Chapter 265

The dark red earth was stained anew with crimson, some flowing across the land as rivers, others hanging in the starry sky as rivers.

The corpses of the gods and demons scattered across earth and starry sky; falling upon the land, they became mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas; falling upon the stars, they shone brilliantly.

People trembled, involuntarily lifting their heads to gaze at the sky, wanting to see the night sky—were these dazzling stars above the corpses of gods and demons? How many gods and demons had perished to create such a brilliant, countless host of stars…

In a short time, while people focused on Abe Tashin's battle, this original battlefield clearly saw the fall of gods and demons.

Suddenly.

"Look quickly—Master Konghai!" Voices rang out in many places; instantly, many turned to look—and froze in place.

A sun had appeared in the void of this original battlefield.

Master Konghai sat cross-legged in the void, every inch of his body radiating boundless divine light, blazing like a great sun floating there; soon, the sun became a golden crow, one splitting into ten suns, nine of which circled the central sun formed by Master Konghai himself.

Those nine suns were formed by the nine Buddhist rings behind his head, each a Buddha or Bodhisattva with a lustrous crystal body, now chanting the true sutras of the Buddha in unison with Master Konghai's voice.

"The sea of suffering is boundless; turn back, and the shore is before you."

The voice was calm, yet thunderous, shaking the ten heavens and nine earths, all directions, vast and majestic, unleashing purifying Buddhist light that enveloped the approaching Dark Emperor like a Buddha-land pure realm.

In an instant.

The mist shrouding the Dark Emperor hissed, as if the mist were not mist, the Dark Emperor not a Dark Emperor, but the wandering ghosts and vengeful spirits of the eighteen layers of hell—ghostly qi forming mist, vengeful spirits ruling as emperors, now all to be redeemed by Buddhist light.

"You wish to redeem us? On what grounds?"

Several Dark Emperors merged into one great demon, stirring up colossal demonic clouds that overwhelmed the void; demonic mist surged, and faintly audible within the sky-obscuring haze were howls, manifesting terrifying omens.

At this sight, countless people felt their hair stand on end.

Faintly visible: a vast, pure Buddha-land, meant to be the purest place in the world, now stained with blood—Arhats dead before the halls, Bodhisattvas sprawled dead upon lotus thrones, three thousand gods and Buddhas weeping blood.

Seeing this omen, people's scalps prickled, their souls chilled.

Deep within, they sensed this scene had occurred before—a Buddha-land slaughtered, turned into a horrific land of suffering.

Master Konghai also saw the omen, yet remained unmoved, his Buddhist light intensifying, bathing the eight directions of the void in eternal divine radiance.

Boom—

The two clashed violently; the shockwave rippled through the surrounding void, as if undergoing reincarnation—cracking and dissolving within the dark mist, healing and restoring within the purifying Buddhist light, repeating endlessly, countless cycles unknown.

When all settled, as the void's scenery reappeared, Master Konghai, shrouded in Buddhist light, and the Dark Emperor, veiled in darkness, both shed their radiance and mist, revealing their true forms.

At this moment.

Over a billion people froze, faces filled with disbelief, staring fixedly at the Dark Emperor, eyes wide until their corners split.

The terrifying collision had scattered the Dark Emperor's surrounding mist entirely, revealing his true face.

He was a middle-aged man clad in feathered robes and ancient crown, like a celestial deity descending to earth—majestic, noble, disdainful, arrogant—causing all who saw him to feel an urge to worship.

"How could this be?!"

In Japan's Superhuman Response Division, chairs and desks toppled; Director Takahashi and his team rose in unison, utterly disregarding decorum, eyes filled with indescribable horror.

"This is a joke, right?"

In the U. S., Kamikawa Mitsu held a coffee cup he'd just prepared to drink from—it slipped from his hand, scalding coffee spilling onto his pants, burning his crotch and feet, yet he felt nothing.

It was as if every drop of his blood, every pore, every cell focused entirely on the screen, leaving no mental capacity to register the pain of heat.

The next moment.

Countless people worldwide roared uncontrollably, as if possessed, driven mad.

Human!

The Dark Emperor was human!

Not some humanoid species resembling humans—but truly human, for they could sense the kinship between species, impossible to mistake.

"How could there be a human from 'the other side'…? Could someone have defected to 'the other side'?"

Someone murmured, unwilling to believe.

To defend the original battlefield, to grant this world peace, gods, demons, superhumans, and monsters had sacrificed too much—countless lives lost—to preserve this world's tranquility. People were grateful; had they possessed sufficient strength, they too would have fought shoulder to shoulder with gods, demons, and superhumans, giving their own lives.

But now, seeing the Dark Emperor was human, it meant someone had defected to 'the other side'.

Countless people were enraged.

This was humanity's shame—unforgivable.

"Could it be fake? Designed to sow discord among us?" a senior figure spoke: "Or even to lure us into defection."

Once one begins, others will follow—it becomes hard to stop.

'The other side' might be doing exactly this: deliberately revealing a human form to shake our resolve, making people believe only by defecting can they survive.

After all, the brutality and horror of the original battlefield were plain to see—'the other side' was immensely powerful.

"It's not impossible," someone agreed: "Do you remember the omen triggered by Quetzalcoatl?"

At these words, everyone suddenly recalled.

Quetzalcoatl's omen was the first time they saw the true appearance of 'the other side'.

They remembered: 'the other side' appeared in countless forms—like deities and monsters from every myth.

But they had never seen a human.

Now, a human appears—perhaps 'the other side' deliberately disguised as one, the intent obvious.

Soon, someone rejected the idea.

"Unlikely. If they wanted to disguise, why wait until now? Why not from the start? And both he and Master Konghai are fighting at full strength—how could they have time to fake it?" the person said.

Others agreed.

"I also think it's not fake, not an intentional lure to make us defect. That man truly is human. We didn't see humans in Quetzalcoatl's omen, but that doesn't mean none exist.

'The other side' take many forms, many resembling deities—perhaps those deities weren't deities at all, but humans, just like the one fighting Master Konghai, shrouded in darkness, making us believe he was a great demon.

We assumed 'the other side' resemble gods and demons precisely because the gods returned, and we witnessed their power—so we unconsciously equated those forms with deities. But now we know: superhumans can grow as strong as gods. Take Kamikawa Mitsu—his strength rivals that of gods and demons; when he fights, he's like a great demon. Had we not known his identity, I nearly thought he wasn't human."

Another added: "I recall 'the other side' told Master Konghai: 'Reforge a path? How? By severing cultivation in the Initial Realm.' From this, 'the other side' clearly knows the gods' decree forbidding us from receiving superhuman power. If they know that, they must also know we are merely ordinary humans—why bother deceiving a group of ordinary humans?"

Yet the moment this person spoke, someone immediately rebutted:

"Who says luring us is unnecessary? Tsukuyomi and Luxi have already said this rule concerns the future—we are key to winning 'the other side,' which proves our immense importance, regardless of whether we have strength or not."

Wait!

This rule concerns the future?!

Many froze, suddenly recalling the earlier exchange between Master Konghai and the Dark Emperor. At the time, they had been focused on Master Konghai and Abe no Yasachika's crisis, with no time to ponder—now, reflecting on it, the implications sent chills down their spines: what did those words mean?!

……