Sovereign of the Ashes

“DIE!”

“DIE!”

“DIE!”

The giant ape’s roars shook the surrounding starry sky.

Wave after wave of law power swept across the battlefield, while a raging tide of destructive energy spread outward from the overlord-level clash.

Countless lower-ranking creatures were caught in its path, battered by one wave of destruction after another.

Judging by the Great Monkey of Destruction’s current momentum, no one would have guessed that he had already suffered two rounds of grievous injuries.

If anything, he only seemed to grow fiercer with every passing moment. Even Venerable Yunqi could not help feeling a deep respect for the Great Monkey of Destruction’s savage fighting style.

BOOM!

The massive shadow of the great monkey’s staff came crashing down once again.

Although Venerable Yunqi was outside the attack range, he still felt painfully powerless and insignificant at that moment.

CLANG!

Violent law power fluctuation erupted once again.

The Blood Mosquito swarm had only just gathered into a single body when it was blasted apart once more, reduced to a cloud of blood mist that filled the starry sky.

After enduring so many violent impacts, the surrounding space had long since been shattered beyond recognition.

If Venerable Yunqi were a little bolder and moved closer to the heart of the battlefield, where the spatial laws were at their weakest, he might be able to tear through the Gallant Federation’s containment barrier and escape.

Escape?

This was the first time such a thought had crossed his mind since becoming an overlord.

Yet reason kept him from acting on it.

Although the clash between several Rank Eight overlords had left him deeply shaken, he still could not bring himself to look away.

A battle of this scale was something he might never witness again. Even as a mere spectator, watching it would broaden his horizons and benefit him for countless years to come.

After another succession of violent tremors and raging law fluctuations, Wukong finally paused.

Although a gruesome wound ran straight through his broad, jet-black chest, the muscles surrounding it remained firm and powerful, rising and falling as he breathed heavily.

Repeatedly drawing upon his Omnipotent Soul to unleash such wild attacks had taken an enormous toll on him.

But Wukong did not care!

His dark-gold eyes remained fixed on the center of the battlefield, where destructive energy and blood mist churned together.

Those eyes seemed capable of piercing through every layer of darkness and illusion, seeing straight into the essence hidden beneath.

The golden circlet around the Great Monkey of Destruction’s forehead shone with dazzling light.

A gentle force flowed from it, trying to calm the savage fury raging within him.

Unfortunately, it had almost no effect.

Driven to the peak of rage, the Great Monkey of Destruction bared his sharp fangs. His eyes remained fixed on the center of the distant disturbance, burning with savagery and barely contained fury.

He had no intention of stopping.

Every strand of fur across his body stood on end.

When the blood mist finally parted, revealing the hideous Blood Mosquito slowly reforming its true body, the Great Monkey of Destruction erupted.

ROAR!

His roar tore through every illusion across the battlefield.

He raised his enormous arms and pounded his solid chest again and again, venting the fury boiling within him.

Dark overlord blood continued to seep from the wound through his chest and the countless injuries covering his arms.

Every drop contained an immeasurably dense and oppressive power of destruction. A single drop could bring endless calamity to weaker lifeforms.

Yet now, that blood rained freely across the battlefield.

Even with such a terrible wound through his chest, the Great Monkey of Destruction continued pounding himself without restraint.

After venting his rage, he tightened his grip on the enormous metal staff in his hands. It had already been badly bent and deformed.

Then he charged toward the Blood Mosquito Overlord once again!

His momentum was unstoppable.

His dominance was absolute.

Even if a god stood in his way, he would strike that god down!

At the center of the battlefield, the Blood Mosquito Overlord had only just finished reforming his true body when his expression changed.

His lawful body took the form of an enormous Blood Mosquito, but hidden at its core was a white-robed figure resembling a Daoist priest.

At that moment, the Blood Mosquito Overlord’s face was even paler than his robes.

After enduring countless blows from the Great Monkey of Destruction’s staff, his head was still buzzing.

The Blood Mosquito Overlord and the Great Monkey of Destruction both came from the same civilization—the Immortal Realm.

However, unlike the monkey, who had ties to the Buddhist, Daoist, and Yao factions, the Blood Mosquito Overlord was hated by nearly every major power in the Immortal Realm.

In ancient times, he had been known as the Mosquito Daoist.

The Buddhist, Daoist, and Yao factions all wanted him dead.

