Chapter 242: Mortal Enemies? And You Lot Dare?!

He—what are they afraid of?

At this moment, the rough-featured otherworldly Spirit who had broken away from the gods and charged toward the World Passage had not yet reacted. Seeing the distant gods all abruptly change their expressions, he too felt a twinge of panic.

Because the pressure was too stifling—not a single god spoke, not even that noble Main God himself. Every god was staring fixedly at… his back?

His back?!

"Crack~ crack~ crack~"

Suddenly, as if realizing something, the rough-featured male Spirit stiffly turned his whole body around.

"Hoo~~~"

N-nothing there?

In a soft exhale, the rough-featured male Spirit looked at the still-empty space behind him, and at the World Passage right before his eyes, and slowly let out a breath of relief.

Looks like he was making a mountain out of a m…

N-no, something's wrong!

Yet just as he had completely relaxed, he suddenly felt a gaze as if it were solid, looking down at him from above!

N-no way?!

As an impossible thought slowly rose in his mind, having finally caught on, he slowly raised his head in disbelief.

"Hiss——!!!"

In an instant, the rough-featured male Spirit's pupils contracted sharply. He staggered backward step after step, and his entire mind went completely blank.

L-light!!!

The dazzling light at this moment pierced straight into his spirit!!!

That was because the immense shock of locking eyes with a being of a far higher life-tier had directly struck his spirit hard, plunging him into a daze.

With his mind gone blank, the last thing the rough-featured Spirit felt was the entire world seeming to wrap around him from all sides in that single instant.

Then he lost consciousness.

Yet in the eyes of the other gods, what they saw was a colossal Dragon Claw quietly reaching out from within the hazy white sea of clouds, and in the blink of an eye it snatched him completely into its palm.

Throughout the entire process, the rough-featured Spirit couldn't put up even the tiniest bit of resistance—like a single french fry, he was easily scooped up by the owner of that enormous Dragon Claw.

"Hiss——!!!!"

In an instant, the gods in the distance who had watched the whole thing sharply drew in a cold breath, their hearts filled with shock.

Because that Spirit was someone quite a few of them actually knew—he governed war, and with his fierce temper and fearlessness of injury, he was no weakling even among Spirits.

Yet now he had died just like that. Even if it was only an avatar, the avatars that could cross into this world were no ordinary god-descended bodies!

Even the Lord of Radiance himself could not help but begin to feel grave at this moment.

From just one trivial gesture, one could see how terrifying the other's true power truly was.

What had just happened—even his true body could do no better.

That was absolutely not something an ordinary Spirit could match!

Coupled with the strange celestial phenomena earlier, there was even a very real chance it stood on the same tier as his true body!

Such a powerful being, in a world where even the native Spirits are giant dragons, had descended in the form of a dragon himself.

Terrifying… this matter here is unlikely to end well.

Yet at this moment, Baichuan had no idea the otherworldly Spirits were running through so many thoughts in their hearts.

For him, he was merely a little curious about this Spirit who dared to be the first to stick his neck out.

After all, ever since he had finished viewing the Progenitor Dragon's memories, he had been curious for a very long time about Spirits—this special kind of being—their abilities and the way they existed.

And under these circumstances, happening upon a lone Spirit right there beneath his claws, he simply reached out a claw and grabbed him, intending to study him a bit before deciding what to do.

Of course, during the whole process he did glance a few times at the strange celestial phenomena that had abruptly changed because of his actions.

How to put it—he could only say this really wasn't something he had actively created.

Rather, it seemed this world, nourished by his vast energy, had begun to spontaneously give birth to a touch of the miraculous.

And perhaps because the energy had been born from him, the miraculous changes in this stretch of heaven and earth had also been influenced by the memories in his mind.

After his awakening, the first time he fully unleashed his aura, the world began to spontaneously coordinate with his actions, producing a series of phenomena identical to those that accompanied the descent of the great divine abilities from his past life.

He paid no heed to the distant gods, but lowered his gaze to look at the unconscious otherworldly Spirit in his claw, and began to scan him intently.

In an instant, a familiar yet unfamiliar panel popped up.

"Hey! You there, giant dragon—what are you doing blocking this place? Make way, now!"

At this moment, an otherworldly Spirit with the look of an eagle's gaze and a wolf's sidelong glance stepped out from among the gods and shouted harshly.

It was because he had seen this giant dragon blocking the World Passage, neither making any move nor uttering a word.

He figured this giant dragon was probably nothing special after all—surely he had just lost face upon seeing so many Spirits gathered here.

In that case, wasn't this the perfect chance for him to show off in front of all these Spirits?

So he strode forward without hesitation and began to berate him loudly.

