“This is the wisest decision you will ever make.”
Seeing that his words had brought an Ancient Sage to his side, a slight smile crept onto the lips of the deity as he nodded in satisfaction. He turned to the remaining crowd and asked, “What about the rest of you?”
“I…”
The other three Ancient Sage 2-dan Otherworldly Demons whom Sovereign Chen Yong had recruited trembled in hesitation, not knowing how they should respond.
Victory had been within reach when such a powerful expert suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They could not bring themselves to make up their minds due to the suddenness of the situation.
There was a moment of tense silence before another one of the Ancient Sages turned around and flew toward the deity. “Sovereign Chen Yong, I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t want to help you, but given the current circumstances… I’ll repay what I owe you in the next life!”
Sighing deeply, Sovereign Chen Yong looked at the two remaining Ancient Sages and said, “It’s a life and death situation. I won’t blame you for whatever you choose…”
The two remaining Ancient Sages looked at one another before one of them spoke up. “I have long gotten tired of living in this boring world. If I die at the hands of a deity from a higher dimension, my name will at least go down in history, and my life won’t have been a waste. Sovereign Chen Yong, you saved my life many years ago, and my life will remain yours till the very end!”
“The same goes for me. From the moment that I, Ancient Sage Jin Ta, agreed to aid you in your cause, I had already made my mind. I’ll either return victoriously or die a valiant death!”
Just like how there were those who feared death, there were also those who persisted in their values in the face of death.
Bloodlust was inscribed in the very genes of the Spirit Tribe, but that did not mean that they were driven solely by it. Just like many humans, they knew of loyalty as well.
“You have my utmost gratitude…” Seeing that those two Ancient Sages were willing to side with him despite their certain deaths, Sovereign Chen Yong nodded solemnly in gratitude.
After that, he turned his gaze to Ancient Sage Allfire to seek the latter’s view on the matter.
“What are you looking at me for? I have never feared anyone in this world, be it the heavens or the deities. The only thing I fear is losing myself! So what if he’s a deity from a higher dimension? I’ll at least scrape off a layer of his skin before he gets me!” Ancient Sage Allfire sneered coldly, revealing his crooked teeth.
It was only a short moment, but he was still indebted to his master for showing a path out for his tribesmen. Be it battle or retreat, he would follow the directives of his master without the slightest hesitation.
“I guess there’s no need to ask you two…” Sovereign Chen Yong turned to look at Ancient Sage Mo Ling and Ancient Sage Hao Xun, only to meet their firm eyes. Knowing that they had made up their minds as well, he turned to Zhang Xuan and asked, “Young Master, what shall we do now?”
“What else can we do other than pit our lives against him?” Zhang Xuan snorted as he raised the Dragonbone Divine Spear once more. “Let’s destroy him!”
The Dragonbone Divine Spear charged forth like a majestic dragon, causing many silhouettes to appear all around the area, covering the deity.
“Now!”
Knowing that there was no longer a path of retreat, Sovereign Chen Yong also dashed forward to make his move.
With the strength of the eight Ancient Sages put together, it felt that even the world was going to sink in under their might. The capital of the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe trembled as if an earthquake was rattling the entire place, and all kinds of formations and inscriptions dispersed under the pressure and returned to spiritual energy.
Ancient Sages were existences who could obliterate countless lives with just a wave of their hands, let alone a group of them moving simultaneously.
Surrounded by Zhang Xuan and the others, the deity coldly sneered, “A bunch of ants who don’t know their place!”
He raised both of his hands together and pushed them outward. There was not the slightest offensive movement to be seen from him, but mysteriously, everyone’s attack dissipated without a trace.
With his attack neutralized, Zhang Xuan immediately pulled out the Book of Heaven’s Path.
The next moment, a pair of hands crept out from within to grasp at the deity.
Hula!
As soon as the deity clashed with the pair of hands, his face that had remained impassive all this while suddenly lit up in excitement. “A Dimension Shatterer realm cultivator?”
With just a look, the deity had already seen through the strength that Vicious had wielded at his peak. Just like him, Vicious had also stepped into Ancient Sage 4-dan Dimension Shatterer realm. In fact, the latter had likely been even stronger than him!
For such a formidable expert to be born out of a land with such scarce spiritual energy… this was truly hard to believe!
“You aren’t going anywhere!” the deity uttered as he tore the space around Vicious’ hands to bind them in place.
Tzla!
