Chapter 1005: Above the Gods (2)

Boundless void.

In the void extremely far from Mu Dalu, vast expanses of magma boiled and surged.

The semi-transparent crimson magma stretched for hundreds of millions of li, mighty and vast, like a sea of fire. Countless volcanoes of all sizes floated upon the magma, each refined by high temperature into crystal clarity, as if forged from gemstones.

At the center stood the largest volcano, towering nearly ten thousand li high, with a base spanning tens of thousands of li in diameter. Countless strange fire-attribute beasts and birds reproduced on its slopes.

On the volcano, huge fire trees blazed fiercely, bearing fruit the size of water tanks. These fruits fed the herbivorous beasts on the volcano, sustaining its simple ecosystem.

Groups of lava giant gods wielded spears, roaming the volcano in a carefree manner.

They slew beast after beast, captured bird after bird; the volcano had many caves, and the lower-ranking lava giant gods dragged their prey back inside. Soon the whole mountain smelled of roasted meat.

At the summit of this largest volcano, within its boiling crater, a magnificent palace complex cast entirely of crimson-red metal floated upon the boiling magma. Vast flocks of serpents, their bodies nearly white-hot, swam in the magma, occasionally raising their heads to spew several mouthfuls of scorching magma at the palace walls.

In the central great hall, Yi Zun reclined comfortably in a magma bath.

Within the enormous bath, the magma was nearly white and transparent—essence drawn from the boundless magma sea, brimming with earth and fire power. Ordinary lava giant gods who slept in this essence could see their cultivation leap forward by leaps and bounds.

Heaps of divine soul crystals and bloodline essence floated beside the bath.

With each deep breath Yi Zun took, faint glimmers from the divine soul crystals streamed into his body. The volcano-shaped dao seal floating above his head subtly contracted and expanded, emitting terrifying, fierce divine power fluctuations.

Bowls of bloodline essence also turned into specks of crimson light, continually pouring into Yi Zun's body.

Yi Zun snored loudly, hot magma occasionally jetting from his seven orifices. As the bloodline essence merged with his body, deep within, his multi-helix serpentine bloodline began to unwind under its scouring.

His stiff, nearly degenerated bloodline regained vitality, steadily growing stronger.

Yi Zun felt his body growing ever stronger, the inner heat swelling. His bloodline was evolving toward the primordial bloodline of the lava giant god clan.

Or rather, it was not evolution but a return to his rightful ancestral bloodline.

"What extraordinary bloodline talent…" the slumbering Yi Zun suddenly awoke, sensing the genuine increase of power within him. He nodded in satisfaction, then let out a heavy sigh.

"Pangu… Pangu's remnant… humanity… what terrifying talent. Their bloodline inheritance never declines. As for us? Among the many god races of the God Realm, each generation grows a little weaker than the last."

"Even if we weaken only a hair's breadth every ten thousand years… after so long, our bloodline compared to our ancestors is like the difference between a firefly and the sun—truly a sorrowful state."

"Thanks to humanity, their bloodline essence can make up our deficiencies, restoring our ancestors' glory." Yi Zun muttered, seizing a bowl of bloodline essence floating beside the bath and gulping it down.

Contentedly belching, Yi Zun murmured, "More, more—I need more… I have become a God King, yet I am still far from God Emperor. I need more divine soul crystals, especially more bloodline essence."

"Damn you, Wu Tou, daring to seize our offerings! Heh, if I weren't tasked with monitoring Xuan Wu and his fellows, I would personally descend and behead you."

Yi Zun complained softly, then he heard a terrifying cracking sound.

Yi Zun stared blankly, then he waved his hand vigorously; a metal canister spewing terrifying flames flew into his hand. He struck it hard, and with a tremendous 'clatter', a shower of sparks burst out.

Each spark was a red gem the size of a person's thumb.

Accompanied by a piercing crack, fifteen thousand red gems shattered, then rapidly pulverized into threads of flame that rained into the bath.

Yi Zun leapt to his feet, his hundred-zhang stature stomping heavily, unleashing a hysterical roar.

Fifteen thousand clansmen, fifteen thousand powerful spirits of the lava giant god race, perished, annihilated, utterly vanished.

What an enormous loss!

Know this: in the God Realm, a single lava giant god could rule dozens of living planets, becoming the supreme deity in the hearts of their uncivilized natives!

Fifteen thousand clansmen falling together in such a short time is exceedingly rare in lava giant god history, a shocking event.

