"M-My god! Don't tell me she's dead?!" Lev approached the hole after witnessing the Demon God's Wrath strike Supreme Ruler Dena with enough prowess to completely obliterate a True God with ease.
However, Yuan remained calm as he looked down the pitch-black hole and asked, "Hey, are you hurt?"
A few moments later, Yuan and Lev watched as a crimson sphere slowly rose from the crater.
It was Supreme Ruler Dena, her entire figure concealed beneath her crimson hair, which wrapped tightly around her body like a protective barrier.
Once she landed, the hair slowly retracted, revealing that she was completely unharmed.
"What do you think?" Supreme Ruler Dena asked Yuan, acting like nothing out of the ordinary had just occurred.
Yuan pondered for a moment before responding, "It's a little more powerful than I expected. Not only that, but I could sense a hint of Eternal Essence within that attack just now."
"Eternal Essence…" Supreme Ruler Dena raised an eyebrow. "What is Eternal Essence? I feel like I have heard it before," she suddenly asked.
"What?" Yuan stared at her with wide eyes. "You don't know?"
He figured that with her prowess and experience, she would've already been aware of Eternals and their power. "That power you sensed from the crystal you consumed. That's Eternal Essence," he gave a brief explanation.
He then emitted a little Eternal Essence just to let her see it again.
"This is Eternal Essence."
Supreme Ruler Dena gazed at the unique aura emanating from him, her crimson eyes flickering with intrigue and excitement, seemingly mesmerized.
"How did you acquire that power?" she quickly asked.
She consumed the crystal without knowing its identity because she wanted to acquire its power, but it backfired on her.
"How…? It's a long story, so let's save it for later."
"Why? We have time," she said.
"Um…" Lev suddenly interrupted. "We should probably get out of here as soon as possible. Not only did we escape from the Deprived Crimson Valley, but we even invoked Demon God's Wrath."
"Lev's right. Let's leave before we give ourselves into unnecessary trouble."
Without another word, Yuan picked a random direction and started flying away.
Lev immediately followed, with Supreme Ruler Dena being the last to leave.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Demonic Realm, a messenger approached a fully cloaked figure and said, "Supreme Ruler, we have a situation."
"Speak."
"We have just received reports that the one who dwelled within the Final Valley of the Deprived Crimson Valley has vanished. Someone also invoked Demon God's Wrath right outside the Invincible Wall."
The Supreme Ruler turned to face the messenger and asked, "Are you telling me that Dena had left the Deprived Crimson Valley and invoked Demon God's Valley so soon afterward?"
"We're not certain if she had really left the Deprived Crimson Valley, but we can never be too careful. It's that monster we're talking about, after all."
"Dena has spent tens of billions of years inside the Final Valley without leaving that area. Why would she suddenly leave the Deprived Crimson Valley now? Investigate it immediately," commanded the Supreme Ruler.
"I have already sent some people to investigate the Demon God's Wrath. As for the situation inside the Deprived Crimson Valley, that will take a little longer…"
"What should we do if it turns out that she'd really left the Deprived Crimson Valley?"
"..."
The Supreme Ruler remained silent for an entire minute before responding, "If we allow a monster like her to roam our world, who knows how much longer it'll last."
"Don't worry, if it really comes down to it, I'll deal with Dena myself."
"Yes, Supreme Ruler."
Shortly after Yuan and his group left, several True Gods arrived at their location to investigate the cause of the Demon God's Wrath.
"I can't believe they sent five whole True Gods to investigate a mere Demon God's Wrath," one of them remarked as they arrived.
"What a waste of time. Whoever invoked it is definitely already dead," said another.
"I have never seen a Demon God's Wrath cause such destruction before. Whoever invoked it must have been either really powerful or did something unfathomably evil."
"Likely the latter. Only an Absolute God would be powerful enough to invoke such a strong reaction, but none of them would be foolish enough to offend the Demon God."
The True Gods barely investigated the scene before leaving to report that nothing was out of the ordinary.
At the same time, Yuan and his group arrived at a new location.
"Where are we?" Yuan asked, his gaze fixed on the eerie landscape before him.
Lev answered in a subdued voice, "The Deprived Crimson Valley is bordered by four dangerous regions—the Death Desert in the south, the Forest of Entrapment in the north, the Sea of Death in the west, and the Demise Ravine… which is where we are now."
"The Demise Ravine, huh? I've heard of it," Yuan remarked as Tian Chenyu's memories resurfaced in his mind.
Although he had never personally visited the Demise Ravine before, he was familiar with its infamous reputation—a perilous land where powerful spiritual beings, similar to ghosts, roamed freely.
These ghost-like entities were known as Nether Wraiths. Not only did they possess spectral appearances, but they were also immune to physical attacks, making them troublesome opponents for demons, who mostly relied on their own blood as weapons.
It didn't help that spiritual techniques were extremely rare in the Demonic Realm. Although demons could still use their Soul Strength to attack, they could only release it outward in a crude manner, like expending spiritual energy without any technique behind it. It was both incredibly inefficient and lacking in power.
"Um… do you think it's possible to just use Void Manipulation and skip this entire place? This place is arguably even more dangerous than the Deprived Crimson Valley itself…" Lev suggested out loud as he looked at Yuan, while his eyes would glance at Supreme Ruler Dena, not daring to actually ask her.
Supreme Ruler Dena then said, "Using Void Manipulation is too tiring."
Although she didn't outright reject the idea, it was basically the same thing.
"Even though you used it inside the Deprived Crimson Valley…?" Lev mumbled in a dumbfounded voice.