# 570
**Chapter 571: The Curse Begins**
Isis’s eyes locked onto Jinian and the detonator in her hand, flickering slightly as if deep in thought.
Attacking Great Xia from here had been the Sun God’s command. If they retreated now, the situation with the Wind God, the God of Sand, and Amon would spiral completely out of control... Up to now, Great Xia’s national fortune curse still hadn’t appeared—meaning their side hadn’t completed their mission.
From that perspective, they had to buy time for the curse to take effect and hold off these Human Apex fighters.
But if they stayed, the “Human Enclosure” they had barely preserved from the mist would be destroyed. Without the source of faith power, the divine kingdom’s function would grind to a halt. The Sun City would become a rootless raft, no longer able to sustain their existence.
This touched on the rise and fall of the Egyptian gods.
If what Jinian said was true, Isis would withdraw from Great Xia without hesitation to preserve the “Human Enclosure.” But everything so far was just Jinian’s one-sided claim. With nothing more than a strange detonator, Isis had no way to tell truth from lie...
In truth, Isis didn’t believe Jinian could sneak back into the “Human Enclosure” a second time and quietly plant that much explosives. But this woman was a complete madman—she had already blown up their temple once; who’s to say she couldn’t do it again?
Isis was unwilling, but she dared not gamble.
After gods and Human Apex fighters paused, the churning waves gradually calmed. Beneath the gloomy sky, four deities and five humans watched each other warily, ready to strike again at any moment.
The other three Ennead gods waited for Isis’s decision.
Just then, the white pixel-style Bluetooth earring on Jinian’s ear lit up—someone was sending her a message through it.
Jinian’s brow lifted slightly.
“It seems you’re still clinging to hope for that battlefield in the Eastern Mist,” Jinian said, staring into Isis’s eyes. “Unfortunately, just now your God of Sand, Set, died at the hands of Great Xia’s Sword Saint. The Wind God was gravely wounded and fled...
You’ve already lost.”
At those words, the four Ennead gods’ expressions changed simultaneously!
Even the other Human Apex fighters froze, shock surfacing in their eyes.
Zhou Ping... had taken that step?
“Impossible,” Geb said coldly. “How could a human slay a god?”
“Whether it’s true or not, you’ll know once you return to Sun City,” Jinian replied calmly, hands in her pockets.
The gods’ faces were dark.
Though none wanted to believe a human could kill a god, if it were true, it meant Great Xia’s humans had likely found a way to step into godhood and slay deities.
If so, Great Xia would be a massive threat to every divine kingdom in the world!
Isis stood on the sea in her long robe, gazing toward the faint outline of land at the horizon, still not retreating.
She seemed to be waiting for something.
Now it was Jinian’s turn to frown slightly.
She hadn’t expected that even after things had come this far, the four Ennead gods still refused to leave.
What exactly were they waiting for?
Just then, a battered Ye Fan walked over from nearby, tattered dark-red cloak draped over his shoulders, a smile tugging at his lips.
“Could you be waiting for the so-called national fortune curse?”
Isis’s eyes sharpened.
She turned to Ye Fan, narrowing her gaze.
“No need to be surprised. Great Xia has no shortage of strange talents; a few who can divine good or bad omens is hardly odd,” Ye Fan shrugged.
“But if you’re really scheming against Great Xia’s national fortune...
then I’m afraid
you’ll be disappointed.”
...
Great Xia border.
A wisp of black qi seeped from the void like spilled ink, spreading into a thick dark cloud that blanketed earth and mountain.
Blackness surged rapidly outward.
Yet even as the qi drifted through hills and cities, no one sensed it. Merely a curse of fortune, invisible to mortal eyes; even when it brushed past people, they felt only a fleeting chill, then nothing more.
The way of fortune was ethereal, unfathomable.
The black qi poured from emptiness onto Great Xia’s mountain ranges, swiftly devouring the mysterious yellow fortune beneath the dragon veins.
Within the dense black mist, a colossal figure slowly formed. Standing among the mountains, he resembled a cold black giant, overlooking the rolling ridges.
Clad in black, holding a dark scepter, he curled his lips in an icy smile.
The national fortune curse had been activated.
Beneath his illusory form, endless black qi surged, riding the hidden currents of fortune beneath the dragon veins, racing into every corner of Great Xia.
This black qi was the body of the curse he had prepared. Once it tainted the national fortune, it would corrode it completely. If Great Xia’s fortune had been a thriving giant tree, then this curse was a swarm of poisonous insects gnawing the trunk.
Topple the tree of fortune, and Great Xia’s future would be cut in half.
“Such majestic fortune...”
The giant Amon stood among the mountains, eyes closed as he felt the intricate dragon veins beneath him. Within each vein, fortune surged like the mighty Yellow River, endless and grand.
This was the accumulation of Great Xia’s fortune over millennia.
Amon’s expression turned grave.
Even as a god specializing in curses, eroding such vast fortune with a curse was a monumental task—impossible to finish quickly.
But no matter. If one day wasn’t enough, then two; if two failed, a month; if a month failed, a year...
Now that he had merged with the fortune itself, even if the Human Apex came, they couldn’t harm him. He was like a moth with no natural predator, quietly gnawing at Great Xia’s dragon veins.
These humans could do nothing.
At worst, when Great Xia’s gods revived, he would simply leave. By then, even if he hadn’t corroded all of Great Xia’s fortune, he would have destroyed most of it.
National fortune, once lost, could never be restored. Not even gods could inject new fortune into Great Xia out of thin air.
Amon kept his eyes closed, carefully tracing Great Xia’s fortune, towering like an ancient tree. Suddenly, he sensed something and frowned.
Within the thickest river of fortune, six blazing sun-like figures slowly appeared.
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**Author’s Note:**
Due to some personal matters, San Jiu may need to take a three-day break. However, to keep everyone reading, the final three chapters in reserve will be split and posted one per day. Regular updates will resume Monday.
Right now my mind is a mess; I really can’t write. I need this short break to catch my breath and prepare the plot for the next volume.
Any owed chapters will be repaid during the Spring Festival. Deep apologies.