True Martial World Chapter 1706 - Ending (4) - Return

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

“He is the Demonic Marshall!?”

Upon spotting the grotesque three-meter-tall fiend, the human disciples collectively held their breaths.

They harbored bone-deep hatred for both the Demonic Marshall and the Ancestor God!

The Sinkhole's decline stemmed from their actions. Beyond that, countless lives had suffered endlessly over the years. Even relatives and elders of these young warriors had perished in that devastating purge.

The linen-robed youth balled his fists tightly, his eyes burning with intense hatred and fury. Yet he realized it was futile at his current level. The Demonic Marshall's power was simply overwhelming.

Even without considering the Demonic Marshall himself, his former subordinate, Demonic General Perfected Hou, had been dominant over every Sinkhole expert below the Godly Monarch realm.

During the White Lunar Goddess Empress’s coronation, Demonic General Perfected Hou and Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord had teamed up, rendering them nearly unbeatable. Without Yi Yun's intervention and slaying of the pair, all the Sinkhole experts present at the ceremony would likely have met their end.

If Demonic General Perfected Hou possessed such might, the Demonic Marshall's strength went without saying. He had undoubtedly attained the Godly Monarch realm, and among Godly Monarchs, he ranked as one of the stronger ones.

Compared to the Sinkhole's scant Godly Monarchs, whose realms remained imperfect due to the flawed Heavenly Dao, drawing on Heaven Earth Yuan Qi would shorten their lives.

Even united, they stood no chance against the Demonic Marshall!

If Sinkhole Godly Monarchs were this limited, then warriors below that realm were nothing more than insects before the Demonic Marshall.

In that instant, the Demonic Marshall's arrival unleashed surging demonic flames that choked everyone. Geniuses with weaker cultivation struggled just to stay upright.

They yearned to hold their ground, but the sheer dominance crushed any defiance. Mere seconds later, some collapsed to their knees, shuddering with ashen faces.

What utter shame!

These prodigies had trained in martial arts since childhood, standing as peerless talents among their generation. Yet today, facing their foe, they lasted only moments before yielding to the pressure and kneeling. After years of cultivation, bowing before an enemy was the deepest insult!

The linen-clothed youth's cultivation wasn't advanced; he was still young. At that point, an immense mountain seemed to crush down on him, chilling his body while his heart nearly stopped. Somehow, he summoned the willpower to resist the oppression and stay on his feet.

Sweat poured down his forehead in huge drops, blinding his vision and deafening his ears. The world around him felt cut off. But fueled by some mysterious conviction, he gritted his teeth and stood firm.

He understood that resisting meant little—it barely countered a sliver of the Demonic Marshall's aura and inflicted no damage. Still, he refused to yield again. Humanity had retreated far too often.

“Enough!”

Suddenly, a sharp reprimand rang out, barely audible amid the Demonic Marshall's turbulent aura.

Yet it caused the Demonic Marshall to hesitate briefly as he turned his gaze.

A ethereal beauty materialized in the square, radiating peerless allure and grace. She inspired instant affinity. Most astonishing was the complete absence of energy from her—she was utterly mortal.

Huan Chenxue!

It defied belief that a powerless mortal could shrug off the Demonic Marshall's suppression unscathed.

“As expected of a reincarnated ancient Godly Monarch. Even stripped of your powers, you remain exceptional.”

The Demonic Marshall's pressure arose from disparities in life's natural order. Though Huan Chenxue had lost her cultivation, her life's order preserved its ancient stature. Otherwise, she couldn't have survived for so long.

After all, as an ancient Godly Monarch and disciple of the Human Emperor, the eight Godly Monarchs' power surpassed this era's Godly Monarchs—and the Demonic Marshall—by far.

Suppressing Huan Chenxue with mere life's natural order was utterly impossible for the Demonic Marshall.

“Shilong, you devoured copious amounts of nomological powers in the Land of Hope back then. Today is the day my Mirage Sea Realm will be selecting disciples. What are you up to!?”

“Hahahaha! I’m just helping you eliminate the trash that don’t meet a basic standard. You should thank me.” Demonic Marshall erupted in wild, frenzied laughter. While he cackled insanely, several young disciple hopefuls buckled under his overwhelming pressure, coughing up gushes of blood as their meridians ruptured.

“Weak! Too weak!” Demonic Marshall shook his head in disdain. “My Heaven Devouring Fiend Art has hit a bottleneck. I wanted to absorb some Myriad Origins Dao from human prodigies, but facing rubbish like you all, I lack even the interest.”

