The Promise

The Golden Horn Behemoth's dark golden eyes blazed with endless battle intent: "I accept!"

Slaughter? The path of the strong? A new journey? Quite interesting!

"You have a bloodthirsty nature deep within you," Zuoshanke said, looking at the Golden Horn Behemoth and nodding with a smile. "You are very suited to take on the identity of the 'Blood Cloud Palace Master'." He then tossed the blood-red pearl, the 'Blood Cloud Pearl', from his hand.

"Imprint your life mark into it to control the Blood Cloud Pearl," Zuoshanke instructed.

The Golden Horn Behemoth gazed at it, and a wisp of divine power quickly enveloped the Blood Cloud Pearl in mid-air, a trace already permeating it. It instantly recognized its master. As a supreme treasure personally refined by Zuoshanke, the 'Blood Cloud Pearl' contained no information within itself, and its functions were exceptionally peculiar and special.

In fact, many supreme treasures refined by Zuoshanke were unique.

Peak supreme treasures like the Yuan Soul and Jie Jia all had stringent requirements for their owners. Other powerful beings couldn't use them even if they obtained them! This demonstrated Zuoshanke's skill in refining supreme treasures.

"Whoosh!" The Golden Horn Behemoth opened its mouth, and the Blood Cloud Pearl flew directly inside.

Immediately, the Golden Horn Behemoth's divine body began to transform. Its hind limbs rapidly grew longer and thicker, its chest and abdomen became more powerful, completely changing from its previous reptilian form to an upright stance! Its face was covered by a silver mask, and two golden horns protruded from its forehead.

The scaled wings on its back quickly retracted and vanished. Even the surface pattern and color of the 'Beast God Armor' worn by its divine body slowly changed, transforming into a blood-red battle robe, with a scaled tail extending from the battle skirt.

An aura of endless slaughter emanated from it! Sinister! Frenzied! It was exactly identical to the Blood Cloud Palace Master that Zuoshanke had transformed into earlier.

"Hahaha... isn't my Blood Cloud Pearl quite good?" Zuoshanke stood by, as if admiring a beautiful work of art.

"It's truly miraculous," Luo Feng couldn't help but exclaim. "My aura and pressure are all being released by the Blood Cloud Pearl! It can even alter my divine body structure. I transformed from my Golden Horn Behemoth form into this appearance through the Blood Cloud Pearl, yet my strength is unaffected! And it can even disguise my Beast God Armor. It's simply incredible."

"To refine a single Blood Cloud Pearl, one must kill a Universe Master," Zuoshanke said with a sigh of admiration. "And their soul must be annihilated, preserving only their divine body! Then, with a large amount of materials combined with their divine body, it is transformed into a Blood Cloud Pearl. This allows the Blood Cloud Pearl to release specific auras! And pressure! It can even transform your divine body into a fixed structure I've designed, and disguise supreme treasures..."

Luo Feng was stunned. The Blood Cloud Pearl was a very unique and special supreme treasure. While it had no direct combat power, it was enough to make many super-beings covet it. He hadn't expected the refining conditions to be so exaggerated; first, one had to annihilate the soul of a Universe Master. Probably only a Universe Supreme Master could confidently achieve that.

"Remember!" Zuoshanke cautioned. "Once you use your Star Tower, you must be extremely careful. If you use the Star Tower to attack, other powerful beings might not recognize it, but if you use it to save your life, it will definitely be exposed."

"Understood," Luo Feng nodded.

The Star Tower could shrink to palm-size, becoming conical, and with slight modifications to its appearance, it could be used as a 'horn'. But if it were used to save his life, the Star Tower would naturally expand, and Luo Feng would hide inside... at that point, the Star Tower would naturally be exposed.

"Using it to save your life will definitely expose it," Zuoshanke smiled. "Whether you choose to have the Blood Cloud Palace Master use the Star Tower, or your true identity use the Star Tower, that's up to you."

