Chapter 95

Two temple gods?

How could there be the aura of two temple gods?!

In front of the lord's manor, the four people facing off were all momentarily shocked.

They hadn't spoken to each other, eyes flickering beneath their masks.

The temple god aura rising in the distance is mixed with surging and terrifying qi and blood, while the temple god aura within the lord's manor is comparatively pure—a rampant, intertwining divine aura wave that carries strong rank suppression.

It should be said, both strands of temple god aura possess strong rank suppression.

But the erupting temple god aura in the distance seems to have merged with the blood qi possessed by extremely hot-tempered qi-blood martial artists.

Like an invincible violent dragon stretching its body, bones roaring in unison, howling at heaven and earth.

What's going on?

Infant Spirit Dharma Master narrowed his eyes: "Cao Guang didn't say... only worship one temple god? How did another temple god aura appear?"

One city worships two temples? Are they treating temple gods like monkeys to play with?

If there are two temple gods within Fēiléichéng...

Too dangerous!

This does not conform to the expected plan!

Li Qingshan was also extremely shocked, gripping a goat horn hammer, his brows beneath the cat-face mask furrowed into the shape of the character for 'river'.

The situation has changed.

He had already begun to hesitate whether to run away.

Two temple gods... he probably will be beaten to death, right?

In Cao Guang's plan, the Thousand Buddha Carving Feast even wanted to push this Ten Capital Guiyi Miao in Fēiléichéng up to the Nine Luminaries level.

That would be a Nine Luminaries-level temple god...

If not at peak condition, they might not be able to win.

Furthermore, another abruptly appearing temple god, completely outside the plan...

Li Qingshan's front foot already exerted force, preparing to flee.

Experts of the Corpse God Sect wearing big-nose and big-eye masks also intended to retreat.

The Infant Spirit Dharma Master had even turned around, lifting the hem of that large red robe, small and wobbling, about to slip away.

…… => none.

…… => none.

Inside the lord's manor.

A rich smell of blood intertwined, within an enormous secret chamber.

Cao Guang knelt sitting in the center, wearing a white robe, his hair disheveled; on the ground, patterns were carved with a wooden disc, flowing with bright red blood, and all around were placed Infant Spirit wood carvings of various postures.

These wood carvings all came from the hands of the wood carving masters of Fēiléichéng.

They were all commissioned by Cao Guang after he spent a great deal of money.

But Cao Guang's money... isn't so easy to come by?

Cao Guang clapped his palms together forcefully, reciting words—these are some obscure phrases from the Three-Eyed Wrathful True Lord Divine Foundation Method.

More like a sacrificial chant.

His expression was devout and reverent, as if he had offered up his soul, displayed his faith, merely to exchange for power, to obtain transformation.

At the same time.

Throughout Fēiléichéng, all the wood carving masters who had carved wood for the Thousand Buddha Carving Feast only felt a buzz in their heads, then lost all their will, as if they had seen a deity, their faith stripped away.

They were like walking corpses, unconsciously walking out of the house, kneeling on the rain-washed bluestone ground, arms spread open, extremely devout.

Strands of divinity, like thin snakes, wandered out from these wood carving masters' bodies, twisting and turning, like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, swiftly wandering toward the lord's manor.

Inside the lord's manor.

Cao Qingyuan's hairs stood on end, he stepped back several paces, standing outside, not daring to set foot inside at all.

But his heart also burned with fervor, the power of the temple god...

This could be the opportunity for his Divine Foundation cultivation to break through to the Middle Realm.

If relying on his own cultivation, who knows how long it would take to accumulate; even in this lifetime, hope would be slim.

Relying on the temple god's power is the simplest and most direct method.

Just like his father, who had already given up on breaking through to a higher realm with his own talent, intending to rely on the temple god's power.

The Guiyi Miao appearing in the mortal world is, for many cultivators who have reached a dead end, a glimmer of hope.

Able to reach heights previously unattainable.

As for the price that must be paid...

What needs to be sacrificed...

What does it have to do with these cultivators?

