Chapter 2086 – Fate of the Ancient Races ... ... ... “Hahahaha! How fun!” The abyssal demon slashed out his axe once more. Another ancient race man had his neck sliced off. After a moment, only two of the five savages remained. These two savages could clearly feel fear. They began to run in different directions, but how could the abyssal demon chasing them let them go? The abyssal demon hurled two axes, each flying in a different direction and aimed at the back of an ancient race savage! With the abyssal demon’s strength, accomplishing this was easy. However, just as those two savages were about to die, the axes seemed to strike upon some sort of invisible energy wall. With two loud cracking sounds, the axes fell to the ground. Taking advantage of this moment, the two savages wildly fled deep into the forest. “What!?” The abyssal demon that shot out the axes was stunned. Then, he frowned, his complexion darkening. He slowly turned to Lin Ming, derisively sneering as he said, “Are you the one that blocked me?” Lin Ming was silent. Killing intent erupted from the abyssal demon. He didn’t know why Lin Ming would rescue those two pathetic creatures, but at this time, Lin Ming’s lack of explanation and his contemptuous expression caused the abyssal demon to become even more furious. He felt that Lin Ming was intentionally trying to pick a fight and was taunting him. “You are courting death!” The abyssal demon spat out. Hua-la! With a light sound, the five abyssals surrounded Lin Ming. These abyssal demons were all iron claw demons; they were one of the relatively low level abyssals of the Dark Abyss. Their limbs were sturdy and powerful and they were extremely fast. Their claws could freely extend in and out of their bodies and were also sinisterly sharp. At this time, the head abyssal demon no longer used axes. Rather, from between the spaces of his fingers, three foot long claws suddenly popped out. These claws were like icy cold sabers. If an iron claw demon could cultivate to the level of an Empyrean, their claws would be equal to an Empyrean spirit treasure. An iron claw demon that used their claws could display their greatest combat strength. “Kill him.” One of the iron claw demons shouted out loud. However, the head of the iron claw demons waved his hand, motioning for the others not to act rashly. The abyssal demon squinted his eyes and looked Lin Ming up and down, a cold light flashing in his eyes. The abyssal demon was motionless and his followers didn’t move either. The head iron claw demon stared at Lin Ming for a full ten breaths of time. Then, he stretched out his tongue and lightly licked his claws. “Royalty?” The iron claw demon asked Lin Ming. As this question fell into the ears of the other iron claw demons, all of them were startled. From within Lin Ming’s body, this iron claw demon was able to feel a pure demon bloodline. The aura of this kind of demon bloodline would only appear in the bodies of high rank abyssals. Now, the feeling that Lin Ming exuded was like that of a royal abyssal. This was no minor matter. Royal abyssals possessed an extraordinary and lofty status. To kill them for no reason was a capital crime. Moreover, generally speaking, royal abyssals weren’t weak. Wanting to kill one wouldn’t be easy at all. But even so, there were numerous royal abyssals slaughtered every year. The reason for this was that abyssals could devour each other. If an abyssal demon swallowed a royal abyssal, they could obtain a part of that royal abyssal’s bloodline, improving their own body and greatly enhancing their strength! The abyssals were a ruthless and tyrannical race. There was often slaughter within their own race, and in this sort of endless slaughter the abyssals would constantly evolve and transform. Now, facing Lin Ming, this iron claw demon fell into a conundrum. On one hand, he wanted to kill Lin Ming and steal away his royal bloodline. But on the other hand, he feared Lin Ming’s strength. He didn’t know Lin Ming’s background either. If he rashly acted and kicked an iron sheet then that would be stupid of him. The several iron claw demons rapidly spoke with sound transmissions. The opportunity was placed right in front of their eyes and they didn’t want to let it go, but they didn’t think this was safe either. As the iron claw demons discussed the situation amongst themselves, Lin Ming casually lifted his hand. The several abyssals were startled. They didn’t know just what Lin Ming was doing. All they saw was Lin Ming simply cut a finger through the air, and then their eyes blurred as the world turned upside down. Puff! Puff! Puff! Five sharp slicing sounds filled the air. The heads of the five iron claw demons were instantly separated from their bodies. As their giant heads fell onto the ground, they bounced like rubber balls. In their final moments of death, all that filled their faces was utter disbelief. “How... could this...” The head of the iron claw demons could see his own body standing still and growing farther