Divine Emperor of Death

Davis soulscoured Grand Elder Seil Zenflame using the Mind Sea Extraction Mirage Technique, allowing him to extract numerous memories and see for himself who that Ancestor Reselius was. He wanted to soulscour the Ancestors but imagined that their souls could easily collapse, considering their souls were also nearing an end with their bodies, unable to withstand soulscouring.

Even if they could withstand, with their prowess, they could somewhat resist and end themselves. He didn't want to force everything through Fallen Heaven.

"Oh-shit… let me dispel my technique…"

But suddenly, he noticed something.

He knew that the Midnight Avarice Calamity, the strongest Divine Technique from the Ghost Tear Hall, allows the user to shatter the soul, extinguish the body, and leave nothing behind in its space. However, he didn't want the bodies to be harmed, as he recalled again that he needed to feed Nadia and Everlight.

Of course, the calamitous deathly space he conjured was in his full control, so he was able to allow Grand Elder Seil Zenflame to still live, although the suffocating death energy heavily restricted Grand Elder Seil Zenflame's cultivation.

Therefore, he quickly dispelled the Midnight Avarice Calamity without even encountering much of a backlash due to Fallen Heaven aiding his energy. Otherwise, with how early he dispelled it, a backlash to his soul for a technique of this level might even cause him to be heavily injured.

In the Fire Phoenix Clan's Zenflame City, a chilling silence blanketed the masses, a deafening stillness that seemed to echo through their very souls. Their faces blanched, hearts quickened, and a primal fear gripped their souls as they saw the dark curtain of night recede from the skies, replaced with the scene of the Emperor of Death holding Grand Elder Seil Zenflame's head with utter disrespect.

The bodies floating around them with a pitch-black aura covering them all flew towards the Emperor of Death before they disappeared somewhere.

"...!"

Millions trembled, their breaths hitched in a collective gasp of despair. Some fell to their knees, overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the scene in the skies as it heralded their downfall. Others clasped trembling hands over their mouths, unable to tear their minds away from the overwhelming darkness that may end them all.

They were all shaken to the core, not knowing what to do as they were utterly defenseless.

There were four or five Early Stage Immortal Emperors left above the Grand Zenflame City, but that was all.

Even they looked utterly defeated, one of them even falling to his knees mid-air as he appeared to have a haunted expression on his face as though all things were lost.

In the skies, Davis finally finished soulscouring Grand Elder Seil Zenflame, allowing him to see the true face of the Fire Phoenix Clan.

Their intentions for Shirley and Mistress Zahara truly made him want to puke, but the other crimes they have committed against the other avian races equally caused him to look down on them. However, he also came to understand that they need to maintain their 'righteousness', so the middle and lower echelons rarely knew about the things going on in their 'glorious' clan, making them quite zealous.

However, for the upper echelon to follow in Reselius Zenflame's footsteps to death, it was understandable because they had also committed unspeakable deeds. They knew they wouldn't be forgiven if their crimes came to light, so their only choice was to stick with Ancestor Reselius and watch him lead them to greater heights so that they wouldn't decline like the other powers.

'They even indulged in cult-like glorious activities to get rid of their karmic sin, replacing it with karmic virtue to hide their bad deeds…'

One of them was hunting Divergents to gain extravagant amounts of karmic virtue, so of course, he was on the list of their prime targets before he grew up to this level. They already planned to kill him and take Shirley for themselves in the upper echelon, so the actions of Patriarch Killian Zenflame weren't restricted at all.

He mostly likely had tacit approval for everything he did to him and Shirley.

He also viewed Grand Elder Seil Zenflame's personal life, but that wasn't interesting at all except for the part where he married one wife and had thousands of secret mistresses, mostly dead, not because he killed them but because they met the end of their lives one way or another in their long lives.

'Some scandalous romantic phoenix he was in his prime and middle years…'

Davis shook his head as he saw numerous descendants branch out through the karmic threads connecting to him.

Grand Elder Seil Zenflame had lived for over three hundred thousand years, so it was normal that he had thousands of children, although they were secret children. Still, with bloodline detecting formations, it would be way easier to detect whose children they were, but with him being at the top management, he seemed to have caused countless fathers to think they were the fathers of their children while he seemed to be the milkman instead.

