Chapter 902: Gods Show Up
In the dome of heaven, the eyes of the broken face slowly closed. However, the upgrade to the god domain because of the sacrificial offering didn’t just stop. In fact, deafening rumbling sounds continued to rise up. Yet even as the process continued, things started to look unstable in the god domain. Formless sparks raged, slowly engulfing the place. Apparently, they were thoroughly burning away all impurities that existed there.
When a god domain became a god world, it involved a heaven-shaking, earth-toppling change to its substructure. It was no simple event. The broken face’s power was incomparably mighty, yet... another critical factor was the god domain’s ability to sustain the change. As for this god domain, though the three gods had been preparing for this event for tens of thousands of years, it seemed that it actually wasn’t capable of sustaining the upgrade.
The red moon had also been upgraded, but that moon had started out as one of the thirty-six moons of Revered Ancient. It possessed some of Revered Ancient’s authority, and beyond that, Crimson Mother was at the peak of the level of tribulation fire, and was halfway to being a Flawless God.
What was more, Li Zihua had also been perpetuating a plan that started in ancient times.
Most important of all was Crimson Mother’s status. Shē was the first person to reach godly ascension after the broken face arrived in Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity’s time. Karma associated with the broken face was intense, and beyond that, as a half-Flawless God who had devoured other gods, shē was the type of person even other gods feared. That was why no other gods had come to help hēr during hēr tribulation, which turned out to be an auspicious development for Li Zihua. It was only due to a combination of many factors that a good opportunity had presented itself.
But the situation with the three gods was different. And thus, as the broken face’s eyes closed, the resistance began.
In the Ninepeaks Region in Revered Ancient there was a swamp that covered about a third of the entire region. There, a massive golden eye opened up and looked in the direction of the god domain where the three gods were.
In the Paleosaint Region was a massive mountain that was worshiped by all species in the region. Currently, the mountain was changing from being black in color to golden. What was more, it was slowly rising up from the ground, like a gigantic golden horn.
In the Allpeace Region was a vast lake covered with raging waves. A divine likeness was currently emerging from the water. It had six arms and three heads, with those heads being those of a beast, ghost, and god respectively. The six arms commanded reincarnation and death. As the water of the vast lake swirled around to form the statue, it took a step forward.
***
Bizarre situations like that played out all over the Revered Ancient mainland. The terrifying will of gods appeared everywhere, and then began to converge on the god domain and the three gods. The dome of heaven over the god domain rippled and distorted. Time shattered. Greedy will erupted. It was clear what was happening. Thēy wanted to stop the three gods and rob them of what they had gained. Countless species across the lands trembled in fear from what seemed to be an impending catastrophe.
However... the three gods had prepared for this moment for tens of thousands of years. And those preparations were very thorough. There was no way they wouldn’t have considered that something like this would happen. And thus, as the wills of dozens of gods closed in on the god domain, the three gods all opened their eyes simultaneously.
A majestic spell formation glittered into being, spreading out to cover the area with five-colored light and innumerable magical symbols. The symbols conveyed a profoundly ancient feeling, and the formation they made seemed similarly ancient.
This formation had a name. It was the God-Rejecting Mage Formation!
Many years in the past, the antemage of the Darkheaven Archmage people had sacrificed himself to create this formation, all for the purpose of safeguarding his people. Later, it became part of the Ninedawns Forbidden Lands, and became even more powerful. When the three gods came, they acquired it and refined it for tens of thousands of years. They also used it to imprison one of the ancient heavenly daos, not just for later use as a sacrificial offering, but also, for the purpose of using its blood to strengthen the formation.
It was all for this moment!
When the God-Rejecting Mage Formation activated, the other gods were stuck on the other side. Of course, though the formation was amazing, and had been bolstered over the years, it could only be a temporary obstacle to so many attacking gods. It was a given that the three gods would have prepared something besides this formation.
But a temporary obstacle was all the three gods needed. After this, the three gods’ godliness skyrocketed. A sun, moon, and star appeared above the heads of the three gods, pulsing with immense majesty. Then they combined, turning into a huge dagger-axe. It was 300,000 meters long, and was made from over 100,000 crafting elements. In addition, it was full of innumerable deceased souls. It was a precious weapon that the three gods had forged over tens upon tens of thousands of years, using the souls slain by the Firemoon Darkheaven people during their countless war campaigns. [1]
By adding in the destiny aura of the Firemoon Darkheavens, it was shaped into its current form. It was something that surpassed a domain treasure, and could even be called ‘everlasting.’ It could easily be used to wipe out an entire species, and could also be used to slay gods. This was the true reserve power of the three gods!
The Everlasting Dagger-Axe seemed like it could cleave apart heaven and earth. The might it radiated caused the approaching gods to react with shock as sensations of danger filled them.
The three gods exercised a thought, and the terrifying dagger-axe slashed through the dome of heaven toward the incoming host of gods. The mere presence of its destructive power caused the souls of the gods to become unstable, and caused more than half of Revered Ancient to tremble violently.
The advancing gods fell back, covering the distance of an entire region before coming to a stop. At the same time, the voices of the three gods rang out like thunder.
“Screw off!”
In the regions where these gods hailed from, thēy were matchlessly lofty. But now, all thēy could do was look silently at the dagger-axe, and ultimately try to slink away. The combination of the God-Rejecting Mage Formation, the terrifying dagger-axe, and the fact that thēy had no real karma connecting thēm to the three gods, ensured that, though thēy would interfere if it benefited thēm, thēy wouldn’t interfere if it involved immense risk. After all, if thēy had been watching the three gods from the shadows, it was a given there were other entities watching thēm from the shadows. And thus, thēy went back into hiding.