While Demonic Marshall uttered those words, his eyes raked over the human disciples. That predatory stare, like a savage beast poised to feast, sent shivers of terror through the crowd.

Huan Chenxue’s face twisted. “Shilong, you plan to devour my Mirage Sea Realm disciples!?”

“So what if I do? They’re nothing but ant-like existences,” Demonic Marshall sneered with utter arrogance.

Huan Chenxue’s eyebrows shot up. Her expression frosted over, a fierce urge surging to carve Demonic Marshall into pieces. For years, his voracious appetite had drained massive reserves of the Mirage Sea Realm’s Heaven Earth powers. This had slashed Old Snake’s lifespan dramatically.

But he only grew bolder, now scheming to swallow the Mirage Sea Realm’s disciples this very day to seize their laws for his own cultivation.

“Huan Chenxue, is that killing intent radiating from you? Hahaha!” Demonic Marshall roared with laughter, as if struck by the world’s greatest farce. “Huan Chenxue, have you overlooked a key fact? Your pathetic lives limp on only because of my mercy. What if I gobble up thousands of your disciples? Go ahead, try defying me.”

Demonic Marshall dripped with scorn as he spoke. He scanned the candidates once more, only for one youth to snag his focus.

“Oh? A Connate Fire Spirit Dao Embryo? No wonder he endures my suppression so long with that paltry cultivation. Unearthing a jewel in this heap of garbage is truly exceptional...”

The youth Demonic Marshall locked onto was precisely the linen-clothed one. He licked his lips, his appetite sharply ignited.

Consuming a Connate Dao Embryo like that promised massive gains for him.

Yet right then, the linen-clothed youth reeled in a stupor from the earlier suppression. He registered the pressure’s abrupt easing, but his body couldn’t adapt fast enough—seething blood within him exploded, snapping his meridians.

His form shuddered violently, and before awareness dawned, he hurtled skyward. An immense pull dragged him straight toward Demonic Marshall.

“Hehehe! You’ve been buried deep in this trash pile. Indeed a Connate Fire Spirit Dao Embryo. A few more years of growth, and you’d be a feast. Too bad, I won’t wait. Time to devour you now!”

Demonic Marshall flashed a sinister grin, baring his dual rows of razor-sharp, tightly packed fangs.

“Come, Child. Merge with me. In return, I’ll etch your name in my mind. What is it?”

Demonic Marshall pierced the youth with his glare. Though he’d lifted the suppression, the chasm in their life orders loomed even larger up close.

It resembled a frail creature staring down an ancient behemoth. Absent any murderous vibe, the sheer terror and weight still crushed relentlessly.

Every young disciple there struggled to fathom it. Demonic Marshall wielded such might already—how incomparably superior was the Ancestor God who had swallowed the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao?

In that instant, the youth fully comprehended his grim destiny.

Death itself didn’t scare him, but he never dreamed his end would prove so futile, reduced to mere sustenance for this fiend.

He’d trained in martial arts since early childhood, brushing death’s edge time and again. He’d gambled his life to progress this far. Now, with his martial road blocked, he’d sought a faint opportunity in the Mirage Sea Realm.

He nursed a foolish ambition: to blaze a singular trail to the pinnacle amid this crumbling Sinkhole. He even fantasized about restoring the Sinkhole’s shattered Heavenly Dao far in the future.

He’d kept this dream hidden from all, knowing its sheer absurdity.

Clearly, it was nothing but idle delusion. Freshly arrived at the Mirage Sea Realm, he’d become devil chow before the trials even began!

Could any fate be more heartrending?

Tossed about by destiny’s whims, a weakling’s defiance amounted to nothing.

“What’s your name?”

Right then, that voice rang out once more beside the linen-clothed youth’s ear.

He wished to laugh, yet right before uttering a word, shock froze him in place.

This voice... it doesn’t belong to the Demonic Marshall?

“What’s your name?”

The voice echoed in his ears anew. Unlike the Demonic Marshall’s wicked and ominous tone, this one carried an inexplicable warmth and kindness.

Right then, the Demonic Marshall, getting no reply from the youth, had evidently run out of patience. His massive jaws parted wide, intent on devouring him entirely then and there.

“My... My name is Luo Yan.”

“Luo Yan? Indeed...”

The voice appeared to ponder deeply, but prior to the youth grasping the meaning behind those words, the Demonic Marshall’s double rows of teeth loomed over his head.

Yet in that instant... time abruptly halted.

This abrupt temporal freeze rendered the Demonic Marshall as if turned to stone. He stood utterly still.

