Chapter 504: Old Gods Rampant!

Crisis of the Three Realms!

In the eastern region of the Three Realms, a ruined star sector forgotten for countless epochs.

This place was once the battlefield of the ancient divine war, barren of even a blade of grass, with space itself warped.

But now, nine towering black flames have ignited over this dead land.

Nine figures hover in the void, each clad in the wide‑sleeved robes of the ancient age,

their faces aged and imposing, surrounded by a dense, unbreakable aura of magical energy.

They are the Old Gods.

Beings older than the Heavenly Court.

Before Hongjun established the Heavenly Dao, they already occupied the spirit veins throughout the Three Realms, drawing the essence of Heaven and Earth, and roamed carefree for countless epochs.

Later, Hongjun rose, and the Heavenly Dao crushed all; unable to prevail, they slipped into the cracks of space to hibernate.

Their retreat lasted for several epochs.

Until now.

"Is the formation stable?"

The Old God leader at the front spoke, his voice hoarse as two dry logs rubbing together.

His name is Tai Xu.

Having lived seven epochs, he is the eldest among the nine Old Gods.

He is also the most cautious.

"Stable."

Behind him, a hunchbacked Old God grinned, showing a mouth full of yellow teeth, "All anchor points of the Four Extremes' spirit veins of the Three Realms are connected; the qi flow is being drawn toward us."

"Is it drawing fast?"

"Fast."

The yellow‑toothed Old God rubbed his hands, greed blazing in his eyes: "The Three Realms now have no dragon leader, the Heavenly Court has been smashed, Ling Shan flattened, even the Heavenly Dao has been discarded.

No one guards those spirit veins; we can draw them however we wish."

"Just like an unlocked treasury."

Another Old God replied, his tone full of mockery: "That monkey really did us a great favor. It destroyed everything capable of fighting, then fled to the depths of the Universe."

"Hahaha!"

Several Old Gods laughed in unison.

Their laughter echoed through the void, a release of suppression spanning billions of years.

At their feet, a bizarre formation built from nine ancient jade bones was in motion.

The formation's patterns were dark‑red, as if painted with blood, each line writhing like a living insect.

Nine pillars of light, formed by spirit veins from different dimensions, were forcibly drawn from across the Three Realms into the formation's core.

That is the qi flow of the Three Realms.

It is the foundation sustaining billions of Living Beings.

It is being drained, drop by drop, at this moment.

Among mortals.

On the Southern Zhanbu Continent, a great river that had flowed for tens of thousands of years dried up to its bed within half an hour.

Fish and shrimp on the riverbed flipped their white bellies, struggled a few times under the scorching sun, then fell still.

In a riverside village, an old farmer clasped cracked earth, kneeling on the ground, his lips chapped white, his eyes full of bewilderment.

"Water... where is the water..."

He has farmed all his life, never having seen a river vanish in a single day.

The North.

A mountain range that had stood for ten thousand years split open with a massive fissure, debris raining down, half of the town at its foot buried.

Cries, Cànjiào, and pleas for help blended together.

The Eastern Sea.

Sea water receded at a visible speed, exposing black, pointed reef tops like rows of teeth.

Coastal fishermen found their boats stranded, the fish in the sea turned belly up, a scene of Deathly Silence.

The entire Three Realms are withering.

Mountains crack, water dries, vegetation turns into gray, dead branches overnight.

Mortals do not know what happened; they only know that Heaven has collapsed.

They crawl out of collapsed houses, stepping on cracked earth, dragging families as they flee in an unknown direction.

Children cry, the elderly gasp, young people's eyes are filled with despair.

Where do they run to?

Everywhere is the same.

The whole world is dying.

On the ruins of the Heavenly Court, a few scattered immortals who barely retained a sliver of Xiūwéi stand on the wreckage of Nan Tian Men, their faces ashen.

They saw.

They saw the nine black flames in the eastern region.

