SUPREME

1. DEATH

In a tiny kingdom called ' Great Ming Kingdom' by foreigners but called ' Great Ming' by her citizens, a tall man stood in a hall in front of a magnificent door. The door had curving of dragons and phoenixes with another unrecognizable bird at the center of the intricate design. The intricate carvings gave the door a noble grace that indicated how noble the person behind the door was.

The muscular man was surrounded by tens of individuals dressed in official garb made of gold and the finest silk.

These people of great wealth were all worried. Just by looking at their faces which seemed to be filled with dread, a conclusion that great stress was put upon their minds could easily be reached. All these men and women looked at the muscular man in his golden robes with fear and subservience. Very few looked at the man with respect and understanding. The man paced in the hall; his footsteps heavy with worry.

"Your imperial majesty, there is no need to worry for the young prince, he is blessed by the heavens, his luck is sky-piercing, and he will surely survive this calamity," said one of the more submissive officials trying to calm the anxious man who looked as though he was all but ready to declare war upon all nations of the continent should he not get his way.

This worried man turned out to be the king of the Great Ming Kingdom. Although Great Ming was a power unto itself, her national power was far from reaching the strength possessed by the empires of the Eden continent.

What made the King angrier than a bull during the mating season was simply the thought of it as something a prince should have been prepared for and guarded against, but if the idea from the perspective of the king, a loving father, it was utterly unacceptable yet to be expected.

The prince had been attacked by assassins who, with poisoned blades and high cultivations almost sent the prince on his way to an early grave. The prince had survived the tribulation but not before half of his life was claimed by the assassins' poisoned blades. Before the killers had the chance to finish the job and escape like smoke through a chimney, the mighty king of the Great Ming, Anders Ming arrived in response to the prince's screams and quickly dispatched the assassins by bisecting each of them in two by his broad sword. Blood and entrails spilled on the floor causing all who saw the scene to remember how Ming Anders had created the Great Ming, with power and blood.

"Your majesty, Prince Xerxes' life is in the hands of the most knowledgeable apothecary on the Eden continent. Apothecary Zen has skills enough to put the reaper to tears. He is sure to save the young prince from the stinky jaws of death. " Said another official. At this moment, the door swung open and out came a short scrawny man with a grey beard reaching the floor.

"Apothecary Zen, is my son, okay?" the king asked with a shaky voice.

"Apologies my king, but the prince has succumbed to his injuries. His highness prince Xerxes has left this mortal world "

Apothecary Zen replied with words that left the king petrified and the officials weak to their knees since they knew that heads were about to roll.

2.BIRTH

The atmosphere froze as the wind went still and the air became stale. The officials were dumbfounded with their eyes almost popping out of their skulls and their mouths wide open. The usually unshakable officials stared at each other in dismay and shock.

With their many years of experience and their understanding of King Ming, they knew that what was to follow in the wake of the prince's death was death and bloodshed, many people were about to lose their lives to appease the king's heaven towering rage.

six years ago, a similar scene played out in Great Ming.

A man standing at 6.7", extremely tall by human standards, anxiously stood in front of the very same magnificent door. He was surrounded by the very same officials, but that time around, these officials were smiling in joy for the king and the kingdom, finally, after years of marriage, a living heir to the throne was about to be born. The tall man by the door was of course King Ming, a man known by all in his kingdom and beyond as the ' conqueror of the south'.

He ruled his kingdom with an iron fist giving no allowance for disobedience. With his cultivation at the limit of known levels of cultivation, he had no rivals in the South. This ensured that no one dared to question his absolute authority.

Now looking at this man known for his brutality and mercilessness, his officials could only see a would-be father terrified and anxious for the fate of his unborn child and wife.

His officials were speechless at the sight but remembering that the king's last 5 children were stillborn, all the officials could not stop themselves from sighing with defeat as all their joy changed to frustration and pity for the mighty king.

The king had been married to his extremely beautiful wife Zhang Ziyi for over thirty years but the couple still had no child to talk about. This issue brought great pain and suffering to the beautiful queen as she became the talk of the kingdom for her failure to give the king an heir. Some commoners had even gone so far as to say that the union of the king with Queen Zhang was not per heavens laws.

