Xu Mu tossed the Demon God's broken horn into the coffin. He extended his right hand, pulled a chain from its surface, and with a flash of lightning and fire at his fingertips, welded it to the severed chain on the ground. The entire process took less than three seconds.
Lying back in the coffin, the Demon God felt a sudden bewilderment. He had actually been stopped by a junior, unable to escape.
After enduring tens of epochs of torment, the hard-won light was now gone, and he was imprisoned once more.
Well… it wasn't necessarily bad to be imprisoned. He had waited tens of epochs already; another wait wouldn't be an issue.
As long as he could eventually break free and reign supreme, it would be worth it.
But the problem was, the descendant of the divine being outside had vowed to seek his soul for a transaction.
Afterward, the Demon God would live, and he would die.
His billions of years of darkness and solitude would ultimately be in vain, a mockery!
"My soul is more complete than my physical body. It can seep through the seal and easily kill the more than thirty people who broke in. His power is immense."
"You, a Lord at the Fourth Stage, truly believe you can handle him?"
The Demon God spoke calmly, his words seemingly profound.
But neither Charles, Xu Mu, nor the gray-white eyes controlling the body outside paid him any mind.
No matter how powerful that entity was, it was merely a soul.
Even the divine beings in the murals couldn't do anything to him. What power could a seeping soul possess? Was it here to be a stepping stone?
"If I encounter him, I will find a way to make him submit."
Xu Mu bent down and, with a blank expression, grabbed the chain on the Demon God's broken horn in the coffin. With a casual tug, the chain was pulled free, and the Demon God's body in the coffin twisted and turned as if detaching.
"I am a Demon God! How can I become someone else's weapon!"
The Demon God's broken horn roared again, a thick darkness engulfing Xu Mu's body. The substance that should have induced hallucinations now felt like pure air.
"Dying struggle."
The gray-white eyes continued their work, simultaneously yanking out two chains.
As a result, the Demon God's broken horn in the coffin regained its mobility. With incredible speed, it aimed its sharp tip at the hole in the coffin, attempting to leap out.
The chains were covered in forbidden runes. These runes had no effect on Xu Mu's body, but when placed on the coffin, even just lightly touching it, they generated an immensely terrifying sealing energy.
"Boom!"
With a deafening sound, the Demon God's horn struck the golden seal. Overwhelming forbidden power surged through his body, and the familiar agony began to torment him.
Listening to the screams, Xu Mu in the Heavenly Palace couldn't help but stare in a daze.
Was this the power of the supreme beings of that era? Even after billions of years, the restrictions laid by Emperor Fuxi could still unleash such terrifying might. It could even restore itself after being damaged, proving more than a match for the Demon God.
"Damn Fuxi, damn Shenxiao, I will tear you to shreds!"
"This underground palace has a chance of collapsing."
No time to listen to his repetitive, meaningless pronouncements, the gray-white eyes, with evident impatience, finished welding the four chains firmly. He then grasped one side of the coffin lid from the inside and slid it horizontally to the other side.
Now, all he had to do was press down lightly, and the Demon God's horn would be locked back in the coffin.
However, unlike before, this time he could see the underground palace through the hole, although it too was dark.
A rustling sound echoed as dirt fell from the ceiling of the underground palace. The murals of divine beings on the surrounding walls also dimmed.
Due to the previous battle, the power of the lightning had been too immense, causing cracks to appear in the once-sturdy underground palace.
If they didn't retreat promptly, it was likely to collapse.
"Being buried alive wouldn't matter, but I don't want to be."
The gray-white eyes said, preparing to press his hand down and seal the coffin completely.
But at that moment, the struggling Demon God spoke:
"I agree!"
"Become your weapon. Come, let us now make a Heavenly Oath!"
Xu Mu's body smiled faintly and produced a contract he had prepared long ago:
"An oath is useless. A Human-Weapon Contract is necessary."
"Fine," the Demon God's spirit faltered. He was utterly defeated. As long as it wasn't a master-servant contract, he didn't care what he signed.
"A Fourth Stage subordinate is nothing. I've brought back a Demon God."
While signing the contract, the gray-white eyes couldn't resist taunting Xu Mu again.
