Chapter 1172: Traitors and Juniors
The Shatuo Heaven Domain was originally extremely vast; even a Saint King would need nearly a month to travel from one end to the other.
Yet, You Shen and the Four-Armored Blood Ancestor arrived at the domain's edge in an instant.
The two gods were overjoyed. As long as they escaped the Shatuo Heaven Domain and entered the territory of another major world, the Moon God would definitely not dare to continue the pursuit.
Originally, they had hoped to take this opportunity to severely wound Empress Chi Yao and the Moon God, establishing the authority of the Paradise Realm. Instead, their plan backfired.
This operation failed solely due to their underestimation of the enemy, forcing them to flee like dogs with their tails between their legs. It was a complete loss of face.
But they seemed to have thought too simply...
"Is the Shatuo Heaven Domain a place you can come and go as you please?"
Suddenly, the Moon God appeared before them, standing atop the Sun-Moon Crystal Coffin.
A bright, silvery moon rose behind her, growing larger and larger, blocking the path of You Shen and the Four-Armored Blood Ancestor.
"How is she so fast?"
The hearts of You Shen and the Four-Armored Blood Ancestor trembled violently.
They did not want to end up like the Yan God. Exchanging a glance, the two gods lowered their postures and clasped their hands in salute.
The Four-Armored Blood Ancestor spoke with an apologetic tone, forcing a smile: "This god and You Shen were merely eager to rescue our comrades, which is why we intruded into the Shatuo Heaven Domain. We had no intention of offending the Moon God. If we come again next time, we will surely send a formal notice in advance."
You Shen was extremely beautiful. Though not comparable to the Moon God or Empress Chi Yao, she could still be called a peerless beauty. She said, "That new god from the Kunlun Realm killed innocents indiscriminately and provoked us first. We were forced to act in self-defense. The losses of the Guanghan Realm will be counted against this god, the Four-Armored Blood Ancestor, and the Yan God. We will certainly compensate."
The Yan God had not fallen, but he had suffered extremely severe injuries.
Moreover, at the moment the Yan God's divine body shattered, Empress Chi Yao had used the Blood Drop Sword to absorb a large amount of divine blood.
Although the Yan God had re-condensed his divine body, he was now much weaker. Without a divine spring or divine medicine, it might take him a hundred years to fully recover.
At this moment, the Yan God was filled with resentment and rage, hating the Moon God even more than Empress Chi Yao.
But he knew that he had encountered a ruthless opponent in the Moon God today. He could not stay in the Shatuo Heaven Domain any longer and fled in another direction.
The Yan God wanted to escape, but Empress Chi Yao did not give him the chance. She pursued him, slashing out sword beams that pierced heaven and earth, like beating a drowning dog, constantly worsening the Yan God's injuries.
The Yan God clenched his teeth, his mouth full of flames, and roared angrily: "Chi Yao, you've gone too far! Do you dare wait until this god recovers to his peak state, choose a stretch of starry sky, and engage in a divine decisive battle?"
Empress Chi Yao replied, "You are not worthy of a decisive battle with the Empress."
The Yan God was so furious he spat blood. A mere new god who had only achieved godhood a few years ago, whose foundation was still unstable, dared to look down on him.
"Pfft."
The Chaos Time-Space Lotus once again emitted a dazzling radiance. A beam of light shot out, striking the Yan God's back, leaving a deep bloody gash and spilling more divine blood.
The Yan God grew even angrier. As he fled, he spat out threats: "Once the Kunlun Realm battlefield opens, the Heavenly Court Realm will surely destroy your path, crush you into the abyss, and ensure you never rise again!"
"Boom!"
The power unleashed by the Chaos Time-Space Lotus shattered thousands of miles of heaven and earth. Space tore like paper, revealing the pitch-black, boundless Void World.
The Yan God was forced into the Void World, but Empress Chi Yao still did not intend to let him go. She charged into the void and continued the pursuit.
The power of the void could indeed destroy everything.