Vicious’ upper body had been completely collected, but he was still lacking his thighs and feet. As such, his strength was capped at Blood Reincarnation realm pinnacle, a long way away from matching the deity.
“Flaws!”
Seeing that the deity had finally made a proper move under Vicious’ offense, Zhang Xuan hurriedly willed the Library of Heaven’s Path.
Hula!
There was a slight jolt, but no book materialized.
Zhang Xuan’s eyebrows shot up.
If he could uncover the flaws of the deity, they might still be able to exploit them to pull off a victory. However, if even the Library of Heaven was failing him… how was he supposed to win this fight?
But why would the Library of Heaven’s Path fail against him in the first place?
A thought suddenly surfaced in Zhang Xuan’s mind.
Is it because he’s not from this world, so the heavens of this world are unable to peer into him?
The deity had come from a higher dimension, which meant that he was not a native of this world. Furthermore, his strength had reached a level where even this world was unable to assimilate him. Could this be the reason for the Library of Heaven’s Path being unable to compile a book on him?
“Retreat!”
Without the aid of the Library of Heaven’s Path, their chances of victory were nearly null. There was a fine line between bravery and foolhardiness.
As such, Zhang Xuan flicked his spear forward with all his might before leaping back.
Hearing Zhang Xuan’s command, Sovereign Chen Yong and the others unhesitatingly launched their most powerful attacks before retreating as well.
Boom!
It was as if a marvelous firework had blossomed in the sky. A violent shockwave ravaged everything within a radius of several hundred meters, leaving no one daring to approach. Making use of this time that they had bought, Zhang Xuan immediately attempted to open a dimension rift with the Dragonbone Divine Spear to flee with the crowd, only to find that the space was as resilient as steel.
It seemed that the deity had seen through his intentions as well, so he had sealed the space within several hundred li.
“How could I possibly allow the lot of you to flee right before my eyes?”
With a light smile on his face, the deity slowly walked toward the group. Every single step that he took seemed to send trepidations reverberating in their souls.
This was simply an inhuman opponent. No matter how they searched, there seemed to be no openings that they could exploit.
Seeing the terror reflected in the eyes of those standing before him, the deity chuckled softly. “Hand the skeleton of that Dimension Shatterer realm cultivator to me, and I’ll consider letting you all live!”
“Master, you mustn’t let them go!” Sovereign Chen Ling cried out in alarm upon hearing those words.
“Audacious! Who do you think you are to interfere in my decisions?”
The deity shot a sharp glance backward, and Sovereign Chen Ling’s figure suddenly flew backward as if a hammer had struck him.
Flinging his sleeves coldly, the deity harrumphed before turning his gaze back to Zhang Xuan. “What do you say?”
He could tell that the person who had the most say in the group was the one who had the weakest cultivation of them all. Clearly, the skeleton also heeded his command.
“You want Vicious?” Zhang Xuan looked at the deity for a moment before bursting into laughter. “You’re dreaming!”
Putting everything aside, Vicious had been following him for a long time, and he had saved him on numerous occasions. To give Vicious away to another person just like that… impossible!
Hearing Zhang Xuan’s words, the deity shook his head in disappointment, as if lamenting the foolishness of a mortal. “Since that’s the case, I guess I have no other choice…”
He raised his hand and thrust it toward Zhang Xuan.
In that instant, Zhang Xuan felt as if the universe was collapsing on him. It was a force far beyond him, and he felt like a speck of dust in its face.
The force seemed to be squeezing his mind and soul out of his body, swiftly plunging him right toward the gates of the netherworld.
“This is it. I can only pray that this works somehow. Let’s see who’ll have the last laugh!”
Knowing that there was no longer any reason for him to hold back, Zhang Xuan gritted his teeth as he willed the Library of Heaven’s Path.
Hu!
A book flew out from his glabella and expanded swiftly. In the blink of an eye, it was already several dozen zhang1 in length and width.
This was his last golden page!
He had been storing it in his Library of Heaven’s Path all along, but given how desperate the current situation was, this was the only card that he had remaining.
“What is this?” the deity scoffed.
Not expecting the person whom he was killing to actually resort to attacking him with a book as his final measure, the deity nearly choked on his own laughter. “Do you really think that this worthless book will be able to hurt me? I have never seen such naivety in my entire…”
Kacha!
Before the deity could finish his words, everything around him suddenly turned dark as the book swiftly fell on him.
Splat!
Crushed into the floor, the deity breathed his last breath.
“…”
Utter silence filled the area for a very long time to come.
