Nearly a million bolts of violet lightning cascaded from the heavens, plunging straight into the blood-colored Divine Domain.
Every single bolt of lightning transformed into a celestial soldier or divine general of the Thunder Bureau, or into a Thunder Duke or Thunder King.
This was no simple plea for the Thunder Duke and Mother of Lightning to aid him!
Rather, every thunder-attribute god answered his command!
Within the Divine Domain, countless thunder gods descended into the mortal realm, scouring the blood-colored Divine Domain. It was truly a quelling of myriad tribulations and expelling of evil demons.
Army Lord Liyang and Vice Army Lord Taizhong, two Mythological figures, joined forces—one even bolstered by the power of a celestial star.
Yet against the Divine Might Thunder Prison, they were thoroughly and utterly suppressed!
After just a single clash, blood-colored fissures crisscrossed Army Lord Liyang's face, deep within which blood-red light continuously seeped forth.
His eyes were filled with sheer disbelief.
"The god you visualized... just who is it?!"
He could not fathom it, and immense terror welled up within his heart!
He did not even dare cast a single glance at the phantasm of the Thunder Ancestor sitting upright in the firmament.
Setting aside the master of the Divine Domain, merely those terrifying deities formed of lightning—mere phantasms—suppressed him so fiercely that he could barely breathe.
And there was not just one such phantasm, but dozens, even hundreds.
If mere phantasms were already like this, what would happen if their true forms descended?
He could not begin to imagine.
Just what kind of entity was this enemy?
Great Venerable Shenlei stood tall in the void, his robes flapping loudly amidst the dazzling flare of ten thousand bolts of lightning.
He wasted no words, his voice rolling out like the thunder of myriad jun:
"Great Sagacity, Great Benevolence, Supreme Sovereign, Supreme Dao!"
At the sound of his voice, all the divine generals formed of lightning suddenly swelled ten times, a hundred times larger.
The auras radiating from them turned extraordinarily terrifying!
Heavenly gods descended, obeying the Thunder Ancestor's decree to scour away all evil gods.
Army Lord Liyang's Divine Domain shattered piece by piece.
If not for the aid of his celestial star, he would likely have fallen already.
Yet even so, in just a brief collision, a third of his Divine Domain had already collapsed.
The two were simply not opponents of the same tier or level!
Meanwhile, outside the Divine Domain...
The flames of war were not a whit weaker than those within.
Above the firmament of Qingheng Province, nine phantasmal stars abruptly manifested.
Everyone in Qingheng Province could see those terrifying phantasmal stars simply by looking up.
It felt as though one could reach out and touch the edges of the nine stars merely by gently flying into the sky.
Every star radiated a terrifying aura.
Nine stars guarded each other, slaughter filling the sky!
As the saying went: when the Nine Luminaries crossed the sky, the fortune and misfortune of all gods were no longer in their own hands, but held in the grasp of the Nine Luminary Star Lords!
"Boundless Taiji, Nine Luminaries Smite the Heavens!"
The elder twin sister was the Sun, while the younger twin sister was the Moon.
One yin, one yang, combining into Taiji!
With the roar of the Nine Luminary Star Officials, a Taiji diagram resembling a celestial canopy smashed brutally down toward the earth.
Seven stars blazed within it!
Countless evil gods soared into the sky like fireflies.
Yet within the great formation of the Nine Luminary Star Officials, there was nowhere to flee.
It was like savages clad in beast skins and skirts, brandishing wooden spears, charging toward a modern army's torrent of steel.
Death was their only possible end.
"Ah!"
"No!"
"All Great Venerables, hear my command—break out together!"
The evil gods' headquarters fell into utter chaos.
The disorganized army of evil gods gradually formed battle arrays, mounting a counterattack against the Nine Luminary Star Officials.
However, while a thousand ordinary Sovereigns striking together could execute a Grand Sovereign, a thousand Venerables could not even wound a Great Venerable.
The gap between Divine Domains was not something numbers could bridge!
Joined together, the Nine Luminary Star Officials could even slay Mythological beings above their realm!
How could these Venerables and ordinary Great Venerables ever compare?
The deities visualized through the God Visualization Art bestowed by Qi Yuan were all righteous gods of the Heavenly Court.
Presiding over the Thirty-Three Heavens, each possessed boundless divine power.
Their Divine Domains had even condensed divine offices.
