# Chapter 3142: Heavenly Lord Falls
"Have you made your choice, Fairy?" Luo Sha asked with a smile.
Wu Yue said, "Princess, please take it first."
Luo Sha accepted the bronze wine cup.
Wu Yue then picked up the middle bronze wine cup and handed it to Bai Qinger, who reached out and took it.
Wu Yue raised the final bronze cup with both hands, elegant and moving, and smiled: "You two sisters truly are sincerely blessing me and Ruochen. Let us drink together, shall we?"
Having said that, Wu Yue was the first to drink the wine in her cup.
Luo Sha and Bai Qinger held their cups in their jade hands, exchanged a glance, and revealed bitter smiles and wariness in their eyes. Finally, they drank it all in one go and stepped back.
Truly worthy of being Wu Yue. Too formidable. They were no match for her at present.
Many of the gods present were bewildered, but Zhang Ruochen had already understood. With Luo Sha and Bai Qinger's intelligence, how could they possibly provoke Wu Yue in illusionary arts and talisman techniques?
They would certainly play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses.
Thus, all three cups contained real wine.
This was not a contest of illusionary arts and talisman techniques, nor a test of Wu Yue's spiritual power. It was a battle of wits.
They had never thought that a single wine game could reclaim the Heavenly Venerable Gauze. They had set up this wine game only to suppress Wu Yue and make her lose face publicly.
The gamble was on Wu Yue's sufficient arrogance.
Without needing to guess, the one who came up with that idea must have been Luo Sha. Having devised such a move, she had pulled Bai Qinger along, using Bai Qinger's special identity to create the illusion that the illusionary arts and talisman techniques were laid out by a powerhouse with spiritual power above the ninetieth rank.
From the very beginning, when Luo Sha said the real wine was poisoned wine, and after choosing correctly, still demanded Wu Yue drink it, she had already been digging a pit for Wu Yue, deliberately lulling her into complacency, waiting for her to bargain.
In reality, all the cultivators present had indeed believed it to be true.
Unfortunately, they still lost to Wu Yue.
But even losing to Wu Yue would not have made Luo Sha and Bai Qinger so wary. Because they had long considered the possibility of being seen through and the countermeasures after being exposed.
What truly frightened them was that Wu Yue had clearly seen through their intentions yet still gave them a way out, preventing the atmosphere from becoming too awkward. It also rendered their subsequent countermeasures completely unusable.
When the gods present reacted, what would they think?
They would only think that the two of them were narrow-minded, which instead highlighted Wu Yue's extraordinary magnanimity.
In this battle of wits, they had lost completely.
The gods present were by no means mediocre. One after another, they discerned the nuances, and all looked at Wu Yue—some astonished, some contemplative, some wary, and some silently mourning for Zhang Ruochen.
Bore stood in the distance, watching Zhang Ruochen and Wu Yue walk into the Destiny Temple surrounded by a crowd of gods. She was slightly dazed. She envied Wu Yue, and she also envied Luo Sha and Bai Qinger.
At least Luo Sha and Bai Qinger dared to do such things on such an occasion.
She did not even have the courage to step forward and set up a wine game.
Just as he was about to step into the Destiny Temple, Zhang Ruochen seemed to sense her gaze and looked back, only to see Bore walking alone down the mountain, leaving behind a desolate silhouette.
In this life, he had owed too many debts.
What he owed Bore was at least a grand wedding. Thinking back to that year, when he went to the Chen Clan in the Eastern Domain to deliver three betrothal gifts, and made the vow that "my bond with Senior Sister Yanchen will remain unchanged through three lifetimes, three reincarnations, and three cycles of transmigration," those words still echoed in his ears from time to time.
In youth, one could promise anything for love, could swear any oath for love. But as age gradually increased, such words became difficult to utter. Because later, one slowly understood that the more promises made, the more debts accumulated, and they would be hard to repay. (Knowing that some readers might associate this with owed chapters, I hereby declare that there is no implication of owed chapters.)
