Divine Emperor of Death

"You are…"

Isabella narrowed her eyes, wanting to say it but not confirm it, as Davis had also told them not to casually speak her title. However, seeing that she was the only one here, she continued.

"World Master…?"

"…"

The female silhouette didn't respond. She stared at Isabella with her vacant eyes without any movement whatsoever, leaving Isabella feeling a bit creeped out as she started to think this wasn't the World Master but perhaps some outsider who intruded.

"I'm afraid that I may have to confiscate these rewards from you."

"…?" Isabella finally heard the silhouette's voice, serene and melodious, but she inclined her head in doubt.

What's the problem? Why were her rewards getting taken away?

"Why?"

Isabella stood straight and protested with her chin upright. If she earned it, she wouldn't stand it for being taken away without a good reason. However, she also knew she couldn't do anything about it if the World Master wanted to take them away, so her heart sank.

"Because realms usually contain the blessing of the heavens, and my realms contain my blessing or, in other words, my karmic burden. It is fine if only you won, but if too many of you won and the collective karmic burden gathers in your multitude of karmic bonds, which is your family, it would harm you all."

"…"

Isabella was solemn, but her eyes shot wide before a big, unconcealed smile appeared on her lips, "Which is to say— my Evelynn and Shirley also won the trials of the various Hidden Pagodas."

"…"

The World Master didn't respond, but Isabella felt that she was right.

"I understand World Master's karmic burden is frightening, and hence this whole setup of aboriginalizing the Candidates to your world taking millions of years and having them inherit your legacy no matter what it may be, but still…"

Isabella didn't give up, "We aren't afraid of karmic burden."

"These rewards were unaccounted and unplanned for. Mixing them into the Candidacy was my idea at this juncture, so I wouldn't know what it would spell out for the winners of the Hidden Pagodas."

The World Master's voice was still serene, as though she wasn't frustrated at all, like a good, experienced teacher.

Isabella cupped her hands, "Then watch us outperform your expectations or die trying~ We don't want to be taken apart one by one, but we aren't afraid of losing together."

"…"

The World Master went silent. It was possible that she may have been taken aback.

"I saw you sacrifice your father-in-law, thinking you were a bit cowardly, but watching your performance so far, it seems like I may have been mistaken."

"Ah, no, that was indeed a cowardly move. After all, I don't want to die first or bring humiliation to my family and dampen his path~" Isabella grinned with an innocent smile, "However, he told me I made the right judgment, which relieved me of my guilt."

"I couldn't relate. To me, my father and mother- they-"

The World Master suddenly stopped, shaking her head, "One would think you're all expendable since there's so many of you. Regardless, if you think you can handle the consequences, then I won't interfere."

"Ah~" Isabella cupped her hands more firmly and bowed her head, "Thank you for being considerate of us, World Master."

"No need to thank me. You earned it and got to keep it. Truthfully, I was also impressed by your new breakthrough in comprehending a Low-Tier Supreme Law, Rumbling Laws. This ability would be immensely helpful in detecting spatial nodes leading to the lower and upper layers— only, it's unknown if you could advance further in it."

"I certainly hope to improve."

"Right, if you do so, then eventually reaching the insights of chaotic energy isn't out of the question."

"…!?"

"Your body is already familiar with it. Perhaps it was the reason for your quick improvement in combining Earth Laws and Space Laws in addition to combining Yin Laws."

"Wait, you said something about chaotic energy-"

Isabella asked, but the World Master was already gone. Her face was red because the World Master just insinuated that her body carried his chaotic-life yang essence, which was embarrassing for her because it was true. She was still carrying the energy refined from him.

Still, she couldn't understand.

How is chaotic energy, Chaos Laws is related to Space Laws and Earth Laws or even Rumbling Laws for that matter? The way she heard about it, chaotic energy began forming at the beginning of the universe, so finding the smallest sources of them was incredibly difficult.

She didn't know if it was some kind of offshoot or if it could be traced back to the source if that is what World Master meant.

Before she could ponder more on it, space once again shifted in front of her.

Instantly, she felt the change in the atmosphere as she felt a bunch of cultivators appear around her.

"Die!"

Girias and Harmon attacked Isabella at the same time. Dark blue lightning shot towards Isabella, and a terrifying soul force attack that could collapse her soul sea was on its way. Their expressions were furious, and their eyes burned with intensity, making it clear that they had burned their soul essence at the very least.

There was enough distance between them, but unluckily, Flamerose and Frostrose were much further away from Isabella, causing her heart to leap. However, she was ready to gamble.

She patted her abdomen, whipping out her Defensive Talisman from her inner world and activating it.

*Bang!~*

Isabella was instantly covered in not only the dark blue lightning arc and a bloody talon filled with a terrifying soul attack trying to sear through the barrier that appeared but also some other attacks. A few other inheritors seemed to have ganged up on her for the sake of eliminating her because they knew her potential or because they knew she had the rewards for the Fourth Hidden Pagoda.

*Pui!~*

Isabella spat a mouthful of blood from the plethora of attacks falling against her. The barrier held against the attacks, but it wasn't able to fully cancel out the impact, sending her crashing towards the ground.

A sphere was carved into the ground as a dozen of attacks fell on her. They attacked in such a way that she wouldn't use the momentum to fly away, wanting to get rid of her right now.

However-

*Cling!~*

The sound of a wisp exploding and forming into a giant mountain of crystals could be heard.

Flamerose and Frostrose's pupils dilated. The moment they saw Isabella taking out a Defensive Talisman, their actions switched from defending to attacking. The fire and icy flames they gathered abruptly fused to form crimson-blue wisps, which they launched at Girias and the others.

The icefire wisp was dense, capable of immense destruction so when it exploded, it unleashed a terrifying coldness and hotness, crystallizing the space and all the things caught in it.

"Foolish!"

Naturally, Girias and Harmon expected this kind of retaliation.

They didn't launch an attack at Isabella but took out their own Defensive Talismans and activated them, causing a faint light sphere to appear around them and guard them against the terrifying crystal wisps.

However, a few inheritors hadn't anticipated it and got caught in its wake.

Its terrifying prowess left them all killed, dropping them out of the Candidacy- no, killing them completely.

"Flamie!"

"On it!"

Flamerose abruptly transformed into her magical beast form, becoming a huge Fire Phoenix blotting the clouds as she hovered over them. Her wingspan was more than a hundred and fifty meters long, allowing her to quickly swing one wing wrapped in nirvanic flames and send all those who attacked Isabella to the distance.

It was like she slapped them from the mountain peak.

She aimed it right towards the Peak-Level Immortal Emperor Crystal Beast Dragon, who was standing atop the crystal mountain, causing Girias and the others to be shocked. The barrier sure did allow them to survive any attack, but it didn't stop them from being thrown around.

"No!"