What he didn't know was that the instant he opened his mouth, the gods standing behind him had silently put a body's length of distance between themselves and him.

Looks like these Spirits are still within the scan range of his panel.

Paying no heed to the berating Spirit, after muttering a line to himself, Baichuan abruptly raised his enormous dragon head and looked into the distance.

"You—?"

Following the dragon's movement, whether it was the eagle-eyed, wolf-gazed Spirit who felt he had lost face because the giant dragon was ignoring him, or the gods who had put a body's length between themselves and him and were now standing in silent thought, one after another they too raised their heads to look into the distance.

Whoosh—!

Whoosh—whoosh—!!

A continuous series of wing-beating sounds began to come from far to near.

It was the sound of a flock of dragons, led by four Ancestors of the Ancient Dragons, beating their Dragon Wings as they hurried over.

Yes, even though the ancient dragons' power had grown stronger due to the energies of heaven and earth, their innate constitution and mastery of power still left them unable to keep pace with the gods of another world in other respects.

After all, the painstakingly accumulated foundation of the other side, built over countless years, was hardly something they could so easily surpass.

Therefore, even though they had been the first to rush over earlier, they had unknowingly fallen behind that group of gods from another world; and throughout the entire process, thanks to those gods deliberately avoiding them, they hadn't even noticed.

"F-Father God?!"

Suddenly, a startled voice rang out.

It was the Celestial Dragon, the fastest in Flight, which had barely transformed itself into a bolt of lightning, that abruptly cried out upon drawing near.

At this moment, this majestic ancient dragon, bristling with fury and wreathed in astonishing electrical energy, suddenly came to a halt with an awkward air and stammered as it spoke.

Father God?

After the lightning-wreathed dragon spoke, the gathered gods of another world also slowly came to a realization amid looks of shock.

"Celestial Dragon, you stop... F-Father God?!"

Not long after, the slightly slower ancient dragons also arrived one after another, looking at the Celestial Dragon that had suddenly stopped with some puzzlement.

But before the words were finished, at this moment all the ancient dragons noticed that massive flood dragon coiling amid the ocean of dense clouds between heaven and earth.

At this moment, all the ancient dragons halted their advance; even those troublesome gods from another world could not be bothered with, each and every one simply standing there in a daze, gazing at that powerful and mysterious flood dragon.

Their creator, their Father God, had returned!

At this moment, silence spoke louder than words; the entire stretch of heaven and earth fell utterly still, leaving only the whistling wind from the ancient dragons' broad Dragon Wings beating.

"Mm, I'm back."

After a long pause, the flood dragon coiling within the sea of clouds finally spoke for the first time.

He gazed down at the little ones and Juanzhu below, like tiny specks, and softly answered.

A gentle voice, utterly without worldly heat or smoke, resounded across the horizon, echoing through the firmament.

"F-Fa... Fa... ther... God..."

Yet it was precisely this single gentle remark that caused the ancient dragons—who, over three hundred years before, had shed no tears no matter what they endured, harboring only hatred and fury—to begin stammering and choking up.

One after another, faint murmurs began to spill forth.

At this moment, the ancient dragons gazed at this powerful, mysterious flood dragon amid the sea of clouds.

Countless grievances, countless hardships, countless refusals to accept defeat; the unfortunate slumber of their elder brother, younger brothers, and younger sister; the inability to sleep peacefully day or night, the constant worry over whether they could properly protect this world their Father God had entrusted to them; the dread and despair in their hearts.

Now, at last they had found a being to whom they could pour out their hearts, and a tremendous sense of security welled up spontaneously within them.

"Your Excellency..."

Yet this tender scene was broken in the next instant by a jarring voice.

The ancient dragons instantly turned their heads to glare; only now did they finally remember the source of all their misfortune—the gods from another world!

As the giant dragons—one after another, even together with that mysterious progenitor dragon—all turned their gaze upon him, that god with the fierce, hawk-like and wolf-like bearing also felt the pressure on him surge, and was about to say something more.

"Whoosh—!"

"Boom—!"

Yet in the next instant, as the flood dragon's gaze turned cold, a whistling wind sounded, and a long, supple dragon tail swept out from the sea of clouds.

In an instant, accompanied by an explosion, the god who had spoken was directly sent bursting apart by that massive dragon tail.

Its entire body first became a blur of crimson threaded with hints of gold, then in the process of shattering into pieces, directly transformed into wisps of pure magic power that dispersed into heaven and earth.

It was Baichuan who had struck.

"So this is magic power?"

Gently pinching a wisp of magic power that had not yet dissipated, Baichuan finally personally experienced the power that formed the foundation of all beings and gods from another world—magic power.

