Chapter 877: Slaying the God

Before the River God's temple.

Mo Hua's small frame stood opposite the towering, sinister River God, his aura undiminished.

Around him, everything had become ruins—collapsed walls, broken pillars, the temple fallen into decay.

More than half the River God's temple had first been drowned by the River God's infinite Blood River technique, then utterly incinerated by Mo Hua's Divine Mind manifestation of the Li Huo Fu Zhen.

Amid the ruins, only the square where the fish cultivators knelt in worship, and the hall behind the River God, remained intact.

The River God's gaze toward Mo Hua held deep wariness.

Mo Hua's expression remained calm and unafraid, yet he found the situation troublesome, especially this overwhelming "divine technique" of the Blood River.

The River God froze, then his pupils widened in utter horror.

Mo Hua saw at a glance that the fish monster was the River God's true form.

In the center of the offering table sat a translucent fish tank filled entirely with tiny, blood-red fish.

The River God sneered, offering no reply.

Mo Hua immediately reached out to crush the tiny fish between his fingers.

His divine mind shifted, manifesting the Five Elements arts—golden blades, water arrows, fireballs—all lashing out at the surrounding blood-red fish tendrils, severing or incinerating them.

"Divine talent..."

After dozens of rounds of combat, Mo Hua held a slight upper hand, yet could not secure victory—just as the River God had said, he simply could not harm it.

The River God instantly understood what Mo Hua intended to do, and his heart and gallbladder trembled—he screamed:

"Unlike that sword cultivator of old, his divine mind was far weaker than yours, yet his divine mind forged into a sword—its edge was extremely sharp..."

The two children also ceased their transformation.

The River God clashed with Mo Hua—sometimes wielding a bone fish spear coated in blood spikes, sometimes unleashing the Blood River technique to corrode Mo Hua's divine mind.

The River God's body melted into bloodwater, his evil thoughts surging, instantly chasing after Mo Hua.

He had lived so long, seen so many humans, beasts, ghosts, and gods—he had never encountered anyone who surrendered so cleanly, so calmly, and so confidently.

Mo Hua licked his lips. "How can you know unless you try?"

The River God's voice turned cold, laced with faint mockery:

"No need to struggle…"

He looked at Mo Hua, his expression now grave, and spoke slowly in a hoarse voice:

"In the past few centuries, you are the second person to make this Venerable One feel such difficulty."

Inside the hall, crimson silks draped golden canopies, carved beams and painted rafters, lavish and opulent, adorned with skull carvings and pearls forged from blood-evil thoughts.

There was nothing edible either.

In the center of the hall stood an altar.

Mo Hua turned the entire altar upside down—found nothing of value.

The sword's shape was crude, like an unfinished blade, yet the divine mind within it was extremely sharp, brimming with lethal intent.

Mo Hua sighed, then without another word, turned and ran.

"Even if turned into an evil ghost, it would be grievously wounded—no match for me."

Which damn, thousand-times-deserved god had told this wretched, deserving-of-ten-thousand-cuts brat about the divine taboos?!

A sharp golden light pierced through with unmatched precision, directly stabbing through the River God's chest.

The River God dissolved into a river of blood and vanished instantly.

"The first was a sword cultivator."

Mo Hua looked at the River God, so close he could touch him, and suddenly smiled brilliantly. "... I can forge divine mind into a sword too."

Mo Hua stood before the altar, smiling sharply at the River God.

The square held the River God's worshippers—the foundation of his preaching.

At the altar's center stood a statue of the River God, cast in Jin Shi, identical to the River God himself—but atop its head were grafted two goat horns, grotesquely unnatural.

Mo Hua stared again at the River God.

Then they witnessed an even more unbelievable sight…

Including Yu Dahe's two children, and Gu An, Gu Quan, and others—they gradually awoke from their nightmares…

Just like the sword thrust by the sword cultivator centuries ago.

From afar, he saw the temple's originally sealed main doors had been forcibly torn open—a hole just large enough for a child to crawl through.

And his feint-and-strike tactic, destroying the altar outright, proved he was not ignorant of the Path of the Gods.

Mo Hua struggled, but the fish tendrils were entwined with the evil thoughts of the Great Wilderness God—unyieldingly strong, binding Mo Hua tightly.

A massive cloud of blood mist erupted violently outward.

"But even if his sword intent was stronger, he was still merely a 'human'—unable to change the fragility of his divine consciousness."

Then he kicked over the offering table, turned and kicked the River God statue down, even leapt onto its head and snapped off its two goat horns.

The River God's divine body began to twist and warp.