Their might exceeded that of their peers by more than tenfold.
With nine Great Venerables of the Five Steps of Sky Treading striking in unison, their power was beyond imagination!
Not to mention, aside from the Nine Luminary Star Officials, the other True Gods also charged into the army of evil gods as if entering uninhabited territory!
The war was completely one-sided!
There were indeed many Great Venerables in the evil gods' headquarters—fully several hundred, surpassing even the Southern Lands.
Yet in the eyes of the Nine Luminary Star Officials and the other Great Venerables, the Divine Domains of these Great Venerables were as fragile as children's paper airplanes.
No matter how many paper airplanes there were, could they ever overwhelm a fighter jet?
The slaughter was completely one-sided!
The evil gods' headquarters was reduced to utter devastation.
Everywhere was engulfed by Divine Domains. On such a battlefield, an ordinary Venerable would be shaken to death by the shockwaves of combat with the slightest lapse of attention.
Ten thousand li away, all the cultivators and Ancient Gods involuntarily flew into the sky, watching the massacre from afar.
They could not see the finer details, but they could see that on one side, an endless sea of thunder hung inverted, as if about to swallow the world; on the other side, nine luminaries hung aloft, with countless evil gods soaring up like moths to a flame, only to plummet back down.
"A great battle has broken out... at the evil gods' headquarters!"
"Mythological! This is definitely Mythological!"
"Mythological figures are besieging the evil gods' headquarters! What is going on? Where did Mythological figures come from in our Mortal Heart Realm?!"
Countless pairs of eyes watched that earth-shattering battle, their faces filled either with horror or joyous shock.
Some knelt on the ground weeping, while others had hot tears welling in their eyes!
All the cultivators and Ancient Gods looked upon the scene from afar, awe and shock welling in their hearts.
Ten thousand li away, a terrifying headless Ancient God stood atop a high mountain. As he watched the distant flames of war, blood-red tears actually streamed from his neck.
"Ha... haha..." Great Venerable Lingzhong laughed wildly. "A sea of thunder like a celestial canopy, the Nine Luminaries suspended aloft... I... I see it!"
He recalled half a month before the Hongtang Great War, when the Holy Mother of Inedia had sought him out and handed him an item.
Back then, clad in a red gown, a rare brilliant gleam had shone in her eyes as she said: "The Mortal Heart Realm will not perish like this. Hope has always been there.
"In the far, distant future, someone will surely stand forward to shatter stars with their fists and tear apart Yang Gods with their bare hands!"
"He really exists... Inedia," Great Venerable Lingzhong muttered frenziedly.
Hope had always been there, yet the Holy Mother of Inedia and those Mythological figures who had fallen in battle would never be able to witness it again.
Meanwhile, Qi Yuan stood in the void, dressed in a green robe.
His expression was placid as his experience bar skyrocketed and evil god spiritual power accumulated madly.
In just a dozen breaths, his accumulation surpassed the entire battle at Sunset Slope.
He glanced sideways at Great Venerable Lishan and remarked flatly, "You still have to work on your music. You're blowing too quietly—the fighting Ancient Gods can't hear your playing at all."
Great Venerable Lishan's face flushed bright red.
It wasn't that he was blowing too quietly; the racket from the people below was simply too overwhelming.
The combined numbers of both sides exceeded ten thousand!
Moreover, the weakest among them were True Gods!
Great Venerable Lishan had even unfolded his Divine Domain, using boundless divine spiritual power to manifest avatars so they could blow the suona together.
Unfortunately, the sound could not reach the battlefield at all.
His Divine Domain was far too weak. The Divine Domains below were as if cheating—every single one possessed a divine office, which was utterly unimaginable.
Because a divine office... had always been the hallmark of truly peerless geniuses.
For instance, among the nearly ten thousand evil gods in the headquarters below, only a few dozen possessed a divine office.
Yet on their side... every single one had one!
Even the most ordinary Venerable held a divine office like guarding the Heavenly Gate!
It was truly absurd!
It left Great Venerable Lishan deeply shaken.
Especially Great Venerable Shenlei—even Great Venerable Lishan felt envious seeing that terrifying Divine Domain.
The rolling heavenly thunder and endless lightning carried a momentum far too grand.
Great Venerable Lishan even thought that if not to end the battle swiftly, Great Venerable Shenlei alone could have suppressed and slaughtered all the enemies here.
