Spring left and fall arrived. In the blink of an eye, another year had passed.
Over the course of this year, vast changes had occurred throughout the Primordial Continent.
A year ago, the humans had been in Kun’s territory, busy exterminating the gods.
A year later, the humans returned to their own lands. Soon after, they made peace with the Beasts, destroyed the Ravagers, and forged an alliance with the Oceanids.
In just a year, the Primordial Continent had changed so much that it was basically unrecognizable.
The human race had become the overlords of this new world. Countless cultivators soared to new heights and glories with every passing day.
The biggest thorn in their side had yet to be dealt with, however.
Within Perpetual Daylight Palace’s discussion hall.
“The Sudden Spear Rebellion has been quelled. Some have recommended that we establish a secondary base of operations there so as to maintain control.”
“Sacrifices have started showing up in Long Coiling City. It seems that a few members of the Wang Clan are stirring up trouble there.”
“The Gu Clan has officially departed from Empty Mountain and have been freed from their restrictions. The Chu Clan is now complaining that they have lost their purpose in life.”
“Water Sheen is fighting with the Oceanids again, but this time, it is not Jiang Jusheng’s fault. The source of the disagreement comes from the Oceanids’ complaints about the power that our investigative teams have.”
Li Chongshan, Li Shaoxuan and the others all reported various happenings and problems that represented the state of the continent to Su Chen.
Su Chen took a gentle sip of Purpleheart Grass tea and thought for a moment before replying, “I agree with the suggestion of establishing another base of operations near Sudden Spear. Put Wang Xinchao in charge of that. Have Cloud Leopard take care of the sacrifices in Long Coiling City. If the Chu Clan has lost their purpose in life, then they can always join the effort against the gods. As for the Oceanids……”
He fell silent and took another moment to think before sighing. “It would be best to talk more and fight less. The Oceanids have always been unified, and purging a worshipper does violate their basic societal tenets. It’s not hard to understand why they are so resistant to these restrictions. If they can understand, that would be for the best, but if not…… Well, there’s nothing we can do about it then.”
When the Barrier fell, there had only been seven gods who were still alive.
But afterwards, the humans hadn’t managed to track down even a single one of them.
The Primordial Continent was simply too large.
Additionally, the gods did not immediately try to stir up chaos because they needed to first focus on recovering their strength.
Thankfully, Su Chen and the rest of the human forces had been able to respond in time. After the human race swept through the continent, forcibly purging all worshippers, the gods’ would have a very difficult time recovering.
It was worth remembering, however, that the gods had multiple paths to recovering.
In actuality, there was an even easier way than gathering new worshippers — through sacrifice.
A large quantity of sacrifices would greatly accelerate their recovery process.
Of course, for them to be offered sacrifices required them to have worshippers as well, so the gods still needed to find believers. Once they did so, however, they could sacrifice their worshippers to quickly reclaim their former power.
The only downside to this method was that it made it impossible to build up a long-term supply of faith. On the other hand, one of its best benefits was that there was little to no chance of the humans interfering before the sacrificial ritual was completed due to quick turnaround.
As such, the human race’s territory became filled with all kinds of small-scale sacrifices.
Usually, this would occur when a few dozen individuals suddenly died for seemingly no reason in a peaceful and happy manner, as if their vitality had been stolen away.
The Boundless Sect was incredibly busy as a result. Unfortunately, most of the time, they would only find corpses after the sacrifice was successfully completed.
The gods were rapidly accumulating divine power in the short-term through this method. Su Chen didn’t know when they would appear, but he did know that it would definitely cause an incredibly strong upheaval when they inevitably appeared.
Upon realizing this, Su Chen glanced towards the southwest as if he had thought of something.
Suddenly, a Boundless Sect disciple standing guard outside called out, “Sect Master, the Firmament Sky Mirror has sensed some strange spatial fluctuations…… Heavens, the fluctuations are so strong!”
Su Chen strode into the discussion hall.
From here, it was possible to see that the sky had taken on a fiery red hue, as if a storm of fire was raining down from the sky.
That red light was tinged with a faint golden light, and the sounds of chanting could be heard in the distance.
“They’re here,” Su Chen simply said.
