Chapter 435: Doubt Hard to Resolve, the Mystery of the Golden Crow

Before the divine throne at the top of the tower, the two sides stood in silent confrontation, yet the atmosphere was unexpectedly not overly tense.

"It is not that I did not want to spread it, for the epidemic of this Fluorite would not have broken out; rather, it was through my hands that it became slightly more controllable. Otherwise, there is no way so many people would have survived to this moment, completely uninfected."

"Do you think I will believe you just because you say so? For the sake of selfish gain, at the critical moment when the great war was about to be lost, you spread a great plague that infected the world..."

"It seems you are not entirely without self-awareness."

"What?"

"This Fluorite disease, as well as the constitution you possess, were both artificially implanted, and just now, they nested perfectly, causing your realm to break through."

The Dark God had long known of Ming's existence and spoke with piercing accuracy, causing her expression to change drastically, before shifting the tone: "As the chosen vessel, you should have been quite unremarkable at the start, perhaps even vastly inferior; otherwise, your facial features would not have changed in that direction, am I wrong?"

"... You, how on earth do you know?! Is this your trickery?!"

Ming remained silent, her expression becoming quite ferocious.

This was the negative emotion suppressed deep within her heart; perhaps it was also because of this that she had a deeper perception of the hidden madness in people.

"No, although you and the Fluorite disease share the same source, that source is not in my hands, nor even on this star, but in a much more distant place."

"W-what?"

The Dark God did not say more on this, steering the topic back to the previous point, and continued: "It was clearly unsuitable, yet in the end, it was able to adapt completely. This unexpected resilience is an indispensable factor in successfully creating the you of today."

"..."

The enemy's praise did not make Ming happy; however, she seemed not to hear any lies, so she pondered various puzzles and endured for the time being.

The Dark God shifted the tone again: "But this is also correct; after all, you are the daughter of my sister, the apostle she chose. You are all outstanding people, heroes and champions. Hehe, it is precisely because such people who make gods look on with admiration can always appear among the masses that I have been able to keep my original intention unchanged and persist until now, perhaps."

The deity said with a light chuckle, looked down at their feet, and then restrained the smile.

Separated by a thick barrier, the Dark King was currently celebrating the victory in a big way, declaring the great and total triumph of the Dark Kingdom this time. The various nobles were also all beaming with joy; the whole situation could be described as completely rotten, making even the god sigh.

Ming did not know the inner journey here, paused upon hearing this, and began to carp somewhat sharply: "The excellence of my brother and sister is naturally beyond doubt, but that the apostle siblings of your side would eventually choose to defect one after another is something I had not expected before."

"I had anticipated this long ago. Being able to emerge from the mud unstained counts as making up for some of my regrets and also highlights some new possibilities... So, facing a kingdom of mine that is so rotten and useless, why did my sister, the Holy God, still have to exhaust herself preparing for hundreds of years?"

The Dark God had laid so much groundwork, finally turning to the main theme, their gaze becoming sharp: "Especially in building that terrifying barrier of the Holy Capital, which was poured entirely from divine power—what exactly did she foresee that would lead her to exhaust her strength to build such a fortress when it was fundamentally impossible for an enemy's military force to arrive?"

"This..."

Ming was suddenly stunned.

Because she had indeed overlooked this.

Especially after the Holy-Dark War had been fought, in just a mere month, the Holy Kingdom had taken three hundred and sixty cities in a row, which could be called crushing and sweeping; they drove straight in without encountering any obstacles, having already reached the Dark Capital at the heart of the territory.

To say that the internal situation of the Dark Kingdom was unknown to the other side, and thus overestimated, was clearly impossible!

So, why did the Holy God have to cast a place like the Holy Capital in advance, looking as if there might be a danger of the kingdom falling? "What exactly is going on?"

"If you are interested, come with me."

The Dark God's figure flickered, and a touch of dark light separated, transforming into a moon-illuminating lamp to guide her.

Ming hesitated here, but in the end, she put away her weapon and followed.

As she began to walk, she immediately discovered something wrong: there was actually another 'self' still standing in the original spot?!

The other one was still in confrontation with the Dark God, and the two were still continuing their conversation, appearing especially strange.

"Dark God, this is..."

"It is nothing. Standing there talking to you so much just now, the main purpose was actually to create a suitable stage shadow. The performance on this stage will be continued by them, and only when we reach below the stage can I explain to you the truth of our world!"