As the king was pacing in front of the door, the clouds above the palace parted and the sun shone brightly on the palace, sounds of heavenly music were heard by all the peoples of Great Ming. Stars appeared in bright daylight causing all who gazed upon them to bow down in awe, amazement, and a hint of fear for this was absolutely nothing normal by any human standards.

All the king's officials looked outside the palace and before anybody could say anything, the wisest of the officials, Li Chen the prime minister of the kingdom proclaimed the happenings as good omens welcoming the chosen prince.

But as usual, he had spoken too early, all light disappeared leaving absolute darkness in its wake, and the heavenly sounds became dreary and demonic. The sky was darker than the darkest midnight.

People started falling dead, and when the officials saw their fellows dying right before their eyes, they started panicking but none dared move from their positions without the king's permission.

At this moment, a resonant baby cry was heard coming from behind the magnificent door. The demonic sounds stopped as if they didn't dare compete with the baby's first cry, the darkness became thicker as if to welcome an unholy tainted being into the world of man.

Before the cries stopped, the king kicked open the door and barged into the room.

On seeing a baby being held by a woman on the bed in the middle of the room the king knelt in wonder and overflowing love, he didn't care about the so-called omen or their interpretation, all he cared about was his wife and child.

"How could something so beautiful exist in the world!" said the king to his exhausted wife. The birth had not been an easy one.

3.THE YOUNG GENIUS

In the following days, the birth of the crown prince Xerxes was announced to the world with great pomp and flare. King Ming Anders ensured that the heavenly signs were interpreted in favor of the kingdom.

It was proclaimed that the signs indicated that the royal prince would bring great prosperity to the kingdom and the darkness only showed that the prince would fight and eradicate the greatest enemy of the kingdom, the Rakan race which the people of the Eden continent associated with darkness. The Rakan race was mostly a myth on the Eden continent but the fear their name induced in the masses was not to be underestimated. In the myths and legends, the Rakan race was the most powerful in the world. It was said that this race had descended from the t god Erebus who lords over darkness and rewards evil while punishing good. The king used the people's fear of the Rakan race to divert their attention from how terrifying the prince's birth had been.

At the tender age of 2 months, the prince started walking, at four months, he was already a fluent speaker of the native language of the Eden continent.

When the boy was two years old, his father the king summoned the greatest minds on the continent to teach him about poetry, chess, military tactics, governance, horse riding, archer, and the use of all sorts of weapons of war.

At this point, the prince's intellect was way beyond that of a ten-year-old child.

He quickly understood the esoteric concepts being taught to him by his many different teachers and in the tenth renewed year 700,007 of the Eternal Yang Empire the now ten-year-old prince Xerxes started participating in national affairs, at first many were skeptical.

'What could a ten-year-old child contribute to the administration of a kingdom? He should still be suckling on his mother's tit, not meddling with matters beyond his understanding.' thought the majority of the court officials.

Even though this is what they thought, they did not dare go against the king, his temper was legendary, a single wrong word could set him off leading to the extermination of entire bloodlines.

For the first few weeks, the young prince sat on a smaller golden chair next to his father in the court chambers. He did not speak nor show any expression on his face. All he did was listen to all matters discussed small and big. Some of the officials sneered inwardly at the seemingly confused prince.

"Your majesty, the southern coastal city, the Imperfect city, needed immediate financial aid to return life to normal after the recent flood that devasted the city killing millions and destroying millions of gold worth in property.

Mayor Wu, requests your understanding and support during this difficult period." said a short official.

When the young prince heard this, he showed a change in expression for the first time since joining the court sessions.

When his father and the officials saw this, they were surprised although the matter being discussed was important and the death toll immeasurable, this was not the first time such a matter was discussed. Just two days prior, the court had discussed the destruction of the Wooden City in the same region, and in this case, the death toll was so high that an exact value had not been attained by the kingdom. During this discussion, the prince had not shown any change in expression but to some, he may have even looked bored.