They saw the light pillars forcibly drawing the Three Realms' spirit veins.

They know who is doing this.

But no one dares to act.

Heavenly Soldiers. Spear. His teeth gritted, making a creaking sound.

What to do... that's the Grand Void...

Grand Void?

The companion beside him trembled, "It's that old monster even Hongjun wouldn't dare provoke."

How did he come out?!

Heavenly Dao is gone! The seal pressing on him naturally vanished!

Several wandering immortals stared at each other, none daring to speak further.

Go intercept?

What a joke.

Hongjun was Fèi le by that monkey; what are they, mere scallions?

Going there would just be delivering oneself to death.

Better to wait here.

Wait for that monkey to return.

If he can still return.

Eastern Border.

Grand Void stroked his white whiskers, lifted his foot and stepped on a half-buried stone tablet.

The tablet bore four characters—'Heavenly Dao Eternal Prosperity'.

It was erected when Hongjun established the Dao.

Grand Void laughed loudly, exerting force with his feet.

Crack.

The stone tablet snapped in half, debris flying.

He stood on the rubble, gazing arrogantly in all directions, his wrinkled old face full of wild abandon.

"Heavenly Dao Eternal Prosperity?"

"Heavenly Dao has been beaten down to a mortal—what eternal prosperity?"

"From today onward—"

He spread his arms, his voice booming across the entire star field.

"The Three Realms, now under our control!"

"All living beings, mortals, demons, cultivators alike, you shall all pay tribute to me!"

"Each year, three tenths of the karmic fortune, one tenth of essence blood, plus a hundred thousand mortal lifespans!"

"Those who cannot pay—"

He flipped his palm, a black light condensed into a curved blade, its surface reflecting the faces of countless mortals' fear.

"Kill."

"Not a single one left."

The remaining eight ancient gods laughed loudly, their laughter shaking the void.

They have waited for this day far too long.

The pent-up frustration of several eons will be released all at once today.

What Heavenly Court, what Ling Shan, what Heavenly Dao.

All are doomed.

Now it's their turn.

"What about that monkey?"

The yellow-toothed ancient god suddenly asked, "I heard he's still alive."

Grand Void snorted, "Alive? So what? He ran to the edge of the universe."

By the time he returns, we will have drained the Three Realms' karmic fortune; then the lives of countless beings will be in our hands—would he dare to act?

"What about Bodhi?"

"Just a dried-up old thing."

Grand Void waved his hand, eyes full of contempt: "In the last battle he nearly exhausted the Primordial Source of Chaos, even his right hand was Fèi le. Now he probably can't even muster the strength to stand—"

He didn't finish speaking.

A sound of breaking the void came from the edge of the sky.

Grand Void's words got stuck in his throat.

He lowered his head.

He saw a staff appear beside his foot.

Its crimson-golden shaft was covered with green vine patterns.

The staff struck the ground three feet deep; the crater it made sent the shattered stone tablet beneath his feet flying, fragments striking his shin, causing sharp pain.

Cracks spread from the impact point in all directions, shaking the whole ground into a spiderweb-like pattern.

The nine ancient gods all lifted their heads.

At the edge of the sky.

A crimson-gold stream of light was rapidly expanding.

Beside it coiled a seven-colored light ribbon.

Grand Void's pupils suddenly constricted.

He recognized that scarlet gold.

In the Three Realms, only one person uses this color.

Wrong.

Not a person.

It's a monkey.

And what is wrapped in that seven-colored light ribbon is a woman's figure.

Her light skirt trails the ground, her whole body surrounded by Rainbow Light.

Two lights draw a piercing arc across the heavens, drawing nearer and faster, carrying a terrifying aura that makes the entire star field tremble.

That aura fell upon Tai Xu, causing his seven-epoch Xiūwéi to stagnate for an instant.

An extremely arrogant voice exploded from the horizon, echoing across the entire ruined star field:

Yo——

How many old bastards are still lively, huh?