Divine Emperor of Death

Chapter 4232  Investigated A Second Time

Esmond Stavenger shook his head and went off to do a few things.

Twenty minutes after Davis left, the Heaven's Warriors finally arrived before the Whispering Wildlands Peninsula.

The Venerable Hollow Knight arrived with a solemn expression on his face. He didn't come in an invasive rush since a Grand Elder seemed to have been already waiting for him outside the cumulonimbus clouds, wanting to bring him in.

Since he was being invited, he could only join and go inside, and low and behold, there was not a single change from the last time he appeared here.

"Venerable Hollow Knight, welcome again. I heard the situation outside is serious. I have instructed my subordinates to stop the calamities in their tracks and prevent them from harming the people of my realm."

Esmond Stavenger walked closer.

He appeared tall but fairly into his middle age with rugged features. His nose was sharp, and his amber eyes large and bright. Clad in emerald-black robes, he appeared quite imposing. As he walked, his black hair swayed amidst the breeze that came from the opening created in the cumulonimbus clouds.

"Yes," The Venerable Hollow Knight nodded, but he wasn't looking at Esmond Stavenger as he surveyed the surroundings.

"We have spread out to stop the calamities ourselves, so the burden on you as the protector of the realm would be quite low."

"Ah, many thanks, Venerable Hollow Knight. It seems like we are fortunate to have powerful Heaven's Warriors in our realm in these tumultuous times. The matter of the grand hunt is quite concerning, but these calamities are even more concerning. Could it be that…"

Esmond Stavenger looked curious as he probed.

The Venerable Hollow Knight simply nodded, "It could be. The number of calamities that hit this realm simultaneously is too suspicious to ignore. Even if it isn't the Divine Emperor of Death or Fiend Myria, there's someone new. We must find them."

"Yes, we will help you-"

"Is there no calamity that occurred here?" The Venerable Hollow Knight interjected.

"No. Not anything that I am aware of. The closest calamity that happened is around a hundred million kilometers away. It involved-"

Esmond Stavenger began to explain, giving a detailed account of the nearby calamity. It took half a minute to explain, after which the Venerable Hollow Knight nodded.

"I need to investigate personally to see if something happened here. You may have missed it."

"Of course, go ahead."

Esmond Stavenger gestured towards the city.

It made the Venerable Hollow Knight narrow his eyes, but he didn't open his mouth again, so he walked past him without saying a word. The Heaven's Warriors behind him also rushed into the city and everywhere else, scouring the land and the skies with their gazes and senses.

They didn't leave anything behind.

After some time, Venerable Hollow Knight finally made it to the top of the city and headed towards the grand palace of the Realm Master.

But halfway up the stairs, he was blocked by Esmond Stavenger.

"My apologies. These stairs are only reserved for the Realm Master. No one else should walk on it. Please take the other pathway to come to my palace."

The Venerable Hollow Knight frowned, "I don't have time for etiquette. Even now, countless people could be suffering. I must find the source and stop it once and for all."

"And why would the source be here in my home?"

Esmond Stavenger didn't seem to give way as he held his ground.

It irked the Venerable Hollow Knight. He no longer kept an indifferent face as he glared, and his aura started to surge.

"Don't play the fool. I doubt this is your home when your wives are still living in that resort palace you spoke of."

"We simply fell in love with the nature of that place. It is peaceful and gives us more to contemplate in our long lives. It is a tragedy that something like this happened when we were learning to live in solitude amongst ourselves, becoming one with nature."

Esmond Stavenger spoke piously as he gazed at the skies before he took a deep breath and returned his gaze.

"I find it strange that a Heaven's Warrior finds this strange."

The Venerable Hollow Knight crossed his arms, "Then how do you explain the Light of Binding that the people here say they saw back then, but you have announced that it was something else entirely? Even just a while ago, people seemed to have witnessed the same light, but you have claimed that it is a sign of the Realm Core announcing the birth of a new heir. Do you take us Heaven's Warriors and the normal people to be fools? Speak, who is the new Realm Master?"

"…"

Esmond Stavenger's expression looked grim yet confused. He raised his hands.

"New Realm Master? Light of Binding? Does the venerable mean the illumination from an illusion formation that is made to imitate the Light of Binding and a few other phenomena of my volition so that I can keep people guessing?"

As he spoke, resplendent light emerged from the core of the palace. The light illuminated the entirety of the pain palace and spread across the skies.

"…" The Venerable Hollow Knight's expression was low because he indeed recognized this as the Light of Binding, but obviously, it was just light exuding from a powerful illusion formation.

How could it fool his senses?

"What do you mean? Why is there a need to even do that?" He asked with a frown, unable to understand.

Esmond Stavenger sighed loudly.

