"Fool... run, flee now."

Liu Shaji, who was beneath the [Cloud Top Cauldron], roared.

Song Xiaojun and the others were also grieving, but they had no way of breaking free from the [Cloud Top Cauldron's] defensive barrier. They could only watch and wonder how Little Nine managed to break out.

The sight of Little Nine's limbs being shattered and impending messy death was simply too tragic. The dog, which was usually cunning and never did anything to its disadvantage, seemed like a fool now. It kept shrieking, using its soul power to channel its voice, wanting to awaken Ye Qingyu from the clutches of his inner demons.

This was the last chance.

Once Ye Qingyu really succ.u.mbed to his inner demons, there was no way of recovery.

The fate of the entire Vast Thousand Star Domains depended on this instant.

An intensifying black mist surrounded Ye Qingyu, and he was releasing a bloodthirsty, violent aura that was completely different from that of his usual self. Evidently, this was the demonic hold his inner demons had over him. It was devouring Ye Qingyu, and his skin had even begun to turn black. Once his entire body turned black, he would have succ.u.mbed to his inner demons and would never be able to recover.

"Woof, human pet... wake up, quickly." Little Nine's spine was directly broken and shattered into a few columns, with white bones piercing through its fur and sticking out for all to see. It was an extremely tragic sight to behold.

Little Nine possessed a nearly indestructible body in the Vast Thousand Star Domains, and it had never been injured so seriously before. Even Emperor weapons could not pierce its body easily, but now, it was facing two King of Sovereigns. No matter how tough its body was, it would be hard to block such blows.

"Woof, woof, woof... Human pet, I may be dead soon," Little Nine roared tragically, tears of blood streaking down its face.

It was not weeping for itself. Rather, its heart was broken over Ye Qingyu's impending total surrender.

Once he entered the dark side, it would mean that the old Ye Qingyu was dead.

It was about to lose its master, and this fact broke Little Nine's heart. It was grieving incredibly hard, as if its master was truly about to die.

All four of its limbs had already been torn off from its torso, leaving only the fur, bones, and skin on its back, along with its head. Its aura was diminis.h.i.+ng, as if it was about to be scattered like a flickering candle flame in the wind...

"Goodbye, human pet, I'll go before you..." Little Nine said, tears of blood welling up in its eyes.

It gave up shrieking. Its body had also begun to shrink rapidly, eventually turning into a tattered torso about the size of a newborn puppy, exactly the same as how Ye Qingyu saw him at Battle Valley. Its white fur was dyed red with blood, and it wormed its way with much difficulty to Ye Qingyu's chest. It rubbed its head sweetly against Ye Qingyu's arms and stuck its small pink tongue to lick his palm...

The King of Destruction and the Abandoned FiendG.o.d wanted to continue attacking, but they were stopped by Jiang Xiaohan.

"Allow me," she said from within the void, before taking small steps toward Ye Qingyu.

The two top-level experts gradually retreated.

They had tacitly consented to Jiang Xiaohan's actions.

This was because she seemed to have a wonderful connection with the Wisp G.o.d of Consciousness. The Wisp G.o.d seemed to value this woman very highly and nearly listened to all of her advice. Even though they thought of Jiang Xiaohan as a weak female, they were not willing to cause any strain in their own relations.h.i.+p with the Wisp G.o.d of Consciousness over her at this moment.

Little Nine, whose body was shattered, licked Ye Qingyu's palm with its small tongue.

Jiang Xiaohan's gaze fell on Ye Qingyu's body, before eventually concentrating on his face. She observed him carefully, as if she had thought of something.

Ye Qingyu opened his eyes suddenly.

Black mist was channeled in his pupils, yet they seemed to be somewhat clear.

"Little Nine..." Ye Qingyu spoke in a hoa.r.s.e voice, as if two rusted pieces of metal were rubbing against each other in his throat. He stroked Little Nine's head gently with his palm, saying, "You don't have to do this... Why are you giving up your life for me... It's good to be alive... Don't die, take them away from here." Streams of origin power belonging to a King of Sovereigns were channeled from his palm into Little Nine's body, healing it.

"Sob... Human pet, you're awake." Little Nine sobbed in a low voice while twitching its body. "I came from Chaos, and I'll return there. I'm willing to die with you. If you're dead, I'll return to Chaos again..." Usually, it seemed to be always going against Ye Qingyu, and was constantly lectured by its "human pet". It even spoke of a day when it would enslave Ye Qingyu, but it was just a form of expression for its feelings toward him. At such a critical time, its true feelings were revealed.

"Live, use your powers to send Xiaojun and the others away to protect the Vast Thousand Star Domains," Ye Qingyu said, his voice becoming clear and firm. "Wait for me there."

The immense origin power of life belonging to a King of Sovereigns flowed into Little Nine's body like a tidal wave.

Little Nine's wounds and body were regenerating at a visibly rapid rate.

It struggled, wanting to speak up. However, Ye Qingyu channeled a mysterious technique at the expense of falling further to his inner demons to send it back instantly to the protective confines of the [Cloud Top Cauldron].

Ye Qingyu had already observed that Little Nine possessed incredible talent. It had a strange apt.i.tude and remarkable ability that allowed it to bypa.s.s formations and all kinds of obstruction. It was the reason it could traverse the void and bring Wen Wan and the others over from the surface of the stars. Furthermore, its peak battle prowess was on par with that of King of Sovereigns, and it had knocked two top-level experts away earlier by just leaping at them. Now, it was the only being that could take Song Xiaojun, Wen Wan, and the others away. In the future, it would grow to possess the strength that could influence matters in the Vast Thousand Star Domains.

