The day when He rises from the flames.
The leader of the Asuras shall be crowned.
Hail your new king, Chu Feng!
Looking at the words on those three plaques, followed by the imposing Chu Feng seated upon the throne, the Asura Evil Spirits were already able to figure out what was happening. However, this was simply too sudden that they couldn’t come to terms with it right away.
It was unthinkable to them how a junior they had looked down upon and hated with a passion just a moment ago was going to become their master. Not to mention, the hellfire should have burned Chu Feng down to ashes, but how was he completely fine?
There were simply too many doubts in their minds.
“Chu Feng, it’s… actually you?”
Lord Yunliang was the first to speak up in the silent Asura King Palace, but even so, his eyes showed his disbelief. He had been waiting all this while for the world spiritist whom Lord Massacre had told them about to lead them out of here, but he had never thought that the person would turn out to be Chu Feng.
This was completely at odds with what he had envisioned.
Meanwhile, Chu Feng had already gotten a rough understanding of the situation. It looked as if he and Yaoyao had only fallen into the hellfire for barely a minute, but there was actually a temporal formation embedded in it.
Within this short period of time, Chu Feng and Yaoyao had undergone over a month of trials together. It was through overcoming these trials that Chu Feng was able to earn the right to sit upon this throne.
Naturally, Chu Feng also learned about the origins of these Asura Evil Spirits too. They were the world spirits of the Heavenly King of Massacre. The Heavenly King of Massacre was a powerful cultivator who possessed a particularly formidable skill known as God’s Contract.
Through God’s Contract, the Heavenly King of Massacre was able to contract many powerful world spirits, creating a terrifying army. His army grew so large that he split his world spirits into multiple divisions.
He had seven divisions of Asura World Spirits in total, and the one that was left in the Asura Graveyard was the weakest of the seven. On the surface, it looked like they had been abandoned. One of the downsides of God’s Contract was that it prevented the contracted world spirits from returning to the Spirit World, which meant that they were doomed to remain in the world of cultivation for their entire life.
As a result, they swiftly became evil spirits after they had been abandoned.
However, the truth was that the Heavenly King of Massacre hadn’t truly abandoned them. He had left two ways out for the Asura Evil Spirits.
One was to wait for a qualified world spiritist to clear the trial he had left behind and establish a new contract with him. Through the world spiritist, they would be able to bypass the barriers around the Asura Graveyard and leave this prison.
However, if the Asura Evil Spirits refuse to recognize the world spiritist and contract with him, there was an alternative option. That was for them to abandon their ego as world spirits and exist in the world as evil spirits. As long as a sufficiently powerful evil spirit appeared amongst them, they could bring him up to the King’s Stand to be judged for his qualification.
These two methods were recorded in a scroll left behind by the Heavenly King of Massacre. The first half recorded the trial for the world spiritist whereas the second half described the process of how the Asura Evil Spirits could elect a leader amongst them and determine his qualification.
Back then, Chu Feng had stolen it from the Asura King while the Asura Evil Spirits were busy conducting their ritual on the King’s Stand, but for some reason, only the latter half remained. Chu Feng suspected that it was the Asura King’s doing.
“Asura King, I’ll ask you a question,” Chu Feng gazed down on the Asura King and spoke.
Due to the effects of the black gaseous flame, his voice was much deeper than usual and his attitude was domineering.
Had it been in the past, the Asura King would have slapped Chu Feng into oblivion for daring to speak to him with such insolence. However, considering the circumstances, he still decided to answer Chu Feng despite not acknowledging him.
“Go ahead,” he said.
“Why is the scroll left behind by the Heavenly King of Massacre incomplete?” Chu Feng asked.
“Chu Feng, allow me to answer the question instead,” Lord Yunliang spoke up.
“Lord Yunliang, please go ahead.”
Chu Feng’s attitude toward Lord Yunliang was much more respectful.