The divine mind-formed sword qi shredded the blood-evil thoughts within his chest into fragments.

The fish cultivators, just awakened from their nightmares, were filled with panic, their expressions uncertain and alarmed.

After a moment's thought, he suddenly felt a shudder of dread and exclaimed:

Then without hesitation, he charged forward again, battling the River God once more.

At the same moment, a point of piercing golden light suddenly appeared.

This "dragon palace," however, was thick with blood, littered with white bones—too much like the netherworld.

"But you are different…"

Mo Hua sighed, turned to leave—then his eye caught a tiny, blood-stained fish swimming out from within the statue.

The taboos of the Path of the Divine are known only among the Divine themselves; what mortals know is but a drop in the ocean.

The River God, severed by the Divine Mind-Sword, slowly dissolved into a pool of thick, viscous blood.

Upon hearing this, Mo Hua ceased struggling, as if giving up resistance.

The River God was too far away to stop him in time; he could only watch helplessly as Mo Hua wreaked havoc, turning the entire altar into a shattered mess in moments.

And for ordinary cultivators, even ordinary Sword Cultivators who wield Divine Mind-Swords, encountering such true Divine-level "spiritual arts" offers not the slightest chance of survival.

"Then I shall devour every living being—humans and beasts alike—swelling my Divine Mind, then slowly torment you, little brat, swallowing you alive and tearing you apart…"

Moreover, it stirred up a malevolent thought that did not belong to it.

The faint remnants of malevolent qi were not even enough to fill his teeth; Mo Hua didn't even deign to notice them.

"You cannot break my Divine Body; within my Nightmare, you are powerless against me."

So far, he and this giant fish-head are evenly matched; truly defeating it does not seem easy at all.

At this moment, they knelt devoutly before the River God statue, two special blood-fish drifting in their minds, seemingly "assimilating" the two children.

"His Divine Mind is too extreme—Divine Mind as Sword, Mind is Sword; thus his sword can wound me, but I can also easily cripple him."

"But even if your Divine Mind is strong, your killing power falls far short of that ancient Sword Cultivator."

"You wish to ruin my sacred ground, sever my roots, extinguish my Divine Path…"

Even with arrays, the effect was minimal.

Mo Hua's heart tightened; he sensed danger and instantly transformed into flowing water, rushing to the front hall's plaza.

"How dare you!?"

Mo Hua moved with extreme speed.

The River God statue toppled, the offering table overturned, the glass tank shattered, the sinister offerings spilled across the ground, and as the nightmare collapsed, they twisted and dissolved into wisps of malevolent qi.

But this spiritual art was smaller in scale, condensing only within a few zhang around it into a river of crimson malevolent thought, to restrict Mo Hua's attacks.

The ancient Sword Cultivator of old must have broken this Blood River spiritual art too.

"Is there a possibility…"

When he reached the plaza's front, he saw it bathed in blood.

"The Main Hall!"

There was no Divine Marrow.

The fish-head's body swelled and shrank like a tumor, expanding and contracting uncontrollably.

He had not anticipated that Mo Hua's audacity was so great, his nature so cunning!

It stared at Mo Hua, trembling with rage.

The River God's chest was pierced by a pale golden sword aura.

The Divine Mind was powerful, fused with pale golden Divine Marrow—it was a true "Divine" sword.

This malevolent thought was extremely familiar to Mo Hua; he had even "eaten" it before.

But when Mo Hua traced the cause and effect, he saw nothing.

Mo Hua was stunned, then an idea surfaced in his mind:

"... I wonder if I can learn it?"

This "collective nightmare" was constructed by the River God but sustained by the fisher-cultivators' faith.

No matter how Mo Hua struggled, he could not break free.

With no master to hold it, the entire River God Temple shook violently and began to collapse.

Now that the altar was destroyed and the nightmare lost its root, once the fisher-cultivators awoke and escaped the nightmare, they would inevitably shake its foundation.

The altar's carvings were ancient and simple, its furnishings luxurious, solemn and dignified.

This shocking scene struck the hearts of all fisher-cultivators, filling them with terror that lingered long without calming.

It must have been that during the battle, the clash of Divine Minds was too violent, obscuring cause and effect—so when I traced it, I only caught a fleeting glimpse, unable to see the actual combat.

Mo Hua suddenly realized something, his fist glowing with Jin Guang, and struck out; the River God blocked it with a crimson demonic claw.

As if awakening from a nightmare, hazy awareness returned; gradually, they regained some consciousness, and simultaneously, began to slip free of the dream.

But there was no pale golden Divine Marrow.

