-Approximately 500 kilometers distant from the atmosphere in charge of enveloping and protecting Obion World.

Standing in the middle of outer space, Bai Zemin had a serious expression on his face as he anxiously waited for the enemy to arrive.

'To think that after evolving to the Third Order it is no longer necessary to use Blood Immortal Radiance to survive the corroding spatial energy used to have on my records.' Bai Zemin sighed with complicated emotions.

He was undoubtedly getting strong quickly, the problem was that there were still too many enemies that simply didn't want to leave him alone. On one hand, this was helping him to grow stronger, but at the same time, the dangers he faced were only getting bigger.

Taking this next battle as an example, even though Bai Zemin no longer needed Blood Immortal Radiance to survive in outer space he was still forced to use this third activation of his Blood Manipulation skill.

"I have to finish everything in sixty minutes at most and take advantage of my boosted Health stat for as long as I can..." Bai Zemin muttered as he opened his eyes abruptly.

"Bing Xue, Yijun; you two are ready?"

The golden runes on the black ring on his right thumb glowed and two clear, lovely voices immediately came out from there.

"We have your back." "Trust in us!"

Several kilometers away behind Bai Zemin, a slight spatial ripple event occurred, and for a brief split second, the majestic legendary city that was hidden waiting for the right moment to bare its fangs was disclosed.

Due to the difference in strength, Shangguan Bing Xue and Wu Yijun had no hope, let alone the qualifications to directly participate in the battle about to break out. And yet, this did not mean that they were useless.

Rumble...

Suddenly, everything within several thousand kilometers began to rumble slightly and the immaterial atmosphere seemed to turn into a physical swamp that obstructed the movement. "They're coming." Bai Zemin's eyes narrowed into slits and a flash of coldness shone deep within his black pupils.

Since there were no shadows in outer space, Bai Zemin could not use Shadow Control so there were currently only four wings on his back. One pair of wings was pure white and made of light while the other pair were golden wings that shimmered brightly like gold.

"Oh? Looks like that boy came out to welcome us!"

"Hahaha! I thought we'd have to go find him but he actually came out of his own free will..."

"Hey, human kid! You're that cute kid by the name of Bai something aren't you? Even though you're a Lower Existence I've heard your name many times over the past few months!"

Bai Zemin's eyes were as cold as the ancient ice of a thousand years. He did not engage in any kind of conversation with the Higher Existences that had just appeared ghost-like but watched them with lightning flashing in his eyes.

The first creature to speak was a kind of mutated beast that looked rather like a lion but four or five times bigger in comparison. All its fur was golden and its mane seemed to be made of fire while its eyes were as green as a ghost's with flames burning in their sockets.

The second creature that spoke was quite strange, and Bai Zemin could not immediately point out a resemblance to any species he knew. If he had to give it an identification of some sort, Bai Zemin would point it out as a io-foot tall rhinoceros that had three fierce horns on its elephant-like head.The last one on the line was actually quite distinctive; a robot. Whatever this thing was it was clearly made of some kind of deep blue alloy, and what amazed Bai Zemin the most was that he could not sense any kind of life source coming from this robot.

Finally, Bai Zemin's gaze fell upon the fourth and last Higher Existence.

This fourth creature was the one that made Bai Zemin feel the most pressure among all of them, and judging by the front line, it didn't take a genius to recognize this beast as the leader of the small team of four.

This creature had the legs and head of a chicken, a large body covered with greenish scales full of snake-like protuberances, a dragon tail more than 5 meters long covered with thousands of spines, and two huge eagle wings whose wingspan easily reached 30 meters. What most caught Bai Zemin's attention, however, were its two bright red eyes that glowed with an otherworldly light.

Although Bai Zemin had never personally seen a legendary basilisk in his entire life, this beast in front of him looked quite similar to the illustrations he saw in a few books he read in the past.

'Let's better watch out around that eyes.' Bai Zemin made a mental note just in case.

"Judging by the fact that you have Annihilation of the Falling Sky with you... there is no doubt that you are the human called Bai Zemin, am I right?" Said the basilisk-like beast. Without waiting for Bai Zemin's nod, the unknown creature continued and although its strange mouth did not open its voice traveled through space without the need for sound. "Allow me to introduce myself. The title by which I am known is Star Petrous, but you may call me Akumi; this is my true name."

A flash of surprise shone in Bai Zemin's eyes but all that surprise soon turned to caution that added to the pressure the basilisk-like beast was giving him.'This is bad... Looks like I'm really in big trouble this time.' Bai Zemin smiled bitterly in his heart as he was in trouble most of the time.

"You have to be surprised..." Star Petrous, or rather, Akumi, pointed as if it could see what was going on in Bai Zemin's head. Neither quick nor slow, neither servile nor arrogant, Akumi continued, "I am over 467,000 years old and it has been over 464,000 years since I evolved beyond the Fourth Order. We could say that you are the first Lower Existences that have caught the attention of so many Higher Existences in history, including me and my friends here. Just based on this alone it's enough to give you elementary respect."

With no change on his face, Bai Zemin said indifferently, "Then? May I know what are not one or two but four proud Higher Existences doing in such a remote corner of the universe like this? You all probably had to put many important things on hold to travel to such an obscure and miserable place."