After hiding for about a year, the gods had made their appearance once again.
This time, the gods would be at their full strength, but the human race no longer had any Origin Beasts to help them.
The chanting in the skies grew clearer and clearer.
The golden light intensified and spread to fill the entire sky, as if a golden sun was beginning to rise.
The Temple of the Gods slowly appeared in the sky, seemingly rising out of nowhere.
The figures of seven glorious gods could be seen towering in the distance. They stood in front of the temple, exuding their full power and might.
Divine might rolled off of their body in endless waves. Everyone who saw the gods felt an instinctive desire to prostrate themselves and worship these divine figures.
Even though the gods were tens of thousands of kilometers away, their huge presence made it feel like they were standing right in front of them.
These seven gods were the Lord of the Dreamrelam, the Mother Goddess, the Moon Goddess, the Barbarian God, the Night Goddess, the Flaming Sword God, and the Beast God.
These seven gods directed their full focus and attention towards Su Chen.
“Su Chen, we have finally returned. Today, you shall die!”
A voice rumbled through everyone’s consciousnesses, causing them to tremble in fear.
Su Chen, however, merely laughed gently in response. “So you all finally dare to show yourself? Do you really think that you are capable of exterminating us just because you have recovered back to your peak state?”
The Barbarian God Longue harshly replied, “Su Chen, you do not truly understand why the gods are named as such. The full might of a true god is not something that you can withstand. We were restricted in Kun’s territory by the environment, but here, everything is different!”
Boom!
As he spoke, the golden light surrounding him burst forth in full force.
The Barbarian God stretched his hand forth, reaching out to grab Su Chen.
When faced with this strike, Su Chen’s expression immediately grew serious.
He sighed.
Then, he raised his hand and jabbed his finger forwards.
God-Executing Jab.
His solitary finger silently collided with the Barbarian God’s fist. At first, it seemed as if nothing had happened. Soon afterwards, however, the Barbarian God’s iron-like fist shattered into pieces.
The momentum from both attacks were simultaneously dispersed. Outwardly, it appeared that nothing had happened.
In actuality, however, this exchange of blows had taken place on a completely different plane of existence.
What had shattered was just the attack’s might and not its splendor.
Su Chen retracted his hand, still gazing indifferently at the existences before him. Behind him, however, countless individuals had gathered, prepared to leap into battle at a moment’s notice.
The Barbarian God was not surprised that his attack had been stopped. “So you’ve also grown stronger? But that does not matter.”
“Let me do it, Longue,” said one of the gods standing beside him. Then, that god raised his hand, unleashing a gargantuan Beast.
A Desolate Beast!
He was the Beast God, Argus, and he was capable of controlling countless Beasts. In the past, he had reared the most Origin Beasts, giving him the most influence. Back then, the Lord of the Dreamrealm and the Moon Goddess hadn’t even been worthy of tying his sandals, if he wore shoes at all.
But after the Barrier of the Gods was put in place, Kun’s territory no longer gave birth to any Origin Beasts. From then on, the Beast God was only able to rely on ordinary Demonic Beasts, causing his strength to sharply decline. He had fallen from the most powerful god to a low-tier one. Of the seven gods who were still alive, it was arguable that his fate was the worst.
It wasn’t until he finally regained his freedom that his strength had began to surge.
Obviously, however, he had not yet recovered to his true peak. It might be because there were no longer any giant Beasts inhabiting the Origin Realm, or because the Moon Goddess did not allow him to fully recover his strength. In any case, he was still one of the weakest amongst the seven gods.
Even so, this master of Beasts had chosen to start the battle by letting loose a Desolate Beast.
He had probably secretly captured that Desolate Beast from Kun’s territory, which meant that he only had one of them. Even so, its aura and might were both quite astounding.
In the past, a single Desolate Beast would have required the entire human race’s joint effort to fight off.
But that was in the past.
The difference between them back then and them now was as large as night and day.
Su Chen gazed at the lumbering Desolate Beast as he calmly said, “I feel bad for that guy. He finally managed to migrate to a land that was capable of sustaining him, but then he was caught.”
Being captured by the Beast God and being forcibly brought to the Primordial Continent meant that the Desolate Beast had returned to the Origin Realm’s terrible environment. In other words, the Beast’s death was inevitable.
