Divine Emperor of Death

Chapter 4734  Hiding The Nutrient

The rumbling heavenly tribulation clouds that gathered up in the skies began receding after they lost their reason to be there.

This was a sign that made Davis know for a fact that the Blood Realm Calamity was dead.

The moment he confirmed the Blood Realm Calamity's death, exhaustion struck him like a hammer to his head. His eyelids never felt so heavy, and his legs gave out, causing him to fall down like a kite that had its strings cut, swaying in the wind like a feeble cloth.

'No… I can't lose consciousness… the Archon will be here any moment…'

Struggling as he may, he couldn't stop the exhaustion from hitting him hard.

*Thud!~*

Only after he hit the ground did he gain a semblance of sanity in his consciousness. Pain wracked his body because of the fall, but it was nothing compared to the weakness he felt after having sacrificed over thirty percent of his blood essence and forty percent of his soul essence.

If he had been a supreme genius soul cultivator, he would've long lost consciousness, entered a coma, woke up, and found himself crippled.

However, he was the Divine Emperor of Death, the master of the Everlasting Samsara Tribunal Soul Physique. His soul started healing itself as pure life energy brimmed within his soul. The process was slow without the black-white stone there to aid him. He didn't dare use Fallen Heaven, knowing a True Deity-level character was going to descend.

Scrambling to get up, he forcefully crawled with his arms, drudging across the bloody surface before he stood up, still swaying like a breeze of wind could push him down. Sacrificing his true blood essence was a big deal.

To condense a true blood essence, one must sacrifice forty to sixty percent of their soul essence. With Davis's innate prowess in body because of the Chaotic Genesis Physique, he could afford to create true blood essence with just thirty percent of his blood essence. His control was also amazing, allowing him to extract from himself without experiencing extreme trauma.

Regardless, he still felt immensely weak, feeling like he had lost all his cultivation, even though it was still present.

Walking forward, he noticed the remains of the Blood Realm Calamity.

Barely managing to release his soul sense, he checked if its blood-soul core was still present. It was important to him since he felt it could also be used to revitalize his own true blood essence. If he did it through his own soul force, it was going to take him immense time since it wasn't just his blood essence he sacrificed, but his true blood essence.

"… Haha, it's still there!"

Davis couldn't help but exclaim with joy despite his weakness as he saw a piece of crystal embedded in a chunk of flesh. He tore it apart from that flesh and kept it in a jade container before he sealed it, storing it in the Temporal Voidplane Ring.

Then he laboriously looked at the True Deity Grade plant lifeform in the distance with great reluctance before fleeing the area.

But suddenly, he changed his mind and walked over to the plant lifeform, the pressure ever-growing into his flesh and bones. Each movement made him nearly make creaking sounds; the fluidity of his movements was greatly affected.

Finally, he appeared closer to the plant lifeform.

He didn't even have time to admire it, falling into the hole underground without a word.

There was a network of blood vessels connected to the plant lifeform. He appeared before one of them and cut it open with an Exalt Grade ore he collected while helping Bylai. Then he simply plunged into it, taking off his clothes and hiding his aura to the utmost as he concealed himself.

Davis's body slid into the pulsing vein like a stone sinking into a tight, viscous river. The warmth was thick, oppressive, suffocating. The vein contracted around him in rhythmic pulses, as though recognizing an intruder instinctively and trying to force him back out. He gritted his teeth and forced himself deeper, letting the pressure swallow him whole.

His limbs trembled uncontrollably. The weakness was so profound he wondered if he would simply dissolve into this blood­current and become one more nutrient strand in the True Deity plant's circulation.

But that was precisely why he chose this hiding place: the plant's internal network was so dense and overwhelming that even the Archon's supreme perception would struggle to identify him unless they tore the entire organism apart.

'Just… don't… move.'

He flattened himself within the vein, suppressing every fluctuation of his soul, every residual vibration of his essence. His breathing became microscopic. His presence dissolved into the vein's own flow.

Aboveground, the world shifted.

A monumental wave of pressure descended, quiet at first before it spread across the entire region, then suffocating and then turned absolute.

The Archon had arrived.