"Prince Xerxes, what are your thoughts regarding this matter?" asked the king while looking at his son lovingly.

The young prince stood up and bowed to his father before moving in Infront of the standing officials. The court chambers were so large that the contrast with Xerxes' height was too striking.

"Royal father, court officials, don't you find this suspicious! Although the Imperfect City is hit by floods at least twice a year, in recent years, the flooding events have become at least four per year. On analysis of the sea winds, the great continental winds only blow towards the continent twice a year. Sure, we can say that due to some changes in the weather patterns, the great continental winds now blow toward the continent four times a year but such a huge change can not simply happen abruptly as we have seen. I propose that we investigate this matter carefully and thoroughly before further action is taken ." said the young prince.

When he was done, the officials and the king were deep in thought as he bowed and went back to his seat.

"We shall do as the prince recommends. Minister Mu, you will head to the Imperfect City immediately and investigate this matter." ordered the king.

"As his majesty orders ." replied the bowing finance minister Mu Chu.

The following week, Minister Mu returned to court and gave his report, as it turned out, Mayor Wu had been sending false reports of floods for the past ten years. He used the gold he received to build himself a luxurious mansion and he even created a harem of sixty-seven beauties for himself.

The former mayor Wu of modest wealth had turned into the richest man in the Imperfect city. To keep the other officials silent, he shared with them a portion of his ill-gotten gains . Those who re do refuse to partake quickly died under mysterious conditions.

When the king heard this, his fury reached the heavens. The mayor and all the local officials were dragged to court by the imperial soldiers.

After a few weeks of torture, they confessed to their crimes.

The king ordered them to be put to death and all their assets seized. Their nine generations were sold as slaves to compensate for the lost money.

Xerxes, at age thirteen, had already become the most celebrated poet, chess player, politician, tactician, and lawmaker. To top it all off, he cultivated at godly speeds having achieved the fourth level of cultivation, the blood refinement stage at age four.

He mastered more than half of the kingdom's techniques.

At this point, nobody had any doubt that Xerxes was a genius bestowed by the heavens to the Ming kingdom.

But with all good things come the bad, by age 14, Xerxes had experienced countless assassination attempts from neighboring kingdoms which knew that their independence was dependent on Xerxes' death.

With no other recourse, the king put in place the most strict security to protect the prince.

He ordered his officials never to discuss the prince's location and habits with anybody without permission.

Back to the present

During Xerxes' birthday celebration, countless diplomats arrived to offer well wishes and perhaps form beneficial relationships with the young genius. Many gifts and marriage offers were presented to the king and all was going as planned until an uninvited guest arrived.

The eunuch suddenly announced, " His royal highness Wang Chu, prince of the Great Chu Empire has come to offer his well wishes to the prince of the Ming kingdom."

Suddenly everyone was bewildered, even if the Chu Empire wanted to wish the prince of the Ming kingdom well, an imperial prince would not have to make the journey himself, just sending a servant from the imperial palace would be more than sufficient.

In the quiet hall, a man whose appearance could be described as gorgeous walked through the door with overwhelming confidence and charisma.

He moved with grace straight to the king's throne. He didn't bow or show any respect for the king " Where is this so-called genius????" asked Prince Chu in an arrogant manner.

4.CHU EMPIRE

In the southern region of the large yet tiny Eden continent, the Chu Empire was king, and its power and authority were almost undisputed. Its might was recognized by all. It had seven mighty existences at level 9 of cultivation, the demigod stage. With these seven demigods, the Chu empire was able to carve out the southern part of Eden as its own, and with an iron fist, it used blood to hold onto its territories. This empire could not be called evil since this was simply the way of empires, they get too big and the only way to manage them effectively is by showing your detractors that you are willing to do whatever it takes to hold onto your sphere of influence.

The Chu Empire was one of the four rank-one empires on the continent. It had conquered hundreds of small and large kingdoms in the South. Those that were deemed too inconvenient to manage due to factors such as distance from the Chu empire or the unyielding spirit of the people, these kinds of kingdoms were left to exist only in name. Their kings were puppets . These puppet kings paid tribute to the mighty Chu empire every year without fail, and those that for some reason failed, would be promptly exterminated by the Chu forward army. The only reason for the existence of this army was to always be ready to exterminate men, women, and children, and even the elderly were not let off, In some cases, the elderly were even the main targets. This army was not the pride of the Chu empire but it was most definitely one of its most crucial assets.