The three gods watched expressionlessly as thēy left, but inside, thēy were staying vigilant. Thēy were at a critical point in breaking through, and creating a destined opportunity like this wasn’t something that could be easily repeated. Slip-ups couldn’t be tolerated.
But there was no stopping what was to come. And, as expected, there were entities with karma connected to the three gods.
At the edge of the Revered Ancient mainland was a region with no name. It was covered with silver fog, and didn’t have lands made of soil. Instead, it was a massive, ancient mirror.
The mirror itself formed the lands. This region had no mountains in it, nor any species inhabiting it. All such things had been wiped away, leaving the mirror untainted by even a speck of dust. Within the mirror was silver moonlight. And if there had been someone present to look, they would be shocked to find that there was no moon in the sky there, only a golden sun. There was a golden sun in the dome of heaven and a silver moon in the mirror.
They blurred, then vanished, and when they reappeared... they were right above the god domain and the three gods.
Gold-Silver Sun-Moon had arrived!
Then a deep voice shook heaven and earth. “I wasn’t planning on stopping you. But a struggle for godly authority is inevitable.”
Terrifying godly might erupted from Gold-Silver Sun-Moon. Cracking sounds emerged from the God-Rejecting Mage Formation as rifts opened up all over it. Gold-Silver Sun-Moon alone was far more terrifying than the host of gods from earlier.
Looking very dignified, the three gods exercised a thought, and the dagger-axe swiveled to face Gold-Silver Sun-Moon. However, thēy didn’t use it to attack. As the weapon pointed at Gold-Silver Sun-Moon, the three gods’ eyes glittered with determination. Thēir tens of thousands of years of preparation wasn’t limited to what had played out so far. Thēy also had domain treasures from numerous species in Revered Ancient.
Thēy also had treasures from the time of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity. And the god domain itself had treasures from North Emperor.
All of that constituted the three gods’ second reserve power. At this decisive moment, thēy unleashed all of them.
From a distance, it was possible to see 108 domain treasures glittering with many colors.... They floated up as their might was unleashed, not in a devastating explosion, but in the form of numerous planets. The front of the planets had soil made of starlight, while the backs had agonized faces on them. Each face was slightly different and conformed to the species the domain treasure had come from! They were all species that the three gods had wiped out.
This scene looked very similar to the starry sky in the emperor’s mausoleum. Their might combined with the crumbling God-Rejecting Mage Formation and the terrifying dagger-axe to form something profoundly resplendent. The devastating formation formed starlight. The dagger-axe created a river of stars. The 108 planets shone with dazzling light. Together, they made a starry sky that swept over Gold-Silver Sun-Moon!
Then, Sunfire and Moonfire shot toward Starfire. The three gods merged together, and then thēy unleashed a secret magic that was tens of thousands of years in the making!
Nobleplexus starry sky! [2]
By using a starry sky to seal an outside sun and moon, time could be bought.
In the blink of an eye, the terrifying Gold-Silver Sun-Moon and the Nobleplexus starry sky vanished from above the god domain. However, before the three gods could relax, a cold voice echoed out from nowhere.
“Zhu Ling and I have some karma, therefore, I’ll interfere this once.”
In the endless Forbidden Sea beyond Revered Ancient, there was a deep sea chasm filled with endless darkness. But then, a spark of red light appeared there. Shockingly, within that light, it was possible to see a host of countless paper people made from red paper. One of those paper people floated out of the chasm, appeared in the god domain, and shot toward the three gods like a sealing mark.
Intense fear rose up in the hearts of the three gods, as well as in the grand steward. Inside the black hole, Xu Qing and the Captain shivered.
“I can’t believe hē’s still alive!” the Captain said hoarsely.
“Hē? Hē who?” asked Xu Qing. He had no idea who this ‘hē’ was that the Captain was referring to, but he could sense that this simple paper person was vastly more terrifying than Crimson Mother.
Before the Captain could answer, the three gods’ faces fell. Even the normally placid Sunfire looked very serious. Then, godfire erupted from all three gods. Thēy... were actually burning their own godsource!
That fire came in three colors: red, blue, and black! As the three colors erupted, the red paper person closed in and contacted the fire!
The three gods chose that moment to merge thēir power and unleash the might of thēir past life. Fire raged, unleashing a sensation like that of reincarnation. As it covered the three gods, it suddenly became possible to see a figure that seemed to be stepping out from ancient time....
1. A dagger-axe is a traditional weapon from ancient China that is often translated as polearm or halberd. I personally like the term dagger-axe, as it makes sense descriptively and also makes it clear this is a unique Chinese weapon. For a picture and more information, here is thelink to the Wikipedia article about it ☜
2. Nobleplexus. This term is sort of related (linguistically at least) to “Allheaven” from ISSTH. If you added “heaven” to the end of this word, it could be translated as “nobleplexus heaven” or “noble/grand allheaven”. In real life, the “nobleplexus heaven” or “grand allheaven” or “grand overarching heaven” is essentially the highest heaven in the hierarchy of Daoist heavens, and is like a “net” or “mesh” that covers over all the other heavens. I’m using “plexus” because it means a “network” or “complex structure” and because it would be too hard to create a functional term using the “all” interpretation from “Allheaven.” To be clear, there does not seem to be any connection between this term and Allheaven from ISSTH, thus the reason why I don’t feel the need to translate them similarly. That said, if it turns out later on that there actually is a connection to Allheaven, it wouldn’t be surprising. In a disastrous scenario in which later wordplay explanations necessitate, I might theoretically change this term. Hopefully not. ☜