However, a god's divine power was substantial. As long as they did not encounter major dangers within the void space, they could resist the void's power and survive there for a period of time.
Of course, they could not stay too long, or even a god's body would be eroded by the void's power.
Outside the Guanghan Divine Palace on Moon God Mountain.
"Hua—"
A black demonic shadow tore through space and stepped out from the void.
It was a demon god, holding a six-sided war hammer in his right hand, with a pair of ox horns on his head, and a body as massive as a small mountain.
As soon as he appeared, he waved his left hand and swept all the surviving Paradise Realm Saint Kings into a scroll. Then, his gaze fixed on Zhang Ruochen and the others standing within the divine light circle.
"Heh, do you think a mere divine rune circle can protect them?"
The demon god sneered. His eyes turned pitch black, transforming into two black holes with immense suction force, attempting to pull out the Saint Souls of Zhang Ruochen and the others.
"Oh no... there's... another god..."
The thought had just crossed Zhang Ruochen's mind when his Saint Soul was struck as if by a heavy blow, and his consciousness grew increasingly blurry.
Looking from afar, the Saint Souls of the Saint realm cultivators within the circle were all flying outward.
Man Sword Great Saint, with the highest cultivation, managed to withstand that gaze. He bent down, pressed his hands onto the divine rune circle left by the Moon God, and poured all his Great Saint power into it.
"Blood Moon Devouring Heaven Grand Formation!" Man Sword Great Saint roared.
"Hua—"
Instantly, with the divine rune circle as the center, the entire Moon God Mountain was covered in densely packed inscriptions. An ancient formation was activated.
The jade-white Moon God Mountain turned blood-red in an instant.
The demon god's gaze was shattered, and he was forced back two steps.
Zhang Ruochen and the others' Saint Souls immediately returned to their bodies.
However, aside from Zhang Ruochen, Xiao Hei, and the True Wonder Daoist, who could still remain standing, all the other Saint realm cultivators collapsed limply to the ground.
Xiao Hei and the True Wonder Daoist were so frightened that they shrank their heads and hid inside Zhang Ruochen's clothes.
The demon god revealed a hint of a smile. "So this divine rune circle is the array eye for activating the Blood Moon Devouring Heaven Grand Formation. No wonder the Moon God was so confident in going after You Shen and the Four-Armored Blood Ancestor. Unfortunately, a single Great Saint's power cannot fully activate the Blood Moon Devouring Heaven Grand Formation."
The demon god raised his six-sided war hammer, leaped up, causing Moon God Mountain to tremble slightly. Then, he slammed the hammer down, colliding with the divine rune circle.
"Boom!"
The divine rune circle emitted a blinding light. A powerful wave of energy traveled from Moon God Mountain to thousands of miles away.
It was blocked!
But Man Sword Great Saint inside the circle was shaken by the hammer blow, spitting blood from his mouth.
In the blink of an eye, the demon god's second hammer struck again.
He had come to Moon God Mountain not only to rescue people but also to eliminate a hidden threat.
That threat was Zhang Ruochen.
The moment the demon god appeared on Moon God Mountain, Empress Chi Yao and the Moon God's expressions changed drastically. They realized they had fallen into the Paradise Realm's trap.
Empress Chi Yao activated the power of the Chaos Time-Space Lotus, performing a space jump, intending to cross a hundred thousand miles and return to Moon God Mountain. But a boundless demonic hand shattered space and struck her, sending her flying backward.
Then, the body of a world-covering demon god appeared before Empress Chi Yao.
This demon god looked identical to the one on Moon God Mountain, but his body was more than ten times larger, and the aura he emitted was far stronger than that of the Yan God and the others. He was like a towering, ancient demonic mountain, his head touching the sky and his feet planted on the ground.
This was his true body!
The demon god on Moon God Mountain was merely a doppelganger condensed from his divine thought.
Seeing this demon god, Empress Chi Yao's eyes turned colder than ever before. She said, "Black Heart Demon Lord, I never thought it would be you, a traitor of the Kunlun Realm. Someone like you can actually survive the Eon Calamity and live into a second eon?"