In the south, the Chu empire was akin to a blazing sun at midday with its light reaching every Conner of the south. Not even a single blade of grass was spared from the all-seeing eye of the empire

As the saying goes, where there is light, there will be darkness.

With this understanding, many citizens of the Chu Empire were able to keep their consciousness free from the atrocities committed by the Forward Army.

With such great power, it surprised the continent when the Great Ming Kingdom was able to rise to a height where its power could not easily be suppressed by the Chu Empire.

What started as a small state grew to become one of the great powers of the continent in a few thousand years. The kingdom conquered and expanded its territories at a rate unheard of on the continent.

The great conqueror Ming led his armies into battle himself every time. His military tactics became legendary almost eclipsing his great cultivation and combat level.

For a kingdom to become an empire, it must have several demigod existences with at least one of them at the peak of the demigod stage this was the generally accepted thinking on the continent.

Great Ming was the kingdom in the South with the shortest history of just 1000 plus years, this newly risen kingdom was unexpectedly considered the strongest in the South just below the Chu empire. This was all due to the great conqueror King Ming.

His ruthlessness was something the South had not seen for a long, long time.

The Ming kingdom grew to the point that many feared the rise of a second empire in the South. If a second empire were to raise, war with the Chu empire would be unavoidable. Thud would thrust the entire southern part of the continent into a war that would leave hundreds of millions dead and others displaced.

The kingdom had been established single-handedly by King Ming through conquests that lasted for over 500 years. He then took another five hundred consolidating his power and authority over the conquered territories.

Many thought that once the great conqueror had finished consolidating his power, he would resume his conquest until Great Ming was all there was.

King Ming with his peak demigod stage cultivation was unstoppable in his conquests and historians and scholars refer to this period as the Blood Age. During this time, it was easier to find blood than it was to find a water body.

King Ming in his thirst for power and territory wiped out entire cities and destroyed tens of kingdoms. All who refused to surrender unconditionally were killed mercilessly by Ming himself.

Some speculated that the king's conquests were stopped by a combination of all the four empires of the Eden continent who saw no end in sight for the Blood Age.

King Ming had to sign an agreement with the four empires stating that the four empires would not attack the Kingdom and King Ming would bring an end to the Blood Age.No one knew why King Ming accepted his agreement but they were glad that he did.

Emperor Chu was advised to destroy the new kingdom but he refused citing several reasons that made no sense. The truth of the matter was that he understood that he did not have the power to face King Ming in a confrontation. He even suspected that he would be killed instantly should he face King Ming in battle.

Knowing this, emperor Chu instead opted for semi-friendly relations until he could break through to the theoretical god stage, at this level, the whole continent would have to bow to his might or face the consequences.

The Empire had seven demigods including the emperor.

Two of the emperor's children were also included, one a prince and the other, the flower of the continent, Princess Chu.

With this level of power, the Chu Empire was indeed the greatest powerhouse in the South.

To the Chu empire, only the other three empires and the great Ming kingdom were threats, all else was trivial and not worth the worry.

5.WANG CHU'S ARROGANCE

"Where might this genius be, could he possibly be suckling on his mummy's tits .?"Wang Chu's words were still as disrespectful as before .Perhaps even more disrespectful.

The officials,guards and all the other invited guests had frozen faces . Every one knew that the ruthless and even bloodier King Ming loved his wife more than anything else .What ever the queen asked for ,she got .

It was even rumored that she is the one who got king Ming to stop his conquest ,not the pressure from the empires.King Ming was prepared to take on the empires but his wife simply requested for a peaceful life ,this was all it took for the great conqueror Ming to end his blood stained campaign.

For prince Wang Chu to disrespect the queen in such a way right Infront of the king's face was nothing short of a death sentence for the prince and if the king was feeling particularly pissed ,all present would pay the price .

