All the pride of Emperor-class martial artists, all the dignity of cultivators — in this moment, utterly shattered.
The arrogance, the once-insufferable arrogance of Long Baxiang — before this monstrous bone hand, he hadn't even had the chance to struggle. This horrifying scene had completely destroyed whatever lingering hope Emperor Yunlan and the others had been clinging to.
"Demon Lord, we are willing to submit!"
"I submit as well — absolutely no treachery. Demon Lord, please calm your fury!"
Whether it was Emperor Yunlan, the powerhouses from the Heavenly River Palace and the Heavenly Sound Temple, or the strong fighters from the Imperishable Heavenly Capital — every last one of them was in turmoil inside.
The sight of Long Baxiang's gruesome death had wiped away the final ember of resistance in their hearts. In its place, there was nothing left but fear and absolute, unconditional surrender.
The scene fell into deathly silence. Every person's heart was churning with dread. They understood full well that the attempt to flee had undoubtedly enraged the Heavenly Demon Lord to the core.
Now, every avenue of retreat had been sealed. All they could do was await the Heavenly Demon Lord's judgment.
The Heavenly Demon Lord was, at this moment, in a state of genuine fury.
He hadn't expected that Shaoyang the Great Emperor would actually manage to escape. For a being of his stature as the Heavenly Demon Lord, this was an unprecedented humiliation.
Although he was still trapped within the sealing formation — his demonic arts unable to exert even a tenth of their true power — he had believed that with his formidable demonic consciousness, he had the situation completely under control.
Yet he had never imagined that being sealed for over a hundred thousand years had left him slightly out of practice, his assessment of the situation marred by the faintest miscalculation.
For the version of him that existed over a hundred thousand years ago, this would have been virtually impossible.
But after a hundred thousand years of seal and dormancy, his recently revived demonic consciousness was far from its peak. It had been enough to produce this one critical error in judgment.
Though it was only a single fish that had slipped through the net, the Heavenly Demon Lord considered it a profound disgrace.
In his rage, he was tempted to slaughter everyone present — kill them all, absorb the essence of their dantians, devour their martial energy.
But in the end, the Heavenly Demon Lord reined in his emotions.
Absorbing all of these martial artists' energy would undoubtedly be immensely beneficial to him. But what he needed far more than raw power was usable manpower.
Only with sufficient hands could his grand plan be set into motion, his ambitions realized step by step.
Otherwise, even if he broke free of the seal right now, he would be a commander with no army.
Moreover, he had a premonition that breaking the seal was only a matter of time. Even if he consumed the life essence of all these warriors, it might not grant him immediate release.
However, if he could control this batch of warriors and have them assist in attacking the seal, that would far more likely accelerate his liberation.
At this thought, the Heavenly Demon Lord hesitated no longer.
His demonic consciousness surged to full power. In an instant, streak after streak of black light shot out from the massive net.
Swish, swish, swish!
Beam after beam of black light pierced into the divine consciousness of each warrior. These were the Heavenly Demon Lord's demonic consciousness seals. Once a seal was implanted, it was equivalent to branding them with the Heavenly Demon Lord's mark. From that point forward, they would be thoroughly corrupted into the demonic path, becoming puppets of the Heavenly Demon race.
"This is your final chance. Should your divine consciousness offer even the slightest resistance, I will not hesitate to devour you completely!"
The Heavenly Demon Lord issued his warning.
In truth, he was somewhat anxious. If all the powerhouses chose to resist simultaneously, his currently weakened demonic consciousness would not be sufficient to control them all.
Should his demonic consciousness falter and he lose control of the Demonic Domain, it was entirely possible that things would spiral out of hand — giving these people an even greater opportunity to escape.
This was precisely why the Heavenly Demon Lord had struck down Long Baxiang with such brutal decisiveness.
Kill the chicken to scare the monkey.
It had to be said — this move had been brilliantly calculated. Although his limited demonic consciousness had been consumed at a staggering rate, not a single warrior, Emperor Yunlan included, had so much as entertained a thought of resistance.
Long Baxiang's death had utterly crushed their will.
One by one, under their passive surrender, the demonic consciousness seals gradually branded themselves onto their divine consciousness.
Once the demonic consciousness seal was complete, it meant that their sea of consciousness had fallen entirely under the Heavenly Demon Lord's control.
The Heavenly Demon Lord let out a long, deep breath of relief.
He had been gambling just now. If these Emperor-class fighters had banded together in resistance, they would have discovered that his demonic consciousness was in an exceedingly feeble state. In fact, had they combined their efforts, they might even have launched a backlash against him.
Fortunately, these people had harbored not a single thought of defiance, allowing him to seize control without incident.