Blue Phoenix

The rumors that were spreading were shocking news throughout the western region, however, other things were happening in the rest of the galaxy that caused people to not have time for this small occurrence.

All over the galaxy, spanning from the heavenly worlds to the great sects and true hegemons of the galaxy, the patriarchs and ancestors set out on a journey to Diyu.

Had it been just one or two people who were heading there, then it would not have received the widespread attention that it did, but from throughout the galaxy, legendary, reclusive cultivators were once more making an appearance in the martial world.

These figures had spent an eternity inside their sects, worlds, or families, and they had not left for eons, but now all of them were moving towards the same place. While everyone knew people were heading to Diyu for a meeting no matter who or how many times they were asked, no one answered. They all kept quiet about the secret meeting.

The only thing that was known to the outside world was that they were headed to Diyu and that it was King Yanluo himself who had invited all these important figures, but for some many supreme experts to be on the move, it just showed how serious the subject they were going to discuss was.

The smarter members of the martial world were able to connect the dots when they heard the information that was given.

Although at the start no one had been able to confirm that all the strange skirmishes that were appearing were in fact due to Blood Demons things had changed now. Now it was common knowledge that all the fights amongst the lower ranked worlds were fights between Blood Demons, humans, and beasts.

Since the fight involved a fraction of the demons Diyu they had created, the Blood Demons, and Diyu was suddenly taking action; it was clear that there was some threat from these Blood Demons that had yet to surface. It seemed obvious that this was the reason for King Yanluo to summon everyone of importance.

Youdu was the location where everyone was gathering, and they did not gather in Yanluo’s most common residence, instead they gathered in the Black Palace, a place which was usually closed to all outsiders.

It was not only the outsiders that had been invited, every King of Hell in control of a court was invited to this meeting, and the only one who had not been invited was Hui Yue. However, Hui Yue and Yanluo had already had lengthy conversations about the topic at hand.

“To think they are letting us enter Diyu’s sacred ground,” the patriarch of the Nightcrawler Sect said in a low voice to the patriarch of the Celestial Sword Sect as the two of them met each other in front of the sect grounds.

Although the two of them were eager to fight and challenge one another to prove that they had the strongest cultivators in the whole galaxy, both were rather good friends. They had fought side by side in the last war against the Blood Demons, and no matter how much their sects challenged and rivaled each other, they would never change their competitive relationship into hostility. They believed that they benefitted the most from their current competition amongst sect members.

People were streaming into the Black Palace in Youdu, and everyone seemed to have arrived at around the same time. Some a few hours earlier, some a few hours later.

The Yanluo Guards who were standing in front of the gates was the oldest and most relied on experts in the entire Yanluo Guard. Many of them had also participated in the last war against the demons, hence they knew the identity of the people who were showing up and could identify them.

These experts were so strong that any sect would gladly take them in. They were so powerful that if they had decided to settle down and make a family, then they would without a doubt control one of the heavenly worlds.

These experts of the Yanluo Guard let in the ones who had been invited, and inside the Black Palace was another group of guards who gathered all the guests in a room in the front.

The guests were all present in the same room. Refreshments had been provided for everyone, and there were chairs and tables all around, so a comfortable atmosphere was present within the room. Everyone gathered in small groups, and all of them were eager to start discussing the reason that they had been invited.

The final person who had been invited arrived in the room, and after a further half an hour, Yanluo showed up. All the talking instantly stopped the moment the King of Hell himself appeared.

“Thank you all for taking the time out of your busy schedules to come meet up with me,” he began his speech. “A great danger lurks over us; a threat which has followed us since the creation of the galaxy. A threat that puts all our lives and the lives of our dear ones at risk.”

“Because of this, master has instructed me to invite you all to our Black Palace. He himself has some words he wishes to share with you all, and I hope that everyone will keep what we hear today strictly between us who are present.”

“I know that some of you are aware of the existence of my master, while others of you have never heard of him before. Let me start by introducing him.”

“My master is Yama, the true King of Hell. Yama is one of the few Overlords who exist within our galaxy; one of the few men who did not choose to leave this galaxy to roam the outside universe upon breaking through.”

“As an Overlord, Yama understands things which the rest of us do not. He sees things which we cannot see, and he has preferred to live a casual life of peace so far. But he has, once more, decided to meddle in worldly affairs which shows just how dangerous the situation we are in now is.”

