Chapter 1027
Godhood!
With a single move, Tianyuan Strike, Fang Qing effortlessly shattered the Divine Sorrow World Calamity Finger of Ming Chaoxi, a master from the Primordial Bright King Realm, breaking his finger and forcing him to retreat in defeat.
This effortless strength and the return to simplicity of the Dao immediately shocked and moved all the ancient powerhouses from the past eras present. Their previous condescending scrutiny and disdain quickly melted away, replaced by a solemn scrutiny and a faint sense of apprehension.
The ancient colleagues behind Ming Chaoxi looked at each other in bewilderment. Although they were arrogant, they were not entirely without insight.
The primordial chaos and ultimate control over power contained in Fang Qing's single finger strike had already exceeded their understanding of the "immortal path of this world".
Saying things like "there are no heroes in this era" at this point will only make people laugh.
They exchanged a glance, suppressing their urge to provoke a fight, and decided to wait and see.
However, just as this delicate balance and deterrence were established, and Fang Qing's power was at its peak...
"Hmph! He's all alone right now! Let's kill him, then swarm him. There's nothing left to fear in the Protectorate Alliance. We can break through in one fell swoop!"
A sharp, cold, and provocative voice suddenly rang out, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, burrowing into the ears of many.
Deep within the chaotic camp of the Demon Clan Alliance, a powerful demon with a slender, bamboo-like figure and narrow, sinister eyes stepped forward.
Behind him, a faint phantom of a giant serpent covered in dark purple scales, with a single horn on its head and an extremely ferocious aura, was coiled, emanating the powerful fluctuations of the sixth and seventh steps of the Immortal Ladder.
The man held a strangely shaped longsword, narrow and long like a snake's tongue. As the sword trembled, it seemed as if countless venomous snakes were hissing.
It was none other than the infamous Nine-Bend King Serpent Ancestor from the Demon Clan Alliance!
He smiled sinisterly, his gaze sweeping over the various forces around him, their eyes gleaming with ulterior motives, especially the ancient masters, and his voice rose.
"All you great masters of the ancient times! Let's attack together! No matter how powerful he is, he's just one person! Even ants can kill an elephant if there are enough of them! If we kill him, we can not only shatter the morale of the Protectorate Alliance, but also obtain the Immortal Execution King Talisman from his body!"
"Legend has it that the talisman is the key to controlling the supreme treasure, the Myriad Realms King Map. Whoever obtains it can freely travel through the myriad realms, possessing endless resources and hiding places. Perhaps with this treasure, we can be the first to fully explore this mysterious ancient tomb, seize all the opportunities within, and then smoothly embark on the ancient path to godhood, reaching the realm of gods and receiving countless immortal inheritances!"
These words were extremely persuasive, especially the mention of the Immortal Execution King Talisman and the Myriad Realms King Map, which struck at the deepest greed in the hearts of many powerful individuals.
Immediately, many people from some forces that already harbored ulterior motives, or were intimidated by Fang Qing's strength and unwilling to back down, became eager and restless, their eyes burning with anticipation.
Fang Qing's gaze sharpened like lightning, instantly locking onto the sinister figure, and he coldly shouted, "Come out!"
"Nine-Bend King Serpent Ancestor! How dare you stir up trouble here, attempting to fish in troubled waters and reap the benefits?"
Fang Qing's voice was icy cold, "Since you're so eager to start a fight, then come out and let me see just how good your swordsmanship really is, you worm from the gutter!"
"Hmph! Who wants to fight you one-on-one! Only a fool would go toe-to-toe with you!"
Hidden deep within the demon race's ranks, the Nine-Bend King Serpent Ancestor wore a smug and sinister smile. "Who wouldn't want the Immortal Execution Talisman on your body? We'll have a chance if we all attack together! Do you think you can kill us all?"
He was confident that he was hiding deep in the crowd and had other powerful members of the demon alliance by his side. Fang Qing would not dare to, and could not, forcibly attack him in full view of everyone, otherwise it would inevitably lead to a chaotic battle.
"You think you can hide in the crowd and I can't do anything to you?"
Fang Qing sneered. Before he finished speaking, without moving his body, he simply pointed his right hand like a sword and made a light slash towards the direction of the Demon Alliance.
