"Heeaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!" The old ghost on the right, the second of the Three Yama Ancestors, Yan Wanhun, could no longer hold himself back. His body shot forward as he roared, "I will tear you to pieces with my own hands!"
When that small, hunched figure began to shoot through the air, his aura was so vast and boundless that it seemed to make the clouds move; it was so powerful that it felt capable of crushing mountains and overturning seas.
The ancestral demonic blood that the Yama Ancestors had inherited and the Yama Demonic Art they cultivated had caused their life force and profound veins to form a strange connection with the Sea of Eternal Dark Bones. This was also the source of their indestructibility and immortality.
When his power erupted, the entire Sea of Eternal Dark Bones began to tremble, accompanied by what sounded like the wails of countless restless ghosts and malevolent spirits.
Ren Zu did not move even an inch.
He remained standing in the same place, his hands behind his back and a faintly bored expression on his face, while Yan Wanhun charged at him like a starving demon, releasing a hoarse and deafening scream that made the surrounding bones vibrate.
The palm of the Yama Ancestor, laden with a darkness so dense it seemed capable of corroding space itself, came straight for Ren Zu's chest.
But before the strike could even touch his clothes, a deep blood-colored energy burst from Ren Zu's body like a silent explosion. His long white hair fluttered slightly from the force of the release, and his red eyes shone with a nearly lazy disdain.
He raised one hand with almost insulting calmness.
BAM!
Yan Wanhun's palm collided against Ren Zu's open hand. The impact generated a black shockwave that shattered the nearby bones into pieces, yet Ren Zu's hand did not retreat even a millimeter.
"You do have a bit of strength… it might be useful to have subordinates like you…" Ren Zu murmured as he pondered.
Before Yan Wanhun could react, Ren Zu closed his fingers around the old ghost's withered wrist and, with a casual motion, pulled him closer.
Then, he simply punched.
It was not a powerful punch. There was no elaborate technique, no explosion of energy. It was just a "weak" punch, almost disinterested, delivered with his right hand straight into the center of Yan Wanhun's face.
CRACK!
The sound was repulsive.
Yan Wanhun's entire head exploded like an overripe watermelon. The skull was completely obliterated, leaving only a severed neck spewing a dark fountain.
Yan Wanhun's headless body remained suspended in the air for half a second, trembling, before crashing heavily onto the bones.
The silence that followed was absolute.
Yan Wanchi and Yan Wangui were frozen in place, their eyes wide with pure shock. Their withered bodies trembled visibly.
Here in the Sea of Eternal Dark Bones, they were immortal unless someone found a way to completely remove all the yin energy from this place. Any power they used would be replenished in a short time, and any injury they suffered would heal at an accelerated rate.
But Yan Wanhun did not regenerate or anything of the sort—he simply died just like that?! Who exactly was that boy?
What they did not know was that, for someone who had reached absolute understanding of the Law of Darkness, preventing the three of them from absorbing the energy of the Sea of Eternal Dark Bones was something trivial. Furthermore, at the exact moment he enveloped his body with his profound energy, he incorporated the characteristic of the Vermilion Bird's flames—a power capable of nullifying any demonic energy. With that, the three of them were already doomed; they could be eliminated with mere casual attacks.
However, he had changed his mind upon sensing the power contained in that old ghost's attack—perhaps the three of them could still be useful as servants. With that thought, Ren Zu instantly appeared beside Yan Wanhun's decapitated corpse, as if space itself had bent to accommodate him.
His gaze fell upon the fallen body among the bones, and he let out a light sigh, tinged with disappointment.
"I'll use you to test something…" he murmured, slowly shaking his head.
Raising his right hand calmly, he rotated his index finger in a small circle.
A silver, ethereal light emerged around the mutilated body, carrying the essence of the Law of Time.
Time began to rewind.
Fragments of skull, dried flesh, and bones scattered across the ground trembled violently. Then, everything reversed. The pieces flew back into place, reconstructing the skull, skin, eyes, and sparse strands of hair. In less than two seconds, Yan Wanhun's head was completely restored, as if it had never been destroyed.
The old ghost's eyes snapped open, gasping, as he sprang up from the ground in a violent start.
His eyes, now filled with genuine terror, locked onto Ren Zu.
"You… what… what did you do?!" he stammered, his hoarse voice trembling miserably.
His wrinkled hands rose to his own face, feeling it as if he still doubted it was intact.
Nearby, Yan Wanchi and Yan Wangui remained completely paralyzed. Their hunched bodies trembled uncontrollably, and the shock on their faces was so profound it seemed to have struck their very distorted souls like thunder.
Ren Zu smiled—a calm, almost gentle smile, yet filled with deep cruelty.
"That doesn't concern you…" he said, his voice echoing softly through the abyss. He extended his open hand toward the three Yama Ancestors. "Now… kneel."
An invisible pressure descended upon the three of them like an entire mountain.