The dead are nothing more than common folk like pigs and dogs.

Cao Qingyuan retreated to the entrance, also somewhat devout, he longed for the temple god's power.

Worship the god!

Worship the god!

Using the blood and divinity of a thousand Infant Spirits, plus a thousand wood carvings—since they are the painstaking works of the wood carving masters, although they are not divine wood carvings, divine essence can still be drawn from the wood carving masters through the Infant Spirit wood carvings.

These... are all offerings!

God, it's time to wake up!

Boom—

Above the firmament, it seemed as if a thunderclap exploded with a deafening boom.

In the City Lord's Mansion's secret chamber, the floor began to collapse and shatter; countless dust particles floated up, like fragments ground into gravel, flying nonstop in the sweeping gale.

Cao Guang opened his eyes; a vertical line appeared on his brow, and his white robe began to bleed, spot after spot.

He kept retreating, his face showing satisfaction.

"The Thousand Infant Carving Sacrifice is complete!"

"The Temple God has accepted our offering!"

The words fell.

The whole secret chamber's scene began to change with a deafening roar; countless flying gravel began to pile up, and the scene that piled up turned out to be exactly the same layout and structure as the Guiyi Miao of the Three-Eyed Wrathful True Lord Spirit Infant outside the city!

Moreover, there was an altar, and countless flickering red candles, as well as the statue of the Three-Eyed Wrathful True Lord Spirit Infant Temple God seated upon the altar!

However, this temple god statue trembled slightly, as if about to stand up.

But he seemed a little weak, unable to rise to his feet.

A pair of eyes flowed with unmatched wrath, and the third eye on his brow emitted a faint glow.

Everything around was changing.

Cao Qingyuan only felt an invisible wave spreading; the secret chamber was like a two-sided puzzle, and as it flipped, the pattern and form transformed!

Or rather, the Guiyi Miao was slowly suppressing… the City Lord's Mansion!

And Cao Guang knelt before that temple god statue.

The vertical line on his brow shone brightly, and the blood color on his robe grew ever richer.

"Temple God, please descend to the mortal realm."

"With my body, I shall become a divine body!"

"Awaken——"

Cao Guang spread his arms, his face devout, his white robes completely turned to blood-red, extremely glaring.

Cao Qingyuan was utterly horrified, and saw that on the temple god's wooden carving, bit by bit of black qi seeped out, a terrifying divine-rank aura that almost froze his inner divinity, intertwining and spreading in all directions.

Plop!

Sweat beaded on his forehead; Cao Qingyuan realized for the first time that the way of worshipping and inviting gods could be like this.

His father Cao Guang actually intended to use his own fleshly body to suppress the temple god's wooden carving, letting the temple god descend into his body……

This…… is utterly mad!

This is what Cao Guang had in mind—not only to break through the Post-Divine Foundation Realm, but also to use this as a means to charge into the Divine Aspect Realm?!

But once the temple god occupies his fleshly body, is Cao Guang…… still Cao Guang?

Flesh and blood corroded by the temple god's power…… would ultimately become a Xiejwei like a Temple-Guarding Corpse?

It's far too dangerous—like trying to take a tiger's skin while walking on a steel wire!

But Cao Qingyuan could not dissuade his father; the Thousand Buddha Carving Feast and this sacrifice, Cao Guang had prepared for too long—it was the sole glimmer of hope he saw on his desperate path, impossible to turn back over just a few words.

Cao Qingyuan dared not even breathe, staring at the scene of black qi flowing from the temple god's wooden carving and pouring into Cao Guang's body.

His body trembled slightly.

Who knows how long passed……

The black qi from the temple god's wooden carving surged entirely into Cao Guang's fleshly body; only to see his fleshly body covered in dense black tadpole marks, writhing and spreading all the way to the vertical line on his brow.

Then, the vertical line split open……

As if it had suddenly opened its eyes.

The third eye, open!

Within the eye was only crimson, endless crimson, like a red-hot branding iron.

A look of pain appeared on Cao Guang's face.