That wisp of dark moon-light said these words. Ming was greatly shocked upon hearing them, barely restraining her unease, and followed along to that deep space, a place suitable for talking.

The Formless Birth Mother stood silently here, carrying a sneering craving; had it not been for the fear of that wisp of dark light, she would have long since killed and eaten Ming.

Facing the killing intent and appetite of such a terrifying existence, Ming was initially extremely nervous and trembling, but as the Dark God expounded, she soon became indifferent.

A long time later.

"How is it? If you want to verify it, you are welcome to try, but I hope you will be careful."

"... No need."

Ming took a deep breath. The various fragments of information she had noticed, discovered, and imagined in her mind were now rapidly pieced together within the framework described by the Dark God. Thus, in this final moment, a goal became clear.

"Mother and my brother and sister have different expectations for me, but they also let me make my own choices. Since I was small, there were only various distant encouragements... Now, I know what I need to do. They probably won't be truly angry. Of course, it is hard to say, but never mind, let it be."

Amidst the emotional changes, Ming made her choice, had a goal, and then began to systematically practice and compensate, rapidly stabilizing her cultivation, putting on the Divine Remains Armor, obtaining the Divine Remains Blade, and even feeding her mount, Xiao Hui, into a fifth-rank Great Demon with secret medicine from the Dark God's side.

She transformed extremely quickly, or rather, she had always possessed such plasticity and growth potential.

Then, she acted as a Great General of the Dark Kingdom, thoroughly declaring her defection.

It was just that she still had a doubt that remained unresolved.

That was something even the Dark God had not figured out, or rather, could not spare the focus to figure out. They had originally thought to dispatch some lackeys to take the opportunity to investigate the Holy Capital, but they were all wiped out by the apostle Su.

Subsequently, the Holy God reappeared, the Holy Capital was destroyed, and the answer was buried along with it.

What exactly was the Holy God, who was like a mother, preparing for in advance?

The surging thoughts stopped, returning to the present. "What exactly are you all doing in secret?!"

Within Ming's fierce offensive, such a question was contained.

However, the Holy God's apostles could no longer answer; at this moment, they had already completely transformed into the temporary, surging power of Jiang Ying.

Not knowing if it was her illusion, she always felt that after the fight started again, Ming's fists had become heavier, faintly carrying a feeling of displaced anger and dissatisfaction.

What the hell?

I haven't even specifically resented you for beating me to a pulp earlier!

Jiang Ying was somewhat indignant, but there was no other way; she could only continue to take the blows head-on.

However, although the battle between the two had restarted, it must be said that as the palace collapsed and split, and the other battlefield entered the next phase, their attention could not help but drift over a point or two.

It looked intense, but in fact, it had all slowed down.

Because the other side was the real main event!

The splitting of the tower palace, the thin and brittle luxury, was currently sinking and collapsing downward under the coverage of divine might.

"Ahhh!"

"God's wrath! It is God's wrath!"

"His Greatness is unleashing his fury tonight, it's over! We are all finished!"

Piercing screams rang out within the collapsing tower palace; the various nobles of the An Kingdom, in truth, basically did not know the situation had changed, and were not even aware that people beside them had quietly vanished.

At this moment, the collapse of the massive, luxurious palace structure was, in their eyes, the heavens falling and the earth rending—the end of the world where the An God no longer offered the slightest protection and was abandoning them! In fact, one could indeed say it was so.

Facing his decadent and fallen subjects, the An God had always been forbearing, not actively guiding or interfering, which became the "indulgent great evil" in the words of the Holy God, and externally formed a tearing rift between the god's true nature and his own will, causing him pain.

This was not something entirely false; rather, it indeed possessed a real core.

Therefore, at this very moment, since the plan had already reached its midpoint, there was no need to continue the pretense, and since the people worth saving had already been taken to a safe place by Yun, there was no need to hold back any longer.

Thus, in a fit of rage, all the accumulated negative emotions were detonated at once, and the An God withdrew his final protection from this tower palace—that top-level floor, hard as a treasure! If not for this layer of fifth-tier treasure twenty zhang thick, the aftermath of the duel between the two supreme holy bodies would have long since ground the An Kingdom's royal palace into dust.