and farther away. His consciousness turned blurry; even now he had no idea how Lin Ming had killed them. But the moment the iron claw demon was about to die, he felt an irresistible strength cover his spiritual sea. Then, a soul-tearing pain wracked his entire being as his spirit mark was forcefully erased by Lin Ming. Lin Ming began using the Magic Cube to read through the memories of these abyssals. He wanted to know everything about why they were hunting the ancient races. These iron claw demons were of a very low level. As Lin Ming read through their memories it was the same as a mortal scholar reading through the well-known texts of the nation. It was rapid and easily understood at a glance. Soon, Lin Ming obtained the information he wanted. The situation was close to what he had guessed, and in truth was even worse than what he had thought! The Dark Abyss had always had people of the ancient races. This even included the number one ancient race of the 33 Heavens – the primal god race. And, these ancient race people came from the great calamity 10 billion years ago, when they were captured and brought here by the abyssals. In the past when the Asura Road Master and Immortal Sovereign laid down the Eternal Wall to isolate the Dark Abyss from the 33 Heavens, these ancient race captives had inevitably been trapped in the Dark Abyss. For all this time, the abyssals raised these ancient race people and transformed these captives. They left behind demon brands in their bodies, turning them into slaves, living furnaces, food, alchemy materials, experimental materials, and so forth. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺 In the great war 10 billion years ago, the destiny of the 33 Heavens’ ancient races had been shattered. Beneath the terrifying existence of the abyssals’ curse, the ancient races began to slowly decline. For instance, even an incredibly powerful race like the primal god race found it increasingly difficult to reproduce. However, within the Dark Abyss, these ancient race captives weren’t affected by this curse. They retained their original ability to reproduce. 10 billion years was enough time for these ancient race captives to multiply and expand. Their population increased by countless times, until they covered every layer of the Dark Abyss. Due to the careful efforts of the abyssals, the bloodlines of these ancient race captives had slowly merged together as one. The abyssals used curse arts, subjugation techniques, slave seals, and so forth to constantly enslave the ancient race descendants. At the same time, the abyssals even planted abyssal control factors in the bloodlines of the ancient races. Slowly, the ancient races became no different than cattle, raised in captivity in large numbers by the abyssals. The abyssals sealed away the intelligence of these ancient race descendants. Then they picked the best among them and let them loose in the wild, turning them into prey. The ancient races had outstanding talent. Even after becoming savages they still retained a formidable combat strength. They were used as hunting targets for low level abyssals. Through killing these ancient race captives, the low level abyssals were able to hone their combat skills. And deeper in the Dark Abyss, there were even some ancient race savages that hadn’t had their intelligence sealed away. They still retained their cultivation ability and even had some crude inheritances. As life forms with intelligence, they were even stronger. But their fate was to be released into the wild mountains and plains to be hunted down by higher level abyssals. Many abyssal influences would organize hunting parties to kill these ancient race descendants. There were even abyssal armies that marched directly into the wilderness and slaughtered massive numbers of ancient race members. To the abyssals, the ancient races were their grinding stone. This was like mortals raising a tiger in a cage. They would throw live chickens to the tiger to eat in order to maintain its wild and fierce nature. And so upon being born, the ancient race descendants who retained their intelligence faced the fate of being hunted down and slaughtered. But with their martial arts civilization ruined it was impossible for them to truly organize to resist the abyssals. In the depths of the Dark Abyss, over these billions of years, many proud children of heaven had emerged from the ranks of the ancient races. They were outstanding individuals with amazing talent and formidable strength. They weren’t willing to accept the fate of being hunted down by abyssals for generation after generation, and organized large influences to resist them. But in the end, all of them were mercilessly suppressed! Ultimately the fate of these proud children of heaven was to be eaten up by the abyssals. After understanding all of this, Lin Ming sighed. He never thought there would be a day when the intelligent life forms of the 33 Heavens would devolve into prey and be recklessly hunted down by others.