The Ju Ling, ten thousand years ago, obtained an exceptionally robust skeleton. Now, after several thousand years, continuously nourished day and night by the forces of the Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Branches stars, its muscles and bones have become incomparably tough. Among the great generals under Gu Xiechen, in terms of rough hide and formidable strength, the Ju Ling God would surely rank in the top three.

Moreover, this fellow usually possesses a careless disposition, but once there is a fight to be had, he becomes frenzied, almost reckless. The moment he joined the fray, Qiamengtuo immediately struggled.

The two Xuanhua great axes descended like a tempest. Over ten millennia, Gu Wuchen must have utilized countless rare treasures to refine the Ju Ling God’s three great axes—one large and two small. The essence of the star power of the 108 Star Lords of the Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Branches had also thoroughly tempered the Ju Ling God’s axes.

The divine weapons conjured by Qiamengtuo’s psionic energy could easily melt top-grade immortal artifacts, yet when they struck the great axes wielded by the Ju Ling God, they sparked countless fires, utterly unable to harm these seemingly ordinary blades. The Ju Ling God, with wide, vacant eyes, roared like a bull that had been struck in the rear end after drinking too much, mindlessly hacking at Qiamengtuo.

Clang, clang, clang went the chaos of impacts. In an instant, Qiamengtuo struck the Ju Ling God at least thirty thousand times, causing his flesh and blood to fly everywhere, revealing a golden, purplish-gold bone within.

The Ju Ling God paid it no mind, treating the flesh scattering across the sky as if it weren't his own. He merely glared fiercely and brought his axes down hard upon Qiamengtuo.

Thwack, thwack. Qiamengtuo’s head, arms, and thighs flew and tumbled across the void. Even with Qiamengtuo’s astonishing speed of regeneration, this constant attrition began to wear her down, and she gradually found it difficult, erupting in curses, “Ju Ling God? You dullard, how did you become so powerful?”

White foam spurted from the Ju Ling God’s mouth as he roared like a soaring rainbow, “There’s more power to come! Watch this, Sky-Shattering Flash!”

The two great axes suddenly thrust forward, and the void before the Ju Ling God shattered. A fierce, peerless streak of black light, like a tiger pouncing from a mountain peak, flashed past, and the Ju Ling God passed clean through Qiamengtuo’s center mass.

Qiamengtuo groaned, split in two from below her breasts by the Ju Ling God’s axe. More than half of her body, along with her thighs, sprayed black blood as they separated from her upper half. Qiamengtuo shrieked, flailing her arms as she rapidly ascended into the void, ignoring her lower body.

The Ju Ling God glared, suddenly spitting the Samadhi True Fire from his mouth, incinerating Qiamengtuo’s lower half to ash. His two hands did not rest, summoning hundreds of overwhelmingly powerful Heavenly Thunders to pound Qiamengtuo relentlessly.

“Damn it, damn it! Ju Ling God, you fool renowned throughout the Three Realms, you actually learned Thunder Magic?” “And it’s… damn it, the authentic Thunder Magic directly inherited from the Three Pure Ones?” Qiamengtuo’s eyes widened as she was blasted by hundreds of Heavenly Thunders, leaving her body pockmarked and most of her limbs detached.

Hot air, like two white dragons, jetted from the Ju Ling God’s nostrils, and he cried out with immense satisfaction, “Who says I can’t learn divine abilities and spells?”

Over one hundred thousand years—for the Ju Ling God and others like him, former Heavenly Soldiers and Generals of the Thirty-Three Heavens—this period was utterly unimaginable. Under Gu Xiechen’s direction, the supreme truths of the Great Yin Scripture, Great Yang Scripture, Great Wilderness Scripture, and the Secret Chapters of the Three Pure Ones, along with the secret divine abilities passed down by renowned Heavenly Generals like Yang Jian, the Monkey, the Kongsang Brothers, and the Mo Li Brothers, were all shared without reservation.

How many Heavenly Soldiers and Generals were there in the Thirty-Three Heavens? Their immortal arts and Taoist techniques were generally unique to each—with so many legacies of Taoism, stimulated by so many divine skills and wonderful methods, these Heavenly Soldiers and Generals of the Thirty-Three Heavens underwent changes almost akin to a genetic mutation.

Even a general famous throughout the Three Realms for sheer brute force, like the Ju Ling God, had learned to employ divine powers and spells; the transformations in others could only be imagined.