"This lord was never a being of the Kunlun Realm, so naturally, I cannot be considered a traitor of the Kunlun Realm." Black Heart Demon Lord looked down at Empress Chi Yao, who was like a speck of dust, and every word he spoke was forceful, shaking heaven and earth.
Empress Chi Yao said, "If the Kunlun Realm had not passed on civilization and enlightenment to you, given you cultivation methods, how could you have cultivated to become a god? How could the Black Demon Realm have become a member of the Heavenly Court? You would have long been discovered by the Hell Realm, turned into their food, and your entire world would have been destroyed."
Black Heart Demon Lord said, "This lord achieved my current height through my own efforts and hard work. The Kunlun Realm's help was merely an external aid. Looking back, when I was cultivating and learning in the Kunlun Realm, was I not enduring humiliation to achieve my goals? Only by enduring the bitterest hardships can one rise above others. My current achievements prove everything."
"Your current achievements only prove one thing," Empress Chi Yao said coldly. "The Kunlun Realm raised you like a human, but you chose to be a dog of the Paradise Realm."
Black Heart Demon Lord let out a deep snort and punched toward Empress Chi Yao. Instantly, a stone tablet as massive as a star appeared, suppressing heaven and earth. For a moment, the entire space of the Shatuo Heaven Domain seemed to freeze slightly.
The shadow of that stone tablet was covered in extremely profound patterns, representing one of the images from the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription.
...
On the other side, the Moon God was enraged. She struck out two palms, shattering the bodies of You Shen and the Four-Armored Blood Ancestor, then hurried toward Moon God Mountain.
Suddenly, a massive blood energy vortex appeared in the sky, enveloping her.
The blood energy vortex was enormous, containing the power to destroy heaven and earth, sweeping up all the mountains, rivers, and land below.
The Moon God's delicate brows furrowed, a look of gravity appearing on her face. She looked up into the sky.
At the center of the blood energy vortex, countless miles away, a middle-aged man with eight blood wings on his back held a whisk, slowly rotating his wrist.
This middle-aged man was the Two-Armored Blood Ancestor of the Blood Battle Divine Temple.
Seeing him, the Moon God said, "I never thought you would actually cultivate to become a god."
The middle-aged man laughed. "We only met once, yet Moon God Senior still remembers this junior, a nobody. Back then, Senior commented that this junior had the potential to become a god and would not remain a mere fish in a pond. That sentence kept this junior excited for an entire lifetime, using it to motivate myself to keep advancing. Even in the most difficult and desperate times, thinking of those words gave me the drive to keep fighting. Meeting again after a hundred thousand years, this junior can finally straighten his spine and say, Moon God, this god has done it!"
In the final sentence, he no longer called the Moon God "Senior" nor referred to himself as "Junior."
He believed he now possessed the power to stand on equal footing with the Moon God.
The Moon God said, "Do you think you are worthy to fight me? It would be more fitting for your master, Jia Tianxia, to come."
Jia Tianxia was the number one supreme being of the Blood Battle Divine Temple.
The three beings from the Blood Battle Divine Temple who later cultivated to the divine realm could only use the titles "Two-Armored Blood Ancestor," "Three-Armored Blood Ancestor," and "Four-Armored Blood Ancestor." In truth, they all lived in Jia Tianxia's shadow.
The middle-aged man said, "A hundred thousand years ago, the Moon God and my master were evenly matched, unable to determine a victor. Over the past hundred thousand years, my master's cultivation has been constantly advancing, while the Moon God fell into slumber, your divine power greatly diminished, far from your peak. One advances, one retreats. Does the Moon God think she still has the power to fight my master? How about letting this god test how much the Moon God has regressed over the years?"
The Moon God glanced toward Moon God Mountain, thinking of something, and then no longer felt the urgency to rush back.
...
That's all for today's update. I'll try to update earlier tomorrow.