Divine Emperor of Death

Spikes were on its head and body, appearing like a cactus humanoid with no limbs. It stood rooted to the barren ground, unleashing sporadic poisonous spores through its head that carved open.

There was no one guarding this rift space, and it attacked them as soon as they entered, causing Threelotus to react and attack it, but its defense was too strong, causing her attack to fail. When Davis entered, he waved his hand, and the sheer force of it caused it to disappear.

However, when Threelotus saw that its remains were scattered in the distance, she couldn't help gulp.

How much had their Palace Master improved from the time of the competition?

After all, she could sense that he stepped into the Martial Overlord Stage, his undulations still fluctuating anew as though he had just broken through today.

"Let's continue."

"Yes!"

Evelynn commanded, causing Threelotus to react as she led them further.

They entered the eighteenth rift… twentieth… twenty-fifth…

Clearly, they had entered deep into this shattered mini-realm, occasionally being targeted by strange creatures of poisonous nature and more substantial power. This was where people tended to die rather than meet treasures in their journey.

Davis wondered how deep Ivy Aires had fled to but recalled the thousands of rifts out there in the Poison Valley Territory. Any one of them could lead to the inner zone of this shattered mini-realm, trapping them so he no longer found it strange that she got trapped.

Finally, they arrived at the twenty-seventh rift space, where he saw Evelynn's Solitary Soul Avatar and Yotan waiting for them.

Davis and Evelynn arrived before them, turning to look at a humanoid figure beneath them.

Blood was splattered all over the place while its body lay above it, lifeless. It possessed an ugly yet melted face while some of its features were irregular, like the shell on its forehead and a lower body that resembled a spider's, reminiscent of an impure-blooded fey.

"So this is where you found that piece of cloth..."

Evelynn nodded her head to Davis's question, "This is a mindless savage beast, a human who had failed to become a fey. There are many of these beasts swarming the rifts. Nonetheless, I investigated its blood and realized that it possessed the blood of the Darkfall Spider, a lesser species belonging to the line of the Three-Eyed Chromatic Hex Arachnid. However, it happened to possess this piece of cloth."

She took out and displayed the piece of cloth that had the symbol of the Jade Lotus Valley, blood staining it.

Davis narrowed his eyes, trying to recall who among the two of them wore this kind of robe before he heard Evelynn speak again.

"I think it is safe to assume the only reason Ivy Aries and Valley Master Jade Aurora was unable to make it back was because one of the rifts they went through disappeared, never returning. Their only option is to find a new way out, and if they couldn't, could only make a living there, but this piece of cloth obtained from the razor-sharp leg of this mindless savage beast I killed made the situation problematic."

"Are you saying they could be captured in their nest and webbed up to be eaten later?" Davis inferred.

"That's a possibility, but I'm not sure. We wouldn't know until we check every rift here or stumble upon the right location..."

Evelynn's voice turned helpless, causing Davis to look around.

"This place…"

He pursed his lips as he surveyed with his soul sense.

This space alone contained ten rifts. Investigating each of them and continuing to head forwards to investigate them would take time and manpower. That's the headache, but they couldn't afford to waste more time considering that one of the two Jade Lotus Valley maidens could be in danger.

"However, this mindless savage beast's prowess didn't reach Peak-Level Ninth Stage, but the fact that it could harm one of them certainly means that they are injured, helpless, or out of energy. But, I also muse that the danger they are facing should've been avoided, considering that this mindless savage beast was frantically looking around as if searching for the owner of this piece of cloth."

Evelynn explained her findings before she shook her head, "Unfortunately, we don't know from which rift this mindless savage beast came from, and we ran out of manpower, so only we can find them as we continue to investigate these ten rifts."

"Give me that fabric."

Davis reached out his hand, causing Evelynn's avatar to blink before she handed it over.

He caught the silky cloth before he squinted his eyes, activating Fallen Heaven's karmic tendril. He couldn't see anything, but as he strained his eyes, trying to look deep, he began seeing multiple threads extending towards different directions, causing him to purse his lips in confusion as he saw them all heading towards the void unblocked by the walls in the distance.

'What? This space is the same but interconnected through these rifts?'

