Wait, How Did My Digital Girlfriend Become a Sword Immortal? Chapter 823: The Emperor has awakened and summons you.

At the same time, within the Immortal Realm of Earth Star.

The Divine Descent got destroyed, leaving Wu E's Divine Soul badly wounded. As soon as his Remnant Soul merged back into his primary form, an excruciating, ripping torment exploded across his entire being.

"ROAR—!"

Such torment proved too much even for Wu E, a mighty Demon Immortal. He writhed in suffering, his radiating aura noticeably diminishing by multiple levels.

This happened because the energy channeled via the Divine Descent formed an integral part of his physique, infused with his Immortal Essence and Divine Soul.

With the Divine Descent now fractured, his Divine Soul felt as if a chunk had been brutally ripped out, while the Demon Core in his core also grew dimmer.

"Damn it… How does this Chen Huaian wield such overwhelming power? Is he perhaps another variable?!"

A savage gleam flashed in Wu E's gaze.

He had grounds to question Chen Huaian's background, yet the details from the Divine Lord's revelation pointed solely to Zhang Yibai and Gu Changsheng as variables, excluding Chen Huaian entirely.

He might doubt his own assessment, but he always trusted the Divine Lord's verdict implicitly.

Since the Divine Lord overlooked Chen Huaian, he simply couldn't be a variable.

Was Chen Huaian the inheritor of the Dragon Soul?

Yet another idea emerged in Wu E's thoughts.

Across endless reincarnation loops, solely the Dragon Soul inheritor exhibited prowess beyond the norm. All else remained constrained by the Immortal Realm and the Divine Lords.

The Divine Lords acted like handlers nurturing a ferocious hound. Though they could crush it effortlessly, they fed it scraps, allowing persistence, while forcing it to clash with the Dragon Soul inheritor, thereby elevating the latter's might relentlessly…

It appeared the Divine Lords sought to extract something from the empowered Dragon Soul inheritor.

Or maybe from those existences that persistently defied the reincarnation wheel.

However, they failed to attain that objective in every iteration, prompting repeated cycle resets.

Still, Chen Huaian lacked the Dragon Soul inheritor's signature aura, and he seemed somewhat allied with Taotie.

Taotie resembled a stubborn, resilient chunk of flesh, a troublemaking force that snapped at anyone in reach.

In every cycle, Taotie battled the Dragon Soul inheritor on sight, clashed with fellow Demon Immortals, and even confronted the immortals of Lingxiao.

The Divine Lords employed Taotie as a key instrument to counter the Dragon Soul inheritor, thus permitting its prolonged survival per cycle.

Moreover, as the Beast King, Taotie harbored intense disgust for the Dragon Soul inheritor's aura. The animosity it showed exceeded even that of the Divine Lords.

Considering this, Chen Huaian definitely wasn't the Dragon Soul inheritor…

Then, where had the Dragon Soul inheritor vanished to?

With all nine Wells of Heaven now unlocked, the Dragon Soul inheritor ought to be emerging progressively, shouldn't he?

"Wu E!" A deep bellow echoed from beyond the cave dwelling.

Wu E's frame jolted. He spotted a three-eyed weasel head peering in.

It belonged to Great Immortal Huang, among the Four Great Demon Immortals serving under Divine Joy.

"The Great Emperor has awakened. He summons you."

Cold intent filled Great Immortal Huang's stare at Wu E, harboring both caution and avarice deep inside.

The avarice stemmed from Wu E's currently feeble aura, his foundations shattered, evidently gravely harmed.

Devouring Wu E presented the perfect chance right now!

The caution arose because Chen Niu, eternally the mightiest across cycles, had been reduced to a pathetic shell by Wu E, surviving only as a Remnant Soul in a wrecked shell, already thoroughly scavenged by lesser demons near Chen Niu's cave.

For such a formidable earth dragon immortal to meet such an end stirred a pang of shared demise among peers.

It also instilled greater dread in Great Immortal Huang and the Golden Scale Heaven-Piercing Python toward Wu E, who previously ranked merely average in strength.

"Withdraw that greedy look."

Wu E rose, unleashing a dreadful oppressive force.

This force already incorporated the demonic power he had consumed from Chen Niu. The whole cave dwelling quaked beneath it. Great Immortal Huang's expression twisted sharply, his form suddenly weighed down like under a colossal peak, slammed to the earth, immobile.

"You… you've ascended to the Earth Immortal stage?"

Jealousy and terror overflowed in his gaze.

He recognized Wu E's substantial progress, but hadn't foreseen that absorbing Chen Niu would propel him across a major boundary, leaping from Divine Immortal to Earth Immortal…

In all the cycles, neither he nor the Golden Scale Heaven-Piercing Python had attained this level. Only Chen Niu lingered at the Divine Immortal pinnacle, a mere step from Earth Immortal.