Of course, that might take quite a bit of time.
"Why don't you shatter your Divine Domain? I'll get you a God Visualization Art with a loud voice so you won't have to worry about playing the suona too quietly," Qi Yuan suggested casually.
Great Venerable Lishan was taken aback, then immediately replied, "Celestial Venerable, this humble old man doesn't want to blow the suona forever either. This old man also wants to slay these evil gods with his own hands!"
At this, bone-deep killing intent filled Great Venerable Lishan's eyes.
His parents and kin had all perished at the hands of the evil gods.
"You'll have your chance," Qi Yuan said calmly. He swept his gaze across the Thunder Prison.
Vice Army Lord Taizhong had already been slain, leaving only Army Lord Liyang struggling bitterly to hold on.
Above the heavens, the celestial star belonging to Army Lord Liyang grew dim and lusterless at this moment, as if devoured by the endless sea of thunder.
Within the evil gods' headquarters, Qi Yuan's subjects slashed and hacked through the ragtag army like genuine celestial soldiers and generals.
In an instant, two-thirds of the evil gods had fallen.
Just then, Qi Yuan narrowed his eyes. "Since you've come, then stay."
Following Qi Yuan's voice, his blood-red longsword suddenly unsheathed and slashed sharply toward a high mountain a thousand li away!
At this moment, Qi Yuan's experience bar skyrocketed madly, and he had impressively stepped into Mythological.
In this game, going from Origin Core to True God had taken Qi Yuan a very, very long time.
However, going from Step One Sky Treading to Mythological had been very, very fast.
A thousand li away atop the high mountain, two evil god army lords were visibly shaken.
"Mythological!"
Facing Qi Yuan's sword strike, the two Divine Domain experts did not hesitate for a moment, immediately turning to flee.
They sensed an intense feeling of threat.
This sense of threat was even stronger than what Great Venerable Shenlei gave them.
"This sword strike of mine is named 'Investiture of the Gods.'
"No one can refuse the god I wish to invest.
"I hereby invest you as... the God of Death. Though... that means a god who is dead."
The divine spiritual power on the sword light surged violently, and a special Divine Domain unfolded at this moment.
Instantly, the two evil god army lords plunged into the Divine Domain.
"What is this?"
"What kind of Divine Domain is this?!"
The two evil god army lords were petrified with terror.
Because this... did not resemble a Yin God Divine Domain in the slightest; instead, it looked like a garbage dump.
Within the Divine Domain, there was all sorts of messy junk.
Stars rolled across a field like soccer balls; colossal bolts of lightning constantly struck an ocean; endless magma gushed from tap water pipes; a profound black hole inside an iron wok sneezed...
Everything in the Divine Domain was chaotic and bizarre.
"Thunder, water, wood, growth, death... It has everything! What on earth is this?!"
The two evil god army lords were terrified.
This was the first time they had ever encountered such a Divine Domain.
All Divine Domains were purest of the pure; only thus could a Divine Domain unleash its greatest combat power.
Even if other attributes existed, their proportion was minuscule.
How could one be like what was before their eyes, resembling a complete hodgepodge?
"How can you be so foolish yet still cultivate to Mythological? Didn't I say you were going to die?
"Connecting the context, it's blatantly obvious that this is your burial ground.
"Did you never study middle school Chinese and reading comprehension?
"You can't even solve this kind of question yet you cultivated to Mythological—this world is far too unfair.
"I, Qi Yuan, have no choice but to do good deeds on behalf of the heavens and kill you, making this world a bit fairer."
Following Qi Yuan's voice, the longsword turned into countless blood-red bullets!
"Namo Gatling Bodhisattva, da-da-da!"
The countless bullets transformed again into terrifying giant serpents, gaping their bloody maws and ruthlessly devouring the two evil god army lords.
The two evil god army lords screamed in agony. Beneath Qi Yuan's assault, their Divine Domains were as flimsy and pale as white paper.
Their minds and thoughts also fell into complete chaos at this moment.
"Don't kill us... ah!"
"With such a cluttered Divine Domain, you'll never have the chance to step into Yang God in your lifetime!"
"When our Lord acts, you will surely die... Spare us!"
The two evil god army lords begged bitterly for mercy.
They had cultivated for the greater part of their lives, even earning the chance to reflect across the heavens; how could they want to die like this?
