Qi Yuan's expression turned somewhat fanatical—ferocious, even.
It was just like a cat spotting a mouse.
This reaction left Hongmei and Zhao Yan utterly dumbfounded.
After all, merely from hearing the Master of the Academy's description, they already knew how powerful, terrifying, and utterly hopeless the enemy they faced was.
Incredibly powerful, and impossible to kill.
How could anyone fight such an enemy? How could anyone kill them?
The Master of the Academy looked hesitant as well, bewilderment clouding his eyes.
In the past, many prodigies had asked him about the existence of Heitian and Heitu. Without exception, every single one who heard his explanation had fallen into dim despair.
Not one had ever worn a fanatical expression like Qi Yuan's.
It was as if he didn't belong to the Divine Wood Universe at all, but rather hailed from Heitian and Heitu.
"What a peerless, top-grade white moonlight!" Qi Yuan almost salivated.
That expression baffled even the ever-calm Master of the Academy.
Yet in the very next instant, the Master of the Academy's expression shifted slightly.
"The guishen... have arrived."
He was in no rush, feeling only pity, seemingly hinting for Qi Yuan to flee at once.
"Guishen?" Qi Yuan narrowed his eyes. "What guishen? That's my sweet, lovable white moonlight!"
Qi Yuan rose from his lounge chair and looked up toward the vault of heaven.
In that single breath, heaven and earth plummeted into dimness.
A colossal shadow blotted out the light across the boundless earth.
Within Yunxue City, countless commoners reflexively raised their heads to the sky.
Catching sight of those gargantuan behemoths, many froze in place, collapsing limp to the ground.
Others kowtowed ceaselessly, snot and tears streaming down their faces.
"The guishen have descended!"
"I knew it! Couldn't those bastards just live peacefully? Why did they have to rebel and invite the guishen's wrath?!"
"We're doomed!"
High above the heavens, ninety-nine guishen gathered.
The smaller ones were perhaps merely several hundred zhang tall, while the larger ones spanned tens of li across.
As the guishen descended, blotting out the sky and sun, they carried an aura akin to a hundred thousand heavenly troops and generals arriving in force.
However, calling them heavenly troops was actually giving them too much credit.
No one knew—not even Yuan, the foremost mighty expert of the Divine Wood Universe—that in the deepest core region of Heitian, a Yang God... was only fit to serve as an ordinary heavenly soldier.
Qi Yuan scanned the guishen, his gaze landing upon the familiar Dark Pupil Guishen. "You're actually still alive!"
Dark Pupil felt a pang of trepidation seeing Qi Yuan, but remembering the vast array of guishen behind him, he brimmed with confidence.
"Insolent mortal, how could you comprehend Lord Qi Huang's greatness? Even if you killed me, with Lord Qi Huang present, I can be revived at any time!" Dark Pupil Guishen declared haughtily.
The other guishen also eyed Qi Yuan with ill intent.
As for the Master of the Academy...
In their eyes, the Master of the Academy seemed not to exist at all.
Hearing this, Qi Yuan's delight grew even stronger.
These were walking experience packs.
He couldn't scare them away.
His thoughts spun rapidly as he pondered a plan to lure all these guishen down.
Yet despite running through countless schemes, he found no viable trick.
Even if his acting skills were top-notch, always giving them the illusion that just a little more effort could kill him, his foes weren't afflicted by an IQ-lowering aura; after dying a few times, they would surely flee.
"To think you wouldn't run upon seeing us. It seems that even as a withered mythological figure, you remain quite confident," said Qi Huang, his body completely covered in white beard-like fibers, speaking with his usual poise.
"Why should I run?" Qi Yuan replied casually.
Inside, he was happier than words could say.
In particular, his left eyebrow was twitching frantically!
It twitched so fast that it almost seemed still.
Qi Yuan knew this meant great fortune and enormous wealth were incoming.
"Indeed. With mythological strength and the Mandate favoring you, you possess the standing and backbone to remain fearless," Qi Huang remarked calmly.
It was true; if this had been another world in the fallen territories, a gathering of guishen might genuinely have failed to bring Qi Yuan down.
"Unfortunately... you crossed paths with me!"
A sharp glint flashed across Qi Huang's eyes.
Qi Yuan suddenly felt an overwhelming pull tugging at him.
This tremendous force was exceptionally powerful.
His left eyebrow twitched violently once more.
Without the slightest hesitation, Qi Yuan cried out, "What is this?! Don't drag me in!"