Given enough time by Gu Xiechen, this army of Heavenly Soldiers under his command would be tens of millions of times stronger than the true Heavenly Army of the Celestial Court! Because the army under the Haotian God would never have the opportunity to hear so many essences of the Great Tao, nor ever touch cultivation manuals of the Primordial Chaos level or even the Saint level.

Casually summoning hundreds of direct-lineage Three Pure Ones Divine Thunders that forced Qiamengtuo into constant retreat, a white light erupted from the Ju Ling God’s head. Within it floated three lotus flowers, emitting vast swathes of white immortal light to shield his body, as he swept up a tidal wave of fierce axe light toward Qiamengtuo. Every axe stroke mobilized the surrounding energy of Heaven and Earth, every stroke agitated the power of the surrounding stars, and every stroke carried the momentum to shatter everything.

Qiamengtuo was shocked. She barely defended against the increasingly fierce Ju Ling God, focusing her power to begin restoring her physical form. She screamed hoarsely, “Fanya, stop playing around! Use your real skills and finish them, or we’re going to suffer today!”

Following Qiamengtuo’s roar, her height expanded to a hundred li. She revealed an astonishing Dharma Body: eighteen heads, each with a hundred eyes; nine hundred and ninety-nine arms, with an eye in the center of every palm; and eight massive legs, each as sturdy as a pillar supporting the sky, planted firmly in the void; their slightest tremor would crack the void itself into a vast fissure.

“Ju Ling God, you’ve angered me! Let me show you a fraction of my true power!”

Qiamengtuo opened her massive mouth in a triumphant, wild laugh. She swept her arms downward fiercely, and countless darts, trailing dazzling light, showered down.

The Ju Ling God spun his twin axes like a windmill, desperately shielding his body. The darts, thick as several zhang and reaching a hundred li in length, struck the axe faces heavily, shaking the Ju Ling God and forcing him steadily backward.

Thousands upon thousands, millions upon millions of other darts rained down like falling meteors toward the assembled Heavenly Soldiers and Generals who had formed the Heavenly Net of Stars Array. Countless strands of boundless divine chains crisscrossed the void, weaving an impenetrable net that densely blocked these darts. The combined might of a million Heavenly Soldiers and Generals, augmented by the formation bonus of the Heavenly Net of Stars Array, firmly held the incoming darts.

The multicolored boundless divine chains swirled and danced. The darts striking the net created massive vibrations and blinding flashes of intense light. The bodies of the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals forming the array shook violently, and the boundless divine chains shattered layer by layer, only to regenerate continuously. No matter how weighty the darts Qiamengtuo released, the defense of the boundless divine chains could not be broken.

Gu Xiechen had been circling near the Ju Ling God. Seeing Qiamengtuo’s complete focus on the Ju Ling God and the Heavenly Net of Stars Array, Gu Xiechen sneered. His figure flickered, dozens of phantom images flashed around him, and he was suddenly before Qiamengtuo.

A stream of Profound Yellow Qi shot toward the heavens, within which a large seal, the size of a zhang square, spun, emitting thick currents of black and yellow energy. This seal smashed heavily onto Qiamengtuo’s back. Before Qiamengtuo could react, Gu Wuchen stirred the Pangu Banner in his hand, plunging it directly into Qiamengtuo’s back. Gu Wuchen infused his immortal power, and the Pangu Banner erupted with countless currents of Chaos Qi. Qiamengtuo’s body suddenly exploded.

Qiamengtuo’s soul was first severely wounded by the All-Living Seal, and then the Pangu Banner erupted within her body. Even as a clone of the Near Mother, she could not withstand it. She let out a piercing scream, and from one of her shattered heads, a pitch-black, ink-like orb the size of a fist suddenly flew out, carving a streak of black light.

Innumerable boundless divine chains coiled toward the black orb with resounding metallic crashes, but the single treasure bead left by Qiamengtuo’s shattered body flew with uncanny agility, incredibly spirited. No matter how many boundless divine chains coiled around it, they could never encompass her.

Gu Xiechen sneered. He slapped the Profound Ice Rope at his waist, and instantly the sky was filled with white rainbows dancing horizontally, ‘whirring’ as they completely sealed the void for ten thousand li around. White ice mist surged toward the sky, and the orb containing Qiamengtuo’s origin spirit spun wildly in the mist, yet it could never escape the confinement of the Profound Ice Rope.

The white ice mist compressed and approached inch by inch. Qiamengtuo’s mournful shriek echoed from within the black orb: “Evil Dragon Venerable Gu Xiechen, you are so shameless! Attacking from behind with such base methods—how could you do such a thing?”

