Chapter 199: They Would Never Dare Defy Me!

Contrasting sharply with Lu Yuan’s ecstatic relief was Liu Xuanyin’s complete descent into the abyss of despair, an endless terror and...utter incomprehension.

A Deity of Beauty?

An object becoming a god?

Perfect and flawless?

These revelations seared into his remaining consciousness like a red-hot branding iron, bringing intense, cognition-level pain.

He “looked” at the broken section of the chain on the ground, the “Nine Nether Soul-Refining Chains” so familiar it was in his bones.

The twist marks at the break seemed to mock, in silence, all his lifelong efforts, the countless generations of the Liu Family’s heart’s blood, and the arrogance by which he had believed he controlled everything.

Impossible!

This is absolutely impossible!

A forbidden treasure of evil methods specifically used to bind and temper high-level evil existences!

Its toughness, the depth of its connection to the array, the vicious prohibitions embedded within it—all reached a terrifying degree!

Not to mention, even peer-level treasure bombs might not dent it!

Let alone doing anything without alerting him, the core array controller, or triggering any backlash.

To simply...snap it like twisting apart a braided pastry?!

And the timing! The timeline didn’t match either!

From his entrance, to confronting Lu Yuan, to Gu Qingwan’s arrival and their clash...

Even at the most generous accounting, it could not have taken more than half an hour!

In such a short half-hour, to silently infiltrate to the deepest part of a cave guarded by layers of evil arrays and a malevolent deity, locate the Yin Malevolence Soul-Refining Platform, bypass all prohibitions and alarms, unravel the Nine Nether Soul-Refining Chains and the array without triggering anything...

Then, through multiple vicious links between the Yin Malevolence Soul-Refining Platform and even the array controller, forcibly snap the chains?!

What level of terrifying strength? What bizarre method? What comprehension of the Liu Family’s secret arrays and refining arts?!

Even if Gu Qingwan personally acted—an incomprehensible thought—Liu Xuanyin felt she might still not be able to do all this so silently in so short a time!

But now, the one who did it was this suddenly appearing woman who claimed “object becoming god,” whose beauty seemed unworldly?!

This...who is this woman?!

Why had he never heard of her?!

Hu Huxu never mentioned her either...

She’s so familiar with Lu Yuan—there must have been intersections. If so, the local wild deities would have noticed.

If that were the case, Hu Huxu should know!

After all, Hu Huxu even knew about and told him of someone as secretive as Gu Qingwan, whom Lu Yuan had been hiding.

So it made no sense for Hu Huxu not to tell him...

Could it be...?

Could Hu Huxu have hidden something?

But Hu Huxu has already become a bloody mist; there’s no one left to ask.

Still...

Liu Xuanyin felt that was unlikely, after all the Commanding Ghosts Liu Family and the Continuing the Lamp Hu Family had unusual ties.

Hu Huxu would have had no reason to reveal Gu Qingwan yet hide this woman...

“No...no...impossible...who...who exactly are you?!”

“How could you possibly...how could you break the Nine Nether Soul-Refining Chains?!”

“What evil method did you use?! What are you...”

Liu Xuanyin’s dying consciousness screamed in ultimate terror and incomprehension.

His “gaze” was nailed to the Deity of Beauty, as if trying to pierce through her, to see into the truth behind this impossibility.

The Deity of Beauty seemed to sense Liu Xuanyin’s despairing, questioning “stare.”

She tilted her head slightly; those amber eyes that seemed to reflect starry seas looked over at him.

A faint, almost pitying mockery fell on his frozen, ashen face.

“How did I do it?”

Her red lips parted. Her voice remained clear and pleasant, as if discussing something trivial.

“Hard to understand?”

She tilted her head, a motion that carried an effortless, captivating grace and liveliness.

But what she said made Liu Xuanyin feel as if he had fallen into an ice pit.

“Because—”

She extended that flawless right hand, her slender index finger lightly tapping her chest.

Then, with a hinting motion, she motioned toward the broken chain on the ground.

“I am an object become god.”

Her tone carried an almost naive certainty, but it contained an unquestionable authority that seemed to touch the essence of the rules.

“No matter how evil the Nine Nether Soul-Refining Chains are, no matter how tightly bound to an array...”

“It is, after all, still an object.”

Amber reflections of countless artifacts flashed across the Deity of Beauty’s eyes: the weight of an ancient bronze cauldron, the clarity of a glazed cup, the sharpness of metal arms, the liveliness of string instruments...

All those images gathered into the pure clarity of her gaze.

They became a supremacy of “dominion” and “perfection” that transcended all tangible objects.

“All the objects in this world...”

She paused, returning her gaze to Liu Xuanyin; the faint mocking smile sharpened a touch.

“I manage them all.”

“If I want it to break, it breaks.”

“If I want it to shatter, it shatters.”

“That’s that simple.”

Her words—so matter-of-fact, as if stating a rule—fell like a final hammer, smashing the last barrier called “understanding” within Liu Xuanyin’s dying mind.

An object becoming god...she controlled all objects...

