Gu Xichen appraised the man before him, noting his tattered robes and the distinct air of an ascetic monk. Shiva—among the Protector Devas, he embodied destruction, medicine, music, dance, and asceticism, standing as one of the three most powerful titans of the celestial order.

Brahma creates, Vishnu preserves, and Shiva destroys; this formed the foundational triad of the Protector Devas.

Shiva’s past accomplishments were countless. Even the Tri-City, which the Protector Devas were painstakingly gathering land across the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths to rebuild, was annihilated by a single arrow from his bow in the ancient wars between the Asura gods and demons.

That the seemingly eternal Tri-City fell to a simple bow and arrow fashioned from an unremarkable, coarse branch spoke volumes of his might. Now, after centuries of hiding, what strength had Shiva amassed?

Shiva's profound gaze met Gu Xichen's scrutinizing stare. The void trembled, and both figures involuntarily flinched. Gu Xichen felt an immense pressure wash over him, causing him to instinctively step back. Shiva, in response, glared, the hairs on the back of his neck rising, a low growl emanating from his azure throat as he resolutely lunged a step forward. This exchange—one retreat, one advance—perfectly illustrated the disparate nature of their cultivation methods.

Gu Xichen's retreat was the natural reaction to overwhelming force meeting him head-on. A cultivator who follows the flow of the Dao understands that needlessly fighting against the current, though admirable in spirit, merely drains vital essence and spirit. Unless necessary, it is unwise to exert effort to resist strength directly.

Shiva’s aggressive lunge, however, stemmed from his potent, fierce cultivation, erupting like a volcano. The greater the opposing pressure, the tenfold greater the recoil strength he generated. Therefore, when Gu Xichen applied equal and immense pressure, Shiva’s body advanced rather than retreated.

Invisible forces collided in the space between them. As Shiva edged forward, sparks erupted across his skin, and surging waves of unseen inner energy enveloped him. Following closely behind him, Vaya, along with the bull beneath her, both grunted deeply, violently flung backward by the overflowing dark energy. Vaya furiously waved her thousand-plus arms, shooting a malevolent glare at Gu Xichen.

After this brief contact, Gu Xichen smiled. Shiva’s power was saturated with an aura of total annihilation. However, when compared to the inherent destructive intent contained within the source essence of any single blade of the Great Evolution Fierce Blades, Shiva’s power was diminished by an entire echelon—not to mention when compared to the Wheel of Balance forged by the convergence of all forty-nine Fierce Blades.

Gu Xichen even began to fathom the origins of Shiva and the other Protector Devas. Within Shiva’s power signature, he detected familiar energetic shadows. Countless Primordial Demon Gods had perished on the Terrestrial Source Star in ancient times; even a single drop of their blood could incubate an entire race. Perhaps the so-called Protector Devas were merely beings evolved from dozens of drops of their vital essence?

This explained Vaya’s bizarre form of a thousand heads and arms, and why their methods of cultivation diverged so sharply from the Daoist cultivation world. Chuckling darkly, Gu Xichen narrowed his eyes at Shiva and said with a grin, "Are you certain you can defeat me?"

Shiva lowered his stance slightly, cautiously examining Gu Xichen from head to toe. After a moment of contemplation, Shiva let out a dry laugh. "Why wouldn't I be able to?"

Slowly puffing out his chest, Shiva stated calmly, "Enough empty talk. Let our strength decide everything!"

Stretching his limbs, Gu Xichen replied with genuine pleasure, "Good, I like that sentiment. If you lose, stop bothering me henceforth. If you win… though that is highly unlikely, if you genuinely win, I will hand over Lakshmi!"

Shiva’s eyes widened, faint black flames seeming to spurt from their depths as he growled, "You killed Prithvi; therefore, if you lose, you must pay the price for Prithvi’s demise. You will replace Prithvi and become the new Earth God! You and all your followers and disciples will become my subordinates!"

"Agreed!" Gu Xichen nodded emphatically, accepting the proposal, but he immediately countered with his own condition: "If you lose, I don't require your allegiance... I require one copy of the architectural blueprints for the Tri-City!"

"Hmph," Shiva looked at Gu Xichen, immensely surprised. He shook his head dismissively, letting out a faint, cold laugh. "Done!"

The blueprints for the Tri-City? Shiva thought Gu Xichen must be deranged. What value could something he had effortlessly destroyed hold?

Convinced he had gained a massive advantage in this pact, Shiva roared with delight. He shook his head violently, a wisp of black flame flashing above his crown, and a burly, savage man, thickset and radiating menacing aura, shot forth, hefting a twin-horned battle axe. The man was clad in supple armor crafted from raw oxhide, clutching the axe in his right hand and a wine bowl in his left, continually taking deep draughts of Soma wine.

"Rudra!" The giant roared his own name to the heavens, swinging his axe down toward Gu Xichen's head. A flash of light, and the heavy ox-horn axe was upon Gu Xichen. A suffocating murderous intent rushed forward, causing the long hair atop Gu Xichen’s head to stand bolt upright, whipping violently in the terrifying murderous aura with a sharp, metallic ringing sound. "Excellent!"