Very wondrous; this energy seemed to contain a terrifying destructive force, and was extremely condensed...

"Your Excellency, your conduct is somewhat..."

Watching yet another god sent bursting apart—one of his own subordinate gods at that—the Lord of Radiance could no longer sit still.

The gazes from countless subordinate gods could not be directly ignored even by Him, for it would mean He had bowed His head to the other side.

But as the supreme Main God, standing high above the clouds—

Would He permit such a thing to happen?

Yet before He had barely finished speaking, Baichuan, whose train of thought had been interrupted, could only stop pondering as that terrifying dragon tail swept out once more.

"Ahhh... no—!"

"Lord, save me—!!"

"Damnable!"

After exerting every ounce of ability to barely dodge this strike, the Lord of Radiance, who had just regained His form, finally saw His complexion turn dark and ugly.

Because in that brief instant, several more of His subordinate gods behind Him had died.

Throughout the entire process, they had been utterly powerless to fight back.

This was not an enemy that their merely peak demigod-level divine avatars could contend with!

Whoosh—!

In the next instant, before He could catch His breath, another dragon tail swept out, carrying a biting wind.

Seeing this, the Lord of Radiance had no choice but to evade once more, and in an instant several more gods were caught in the tail's sweep and collapsed.

Whoosh—!

Yet when He reappeared the next instant, another dragon tail swept out.

After several such exchanges, all the gods present finally understood: the Lord of Radiance had been targeted by that mysterious, powerful giant dragon.

For a time, all the gods—even His own subordinate gods—began to avoid Him as they would a plague-bringer, for even they did not wish to be the fish caught in the disaster's pool.

……

"You—you are toying with Me?!"

As the Lord of Radiance dodged again and again, on the tenth time, though the power within Him had grown ever thinner, He still managed to evade successfully.

He finally reacted, and for a moment His face twisted as He let out a furious roar.

He did not understand—why was this mysterious, powerful giant dragon toying with Him?

"Oh~ You've finally caught on?"

The flood dragon's light laughter drifted down from the clouds, as though mocking and savoring the act.

"In that case, die."

Whoosh— Bang—!!

As the words fell, amid a violent sonic boom, that massive dragon tail swept across, carrying terrifying energy.

"How dare you!!"

Suddenly, just as the dragon tail swept across—

From the other end of the World Passage, a rebuke imbued with a sacred aura suddenly rang out.

Rumble rumble—

Accompanying the rebuke, amid a thunderous roar, a finger as enormous as a heavenly pillar, pure white, reached over and thrust straight at the sweeping dragon tail.

At this, Baichuan, who had previously maintained a playful stance, finally grew serious; wave after wave of tremendous power gathered upon the dragon tail.

BOOM!!!

The next instant, the dragon tail and the giant finger made direct contact, and a massive explosion erupted with a thunderous crash.

Immediately after, a powerful energy tidal wave swept outward in all directions from the point of contact.

"The Lord! The Lord has stepped in!"

"The Lord of Radiance has finally made a move—we're saved!"

At this moment, a somewhat disheveled deity murmured, his tone thick with relief.

A few breaths later, the energy tidal wave dissipated.

"Might I ask Your Excellency to grant me face? Allow my avatar to depart; I swear I shall never invade this world again."

Suddenly, from across the World Passage, another solemn, sacred voice rang out once more, its tone carrying a lofty air of condescending charity and pity.

Hearing this, however, Baichuan's gaze turned cold.

"Oh~ And if I refuse?"

As the words fell, the flood dragon's massive body, hidden within the sea of clouds, stirred once more.

"Then, Your Excellency, consider carefully—once you make this move, from this day forth we shall be mortal enemies. What you will face is seven Main Gods as powerful as myself."

"Hah!"

What he received in return was but a snort of contempt from the flood dragon.

The next instant, Baichuan ceased his idle talk with it; boundless energy began gathering upon the giant Dragon Claw amid the sea of clouds.

Then, he struck!

In a flash, the razor-sharp Dragon Claw, carrying terrifying energy, tore straight through the void and, with the speed of lightning, clawed toward the giant finger and the figure standing beneath it.

"Crack—!"

"Ah!!"

"Pfft!!"

Amid a sound like shattering glass, the giant Dragon Claw directly tore off that one pure-white, jade-like giant finger.

In an instant, amid a scream, drops of golden divine blood rained across the heavens, falling to the ground with astonishing weight.

Looking at the finger that had already shrunk back after being severed, and at the blood pooling like a lake along with the severed digit—

Baichuan chuckled softly, unconsciously licking the corner of his mouth, as though he had spotted some delicious food.

"Mortal enemies?"

"Hah! You lot are worthy?"

……

(End of this chapter)