Gu Xiechen nodded with the solemnity of a sage, and indeed, he smiled shamelessly: “I thought with so many heads, you could see clearly front and back, that there was no distinction between behind and in front, so I struck!”

Qiamengtuo was momentarily silenced, then cursed through gritted teeth, “You possess a supreme treasure like the Pangu Banner, yet you refuse to face me head-on, instead resorting to sneak attacks—what kind of hero are you?”

With a light smile, Gu Xiechen sighed faintly, “A hero? Heh heh, when you killed my members of the Nine Nether Sect, did you grant them a fair chance to fight?”

Qiamengtuo could no longer speak. She shrieked repeatedly, darting back and forth through the air, but what kind of treasure was the Profound Ice Rope? With the ancient, accumulated cold of the Profound Ice Rope sealing the void, how could Qiamengtuo possibly fly out?

Having no choice, seeing the cold aura released by the Profound Ice Rope about to envelop her, Qiamengtuo let out an enraged roar. A mysterious and unfathomable rune suddenly flashed across the black orb, and a drop of viscous black blood, carrying the aura of destruction, seeped out from the orb.

The destructive aura contained within that drop of black blood was so dense that Gu Xiechen and the Ju Ling God were thrown off balance by its impact, retreating several steps consecutively. The black blood swirled around the orb that Qiamengtuo had become. With a flash of obscure black light, Qiamengtuo recovered her physical body using the power of the black blood.

This time, Qiamengtuo’s Dharma Body transformed into a lion-headed female form. More than a hundred massive lion heads were piled atop one another, resembling a grand Jingguan (a pyramid of heads) made of lion heads. Her female body remained pitch-black, but her skin was now covered in a thick layer of scales resembling fish scales. Her over a thousand arms were densely packed with all manner of bizarre weapons, and a layer of sticky, pitch-black flame coiled around her body, subtly resisting the constantly compressing Yin cold energy.

Qiamengtuo’s more than a hundred pairs of eyes stared fixedly at Gu Xiechen, and the voices from her more than a hundred mouths issued hoarse, unpleasant laughter: “Very good, you junior, you actually forced me to this state relying on a few innate supreme treasures! Heh, heh heh, you forced me to waste a drop of ‘Gods’ Calamity Blood’—you bastard! Do you know what immense price I paid to obtain even one drop of this Gods’ Calamity Blood?”

Gu Xiechen waved the Pangu Banner and coldly sneered dismissively, “What business is it of mine? It’s not my property, so I don't care how much you wasted!”

Qiamengtuo was stunned, choked by Gu Xiechen’s single sentence.

After a long pause, Qiamengtuo let out an extremely furious roar, swinging her thousand-plus arms densely toward Gu Xiechen.

Having gained a body recast by this so-called Gods’ Calamity Blood, Qiamengtuo’s strength increased even more significantly than before. Gu Xiechen confronted her holding the Pangu Banner. If the Pangu Banner made contact with the divine weapons in Qiamengtuo’s hands, those psionically formed weapons would certainly be shattered to dust, and Gu Xiechen’s own body would stagger, shaken back repeatedly.

Especially since the Gods’ Calamity Blood carried an extremely formidable law power that did not belong to this universe or time-space. The Chaos Qi stirred up by the Pangu Banner was unstoppable against everything in this universe, but when it struck Qiamengtuo, it could only shatter a few of her heads and sever a few of her arms; it could no longer inflict severe damage as easily as before.

Gu Xiechen was boiling with frustration. He held the supreme sharp weapon, the Pangu Banner, yet his cultivation was insufficient, preventing him from fully unleashing its might. While it could instantly pulverize small fry with a single sweep, it was inadequate against a great demon like Qiamengtuo. After Qiamengtuo recast her body using the Gods’ Calamity Blood, the Pangu Banner in his hands was hardly more effective than an ordinary weapon!

Frustrated, truly frustrated, Gu Xiechen gnashed his teeth, wielding the Pangu Banner to maintain a stalemate with Qiamengtuo. Neither could gain the upper hand.

The Ju Ling God was also extremely annoyed. After Qiamengtuo used that Gods’ Calamity Blood, her power became many times greater than his. The moment the Ju Ling God charged in, he was sent flying far away by a casual axe swing from Qiamengtuo. When he charged again, he was struck by a sword and sent tumbling sideways; he could barely get near Qiamengtuo’s body.

Gu Xiechen’s eyes spun rapidly, searching for a brilliant method to defeat the enemy. Cheers like crashing mountains and surging seas already erupted from the surrounding battlefields.