And Wu E achieved this despite his damaged Divine Soul.

Should he recover to full strength…

Great Immortal Huang recoiled, the envy and bitterness in his eyes sinking deep.

He backed out of Wu E's cave dwelling, groveling outside.

Witnessing this, Wu E sneered disdainfully and strode out boldly.

Deep inside the Blissful Wasteland, no glimpse of sky or sun appeared.

Dark miasma churned and billowed over the terrain, but it got repelled forcefully at the base of a circular mountain—the dwelling of Divine Joy Emperor nestled inside that mountain's core.

From a distance, it resembled the cavernous jaws of a colossal monster. Nearer, one discerned that "jaws" consisted of myriad bloodied bones assembled. Crimson vapor oozed from the bone crevices, carrying a sickly sweet aroma, yet it could melt any approaching low-tier demon immortal into sludge instantly.

Wu E glided across the ground, thoroughly familiar with the scenes en route.

Myriad demon immortals thronged the mountain's foot. Those fist-sized, luminous fissures in the rock served as the well mouths where Spiritual Energy from Earth Star's Mortal Realm filtered upward.

Skeletal snake demons wrapped around the stone fissures, their hides flayed to raw flesh by adjacent bear demons; fox demons slashed open their kin's necks with razor claws, solely to claim a strand of richer Spiritual Energy; even eagle demons with atrophied wings desperately stabbed at rivals vying for spots.

The earth lay strewn with mangled limbs and charred blood pools.

Spiritual Energy, laced with the howls and wails of demon immortals, invaded Wu E's nostrils.

He didn't so much as twitch an eyelid—in the Blissful Wasteland, only the brutal law of survival reigned. Today they scrapped for Spiritual Energy; tomorrow, they might fall prey to superior predators.

Navigating through successive layers of demonic throngs, Wu E at last positioned himself before the residence's "bone portal."

The instant he crossed the entrance, an overwhelming suppression crashed upon him.

Every scale on his body bristled upright, only to get crushed flat the following moment.

Even his breaths grew strained.

Raising his eyes, he peered toward the High Platform embedded in the residence's depths.

A colossal toad, spanning fully a thousand *zhang*, reclined there.

Three golden stones rested in the toad's enormous maw. Their glow bathed its head.

And atop the toad's expansive brow, half a senior's upper body rose erect—that senior's skull tripled a typical human's size. His silvery locks and whiskers shone with greasy luster, his complexion ruddy like overripe produce, his lids sealed tight, yet his lips curved from ear to ear.

That grin lacked warmth; instead, it radiated an almost insane glee, as though poised to swallow all in sight the very next breath.

This figure was Divine Joy Emperor, the origin of every demon.

Wu E's limbs buckled. With a *thud*, he collapsed face-down, claws clutching the floor fiercely.

He sensed the Great Emperor's emitted pressure wasn't intentional. It resembled the burden of the cosmos itself, bearing down until his Demon Core quivered. The Earth Immortal prowess he had flaunted to Great Immortal Huang earlier now amounted to mere specks.

"Sub… subordinate Wu E, pays respects to the Great Emperor."

His tone quavered, tail flattened against the ground, refusing any twitch.

The elder on the High Platform at last parted his lids gradually.

They revealed orbs devoid of irises, merely hazy white voids.

Yet they pierced as if dissecting Wu E's vitals and soul's core.

He voiced nothing aloud, but his rasp echoed straight in Wu E's psyche, gravelly and chill: "Wu E, ah…" The elder's lips widened further, exposing dual lines of tiny, keen fangs. "This Emperor has learned you all ventured into the Mortal Realm?"

Wu E's core plummeted, icy perspiration sprouting on his brow. "Yes… This subordinate, obeying the Great Emperor's directive, descended to the Mortal Realm to probe the Wells of Heaven's activities, and along the way… to hunt for superior Celestial Essence."

"Ah, indeed, superior Celestial Essence!" The elder's tone iced over abruptly.

The golden stones in the toad's jaws quivered faintly.

The scarlet haze inside the residence densified at once.

Wu E's windpipe tightened, like seized by unseen fingers.

"Then explain," the elder's grin persisted, but his gaze burned with ravenous ferocity, "during this descent, how much superior Celestial Essence did you actually procure?"

Every syllable landed like a massive mallet pounding Wu E's core.

His frame convulsed wildly, his response splintering.

"This sub… subordinate is incompetent…

Sudden upheavals struck the Mortal Realm, the superior Celestial Essence… remains unacquired.

I implore the Great Emperor's mercy!"