Luo Feng nodded. If Luo Feng's true body used the Star Tower, it would be exposed! If the Blood Cloud Palace Master used the Star Tower, it would also be exposed! Wouldn't that be equivalent to telling billions of races across the entire universe... that Luo Feng was the Blood Cloud Palace Master?!

"The Blood Cloud Palace Master also has a life-saving treasure—the Blood Cloud Palace."

"I just withdrew my life mark," Zuoshanke chuckled. "Now, it's yours."

"Blood Cloud Palace?" Luo Feng turned his head to look at the majestic palace. Without delay, his divine power immediately surged into the ground beneath his feet. As his life mark imprinted itself within, a sense of intimacy instantly arose. The entire Blood Cloud Palace felt like an extension of his own limbs, and he could control its entire internal area, even clearly observing the previous treasure vault.

"The Blood Cloud Palace is a top-tier flying palace-type supreme treasure," Zuoshanke said, looking at Luo Feng. "It's extremely precious! You can only use it when you assume the identity of the Blood Cloud Palace Master. Normally, when you're adventuring in the universe, its use is forbidden, otherwise, it will expose your identity."

Luo Feng nodded.

"I hope... this Blood Cloud Palace won't be taken back by me," Zuoshanke smiled.

"I am not Second Senior Brother," Luo Feng stated directly.

"Just like I did for your Second Senior Brother back then," Zuoshanke smiled, "I'll also give you a promise."

"A promise?" Luo Feng listened intently.

Zuoshanke smiled, "During your Universe Venerable stage, if you can kill ten Top-tier Universe Overlords, or kill one Universe Master! Then I promise... you provide the materials, and I will refine a peak supreme treasure for you free of charge. The materials required to refine a peak supreme treasure are worth approximately one-tenth of the peak supreme treasure itself."

Luo Feng's eyes immediately lit up. A peak-tier supreme treasure... enough to make even the Chaos City Lord and the Founder of Giant Axe's hearts stir. The original wager between the Ancestor and Zuoshanke was merely at this level.

"If you become a Universe Master, the requirements will be higher. You must kill 100 Top-tier Universe Overlords or 10 Universe Masters before I will refine a peak supreme treasure for you free of charge," Zuoshanke said with a peculiar smile. "The peak supreme treasures I'm referring to also include peak domain-type supreme treasures, peak flying palace-type supreme treasures, and so on..."

Luo Feng's eyes instantly turned red! Damn. Insane! The human race's strongest currently only possessed peak domain-type supreme treasures at that level.

"The higher your demands, the more I will provide a material list based on the supreme treasure you need," Zuoshanke teased. "Don't aim too high. For supreme treasures at the peak domain-type level, the sheer rarity of the required materials means your human race might not even be able to gather them all."

"There will definitely be a way to gather them," Luo Feng said, filled with battle intent.

"Remember, the requirement for the Universe Venerable stage is 10 Top-tier Universe Overlords or 1 Universe Master. Once you become a Universe Master, the requirement is ten times that," Zuoshanke sighed. "Back then, I gave your Second Senior Brother this promise. He was already a Universe Master when he inherited the identity of the North Prison Master, but unfortunately, he never met my requirements."

Luo Feng was speechless. Killing 10 Universe Masters? What an incredibly difficult and harsh requirement. It wasn't just about being stronger than the opponent; the higher the rank of a Universe Master, the stronger their escape abilities. Let alone killing Universe Masters, just killing a Top-tier Universe Overlord... first, a Top-tier Universe Overlord could completely stall for time, or even call for help, causing a super-being or even a 'Universe Supreme Master' from their faction to personally descend! After all, everyone had a background and powerful backing; it was normal to immediately call for help if they felt their lives were in danger. Killing 10 Universe Masters... even a Universe Supreme Master would find it very difficult and troublesome. No wonder Yan Emperor couldn't do it back then!

