Chapter 900: What If This Whole Thing Works?
As of this moment, the souls of countless deceased heroes rose up from shrine halls in the lands of various species in Firemoon Darkheaven territory. Converging from all directions, they created a huge river of souls that floated up into the canopy of heaven above Revered Ancient. The higher the river rose, the smaller it got, until it was a black thread approaching the broken face. Then the river disappeared.
There were many locations in Revered Ancient where no one noticed what was happening. The only exceptions were species with extremely powerful experts, plus the gods hidden in various locations.... As those powerful experts looked up to see what was going on, the sacrificial offering continued in the god domain.
“Third sacrifice. Offer the kunpeng heavenly dao!”
Sunfire’s voice echoed through the god domain, every word echoing like heavenly thunder, splitting the air, and shaking the ‘heaven’ of the Firemoons. In this case, that ‘heaven’ wasn’t the starry sky. Instead, it was the source of the innate abilities that existed in the blood of the Firemoon Darkheaven people. That ‘heaven’ was the very same heaven that forms one of the characters in the word ‘innate ability.’ [1]
As of this moment, the ‘heaven’ of the Firemoon Darkheaven people was collapsing. All Firemoon Darkheaven cultivators suddenly felt dazed. As the ‘heaven’ of their innate abilities collapsed, the instincts that had been placed in their minds, blood, and life force by the three gods were stripped away from their later generations.
And it was because something completely outrageous and unthinkable was happening. Those instincts, those innate abilities... were connected to a heavenly dao!
What appeared above Revered Ancient in that moment was the very same ancient heavenly dao that looked like a kunpeng bird, which the three gods had captured and inserted into the destiny of the Firemoon Darkheavens. A howl of anguish echoed out over Revered Ancient, along with the clinking sound of the pitch black chains covered with magical symbols. After the chains appeared, a massive kungpeng bird appeared, its body covered with countless bloody lacerations.
īt howled in grief and anguish as it was dragged slowly up toward the broken face. No matter how much īt wanted to struggle, it did no good. No one was going to come to help, and that was because... the broken face had stirred!
The kunpeng heavenly dao could do nothing as the chains dragged it higher and higher. Eventually, it collapsed into death. A final cry rang out across Revered Ancient.
Revered Ancient went silent. As of that moment, anyone who cultivated natural and magical laws related to the kunpeng had eternally lost their dao. The natural and magical laws that had been attached to it were wiped out forever, and they would never be seen again. High overhead, the broken face of the god suddenly blurred.
When it became clear, hē had turned to face in the direction of the Mountain and Sea Region in Firemoon territory! Specifically, it was the spot where there was a connection between the god domain and Revered Ancient.
That was when the fourth sacrifice appeared in the god domain.
“Fourth sacrifice. Offer all the godly entities in the North Emperor god domain!”
All of the godly entities that had been transformed after the god invasion countless years ago were now being sacrificed by the three gods. After offering seven species from seven regions, a host of Firemoon souls, and the kunpeng heavenly dao, it was all the godly entities in the god domain that wailed in despair.
Spiders exploded. Mutant beasts shattered. Trees with faces collapsed into ash. The huge sea in the god domain dried up. Stars vibrated. Death and withering spread everywhere.... In the blink of an eye, the god domain turned into a graveyard! Even the extremely powerful entities Xu Qing had encountered, for instance the tentacled fish, the jellyfish, and whatnot... all died!
Because of that, the eyes of the broken face of the god cracked open.
That was when the three gods made the final sacrifice.
“Fifth sacrifice. Offer the North Emperor god domain!”
The actual god domain was thēir final sacrifice! Thēy went so far as to sacrifice thēir people, even though they had already mutated into ravenous godly entities. Thēy sacrificed their homeland, even though it had already been turned into a god domain. Such actions were both insane and decisive!
That was why the grand steward had asked the three gods if thēy would miss thēir people.
The three gods had already provided an answer. After reaching godly ascension, people weren’t people.
The entire god domain began to tremble violently, and the starry sky vibrated as a formless power descended and ripped the god domain out through the rift in Revered Ancient. It appeared... in the dome of heaven above Revered Ancient, right in front of the broken face. As of that moment, countless species in Revered Ancient, plus all the powerful experts and gods, could sense what was happening!
The three gods’ five sacrifices were over. And the eyes of the broken face were fully open.
However, right then... in the very heart of the god domain, in the abyss into which the emperor’s corpse had fallen, the flabbergasted Xu Qing heard the Captain shouting something.
“Sixth sacrifice. Offer the essence of a god!”
As the words left the Captain’s mouth, over a hundred marionettes flew out from inside of him. Each looked the same, and each had a different name carved onto its face. The Captain kept control of them as he sent them out of the emperor’s corpse. Then he took control of the emperor’s hand to reach out toward the marionettes to crush them. That image, plus the Captain’s word, formed a very magnificent sight.
However, the marionettes seemed very cheap. What was more... Xu Qing recognized some of the names.
Lord of Forbidden by the Zombie. Crimson Mother. Sunfire....
