His face was hidden; his entire head was wrapped in a helmet, covered in wounds, rolling all the way to the ground before the others.
The void twisted slightly. Behind Long Chen, the figures of Leng Yueyan and Ming Cangyue slowly appeared. They put the bone swords back behind their backs, their movements synchronized, and for a moment, the air seemed to freeze.
Tuoming's subordinates and the one carrying the twin axes on their backs swallowed hard. They were stunned—both chiefs were dead, and for a moment, they were at a loss.
"Looks like I overestimated Tuoming. He didn't last even half an incense stick's time. It's really disappointing."
Long Chen curled his lips, clearly very dissatisfied with Tuoming, which caused such a huge error in his prediction.
"Alright, now there are only two paths before you: either surrender and pledge allegiance to the great Lords Leng Yueyan and Ming Cangyue.
Or you will die heroically, using your deaths to write about your bravery and indomitability.
Starting from below, those who want to live move forward; those who want to die at the same time stay where they are. Our archers will call your names shortly. Thank you for your cooperation. Long Chen said calmly.
As it turned out, people still like to live, especially after one Earth-grade Underworld King stepped forward, and the others followed suit.
Actually, for them, it didn't matter at all. As Long Chen said, just hang out with anyone, no need to risk everything.
They were all mortals, unable to control a world on their own, let alone become Divine Lords. Therefore, they were destined to find a powerful Divine Lord as their backing.
By comparison, Ming Cangyue and Leng Yueyan have terrifying potential. Following them is definitely better than following Tuo Ming.
Most importantly, they were all Earth-grade Immortal King experts, with great personal strength. Wherever they went, they were treated well, and there was no worry about being killed.
However, even the powerful in the underworld have their own dignity. If Tuoming survives, they will surrender and bear the stigma of being a traitor.
But now that Tuoming was dead, they had no more reservations. Surrender now carried the meaning of surrender. There was a huge difference between the two. Long Chen had given them dignity, and they could also borrow a donkey downhill—a win-win situation.
Thus, tens of millions of strong warriors joined Ming Cangyue's command, and they were all elite fighters. Not only did they make up for the losses of the war, but their strength had more than doubled compared to before.
In this battle, Ming Cangyue's side lost not a single soldier. The performance of the archers shocked the entire arena. Chang Gong Hao was able to hold his head high, instantly becoming Ming Cangyue's most valued formidable general.
After completing the handover, Long Chen directly had Ming Cangyue quickly take over their territories. These newly surrendered experts, eager to show their loyalty, cooperated fully and took over their territories in just one day.
In this way, the two of them would control more laws of the underworld, gain more recognition from the Heavenly Dao, and become even stronger.
They quietly took over all their subordinates, and their power instantly grew. Even with their composure, they were pleasantly surprised.
Long Chen was like their lucky star, bringing a string of good fortunes. The two controlled the cores of three realms, built passages inside, and directly pulled idlers from the other two domains here, repairing the grand array and rapidly opening up space.
The place Ming Cangyue and the others discovered was a wild, ownerless land. Taking advantage of the undiscovered situation, they gathered more domain cores, ruled more territory, gained more recognition from the Heavenly Dao, and gained greater power.
Through interacting with them, Long Chen discovered that the so-called Domain Core, also known as the Divine Dao Core, is actually a lamp lit in the darkness, or in other words, a star opened up in the universe.
When this star is illuminated, it becomes part of the operation of the Heavenly Dao. Whoever lights it up will have the merit credited, and they can control its laws.
However, the so-called control is not absolute control, but partial control. Ming Cangyue can borrow its power, but cannot alter its trajectory.
For example, when Ming Cangyue controlled the laws of the Tongming World, she could only quietly pull Long Chen out of the passage but never dared to change the rules, because if she messed up, even she herself would be implicated.
Even gods have unknown forces restraining them, unable to act as they please. It is as if an invisible hand from heaven is driving the world to turn. The gods can only go with the flow, benefiting from it, and dare not defy heaven.
Through his understanding, Long Chen discovered that the world controlled by Leng Yueyan was an overlapping world—a real world and another world—and the other world they could only watch, not touch.
Long Chen had asked Leng Yueyan about that world, but she shook her head and wouldn't let him ask about such things. After all, Long Chen was not a god, and she feared bringing bad karma to him.
He only told him that the divine race of the underworld were merely guardians of laws, not creators. In the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, there were many secrets that could not be probed.
On the third day after just recruiting Tuo Ming's subordinates, something suddenly happened that shocked Long Chen, Leng Yueyan, and Ming Cangyue.
Here, Long Chen broke through to the Four Extremes and Eight Heavens. Although Long Chen was from the Immortal Realm, he should normally have to absorb the spiritual energy of the Immortal Realm and use the laws of the Immortal Realm to advance.
However, Long Chen seemed unaffected by the spatial laws. These days, he had been taking pills and saw that pills could be absorbed, so he ignored them. Unexpectedly, he had advanced to a higher level. Even Ming Cangyue and Leng Yueyan couldn't explain this.
When they first met, Leng Yueyan used her bone sword to infuse her divine runes into Long Chen's body. She did this to prevent him from being rejected by the laws of the underworld, which would lower his realm and affect his cultivation.
But even if they infused her divine runes, it couldn't change a person's constitution, and the aura inside Long Chen was still immortal spirit. To think he had advanced so easily, the two of them were utterly baffled.
This advancement made Long Chen wonder if the Nine-Star Overlord Body Technique might be some kind of defiant technique that ignores any laws. But then he thought it was wrong, because only the Immortal Realm had Nine-Star Heirs; the Netherworld had none.
After thinking for a long time but still unable to figure it out, he simply stopped thinking about it. Since he could cultivate in the Underworld, Long Chen naturally wouldn't give up any chance to improve himself.
Originally, Ming Cangyue and Leng Yueyan should have hurried to open up the Wasteland, but Long Chen pulled them in to be his sparring partners. In fact, both were qualified sparring partners—their first move left Long Chen with bloody holes all over, showing no respect at all.
Their combined technique was flawless. Despite Long Chen's rich combat experience, he was still left in a disheveled state.
Moreover, both had pushed their cultivation to the same level as Long Chen. After every major battle, Long Chen was stabbed until his body was covered in blood. If it were a real fight, he had died countless times. The combined attack technique of twin bodies was simply abnormal.
Three days later, there was a loud explosion inside Long Chen's body, his aura surged, and he actually advanced to the Nine Heavens of the Four Extremes.