Praising loudly, Gu Xichen swept his wide sleeve, sending Fuya?Ming and the others back into the Spiral Star Field. Then, a streak of fire ascended from his head, and a Fire Crow, completely engulfed in roaring flames, shot out, its scarlet eyes fixed on Rudra as it dove toward him.

Rudra’s axe strike was met by a single beat of the Fire Crow’s wing. With a sound like clashing metal, the ox-horn axe was deflected, grazing past Gu Xichen. Rudra’s eyes instantly turned blood-red; he snorted coldly and flashed forward to intercept the Fire Crow. Shiva remained still, and Gu Xichen did not move either, watching as Rudra and the Fire Crow engaged.

Rudra was one of Shiva’s manifestations, or perhaps even his precursor. Rudra came first, and then Shiva emerged. He was the god of storm and destruction, yet also the god of healing and restoration—a duality embodying two completely opposite powers. He could annihilate everything, yet he could also mend everything. He appeared rarely, a supremely mysterious and low-profile deity.

The Fire Crow was a clone forged by Gu Xichen, modeled after the Primordial Golden Crow. It possessed genuine Golden Crow bone structure and had been blessed by countless precious materials, including the Holy Blood of the Sun. Later, it shared a portion of Pangu’s True Blood, granting it an incomparably robust physique. Furthermore, it had absorbed the solar essence from the Profound Solar Pearl, giving it the fiery power to destroy heavens and earth—a clone of immense might in its own right.

Ascending high into the sky trailing fire, the Fire Crow’s body rapidly expanded to a hundred miles in circumference. It opened its massive beak, unleashing a pillar of purplish-red fire that roared out with billowing waves of heat.

Rudra raised his left hand, pouring the fragrant, rich wine from his bowl. He took deep gulps of the vintage, the liquid cascading over his head and face, running down his rough skin. Tiny droplets of wine suddenly ignited, transforming into black flames that enveloped Rudra. His body also rapidly enlarged, swelling to a hundred miles high.

With a muffled roar, Rudra swung his battle axe, sending forth over a dozen crescent-shaped arcs of axe-light toward the Fire Crow. These axe lights were inky black, faintly crackling with internal lightning, and accompanied by the howling sound of immense storms. Long before the axe-light reached the Fire Crow, the void itself was shredded into dust, unleashing countless subspace storms that writhed out like maddened great pythons, latching tightly onto the Fire Crow. The fire pillar spewed by the Fire Crow was instantly shattered by the subspace energy, scattering into pinpricks of sparks.

The Fire Crow shrieked in fury, beating its wings fiercely. The surrounding subspace energy storms were beaten into fragments, and its body darted toward Rudra like lightning, deftly avoiding the dozen slicing axe-strikes along its path. With a flurry of strikes from its three taloned feet and two wings, the Fire Crow entangled Rudra like a street brawler, scratching and tearing at him.

Rudra possessed only two arms, and one hand was arrogantly still gripping a wine bowl. With only a single arm left free to fight, Rudra was pinned close by the Fire Crow. Its two wings tightly bound his only movable arm, and then its three claws launched a barrage of raking attacks against Rudra. The purple-gold claws, shimmering with blinding firelight, rapidly scratched, tearing large swathes of fiery flesh from Rudra’s body.

Rudra, towering a hundred miles alongside the Fire Crow, was locked in a messy entanglement. Rudra bellowed and cursed in frustration, while the Fire Crow silently continued its frantic scratching. Its body had undergone several evolutions, especially due to the Pangu True Blood, an exceedingly rare treasure. Coupled with the constant refinement from the Lunar and Solar Profound Pearls, the Fire Crow’s physical body was outrageously powerful.

Rudra’s strength was no match for the Fire Crow’s; it didn't even possess one-tenth of the Crow's raw physical power. Its arm was firmly pinned and restrained by the Fire Crow’s wings, making it impossible to draw its hand away to defend against the clawing attacks. Furthermore, its physical resilience was inferior to the Fire Crow’s. Rudra managed to hastily cast spells to shield his body, but in the blink of an eye, the Crow’s sharp talons tore through his defenses.

With a downward swipe, chunks of bloody, red flesh flew off. Rudra screamed in agony. The Fire Crow glared with its pair of scarlet eyes, its three claws moving rapidly like the rotating blades of a juicer, tearing Rudra’s chest, abdomen, and thighs into a bloody mess in moments.

Even the most vital point beneath Rudra’s navel—the spot crucial to his life—was violently ripped away by a single claw swipe. Rudra convulsed in pain; his wine bowl and battle axe were long gone. He weakly used his remaining left hand to desperately pound the Fire Crow’s body.

But the Fire Crow's body was perversely resilient. Rudra’s heavy punches only caused flares of fire to erupt across the Crow’s form; they couldn't even damage a single feather. On the contrary, his heavy blows stirred up a trace of the fierce, baleful energy from the Primordial Golden Crow latent within the Fire Crow’s bloodline. The Fire Crow commenced tearing and pulling at Rudra’s body with its three claws, while its beak violently pecked down toward Rudra’s face.

A terrible shriek echoed as the Fire Crow snatched one of Rudra’s eyeballs in its beak. A gout of fire erupted from its mouth, and the eyeball instantly turned to ash. (To be continued. For the rest of the story, please log on to...m for more chapters, support the author, and enjoy genuine reading!)F