This was no longer a gap of power tiers, but a chasm of existential rank, of rule-touching essence that plunged one into despair!

The Liu Family’s proud forbidden treasure, painstakingly refined over countless efforts, was, to this woman...

Probably as fragile as a child’s toy to be casually dismantled and discarded.

But...

Again, the same question!!!

How is this possible?!

When did the region beyond the Great Wall produce such a being?!

Why did Hu Huxu never mention her?

Why did the “eyes” the Continuing the Lamp Hu Family used to watch mountains, earth veins, and ancient gods never detect such a terrifying arrival?

Unless...unless she had always been here, hidden so deeply that even the Hu Family’s surveillance couldn’t detect her?

Or...did Hu Huxu truly conceal something?

As Liu Xuanyin’s mind teetered on the verge of total chaos and collapse from these incomprehensible blows, the Deity of Beauty’s faintly mocking gaze did not leave him; it grew more amused.

As if observing a porcelain ware about to shatter, yet savoring its last cracks.

“Look at you like this...”

The Deity of Beauty’s lips curved. Alongside her mockery came a complex scorn, as if seeing an old acquaintance—or rather, an old object—reduced to such a state.

“Aren’t you still wondering why Hu Huxu didn’t tell you about my existence?”

“Why the so-called ‘eyes’ the Continuing the Lamp Hu Family left wandering the mountains beyond the Great Wall did not see me?”

She seemed to easily read every churning thought in Liu Xuanyin’s mind.

His frozen ashen eyes trembled sharply and silently, as if pleading: How do you know?!

The Deity of Beauty let out a soft “hah,” a pleasant yet icy laugh.

“Let me remind you, Master Liu.”

She leaned forward slightly; her flawless face in the dim cave light seemed to emit a faint, sanctified glow—an extreme and strange contrast to the filth of the place.

“Do you really not remember me?”

Her voice slowed, each word penetrating clearly into Liu Xuanyin’s consciousness.

“Luo Yan Slope, the celadon kiln.”

“The one who sealed herself in the kiln, using her body for the fire and her soul as glaze.”

“After seven days and seven nights of burning, she was fired alive into an object, her resentment unresolved, becoming the Celadon Specter, Liu Ruyan.”

“Then, your Commanding Ghosts Liu Family offered incense and used malevolent methods to refine her.”

“Attempting to cultivate her into a new evil god that you could control...”

At each phrase—“Celadon Specter,” “Commanding Ghosts Liu Family,” “evil god”—Liu Xuanyin’s dead eyes contracted violently!

Fragments of a memory nearly sealed away, the Liu Family’s past, were pried open like a coffin lid and churned in his muddled consciousness!

Luo Yan Slope...Celadon Specter...?!

It was her?!

That Celadon Specter had become this...Perfect Deity?!

How could that be?!

That Celadon Specter had been full of resentful energy and malevolent qi, a failed defective product!

How could she have transformed into such a...perfect, powerful being, even radiating the aura of a proper god?!

Seeing the disbelief and cognitive collapse in Liu Xuanyin’s eyes, the mockery on the Deity of Beauty’s face deepened.

She straightened, placing her hands gracefully before her as if enjoying the climax of a clumsy drama.

“Surprising, isn’t it?”

She tilted her head; Liu Xuanyin’s twisted, frozen face reflected in her amber eyes.

“A piece your Liu Family nearly forgot.”

“A Celadon Specter that should have been full of resentment and evil—how did it become this?”

“And gain such...powers you cannot fathom?”

She paused, giving Liu Xuanyin a moment to digest this earth-shattering information, then continued slowly:

“Perhaps you also wonder why, from start to finish...”

“Hu Huxu, or the so-called ‘eyes’ of the Continuing the Lamp Hu Family scattered beyond the Great Wall, those who claim to watch all—why did none of them detect my presence?”

“Why did they not send you any warning?”

Liu Xuanyin’s consciousness screamed wildly:

“Yes! Why?!”

This was something he could not reason even now!!

The Continuing the Lamp Hu Family’s pacts and monitoring network with those ancient “gods” were their crucial leverage beyond the Great Wall!

Even Gu Qingwan—someone Lu Yuan tried to hide—had left traces that were detected!

There was no reason for them to be oblivious to this suddenly appearing, terrifyingly powerful “Deity of Beauty” who was closely tied to Lu Yuan!

The smile on the Deity of Beauty’s face at that moment turned supremely proud.

It carried a lofty, indifferent omniscience, the calm of a higher-level being inspecting ants...

“Because...”

Her voice stayed clear but brought an invisible pressure that pierced to the soul.

“The things the Continuing the Lamp Hu Family communicate with, worship, and command are the wandering, chaotic remnants of ancient ‘gods’ on this land.”

“Or in other words...wild deities, evil deities.”

“And I—”

She lifted her perfect jaw slightly. Amber light, like that of myriad artifacts, swirled in her eyes and gathered.

It coalesced into a pure, noble radiance that rose above all chaos and evil: the supreme light of a rightful god.