Before the king could say anything ,the royal guards attacked with even more fury and rage than if it were they own wives who were insulted .

Form all over the hall ,guards with black spears came rushing towards the prince .

Before they could reach him ,the prince's guards and an old man in blue robes came rushing into the hall .

They quickly moved to defend the prince in the center of the hall .All the other guests and officials had already moved to the sides of the hall leaving the prince at the center.No one dared help the arrogant prince.

At the center of the hall ,fierce fighting began .

King Ming's royal guards were the best if the best and had been trained by the king himself .He did not just end at training them ,he had taken them with him during his conquests ensuring that each guards had at least killed one hundred enemies.

Spears met swords as the two groups fought .The prince stood at the center, seemingly carefree and not worried at all .

He probably thought that a mere king would never dare kill an imperial prince of the Chu empire.

As his men fell one by one , skewered by the long spears ,the prince continued smiling as though watching an interesting show .

The flow was covered in blood and spilled guts horrifying the guests .

Gasps of dying men filled the room and soon ,only a single old man in blue robes was left guarding the prince .This man was a stage six cultivator set by emperor Chu to protect his son . Although prince Wang Chu was not the apple of his eye ,he was still a prince of the mighty Chu empire.

"Prince stay behind me ." the old man instructed the prince but this instruction was of no use since they were completely surrounded.

Hmmmm ,snorted the prince ,"What are you worried about ,do you actually think this so called king dares kill me ?"asked the Prince.

"Yes "this was the old man's only reply .Every one seemed to know that the prince was doomed except the prince .

King Ming had been seated in his throne all this time without saying anything.He simply looked at the soon to be dead prince with disdain in his eyes .

"Kneel "commanded the king .

Prince Wang Chu turned to look at the king in disbelief.Some one actually dared order him to his knees .

Hahahhahahhaah ,laughed the prince with tears almost coming out of his eyes .

"KNEEL"shouted the king and this time ,the entire hall shook and cracks appeared in the walls .

This hall was not weak ,it had been constructed using the best materials available on the continent.

The spiritual pressure in the king's voice made the hearts of everyone in the hall to shudder .

The prince finally realized the danger he was in .

At this moment ,he started recalling all the terrifying history associated to the man before him .

This man had killed everyone who ever got in the way of his conquest ,why wouldn't he kill a mere prince .

In order to stop his conquest ,the four empires had to combine their might and even then ,victory was still in the hands if the gods .

The prince's face became contorted with fear and anger as he fell to his knees .

Pa ,a loud slap resounded in the hall .When things settled down and the guests looked around,they saw a headless body standing next to the prince with the king just a few steps away.

Blood sprayed from the body painting the kneeling prince red .

Everyone was horrified .When the blood stopped spraying out of the old man's body ,it fell with a sickening sound making the prince flinch .

The king slowly walked back to his throne and slowly sat down .

"Iam not a merciful king ,when I say kneel ,you kneel ."said the king

Everyone was dumbfounded,they had all thought the order was for the prince alone ,had they been in the position of the old man ,they also would have remained standing.

"Did he just slap stage six cultivator to death ?"asked a dazed guest .

When these words spread throughout the hall , everyone was shaken to their cores ,stage six cultivators were respected people wherever they went and their power was to be admired ,but the king ,with a single slap, beheaded such a cultivator.

When this realization sank in ,guest hurriedly fell to their kneels in terror.

"Prince Wang Chu,you have two breaths to convince me to spare your life ."said the king .

"Forgive this lowly one your majesty ,my mind was confused.This lowly one deserves death ."said the prince .

His thinking was simple , surely the king wouldn't kill a humbled prince of the Chu empire, especially not one who had come as an envoy.

Blazing hot fire fill d the hall scorching everything.The prince was engulfed by the scorching flames .

He screamed with pain and terror but no one interfered .The fire quickly burnt him into ash .

When the fire disappeared , nothing was left in the hall floor,even the blood was burnt off the floor .

The king waved his right hand and a gust of wind blew the prince's ashes out of the hall through the doors .