"For me, at the Universe Venerable stage, to kill 10 Top-tier Universe Overlords? Or 1 Universe Master?" Luo Feng sighed inwardly. "None of the Top-tier Universe Overlords are easy to deal with, and they can also summon Universe Masters and other beings to descend. As for Universe Masters... it would be good enough if I could stand my ground against one in a one-on-one fight, let alone kill them?"

Difficult. The conditions Zuoshanke proposed were indeed tough, yet he offered a promise... constantly enticing Luo Feng.

"My teacher simply wants me to engage in slaughter," Luo Feng naturally understood Zuoshanke's intentions.

"This is the Blood Cloud Token," Zuoshanke said, tossing a blood-red token.

As Luo Feng caught it, he immediately noticed it was very similar to the token his teacher had given him for communication previously.

"After imprinting your mark, you can issue commands to your 18 great subordinates through the Blood Cloud Token," Zuoshanke instructed. "All 18 great subordinates are Universe Venerables, and they each manage other special lifeforms."

"Subordinates?" Luo Feng was curious.

"Back when I created the identity of the Blood Cloud Palace Master, I unintentionally rescued some special lifeforms during my cosmic adventures. They then pleaded to serve me as their master... As I myself am a special lifeform, I naturally took these little ones under my wing. The longer time passed, the more of these little ones I had under me. With some guidance from me, 18 of them even became Universe Venerables, three of whom are Top-tier Universe Overlords. Through the Blood Cloud Token, you can access simple information about these 18. I have protected them for endless ages, so please look after them when you are able."

"The Star Tower, Jie Jia, Blood Cloud Palace... you have obtained everything."

"Everything your teacher could do, has been done."

"As for how far you can go, that's up to you," Zuoshanke said, giving Luo Feng a deep look before vanishing into thin air.

Luo Feng stood rooted to the spot. He felt the expectation in Zuoshanke's gaze, an expectation akin to watching a child grow... Zuoshanke had nurtured Yan Emperor, and now Luo Feng, clearly desiring to cultivate a disciple who would become a Universe Supreme Master.

"There's likely some secret involved," Luo Feng mused.

Immediately after, Luo Feng picked up the Blood Cloud Token in his hand. Since Teacher Zuoshanke asked him to look after these special lifeforms when he was able, he naturally had to do his part.

...

Through the Blood Cloud Token, Luo Feng issued orders to the 18 subordinates, telling them to bring all the special lifeforms under their command to the Blood Cloud Palace to meet him.

"The Master wants to see us."

"Hurry."

"Little ones, you're lucky, the Master actually wants to see you."

"Ah, we're only Sector Lords, can we also meet the Master?"

...

The various special lifeform teams, currently occupying nearly one-sixth of the Gu Ke Secret Realm under the Blood Cloud Palace Master's control, began to rush towards the Blood Cloud Palace. For them, it was like a pilgrimage. After all, normally, the Blood Cloud Palace Master only communicated with the 18 Venerables, and other special lifeforms had no way to directly contact him.

It took more than a day for them to fully gather. The 18 Universe Venerables, each leading their respective groups of special lifeforms, formed a mighty procession of diverse special lifeforms advancing through the darkness, flying towards the Blood Cloud Palace's main gate.

The main gate opened wide. Countless streams of light flew through...

Inside the main hall of the Blood Cloud Palace. Black Sky Lord, Silver Dragon Venerable, and Thorn Crow Demon Master, the three Top-tier Universe Overlords, stood at the very front. Behind them were 15 special lifeforms, either possessing the strength of a 'Universe Overlord' or a 'High-tier Universe Venerable'. Further back were hundreds of special lifeform Immortals, and at the very rear were thousands of Sector Lord special lifeforms.

"Greetings, Master," Black Sky Lord and the other two Top-tier Universe Overlords led the way, kneeling down.

"Greetings, Master," the thousands of special lifeforms behind them, a dense mass, all respectfully knelt.

And on the blood-red throne in the main hall, the Blood Cloud Palace Master sat high above, looking down upon them.