Chapter 285: Extraordinary Chains and the Divine Corpse: Bane of the Gods?

At this moment, after glancing at Old Dragon Ao Qing and confirming he was unharmed, Baichuan looked down at the bizarre worm on the ground that appeared thoroughly dead, as well as the mysterious bronze chain that remained completely unscathed beneath such force.

Perhaps because they noticed Baichuan's attention had drifted elsewhere, the True Lords and Divine Spirits present—all shrewd individuals—gradually closed their mouths and fell silent.

At this moment, silence returned to the surroundings. Only the lava, still quietly flowing and emitting thick poisonous smoke, proved that a terrifying battle—a divine war—had erupted here not long ago.

All the surrounding Divine Spirits and True Lords gazed with curiosity at the bizarre worm pinned beneath the True Dragon's claw. Their eyes held hatred, pain, and even a trace of fear—was it this horrifying worm that had caused them to fall here?

Of course, curiosity was certainly present as well.

After all, the mysterious and powerful True Dragon elder's full attention was still fixed on the creature.

No one understood why the elder still kept his gaze on a worm that had lost all signs of life.

But had the bizarre worm truly perished?

Baichuan looked at the unmoving scan information on his panel and smiled without speaking.

Were it not for the panel's prompt, he himself would not have dared believe that the bizarre worm—which had taken his strike and shown no signs of life to any of his senses—was still alive!

It was trying to play dead, waiting for him to let his guard down so it could bite back.

Perhaps that was exactly how the divine corpse had been ambushed by the bizarre worm in the past; one could not say for certain.

At this moment, Baichuan gazed at the bizarre worm below, his thoughts drifting as various unfounded associations arose.

Unfortunately, its disguise was utterly meaningless beneath the panel's scan.

Only creatures that had lost their resistance, or been killed and swallowed by him, would the panel begin to scan.

Since you wish to play dead, then play dead forever.

Looking at the bizarre worm beneath him, nearly reduced entirely to charcoal, Baichuan's eyes turned cold. The dragon claw gripping its neck suddenly released another terrifying surge of gold-and-purple heat.

"Ah!"

"Ah! My eyes! My eyes!"

"Elder, why do you—?!"

"Eek!!!"

A blazing light abruptly rose once more from the ground, like a resplendent little sun.

Accompanying it were successive screams, cries of confusion, and one fatal shriek.

Because he did not wish to alert the creature, Baichuan did not warn the True Lords and Divine Spirits who were watching intently. In his calculations, the light from this aftershock could not truly harm them—at most it would blind them for an instant.

Thus, at this moment, Baichuan's strange behavior drew countless True Lords and Divine Spirits to watch with curious attention. As a result, everyone present, caught completely off guard, had the brilliant light flash directly into their eyes.

The True Lords and Divine Spirits, suddenly blinded by Baichuan's flash, had been somewhat panicked, wondering why Elder Bai had turned hostile, and had nearly fled. But when they saw the bizarre worm making its final death throes, they could not help but exclaim in succession:

"It—it's actually still alive!"

"What—what a bizarre creature!"

"If not for Elder Bai's piercing insight, seeing through this cunning creature's disguise, we might have been deceived by this beast once more!"

"Elder Bai is wise and brilliant!"

In an instant, the sudden surge of resentment and confusion transformed entirely into lingering fear, along with reverence, admiration, and gratitude toward Baichuan.

Given the sheer number of people present, even they understood that even if the elder had wished to warn them, he could not have done so without alerting the creature and allowing its deathbed counterattack to succeed.

This bizarre beast's deathbed counterattack might mean little to Elder Bai, but if it struck any one of them, they would face death.

They did not believe themselves stronger than the slumbering divine corpse.

That flash of light was well-timed! Perfectly timed!

"Elder, is this beast truly dead? Perhaps you could use another divine ability?"

Glancing at the crowd whose attitudes had shifted repeatedly in such a short time, and at the Divine Spirits now wearing sycophantic smiles, Baichuan felt a certain complexity within.

Weakness—such a pitiful state. He never wished to become one of them.

Baichuan slowly shook his head before speaking: "There's no need. It is thoroughly dead."

As he spoke, he extended his dragon claw. Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, he tore off a piece of roasted meat—cooked just right and emitting a peculiar fragrance—from the nearly charred mountain of flesh, and stuffed it into his mouth to chew and savor carefully.

"Not bad!" After a few breaths, Baichuan praised, glancing at the crowd that had fallen into a stupor at his grand gesture.