Now that it was withdrawn, naturally, it could no longer protect the nobles still alive inside—a significant number, all of them maggots—nor the others who were deeply rooted in slavery and crazed, blind faith.

Those on the upper levels died instantly, without the slightest pain, while those on the middle levels could still scream for a moment.

As for those on the lower levels? Du En had already cleared out the bottom two levels, so naturally, there was no one left to cry out.

However, he currently had no time at all to care about such trivial matters.

Because standing upon the collapsing debris, looking up ahead, there was no need to search at all; the An God's true physical form was already leaping into view! That moon!

Its scale was that of a celestial body; although among the stars in the sky it was not a particularly remarkable unit, it was absolutely not mere interstellar dust like ordinary meteorites or shooting stars, but a solid, real entity with the scale of a star!

The diameter of the gathered mass was at least five thousand li long... What the hell? Du En himself couldn't help but want to blurt that out.

Although he had indeed long sensed that the dark moon was highly problematic, at the beginning he had only assumed it was a manifestation of the An God's power.

Now that this highly impactful fact was laid before him, it had to be said that his guess was indeed not wrong; the An God's great power was indeed displayed to the fullest, and anyone could see and understand it in a concrete, specific, and incomparably clear way.

So, where on earth did True Monarch Buyi find that egg, to be able to hatch a god of this scale? And this was only at the Nascent Soul stage; if it went all the way to the Great Vehicle stage, wouldn't it compete with the sun for brilliance and size? Could it really be the so-called incarnation of the sun, the egg of the legendary Three-Legged Golden Crow? Although various signs indicated it really seemed to be the legendary Golden Crow, one very critical point had caused Du En to maintain a cautious attitude all along.

That was that the Three-Legged Golden Crow, this sun god-bird, was a bona fide Demon Emperor, and what it pioneered and cultivated was demon arts, demon methods, and demon power; it should not cultivate human magical power, nor did it have anything to do with gods!

Moreover, during the intervals of his "liver-grinding" training, he had heard Meng Changqing sigh with regret that when the demon race was defeated by the immortal sects during the struggle for hegemony, the only Golden Crow Emperor in heaven and earth had died in battle and fallen on the spot, leaving absolutely nothing behind—even more thoroughly than the Phoenix God! So, what exactly was the background of the current An Sun God? In the blink of an eye, with such surging thoughts in his heart, even Du En's calm expression appeared somewhat stiff.

And that giant eye exposed on the side of the An God was staring at him, filled with Mirror Crow Divine Fire capable of easily incinerating the surface of a continent, which was continuing to brew at a terrifying speed.

It was very clear that the An God wanted to destroy him in one blow, and this time it would be a sustained offensive; the divine fire would cover every place he might possibly appear, to see how many times he could dodge using that kind of time manipulation!

In fact, there was no possibility of dodging at all.

Although the medicinal power brought by the Time Wheel Pill still had remnants, the most critical power of time had basically been exhausted, and it could no longer support any time manipulation.

After all, when it came down to it, that was only a half-sixth-tier treasure pill.

"..."

The Holy God appeared silent.

Du En did not speak either.

He only silently deployed his methods, attempting to interrupt the brewing rage on the other side.

Mountain Rise!

Rumble! Amidst the wild surge of Du En's magical power, a great mountain suddenly rose from the earth, then flipped over with a "whoosh," appearing in the high sky, aiming its peak at the An God's massive physical body.

It was a full ten thousand zhang high and weighed hundreds of millions of tons; it was his all-out effort, a sacrifice of profound mystery! This was not all; he conjured a magical treasure again—of the three flowers that bloomed, he removed two, leaving only the Holy Remains Armor; he should not have been able to change it temporarily, but he still had the main body's branches.

Qingjiang Palace, emerge! A palace that had remained unchanged since ancient times, shrouded in a cyan halo, the Principles of Radiance flowed and changed upon it, and the embryonic form of Dao might also rolled and surged upon it.

Then, amidst the slight change in the An God's eyes, it transformed into a great cyan spear; only the corner of the spear tip that could cleave reality truly transformed into the Spear of Phoenix Blood Weeping, the Phoenix Blood Spear! "Skreeee!!!"

A piercing, crazed cry accompanied the launch of the spear tip, which suddenly flapped its wings and emerged—it was the turbid, ferocious phoenix, the Phoenix's Remnant Hatred that had been tricked into being used!

(End of chapter)