"Wrong…… not right……"

"Ah…… why…… divinity? The temple god's divinity?! Where is the power, where is the power I want?!"

Cao Guang covered his face, countless tadpole marks writhing.

Divinity…… so weak he almost thought the temple god descending into his body was merely a counterfeit with a nature like a river!

With this bit of temple god divinity, what can it even do?!

What can it even do?!

Cao Guang growled repeatedly, filled with wrath, unwillingness, despair, and bewilderment!

It shouldn't be like this!

Suddenly, Cao Guang's face became extremely angry and sensitive, like a child whose self-esteem had been poked, his voice turning shrill and sharp.

"Shut up!"

"Ah——!"

"You're not allowed to speak!"

Boom——!

Cao Guang screamed, his hair flying wildly, the tadpole marks on his body writhing rapidly, the crimson of his third eye growing ever richer!

At the same time.

In the direction of the Xu Family Manor, a temple god's divinity also shot up to the heavens, as if a second temple god had descended.

Cao Guang's eyes became extremely wrathful and mad, his will completely suppressed.

As if he were a cultivator whose will had been utterly eroded by wrathful divinity.

"Thief…… thief……"

"Ah ah ah——the thief who pats the head!"

Boom!

Cao Guang, incarnated as the temple deity, roared, instantly turning into a bloody stream of light and charging out of the Guiyi Miao that had occupied the City Lord's Mansion at terrifying speed.

Pfft!

Cao Qingyuan, lying at the door, was suddenly hit; his divine nature almost burst out of his body, and his divine foundation could barely hold, on the verge of exploding.

He collapsed on the ground, gasping heavily; his Nine Luminaries Lower Grade Furious Maitreya divine nature had no resistance before the temple deity's rank.

This is…… an invincible temple deity of the same rank?

But Cao Qingyuan, disheveled, staggered to his feet.

"Oh no…… something seems to have gone wrong……"

Cao Qingyuan wiped the blood bleeding from his mouth and nose; his face kept changing color.

Then he ran toward the treasury of the City Lord's Mansion.

……

……

Li Che felt the terrifying power surging within his flesh.

His condition was excellent!

Better than ever!

It was as if his flesh had broken through a human limit, the shackles binding his blood and flesh snapping!

After crushing the temple deity's divine nature chess piece, his flesh in the Ascendant Tower state seemed to grow ever more excited; with each breath, the temple deity's divine power fully merged into his body.

Just as a car needs fuel, the temple deity's divine nature is like fuel……

He could even mobilize the temple deity's divine nature to unleash attacks.

"In the Ascendant Tower state, the fusion of flesh and divine nature is actually this perfect…… even more harmonious than imagined."

Li Che felt the transformation, even more amazed by the merging of flesh and divine nature in the Ascendant Tower.

Because martial arts of qi and blood and divine cultivation are incompatible.

Qi and blood martial arts mainly strengthen the flesh to resist divine erosion, yet divine power and qi and blood are separate forces.

But now, in the Ascendant Tower state, the temple deity's divine nature and flesh are almost perfectly fused.

If he employs a martial technique, he can also unleash a burst fused with divine nature!

Thus, even a casual punch from him is a divine technique, a divine technique sourced from the temple deity's divine nature!

Although not lasting, as the temple god's divinity is exhausted, he will be unable to maintain the Ascending Tower state.

The so-called Ascending Tower is like stepping on the god's power, step by step toward greater heights!

"So… the stronger the temple god's divinity, the greater the power gained from Ascending Tower?"

Li Che fell into thought.

"It seems… later it will be necessary to visit a higher-ranked Guiyi Miao."

"The temple god's divinity…"

"Just suck it in and it's there."

Dark clouds piled up, gloomy, and the falling rain pattered onto the blood-soaked ground.

Old Master Xu died.

As he lamented before death, you're using a butcher's knife to kill a chicken.

Faced with Li Che's terrifying transformation upon activating the Ascending Tower state, Old Master Xu had a clear understanding of his own identity and position.

