A sphere of countless golden barbs rolled forth, space cracking apart as a dazzling golden realm shimmered into existence, supplanting the real world.
Shi Yan was shackled at the heart of this golden domain, instantly severed from the outside world. His mastery of spatial profundity, deprived of its necessary foundation, could no longer be wielded with its arcane power.
Fick’s eyes burned with a golden radiance, like twin solar flares. Rings of golden halo bloomed behind his head, manifesting a golden heaven and earth, within which a spectral golden dragon spear faintly appeared. This spear was not corporeal but forged from the esoteric principles of the Void Realm—a quintessence of Golden Sharpness, branded with Fick’s lifetime immersion in the comprehension of the Golden Dao.
The golden dragon spear, three meters long, whistled violently through the air, sharp enough to pierce the firmament and penetrate all things.
“Pffft!”
Like a bolt of golden lightning, the spear instantly skewered Shi Yan’s chest cavity. The tyrannical, ferocious energy of Golden Sharpness rampaged through his physical meridians.
Like a wilting, cursed flower, Shi Yan’s flesh withered strangely, his strength draining rapidly. His Soul Altar shuddered incessantly, showing signs of imminent collapse.
“Your true realm is merely Void God; you haven't even successfully forged the Primordial Realm, yet you dare flaunt yourself about. Truly contemptuous of life.”
As Fick’s pupils contracted and expanded, streams of golden dragons roared out from the depths of his eyes. These dragons, seemingly forged from refined gold, numbered ninety-nine. Each colossal serpent stretched for thousands of meters, spewing forth golden flames that surged toward Shi Yan’s body.
In an instant, Shi Yan was consumed by the golden fire. These flames were laced with countless minute, razor-sharp serrations that managed to seep toward his Soul Altar, painstakingly scoring its structure bit by bit.
His divine body and soul withered swiftly; all his power and profound knowledge were suppressed. Facing Fick, he felt utterly constrained, a crushing defeat where fighting back seemed impossible.
Void God realm versus the Triple Heaven of the Origin God—there was indeed an unbridgeable chasm. He had been far too reckless…
Only now did he recognize the vast gap in cultivation. His strength being suppressed wasn't something he could bridge merely by integrating the Origin Fruit.
His chest impaled by the golden spear, vital essence bled away at an alarming rate. Now, being scorched by the flames of those ninety-nine golden dragons, the main soul within his Soul Altar felt as if it were being slowly stripped away. Even the black hole evolved from his Devouring Profundity was being carved by those saw-toothed mysterious golden fragments, threatening to detach from his Altar entirely.
Shi Yan was terrified to the core.
Fick truly lived up to his reputation as the patriarch of the Ascott family. He was unlike Bello; this man knew precisely how to counter him.
“Surrender your Profundities and your Main Soul from the Altar. I can erase your consciousness with a secret art; your Main Soul will become the secondary soul for my son. My son will become the new master of the Origin Fruit.” Fick’s expression was focused, sweat beading on his forehead as he exerted his full power.
Shi Yan’s consciousness began to blur, overcome by a profound terror of his soul being grasped, his memories on the verge of erasure.
“No!”
His soul shrieked, erupting in unconcealed roars of struggle and unwillingness. His Altar vibrated violently.
Suddenly, a dazzling, brilliant light shot out, bathing his soul in pure luminescence. It illuminated his spiritual sea, causing his Altar to instantly turn crystalline and translucent.
The Void Realm, brilliant as a galaxy, abruptly manifested, enveloping his body and altar in reverse. Within this Void Realm, celestial bodies—suns and moons—suddenly swelled, blindingly bright, revolving according to the principles of heaven and earth. They released countless streams of sacred, wondrous light. This divine radiance pierced through layers of mist, suddenly manifesting within the world Fick had so painstakingly constructed.
Fick’s golden world could not withstand it, collapsing at a visible rate. And collapsing along with it… was Fick’s resolute confidence. “The Light of Great Brightness Purifying the World!”