“I am an object become god, tempered by the thunder-fire of the ancestral masters of Zhenlong Temple, stripped of filth, reforged into a true spirit, one that enjoys heaven-and-earth recognition...the Perfect Deity!”

“A ‘rightful god’!”

“The wild deities and evil gods the Continuing the Lamp Hu Family communicate with...and those you call gods...”

Her gaze pierced through the cave’s thick rock toward the outside mountains and land, toward those ancient hidden beings trembling in the dark.

“...they are my ‘peers’ only in name.”

“No, to be accurate, they are lower.”

Her tone was definitive, carrying absolute authority.

“They would never dare defy me.”

“From the very start, I smelled the scent on those wild deities.”

“That stench tainted by the Continuing the Lamp Hu Family and your Commanding Ghosts Liu Family—filth.”

“They know I exist, but they do not dare speak, move, or even stare.”

“Because I am a rightful god, superior to their chaotic natures—more complete, higher order!”

“The pitiful powers you use them for are null before me.”

The Deity of Beauty took her eyes off him and looked back at Liu Xuanyin; her arrogance eased into a faintly mocking calm.

“So, Master Liu, do you understand now?”

“The ‘eyes’ you depend on, from beginning to end, before a true god...”

“Were blind.”

Her voice, laced with irony and absolute divine authority, rang like a sentence in the silent cave.

She lifted her chin slightly; her amber eyes reflected Liu Xuanyin’s utterly drained face, a hollow, ash-gray shell.

As if a true god were pronouncing the end of an ant that dared profane divine majesty.

Standing aside, Lu Yuan gradually calmed from his initial rapture and relief; his own self-light was involuntarily drawn to the Deity of Beauty.

He watched her flawless profile, the confident, proud curve from neck to jaw as she lifted her head.

He watched the unhidden godly light in her eyes, as if they contained starry seas.

God, she was something else...

A fleeting, irreverent thought slid through Lu Yuan’s mind.

Not an exclamation at her beauty—though she had surpassed mere beauty—but an honest admiration for the absolute confidence, the sovereign demeanor, the sense of command she now radiated.

Gone was the coquettish warmth she had shown earlier.

This Deity of Beauty now truly appeared as the Perfect Deity, tempered by thunder and fire, stripped of filth, an object made god and acknowledged by heaven and earth.

She was no longer merely an immaculate-looking powerful being,

but the embodiment of a concept—“Perfection” and “Rightful God” walking the world.

That arrogance, that certainty, that natural godly majesty that should tower above objects—

it contrasted sharply with the playful tenderness she had used on him before,

and rather than clashing, it accentuated her uniqueness.

However, Lu Yuan’s brief appreciation of her bearing was cut short by another shift in aura.

As the Deity of Beauty’s words fell, Liu Xuanyin’s mind sank into numb, dead despair from the consecutive blows beyond comprehension.

Even his frozen ashen eyes seemed to lose their last flicker of life.

Gu Qingwan, who had been quietly hovering in the air like an observer of this “trial,” moved.

She seemed to have lost patience with admiring the prey’s final struggles.

This “game,” or punishment, should end.

Without warning, without buildup, and without glancing at Liu Xuanyin—already a walking corpse—Gu Qingwan simply lowered her eyelids.

Beyond the thin mist, her blood-red heavy pupils reflected images of star extinction and world collapse, as if those visions accelerated and imploded into two depths of absolute darkness able to swallow all light.

Her right hand, which had always hung naturally at her side and concentrated a point of pure darkness, very slowly...lifted.

Her motion remained graceful and slow,

but carried an icy, indifferent cold different from the Deity of Beauty’s lofty godliness,

as if executing an absolute will according to a predetermined program.

As her arm rose, the dark point at her fingertip—spinning slowly—suddenly accelerated!

Its color deepened, tightened, like a miniaturized core of an imminent black hole.

At the same time, an indescribable, colder, dead-quiet, existence-transcending terror pressure spread outward from Gu Qingwan like an invisible tide.

This pressure was not aimed at any specific person, but it caused the residual Yin qi and evil energy in the cave, even the edges of the Deity of Beauty’s little “pure land,” to twist, recoil, and retreat.

The Deity of Beauty seemed to sense it and lightly glanced at Gu Qingwan with a flash of realization in her amber eyes.

Then the corner of her mouth curled into an amused “please do” smile.

She even stepped back half a pace, yielding the center of the “stage” back to Gu Qingwan.

Lu Yuan felt his heart lift along with Gu Qingwan’s movement.

He knew Qingwan was about to act.

This time, it would not be teasing or testing, but a true...ending.

Gu Qingwan’s raised arm stopped level with her shoulder.

The dark point at her fingertip had spun to the point its exact form could no longer be seen,

leaving only a pure dot of darkness that seemed to absorb all sight and hope.

Her gaze finally pierced through the thin veil and fell on the motionless, consciousness-collapsed Liu Xuanyin below.

No words, no declaration, not even killing intent.

Only an extreme calm that treated life and death with indifference.

Then, her index finger, concentrated with darkness, very slightly...drew downward in Liu Xuanyin’s direction.

“Hold on!!!”

“Daoist Lu!!!”