At this moment, Qi Yuan looked up at the sky full of stars.
Two celestial stars were exceedingly dim, and a blood-red shadow was chewing away at them.
"You have such massive stars and so much land, yet you leave them idle instead of having people live there—what a complete waste!
"You deserve full credit for house prices being so high!"
"What... are you talking about?!"
"Yang Gods are invincible!"
"I'm saying... why doesn't anyone live on the sun?
"These Yang Gods are all corrupt, black-hearted landlords!"
The sword light flashed, and the Divine Domains of the two evil god army lords shattered at this instant.
Within Qi Yuan's Divine Domain, two imperceptible specks of dust were added.
Vast amounts of evil god spiritual power poured in, and Qi Yuan's experience bar skyrocketed madly.
"Mythological... is this weak?
"Could it be... I'm too strong?"
By this time, the battlefield at the Qingheng Province evil gods' headquarters was drawing to a close.
Army Lord Liyang had already been slain by Great Venerable Shenlei. Violet lightning currently flickered in Shenlei's eyes; clearly, the previous battle had not satisfied him.
He had charged back into the battlefield, endlessly slaughtering evil gods.
Sounds of slaughter and thunder echoed continuously.
A moment later, the Ancient Gods who had fought blood-soaked battles stood beneath Qi Yuan, their eyes brimming with impassioned battle intent.
The evil gods at the headquarters had been completely annihilated.
Great Venerable Shenlei stood beside Qi Yuan, his gaze looking down upon the world, though whenever he looked toward Qi Yuan, it would turn entirely to reverence.
At this moment, Qi Yuan, who had remained silent, spoke: "Everyone, I suddenly realized that I'm actually very strong too. Just now, I casually killed two Mythological figures."
When Qi Yuan said this, the Ancient Gods present remained calm, showing no shock.
After all, wasn't it completely normal for the Origin Celestial Venerable to kill Mythological figures?
"Since we're this strong, why don't we take the opportunity... to wipe out the other evil god headquarters as well!" Qi Yuan's change of plans came after some deep reflection.
"Good!" Great Venerable Shenlei hurriedly agreed.
He wished for nothing more than to keep fighting and kill a few more Mythological figures.
"Kill! This old lady still wants to kill!" Great Venerable Huolian didn't act like a lady at all right now, completely different from her past demeanor.
The other Ancient Gods nodded one after another, surging killing intent accumulating in their hearts.
"Kill!"
"Purge the Northern Lands, reclaim our rivers and mountains!"
At this moment, their morale was at an all-time high.
"In that case..." Just as Qi Yuan was preparing to announce a new battle plan, his eyes suddenly contracted. "They ran!"
At this moment, all the Ancient Gods involuntarily looked toward the firmament!
In the northern lands, radiant light suddenly erupted as passageway after passageway leading to the heavens formed.
Over ten thousand evil gods crowded into the passageways, seemingly trying to flee the Mortal Heart Realm.
"They ran?"
"They actually fled?!"
"How could they run?!"
These Ancient Gods were stunned, gripped by a feeling of unreality.
The evil gods who had rampaged across the Mortal Heart Realm for hundreds of thousands of years... had actually all run away.
Without looking back, without any hesitation, they had all fled.
"They actually ran... How boring. I still wanted to kill more," Qi Yuan grumbled helplessly.
At this time, Great Venerable Shenlei's voice rolled out: "Celestial Venerable, I also followed your example just now and devised a plan!"
"What plan?" Qi Yuan asked in surprise.
"Didn't you complain about having no opponents, Celestial Venerable? My plan is divided into two steps: Step one, march our troops to the Heavenly Pillar right now and capture a Yang God alive! Step two, after capturing the Yang God, mobilize the power of the entire realm without stopping to invade and smite the Evil God Realm!" Great Venerable Shenlei said excitedly.
Qi Yuan was stunned. Looking at Great Venerable Shenlei, he said meaningfully, "Are you brainless, or do you take me for an idiot?
"Go fight a Yang God right now... to seek death?"
Qi Yuan was indeed swollen with confidence, but he wasn't inflated to this degree.
"And another thing... plagiarism is shameful!
"You split and modified my plan, then claimed it as your own. Have you no shame?
"I never plagiarize, and I don't want my subjects plagiarizing either!"
Chapter 226