War drums thundered, horns blared, and the million Heavenly Soldiers and Generals shouted their battle cries simultaneously, watching enthusiastically as the Corpse Emperor led a host of Heavenly Generals to besiege Fanya.

No matter how many heads and arms Fanya possessed, facing the combined assault of so many Heavenly Generals, he could only parry and block, roaring in anger.

The powerful generals of the Ancient Heavenly Court—Gu Xiechen had unleashed over a hundred famous figures to besiege Fanya alone. This formation was several times more formidable than the treatment the Monkey received during his havoc in the Heavenly Palace. Back then, many famous Heavenly Palace generals were guarding their respective palaces and dared not leave their posts, but this time, numerous generals were using every skill they possessed in a combined attack.

Fanya’s mountain-sized heads were successively severed, his arms flew into the sky, and streaks of black blood constantly spattered from his body. The Corpse Emperor’s Immortal Execution Sword Formation tightly encircled Fanya, absolutely preventing him from using his divine transformations or escaping the fray. The other hundred-plus famous mighty generals excitedly unleashed all their divine powers and magical abilities, continually carving terrible wounds onto Fanya.

Nearby, Yuankan, Siren, and others, aided by the Heavenly Soldiers, surged forward like a tide of tens of thousands, coordinating their efforts to chop the Asura horde into meat paste, then used the Heavenly Net of Stars Array to summon Heavenly Thunders and Earthly Fires to refine them into ashes. Afterward, Siren and the others joined the siege against Fanya.

Fanya’s figure was immense, and his strength terrifyingly great, but precisely because of his colossal size, his movements were quite slow.

Yuankan, Siren, Banruo, and Mohe spread their wings, transforming into four bolts of lightning that zipped rapidly between Fanya’s massive heads, hands, and legs, relentlessly bombarding and smashing Fanya’s body with all their strength. Relative to Fanya’s enormous physique, Yuankan and the others were like fleas on an elephant, fleas traveling at supersonic speed. It was no easy task for Fanya to strike them. Furthermore, the Monkey and Yang Jie, two formidable experts who had utilized the Heaven and Earth Great Manifestation divine ability, were constraining Fanya on the flanks. One Black Gate Staff and one Three-Edged Edge, two divine weapons leaving trails of brilliant cold light, slashed directly at Fanya. Most of Fanya’s energy was tied up by the Monkey and Yang Jie; did he have the leisure to attend to the harassment from Yuankan and the others?

The other hundred-plus famous Heavenly Generals, energized by the fight, also employed the Heaven and Earth Great Manifestation divine ability. Over a hundred divine generals, each thousands of li tall, roared and lunged toward Fanya. These divine generals exhaled wind and roared thunder; as their weapons swung, they scattered stars across the sky, making Fanya miserable.

Any single Heavenly General, including the Monkey or Yang Jie, Fanya was confident he could kill within three exchanges. But with so many gathered together, Fanya was helpless against them.

Adding to this, the Fire C

The woman in white smiled sweetly and pinched the metal body's right shoulder. With a crisp snap, the metal shoulder shattered completely, and large pieces of the wondrous physical structure, a fusion of metal and flesh, fractured and fell away.

With a soft sigh, the woman in white narrowed her eyes, which were as clear and bright as flowing water. She wore an expression of pitiful pleading, much like a kitten begging for food, and lamented to Gu Xiechen, "Qiamenduo and Fanya are indispensable members of our group. If you kill them, we will absolutely retaliate!"

The woman's voice was smooth and sweet, like a gentle summer breeze sweeping across a meadow, carrying the rich fragrance of blossoming night flowers! The million heavenly soldiers and generals forming the massive Celestial Net Formation were momentarily stunned, and the operation of the great array abruptly stalled.

Gu Xiechen was startled. He pointed at the woman in white and fiercely demanded, "Who are you?"

The woman in white raised the metal body in her hands, smiling enigmatically. As the face of that metal body fell into Gu Xiechen's eyes, who else could it be but Ducate?

Qiamenduo, however, suddenly burst into loud laughter. "Who is she? Gu Wuchen, you don't recognize her?"

"She is the Goddess of Auspiciousness, Akshmi!"

The Goddess of Auspiciousness, Lakshmi, the ageless goddess born from the Sea of Milk, the consort of Vishnu, one of the three great divine beings among the Protectors of Heaven!

She is known as the Goddess of Auspiciousness whom no formation or restriction in heaven and earth can ever contain!