At the same time, in the same place.
Chen Xia was still squatting, propping up his head with one hand, rubbing his face from time to time. His battle with his demon had ended, as usual, in defeat.
In the lake of the heart, there was simply no way to defeat the demon.
Of course, it was also possible that Chen Xia's demon was just too fierce, so no matter what he tried, he couldn't beat it. He could only compromise and negotiate an agreement to kill the enemy together with the demon.
If he really couldn't beat an opponent, he would let the demon take over and try to turn the tables.
The few Great Sages around him were still very free. They surrounded Chen Xia to protect him and prevent any mishaps.
With the protection of the seven Great Sages, what mishaps could happen?
Chen Xia didn't really understand, but seeing Big Yellow Dog looking serious, he knew it wasn't joking. There must be some scheme he was unaware of later on.
If it was something even the Great Sages couldn't deal with, it could also be dangerous for Big Yellow Dog. Fortunately, Chen Xia had a trump card that could help Big Yellow Dog.
The past and future art could still be used, but the price was getting greater and greater. From initially going lame to now falling asleep for hundreds of years, these were the restrictions of the Heavenly Dao. The more the past and future art was used, the greater the backlash from defying the Heavenly Dao, to the point of losing one's life completely.
Chen Xia definitely wouldn't lose his life now, but if he used it again, he estimated that he would suffer extremely serious injuries.
But the past and future art was still against the heavens. Using extremely serious injuries from a person at the Boundary realm to exchange for the life of an Emperor, no matter how you looked at it, it was profitable.
If this was in a chess game, it would be like using just a pawn to take out the opponent's two chariots, two horses, two cannons.
You couldn't say it was skillful chess, there was only one word to describe this kind of chess move.
Pure dog abuse tactics.
Chen Xia was also confident. Every day he leaned his head watching the dim stars, chatted a few sentences with Xu Zhen and Ma Xiaohong, and played two chess games with Ma Xiaohong.
Why didn't he play chess with Xu Zhen?
Because he would lose.
Xu Zhen would let him win, but not make it too obvious. So in chess with Chen Xia it would be nine wins and one loss. The only game she lost was when she made Chen Xia so frustrated that he became mute, so out of kindness she went easy on him and let Chen Xia win one game.
After that Chen Xia never played chess with Xu Zhen again. If anyone asked why, he would directly say, "Regret defeat, no fun in competition."
Xu Zhen would also nod at the side to save face for her Chen Xia.
It had to be said Chen Xia was good at protecting his own face.
Unable to beat Xu Zhen but still wanting to play chess, he could only play with Ma Xiaohong.
It had to be said he had the appetite of an amateur.
Ma Xiaohong was much weaker in chess, and she generally only played defensively. Chen Xia was aggressive in his play. The two of them contested intensely back and forth, igniting Chen Xia's hot blood so he started standing up to play.
The two of them really matched to play chess together.
While Chen Xia was playing chess, the other interfaces started banding together, hugging for warmth, contacting each other within their own interfaces on one hand while constantly probing for news on the other hand.
Now everyone in the Great Death Realm was feeling insecure, deeply afraid that they would be the next cultivator to disappear.
In the distance, after the Dead Sea Star River condensed into a body, it became silent without any movement. It just watched as it seemed to gain more and more flesh and blood. Deep inside those pitch-black eyes, it seemed a light had appeared, gazing remotely into the distance.
Big Yellow Dog stood at the foremost part of the Little Star, staring in the direction of the Dead Sea Star River, crossing its arms over its chest with an icy mocking smile.
"Ash Emperor, oh Ash Emperor. I didn't expect that you were also just a puppet manipulated by someone. Now even your remnants of spirit and half your body have been refined into this kind of puppet. This old daoist started plotting against you forty million years ago. I rather pity you now."
"When you awaken, I will kill you swiftly, crushing your bones to ashes, extinguishing your soul and spirit."
This was its original idea when it first entered the Great Death Realm.
The Ash Emperor puppet seemed to sense Big Yellow Dog's vast killing intent from afar. A bright light actually flashed in those pitch-black eyes, like gazing back.
Big Yellow Dog paid it no attention. Sitting on the ground, it started to quietly wait.
The second month.
The elder who left the immortal world of the Immortal Realm gathered his courage to personally come to the Little Star and respectfully asked Xu Zhen about the whereabouts of Great Sage Chen Xi. He said after Great Sage Chen Xi went to look for Xu Zhen, he never returned to the immortal world.
Xu Zhen was startled, then her eyebrows knitted together anxiously. She didn't know what to do for some time.
Big Yellow Dog told her not to panic. It let three Great Sages keep each other company and go look, and they would definitely be able to find news.
Then only one of the three Great Sages came back.
The one who returned had an anxious expression. He hurriedly said,
"A daoist, I saw a daoist!"
Big Yellow Dog's eyebrows furrowed. It guessed it was the old daoist's doing, but it couldn't leave the Little Star either. So it became unsure for the moment.
Why was the old daoist only killing saints who left the outpost?
After thinking for a bit, it could only come up with one explanation.
That would be slaughtering the livestock that ran out of the fence first.
The old daoist was using the entire Great Death Realm as a fence to corral all the cultivators inside. His goal was still unclear, but the end result would definitely be the death of all cultivators.
What great ambitions!
Big Yellow Dog's eyebrows sunk. It had looked down on this old daoist before. Now it seemed that even if it entered the Emperor realm, it would at most only be able to fight evenly against the old daoist, and was even more likely to fall short by one move.
After all, such methods weren't something an average Emperor could execute.
This was already involving interface divine abilities, able to control the life and death of an entire interface. It was extremely terrifying to think deeply about it.
But Big Yellow Dog was not very afraid either. As long as it stepped into the Emperor realm, it would have methods of self-preservation. As long as it didn't act stupidly, then out of the myriad worlds and universes, few existences could kill it.
This old daoist was obviously not counted among those few existences.
Big Yellow Dog exhaled. Sitting on the Little Star was like sitting at the center of the stars with all the stars holding up the moon.
Through the long years, millions of years, it only needed to successfully cultivate to become an Emperor.
Chen Xia comforted Xu Zhen with tilted head.
"Don't worry Little Xu. Maybe Great Sage Chen Xi just went home to eat."
"Really?" Xu Zhen turned her head to stare at Chen Xia. Her beautiful eyes had some ripples, very earnest in her questioning.
This made Chen Xia somewhat at a loss.
He had just casually spoken comforting words. Xu Zhen actually really believed them?
"Maybe." Chen Xia's reply was ambiguous.
Xu Zhen also didn't know what to say. Bowing her head, she was somewhat depressed.
As a senior sister who cared greatly about her, Xu Zhen was truly worried for Chen Xi's safety.
In Xu Zhen's heart, if Chen Xia was ranked first, then Chen Xi would surely be ranked in the top ten.
Don't ask what two to nine were.
Because they were all Chen Xia.
Do you understand Chen Xia's worth?
Currently everyone was worried.
The Great Death Realm had for a time become a ferocious beast that swallowed people selectively. It continuously devoured and hunted cultivators from all realms.
And along with the successive deaths of cultivators, Chen Xia was the first to discover an anomaly.
The spiritual energy was recovering!