“Anyways, we, the Ten Judges of Hell are merely his subordinates. We wish for him to keep living his peaceful life, so if possible, please do not mention him to anyone.”

“Now, please, follow me through the Black Palace towards the chamber where master will receive you.”

Having said this, Yanluo scanned the room with his eyes before turning around and showing everyone where to go.

Some of the people were stumped and completely shocked to hear that there was, in fact, another King of Hell other than Yanluo and that this man was an Overlord. Although they were members of the heavenly worlds, they had never expected that such powerful forces still existed in the galaxy. They had expected them to vanish just like with Pangu and Nuwa.

A few people present, the ones who had participated in the last war against the Blood Demons, knew of Yama. He had played a serious role in that war and had been one of the reasons for they won, so it was shocking to hear about him. However, they were surprised that he wished to see them in person. Such an act was truly a show of great respect to everyone present.

Although everyone was in deep thought, no one hesitated to follow Yanluo. Everyone rushed after the man who was claimed to be the strongest cultivator in the galaxy, yet now it was proved that he was in fact not the strongest, there was at least one expert stronger than him.

Still, Yanluo was their host, and he was not a figure that any of them wished to insult, so no one said anything and followed behind him, deep in their own thoughts.

They walked through long hallways, black corridors, and dark chambers before they finally arrived in front of a set of closed gates.

A frightening strength could be felt behind these doors. Every expert, no matter how strong they were, felt goosebumps on their entire body and a shiver run down their spine.

It was as if they were mortals standing in front of a ferocious beast. A beast capable of swallowing them up whole in a few moments, and this frightening feeling made a few of the experts step backwards. Their faces pale in fear as sweat beaded on their foreheads.

Others handled the pressure better. They looked slightly uncomfortable but not in the same way as the less powerful members of the group, and yet some seemed utterly unaffected.

Yanluo gave a wry smile as he saw the many different reactions, and he knew that Yama was intentionally releasing some of his aura to let these experts feel what it meant to be in front of a true Overlord.

Yama could easily conceal his entire aura, making it so that these experts would never even sense that he was there, but he had chosen to intimidate them. As for why, Yanluo truly had no idea, but he was sure that his master would explain later. He never did something for the sake of showing off; there had to be some sort of motive behind his actions.

As they all slowly arrived in front of the gates, they slowly started to open with a creaking sound. It was clear that they had not been open for a very long time, having been closed for years at least.

The truth was that the last time these gates had been opened was when Hui Yue last visited. Since then no one had entered Yama’s chambers. Not even Yanluo had. He was informed about everything through the door.

It was rare for even Yanluo to see his master’s face let alone outsiders, so although Yanluo seemed unaffected on the outside, he was eager and excited on the inside.

“Enter,” an archaic voice sounded out from inside, urging them all to enter, and everyone, without realizing it, started walking forward heeding his command.

It was as if they were in a trance, and the stronger experts soon sensed the changes in their bodies. They knew that had started moving without having wanted to while the weaker experts of the group were incapable of sensing anything before they were already inside the chamber where Yama resided.

As they all entered, they found that there were chairs for all of them. Seeing this, they all frowned wondering where these chairs came from.

They could not imagine that Yama himself had prepared them, but on the other hand, it was obvious that there were no staff within the entire Black Palace apart from the Yanluo Guards. It was clear that they were not allowed this far into the mansion.

It was also obvious from the gate that no one apart from Yama had been within this chamber, so the chairs were prepared by him in some way or another. This made them all feel that Yama was truly treating them with respect. For this reason, no one was haughty or felt superior as they took their seats.

No one spoke; everyone was quiet as they looked at Yanluo and waited for him to say something, but Yanluo did the same as all the others and took a seat. However, his seat was at the very front.

As they all raised their heads and looked around in the chamber, they noticed that it was very much like a theater. There was a place where the air was distorted, and it looked as if a curtain of air was shimmering in front of something, but suddenly it vanished.

An old man appeared on the chair, and he had a friendly smile on his face. The heavy pressure which had been bearing down on all of them from before vanished in that instance and even those who were seemed unaffected could not help but heave a sigh of relief. Their hearts were beating rapidly, and it was as if they had just been released from the maws of a great beast.

“Welcome to my Black Palace. I am Yama. It’s my pleasure to see you all; however, I am afraid that the subject at hand is not a pleasant one. The Blood Demons are back, and they are trying to overthrow the current power structure.”