“The current Asura King isn’t the one who led us while we were still fighting alongside Lord Massacre. The one who first received the scroll from Lord Massacre is the First Asura King, but after Lord Massacre left, the First Asura King destroyed the first half of the scroll and handed the latter half to our current king.
“He told us that we have been abandoned by Lord Massacre, and that we can’t just rely on a world spiritist to save us. We have to depend on ourselves. He ordered us to become evil spirits and elect a new leader who would guide us to a new life.
“Shortly after that, our current king became the new Asura King. As for the First Asura King… he left this place tens of thousands of years ago,” Lord Yunliang said.
“In other words, you don’t know what the content of the top half of the scroll is?” Chu Feng asked.
“That’s indeed the case,” Lord Yunliang replied.
“But the First Asura King should be trapped inside the Asura Graveyard too, no? How did he leave this place?” Chu Feng asked.
“We don’t know either. Lord Massacre might have left him with some treasure that allowed him to escape from this place. Otherwise, it’s also possible that he possessed special means that we’re unaware of,” Lord Yunliang replied.
“That explained it all.”
Chu Feng nodded in realization.
In truth, the Heavenly King of Massacre had left plenty of clues outside the Asura Graveyard before he left, stating clearly that the Asura Evil Spirits inside the Asura Graveyard were waiting for a new master.
As long as a world spiritist was brave enough to step into the hellfire, take on the trial, and prove themself qualified, they would be able to contract with the Asura Evil Spirits and become the master of an army of millions.
However, the clues outside the Asura Graveyard had vanished without a trace. That was likely to be the doing of the First Asura King. He might have felt betrayed by the Heavenly King of Massacre and no longer wanted anything to do with world spiritists. Otherwise, it was also possible that he might have other motives in mind.
In any case, there was no doubt that the First Asura King was the culprit behind the plight of the Asura Evil Spirits trapped in the Asura Graveyard.
“Lord Yunliang, what mistakes did the Asura Evil Spirits locked in the prison commit?” Chu Feng asked.
Back when he was rescuing Wang Yuxian from a prison in the Asura Graveyard, he noticed that there were many other Asura Evil Spirits who were locked up too. He couldn’t help but wonder why the Asura World Spirit Army would lock up their own comrades.
“Even though the First Asura King told us to rely on ourselves, most of us are still fiercely loyal to Lord Massacre. There is a group of us who wants to follow Lord Massacre’s instruction and wait for the arrival of the world spiritist. It’s just that we have waited for tens of thousands of years to no avail.
“As a result, the incumbent Asura King decided to follow the instructions of the First Asura King and began searching for a leader who could lead us out of here. At the same time, he also started nurturing a powerful world spirit in case there was no one qualified amidst our ranks.
“Those who stood steadfast to Lord Massacre’s instruction and refused to abide by the Asura King’s directives were locked up,” Lord Yunliang explained.
“I see. Is that how Prince Brightsun and Yaoyao came about? Are the two of them born with the purpose of becoming the leader of the Asura World Spirit Army?” Chu Feng looked at the Asura King and asked.
“Yes, that’s indeed the case,” the Asura King replied.
“Did Prince Brightsun undergo the trial on the King’s Stand?” Chu Feng asked.
“He didn’t. The scroll stated that only a person who possesses superior talent will be able to become our leader. While Prince Brightsun is outstanding in his own rights, he doesn’t meet the required level of aptitude,” the Asura King explained.
“I understand.”
Chu Feng turned to Lord Yunliang and said, “Lord Yunliang, I’ll have to trouble you to free those Asura Evil Spirits who are imprisoned and bring them here.”
“Understood. I’ll get it done right away!” Lord Yunliang replied in delight.
“Wait a moment,” the Asura King suddenly interjected.
He first stopped Lord Yunliang before turning to look at Chu Feng.
“I don’t know how you received Lord Massacre’s recognition, but do you really think that you’re worthy of becoming our king?” the Asura King finally voiced out his thoughts.