"Do you recognize who I am?" he asked the Death God.
The Death God laughed. "You are the renowned Crownless God Monarch. Besides, even if you change everything, including your aura, you can never change your eyes!"
The Crownless God Monarch said, "I have been reborn from the ashes. Everything the Righteous Gods took from me, I will one day reclaim it twofold."
"How are things outside?" the Death God taunted. "Seeing as you don’t dare to arrive in broad daylight, I imagine your Divine Monarch Mansion must be in decline."
"That was just an accident!" the Crownless God Monarch retorted, refusing to accept the truth.
At that moment, the Death God sighed, "The Righteous Divine Lineage is too strong. I feel our Evil Divine Lineage has no future whatsoever!"
"No! Our Evil Divine Lineage has not perished; it is merely undergoing Nirvana. Once that is successful, it will be the end for the Righteous Divine Lineage! I’ve come for you this time. Do you dare to help me, or do you plan to stay in this sunless place for the rest of your life?" the Crownless God Monarch asked him.
The Death God replied, "I’ve had enough of this place. Since you’re still alive, I’ll bet on this one last hope. Take me with you! Even if it leads to death, what does it matter? In the eyes of the world, I’m already a dead man!"
"Fine, I’ll take you with me, but I can only take you alone. We’ll need to find a corpse to act as your double, leaving no flaws!"
The Death God said, "As long as you can unseal my Spiritual Spring, none of that will be a problem!"
No sooner had the Death God finished speaking than the Crownless God Monarch acted. He unsealed the Death God’s Spiritual Spring, and the Death God, who was as gaunt as a skeleton, stood up.
He said, "There are plenty of people here. Bring a corpse over, and I can immediately transform it into my likeness! Such a plan is truly flawless!" He laughed, his smile becoming even more malevolent.
The Crownless God Monarch nodded in satisfaction. He killed a nearby prisoner, and under the cover of the Death God’s Black Fog, the corpse immediately took on the Death God’s appearance.
The Death God said, "I think I should leave some defiant last words. That way, no one will suspect anything!"
"As you wish. In any case, it won’t be long before I personally execute the Evil You Ancestor and the King of Heaven." At this, the Crownless God Monarch added, "These people all know our movements!"
"Don’t worry," the Death God said. "Since I’m supposed to be dead, I have ways of dealing with this. I can extract that specific memory from their souls, leaving them blank!"
"Then do it!" the Crownless God Monarch commanded.
The Death God made his move. A stream of black energy, accompanied by endless screams of terror, surged forth. As the Black Fog billowed past, the two of them quickly departed from Tianzhou Prison.
The Death God’s reported death was puzzling, but the scene was nearly flawless. Several Main Gods began to investigate but couldn’t uncover anything meaningful. As far as they were concerned, the Death God was truly dead.
The Crownless God Monarch was a very wise and extremely cautious man. He secretly observed the Death God for several days but found nothing amiss. Therefore, he dismissed his suspicions.
The Death God asked, "Brother, don’t you trust me?"
"One must always be careful. Cautious people live longer!" the Crownless God Monarch laughed.
The Death God said, "Don’t be so suspicious, Brother. If I had truly defected to them, why wouldn’t I have had them ambush you in Tianzhou Prison? With their help, taking you down then wouldn’t have been difficult, right?"
The Crownless God Monarch replied, "Although I had my doubts, I dared to enter Tianzhou Prison alone because I fear no one. This proves you haven’t defected to the Righteous Divine Lineage. Come, I’ll take you somewhere!"
"Where?" the Death God asked him.
"To my base of operations, of course!"
"Very good!" the Death God said with a smile.
But at that moment, the Crownless God Monarch struck, hitting the Death God on the head and knocking him unconscious before sweeping him away.
When the Death God woke up, he found himself in a secret space, a location so secret he had no idea how to reach it.
He smiled at the Crownless God Monarch. "Brother, you’re being a little too cautious, aren’t you?"
"Welcome to our family. From this day forward, our goal is to overthrow the Righteous Divine Lineage. They are nothing but insects; the Divine Domain will ultimately belong to us, the Evil Gods!"
The Death God glanced around and realized there were many people there, all of them masters at the God General Level. Since most of the Main Gods of the Evil Divine Lineage had perished, the Divine Generals now constituted its upper echelon.
The Death God said, "Brother, although you’re powerful and by no means weak, I still don’t feel we have a chance. With just these people, we are no match for the forces of the Righteous Divine Lineage!"
The Crownless God Monarch replied, "Of course we’re not a match right now. But since I’ve made so many preparations, I naturally have a way to deal with them! When the time comes, you will lead our forces against the army of the Righteous Gods, while I will focus on my breakthrough. Once I break through, the Evil You Ancestor and the King of Heaven will be no match for me!"
The Crownless God Monarch was very confident. He knew he was on the verge of breaking through to the Subcestor realm, and the thought excited him. Even if his foundation was unstable after the breakthrough, the combat power of a Subcestor was beyond anything an ordinary person could match. Only by breaking through to become a Subcestor could he turn the tide.
At that moment, the Death God said to him, "I’m afraid you’ll never get the chance to break through."
"What do you mean?" the Crownless God Monarch asked coldly.
The Death God stated, "Because your end has come."
The Crownless God Monarch immediately roared, "So you have defected to the Righteous Divine Lineage! But what of it? This is a space I created myself! When you were brought here, you left no aura or trace behind. Isn’t turning on me now a bit unwise?"
Although the Crownless God Monarch was furious, at least everything was still under his control. The Death God couldn’t cause any trouble here.
The Death God then said, "And how are you so sure that I am the Death God?"
"What do you mean?"
The Crownless God Monarch looked closer, only to see the Death God’s face peel away to reveal Ye Fan.
"Impressive! To think you were hidden so deep!" the Crownless God Monarch said coldly. He hadn’t noticed that the Death God was an imposter, a fact that was truly beyond his expectations.
Ye Fan stated, "I had no choice. I went to great lengths to lure you out. I was the one who spread the rumor that the Death God was in Tianzhou Prison. Then I killed the real Death God, took his mask, and even his Power of Death, all for the sake of killing you! I can’t believe you actually fell for it."
"Then why didn’t you make your move in Tianzhou Prison?" the Crownless God Monarch demanded as his subordinates surrounded Ye Fan.
Ye Fan replied, "The fact that you dared to break into the prison proved you had a means of escape. Besides, isn’t it much better to annihilate your entire base of operations right here?"
At this moment, Ye Fan displayed an unparalleled coldness. The Crownless God Monarch had long been a thorn in his side, but that was about to end, because the God Monarch was about to die.
"I see. It seems I underestimated your cunning!" the Crownless God Monarch said coldly.
"When it comes to cunning, I’m no match for you," Ye Fan retorted.
The Crownless God Monarch was a very insidious man. He had been alive ever since the first war between Ye Fan and the Evil You Ancestor. To this day, not only had he survived, but he had also grown even stronger. Therefore, there was no way Ye Fan could let a person like that live.