Rise of the Alchemy God

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The death of their companion was so sudden and swift that the remaining nine rulers took a moment to process what had just happened.

"What... I didn't even see him make a move," one of them thought, but similar thoughts filled the minds of the others as they tried to comprehend what they had just witnessed.

On the other hand, Ethan paid them no attention. He simply absorbed the sphere of demonic Qi he had condensed from the demon he had just slain.

Ding!

[You have gained +331 STR]

[You have gained +110 AGI]

[You have gained +75 INT]

[You have gained +50 Soul Strength]

Observing the disparity in the stat points he had gained, Ethan could roughly deduce the demon's abilities.

Not that he needed to. Even a brief inspection had already told him much about it.

Seeing the low INT statistic he had acquired, he thought the demon was probably all brawn and no brains.

While immersed in absorbing the demonic Qi, the other rulers, initially caught off guard, quickly regained their composure. Without hesitation, eight of them launched a combined attack at the figure above.

Earlier, they might have underestimated this unwelcome spectator. However, after witnessing such a grand display of power, none dared take him lightly.

With a nod, all but one of them charged at him, unleashing their most potent attacks.

None of them held back, nor could they afford to.

They weren't sure what had happened to their companion, but if the other party could eliminate one of them with such ease, then it was best to eliminate him as swiftly as possible, leaving him no chance to counterattack.

BOOOM!

The combined force of eight beings at the peak of the mortal rank was no small thing. In an instant, a massive explosion erupted, obliterating everything within a radius of several leagues.

The power of this attack was akin to that of a large-scale nuclear bomb. The explosion's radius spanned several miles, with the shockwave propagating at least another dozen miles.

Needless to say, any living being near the area was instantly annihilated by the attack.

The eight demons, hovering in the air and observing the aftermath of their combined assault, couldn't help but frown. One of them asked with a serious expression:

"He should be dead, right? There's no way anyone could survive an attack like that," said the demon resembling a black skeleton clad in a cloak.

The others nodded, thinking the same thing. Then, one of them, frowning deeply, glanced in another direction and asked:

"Guǐ Yàn, why on earth did you stay back?" He clearly wasn't pleased with the ninth demon ruler, who had refrained from joining the attack.

The demon named Guǐ Yàn didn't look at the speaker. Instead, he directed his gaze toward the area where the attack had been launched and calmly said:

"Because none of us are strong enough to fight him, so there's no point in me attacking," he said with a steady voice, as if what he had just declared was nothing alarming.

Hearing his words, all eyes turned toward the explosion site, as if searching for something, or, in this case, someone.

None of them doubted what their colleague had said, as among them, he was the strongest, second only to their ancestor in terms of power.

If he said they were no match for the human, then they likely weren't.

Seeing no one, they wondered if Guǐ Yàn had been mistaken. The demon who had spoken before said:

"Maybe. But there's no way he can escape that attack unscathed, right?" he asked, but his colleague remained silent, continuing to stare in the attack's direction.
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At that moment, while they all wondered whether or not they had succeeded, a calm voice sounded from behind them.

As soon as they heard the voice, a chill ran through them. They turned their gazes toward it and there he was.

The human they had just attacked now stood in midair with the same bored expression as before, calmly looking at them.

No matter how they examined him, they couldn't find a single injury, not even a scratch. Coupling this with what Guǐ Yàn had just said, all of them lost their fighting spirit.

"H-How is this possible? He can't be this strong, can he? Unless..."

Realization dawned upon them one by one as they began looking at the human with terror on their faces.

"Could it be..."

All of them simultaneously wondered if the human before them had already severed his mortal ties and ascended to the spiritual rank.

This realization hit them like a bucket of cold water. They understood their situation was far worse than they had anticipated.

Even if they were mistaken, based on what they had already seen, it was clear that none of them stood a chance against him.

At this point, they could only hope their ancestor would awaken soon. Unfortunately for them, fate wasn't so kind.

"Well, I wasn't expecting much, but your attack was rather disappointing," Ethan said as he looked at the eight demon rulers in the air, as if they were already walking corpses.

Hearing these words, none of them wasted any time. They immediately tried to flee. However, the moment they made even the slightest movement, they felt their entire beings freeze in midair, as an oppressive force struck all of them.

"Why is it that every one of you always tries to escape after the first attack? Do you really have such low self-esteem?" he asked with a displeased tone.

Even the two demons he had encountered on the beast continent had opted to flee the moment he arrived. And now, these ones too.

It wasn't that he didn't understand why, but knowing how these creatures had caused chaos and destruction in the celestial plane for so long, he had expected more from them. Yet, so far, every demon he had met was more cowardly than the last.

Hearing Ethan's words, the demons wanted to cry, thinking:

'Low self-esteem? What else are we supposed to do against a monster like you?!'

The demon resembling a black skeleton in a cloak, realizing how precarious their situation had become, hesitated no longer and immediately channeled his demonic Qi toward his forehead.

'Who would've thought I'd have to resort to this so soon,' he thought.

On his forehead, where there had been nothing before, Some symbols began to appear.

As they absorbed the flow of demonic Qi, they started to glow, and in an instant, the demon's entire figure disintegrated.

Seeing this scene, Ethan's expression lit up as his gaze shifted toward a certain direction.

"What an interesting technique," he thought, as his vision instantly spanned hundreds of miles and locked onto what appeared to be a cave.