Even in the divine wars between lava giant gods and other great god races, losing a hundred clansmen in a single battle already signifies a massive conflict.

Losing fifteen thousand clansmen at once?

Such a thing has never happened.

"Who can tell me what happened?" Yi Zun shook the metal canister vigorously, and fiery glyphs flew out—these were the names of the fallen lava giant gods.

They were all clansmen who had just descended upon Mu Dalu not long ago!

Yi Zun stared, then let out a hysterical roar: "Wu Tou… is it you? You wretched scum, what scheming trick did you use to dare slay my people?"

With Yi Zun's roar, the magma sea stretching hundreds of millions of li churned violently.

Dozens of towering lava giant gods stormed into Yi Zun's hall, loudly demanding to know what had occurred.

Yi Zun roared repeatedly, bellowing: "Summon all warriors… to the Heavenly Crystal War Star. We demand an answer—damn you, Chi Yun, you must give us an answer."

Yi Zun still believed his people had fallen at the hands of Wu Tou's barbarian god army.

Blaring horns echoed outward across the magma sea; on countless large and small volcanoes, troops of lava giant gods mounted on various fire beasts surged forth, brandishing massive weapons and spewing blazing streams of fire toward the sky.

As the lava giant god army gathered, the piercing crack rang out again; more sparks exploded from the metal canister, shattering to pieces before Yi Zun and the senior lava giant gods.

Another roar nearly deafened the lesser lava giant gods; Yi Zun screamed hysterically: "I demand an answer! I demand an answer! Otherwise, I will not hesitate to wage war! This is a conspiracy, there must be a conspiracy!"

The vast magma sea boiled, the hundreds-of-millions-of-li expanse slowly lengthening into a boiling magma river, then accelerating as it flew toward the Heavenly Crystal War Star speeding through the void.

Within the Heavenly Crystal War Star, Xuan Wu sat alone in the immense Crystal Stone Hall.

Beside him hovered vast amounts of divine soul crystals and bloodline essence; he likewise toiled day and night to cultivate, to enhance his bloodline, to raise his cultivation.

Almost as Yi Zun's roar rang out, Xuan Wu suddenly lifted his gaze to the ceiling of the Crystal Stone Hall.

The ceiling of the Crystal Stone Hall suddenly blazed, rotating clusters of brilliant starlight, within which countless specks of crystal flickered.

Accompanied by a piercing tearing sound, crystal specks shattered one after another, exploding into fine crystal dust that rained down from the ceiling.

"My people… my warriors… damn it, what happened?" Xuan Wu roared, swinging a giant scepter forged of seven-colored crystal and slamming it heavily into the hall's floor.

Hundreds of burly crystal stone giants shoved open the hall's doors and strode inside.

"Your Highness Xuan Wu?" a seven-colored crystal stone giant asked in astonishment.

"Find out what's happening on Mu Dalu—damn it… why are so many clansmen suddenly falling? What is Xuan Guang up to? What is he doing?" Xuan Wu rose, brandishing his giant scepter and bellowing: "Did they walk into a trap? But on Mu Dalu, who could inflict such grievous harm upon them?"

"Humans? No, impossible!" Xuan Wu snarled: "The domesticated, captive failures—aside from their vile worshippers, those human 'traitors' who gave life and honor to our gods—lack even a God King–level expert. How could it be humans?"

"Wu Tou… damn Wu Tou!" Xuan Wu bellowed: "Notify Chi Yun—I demand to see him at once, immediately, as fast as possible!"

A comparatively short crystal stone giant sprinted over: "Your Highness, the lava giant god clan is rushing en masse… they seem to be coming in great force, with hostile intent…"

Xuan Wu fell silent for a moment, then brandished his massive scepter and hissed: "Be ready, prepare for war… hum. Let You Zu, Xu Po, and Chi Yun come… bring their people, come together."

Narrowing his eyes, dangerous light flashing in his pupils, Xuan Wu said coldly: "Prepare to annihilate the Star-Shatter Cannon, lock onto all tribal strongholds—any who dare move will have their bases blown up. Be careful, you won't go wrong."

In the boundless void, the other major divine clans saw no unusual movement, while the five great strong clans suddenly became tense.

The Heaven Crystal Divine Clan and the Lava Giant Gods both suffered heavy casualties among their people.

The Light Divine Clan also lost over a thousand members in battle, and the high-ranking officials of the Light Divine Clan guarding their garrison likewise obtained detailed casualty figures through secret arts.