“Let me set you free,” Su Chen said as he gently lifted his hand and placed his palm against the Desolate Beast’s forehead. The Beast stopped, as if it had run into an immovable wall.
Even the Beast God’s expression darkened slightly.
So this guy had already reached the point where he could single-handedly stop a Desolate Beast in its tracks?
At some point in time, the humans had moved past their fear of Desolate Beasts, and now, a single human was able to easily defeat one.
“But you are still alone!” Argus rumbled bitterly as he swung his arm through the air. Demonic Beasts began to pour out of his sleeves in streams, and the Desolate Beast that Su Chen had restrained slowly got to its feet before resuming its charge at Su Chen once more.
The Beast God was able to control every single Beast.
“It’s not just me,” Su Chen replied with a harrumph.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Following the gods’ reveal of themselves, more and more cultivators had appeared in the sky.
They were arrayed in a formation where every one of them wielded a flying sword.
When the horde of Beasts arrived before them, they simultaneously threw out their swords with a rallying cry.
Millions of flying swords cut through the horde of Beasts.
Even in the past, a horde of Beasts a million strong had been crushed by the might of the Boundless Sect’s swords. Since then, their numbers and strength had only swelled, and against this smaller Beast Horde, the Beasts’ defeat was inevitable. The only creature that could put up any resistance against them was probably the Desolate Beast.
The Desolate Beast’s hide was extremely tough. No matter how many attacks struck its body, it refused to die.
Even so, there was nothing that it could do against the Boundless Sect’s cultivators.
Still more cultivators continued to appear in the sky, and the sword formation grew more and more powerful until a sword mountain finally appeared, which promptly descended upon the head of the Desolate Beast. This sword mountain was imbued with the so-called “forbidden” immortal energy, which heavily damaged the Desolate Beast.
The Desolate Beast howled and thrashed in pain, but no matter how much it struggled, it was incapable of escaping from the net of swords.
The swords rained down upon the Beast, cutting through layer after layer of flesh without pause.
Finally, the Desolate Beast let out one final cry of pain before tumbling to its feet like a mountain.
“Hurrah!” All of the human cultivators let out cheers of joy simultaneously.
“My baby!” The Desolate Beast that the Beast God had taken great pains to capture and tame had been killed just like that. The pain that he felt in his heart was inexpressible.
“It only…… took them that long to finish it off?” Even the Moon Goddess and the Mother Goddess were stunned by how strong the humans had become.
In the past, it would have taken the Harpies three days to finish off a Desolate Beast.
Later on, with the aid of the human race, that time had been shortened to half a day.
And that was when all of the human race’s elites had been gathered together.
Now, however, a Desolate Beast had been killed in the time it took to make a pot of tea.
Just how quickly were the humans growing?
Had they all suddenly reached the Ultimate Emperor Realm?
Perhaps not, but there was not much of a practical difference between that comparison and their current state.
The immortal cultivation technique had been spread far and wide by this point.
Furthermore, because the original cultivation system was still widely available, most people cultivated both systems at the same time.
Once an individual reached a certain level in their immortal cultivation, their Origin Energy pathways would become much wider and durable.
The increase in strength brought about by the immortal cultivation technique was immediately apparent. Because the damage caused by immortal energy spread from within to without, its destructive power was nearly a hundred times greater. As such, the Boundless Sect’s offensive power had surged wildly. In terms of combat power, this new generation of dual Light Shaking Realm and Foundation Establishment stage cultivators’ offense was not much weaker than Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators’. Their vitality, defensive ability, and endurance, however, were much worse. These flaws were more than made up for by raw numbers, however.
Cultivators continued to appear in the sky.
The human cultivators seemed fearless even in the face of the combined might of seven gods.
“You all have been getting stronger, but so too have we. The human race’s ascent to the top cannot be completed without a baptism by blood,” Su Chen declared. “The battle today will decide the path that we walk.”
“There are no more hidden schemes or stratagems. All there will be today is hot-blooded war, and…… endless sacrifices!”
“Attack!!!”
Following this cry, a veritable tsunami of sword light surged towards the gods.