The blood vein around Davis spasmed in fear. The entire network quivered. Even the plant itself recoiled instinctively, its leaves curling and its roots tightening as though a predator stood above it.

Davis held his breath.

The skies dimmed.

A silhouette dropped from the sky, towering with authority and killing intent so refined it felt like clean, sharp crystal pressed to every throat in existence. Space folded naturally around the figure, bending rather than being forced.

A voice that was calm, deep, and ancient rolled across the field.

"…Dead."

It sounded like the voice of a man.

With a wave of his hand, he summoned numerous objects to fly into the sky. From them, the Archon spotted Yin Mo and Lady Thunderwraith, who were absolutely scared.

Davis could only hear some mumbling.

Clenching his teeth, he took out the blood-soul core and plunged it into his heart. At the same time, he began cultivating inside the bloodstream, absorbing the blood from the countless Blood Quintessence Orbs for himself while sacrificing his own blood essence to the True Deity plant lifeform.

"Divine Emperor of Death… an Anarchic Divergent…"

The Archon looked at Yin Mo, his expression shrouded in mystery. Contemplating for a moment, he suddenly realized the plant lifeform was glowing.

"Oh? Is it actually on the verge of maturing its fruits?"

His tone contained some glee before he turned to look at them, "It seems like this Anarchic Divergent became a prey for the Blood Realm Calamity, both of them taking out each other and becoming food for my plant. Could I be wrong?"

He turned to look at the plant from aboveground and felt something amiss.

Nonetheless, he sneered, thinking nothing could escape this barrier without his consent anymore.

With a flick of his finger, Yin Mo's head burst into a black blood mist.

As for Lady Thunderwraith, he calmly glanced at her and issued a command, "Herd the ghosts. They might be useful for something in the future."

"Yes…" Lady Thunderwraith could only weakly utter.

At the same time, her expression turned into one of despair when she imagined how long this place would exist and how long she would have to serve this great existence.

Underground…

The vein shuddered as Yin Mo's head burst above, the shockwave thrumming through the plant's entire circulatory network like a drumbeat of death. It was the plant's own instinctive fear. Davis felt the vibration rattle against his bones, but he didn't so much as twitch. Even the tiniest motion could betray him now.

The blood-soul core inside his heart dissolved in an instant, its power erupting like molten iron splitting through cracked stone. His true blood essence lit up with agony and rejuvenation at once. His weakened soul screamed, his flesh writhed, and his entire bloodline system struggled to stabilize. But the surrounding blood vein hungrily sucked at the essence he intentionally leaked all, masking the fluctuations and making it appear as though the plant itself was refining an offering.

This balance was razor-thin.

If he misjudged the flow by even a fraction, the Archon would notice.

He continued absorbing, sacrificing, circulating, forcing his broken essence to cycle at the bare minimum needed to sustain himself without revealing revival.

Above, the Archon spoke again, his tone now smoother, almost pleased.

"Good. The fruit's aura is stabilizing. Another decade… no, perhaps sooner."

He hovered over the plant with hands behind his back, as though admiring a masterpiece.

Lady Thunderwraith forced herself to nod. Davis could imagine her trembling even from underground.

"This plant's maturation will advance my authority by a minor stage. Its roots grew fat from the Blood Realm Calamity's filth, and now…" He narrowed his eyes toward the glowing root where Davis hid, "…it even swallowed an Anarchic Divergent's remnants."

A pulse of pressure swept downward.

The vein constricted around Davis so tightly that he felt his ribs bend.

'Don't… react…'

Slowly but surely, the pressure passed.

The Archon's interest shifted back to broader matters.

"It's unfortunate the Anarchic Divergent's corpse is nowhere to be found. But if his essence fed the plant, all benefits eventually return to me."

"I will seal this region anew. The ghosts will remain. You wraith… monitor the plant's absorption cycle. Do not allow interference."

"Yes…" she replied, hollow and broken.

The Archon raised a hand.

A monumental surge erupted. The barrier reshaped itself, collapsing and reforming as golden inscriptions beyond their comprehensions etched themselves into the sky.

Davis's vision blackened for a moment as the power screeched past the plant's veins.

A few heartbeats later, the pressure receded slightly before it completely vanished.