The king's control over his power impressed everyone as he did all this with out harming any of the guests and even their hair was not displaced by the wind .

6.BETROTHED

No one was surprised when the empire declared war on the kingdom the following week.

The messenger sent with the declaration was swiftly beheaded by King Ming before he could open his scroll.

Without even opening the scroll, everyone seemed to know its content. No empire would respond with anything less than war when its prince is burnt to ashes not even leaving a body for the burial rites. This kind of humiliation could not be left unanswered.

King Ming set the scroll on fire in Infront of his court before declaring war himself.

"From this day forth, the empire and the kingdom can no longer live under the same sky."

These were the king's only words before the war machine that was the kingdom was set into motion. The preparedness shown by the kingdom showed the world that King Ming had never given up my his ambitions of continental conquest. His armies were fully supplied and equipped within days. Their weapons and war horses were the best there could be.

With the king in the lead, the mighty army left the capital with the commoners cheering for the army's victory. Ming The Conqueror had finally come out of retirement.

To some people on the continent, it seemed as though the king had always been waiting for an excuse to unleash his armies.

The empire and the kingdom met on the desert plains of Anan which formed a border between the empire and the kingdom.

The two armies fought for months in the sunny desert leaving the sand red and wet.

Human life became as cheap as the sand the armies stood.

In all this, the empire seemed to not be using its full might and so it quickly became the losing side. The kingdom was led by the king himself but the empire only sent a general, Although he was a great general, he was no king Ming.

The kingdom conquered the desert plains of Anan within a year and even matched into the territory of the empire conquering city after city.

When the kingdom reached the sixth city, Emperor Chu finally realized that he had awakened a beast he could not handle alone.

He sent requests for help from the other empires but these empires so no benefit in it intervening. To them, it seemed even more profitable to let the empire be crushed by the kingdom and then they would be able to quickly destroy the weakened kingdom and divide its new lands among themselves.

When no aid was given by these empires, Emperor Chu was not surprised, he would do the same in their position.

Emperor Chu met with King Ming the following week and the two had a private conversation whose details were not made public.

The following day, King Ming declared an end to his conquest surprising everyone.

As for the empire, the emperor declared the end of the war and also the betrothal of Princess Chu to Prince Xerxes.

This news was unexpected and shocking for the continent, not just because of the age difference between the prince and the princess but also the difference in cultivation. Princess Chu was already a ninth-stage powerhouse while Prince Xerxes had only recently reached the fourth stage.

Princess Chu was praised as the most beautiful woman in the South if not the whole continent. It was said that her body was that of a succubus, with curves in all the right places.

Her face was rumored to be that of a heavenly goddess with eyes that could capture a man's heart at first site. To top it all off she was the second princess of the Chu Empire, the overlord of the South.

The people knew that the Empire had 7 demigods and Princess Evelyn was one of these few powerhouses that held up the empire.

She was known as a cultivation genius reaching the demigod stage in just 30 years

An average cultivator could take about 100 years to reach the demigod stage.

She had many suitors but she rejected all of them and this was viewed by the masses as the proper way of things.

For the emperor to give such a decree, everyone could only guess what he was thinking. The scholars of the continent made some guesses but these were still just guesses.

They guessed that although the empire was powerful, it was too large and had enemies at every border. This stopped it from deploying its most powerful assets from key locations limiting its military might in its confrontation with the kingdom. The empire was at least eleven times the size of the kingdom.

By betrothing his only daughter to prince Xerxes, emperor Chu was trying to calm the king's rage and the king accepted the offer because he knew that this was the best outcome for both sides.

7.BURIAL

A collective sigh of relief could be heard all over the continent. The only people who were displeased by the premature end of the war were the war merchants. These people mainly dealt with weapons and army supplies. With war came profit, with peace came poverty.

No one seemed to care whether the two interested parties had given their consent or not, all they cared about was that the war was finally over. Even if they had to sacrifice the lifelong happiness of two people, peace was all that mattered in their eyes.