"call out!"
A sword aura, condensed to its extreme and formed from the purest rules of slaughter and termination, ignored spatial distance and instantly appeared in front of the Nine-Bend King Serpent Ancestor.
Within the sword energy, a terrifying will to slay immortals and gods was faintly roaring.
"Don't be so presumptuous!"
Just then, two powerful demons beside the Nine-Bend King Serpent Ancestor, who had been silent and whose auras were as steady and heavy as ancient reefs, suddenly opened their eyes and roared in unison.
They were not tall, but their bodies were muscular and their skin had a bluish-black metallic texture. On their backs were the phantom images of tortoise shells as heavy as mountains.
These are the two turtle emperors of the demon race, known for their abnormally strong defenses—the Azure Sky Turtle Emperor and the Imperial Sky Turtle God!
Their cultivation levels had also reached the high stage of the Immortal Ladder, and their defensive power was virtually invincible when they joined forces.
As the two roared, they attacked simultaneously, crossing their arms in front of their chests. The immense demonic power within them surged forth like a burst dam, instantly condensing into a gigantic, arc-shaped shield of true energy that shimmered with cyan and dark yellow light in front of them.
The shield was as thick as a solid city wall, exuding an aura of invulnerability and indestructibility.
They were confident that no matter how powerful Fang Qing's finger strike was, it would be impossible for it to break through the strongest defense they had set up together in an instant.
If we can only hold them off for a moment, other instigated forces around us will definitely take the opportunity to launch an attack, and the situation will completely spiral out of control!
However, they were wrong.
That's completely wrong.
That sword energy, which condensed endless killing and the rules of ending, and incorporated a trace of true immortal-slaying power, treated the thick defense as nothing and easily cleaved it in two.
The sinister smiles on the faces of the Azure Sky Turtle Emperor and the Imperial Sky Turtle God instantly froze, turning into incredulous horror.
They felt that their defensive true energy, which they had cultivated for millions of years and regarded as their greatest reliance, was as fragile as paper in front of that sword energy. Moreover, an ending and destruction will that froze their souls came back through the connection of their true energy, making them feel cold all over and unable to move for a moment.
In that split second, the hazy sword energy pierced through the defenses and, before the Nine-Bend King Serpent Ancestor could react in his terrified state, passed right through his brow.
"Uh……"
The Nine-Bend King Serpent Ancestor's body suddenly stiffened, and the sinister smile on his face froze completely.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out.
His eyes quickly dimmed, and his vitality vanished like the receding tide.
Immediately afterwards, his body began to disintegrate from the inside out, turning into countless fine gray dust particles that drifted away in the wind. The eerie green snake-tongue longsword in his hand also disintegrated, as if it had never existed in this world.
One sword strike! From a distance! A fatal blow!
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, and despite the combined efforts of two demon emperors renowned for their defense, Fang Qing did not move an inch. With just a single sword aura from afar, he cleanly wiped the Nine-Bend King Serpent Ancestor, a figure of great renown in the demon alliance and a high-ranking member of the Immortal Heavenly Ladder, from the world.
This scene was even more shocking and chilling than the defeat of Ming Chaoxi!
Everyone who witnessed this, whether they were ancient masters, members of the demon alliance, or other hidden forces, felt a bone-chilling cold rise from their spines and rush to the top of their heads.
His absolute strength and ruthless methods, which made defenses seem nonexistent and killed powerful enemies as easily as cutting grass, sent chills down the spines of all those with ulterior motives.
The demon alliance camp was deathly silent. Although many demon powerhouses had their eyes blazing with anger and hatred, not a single one dared to stand up or even let out a roar.
Fang Qing stood alone in the void. His figure was not tall, but he was like an insurmountable mountain, truly showing the invincible aura of one man guarding the pass and ten thousand men being unable to break through.
Just as this place, which had fallen into a suffocating silence once again due to Fang Qing's powerful killing—
"Boom!!"
From the depths of chaos in the distance, a deep, muffled, and perfectly synchronized roar suddenly resounded.
The sound was like countless giant metal creations operating in sync, pushing aside chaos and crushing the void.