A young cultivator wrapped in pale golden light, wielding a golden Divine Sword, dragged the River God onto a platform, pressed his left hand on the River God's head, and with his right hand, brought the sword down—cutting a blinding streak of golden light—and cleanly severed the River God's head.

The River God unleashed the Infinite Blood River spiritual art, flooding over half the River God Temple, yet two places remained untouched: the plaza and the Main Hall.

But it did not believe it.

This pool of blood was formed from malevolent thought.

First, his guess was correct.

Is this… the River God?!

One by one, the fisher-cultivators' figures faded away.

Not only was his Divine Mind absurdly powerful, but his mind was also devious and cunning.

Beneath the River God statue stood an offering table.

The altar was the key to everything.

Death and peril loomed before him, even more terrifying than the sword strike from centuries ago.

Their gazes, still filled with dread, turned toward the monstrous creature at the center—the River God.

The River God held the same thought.

At first, the River God paid no heed; then, seeing Mo Hua's escape direction—the plaza where the fisher-cultivators knelt—his eyes flashed with lethal intent.

"... Your Divine Mind is extremely powerful; your Divine Mind combat experience is rich; your Divine Mind techniques are endless—you can manifest spells, and even such profound arrays…"

Mo Hua frowned, pondered briefly, then admitted frankly:

The entire River God Temple seemed to tremble slightly.

At the brink of life and death, Little Fish thrashed wildly, flinging off all the filthy, bloody water from its body, revealing its silver-white form.

This little demon had used some method to conceal its aura—it was feigning one direction while striking another.

"Where did it go?"

He's trying to rob the place!

"This altar… how so poor?"

"You resemble a 'god' more than a 'human.'"

Mo Hua's figure flashed forward, appearing before it; his left hand pressed against its shoulder, his right hand gripping the Spirit-Perception Sword, thrusting sharply downward.

The nightmare also began to collapse faster.

The River God struggled backward, trying to put distance between himself and Mo Hua, trying to escape from this "Little King of Hell" wielding the Golden Sword.

But before he could fully manifest, several blood-red fish tendrils erupted violently from the ground, piercing his calves, then binding Mo Hua tightly and hoisting him up before the River God.

At this moment, Mo Hua stood before the altar, stroking his small chin, thinking quietly, nodding slightly.

But a swordsman's sword is silver.

"Your spirit-perception is both offensive and defensive, too perfectly balanced—even when I used my divine power, I couldn't kill you, yet conversely, you can't touch me either…"

But it's not yet ready to be refined.

"So he can severely wound me, but you cannot!"

Mo Hua guessed he still had some time, so he turned back to the main hall and arrived before the altar.

That elder must have received the Grand Void Gate's True Transmission of Sword Transformation, and after decades of relentless sword-path refinement, gained such spirit-perception power to directly confront a god.

This young cultivator, though young, is cunning and strange—every word out of his mouth cannot be trusted.

But the River God never flooded the main hall—surely because something within the hall is as vital as, or even more vital than, the foundation of its cult.

Mo Hua was somewhat tempted.

With the speed of a thunderclap before one can cover one's ears, he snatched up the glass fish tank and smashed it violently to the ground, crushing each bloodfish inside underfoot.

The River God's eyes were now entirely crimson.

"You crafty little beast!!"

Mo Hua thought: Just as expected.

The River God's evil thoughts continuously leaked outward; its entire divine body, like a deflated balloon, gradually withered and finally returned to its original form.

Even a cultivator who transforms spirit-perception into a sword—unless his sword intent has reached the pinnacle—would likely perish if he encountered such a powerful Blood River divine art.

Mo Hua waved his hand casually; a pale golden light flashed, coalescing into golden threads that effortlessly severed every resilient evil fish tendril before him!

Great terror surged in the River God's eyes.

The altar had been destroyed.

The two children seemed to be undergoing "transformation"—blood-red fish gills sprouted on their cheeks, blue fish scales grew on their skin, and their limbs showed signs of finning, slowly turning into two "Little River Children."

A deformed fish monster, with a bloated fish head, a demon-like body, entirely blood-red skin, thick fish tendrils like tentacles spreading around, bound numerous fish cultivators and sucked their spirit-perception from them.

Vast, transformative, god-tier spirit-perception surged entirely into Mo Hua's right hand, compressing and condensing, forging into an extremely thick, extremely refined sword shape.

The River God's heart bled.

Rage surged into his heart; the River God's evil thoughts boiled, the blood-red hue on his robes darkening to black.