To hide further discrepancies, he exiled his secret children using many connections and even ended the lives of the people who found out, so the ones who were in the know but lived would be the ones who kept their mouths shut.

Davis grasped his own face with his palm, wanting to drag it down before he looked at Grand Elder Seil Zenflame. The latter was twitching heavily from the pain stemming from the soulscour before finally regaining his consciousness.

He abruptly caught Davis's wrist, wanting to end him as scarlet flame surged from his palms.

However, death energy burst out from Davis's wrist, snuffing out the flames and disintegrating Grand Elder Seil Zenflame's fingers, wrist, elbow, all the way to the shoulder. Davis's palm also unleashed death energy, causing Grand Elder Seil Zenflame's head to shudder heavily before the light in his eyes receded.

A second later, he disappeared, ending up in Davis's spatial ring.

This time, the masses were clearly able to see what happened.

An Immortal King took down the upper echelon of the Fire Phoenix Clan made up of Immortal Emperors up to Level Nine Immortal Emperor Stage? They wouldn't even believe it even if they were stuck in some illusion technique. But now…?

They could not deny the reality anymore, causing some to want to escape while many just dropped to the ground, knowing that they could not possibly survive.

"!!!"

They had just taken a step back when suddenly, a terrifying pressure descended on them all, leaving them breathless. They were afraid to even make the slightest movement as the Emperor of Death passed above them.

Each second felt like an eternity of not knowing if they would die suddenly.

Fortunately for them, it wasn't long before he rushed past them, finally appearing before a mountain where the Ancestors had come from.

Indeed, Davis stood before their tallest Ancestral Palace, hidden behind the mountains.

He took out Killian Zenflame once again, viewing him with his karmic eyes.

The result disappointed him, causing him to throw Killian Zenflame back into the life ring. This bastard still needed to be tortured by Mingzhi and roasted alive by Shirley. The dish of revenge was best served cold, even if it was tasted a bit already.

But a moment later, he waved his hand, causing the Nine-Phoenix Locking Relic to come out before it released all three inheritors out.

Great Ancestor Zenflame, Sierra, and Hirona took a few moments to process what had gone on here from their senses alone before they turned to look at Davis, their hearts heavily pounding as they realized their fears had come true.

The Emperor of Death had been unstoppable, and this was still the case as he didn't appear to be exhausted at all.

What kind of Immortal King was this? His prowess was beyond their imagination, and his endurance ridiculous, making them unable to perceive the depths of his powers.

However, for him to release them here, did he want them to witness the final battle between him and Reselius Zenflame?

"Is my dead son in there?"

Great Ancestor Zenflame asked. He cast a relieved glance at the Fire Phoenix Clan as the city was somewhat unharmed but didn't relax as he knew the Emperor of Death's revenge might not know any bounds before looking towards the tallest Ancestral Palace.

Right now, he didn't want to ask about the slaughter as he didn't want to rattle the hornet's nest that appeared to have somewhat calmed.

"Nope." Davis pursed his lips, "He escaped as he dispersed his soul body, probably hiding his true body in some mini realm until he plans to ascend after the Candidacy. From Grand Elder Seil Zenflame's memories, it could be seen that he restored his cultivation long ago and peaked in the Immortal Emperor Stage but refuses to ingest Emperor-Tier Blood as he wants to achieve his own mutation, something that is far more powerful than the Seven-Colored Phoenix."

"What…?" Great Ancestor Zenflame's expression churned.

Naturally, he knew of the Seven-Colored Phoenix Race, as records of them were vaguely mentioned in their immortal inheritances.

But something far more powerful than that? What was that supposed to mean?

He knew that his second son sought power like an addict, but to intentionally stray away from the path of becoming a Seven-Colored Phoenix… wasn't that also blasphemous?

"I don't know." Davis shrugged, "That's what the dead Seil Zenflame speculates and doesn't have confidence in his speculation either as he doesn't know how your son moves."

"…"

"He didn't even bother to meet me with his soul body, knowing that he could be karmically attacked. Smart."

Davis praised Reselius with an amused smile, "Regardless, I'm going to go chase down your second son and kill him in a few minutes or hours, hopefully. Do you have any last words for him?"

"…"