Past events involuntarily surfaced in his mind.
Fulu Divine Venerable, acting on behalf of Void Heaven as the wedding officiant, manifested a giant divine body. The three-million-mile-high Gate of Destiny floated behind him, radiating divine light for ten thousand zhang.
Elder Chief, Xue Jue War God, Xue Hou, and other elders took their seats one after another.
The Yin-Yang Divine Master stood on the Yin-Yang Platform, suspended in midair, and announced loudly: "Welcome the new couple. Offer sacrifices to Heaven and Earth."
"Boom!"
A magnificent altar manifested above the Destiny Temple, built from countless stars piled together, appearing extremely spectacular. Around the altar were carved ancient secret patterns, emitting a strong bloody aura.
Horns, conch shells, reed pipes... all kinds of instruments played in unison, spreading throughout the Fate Divine Mountain.
At the foot of the divine mountain, banquet areas for Saint Realm cultivators were set up. Hundreds of millions of Saint Realm cultivators cheered in the music and kowtowed toward the altar in the sky.
Zhang Ruochen had thought it was an ordinary sacrificial ritual and had not paid much attention.
But, contrary to his expectations, what was being sacrificed was the living beings of a great world.
At this moment, under the push of divine generals, a great world spanning a billion li emerged from space and rapidly moved toward the altar.
Using his spiritual power to probe slightly, he found that the great world was filled with flesh-and-blood living beings, their numbers incalculable, at least trillions.
Zhang Ruochen's face darkened. "Is such a large-scale sacrifice necessary?"
His voice did not carry out, blocked by Wu Yue's spiritual power field.
Wu Yue said, "Void Heaven bestowed the marriage, and the wedding ceremony is being held at the Destiny Temple. Such a scale of sacrifice is necessary."
"If that's the case, then this marriage might as well not happen!" Zhang Ruochen said.
Zhang Ruochen indeed had countless concerns, so he had compromised with Void Heaven and agreed to the bestowed marriage. But that did not mean he had no bottom line in his heart.
Wu Yue was very calm. "This matter, Xue Jue War God, Elder Chief, and Xue Hou all know about it."
"Ruochen, if you call off the marriage because of a sacrifice, do you know what price you will have to pay? Do you know how many people you will offend? Can you bear that price?"
"Even if you can bear it, can those you want to protect bear it? You are not yet invincible under heaven, so you have no right to be soft-hearted. As your wife, I will not let you take that wrong step."
Sacrificing living people was indeed a very common thing in the Hell Realm, and no one found anything wrong with it.
Sacrificing a great world in exchange for auspicious light and blessed radiance was of great benefit even to gods, and naturally even more so to those Saint Realm cultivators.
"Disperse your spiritual power?" Zhang Ruochen's voice suddenly turned cold.
Wu Yue stared deeply at Zhang Ruochen, not without disappointment in her eyes.
Zhang Ruochen's momentum surged sharply, like a divine sword being drawn from its sheath. He threw a punch, but the fist only extended three feet before being blocked by a light barrier.
"Boom!"
The entire Destiny Temple, and even the Fate Divine Mountain, shook slightly with it.
It was very subtle, almost imperceptible, but it still startled Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen looked at his fist. Did he already have the power to shake the Fate Divine Mountain?
How was that possible?
Wu Yue, however, furrowed her delicate brows slightly, actively dispelling the spiritual power field. Her gaze turned outside the hall, toward the deep void of the universe.
Without the suppression of the spiritual power field, Zhang Ruochen sensed an unusual heavenly secret and also looked toward the deep void of the universe.
Those present with sufficiently profound cultivation—Fulu Divine Venerable, Elder Chief, Earthly Grandmother, and others—all had solemn expressions.
Wu Yue's voice carried no human emotion as she said faintly: "The old Heavenly Lord of the Heavenly Beginning Civilization has fallen!"