In the following moment, a man clad in black robes emerged from the void. It resembled merely stepping through a doorway, though none realized this stride spanned billions of light years through the Multiverse rift.

“Luo Yan... are you from the Luo clan? Did anything happen to the Luo clan?”

Upon the black-robed man’s arrival, he cast a look at the youth. His tone remained steady, yet a trace of concern lingered within.

The savage and apparently unbeatable Demonic Marshall was utterly disregarded by the black-robed man.

At that very instant, everyone stood stunned!

This abrupt twist caught them all off guard, leaving no time to respond.

Demonic Marshall’s face twisted in horror. He stared at the black-robed man like he beheld a fiend incarnate.

Even in the slowed space-time that ensnared him, his mind could scarcely churn thoughts.

This man... he resembles... Yi Yun!?

Being one of Ancestor God’s minions, Demonic Marshall was well acquainted with Yi Yun. He could hardly fathom Yi Yun gaining such overwhelming might out of nowhere.

With a single thought!

In that single thought alone, he found himself fully restrained. Not a muscle would budge, and his soul felt locked away.

Facing this immense force, he resembled an ant clutched in the talons of a gigantic dragon.

Just then, Yi Yun swiveled to face Demonic Marshall.

With a light tap, a nomological sword no longer than a foot materialized from nothing. Aimed at his glabella, it floated toward him leisurely.

This minuscule, drifting blade filled Demonic Marshall with overwhelming dread!

Yet his form remained sealed. Despite his desperate struggles, resistance proved futile. His soul bellowed in fury, but no voice escaped.

“M... Master...”

Demonic Marshall’s lips quivered faintly, forming the shape for that plea.

Yi Yun shook his head. “Your master is waiting for you in the netherworld. If you wish to find him, let me send you there.”

Wh...What!?

Demonic Marshall’s eyes bulged with shock and disbelief. The next instant, the nomological sword pierced his glabella.

In that split second, an unimaginable agony surged through Demonic Marshall. Death didn’t claim him at once; rather, it plunged him into the eighteenth layer of hell, enduring endless torments.

“The Sword of Samsara Fate. This sword stems from your karma. Savor it slowly.”

With those words from Yi Yun, the time restraints lifted, sending the convulsing Demonic Marshall crashing skyward no more.

Boom!

Demonic Marshall’s massive frame slammed into the earth, writhing repeatedly. Only after roughly half a minute did his life force fully ebb away.

Though the duration was brief, Demonic Marshall endured the anguish of a hundred lifetimes. His features warped grotesquely, every sinew and bone contorted until they snapped.

Demonic Marshall was dead!

Yi Yun glanced once more at the surviving mighty demonic servants. As Demonic Marshall’s personal underlings, their power matched that of the former Demonic General Perfected Hou.

Yet before Yi Yun, they were utterly terrified.

Before any could respond, Yi Yun’s piercing gaze swept over them, slicing through their soul seas like razor blades.

The light faded from their eyes. Plummeting like spoiled flesh, they died on impact from the skies.

The youth in linen robes gazed at Yi Yun, stupefied. The spectacle unfolding seemed utterly dreamlike.

He struggled to accept that a powerhouse like Demonic Marshall, a supreme expert capable of overpowering several hidden Sinkhole Godly Monarchs together, met such a casual end—like butchering a mere fowl.

The other half-step Godly Monarch demonic servants perished with just a thought. No further effort needed...

What sort of horrifying power was this?

Not just the linen-clothed youth stood dumbfounded. The entire crowd there was shocked into silence across the massive square teeming with millions of disciples.

All eyes turned to Yi Yun, with some suddenly remembering as they glanced at the enormous statue dominating the square.

Yi Yun's statue bore a resemblance to the black-robed man, though not an exact match.

Could he truly be... Yi Yun?

Yet Yi Yun hadn't been gone from the Sinkhole for very long. He had fled because of the Ancestor God's chase, so how could he have gained such horrifying power in just these few short years?

Moreover, he had uttered those chilling words—'Your master is waiting for you in the netherworld. If you wish to find him, let me send you there.'

Did those words imply that Yi Yun had slain the Ancestor God?

This notion flashed through many minds, yet it struck them as utterly inconceivable.

It was at that very instant a booming burst of laughter shattered the hush.

'Hahahaha! Kid, I knew you wouldn’t die that easily. You finally came back. If you didn’t, I’d have been sucked dry.'

Hearing this thrilled voice, the crowd whipped their heads around in confusion. The speaker turned out to be the guardian of the Mirage Sea Realm array—Old Snake.