As such, while in the process of healing Little Nine, he had secretly infused the luck of the Vast Thousand Star Domains and Underworld Star Domains into Little Nine's body. Before long, its powers would be amplified after merging the two energies together. It would then be able to hold its own even in a fight against the combined might of the Wisp G.o.d of Consciousness, the Abandoned FiendG.o.d, and the King of Destruction. This was because its roars could dispel the Wisp G.o.d of Consciousness's mysterious musical technique, allowing it to defend itself.

No one could tell what he was actually doing from the process of energy transfer.

"Human pet, you..." Little Nine shouted.

"Brother Qingyu, don't..." Song Xiaojun said, tears streaking down her cheeks. "Xiaojun doesn't want to leave you. I can't part with you again..."

"Your Majesty, we're willing to fight to the death for you," Wen Wan and the other Divine Generals, along with the divine battle companion, Sun Wukong, exclaimed. They were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with excitement and rage, so much so that their eyeb.a.l.l.s were about to leap out of their sockets. At the same time, they countered, "Let us out, Your Majesty. We're willing to use our bodies to cover your retreat. You'll be able to rise again in the future, Your Majesty..."

There were also some who were rational in nature like Great Emperor Xiaofei, who were grieving but remained silent.

They knew that the impact of today's incident was going to be incredibly huge, and that it would have a s...o...b..ll effect. If it was not handled properly, the entire civilization in the Vast Thousand Star Domains would soon be completely destroyed. Everything that Imperial G.o.d Emperor Ye Qingyu had painstakingly built up and protected for the last few millennia would also be gone. It was no longer a question of life and death, but rather that of belief, faith, and the True Will of the Martial Way, along with the nature of life itself.

They were not afraid to die.

But, if they were to die here, their concern was not that their lives would be ended needlessly, it was that it would cheapen the Imperial G.o.d Emperor's sacrifice.

However, none of them could say the word "leave".

After all, the man who was battling hard with his inner demons had been using his own strength to nearly hold the entire Vast Thousand Star Domains together. He defended the realms with a tenacity and willpower never before seen by any of them, and everyone could breathe and survive under his support. Which one of them would not feel aggrieved by leaving him?

"Go." Ye Qingyu managed to keep a shred of his clarity.

"I still have a chance to kill all of them. Leave now... Wait for my return."

He looked in the direction of the [Cloud Top Cauldron] and said each word with much difficulty.

Even though his words were most likely meant to comfort the others so that they could leave in peace, it still gave them a sliver of hope and a reason to convince themselves to go. Yes, this man once created so many miracles, and he transformed so many impossible things into achievable feats. Perhaps, this time, he'll be able to do it too.

"Woof, woof..." Little Nine leaped about anxiously, still wanting to leave alongside Ye Qingyu.

However, it could see that Ye Qingyu's gaze was incredibly sharp. It did not dare to defy him.

The [Cloud Top Cauldron] shook, releasing radiance and hurrying the others on their way.

At the same time, Jiang Xiaohan, who had been observing Ye Qingyu silently, spoke up suddenly. "I know your plan. I advise you to give it up, there's no way it'll succeed..."

Black mist circled around Ye Qingyu's entire body, and he never bothered to look at Jiang Xiaohan.

"You wish to merge with the body left behind by the Divine Light Emperor to obtain the power within and kill us with one ultimate blow, right?" she asked, her tone containing an all-knowing confidence.

Ye Qingyu's heart trembled.

He had to admit that the level of understanding this woman before him had of his own thoughts had reached an incredible level after undergoing so many years of emotional encounters. She could tell what his plans were with one look, and she was absolutely right. He was preparing to give up his own body and merge his soul with the physical sh.e.l.l left behind by the Divine Light Emperor, so that he could obtain the combined power and wisdom of the past 107 reincarnations. It was his final killing blow, and he should be able to seriously injure the Abandoned FiendG.o.d and other King of Sovereigns, even if he failed to slay them. At the very least, he would be able to buy some time for Little Nine...

"Looks like I was right." Jiang Xiaohan smiled gently as she looked at Ye Qingyu. "I dare say that no one else understands you better in this world than me. Everyone says that the person who can understand another the best must either be secretly in love with that person, or hate him or her so deeply that he or she wishes that person to be dead as soon as possible. I, for example, am your enemy, but also, I love you to death at the same time. Tell me, wouldn't you think that I'd understand your thoughts?"

Ye Qingyu lifted his head to look at Jiang Xiaohan.

This woman was insane.

And a genius as well.

Many insane people were geniuses, and many geniuses were insane in fact.

Jiang Xiaohan's smile grew more radiant as she spoke, "I advise you against doing that. You've just obtained a little of the Divine Light Emperor's soul, and his obsession with returning home has already caused you to fall. Once you inherit the physical sh.e.l.l of his previous reincarnations, you'll have inherited all of him. You'll be completely unable to shake free from the clutches of your inner demons when it hits you then..."

"So what?" Ye Qingyu interrupted her with a hoa.r.s.e voice. "At least, before I fall into darkness completely, I'll be able to use the body's power to counterattack and seriously injure all of you to earn a chance of survival for the Vast Thousand Star Domains."

Since they were showing their cards, there was no reason for him to hold anything back.

"The Vast Thousand Star Domains is more important than yourself?" Jiang Xiaohan asked, laughing coldly.

Ye Qingyu replied truthfully, word for word, "Yes. That's the meaning of protection, persistence, and hope."

"Haha, useless and empty big theories," Jiang Xiaohan said as she stared at Ye Qingyu. "If such words came out of someone else's mouth, I would have completely disintegrated that liar's body. However, since it came from you, and I know that you really mean it, it has made me love you even more wildly... Brother Qingyu, come, let me give you one last chance. If you kill that Emperor of Darkness yourself, along with the Divine Empress, I will allow you to live and prevent the Vast Thousand Star Domains from its fate of destruction... I can help you resolve everything."