Immediately afterwards, a series of giant warships with streamlined designs, gleaming with a cold silver-white or dark black metallic luster, and exuding a strong futuristic aura, slowly emerged from the chaotic mist, forming a neat array like a moving steel nebula.
That sense of order, ruthlessness, efficiency, and unsettling unknown technology hits you right in the face.
The army of the future world has finally arrived at this moment!
At the same time, everyone could clearly see that next to those futuristic warships were many steel fortresses with even stranger shapes, resembling mobile castles or giant mechs.
Those fortresses were etched with intricate patterns of gears, pipes, and energy lines, exuding a unique and powerful aura. "It's the Jixu Clan! Damn it! The Jixu Clan's experts have actually defected to the future world!"
The well-informed old man exclaimed, his voice filled with shock and anger.
"The Jixu Clan! That damned Jixu Clan! They've actually sided with the future world too!"
The Jixu Clan is an extremely special and powerful race that should not be underestimated in the vast Immortal Realm.
They do not cultivate traditional immortal laws, but instead perfectly integrate technology and energy, metal and life, and are skilled at creating various powerful and multifunctional war machines, giant fortresses and devastating weapons.
They are united yet xenophobic, and possess formidable fighting power, making them a force that no other power would want to offend easily.
Now, they are openly appearing among the warships of the future world, which is undoubtedly a very bad sign.
Especially those experts from the ancient era, upon seeing the warships of the future world and the fortresses of the Jixu Clan, all turned extremely ugly, and some even revealed a trace of undisguised fear and resentment in their eyes.
It is important to understand that the future world will be fighting on two fronts, with offensives coming in waves.
They are not only frantically invading the contemporary immortal world, but their invasion of the ancient era is even more intense!
The ten leaders of the future world and countless highly accomplished masters have all personally led elite troops to travel through time and space and invade the ancient times.
With their bizarre and powerful futuristic technologies and energies, coupled with their despair-inducing discipline and teamwork, they routed many powerful figures from the ancient era, inflicting heavy losses.
The reason why many ancient powerhouses risked everything to travel through time and space to come to this "declining" era of immortals is that, in the ancient era, for some unknown reason, the legendary "Ancient Road to Godhood" had long since disappeared.
They could not travel through the ancient road to the realm of gods to seek greater power or escape the flames of war.
In the future world, the Ancient Road to the Gods will also not exist.
Thus, these two powerful figures from the era, driven to desperation by the future world, could only turn their attention to the only place where traces of the ancient path to divinity still appeared—the contemporary era of immortals.
Before them, the ancient road to the gods appeared, but its path was blocked by this mysterious giant tomb that had fallen from the sky.
Without a doubt, a fierce struggle of unprecedented scale, involving three eras and countless forces, will erupt here.
The goal is the tomb itself, and the only passage behind it leading to the realm of the gods!
"Hahaha……!"
A loud, arrogant, and mocking laugh rang out from the front of the future world's fleet.
A figure clad in streamlined silver-white armor, wearing a sealed helmet obscuring his face, yet exuding an aura as cold and powerful as the abyss, emerged from the main ship on a beam of light and arrived at the front of the battle.
His gaze swept over the ancient masters, the demon alliance, and the guardian alliance forces behind Fang Qing. His voice, amplified by some kind of loudspeaker, carried a cold, metallic quality.
"Unbelievable! The numerous so-called powerhouses of the Primordial Era, along with this rabble of demons from the Immortal Era—numbering as many as the sands of the Ganges—were actually intimidated by a mere brat? They didn't even dare to make a move? It's truly... heh, incomprehensible!"
These words were spoken at a deliberately raised volume, employing every possible means of provocation and sarcasm.
Immediately, many ancient masters showed signs of unease and anger on their faces.
But they weren't fools. Anyone with eyes could see that the future world was deliberately provoking them, wanting them to fight Fang Qing and the Guardian Alliance to the death first, so that they could reap the benefits later.
However, before the ancient masters could react, Fang Qing's loud and steady voice resounded throughout the entire venue, directly neutralizing the provocation from the future world.
"Friends from the future, you've come at the perfect time!"
Fang Qing's gaze passed over the future expert and went straight to the massive fleet of warships, his voice carrying an undeniable power.