“Is your Eldest Brother impressive or what, little Junior Brother? Hahaha! Normally speaking, I wouldn’t sacrifice these enemies like this. But this is too good of an opportunity to pass up.”
As the Captain’s voice echoed in Xu Qing’s mind, Xu Qing looked at the cheap marionettes and couldn’t sense even a single godly fluctuation coming from them. They seemed like nothing more than simple puppets with some names carved onto them. That said, the sheer number of them went to show how many enemies the Captain had.
But in the end, Xu Qing didn’t see the point of a sacrifice like this.
Apparently the Captain could sense what he was thinking, as he cleared his throat. “I just want to make sure my name is in the mix. Think about it. What if this whole thing works?”
After a moment of thought, Xu Qing realized that he agreed with the Captain. What if the whole thing did work out?
“Seventh sacrifice. Offer the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan!”
It was impossible to say whether or not it had anything to do with the sacrifices offered by Xu Qing and the Captain, but what followed was that the Revered Ancient mainland trembled loudly as the broken face’s eyes opened and looked directly at the Mountain and Sea Region. That gaze caused the river of stars to distort and seemed to overturn the entire starry sky. Heaven and earth in Revered Ancient rippled, and cracks spread out everywhere, seemingly without end. The ground quaked, mountains collapsed, and the water of rivers and seas rose up into the air in shocking fashion.
Clouds and wind swept into vicious tempests. The whole world seemed like it was being struck by lightning and thunder.
RUMBLE!
All living beings sensed the dramatic events. This time, the opening of the broken face’s eyes was different than anything in the past. And that was because the sound of a heartbeat reached the ears of all living beings.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump!
The broken face’s eyes were open! Those huge eyes contained destroyed starry skies, infinite worlds, unending will, never-ending daos, all accumulations, reincarnation, and the beginning of the universe. All life existed therein, along with karma and destiny.
What hē looked at conformed to hīs will. That was... omniscience!
Xu Qing’s thoughts seemed to stop. All concepts vanished from his mind, leaving nothing but a blank. It was the same with the Captain. As for the grand steward and the three gods outside of the black hole... all of their life force was put on pause.
And then, something completely inconceivable happened to the god domain! Under the gaze of the broken face, that god domain didn’t seem like a three-dimensional space.
Instead, it was like a painting. The planets, the land, the three gods, Xu Qing, and everything else was like ink on the painting. Then the planets made of ink faded and disappeared. The same thing happened to the entire world. Then the painting rose into the sky, getting closer and closer to the broken face. As it neared, it began fading into nothing.
That was when all of the powerful experts in the Revered Ancient mainland, as well as all the gods, regardless of where they were sleeping, awoke and looked up. All of them saw the broken face looking at a god domain that looked like a painting! They were all shocked. That was because the painting-like god domain wasn’t just vanishing. īt was... rising to a higher level!
A terrifying aura swept out, so strong that it caused even the gods to tremble with fear. Blinding golden light shot out in all directions, surpassing the brilliance of a sun, and in fact, causing all suns and moons in Revered Ancient to go dim in comparison. This new world was what happened when a god domain rose to a higher level. It was... a god world!
And it was completely eye-catching. At the same time, everyone who had some level of authority over that god-domain suddenly found themselves also rising to a higher level!
The spark inside the grand steward exploded, rushing out to create a god body around him. And it spread into his soul with the intention... of turning it into the soul of a god. As that fire erupted, the grand steward’s face became a mask of pain. However, his eyes shone with determination, decisiveness, and also anticipation.
He was going through godly ascension!
This was the culmination of tens of thousands of years of planning on the part of the three gods, who had paid an enormous price. Now it was paying off as thēir godsource erupted and thēy ceased to suppress the tribulation fire within them. Thēy were using the rise of a god domain into a god world as thēir opportunity to bypass the extreme danger of the tribulation fire level! Thēy were skipping right past tribulation fire to become Flawless Gods! If thēy succeeded, then the path to the Altar God level would be clear, and they wouldn’t have to face any tribulation or calamity.
This was something that all gods dreamed of! For example, not even Crimson Mother had reached this step. Shē had become a guide to the broken face to reach godly ascension and get close to being a Flawless God, but then shē had been forced to devour other gods in the hopes of building a path to walk. Another example was Li Zihua, who ultimately severed the fire of his godly ascension and instead cultivated the dao of immortals. Then, he hatched a plan that took tens of thousands of years to leap from the ancient past into modern times and prove his dao.
The spider god wasn’t as daring as the three gods. Because of how it devoured god karma, it ended up perishing.
From all of this it could be seen how extraordinary the three gods were!
1. Sorry, but this is one casual bit of wordplay that I never could have anticipated. The word I have translated ‘innate ability’ for years now actually contains the character ‘heaven’ in it. Normally speaking, it conveys a sense of something being “natural,” i.e. a naturally-occurring ability inherent to a person or species. But in this case the author is using a slightly different interpretation to create this bit of wordplay. Outside of this little one-liner, this “heaven” connection to “innate ability” isn’t important or even mentioned again. ☜