The Steward Demonic Emperor

Proofreader: Papatonks

Roar!

The draconic roar rang in everyone's ears. The huge body encased in hundreds of chains thrashed around in fury, despite how useless it all was. It made everyone who watched it worry.

"Sister Qingcheng, what now, what now? His body is stuck, and now his soul too! He looks doomed. Will he really die at the hands of that Universal Righteous Sect?" Dan'er was frantic, her adorable face red with worry.

The other girls weren't that vocal, but they worried still.

Xuan Shaoyu sneered, "Humph, all the people he met so far were nothing until now. He is facing the experts of a superior-three sect. Not even attacked from behind did they blink. Moreover, a demon like him should've died long ago."

"Dan'er, don't worry. He is aiming for Ultimate Clarity Sect's Ye Lin. Before that, he will not lose." Ignoring Xuan Shaoyu's obnoxious rant, Chu Qingcheng still spoke with certainty.

She then turned to watch Zhuo Fan, neither frantic nor excited, completely confident.

The girls eased at her words, leaving Xuan Shaoyu the only one feeling vexed and fuming.

[Why are you only looking at him and never at me?]

Roar~!

With another series of roars, the huge dragon finally grew tired. As the chains pulled, the prismatic glow slowly faded and twisted his body tighter.

Zhao Dezhu lit up as he shouted, "Ha-ha-ha, that dragon soul is done for. Brothers, it's time we strike. Tear that dragon to pieces and kill him!"

"Oh!"

With a shout of excitement, the others changed signs, and the chains started moving, pulling every which way and grinding hard on the dragon. It was not long before a pristine dragon scale fell.

As it fell, it faded, the energy it carried vanishing without a trace. The huge dragon roared in pain at the sky.

Zhuo Fan felt it too, his brow shaking hard, the only movement he was capable of.

Zhao Dezhu was even more assured of success. He laughed.

[The punk has no ace up his sleeve! Break him, boys, break this dragon apart, and the whole western lands will echo our names!]

They were about to kill a heaven dragon soul, after all.

Therefore, they all started making quick signs, and the chains started grinding harder.

More and more scales were ripped off, and Zhuo Fan just had a constant frown on his face.

"Ha-ha-ha, senior brother, he clearly can't take it. It looks like setting up the Soul Chain Array was without dangers. The heaven dragon soul isn't much to look at!" One disciple pointed at Zhuo Fan and mocked him.

Zhao Dezhu nodded, tooting his horn now and again, "I have told you already. I, Zhao Dezhu, shall grasp victory, ha-ha-ha… "

"Right, right! Senior brother's name is indeed marvelous, grasping victory, ha-ha-ha…" Another disciple was being a toadie.

(StarReader: It's a play on his name, saying that he can grasp anything and that he's in control)

Until now, the Universal Righteous Sect was testing Zhuo Fan to see his response. Since this array worked against him, they were going all out, sending thousands of chains this time to tear the dragon apart.

They were afraid the array would fall short, so they were going easy when attacking. But now, since they knew Zhuo Fan was hopeless against it, they had no qualms about finishing the huge dragon faster. Besides, the faster they ended him, the quicker they'd be able to bask in the glory and cheers of their fans.

[Universal Righteous Sect isn't a scheming coward, but enduring in silence.]

[See? We're not only stopping a demonic sect from being a superior-three sect but are killing a heaven dragon soul! This is an incredible feat!]

Universal Righteous Sect's team pulled out all the stops, speeding up the huge dragon's destruction rate.

Yan Mo frowned, "I never thought a true expert like Zhuo Fan would end up trapped and dead by Zhao Dezhu's team. Heaven dragon soul can also be tied up and unable to fight. Does that mean Demon Scheming Sect's advance stops here?"

"Don't be so sure."

Ye Lin's face was hard. His eyes stared ahead, "The formation of the soul is just the basic appearance, while it is shaped further by every person's style. The sword soul is the same, and so is the heaven dragon soul, each molded by their truth. Until now, Zhuo Fan's heaven dragon soul has only shown its initial form, having no differentiating characteristic. Can it be that he has yet to comprehend anything? That's so disappointing- Eh?"