He naturally knew his actions were somewhat strange. After all, at their level, they no longer possessed any desire for food. Moreover, even if they did, who could bring themselves to eat such a bizarre worm?

Were they not afraid its flesh and blood were poisonous? That they would be poisoned after consuming it?

But his true purpose was to establish, in the eyes of these True Lords and Divine Spirits, a persona of someone who loved all manner of delicacies.

After all, the strong were allowed their quirks, were they not?

Only in this way could his current actions be justified. With the panel's existence at stake, he did not wish anyone to know. After all, scanning required time, and staring at it continuously was not suitable here. Thus, eating it was the only option.

Furthermore, once this persona was established, these True Lords and Divine Spirits, seeking to curry favor or repay him, would naturally think of this and wholeheartedly seek out all manner of rare and strange creatures from this world for him. The likelihood of such creatures possessing precious abilities was far greater than that of ordinary, common ones.

He was preparing to treat these True Lords and Divine Spirits as free laborers!

"Mm, aren't you going to eat?" After swallowing another piece of roasted meat, Baichuan paused before continuing: "Such a powerful being—its flesh and blood are not only exceptionally chewy and delicious, truly a marvel of the mortal world, but can also bring you some nourishment."

"What? Only this strange worm is allowed to eat you, yet you don't dare eat it back? Or are you afraid of poison? Don't worry—beneath my fierce flames, few things can retain their venom."

"I'll eat!" Spurred on by Baichuan's ravenous display—and even goaded into action—a burly giant with a shaved head and tattered armor stepped out from the crowd. His muscular hands tore a large chunk of meat from the strange worm, and he began tearing into it viciously.

After a few bites, his eyes lit up. He gave Baichuan a thumbs-up and laughed heartily: "Yi, this fellow's meat really is good. Elder Bai is a dragon who knows how to eat!"

After laughing, the giant lowered his head as if muttering to himself: "This meat really is good. I feel my depleted vitality has recovered a bit."

Though the giant appeared to be muttering softly, who among those present was not shrewd? Who could not hear his words? They naturally understood his purpose.

He wanted to leave a deep impression on the mysterious Elder Bai!

Could they not see how Elder Bai's warm, life-filled dragon eyes were now full of approval?

Such a rare and powerful being in this world—even they had never been qualified to know him in the past. If not now, when else would they seize this golden opportunity?

"Hahaha, World-Honored Heavenly Venerable, it seems this old Daoist was being too pedantic." Following the bald giant, the somewhat disheveled old Daoist stepped forward with a light laugh and tore off a piece as well.

"Since the elder has so graciously invited, it would be my discourtesy to refuse."

"Come, come, taste this delicacy that even the elder praised without end!"

……

Watching everyone's performance, Baichuan couldn't help but nod in satisfaction, then looked toward a spot not far from that bizarre long worm.

There lay a mysterious chain of a bronze color.

This was precisely the mysterious chain that had caused the earlier rampage, and also the source of all the chains within this stretch of heaven and earth.

Without a doubt, just from its earlier performance alone, one could tell this chain was certainly extraordinary.

Yet none of those present mentioned the matter, naturally treating it as Baichuan's spoils of war.

His gaze shifting, Baichuan picked up the chain and examined it carefully a few times; unable to discern anything, he directly tried channeling his Spirit Qi into it on a trial basis.

In an instant, along with the input of Spirit Qi, Baichuan quickly detected a mysterious imprint within the chain — needless to say, it naturally belonged to the chain's master, that divine corpse.

Without hesitation, Baichuan directly produced a large quantity of Light Point energy imbued with the Small Self, and began launching an information torrent assault against the chain's interior.

He believed that hardly any living being in this world could withstand the onslaught of this information torrent, let alone a mere ownerless imprint.

In less than the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, this battle on the level of will was plucked of its fruit of victory by Baichuan.

In a flash, Baichuan discovered he had gained a wondrous feeling toward this chain.

That feeling seemed akin to having gained an extraordinarily flexible external limb — he could sense the chain's existence at any time and any place, then command it to make corresponding movements.

Instinctively, Baichuan understood all the powers of this chain; setting aside those minor abilities like chained division and absorption of Yin Qi for self-repair, the chain's two most important abilities were:

【Forbidden Spirit / Demon】 — With the chain as its center, the chain's master can unleash a Forbidden Spirit Domain. Within this domain, any living being whose strength does not exceed that of the chain's master will be unable to sense the existence of external Spirit Qi or magical power. What awaits them is, after their internal strength is exhausted, the loss of all power to resist.

