Chapter 423 - 422: Eight Arms of Calamity, The Demon Emperor Reaches Across the Heavens

The surrounding demons fell silent once more.

"I will tear down their golden gates with my bare hands. I will drag the Grand Ascendants from their false paradise and force them to witness the destruction of everything they have spent their lives protecting. They believe themselves untouchable because they have hidden behind the structure of the universe, but I will dismantle that structure and make them answer for the arrogance that has defined their existence."

His voice rose, and the dark markings across his arms flared with blinding intensity.

"I will slaughter them upon the ruins of their own thrones. The universe belongs to the abyss!"

The plateau erupted into a frenzy of suicidal devotion. Billions of demons roared their approval, striking the stone with their claws and weapons until the sound resembled an enormous storm. Some tore at their own bodies in displays of fanaticism, while others raised their faces toward Gu Cangming and screamed vows of eternal loyalty. Their sovereign had promised them a war against the highest powers of the universe, and they were willing to sacrifice everything to see that promise fulfilled.

Gu Cangming lowered his arms, and his expression returned to its usual cold composure. The display of ambition had served its purpose, but he was not interested in allowing the demons to become distracted by celebration. His objective remained clear, and the first stage of his plan required the acquisition of the remaining Nine Wonders.

The Great Sea Realm and the Exotic Realm were valuable, but they were only two components of the larger structure he intended to refine.

The remaining Wonders contained laws that could not be replaced by ordinary materials, and their absence would prevent him from achieving the foundation he desired. He had waited too long to settle for an incomplete result now.

"The Nine Provinces have enjoyed the protection of these treasures for long enough," he said. "Their time is over. Whatever remains will be gathered, and whatever resists will be crushed."

He closed his eyes and focused his consciousness upon the foundational laws of the Hollow Beyond. His Primordial Spirit expanded, spreading through the surrounding abyss and establishing a connection with the immense quantity of energy that permeated the region. The chaotic spiritual Qi of the Hollow Beyond responded to his will, gathering around his body in increasingly dense currents.

The air trembled.

A series of deep, resonant sounds echoed across the plateau as the surrounding space began to warp. The darkness around Gu Cangming thickened, and the ancient markings covering his arms spread toward his shoulders and torso. His robes fluttered violently despite the unnatural stillness that had previously surrounded him, while the energy gathering around his body formed enormous spirals of black light.

The demons below raised their heads, watching with renewed awe. They had already witnessed their sovereign seize entire dimensions, but the transformation now taking place appeared to be something different. The pressure was not merely increasing around Gu Cangming’s body. It was spreading outward through the surrounding space, establishing new structures that seemed to connect his existence to the vastness of the abyss itself.

Then the darkness behind him moved.

Massive shapes began to emerge from his shoulders, back, and torso. At first, they resembled elongated shadows, but their outlines quickly gained definition as demonic energy condensed into flesh and bone. Ancient markings spread across their surfaces, forming intricate patterns that pulsed with the same terrifying authority as those covering Gu Cangming’s original body.

Within a few breaths, enormous arms had taken shape around him.

One after another, they emerged from the darkness, each possessing a scale that made the nearby plateau appear insignificant. Their pitch-black surfaces reflected no light, and their fingers were long enough to encompass mountains. The pressure radiating from them distorted the surrounding space, causing the edges of the plateau to crack and the distant storms to scatter.

Gu Cangming now possessed eight towering arms, each one formed from the condensed authority of his cultivation and the laws of the Hollow Beyond. He resembled an ancient deity of annihilation, a being whose body had become a manifestation of the power he intended to use against the Nine Provinces. His golden eyes burned with a cold determination as he examined the enormous hands surrounding him.

The demons below prostrated themselves even more deeply. Several Demon Lords struggled to maintain their composure, their Peak Void Refinement cultivation allowing them to endure the pressure only because they were positioned far enough from the center of the plateau. The Demon Generals trembled beneath the force, while weaker creatures collapsed completely, unable to withstand the weight of the power filling the air.

Gu Cangming raised all eight arms simultaneously.

Each enormous hand turned toward the bleeding spatial rift that connected the Hollow Beyond to the Nine Provinces. The fingers spread wide, and dark energy gathered around their palms, forming layers of compressed laws that resembled enormous seals. The movement was slow and deliberate, yet every shift of his hands caused the surrounding space to groan beneath the pressure.

He was not preparing to launch an ordinary attack.

He was reaching for the foundations of the world.

"Harvest," Gu Cangming whispered.

All eight arms descended.

The movement crossed the distance between the Hollow Beyond and the Nine Provinces with terrifying speed. The enormous hands plunged through the spatial rift, their fingers passing through the damaged dimensional boundary as though it were nothing more than a thin veil. The surrounding space buckled beneath their passage, and the bleeding edges of the rift expanded violently as the power of the Demon Emperor forced its way into the lower dimension.

For the cultivators and demons who had survived the earlier catastrophe, the first sign of the new attack was a sudden change in the sky.

The bruised-purple heavens darkened without warning. The remaining sunlight disappeared behind a spreading mass of blackness, and the atmosphere became so still that even the distant fires seemed to lose their movement. Across the Nine Provinces, cultivators raised their heads, sensing a pressure that seemed to descend from a place beyond the reach of ordinary perception.

The darkness continued to spread until the sky above the Grand Court became almost completely black.

Lin Yuan, Bai Qingyue, Ku Ming, and the three surviving Emperors were still gathered among the ruins when the change reached them. Their conversation stopped immediately, and every one of them looked upward. The pressure surrounding the battlefield was unlike anything they had encountered before, exceeding even the aura that had accompanied the Demon Emperor’s first appearance.

Emperor Tianxu’s face turned pale.