarch Ash Bone’s chest...
FIZZ! FIZZ!
The Rampage Behemoth’s bone had already pierced into Grand Monarch Ash Bone’s heart, which was burning violently, giving rise to wisps of white mist.
Numerous crystalline chains of his death bloodline could be seen struggling in the rising mist before they gradually dissipated.
Grand Monarch Ash Bone was looking down at his chest.
The cold ferocious look in his eyes had been replaced by a confused and bewildered look.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
His Unbreakable Form, which was as solid as divine jade, started to crack, the fissures in his bones snapping open one after another.
In the next moment, this late tenth grade grand monarch, who had overseen a Bone Shatter City and inspired fear across the Void World and the Doomed Star Sea, fell apart like a giant pile of bones, giving rise to a loud rumble.
After falling off his enormous body, one broken bone after another shot off into the distance, whizzing towards the Bonebrutes’ territory in the Spirit World.
“Haha!” With a nasty laugh, Grand Monarch Hell Demon immediately summoned his Heaven-shaking Demonic Pillar from the Sixth Demon Realm.
“Shake the Heavens!”
As the gigantic pillar burst forth with blinding demonic light, beams of dark purple light shot after the fleeing bones and blasted them into ashes one after another.
The five evil gods didn’t just watch. They split up and went into action as well.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Grand Monarch Ash Bone’s fleeing broken bones were caught up and ground to ashes one by one.
As for the Bell of Death, it simply floated quietly in the void after losing its master, emitting no more tolls of death.
Nie Tian lifted his arm, and the Rampage Behemoth’s bone flew back into his hand like a blazing bolt of lightning. “It's hard to believe that a late tenth grade Bonedrude grand monarch died just like that. Well, it’s a pity that he’s a Bonedrude. His death bloodline is nothing but harmful to me.”
Grand Monarch Ash Bone’s heart had been ignited by his life power-infused Blood Essence, giving rise to pale white currents of death Qi that soon pervaded and turned a vast area of the starry river close to the Sixth Demon Realm into a dead zone.
Not only was the dead zone even vaster than the Sixth Demon Realm, but it was also slowly drifting instead of staying in one place.
Nie Tian sighed with mixed emotions. “A late tenth grade grand monarch...”
He had found an opportunity after Grand Monarch Hell Demon had joined the five evil gods in fighting Grand Monarch Ash Bone. Then, he had launched the killing strike by breaking the death ward in Grand Monarch Ash Bone’s chest with the Rampage Behemoth’s bone, and injecting his life power into his heart.
Life power was a bane to Bonedrudes. Any injection to the heart would be fatal.
If he had been a grand monarch of another race, such as a Devil or a Netherspirit grand monarch, Nie Tian’s life power would have only achieved the result of slowly depriving him of his flesh power.
Plus, he would have been able to resort to various means to slow down his flesh aura loss.
It was only because Nie Tian’s life bloodline and the Bonedrudes’ death bloodline mutually suppressed each other that his heart had seemed so fragile after being infiltrated by Nie Tian’s life power.
Nie Tian frowned and thought to himself with a grim face, “Bonedrudes and I suppress each other. I’ll have to be extra careful when I encounter them in the future. My life power-infused Blood Essence can effectively destroy their hearts. If their death power finds its way into my heart...”
His expression flickered as soon as his train of thought reached this point.
The evil god of bloodlust flew to him like a gust of raging Nether Qi. “Congratulations, Master!”
In a very respectful manner, he said to Nie Tian, “A late tenth grade Bonedrude grand monarch is by no means insignificant. Even if I had recovered my peak strength, I wouldn’t have been able to kill a late tenth grade grand monarch like him so easily by myself. The five of us might have been able to kill him together if we had all returned to our peak state.
“However, we’d also have to pay a heavy price, because we’d probably suffer from his residual death power, and lose the ability to fight for the next millennia.”
“He was a late tenth grade grand monarch,” the evil god of fear chimed in. “Late tenth grade grand monarchs represent the peak of strength, and are in tiny numbers in any world! We’ve just completed our resurrection in a real sense, and don’t know the current situation in the Void World. However, we’re certain that the Bonedrudes don’t have many powerful experts like Grand Monarch Ash Bone.”
“Of course, there are only three other late tenth grade grand monarchs in the entire Bonedrude race,” Grand Monarch Hell Demon said as he returned. His enormous form shrank a thousand meters every second as he did.
It would take flesh power to maintain his Ancestral Awakening form, even if he wasn’t fighting.
Therefore, he canceled it at the first moment after he was convinced that Grand Monarch Ash Bone had died.
After resuming his regular form, he continued, “Among the Bonedrude grand monarchs, Grand Monarch Ash Bone’s battle prowess was ranked number three. Among the experts from the entire Void World, his battle prowess was ranked number nine.
“The death of a late tenth grade grand monarch like him is definitely going to affect the balance of power in the three worlds!”
With these words, he suddenly grew excited. “Young master! I really didn’t expect that Grand Monarch Ash Bone would die in the Spirit World! I’ve got to send word of his death to the Doomed Star Sea as soon as possible! With him gone, we’ll have much more room to maneuver in the Doomed Star Sea now. Many adjustments can be made to our battle plan!”
“Adjustments?” Nie Tian asked curiously.
“We can redirect some of our forces that are fighting the Bonedrudes and have them join our fights against the Devils and Netherspirits now,” Grand Monarch Hell Demon explained quickly. “I first thought that me leaving the Doomed Star Sea would take a toll in our battles. But now, it seems that Grand Monarch Ash Bone’s death is going to solve many of our problems. And we’ll be able carry out plans that we couldn’t before!”
Eyes narrowed, the evil god of bloodlust said with surging killing intent, “But Grand Monarch Eternal Purgatory is still alive. We might as well go get rid of him as well. His death will be much more helpful to our master. Perhaps his flesh aura will help our master make another breakthrough in his bloodline!”
Grand Monarch Hell Demon went blank for a brief moment before saying, “Umm, that sounds good too.”
“To the Second Demon Realm!” The evil god of bloodlust cried out.
Frowning, Nie Tian turned to look at the peculiar energy field Grand Monarch Ash Bone had left behind. “What about this dead zone? Will it be a problem if we don’t deal with it?”
“No, it won’t,” The evil god of bloodlust said. “It holds nothing but Grand Monarch Ash Bone’s residual flesh aura and his understanding of death power. Only Bonebrutes can enter it to derive enlightenment from the profound truths of death from it and draw from its residual death power. It can do nothing other than that.”
“Then what about that bell?” Nie Tian asked.
“The Bell of Death?” The thought of it seemed to give Grand Monarch Hell Demon a headache. “It’s difficult for beings of any other race to use the Bonedrudes’ mighty tools. And it’s going to be very hard to destroy that bell. It’s probably best to seal it.”
After pondering for a moment, he added, “Leave it to me. You go ahead to the Second Demon Realm.”
Nie Tian nodded slightly and said, “Alright, I’ll leave it to you then. Thanks.”