Without a doubt, this effect alone was enough to strike immense terror into that group of True Monarch Gods. What is the greatest difference between True Monarch Gods and the cultivators beneath them?

Needless to say, it is precisely the ability to resonate with the great Dao between heaven and earth, thereby stirring the world's Spirit Qi to unleash tremendous destructive force!

And the first ability of this chain was to cast that group of True Monarch Gods down from their lofty perch into the mortal dust, reducing them to ordinary cultivators.

And the second ability that followed was even more formidable.

【Devour】 — Those pierced by the chain, whose strength does not exceed that of the chain's master, will at every moment suffer the effect of the first ability. At the same time, everything about them — whether energy or origin, even those half-real, half-illusory God Positions and Dao Fruits — will be extracted by the chain, gathered to the chain's source, and transformed into a mysterious substance — Source!

This was precisely the "Source" mentioned in that inexplicable summoning earlier!

He who masters Source masters the ultimate crystallization of all supernatural power in this world.

Should an ordinary living being obtain Source, it signifies that they have obtained a God Position or Dao Fruit.

This was a crystallization of power that ought to be born only when a cultivator reaches the very last step of their cultivation; yet under this chain, it has become a tangible object.

In an instant, Baichuan understood why this group of True Monarch Gods had come here. The cultivation of Gods is the continual stabilization and expansion of their own God Position; the cultivation of True Monarchs is much the same — comprehending the great Dao to make one's own Dao Fruit ever more wondrous.

Yet now, they had discovered a shortcut: by coming to the depths of Mingtu, they had a chance to obtain the Source left behind by predecessors who had died here, and thereby become stronger with effortless ease.

Thinking about it, Old Dragon's coming here was likely because he had discovered that his offspring had no hope of transforming into a true dragon, and feared that amid the coming storms of Dalong he would be unable to protect him, so he had specifically come to seek a Source to bring back for the other party — only to be so unfortunate as to fall deep into this place.

What a pity — while this group of True Monarch Gods was coveting others' Source, there were also those who had set their sights on everything the Gods possessed.

Now that he thought about it, this ability was precisely the reason why, during the chain's earlier rampage, Baichuan had even seen Old Dragon's origin Dragon Blood being drawn out.

Under the combination of these two terrifying abilities, those powerful True Monarch Gods — even that Heavenly Sovereign Main God — were unmistakably cast down into the mortal dust, treated as ants to be slain at will.

Think about it: the root of a God's or Main God's strength lies in resonating with the power source of this world, achieving a relative infinity of energy, where a small source drives a great source to produce tremendous destructive force. The first ability seals precisely this point for the opponent, and the second ability, after stripping away the opponent's foundation, treats everything about them as nourishment to supply oneself.

The chain's master had unmistakably treated these Gods and Main Gods as prey, with every aspect aimed at countering their power.

Judging from this, the identity of that divine corpse was no simple matter — not only was his strength and realm superior to those Main Gods and even Heavenly Sovereigns, but every ability of his Faba and weapons was specifically designed to counter those very beings.

To be able to reach such a stage, countering those Main Gods and Heavenly Sovereigns at the root level of power, Baichuan did not believe the other party was unaware of the supernatural source of the Spirit Qi system.

Only by possessing an especially profound understanding of that supernatural source — or even having once possessed it — could one forge such a powerful weapon.

Of course, it was also possible that the other party had obtained this weapon by chance, and then, relying on this Faba's power, risen step by step to his current position.

But thinking this way, the chain's origins become even more extraordinary — it must absolutely be connected to the supernatural source of the Spirit Qi system.

'It seems I've truly obtained a treasure now!'

Gazing at this chain gleaming with divine light, Baichuan couldn't help but caress it gently. Feeling its special texture, he also couldn't help but fall into reverie.

Having obtained this treasure, when facing those Main Gods and Heavenly Sovereigns in the future, wouldn't they be pinched to death by him as easily as little chicks?

Of course, thinking is one thing — Baichuan's approach would still not be careless.

As a certain great man put it so well: despise the enemy strategically, but take the enemy seriously tactically.

After all, the owner of this divine artifact had still ended up as a corpse lying here with almost no movement, while those Main Gods and Heavenly Sovereigns remained lofty and untouched, with no signs of falling or vanishing.

If there were no tricks at play, that would be nonsense — those beings must surely possess their own trump cards.

……

(End of Chapter)