Under the influence of the bell, old Lightford felt his entire body tremble. He couldn’t mount the tiniest bit of resistance.

Ray after ray of luminous offense blasted upon him.

Despite the demon’s incredible abilities, he knew he couldn’t turn the fight around anymore.

Jiang Chen was completely calm as he watched this take place.

They’d succeeded!

A mid divine ancient demon had been cornered by their unified assault. His life was ticking down by the minute!

This was rather dreamlike, so incredulous was the result.

In fact, all that had happened in Myriad Abyss recently was already too far-fetched to believe. It was as if mountains had toppled, earth had cracked, and the skies had fallen in.

As much as he wished otherwise, Lightford couldn’t endure the deathtrap. The sacred lands’ cultivators had dealt very little damage to him – certainly not enough for a grievous injury.

The three sacred beasts were his most feared opponents.

If they’d been alone, they would have only had a fifty percent chance at killing him. They were too individually weak to claim absolute triumph. In fact, he might have had the opportunity to launch a suicidal attack; if the beasts were unwilling to exhibit the same kind of recklessness, that could have offered him an avenue of escape.

Alas, the golden bell was his worst enemy, the nemesis of his fate. Under its oppressive energies, his will and vitality were both crushed.

The fighting was finally over. Blood and guts were strewn about the scene.

A number of gods had been seriously hurt, but no injuries were life-threatening. Lightford’s final struggle had affected them as collateral damage. Thankfully, the three sacred beasts’ spearheaded attack had also disintegrated their greatest foe.

Lightford’s divine decree fell into his killers’ hands.

The three sacred beasts didn’t care for it. Their own bloodlines and divinities meant that it was useless to them. They handed it over to Jiang Chen by default, who summarily stashed it away.

The other gods were envious, but couldn’t disagree with the arrangement. None of them were foolish enough not to see that Jiang Chen had commanded the battle.

Lightford’s divine decree was added to the handful that Jiang Chen had gotten earlier from the demon’s dead followers.

Meanwhile, the survivors trembled with fear.

No god dared to break the silence before Jiang Chen. Even the Eternal forefather could feel the tremendous pressure that the young man exerted upon the scene.

The young genius saw no reason to explain himself.

This power was what he had always sought. He didn’t want to relinquish his authority or become another’s pawn. No, he had always much preferred playing the game himself.

The evasive, sometimes fearful looks he saw in the other sacred lands’ eyes told him that he had accomplished his objective.

The captives were becoming more anxious by the moment. Their dread escalated with each step that Jiang Chen took towards them. They finally understood that this youth – like a god himself, despite his empyrean cultivation – was the one who would decide their fate.

The support of his three sacred beasts gave him an added aura of mystique.

“We... we... we surrender.” They kneeled as one, stammering.

“Young lord Jiang Chen, your reputation precedes you. Now that we’ve seen every bit of it is deserved, we don’t dare compete with your radiance. Please, give us a chance to surrender!”

“We are willing to swear our allegiance upon heaven and earth, young lord. We will not renege on our word.”

“Indeed. We were deluded and coerced into Lightford’s service without knowing that he was an ancient demon. If we had been aware of the latter, we would have died rather than rebel with him.”

“Young lord Jiang Chen, heaven is our witness to our ignorance. Yes, we largely deserved our sentences in the Boundless Prison, but we’d never sought to ally with a demon!”

These people didn’t initially believe that they would be in much danger after surrendering. Their comrades had safely surrendered before and were doing just fine. The ten sacred lands weren’t exactly a bloodthirsty lot.

After they found out that old Lightford was an ancient demon though, things took a different turn. If they were labeled as demonic remnants, the sacred lands would be fully justified in executing them all.

Since the ancient times, association with demonkind was an irredeemable crime against Divine Abyss as a continent. There was no turning back for individuals that betrayed the land of their birth.

Their only chance at life was to claim ignorance regarding Lightford’s demonic identity.

Jiang Chen dragged a thoughtful gaze across these cultivators’ faces.

“You say that you weren’t aware he was an ancient demon, but you have no impartial evidence to back you up. Demons have always been proficient at trickery and concealment. How am I supposed to know that none of you have accepted demon blood into your veins? Or perhaps you’re demons yourself?”

“We are willing to accept an examination of our blood. If anything is found awry, we willingly go to our deaths.”

“Yes, we as well.”

Yu Gong, Xu Yigu, and Lan Tianhao came forward. “Young lord Jiang Chen,” they bowed. “Though we came to the light earlier than these others, we would be happy to have our blood examined as well. Demons are a deceptive bunch, and we’re not sure whether Lightford did anything to us without our knowledge.”

Jiang Chen smiled. “Very good. That old demon said I was a demon earlier as well, so I shall take this opportunity to prove my innocence.”

“There’s no need for that, is there?” One of the sacred lands’ forefathers immediately cut in. “You come from honest origins. That, we know all too well.”

“Yes, yes. If you were a demon, there would be no one reliable beneath the heavens.”

Asking an examination of Jiang Chen’s blood was the safest move, but upsetting him would plunge Myriad Abyss into serious trouble. They couldn’t risk the young man’s departure.

Jiang Chen waved a hand. “No need to disagree. Testing my blood isn’t any trouble. Plus, demonic bloodlines are invasive, yes, but they can’t exactly consume anybody undetected. There’s no need to be suspicious of yourselves.”

His words were intended to calm both the captives and the sacred lands’ people.