The Lava Giant Gods' molten lava river rapidly approached the Heaven Crystal War Star, and the garrisons of the Heaven Crystal Divine Clan, the Dark Soul Divine Clan, and the Barbarian God Clan also, under the orders of their respective leaders, slowly moved toward the Heaven Crystal War Star.

The atmosphere in the void suddenly became somewhat eerie and tense.

Above Tianfang Island, Wu Tie quickly formed seals with both hands and blasted toward the great formation.

A black and a gold sword dragon let out a piercing sword cry, forcibly dragging the Myriad Soul Tower out of the formation. The Myriad Soul Tower trembled violently, waves of ghastly green light continuously spreading out, shaking the two sword dragons so hard that Wu Tie's soul imprints etched into the two holy weapons nearly shattered.

This is a supreme divine artifact of the Dark Soul Divine Clan, possessing extremely terrifying lethality on the soul level.

The sinister soul impact even used Wu Tie's soul imprint as a guide, directly striking his physical form. Wu Tie's body surface continually rippled with circles of ghastly green divine light, and the hundred Wu tribe youths standing behind him also looked somewhat grim, their bodies slightly trembling as they struggled to withstand the soul impact spilling over from Wu Tie.

"What a fine treasure, but let you become nourishment for the Dao Furnace." Wu Tie struggled to form seals with both hands, and the two sword dragons erupted in earth-shaking roars, heavily slashing down on the Myriad Soul Tower.

The Myriad Soul Tower emitted a sharp cry.

This is an overwhelmingly powerful soul divine artifact, but it is not specifically a defensive one. Its might is immense, yet its main body is not particularly sturdy.

The two sword dragons left two deep gashes on the Myriad Soul Tower, from which vast amounts of massive, pure, icy and sinister soul power—compressed almost to a mercury-like state—gushed out, instantly filling the void within a radius of nearly ten thousand li.

The Dao Furnace spewed out vast expanses of crimson-red firelight, a tremendous suction surging forth and gulping down those massive, pure soul forces in big mouthfuls.

Wu Tie activated the Dao Furnace, and the spark fire rapidly refined the yin-evil cold qi within those soul forces, transforming it into the purest soul origin.

Through the Dao Furnace, these soul origins continuously poured into Wu Tie's cluster of innate spiritual light.

The innate spiritual light rapidly grew, and Wu Tie's life origin also swiftly increased.

Wu Tie's essence, energy, and spirit rapidly filled his interior, and atop his head a new Dao mark after another continually appeared. These Dao marks were merely virtual entities between the illusory and the real, and as Wu Tie's essence-energy-spirit and innate spiritual light poured in, the Dao marks quickly took shape.

In just a quarter of an hour, twenty-six new Dao marks had condensed.

Wu Tie's magical aura surged again, the magical power he poured into the Dao Furnace grew ever greater, and the Devouring Power emitted by the Dao Furnace became ever more terrifying.

The two sword dragons' might increased severalfold, sword light rained down, and the Myriad Soul Tower was hacked into disarray, nearly falling apart into fragments.

The Dao Furnace actively swallowed upward, a tremendous boom sounded, and the Myriad Soul Tower was gulped down cleanly by the Dao Furnace.

Magical power surged, Wu Tie's control over the great formation ahead became ever more exquisite, and the formation's might grew ever stronger.

Spark fire surged into the great formation like a tide, frenziedly clinging to the remaining Lava Giant Gods and Heaven Crystal Divine Clan members. Amidst waves of hysterical wails, these self-slaughtering, heavily loss-suffering Lava Giant Gods and Heaven Crystal Divine Clan were instantly refined to nothing by the spark fire.

The Yellow Sword hovered in midair, utterly still.

The Black Sword, meanwhile, greedily rushed into the formation, swallowing cleanly the life origins left by the tens of thousands of refined divine spirits and the life gemstones scattered across the ground.

A joyful sword cry shot up into the sky, the Black Sword's aura surged for a moment, and it faintly caught up to the Yellow Sword hovering motionless in the air.

Within the formation, Xia Rumeng, Xuan Min, Wumian Fo and others, together with the peoples of the Mist and Phantom Wise Divine Clans, who commanded the tens of thousands of descended divine spirits, knelt toward Wu Tie's direction.

At this moment, Wu Tie sat cross-legged in the void, beneath him lay tens of thousands of divine spirits prostrating in fivefold reverence!