Li Che merely flicked out a spear, relying solely on his physical strength, without even using the temple god's power—like driving a car in neutral without pressing the accelerator… the terrifying force utterly shattered Old Master Xu's five viscera and six bowels, blasted his divine foundation, and obliterated his vitality.

Besides the suppression from rank, Li Che also felt the tremendous strength of his body tempering.

Perhaps his qi and blood level had barely reached the divine meridian tier, but his bodily strength was far greater.

His internal qi also turned blood-red, extremely violent and overbearing.

"I wonder how it compares to the true qi of a qi-and-blood grandmaster?"

Li Che shook his head, no longer pondering these matters.

He lifted his head, a faint golden smoke swirling in his pupils, calmly gazing into the distance.

That was the direction of the lord's manor.

Just as the Three-Eyed Spirit Infant temple god sensed him, he likewise sensed the temple god's presence.

His black, lustrous hair flowing down to his waist like a cloak, Li Che felt the surging Ascending Tower state, his whole body ablaze with a hazy crimson internal qi robe, each major tendon twitching like coiling dragons, as he twisted his neck, the great dragon of his spine seemed to roar.

Just in time…

The Xu family's old geezer was too fragile, shattering at a touch.

He was a bit lacking in strength.

Just right, he also wanted to personally feel… just how strong the temple god's power is?

Boom—!

A crimson ray shot forth from afar at high speed, countless raindrops along its path exploding on impact, shattering into fragments, becoming a misty spray!

With a dull thud, the long street's surface instantly sank, radiating spiderweb cracks continually expanding, causing the pooled water on the ground to gurgle and roll.

Twisted crimson divinity, like radioactive effulgence, continually poured forth.

On Cao Guang's exposed skin, writhing tadpole-like markings covered it, the third eye on his forehead, furrowed and wide open, a sheet of blood‑red crimson.

"Thief…"

A sharp voice issued from Cao Guang's throat, like that of a boy undergoing voice change, the sound furious and shrill!

Li Che wore a cute ox mask, his stature stalwart and tall, his inverted‑triangle back resembling a devil's visage as he gazed at the Cao Guang that was not Cao Guang…

Li Che laughed: "Oh, it's you."

"Thief——!"

Cao Guang screamed, his body suddenly pressing down, with him as the center, a ten-meter radius of heaven and earth fell into a terrifying state, the raindrops seeming to boil and jump on a scorching pan surface, like bouncing beads.

Come, touch.

Li Che smiled.

As the words fell, he spread his five fingers and fiercely wiped forward.

Instantly, the remaining seven temple god divine nature chess pieces floated up, hovering before him like seven tiny black holes.

Just after crushing one, he used another to refine the temple god divine nature impact on the Three-Eyed Furious True Monarch's divine foundation.

The remaining seven were all Li Che had left to survive.

The temple god's scream cut off abruptly.

As if someone had choked its throat.

……

……

The lord's manor had completely become ruins, and within the ruins……

A strange temple exuding strong temple god aura grew out, as if breaking through the earth, appearing inside the city.

Spiderweb-like cracks spread from the strange temple as center, like the branches of a vast heavenly tree extending in all directions across the city.

"Feilei City is done……"

"This Cao Guang…… is truly ruthless, completely disregarding the lives of Feilei City's populace; perhaps…… in his eyes, commoners are no different from pigs and dogs."

Li Qingshan, wearing a cat-face mask, narrowed his eyes.

The strange temple moved into the city; the whole city will be infected by the temple god's divine nature, and if not left for long, all will become temple god evil spirits, becoming corpse guardians of the temple.

This is why the major clans of the city, upon learning that Lord Cao Guang would hold the Thousand Buddha Sculpture Feast, planned to profit and thus decided to relocate away from Feilei City.

And Cao Guang had obtained the temple god's power, even able to command these corpse guardians.

Initially, Cao Guang intended to sacrifice not just a thousand spirit children, but the entire Feilei City!

"Things worse than pigs and dogs!"

Even Li Qingshan couldn't help but turn livid with anger, cursing aloud.