With the betrothal of Xerxes and Princess Chu, the war was over and the continent moved on except for those in positions of power. These few individuals could see that if an alliance were to be formed between the Great Ming and the Chu Empire, a power strong enough to conquer the continent may be formed. They could not let this happen for it meant destruction for their empires.

Back to the present. prince Xerxes' body lay in a majestic coffin atop a mountain surrounded by people in mourning clothes. On this cloudy day, the only prince and heir of Great Ming was being put to rest having lived for just sixteen years.

The heavenly genius Xerxes had been assassinated and died from his injuries having accomplished nothing more than a commoner. In the history books, he would probably be written as nothing more than a footnote.

The king in endless fury had sentenced all the implicated officials to death so that they could accompany his son on the way to Naraka.

All officials who were in communication with foreign powers were sentenced to death without exceptions.

Xerxes' white coffin lay on a magnificent altar at the mountain top and beside the altar, an execution alter had been constructed in a rush.

The officials to be executed were bound tightly and made to kneel on the execution alter.

Behind each kneeling official stood an executioner holding a long sharp heavy blade ready to behead the officials at the king's signal.

Cries for mercy could be heard from the officials but no one paid them any mind.

At this moment, anyone who spoke up for the officials could end up right next to them.

As all this was going on, in the void between realms, in this absolute darkness, a transparent but hazy figure could be heard muttering to itself. "The heavenly dao will not give me any chance for a comeback, not after the last war for heaven. But it doesn't matter, I will be supreme, with my new plan, I will not need heaven's permission for anything, I will simply take all while giving nothing back."

Hahahahahhwahhahah___--- evil laughter rang out in the void causing even the darkness to shake as though waves of water, the figure's power was unbelievable.

.As the figure laughed menacingly with no end in sight, he suddenly stopped laughing as though remembering something extremely important.

"fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck you heavens, I should have realized that it wouldn't be that simple, only now do I remember that for me to re-enter the world, I will need a body whose destiny is that of pure light and pure darkness with a physique to match. This will no doubt take countless epochs, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck."

As it continued profaning the heavens, the walls of the universe closest to the void suddenly cracked. The cracking sound was no different from thunder ringing in this vast darkness.

" Ha, what is it now " When he gazed upon the wall, he quickly lost interest and looked away.

"Another universe at its end, how long have I been in the void, does it even matter, does anyone still remember, the all-powerful being who dared oppose heaven, does anyone still remember my handsome self, what happened to my wives and concubines "

This thing in the void did not care that the world was about to come to an end.

8.POSSESSION

"Oh, as if I remember this universe coming into existence less than 90 billion years ago."

"This needs further investigation, maybe something interesting happened, it might be what gives me some entertainment in this endless void"

Suddenly, the being opened its gigantic eyes,

darkness dispersed, and two beams of light came from the eyes and penetrated the wall of the universe.

The beams searched everything living or dead, past and present in the universe.

"Hahahaha the heavens are helping me, a body with my required specifications, wait how, there is no way the heavens would help me unless the heavens are truly blind as stated by some of those useless individuals who blame the heavens for everything wrong in their lives."

"Whatever, I must have this body no matter the cost, I just need to fix this universe by buying it a few more epochs. "

The being raised its hand and a beam of energy darker than the darkness in the void came out and landed on the wall, before long, the cracks in the wall started fixing themselves. After some time, the walls were crack free and seemed stronger than before.

The being then looked into the void and sighed as if he didn't have any desire to leave.

The being turned into a beam of light that penetrated the wall entering the universe, its speed was akin to teleportation as it immediately arrived next to Xerxes' dead body and entered it

9.RETURN

The universe rambled in what could only be anger, thunder was heard and lightning flashed as if the end of the world had finally arrived except that this ending, according to all appearances did seem to have a promised land but only destruction for all.

Xerxes' body opened its eyes with some effort.

"It seems that I am in darkness again"

After some time, it saw light, and gradually, blurry images started appearing and with time, they became clearer.

The world went back to normal as if nothing had happened. Everyone looked at the coffin with wide eyes.

They had seen a beam of light landing on the body of the prince followed by a world-ending scene as if the world was against what was about to happen next.