"Oh, you're wrong about that. Completely wrong." Akumi sighed and shook its large beast head.

"Those Higher Existences who belong to one of the other seven factions are bound by rules and principles that we, members of Devourers and Destroyers, are not. Let's take the angel faction as an example for this analogy; every l century or so, all angels are mobilized to perform different missions that can range from patrolling unknown and ever-expanding areas to searching for precious herbs." Akumi shook the head again and a hint of disdain could be heard in its noble voice as it said without missing a beat, "On the other hand, we don't do such a thing. We just do what we want and there are no laws that really bind us."

"You mean...?"

"En. You're smart." Akumi seemed pleased with the analytical speed shown by Bai Zemin and said, "Many might think that living free and unattached is the best, but when you live hundreds of thousands of years without a target to aim for or someone by your side then things become a bit too boring."

"Then you should get yourself a lover or some proper friends." Bai Zemin shrugged.

"Hahahahahaha!!!"

The basilisk-like beast's laughter boomed, as if it had heard a big story.

Bai Zemin was forced to use Blood Manipulation to calm the agitation he felt in his blood and his pupils contracted for a brief moment.

'This is... Don't tell me this bastard is already at Lilith's level!' He thought in despair.

With his current strength, Bai Zemin was confident in fighting Fifth Order Higher Existences without too much difficulty. However, those in the Sixth Order were beings that were absolutely out of his league.

If... If this basilisk-like beast was a Sixth Order Higher Existence then the odds of Bai Zemin making it out alive were almost 0% unless something big happened.

"I apologize for my lack of manners, but even though to you it was somewhat crude to me it was one of the best jokes I've heard in a long time." Akumi sighed after calming down and explained, "I had several partners throughout my life, of course. I also had a number of friends."

"... They all died?" Bai Zemin frowned, puzzled.

"En. All dead." Akumi nodded curtly. A rather horrible smile formed on its face as it said coldly, "After making sure I had their trust I killed and ate them all! I must admit that although it was troublesome to invest so much time gaining the trust of so many living beings it was worth the effort when it was time for me to have fun!"

Bai Zemin's expression turned ugly when he heard this and he couldn't help but mutter between his teeth: "Bloody lunatic motherfucker...!"

In Hero City's throne room, Wu Yijun and Shangguan Bing Xue also had ugly expressions on their faces.

"So cruel..." Wu Yijun shuddered at the thought of that fate and only now understood how important it was to carefully choose a life partner to live the rest of eternity together.

Although Shangguan Bing Xue said nothing, the expression on her beautiful and charming elven face was deadly cold. The murderous intent was so great that even Wu Yijun felt suffocated and forced to take several steps back.

Back out, Akumi was not angered by the words uttered by Bai Zemin. It said, "Ah, that's right. The word lunatic is pretty good at describing all of us."Akumi noticed that the human in front of it activated several skills at once but continued as it slowly backed away, "There are just a few things that can excite us nowadays, as you will understand. It is said that you are the most pious Lower Existences in history and you also seem to have a deep relationship with the legendary Heavenly Wolf whose constellation has been quite restless in the last two decades... My friends here and I would like to try out how many of the rumors we heard about you are true, so I kindly ask you to join us for a game."

Bai Zemin frowned as he found himself in a great predicament. Just when he thought there was absolutely no hope of winning, the voice of the basilisk-like beast that went by the name Akumi spoke again.

"To make this more fun we'll fight different battles. 1 vs 1. Not bad, is it? This way it will be waaay more fun for everyone!"

"Kakaka... I'll go first then!"

Before the other two could say or do anything, the creature that looked like a giant golden lion shot forward and in the blink of an eye appeared only 400 meters far away from where Bai Zemin was standing.

"Hey! Du He, you bastard! That's not fair!"

"This fucker always does the same thing!"

The lion-like beast whose name was apparently Du He ignored its friends' curses. Its two big green eyes that shone like emeralds stared fixedly and uniquely at Bai Zemin as it showed its ferocious teeth that could swallow him in one bite.

"Human, let's fight! Come, I'll give you the courtesy of attacking first as a show of goodwill!"

Bai Zemin couldn't help but burst out laughing when he heard this and sneered, "You want me to attack you first because you fear the Soul Record right? Dream on! If you're afraid of dying you'd better go home!"

As these words left his mouth, Bai Zemin couldn't help but notice that the atmosphere suddenly changed as the fierce smile on the golden lion's face slowly disappeared until it could no longer be seen anywhere.

"You... Really didn't end up understanding what I just said or did you?" Akumi sighed and shook its head.

Roar!!!

Bai Zemin's pupils contracted as the lion-like creature's body suddenly lit up with millions of golden sparks glowing around it.

BANG!!!

A golden lightning strike as thick as a giant building fell from the sky and in the blink of an eye appeared above Bai Zemin's head at the same time as a purple lightning strike instantly hit the lion.

Bai Zemin was not underestimating his enemies... He would never do such stupidity even against someone seemingly weaker than him. It was just that he simply didn't know anything about the personalities of the members belonging to Devourers and Destroyers and therefore he certainly had no way of figuring out how crazy they really were.

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