Someone was pulled out of the void by Long Chen and tossed before everyone, alarming people. No one had thought that there was someone watching them in the dark.

It was a young man in black robes. He looked frail, as if he could just vanish into nothingness. Without personally seeing him, it was impossible to sense his existence.

Clearly, this person practiced the art of concealment, and had reached an extremely high level in this regard.

After being exposed, his expression completely changed. He formed hand seals, and Sovereign might suddenly erupted out of him. He was another Forerunner who had stabilized his cultivation at the Divine Sovereign realm!

Just as he was about to summon his heaven-earth law manifestation, Long Chen snapped his fingers, and the heaven-earth law manifestation that was converging instantly dissipated into runes.

That person was instantly terrified. His heaven-earth law manifestation had actually been destroyed by a completely irresistible force.

Seeing that he couldn’t summon his law manifestation, he gave up and formed hand seals. Devil qi gushed out of him, forming runic armor over his body.

Seeing this, Long Chen slowly stood up. He then took a single step. A ripple spread, and the man's armor was instantly crushed.

“This is impossible!” he screamed in terror. He simply refused to accept what was happening. But the moment he looked at Long Chen, he felt like a rabbit facing a dragon staring right at it. He froze. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The new era’s laws that he was so proud of had been stripped away from him. He was like a viper with its fangs plucked out; he no longer had anything to rely on.

“His aura-concealing technique is very strong. I was only able to vaguely sense him. I couldn’t pinpoint his location. Maybe we should keep him alive as a guard for the Flame God Sect!” Zi Yan stood and walked over to Long Chen.

Zi Yan had sensed this man’s presence, but she had been unable to pin down his exact location. In order not to scare him away, she acted like she hadn’t noticed.

She had been comprehending the Heavenly Daos. Adding on the Heavenly Devil Zither’s guidance, although her actual cultivation level didn’t grow, her combat power was on a completely different level from before. Furthermore, her perceptiveness had also grown sharper. As a result, she felt like killing such a strong person would be a waste.

Long Chen nodded and looked at that person. “Do you want to live or die?”

That person clenched his teeth and nodded. “Master Long Chen, I want to live!”

He didn’t waste time. He knew what he had to do, so he directly offered up a strand of his soul to Long Chen. He knew that this was the only chance to obtain Long Chen’s trust.

Long Chen put his own mark on this strand of his soul. With this, a single thought would be enough to kill the man.

Long Chen returned the soul strand, and the pressure bearing down on him vanished. He sighed in relief. He once more felt the laws of heaven and earth.

The first thing he did was kowtow. “Thank you for your mercy, master!”

“The Shadow race?” asked Long Chen.

“Master, I am not from the Shadow race. My name is Zhu Qi. One of my ancestors had relations with someone from the Shadow race. Somehow, I awakened their ancestral bloodline, so I am adept at hiding and assassinations.”

Zi Yan cocked her head at him. “Isn’t it a waste for someone with your talent and power to become a Forerunner?”

Resentment flared on Zhu Qi’s face. He clenched his teeth. “Let me clarify things a bit: I am from the Zhu clan in the Heavenly River Southern Domain!”

“The Heavenly River Zhu clan? The Zhu clan that’s basically in charge of the entire Southern Celestial Region?” asked Chi Yutong in shock.

“Yes, that one. You know that the Zhu clan’s power is vast and spread over many branches. After all, the entire Southern Celestial Region is ours to command. Other than a few major figures, the Zhu clan doesn’t fear anyone. Even in the Zhu clan, my talent and power can rank amongst the top ten, but...” Anger flashed through Zhu Qi’s eyes. “Due to other people’s jealousy, I became a sacrificial pawn!”

Even on the scale of a great force like the Zhu clan, Zhu Qi was a top expert. With his expertise kn assassinations, he should have become their sharpest dagger in the future. Unfortunately, he was not from the main bloodline, and due to his ancestor having relations with the Shadow race, he had never been accepted into the true core of the Zhu clan.

Although he stood out amongst the other disciples thanks to his talent and power, and should have been able to gain the attention of the higher-ups, the other experts who were feeling threatened by him ordered him to become a Forerunner. If he dared to refuse, he would be directly killed.

Zhu Qi explained that the Zhu clan had long since been infiltrated by the outsider devils. They had raised thirty Forerunners. He was the first to become a Divine Sovereign and control the new era’s laws.

After all, his talent should have made him too good to be a Forerunner. He was unlike Zhao Jinglong. As a sacrificial pawn, he hadn’t been given a mass of resources to reach this level. He had relied entirely on his own power.

By the time he left, the Zhu clan had already produced five Divine Sovereign Forerunners. They were all being supported with plenty of resources of the clan in hopes of them quickly grasping the new era’s laws.

These Forerunners were unlucky fellows who had been chosen by lottery from among those ranked below fifty among the young generation. As for Zhu Qi, he was definitely the most unfortunate of all these Forerunners.

Thus, Zhu Qi held a great deal of resentment for the Zhu clan. That was the main reason he was more than willing to become Long Chen’s slave rather than die for his clan.

“Xiaoqian, help him erase the devil mark on his soul. He can protect the Flame God Sect!” declared Long Chen.

“Master, the devil mark...” Zhu Qi was startled. He stared at Long Chen in hope.

This devil mark was like a manacle binding their souls. No one could break it. He couldn’t quite believe his ears.

“It will be a bit painful, so do your best to endure it!” said Yue Xiaoqian, getting to work immediately. She formed hand seals, and a Dissipate divine character fell on Zhu Qi’s body.

Zhu Qi shuddered. Black mist suddenly oozed out of his forehead. But as it turned out, he was quite tough; even the tremendous pain of having these shackles removed didn’t make him scream.

Two hours later, the devil mark was erased. Zhu Qi kowtowed on the ground.

“Master... Zhu Qi will forever obey your orders!”

Long Chen nodded. “Protect the Flame God Sect with your life. If you do that, when the new era comes, I will give you a chance to change your fate, and that chance will be heaven-defying!”

“A heaven-defying chance?”

Zhu Qi’s heart leapt. He instantly understood what Long Chen was saying. His future was not lost? He could continue cultivating?

Had it been anyone else, he would have thought that they were just conning him. However, since these words came from Long Chen’s mouth, he didn’t doubt them.

Only now did he realize just what kind of opportunity he had just stumbled upon. He almost wept.

“Long Chen, has your seclusion come to an end?” asked Zi Yan. She looked at Long Chen and found that his aura was completely different from before. In fact... it seemed almost foreign to her.

Long Chen gazed into the distance and nodded. “Yes, it’s over. What’s next... is a massacre!”