Zhang Ruochen had naturally deduced the result from the heavenly secret as well. His divine soul felt as if struck by a heavy blow, finding it difficult to accept this fact.
One must know that the old Heavenly Lord had only recently passed the Eon Calamity, and his cultivation was close to sealing the heavens.
How could such a figure be killed so easily?
How could he die so suddenly?
Even if the Heavenly Venerable made a move, he could defeat him, but to completely kill him would take time. And if the old Heavenly Lord encountered danger on the Starry Sky Battlefield, how could the Heavenly Court's heavens not go to rescue him?
There was only one possibility: the old Heavenly Lord had self-detonated his divine source to die.
Only a figure of that level self-detonating their divine source could shake the universe and cause even the Fate Divine Mountain, so far away in a distant star domain, to tremble slightly.
What on earth had happened to force the old Heavenly Lord to the point of self-detonating his divine source?
The Destiny Temple had already exploded into chaos. Clearly, the gods of the Hell Realm all knew the power of the Heavenly Beginning Heavenly Lord. He was a true cosmic-level titan.
Before long, densely packed message light talismans were transmitted layer by layer through wormholes, from the Starry Sky Battlefield to the Destiny Temple.
"Great victory! The Heavenly Beginning Heavenly Lord has fallen. The Heavenly Court's Starry Sky Defense Line has completely collapsed."
"Boom!"
This piece of news was extremely inspiring and heartening.
All the gods of the Hell Realm shouted in approval, excitedly letting out cheers.
One must know that the Heavenly Court's Starry Sky Defense Line was composed of ten ancient civilizations and countless planets, guarded by innumerable Heavenly Court powerhouses.
Attacking the Heavenly Beginning Civilization alone had taken decades without success, instead causing heavy losses to the Hell Realm.
Originally, in their estimates, it would take at least five hundred years to completely break through the Heavenly Court's Starry Sky Defense Line.
Who would have thought that news of a great victory would suddenly arrive?
One must know that the Heavenly Beginning Civilization, Giant Spirit Civilization, Blazing Sun Civilization, and Hidden Ruins Civilization were all among the top ten superpowers of the ancient civilizations. Once their defenses were breached, how much wealth could be plundered?
Devouring them would be enough to elevate the overall strength of the Hell Realm by a large margin.
Only Zhang Ruochen present had a heavy expression, his heart burning with anxiety. Countless possibilities flashed through his mind. He was very worried about Yunshen Daozhu, Luo Ji, Yuqing Patriarch, and others who were in the Heavenly Beginning Civilization. He wished he could immediately leave the Fate Divine Mountain and rush to the Starry Sky Battlefield.
How had such a sudden unexpected change occurred?
Bai Qinger and Luo Sha both looked at Zhang Ruochen, knowing that he must be extremely worried at this moment.
Bai Qinger transmitted her voice: "Don't worry. The Starry Sky Defense Line couldn't have been breached so quickly. There must be hidden circumstances. Wait a bit longer. There will surely be more news."
More news arrived: "The Heavenly Beginning Heavenly Lord self-detonated his divine source. Feng Tian's feathered wings were burned to ashes, half of his body turned to dust, and he fell into the Void Space, his life or death unknown."
"Jiusi Yitianhuang was severely injured, with divine blood spilling across the starry sky."
"Four Yang Heavenly Lord was severely injured, with three of his four sacred divine seals extinguished."
"Void Heaven also participated in the battle. His situation is unclear."
...
The gods of the Hell Realm present could no longer laugh.
One person self-detonating his divine source had crippled three heavens, possibly even four.
Zhang Ruochen keenly sensed something wrong. How could Four Yang Heavenly Lord have been severely injured by the power of the old Heavenly Lord's self-detonated divine source? He was one of the Heavenly Court's heavens and the number one powerhouse of the Blazing Sun Civilization.
A terrifying conjecture surfaced in his mind!