Chapter 168: The Deity Manifests, Quetzalcoatl!!

Beimeizhou, the United States of America.

One second the sky was still a deep azure with drifting clouds, the next second rolling black clouds closed in thick and heavy.

This was not a single region of the United States — the entire United States, the entire Beimeizhou, was shrouded in dark clouds. Looking down from the universe, it was as if Beimeizhou had been draped in a layer of ash-grey curtain, blotting out the sun, moon, and stars.

Boom!

A single thunderclap, deafening to the ears, echoed across Beimeizhou.

In the densely layered clouds above, lightning flashed and thunder roared; ancient Indian script and symbols surfaced, colliding with the soaring Lei Guang.

The vault of heaven cracked open, and one after another pitch-black bolt of lightning appeared.

Countless people were horrified, chilled with terror.

This was no ordinary Lei Ting — it was true heavenly punishment, black tribulation lightning, representing the wrath of the heavens and the fury of the gods!

Drip, drip.

The black tribulation lightning streaked across, and crimson raindrops fell — a terrifying omen, as if the heavens were weeping.

"Black thunder, blood falling from heaven and earth… this… it's over, it's over…"

The people of the United States revealed looks of dread; they all understood what such a terrifying sight was foreboding.

Boom!!

Another tremendous roar, as if heaven were collapsing and earth splitting apart. Black lightning, accompanied by a bloody light, swept across the sky. Countless people noticed the heavens had grown even darker — the ash-grey clouds shrouding Beimeizhou had been overlaid with a layer of pitch black.

"It's not clouds!"

Someone screamed, the corners of their eyes nearly splitting open, their soul so terrified it felt about to leave the body.

This was not the clouds turning black!!!

There was something in the sky, pressing down atop the clouds, blocking the sun, moon, and starlight, making the clouds appear even darker.

That thing was far too vast — one glance could not take in its edges. The clouds shrouded it above, but through the clouds people faintly saw that its body was even more towering than Bishan, its aura swallowing the heavens.

The dark clouds churned, pressed, collided, scattered…

The colossal creature emerged from the clouds!

At this moment, countless people gaped in stunned disbelief, terror-stricken beyond measure, afraid beyond compare.

A serpent!

A serpent whose entire body was clad in pitch-black feather-like scales, its form blotting out the heavens!

In the sky, Lei Ting still came crashing down, the lightning blazing fierce and brilliant, as if heavenly punishment from primordial chaos, wantonly tearing across the firmament, striking the colossal serpent that filled the vault of the heavens amid the clouds.

Yet it was utterly unaware.

World-destroying Lei Ting could not shake the colossal serpent in the slightest. It coiled across the azure sky, its body vaster and more magnificent than mountain ranges, an awe-inspiring aura spilling forth, shaking heaven and earth.

"Oh God!" In the United States space station, the astronauts' very bones were trembling.

They never could have imagined that one day, looking down at the Earth from space, they would see a serpent.

From that vantage, they saw a colossal serpent coiling and winding above Beimeizhou — its head larger than a single American state, the forked tongue it spat forth as thick as the Yellow River, its body so vast it pressed down upon all of Beimeizhou.

Beyond doubt, if it so much as lightly stirred its body, all of Beimeizhou would suffer a magnitude-ten earthquake, and the continental plate might well be smashed through.

At this moment.

Beimeizhou trembled; every bird, beast, and insect fell silent.

High above, a pair of ghostly serpentine pupils, like lakes set into the heavens, peered down through the clouds, their gaze falling upon the United States.

The land of the United States fell eerily silent, as if even the air had ceased to flow and stilled; whether human or animal, all were trembling.

Quetzalcoatl!!!!

Across the world, hundreds of millions of people roared.

It looked too similar — no, it was exactly Quetzalcoatl. The colossal serpent coiling across the entire sky above Beimeizhou looked identical to the Quetzalcoatl of Indian mythology.

Its entire body covered in feather-like scales, swallowing the heavens and devouring the moon, with a pair of wings spread upon its back that covered the very fabric of the world.

This was the Indian deity — Quetzalcoatl!

It had returned, come back from the ancient battlefields, and now manifested in the world.

At this moment, theologians went mad, historians suffered heart attacks, and scientists stared at Quetzalcoatl suspended in the sky, screaming hysterically about gravity…

Countless people trembled and shook in frenzy.