At the moment the altar was destroyed and the glass fish tank shattered, the bloodfish demons within the minds of Yu Dahe's two sons, like fish pulled from water, withered and died within mere breaths.

The fish cultivators drained by the River God's tendrils also broke free from its grasp.

But it was too late.

Like a divine sword forged from the immense spirit-perception of a powerful god!

A speck of divine essence merged into the sword, sharpening its edge.

A moment later, his clear voice sounded again.

But after chasing for a long time, all the way to the square's front, Mo Hua's figure was nowhere to be seen.

The River God, enraged, his beard and hair bristling, immediately reversed the Blood River, rushing back to the main hall's entrance at greater speed.

The River God's eyelid twitched.

Like a small dragon palace beneath the river.

Great Wilderness Evil God…

Divine Art!

These two words sounded incredibly majestic!

If I learned it, wouldn't I truly become as powerful as a god?

Seeing that Mo Hua understood, the River God smiled faintly, revealing his sharp white fangs.

The River God had never anticipated that Mo Hua could conceal himself as well.

This was the altar he had painstakingly built over centuries—yet in the blink of an eye, it was utterly destroyed.

"So since you entered the dream, I have already been invincible."

Mo Hua seized the chance to retreat, creating distance, and said irritably:

The River God flew into a rage and stormed into the main hall.

"Had I not outclassed him, I nearly fell into his hands."

"Little demon, trying to ruin my sacred ground?!"

Mo Hua frowned; his expression was solemn, then he gritted his teeth, focusing intently, seemingly preparing to form a large array to combat the River God.

But Mo Hua's sword is golden.

When close, he fights with fists and feet; at distance, he restrains with spells, occasionally manifesting a few arrays to explode against the River God.

They were forcibly expelled from the nightmare.

It had been sufficiently wary, yet it never imagined today it would encounter such an outrageous little human brat.

It was due to rage, and also because the "Nightmare" had shattered, shaking its origin.

"Even if your divine thought is strong, it has become rootless floating weeds—either you die and your spirit perishes, or you fall into corruption, becoming a demon…"

"I surrender, I'm done playing—can you let me out?"

"Centuries ago, he came alone here, one man, one sword, seeking to exterminate my lineage. His sword art was profound and unfathomable, his sword intent piercing beyond measure…"

Yet the River God's power was gradually strengthening, his fish whiskers thickening bit by bit, and his malevolent thoughts inching toward their peak.

"You're stalling for time?"

On the altar sat an array of fresh fish offerings—upon closer inspection, all were made of human flesh and bone.

Beneath the altar knelt two children—Yu Dahe's two sons.

Mo Hua frowned, but time was limited; he took a deep breath and swallowed the River God's malevolent thoughts entirely.

This little demon has quite the thick skin.

The River God's eyes widened slightly, filled with a hint of awe.

The River God furrowed his strange eyebrows.

A fish that slipped through the net?

"Alright…"

He might even know an extraordinary amount.

The River God's head was severed by Mo Hua's divine thought turned sword.

"You are human—you have a physical body. All I need do is keep you trapped in this dream until your outside body rots away, or meets with accident and perishes…"

To eradicate evil, one must finish the task thoroughly; to expel malevolence, one must treat the root.

But there were too many fish whiskers—Mo Hua simply could not cut them all.

The great hall's door was tightly shut; he had never entered, so he did not know what lay inside.

"Die and your spirit perishes—you'll be left to fend for yourself."

The fishermen's gazes gradually cleared.

Yet he knew he was not a true "deity"—this divine ability, being an innate talent, likely could not be learned through cultivation.

Meanwhile, in the square, the fishermen kneeling before the River God saw the bloodfish in their minds die one by one, drained of water.

"This is… true divine power."

"I told you—your divine thought is strong, but too balanced. Everything is strong, yet nothing reaches absolute extremity."

Mo Hua naturally had nothing to fear.

The River God's expression was cold.

The River God's voice was hoarse and twisted, his expression grotesque and terrifying.

What a pity…

The awakened fishermen staggered in terror, struggling and fleeing in all directions.

Since neither side could gain the upper hand, Mo Hua decided to investigate further—he feigned fleeing toward the square, then used a concealment technique to secretly return, break open the great hall's door, and enter the River God's true "home," where he saw the true altar.

A little silver fish?

Mo Hua paused, a flicker of surprise crossing his face—but seeing that the tiny silver fish bore no blood-taint or demonic corruption, he spared its life out of compassion.

The trembling little silver fish nodded repeatedly at Mo Hua, as if bowing in thanks, then shot away in a flash of silver light, vanishing into the depths, no one knowing where it swam.