But in reality, this is the overall state of the remote border cities of Dàjǐng nowadays; cultivators, to gain power from the strange temples, employ every possible means.

Moreover, various sects secretly stir up turmoil.

In this world, the common folk suffer greatly.

The two experts of the Corpse God Sect, as well as the Spirit Infant Sect's Spirit Infant Dharma Master, all focused their gaze.

Under the mask, the Spirit Infant Dharma Master's face was extremely excited: 'Success, success……'

"But how is it that the two temple gods are fighting?"

"Near Feilei City…… there is only one strange temple; where does another temple god come from?"

The Spirit Infant Dharma Master was utterly bewildered.

Not only him, but Li Qingshan and the Corpse God Sect's experts were also very puzzled.

Boom!

When Cao Guang bore the temple god, his will controlled by the temple god, he shot out from the ruined lord's manor, transforming into a blood serpent that pierced the sky and rushed toward the distance.

Several people's eyes flickered, feeling an urge to stir, wanting to go watch the show.

"Temple god conflict?"

"A once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity…… where did this intruding temple god come from?"

Li Qingshan grinned, the feeling of eating melons welling up.

But after thinking, he suppressed that feeling, his gaze sweeping over as he hefted the horn-splitting-heaven hammer in his hand.

Then his gaze fell upon the two Corpse God Sect experts and the Spirit Infant Dharma Master.

Beneath the cat-face mask, his eyes suddenly turned icy, a towering killing intent surging forth.

Temple gods contending—let them fight over the temple god……

I'll hammer him.

These trash…… all must die!

Beat them to death then run!

As long as the two temple gods don't both hold him back, escaping is still easy for him.

Think it, do it!

Li Qingshan stepped forward, the horn-splitting-heaven hammer's vast divine nature surging out, countless winds and rains ceasing and twisting.

His body swayed, his toes tapping the pooled water, splashing droplets as he charged at the tiny Spirit Infant Dharma Master!

"Li Qingshan, you're crazy! The temple gods have come out, and you still won't leave?"

"Aren't you afraid of being left in the city?!"

The Spirit Infant Dharma Master shrieked, hastily counterattacking.

The two Corpse God Sect experts also moved, the six-desires divine nature raging and surging, wave after wave of divine foundations floating from behind their heads, divine light bursting and flowing.

Li Qingshan flicked his sleeve, the horn hammer landing lightly, yet suddenly exploding with the terrifying power of heaven-shattering stone!

"Hah…… this old man just wants to kill you all!"

……

……

Rain, it kept falling.

Gathering on Cao Guang's chin, it dripped down in silken threads, like a broken string of beads, falling continuously.

Cao Guang felt his consciousness return to his body.

He felt a bit numb, a bit angry!

Divinity…… The temple god's divinity is surprisingly thin and pitiful!

It seemed as if it had already been squeezed dry.

Such a temple god actually took him several years, painstakingly preparing, preparing to sacrifice the whole city……

Is it worthy?!

What a treacherous god!

Cao Guang gritted his teeth, his heart turned cold; now he only hopes that the thin temple god's divinity can let his cultivation break through to God Foundation Later Stage, that's all.

Huh?

Suddenly, Cao Guang regained control of his body.

He saw clearly the scene before him.

A mask, a cute ox.

Then came that terrifying, heaven‑covering blood qi, and the oppressive pressure of divinity!

Ox demon?!

Cao Guang's pupils constricted.

Incredible emotions surged up in his heart……

What the hell?!

How is it you again, you ox!

However, what truly made him feel shock, fear, and trembling was……

Those seven pitch‑black chess pieces hovering before the ox demon exuded an extremely rich temple god divinity aura.

As it turned out, he had long craved the temple god's divinity……

It was right before his eyes, within reach, able to be snatched……

Wait!

Cao Guang suddenly understood why his consciousness could regain control of his body.

You come to show off? I'll come to take the beating, right?

Fuck, what a treacherous god——!

Cao Guang only had time to let out a miserable scream.

He was kicked, bursting into a blood mist all over his body and flying out.

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