Before long, everyone saw the prince's body open its eyes.

Fear crept into the hearts of all present.

Rumors of undead beings walking the world had already spread far and wide but were dismissed as tales made up by housewives to scare their delinquent adolescents into walking the straight and narrow.

In this silence, the prince's body calmly and gracefully got up and departed the coffin.

" hahahahahahaha. finally, I am back to the world of the living, from today onwards all mortals shall kowtow and immortals shall bow in my presence. hahaha hahaha"

As 'Prince Xerxes 'went on with his egotistic tirade, all looked at him in disbelief.

After praising itself thoroughly, the being came to its senses and suddenly stopped talking about what some may consider nonsense.

" I must calm myself, right now am in a body with almost no cultivation, any idiot with a kitchen knife can do me in wasting this golden opportunity for me. I must act as this body's former host so that I can be accepted by these lower life forms. I clearly remember that most of the weak beings act out of fear, they simply kill everything they don't understand."

Clearing his voice, the being said " I have been reborn by the grace of a powerful being who happened to be passing by and when he saw a young and talented individual such as myself being put in a grave at just six years old, he could not stand for such injustice and brought me back from the dead "

Everyone was dumbfounded, the king was frozen for some time then the tears started slowly rolling down his face.

"My son is back, he is back, he is truly blessed by heaven. All sentenced to death will be imprisoned to receive final judgment at a later date."

10.PROMISE

In a secure chamber inside the Ming royal palace.

King Ming looked at Xerxes who was sited opposite him.

The king closely examined the prince for a long time then he suddenly spoke, " Who are you and what have you done with my son? you have 89 breaths to explain. After that, I will make my decision."

Xerxes looked at the king as if finally meeting the real man for the first time.

Xerxes suddenly put on a serious face and said " I had hoped that nobody would notice the small differences but as stated by the proclaimed sages, a parent always knows these things. Yes, I am not your son, his soul has long departed this dimension. I have temporarily possessed this body to come back to life. In my current state am no different from the walking dead. "

" Now, before making your decision, you should know that am immortal, you can destroy this body in an attempt to kill me but all you will do is delay my return, and my immortal soul will live on. Should you choose to let me borrow this body, I will fulfill all the dreams of its former host and even go beyond those dreams in an attempt to repay this karma, for example, I see that you are stuck at the ninth stage of mortal cultivation, I can improve your cultivation technique so that you can easily break through to start on the journey of true cultivation, all you have to do is let me borrow this body for about 100 years. "

The king looked at Xerxes for some time without any response.

After about 30 breaths of time, he finally replied." I still had some hope that my only son was still alive but that was wishful thinking. If you had told me that you were my son, I would have believed you for some time but after my grief passing, I would kill you or as you said tried to. Logically, your possessing my son's body should not bother me since by burying it in the ground I undoubtedly allow maggots and all manner of other insects to feast on my son's body. So, here is my counter offer take it or leave it, I may not be able to kill you but at least I can delay your resurrection.

You will act as my son in public without any flows, you will fulfill all my son's unfulfilled wishes, you will ensure that the name Ming has eternal glory and respect, and you must come up with a way to make me believe and trust your word and you will, of course, help me achieve higher heights in cultivation so that I can personally avenge my son. "

" We have a deal, I will fulfill all your conditions, as for trusting my word, let's just swear a heavenly oath "replied Xerxes.

Xerxes drew a complex diagram on the floor then both of them entered the boundaries of the formation"

" I feel nothing," said the king in anger.

" If you think that you can fool me, you are wrong, I may not know much about heavenly oaths but I have read about them so just prepare yourself for the consequences if you planned to fool me"

"Calm down old man, you think you are worthy of being fooled by me, am only carrying out this deal with you so that I can pay my karmic debt, as for you delaying my return, that time has long passed, right now, I may still not be able to kill you but I can easily escape, so calm down ."

," After some time, a translucent film of energy surrounded both of them ." Quickly, Xerxes said his oath and as first as the energy appeared, it disappeared.

" I will surely fulfill my oath to you, this I promise," said Xerxes.