A deity that existed only in legends ancient and modern, unseen in the present age, dismissed as illusion — now, after days of the world craning their necks in anticipation, it had appeared!!

"Quetzalcoatl!!"

"Ah~~ a deity!!"

Across Beimeizhou, the people of Mexico, Panama, and elsewhere all prostrated themselves, all trembled, falling to their knees amid a tumult of terror, awe, and devotion.

The gods have returned, the deities have manifested — everything was just like the rumors from Japan.

And now, the first deity to manifest came from the Indian mythology, steeped in scarlet hues and drenched in blood.

Could this be a portent — a portent that the latter half of the rumors from Japan would unfold like the bloody Indian myths, the reckoning wrapped in blood and fire, ushering in scarlet, bringing bloodshed?

To this day, regarding the "coming reckoning," the world still understood only half the truth.

But no matter what the reckoning referred to.

At the very least, it was now known that the deities' reckoning upon humanity had begun.

Above the clouds, the vast serpentine body coiled and moved, churning the sea of dark clouds into waves that surged ten thousand zhang high.

Quetzalcoatl gazed upon the United States, upon this land once spread with his faithful people, where the Indians had lived. Now, scarcely any pure-blooded Indians could be found; the temples and altars to the gods had all fallen to ruin, few remaining, so decayed they were on the verge of vanishing, becoming dust in the passage of time.

The next moment.

Quetzalcoatl spoke. Its voice was magnificent, like a volcanic eruption, like a mountain flood surging backward, echoing across Beimeizhou, spreading to every corner of the globe.

"For a thousand, hundred years I waged war upon the battlefields, believing that if I slew every enemy upon those fields, I could grant my faithful people a land of peace, could bring tranquility to the rear. I was wrong — my people had long since been slaughtered by you, my temples had long since been trampled and destroyed. Of what meaning was my warring?"

Boundless fury, boundless unwillingness, boundless regret — in this moment, conveyed to every corner of the world.

People fell silent.

Even those who did not understand what enemies the gods had fought in the Primordial Battlefield understood the meaning of the gods' journey there.

To fight for their people.

They all understood why the Feathered Serpent God grieved, why he raged, why he regretted—and why their noses suddenly grew sharp with sorrow.

What profound sorrow and bitterness: to wage war across battlefields solely to protect the peace of one's people, only to return and learn that home was gone, that the people had been slaughtered by the passage of time, that all their defense and warfare had merely served as dowry for others.

"But aren't Native American myths bloody?" someone asked, troubled even as they felt sorrow for the Feathered Serpent God.

"Mayan mythology isn't bloody. You mean Aztec mythology. And is it bloody? It's relative. From a human perspective, humans offer blood and flesh as sacrifices to the gods—because they're human, it feels bloody. But in that era, what was truly bloody wasn't sacrifice—it was cannibalism." Another person glanced at him.

Someone else replied:

"In that barren age, the gods waged war for their people; all the people could offer was their finest tribute. But in such a barren age, what was the finest tribute they could find but themselves? To offer oneself was the greatest reverence and gratitude toward the gods."

Nothing is sadder than a dead heart.

Rolling divine energy surged upward, brimming with boundless fury and wrath.

The Feathered Serpent God spoke—and this time, people understood clearly, unmistakably, that he was addressing the other gods.

"None of you wish to begin the reckoning. You all wait, hoping someone else will step forward first. But we can wait no longer. My people are dead. Fighting in the Primordial Battlefield is meaningless. Let me be the one to begin the reckoning—let us all plunge into destruction together!"

When a god rages, heaven and earth respond; law follows instantly.

The heavens themselves seemed to rage—lightning cracked, thunder roared, and billions of divine lightning strikes erupted at once, illuminating the pitch-black world.

Amid the endless brilliance of Lei Guang, people finally saw the Feathered Serpent God clearly.

His coiled, sprawling body was covered in wounds—cuts, burns, claw marks—several of them fatal, wounds capable of killing a god. It was too gruesome, too horrific.

No one could imagine what the Feathered Serpent God had endured in the Primordial Battlefield.

Yet despite his countless wounds, despite how horrifying they were, he was so noble… no adjective of beauty could suffice. Not a single person in that moment failed to feel awe.

Is this the god who returned from the Primordial Battlefield?

Merely by looking, people could imagine the ferocity of his battles there, the majesty of his valor—his resolute determination inspired solemn reverence, deep within their hearts.

……