"When everyone and their father in this realm is wondering when I would cede this realm to the next heir, I want to play with their minds. The peasants think they can trifle and speculate about the affairs of my family, trying to plan to throw their own people into the fray to gain benefits? Ridiculous."

His expression turned condescending as his lips curled. It was as though he was revealing his true nature, causing the Venerable Hollow Knight to finally nod twice.

The Venerable Hollow Knight looked as though expected this behavior from a family that overlooked generation upon generation of commoners. He didn't find this strange as he had seen it time and time again.

However, he found the vacancy in the whole palace strange. Although it wasn't completely abandoned, it appeared quite empty and too clean. Usually, there would be various kinds of evidence in a palace of this nature. However, he could barely sense a trace of human activity.

Even if the owners had left for a resort palace, the servants would surely go about their days or do something stupid, leaving all kinds of everyday small, unnoticed details like a smidge of an aura on the places they touched for a bit more than usual.

His gut feeling was that something happened here, and Esmond Stavenger was hiding it.

He felt like he could not be wrong as he also noticed the Grand Elders behaving in a tense manner.

"Enough talk. If you don't move aside, then you leave me no choice."

The Venerable Hollow Knight widened his brows, his pitch-black eyes staring in a threatening manner.

"Oh, please. The choice to turn around and leave is always there."

Esmond Stavenger shrugged. He looked as though he could no longer bother to feign respect for the Venerable Hollow Knight.

"Then don't blame me for being ruthless."

The Venerable Hollow Knight dropped his hands and took a step forward, rushing towards him. His movement barely made a sound, yet the sheer pressure he emitted sent tremors toward the pristine hall in the palace above. The polished marble stairs cracked as a shadowy force surged outward, distorting the air like a rippling void.

Esmond Stavenger remained still, his expression one of almost amused indifference.

He lazily flicked his fingers, and in an instant, golden runes flared to life around him. The radiant formations pulsed with a refined brilliance, forming a barrier that exuded the power of a Late Stage Empyrean.

*Boom!*

The Venerable Hollow Knight's fist collided with the barrier, sending out a shockwave that rattled the palace walls. The impact left no visible damage, yet the space warped from the sheer force.

"Oh?" Esmond Stavenger arched a brow. "That was quite the heavy strike."

The Venerable Hollow Knight's pitch-black eyes gleamed with cold light. He didn't respond with words—only action. In a swift motion, he twisted his wrist, and a jet-black halberd materialized in his grip, its ominous glow swallowing the surrounding light. With a sharp swing, the weapon carved through the air, releasing an arc of strange energy that aimed to cleave straight through Esmond Stavenger's radiant defense that stemmed from a formation and his power.

However, this energy directly bypassed the barrier, making Esmond Stavenger's eyes go wide.

He hurriedly raised his hands and erupted with a resplendent light, and winds soared high into the skies as he launched himself above.

At the same time, the Venerable Hollow Knight tapped his foot lightly against the ground and launched himself up.

A deep hum echoed as the strange energy that rushed towards the palace abruptly dispersed and reappeared within his hand and crept towards the blade of the halberd.

"What!?"

Esmond Stavenger couldn't recognize this kind of energy and, therefore, couldn't come up with a counterattack. He simply launched all he had toward Heaven's Warrior, erupting with an incredible amount of energy that tested the laws of the layer.

Golden chains roared into existence as his powerful undulations rumbled, made up of his resplendent light energy that stemmed from his family bloodline. These chains shot forward, lashing out with a terrifying speed and aiming to whip the Venerable Hollow Knight into submission.

However, the moment these golden chains made contact with the Venerable Hollow Knight's chest, they simply passed through him.

"…!"

Esmond Stavenger was horrified to witness his attack phase through the Venerable Hollow Knight, almost making him doubt if the other party was a spirit, but even a spirit wouldn't be able to dodge or phase through the Golden Evil Punishing Chains technique created by his ancestors.

It was a Divine Technique that quelled untold troubles, even locking their enemies within the cumulonimbus clouds and leaving them to die.

But now, it turned useless.

The Venerable Hollow Knight phased through the chains and let go of the halberd with one hand, and touched Esmond Stavenger's wrist.

*Boom!~*

A strange force erupted, and the wrist exploded, causing blood to flow. One could see the bones in the arm.

Esmond Stavenger grimaced, but he stared at the Venerable Hollow Knight.

"I know you're strong but not this overpowered. Are all Venerable Knights like that?"

He clenched his teeth as he smiled. Evidently, they had the same prowess, but he lost so easily because his attacks wouldn't damn connect!

Otherwise, he had been confident that he could hold him down for hours!

The Venerable Hollow Knight let go of the hand and raised his halberd, the blade hovering below Esmond Stavenger's neck, "I can see that you're still the Realm Master, so I apologize. However, don't block my path, or I'll show you no mercy even if you're the Realm Master."

"…"