Although Mosquito Daoist had kept a low profile and remained hidden for more than a hundred thousand years, he had still established his own heavenly court in a remote corner on the outskirts of the Immortal Realm, even declaring himself the Mosquito Heavenly Emperor.

Even so, this fellow was hardly someone who could show his face openly.

Would he really dare reveal his location to anyone?

Those bald monks of the Buddhist faction would be the first to come after him!

At that moment, Mosquito Daoist was still struggling to understand how the monkey could remain so ferocious after suffering such grievous injuries.

Beneath his feet, the Eighth-Rank Merit Golden Lotus radiated dazzling golden light, facing the Eighth-Rank Black Lotus of Destruction beneath the Great Monkey of Destruction across the battlefield.

Against the brilliant glow of the Merit Golden Lotus, Mosquito Daoist’s complexion appeared even paler.

Mosquito Daoist had seized the Merit Golden Lotus from a Buddhist sage he ambushed.

At the time, it had only been a Sixth-Rank lotus. Over the next hundred thousand years, Mosquito Daoist repeatedly attacked Buddhist disciples, seized their sarira[1], and refined their golden bodies, forcibly raising the lotus to the Eighth Grade.[2]

However, incompatibility could not be overcome through effort alone. Mosquito Daoist’s Devouring Dao was fundamentally at odds with the Path of Persuasion[3]embodied by the Merit Golden Lotus.

Thus-Come Buddha also had a Sixth Grade Merit Golden Lotus. Yet after more than a hundred thousand years of nurturing, he managed to raise his own lotus to the Tenth Grade.

Still, when it came to compatibility with lotuses, no one could compare with the Great Monkey of Destruction before him or Destruction Spring, who had also entered the Magus Civilization’s battlefield.

Both had nurtured seeds of the Black Lotus of Destruction. In the end, one had cultivated an Eleventh-Grade Black Lotus of Destruction, while the other had cultivated an Eighth-Grade one.

Mosquito Daoist had taken an enormous risk by ambushing the Great Monkey of Destruction and the Great Sage of Demonic Heaven. His main target had been the Eighth-Grade Black Lotus beneath Wukong’s feet.

He even dreamed of recreating the legendary Chaos Green Lotus by devouring both the Black Lotus of Destruction and the Karmic Fire Red Lotus.

Ancestor Minghe, who resided deep within the Blood Sea of the Immortal Realm, also held a deep grudge against him because several Asura Kings under his command had died in Mosquito Daoist’s ambushes.

Mosquito Daoist did not dare venture into the depths of the Blood Sea and confront Ancestor Minghe directly, so he could only target the Asura Kings beneath him.

He hoped that one of them might possess a red lotus seed bestowed by Ancestor Minghe.

“How can he still possess such immense power? Is his Omnipotent Soul truly inexhaustible?”

As Wukong’s massive golden staff appeared above him once again, Mosquito Daoist could only stare in bewilderment.

1. Translator’s Note: The relics here are actually Sarira, pearl or crystal-like bead-shaped objects that are found among the cremated ashes of Buddhist spiritual masters. They are also known as divine relics/crystal cores/biological cores in other worlds of this novel. ☜

2. Translator’s Note: According to early texts such as The 32 Marks of a Great Man, a fully enlightened Buddha possesses a set of 32 physical perfections, one of which is a perfectly radiant, gold-colored skin. Rather than a literal skin tone, this golden hue signifies:

Immutability and purity: Just as gold does not tarnish or rust, the enlightened mind remains untouched by worldly defilements (anger, greed, ignorance).

Radiance and Wisdom: The golden glow represents the brilliant light of truth and compassion that dispels the darkness of ignorance.

This is why in certain East Asian traditions, particularly Chinese Zen Buddhism (Chan Sect in this novel), highly revered monks who have achieved deep meditative states and incorruptibility upon death are sometimes mummified, lacquered, and covered in actual gold leaf. These preserved figures (known as “flesh buddhas”) serve as physical objects of veneration, symbolizing the indestructible nature of the awakened mind. ☜

3. Fun fact: In Buddhism, the “Path of Persuasion” refers to the ethical and compassionate methods used to guide oneself and others away from suffering and toward enlightenment. It relies on the Noble Eightfold Path—a holistic framework of living that includes right speech, right action, and right intention. Here’s an interesting blog post I found on the topic! ☜