His face contorted in absolute horror, he could not help but scream out loud, paralyzed as if witnessing a ghost in broad daylight, utterly stunned.
This profound principle was insight gleaned by the ancestors of the Divine Race, a secret kept closely guarded by them. For years, only members of the leading families of the Divine Race could begin to study it in depth. Those who managed to delve so deeply as to form the ‘Light of Great Brightness Purifying the World’ were few and far between, even within the Divine Race itself.
Only the elders of the Bradley family on the council possessed this ability—even Hage had yet to grasp it.
How could this person unleash a secret art forbidden to the Divine Race!?
Fick’s face drained of color in shock.
His golden world shattered. The golden dragon spear, born from its reliance on the Primordial Realm, dissolved into a streak of golden light, instantly vanishing into his soul.
Those countless golden spiked orbs and the flame-spitting golden dragons likewise diminished in power as the Primordial Realm collapsed. Under the illumination of the ‘Light of Great Brightness Purifying the World,’ Fick’s esoteric powers were suppressed!
Shi Yan abruptly regained his clarity. The first thing he saw was Fick’s shock, the celestial tapestry of suns and moons spreading across the sky like a curtain. Gritting his teeth, he let out a low roar, carving a symbol onto his undying demonic flesh in his chest. The symbol writhed for a moment before transforming into a gaping, bloody maw.
After a deep glance back at Fick, he plunged headfirst into the crimson mouth and vanished in an instant.
The blood-red aperture healed immediately.
In the vacuum left by the crushed space, chaotic currents bred, and tempests carrying soul-destroying dust swept in from countless desolate voids. Even Fick’s expression shifted.
The luster in his eyes dimmed slightly. With a sigh of disappointment, he took a step forward.
He reappeared amidst the nebulae of the Blood Demon Star, emerging from a streak of golden light, howling in one direction: “Can you reach the Elder Council?”
“We’re connected!” Lanote roared back.
Warships led by Sha Yi, Wu Feng, Jiao Shan, Mo Pei, and Fuller formed a dense net like ravenous sharks, sealing off the Blood Demon Star. Warriors from formidable star domains poured out, launching the first campaign against the Divine Race.
Their numbers vastly exceeded those of the arriving Divine Race members, and their coordinated battle legions were far superior to those of the Mara Star Domain races.
Members of the Ascott, Fernandez, and Bai families descended like falling meteors. A gray aura of death shrouded the land. Warships exploded into fiery wreckage under the savage assault, debris splashing into the mountains and lakes of the Blood Demon Star.
The oceans of the Blood Demon Star turned a vivid scarlet; the sky hung grim and gray, thick with the scent of demise. Mountains crumbled, fires raged, ancient trees blackened—a scene of apocalypse.
The Divine Race was being besieged; their people were dissolving into nothingness, their life magnetic fields lost, their imprints erased.
“Damn it! Why hasn’t the Bridge of Heaven descended yet!” Lanote roared, his expression savage as he bellowed toward the heavens, unleashing terrifying fluctuations like an avalanche, utterly staggering.
Deep in the heavens above their heads, the firmament was torn open as if by a sword, revealing sacred, majestic divine mountains.
These mountains floated ethereally within the swirling mist and clouds, representing the faith and will of the Divine Race. Each mountain emerged from the rent in the void, and from the base of every single peak descended a seven-hued celestial ladder.
The ladders seemed cast from rainbows, imbued with infinite mystery, stretching all the way down to the Blood Demon Star. Twelve such ladders hovered above twelve dense gathering points of Divine Race kin. The twelve Bridges of Heaven manifested at this crucial moment, ready to receive their people for retreat.
The remaining Divine Race members, teetering on the edge of despair, rushed toward the twelve seven-hued ladders. The moment their divine bodies touched a ladder, they instantly vanished.
Even the massive warships, once enveloped by the seven-hued rainbow light of the ladders, were whisked away from the Blood Demon Star in a breath, transported to unknown destinations.