"I can do that too!"
"And it all benefits me~"
Xu Mu outwardly retorted, but inwardly, he was secretly delighted.
Originally, after he had subdued the Old Man of the Trees, he felt a little shortchanged having to order him around every now and then.
Now, this fellow had directly brought back a Demon God.
While Charles's reforged hunting knife was formidable, who could refuse a holy relic to be their weapon…
"Heaven and Earth, Yellow and Black, the Universe and the Great Desolation, Great Dao of the Ten Thousand Realms, be witness!"
*Hum!*
As the Demon God and Xu Mu jointly uttered the opening words, a great power descended from the distant vault of heaven, subtly binding their energies together.
"I, the Demon God, voluntarily become the weapon of the Contract Master."
"I have no name, temporarily designated Xu Mu, and voluntarily sign a contract with the Demon God's broken horn."
"I will lead the Demon God to conquer all realms and worlds, and when my cultivation reaches a sufficient level, I will help him reconstruct his true form and grant him freedom!"
Light erupted in the space, and nine streams of resplendent colors descended upon them. The gray-white eyes opened the coffin, grasped the Demon God's broken horn, and his flesh and blood began to flow into the broken horn. The dark origin within the Demon God's body flowed into Xu Mu's.
Blood burned fiercely, darkness eternal.
It was a complex transformation. With countless Great Daos empowering him, Xu Mu felt the weight of the broken horn in his hand gradually lighten, as if resonating with his mind.
His consciousness began to blur.
...
After an unknown amount of time, the gray-white eyes opened again. Looking down, he saw the Demon God's broken horn lying obediently in his embrace.
From this moment on, this holy relic that had caused infinite commotion, an existence that even the supreme beings of humanity billions of years ago couldn't erase, was his weapon.
The gray-white eyes lifted it and gently grasped it.
The item had no weight, yet as he held it, he felt a majesty as vast as mountains and seas, and a destructive fury capable of annihilating all things in the world.
He had a feeling that if he encountered that humanoid Domain Lord again, he wouldn't need to flee. He would at least have the strength to fight.
He couldn't wait to try.
"Your blood… seems to have some issues."
The Demon God's voice echoed from Xu Mu's sea of consciousness. He had woken up three seconds later.
"I have never seen blood so pure, yet so brimming with the rules of the Great Dao."
The Demon God struggled to suppress his inner shock. Just before their contract was successfully signed, Xu Mu's blood had flowed into his body.
Initially, he had been dismissive, thinking Xu Mu had merely managed to subdue him by chance, and perhaps his blood flowing into the human's body would cause the frail human form to collapse under the immense power of the Great Dao.
But the reality was that Xu Mu was completely unharmed. It was he, however, who had expended an immense amount of mental energy during assimilation due to the purity and dominance of the Great Dao in that blood.
He had once been such an existence, commanding the Demon Realm of the Cosmos, nurtured by the Great Dao of Death and the Primordial Chaos. Yet, assimilating the blood of a human was proving so difficult.
If he represented the Great Dao of Death, then what did the artifact master represent?
Was it the Heavenly Dao?
"If you want to ask about that, I can only say that I don't know what's going on either."
The gray-white eyes shook his head. All these questions would only be answered after they found the continent of Tis and unveiled the secrets of the Apocalypse.
"Could Shenxiao have chosen you," the Demon God mused, amazed that he had found such a successor, a child of destiny, which explained his numerous abilities.
"I am not a successor of Shenxiao, nor have I ever met Fuxi."
The gray-white eyes calmly shook his head. No one could be his master. Even Charles merely presented the questions; he would solve the rest himself.
"Then how do you know his Wind and Thunder Arts, and why doesn't this seal affect you…" the Demon God was stunned. They had signed a contract; Xu Mu had no reason to lie to him.
So, why was this the case?
"If you want to know these things, just follow me obediently."
The gray-white eyes squatted down, casually took out a pill, and fed it into Changsun Weiying's mouth, then hoisted him onto his shoulder.
"The one who sealed you was Fuxi, right? Was he the Human Emperor?"
"If I had been born in that era, I would not have been the Human Emperor."
"I would have been the Heavenly Emperor."