Ye Lin's words got cut off as he noticed Zhuo Fan's look. He then cried out in surprise, "I just knew his dragon soul wasn't just this!"

Yan Mo had no time to react. He turned to Zhuo Fan and shouted, "W-what is that?"

"The heaven dragon soul… is changing!" Ye Lin snickered in glee. "I can't wait to see just how different his heaven dragon soul is from mine, ha-ha-ha…"

Hum~

Zhao Dezhu's team was still wallowing in premature success. But then the sudden shift around them caused them to feel like the chains were slipping, like they couldn't get any more scales from the dragon.

Startled, they looked up at once to see the huge dragon unmoving, yet it had a different appearance. There was now a scarlet glow coming from it, oozing nefarious and creepy energy.

It was this scarlet glow that rendered their chains useless.

[What the hell?]

Everyone looked at each other bug-eyed as to what was going on.

Snickering, Zhuo Fan stared right at Zhao Dezhu, "A bunch of children, that's all you are. You finally went all out. Ha-ha-ha, then I should reply in kind as well. I'll show you what it means to run but can't hide!"

Zhuo Fan's eyes focused and shouted, "Dragon soul variation, Qilin form, Almighty Scarlet Dragon King!"

Boom!

The huge dragon covered in hundreds of chains suddenly unleashed a tremendous power wave in all directions. The chains binding it rattled harder and harder while the array itself was tipping towards collapse.

Zhao Dezhu's team gasped in shock, their eyes reflecting their disbelief.

The dragon soul should have been wrung dry by them. How was it that it could still fight?

The next scene had them all understanding and slack jawed. The dragon soul shone scarlet all over, its fangs growing and growing, taking a savage form as the scales regrew, only this time they formed a tough armor, unlike the sleek and soft feel the previous scales gave.

It roared at the sky, shaking the very heavens themselves. It was more than ten times as powerful and ferocious as before.

Rather than say it was a heaven dragon soul, it was more apt to call it a different kind of dragon soul, one that was worlds above!

"This is his changed dragon soul, Almighty Scarlet Dragon King?" Ye Lin sighed, "Not bad. By combining the sacred beast Qilin's power with a heaven dragon soul, you get a much stronger dragon soul variant. While not as good as my Golden Heaven Dragon King, it's not a bad version, either. At the very least, it contains all the power of a sacred beast. Ha-ha-ha, Zhuo Fan, you really are my fated adversary!"

Ye Lin was getting even more excited, eager for his battle with Zhuo Fan.

However, while some were overjoyed, others were lamenting. Zhao Dezhu and co. were completely lost for words, looking at each other with tears in their eyes.

[How the hell did the soul get from its deathbed to being stronger than ever? Does that mean all our efforts were for nothing?]

What took the cake was that it was looking even more dangerous. Now that they had invested their lives in this array, they couldn't pull back either.

Zhao Dezhu pondered for a moment, then pointed at Zhuo Fan in shock. "I got it! You didn't fight back once because you were waiting for us to use all our soul power, isn't it?"

"Ha-ha-ha, I must say you are living up to your name, leader of Universal Righteous Sect. So you do have a slightly bigger brain!"

Zhuo Fan grinned, "Every time you fought, you would call it quits soon after. That's not what I wanted to see. Now that you've invested your souls into this fight, we are now in a battle to the death. You either kill me, or I kill you. Ha-ha-ha…"

Zhao Dezhu's team's hearts sank, feeling duped. But then Zhao Dezhu lit up, "Don't panic, we still have his dragon soul sealed. We have the upper hand…"

Boom~

The scarlet dragon twisted, and the thousands of chains crumbled. Zhao Dezhu's team couldn't even react. All they did was spew blood, again and again, looking ready to breathe their last.

"You were saying?" Zhuo Fan raised an eyebrow, putting on his trademark evil smile to complement his mocking gaze…