Yan Chi and Blood Demon roared, attempting to shatter the Bridges of Heaven. They condensed earth-shattering power and hurled it at the structures, but it struck them as if hitting a phantom, failing to inflict even a flicker of damage.
“Don’t waste your effort,” Shang Chen sighed, frowning. “The Bridges of Heaven are a secret weapon of the Divine Race; when attacked, they become as illusory as a mirage. Few people in this era can unravel their subtleties.”
Divine Race members continued to disappear one by one.
At one point where a Bridge of Heaven descended, the members of the Bai family surged forward with renewed vigor, rushing toward that specific ladder. Dozens of Bai family members vanished in a flash.
“The Bai family must perish here,” Cang Yun’s voice echoed from the dark void.
He transformed into his true form: the White Tiger of the Celestial Demon Race. With a glare from his tiger eyes, he suddenly roared. As the sound vibrated, drops of blood shook loose from his body. These drops exploded in the void, seemingly triggering a cosmic calamity, connecting this location with some mysterious region.
A marvelous mark manifested in that area, emanating world-destroying fluctuations. It spun furiously, and then, an ancient dragon claw extended from the mark, fiercely gripping one of the seven-hued Bridges of Heaven.
The multicolored ladder that represented survival for the Bai family of the Dry Bone Star Domain was instantly crushed by the ancient dragon claw. Even the divine mountain from which that bridge descended shuddered violently, and a cry of pain and rage echoed faintly from deep within it.
Bai Can, patriarch of the Bai family, saw the ancient dragon claw emerge, his face turning pale with profound terror. Trembling, he tried to flee.
The dragon claw reached toward him from afar. As it retracted, it seemed as if an invisible tether bound Bai Can, forcibly dragging him into the mark. Before he disappeared, his body was already a mess of mangled flesh and blood; he was beyond saving.
Cang Yun of the Celestial Demon Race lay prone in the void, his form as a descendant of the Sacred Beast White Tiger. He watched with the reverence of a docile kitten as the dragon claw and the mark gradually faded away, remaining utterly still throughout the event.
The Celestial Demon Race members, slowly emerging from the darkness, all reverted to their true demonic forms, crouching in various corners of their warships. Only after the dragon claw completely vanished did they slowly rise again.
“Exterminate the Bai family,” Cang Yun stood up, stepping out of a wisp of white mist, reverting to his human form. He turned his cruel gaze upon the terrified and uneasy members of the Bai family.
The Celestial Demon Race members swarmed them, displaying the savage brutality inherent to their kind. They tore at the divine bodies of the Bai family, devouring them one by one. Their serrated maws chewed bones, blood flowing like small rivers from their lips—their viciousness was absolute.
As they gorged themselves on the Bai kin, appearing in their true forms, they exposed the uncivilized cruelty of the Celestial Demon Race to its fullest.
Many warriors from various factions on the Blood Demon Star shivered, breaking into cold sweats, instinctively moving away as they heard the bone-chewing sounds that chilled the marrow.
Sha Yi and the others continued to pursue the Divine Race members who hadn't reached the Bridges of Heaven in time. The families of the Ascott and Fernandez clans suffered devastating losses in that short span; half of their members were permanently stranded on the Blood Demon Star.
“No!”
The eyes of a Divine Race member seemed ready to split open as he screamed in utter despair.
The Bridges of Heaven gradually grew indistinct, fading like phantoms, and the rift in space slowly sealed shut.
Back on the Ancient God Continent, the Elder Council, upon the appearance of the giant Azure Dragon claw, proactively withdrew, recalling the Bridges of Heaven from the Blood Demon Star. They apparently feared further losses to the artifacts the Divine Race had painstakingly refined.
The remaining Divine Race members were abandoned, destined to perish there.
This was the first time in millennia that the Divine Race had suffered a defeat in an external campaign, unable to ensure the safe withdrawal of even their own kin. The myth of the Divine Race’s invincibility ended here… (To compensate for yesterday’s shortfall~~(To be continued……RQ)