As the skull breathed in and out, storms of darkness ravaged the area. Every spectator was quivering, unaware of its origin.

“A devil king of the darkness?” One disciple from a great power trembled. The rays coming from its eye sockets could drag souls out of the body.

“What is that thing?” Anxiety took over.

As for Li Qiye, he simply placed his palm on the skull’s forehead.

“What is he doing?!” One expert shouted.

“How risky…” A sect master’s teeth chattered.

The right reaction after seeing the skull was to run as fast as possible, not touching it.

“He’s trying to fuse with the darkness?” The young lord’s eyes lit up as he wondered.

Many stronger cultivators exchanged glances and understood what he was doing.

“Fusing with the darkness?!” However, those who didn’t get the point became startled.

“What’s going to happen? Is he going to absorb the darkness and turn into a devil king?” Another blurted out. Who knows if she was sincere or deliberate with this statement.

The crowd clamored after hearing this.

“We can’t let him fuse with the darkness or the world will face an unmitigated disaster!” A clan member bellowed.

“Right, we have to stop him now before it’s too late!” One disciple fanned the flames.

“We ought to finish him now!” A few started shouting, wanting to turn the crowd against Li Qiye.

Of course, some actually thought that it was the truth and wanted to prevent Li Qiye from turning into a devil king.

“Kill him now!” The latter group took out their weapon, ready for a sneak attack. They would do anything to prevent the darkness from wreaking havoc.

“Silence!” Chi Jinlin finally raised his voice.

The sheer force of the shout discombobulated the listeners. Some lost their balance and dropped to the ground.

His power and status suppressed everyone. The clamoring crowd became silent right away while staring at him.

“Enough speculation before there is a clear answer.” He declared.

Nonetheless, the crowd thought that he was being partial. They still kept their mouth shut, not wanting to go against the heir of Lion’s Roar.

“Your Highness, I’m afraid you’re acting as an accomplice to the darkness. If you keep on protecting that guy, the world will not stand for…” The young lord strongly opposed.

“Lion’s Roar guarantees Sir Li’s conduct.” Jinlin interrupted without bothering to look at him: “If you have grievances, feel free to visit Lion’s Roar and state them. I welcome it.”

He spoke with confidence as he put Lion’s Roar’s reputation on the line for Li Qiye. This stopped the young lord from bringing up the issue again; the same applied to the rest of the crowd.

Using Lion’s Roar’s reputation as a guarantee was rather serious and carried immense weight. Chi Jinlin was clearly not messing around.

“Buzz…” They suddenly heard buzzes and looked back at the skull.

They saw Li Qiye’s hand becoming radiant. The darkness on the skull was being refined and its real shape was revealed - the image of a head made up of an undying intent.

It belonged to an old man with impressive features. There was an air of stateliness to him, capable of commanding others without needing to ever raise his voice.

Though it was only the image of his head, others still held their breath and were fully intimidated.

It seemed that he was a supreme lord when he was alive. Top masters back then certainly treated him with nothing but respect.

“Do you know who he is?” An expert took a deep breath and asked his friends.

If this old man was alive, everyone here would be prostrating right now. The aura coming off the head showed that he was an apex existence in Eight Desolaces.

The head and Li Qiye gazed at each other. Millions of years passed in the blink of an eye.

The head recalled that when it was still alive, it had followed Li Qiye to numerous battlefields. Eventually, it stayed behind to protect this world, awaiting Li Qiye’s return.

Alas, the calamity unleashed by the heavenly corpses and the darkness ended both him and his legion.

They fought bravely and eventually took down the dark being. Unfortunately, none managed to survive the bloody war.

Everyone watched with bated breath despite not knowing what they were waiting for.

“You have done enough, Heavenguard. Your watch is over, it’s time to let go and rest.” Li Qiye gently patted the head.

“Time to go…” The head answered with an ancient voice.

“Buzz…” It started breaking down into countless particles. Eventually, the particles fell to the ground and disappeared, leaving behind a fist-sized core made of light.

This core shook a bit before flying back into the mountain range. Li Qiye casually followed it and disappeared from sight.

“Do you know what’s going on?” Someone asked.

“So that wasn’t a devil king of darkness?” Another found this strange.

Though the dark skull at the start was horrifying, it looked rather fine after the purification process.

“The mountain range must be hiding something.” A clan member boldly speculated.

“Wait, wasn’t the mountain range the home to a supreme lineage once? It fell after ambushing the darkness.” A sect master was reminded of something.

“You’re saying that this place is an ancestral ground or the main branch?” The clan member responded: “Was this just a manifestation of something incredible buried during that period? It’s coming back out again?”