"You are currently launching a frenzied attack on the Primordial Era, making you mortal enemies with the fellow Daoists of the Primordial Era! And my Dao Protector Alliance is also a target of your invasion. The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend, but at least here and now, we have a common enemy!"
He turned to the ancient experts with complex expressions and said loudly, "Fellow Daoists of the ancient era, your enemies are right before you. If you are willing to help, I, Fang Qing, in the name of the leader of the Dao Protection Alliance, am willing to lend you a hand. Let us join forces and annihilate these future invaders right here! What do you say?"
This is a blatant joint invitation, and a clever tactic of "shifting the blame eastward," directly targeting the real enemy—the future world.
Upon hearing this, the expressions of those ancient masters changed drastically.
They truly harbored a deep-seated hatred for the future world, wishing they could devour its flesh and sleep on its skin.
If they could unite with the strongest figures of the era here to severely cripple or even annihilate this future elite force, it would undoubtedly be a cause for celebration. However, at the same time, they also harbored deep suspicion and distrust towards Fang Qing and the Protectorate Alliance.
Just as this delicate stalemate and balance was being reached—
"Esteemed experts, please be patient."
A peaceful, rational voice, yet carrying a unique metallic resonance, emanated from the largest of the future world's warship fleets, a machine-made fortress whose surface was covered with intricate gears and energy pipes, resembling a mobile steel city.
Immediately afterwards, a huge metal panel on the front of the fortress slowly slid open, revealing a wide platform.
On the platform, an elderly man, not tall and even somewhat thin, wearing an ancient yet extremely complex silver robe, slowly emerged, guarded by several similarly dressed and powerful Jixu tribe warriors.
He didn't exude a powerful aura, but the moment he appeared, the eyes of experts from the future world, ancient powerhouses, and even Fang Qing were involuntarily drawn to him.
It is a unique charm and majesty that originates from "wisdom" and "knowledge".
This person is none other than the supreme commander of the Jixu Clan's operation this time, and also the highly respected "Great Sage" of the clan - Cardinal Elder!
The Cardinal Elder's wise gaze swept across the entire area, finally settling on the majestic divine tomb, and his voice rang out calmly yet powerfully.
"Now is not the time for us to fight each other and waste our strength. This 'divine tomb' that descended from the depths of the ancient road to the gods is our common goal."
He paused, drawing everyone's attention, and continued.
"According to the secret records of my Jixu clan throughout the ages, and in conjunction with some ancient database information from the future world, this divine tomb in front of us is very likely a terrifying divine calamity that swept through all the gods in a very distant era of the divine realm!"
Countless gods perished in that calamity. Later, an unimaginably supreme being gathered the remains of these fallen gods, along with their most precious possessions, and buried them in this unique Tomb of the Gods.
"And most importantly—"
The cardinal's voice suddenly rose a notch, his eyes flashing with a burning light.
"Under that special divine calamity, the immortal divine essence of these fallen gods did not completely dissipate and return to the origin of the divine realm as usual. Instead, due to some special power or the rules of this divine tomb itself, it was preserved and transformed into a special kind of 'ghost soul,' wandering and sleeping in the endless space and labyrinth of the divine tomb!"
"A ghostly soul? A soul that has retained its divine essence?!"
These words caused a huge uproar among everyone.
Whether they were ancient masters, powerful demons, members of the Guardian Alliance, or even the ruthless warriors of the future world, they all felt an unprecedented shock and their hearts raced.
Godhood! True godhood!
These two words have an unparalleled and fatal allure for any cultivator!
What is divinity?
That is the most fundamental and core existence of a deity, the source of its control over rules, its immortal life, and its divine power, and the ultimate crystallization of all divinity, divine power, and supernatural abilities!
Throughout the long history of cultivation, divine artifacts, divine minerals, and even the remains of gods have all appeared.
However, true and complete divine essences have almost never appeared in the world outside the realm of gods, because according to legend, after a god falls, his divine essence will automatically disintegrate, transforming into the purest source of rules, returning to the Great Dao Sea of the realm of gods, and it is almost impossible for it to be preserved.
Now, the wise man of the Jixu tribe actually said that this divine tomb contains not only the remains and relics of the gods, but also the ghostly souls that have retained their divine status!
We must explore this thoroughly! (End of Chapter)