Yan Wanhun's knees buckled first. He crashed heavily onto the bones, his withered body trembling violently as he tried to resist.
Yan Wangui and Yan Wanchi struggled for a few more seconds, their faces twisted in agony, before they too fell to their knees, heads lowered—the pride of nearly a million years shattering before a single young man…
Ren Zu looked at the three old ghosts kneeling before him and let out a low chuckle.
"Much better…"
His red eyes gleamed with satisfaction as he observed the three Yama Ancestors—once feared founders of the Yama Realm—trembling like frightened dogs at his feet. He casually rotated his index finger once more. In the next instant, a nearly infinite dark profound energy erupted from his body, like a black, viscous river that devoured all light around it.
The three Yama Ancestors sensed the danger instantly. Their eyes widened in absolute terror.
"Wait… what are you—?!"
"No… no… this is—!!"
But it was too late.
The black energy violently penetrated their withered bodies, ignoring any resistance. It passed through flesh, bones, and profound veins, diving straight into the core of their souls.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
All three released piercing screams of agony at the same time. Their bodies began to twist horrifically. Their pale, dried skin cracked, releasing black smoke, as Ren Zu's darkness devoured everything they were. Their bones snapped, their muscles shriveled further, and their faces contorted into expressions of unimaginable pain. Consciousness, memories, personality, pride, resentment… everything was swept away like old dust. Their souls were cleansed, turned into blank sheets—completely empty and ready to be rewritten. Their physical bodies slowly dissolved into black shadows with a deep purple glow. Their hunched, repulsive forms disappeared entirely, replaced by three tall, slender, imposing shadows with defined outlines and a cold, obedient presence.
Ren Zu observed the process indifferently, then casually declared, as if commenting on the weather:
"Not bad…"
The moment the words left his mouth, the three shadows knelt simultaneously, their movements perfectly synchronized and filled with devotion.
Their voices echoed together, devoid of any trace of their previous arrogance or madness, now filled only with absolute loyalty and a cold, mechanical happiness:
"We, the Three Shadow Servants, greet the Monarch."
"Our bodies, our souls, and our power belong exclusively to the Monarch."
"Command us."
Ren Zu merely observed them calmly. To him, this was far more useful than simply marking them with a slave seal while they retained their own wills. Thus, he had completely erased the consciousness and personalities of the three Yama Ancestors, leaving behind only absolute obedience. Now, they were nothing more than servants whose existence revolved around serving him.
The most advantageous part? Their cultivation remained intact. They were still three extremely powerful beings with nearly a million years of existence. The difference was that now, they would live within his own shadow and could be summoned at any time by him—just like a certain Shadow Monarch from another world…
He then spoke in a calm and authoritative voice:
"From now on, you are no longer the Yama Ancestors. You are my servants."
He pointed to each of them, naming them simply:
"Yan Wanchi… you will be 'Chi.'"
"Yan Wanhun… you will be 'Hun.'"
"Yan Wangui… you will be 'Gui.'"
The moment the names were spoken, the three shadows trembled visibly. A wave of pure, devoted joy surged through their ethereal forms, as if receiving a name directly from the Monarch was the greatest honor they could receive in their new existence.
Chi, Hun, and Gui lowered their heads even further, their voices echoing together with fanatical loyalty:
"Chi thanks the Monarch for the name!"
"Hun thanks the Monarch for the name!"
"Gui thanks the Monarch for the name!"
They seemed genuinely happy, as if their empty souls had found an absolute purpose.
Ren Zu lightly waved his hand.
"Rise."
The three stood up in perfect silence, awaiting further orders.
But he had no need for them at that moment, so with a thought, the three shadows trembled briefly before dissolving smoothly, transforming into thin black lines that returned to his own shadow, merging completely.
He let out a long sigh, feeling the accumulated fatigue.
"That was more tiring than I expected…"
Indeed, transforming the three Yama Ancestors into Shadow Servants through the [Shadow Monarch Art], a technique he had developed over the past two years but never had the opportunity to test, required an absurd amount of profound energy. Under normal conditions, it would have left him temporarily exhausted. However, here, in the Sea of Eternal Dark Bones, the situation was completely different. The dark energy around him was incomparably dense. The moment he activated the art and expended his profound energy to execute it, all that black energy began to be drawn toward him frantically, like a raging river converging in his direction.
It invaded his body every second, filling his profound veins at a terrifying speed, replenishing his spent energy…
In fact, he felt his profound energy recover almost instantly. It was as if he were standing within an infinite source of dark power.
He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling that heavy, cold yin energy flow through his body, being refined and converted into his own profound energy.
A slow smile appeared on his lips.
"This place… really is perfect for me."
He opened his eyes again, the red glow now more intense, and looked toward the dark depths of the Sea of Eternal Dark Bones.
"So… let's begin devouring everything."
_________________
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