Davis felt that Myria's conclusion of this world that it was formed by the collision of mini-realms was most likely true. It became a single mini-realm, but due to the instability, certain parts of the world were swallowed by space while remaining became interconnected with rifts. It was no wonder the Poison Rift Valley could train in Space and Poison Laws. If he were to sit at a safe and comprehensive spot, he ruminated that he could begin comprehending Space Laws here as well.

Nonetheless, he felt that one of these threads was interconnected with the owner of this cloth of the robe and the other threads were part of the robe.

'What the hell? Their robe had been shredded to pieces?'

Davis's brows couldn't help twitch. If that was the case, then the owner of this robe was either dead, eaten to death, or had escaped and put on a new robe.

'Any chances that they had used this robe with blood as a decoy to lure this mindless savage beast away?'

He wondered but didn't arrive at a conclusion.

He stood up, looking at that one karmic thread that led to a rift.

"Evelynn and I will travel through that rift." He pointed at that rift before looking at Yotan, "You head to another one with Evelynn's avatar."

"As for you," He then glanced at Threelotus, "You stay here as it's dangerous from this point onwards. If Myria comes, send her my way. If she denies it, then don't bother. Otherwise, you'll die in her hands."

"Yes!"

A bright reply came from Threelotus and Yotan, causing Davis to satisfactorily nod.

"Wait…"

Evelynn bent down and touched the mangled corpse of the mindless savage beast. Abruptly, a black spider abruptly crawled out of her forehead, its two forelegs appearing first before its entire body became visible to all. It was small. However, it quickly crawled towards the corpse and used its legs to tap as though checking on it before it squeaked.

"Go ahead."

Evelynn gently spoke, causing the spider to enlarge in an instant and sink its fangs into the corpse! Instantly, blood began draining from it before it became a shriveled corpse. The others watched this scene with a bit of horror except Davis, and then as if not having enough, the black spider swallowed the whole corpse, seemingly digesting it within its energy body.

"That's the Entombed Darkfall Wisp, right?"

"Yes. I have been regularly feeding it every day with my soul force, but its rate of growth is quite slow. Just a moment ago, it sent me an intent, expressing that it needed this corpse. Considering that this mindless savage beast possessed the blood of the Darkfall Spider, it was no wonder it noticed and craved its nutrients."

"Well, the horror of the rifts is also one of the reasons why people were afraid of you when you were known as the Hex Demoness. There should be many around, so while we're saving Ivy Aries and her Valley Master, we'll also hunt these critters down."

Davis patted Evelynn's shoulder, causing her to cheerfully nod her head.

The Entombed Darkfall Wisp abruptly began to tremble before its dark energy unleashed a shockwave, causing Yotan and Threelotus to stagger in fright.

"Very good. It has entered the Peak-Level Ninth Stage."

"Yes. It was about to breakthrough, so it's expected."

Evelynn nodded as though it was a matter of fact. She possessed a Mortal Sigil, so her soul prowess was at High-Level Emperor Soul Stage, allowing the Entombed Darkfall Wisp to quickly reach that level. It had silently broken through months before the competition.

"Haha. You're hard on it."

Davis lightly chuckled, but Evelynn shook her head, "It's something I received from you, although it was delivered by that magical beast named Nyoran. I treat it as something precious. Only, I lack a name to address it. Will you name it for me?"

She warmly asked him. However, Davis's expression became stumped.

"No, my naming sense is pretty bad that I would name it by its species name or features. You should name it."

Evelynn turned her head to look at it briefly before opening her mouth, moving her crimson lips.

"This Entombed Darkfall Wisp's squeaks sound like a female, so I'll name her… Wisteria Davis."

Davis nodded as Wisteria was a good name because some wisteria were poisonous but then gawked.

"Wha-? Wait! Why are you giving her my name?" His lips twitched, causing Evelynn to grin.

"Didn't I say? She's the present I got from you, after all."

After being conveyed something like that, Davis could only shrug as he thought, 'Zestria… you lit up an urge in your sisters to have my name behind their names...'

He wryly smiled, knowing that it was a consequence of that event but also felt smug about it, feeling good.

"Let's go."

Davis spoke, causing Evelynn to nod before she took in the Entombed Darkfall Wisp back and headed towards that rift he pointed towards, while Yotan also didn't waste time and followed Evelynn's avatar into heading into another rift.