Despite his shouts, Qi Yuan put up no resistance at all, actively burrowing into that treasure instead.
Seeing this, Kaichi Guishen flattered, "As expected of a guishen hailing from Heitian and Heitu! Lord Qi Huang produces a casual treasure, and even a mythological expert is sealed inside in the blink of an eye!"
The other guishen chimed in one after another, "Even a mythological figure is utterly powerless before it!"
Qi Huang was walking on air.
The treasure's effect was even better than he had anticipated.
"Very well. Let us step into the treasure; we wouldn't want to keep that human waiting too long."
With that, the nearly hundred guishen present stepped into the treasure together.
Inside, Qi Yuan stood quietly.
The treasure's interior was vast and ethereal, resembling an empty void, with occasional drifting meteorites or remnants of shattered stars.
When Qi Huang and the other ninety-eight guishen entered, Qi Yuan put on a wary, fearful look.
"There's no way out of here?"
His voice trembled, laced with a faint tremor of dread.
Before Qi Huang could speak, Kaichi Guishen declared, "This treasure was gifted by Lord Qi Huang's uncle. Once inside, even a Yang God cannot escape!"
Qi Huang nodded in satisfaction, adding, "Even one in the first tier of the Yang God realm cannot leave."
He seemed disgruntled that Kaichi had understated the treasure's caliber.
"That powerful? Doesn't that mean... we're all trapped here?" Qi Yuan looked thoroughly frightened.
In truth, he was fishing for information.
"Hmph, this treasure possesses its own spirituality... So long as you perish, or we are entirely wiped out, either party may naturally depart." Qi Huang did not mind humoring a dead man with a few extra words.
His behavior was akin to minion waves crashing into the enemy nexus: the jungler, refusing to hit the tower, taunted before the enemy fountain while waiting for opponents to respawn, even flashing an invulnerability item to style on the fountain's attacks.
"If I don't die, you can't get out?" Qi Yuan's eyes widened, looking remarkably... terrified and anxious.
His nose hadn't lengthened, which meant the other party wasn't lying.
"Hmph, now you know fear?" Dark Pupil Guishen mocked.
"Look at him! Unfit to be called a mythological expert, trembling like that—worse than a mere mortal!"
"He is a mythological figure after all; do not underestimate him!"
"Indeed, Lord Qi Huang has boundless guiling source, but it should not be squandered!"
"It matters not. Wasting a little is nothing. I have plenty of guiling source... and plenty of uncles," Qi Huang stated with brimming confidence.
Having obtained this information, Qi Yuan suddenly threw his head back and roared with laughter: "Hahahahahaha..."
His outburst startled the guishen.
"Has he lost his mind from fright?"
"He's gone mad!"
Qi Yuan fixed his gaze on Qi Huang, his eyes burning with fanaticism. "Your name is Qi Huang, right? Once you're dead, I'll erect a grave for you in the Netherworld!"
Toward his white moonlight, Qi Yuan was always deeply affectionate.
To ensure their inheritance wouldn't be snatched away by others, he would personally look after everything his white moonlight left behind.
As for Qi Huang, he would thoughtfully set up a grave to commemorate him.
Even though Qi Huang didn't reek of old age, the twitching in Qi Yuan's eyebrow was even more intense than when he had refined the Human Sovereign Banner.
"Court death!" Qi Huang snapped in fury.
The dozens of other guishen shouted angrily as well, "At this point, you can only wag your tongue!"
Facing the impending assault of the deities, Qi Yuan looked completely relaxed and at ease. "Just to have some proper fun with all of you, I've decided... to temporarily halt my mortal transformation!"
Qi Yuan decided to put transforming into a mortal on hold.
This kind of decision was like spotting a gorgeous woman on Douyin and commenting: *For you, I am willing to accept a luxury villa and supercar for free.*
"Seek death!" Qi Huang raged.
Without hesitation, the ninety-eight guishen charged Qi Yuan in unison.
Share the Same Robe!
Dying Radiance!
Tyrannical Strength!
Absolute Adaptation!
In this instant, Qi Yuan's combat prowess peaked.
In the past, he had slain Fengti with a single sword strike, integrating the embryonic universe rules.
Now operating at full throttle, in pure combat power, he was even stronger than his mortal-transforming self.
*Rip!*
With just a single sword strike, Kaichi—who ranked among their top three in combat strength and charged at the very forefront—was cut down on the spot.
Kaichi was a Great Venerable of the Six Steps of Sky Treading!
Slain in one stroke?
The remaining guishen froze, hesitating.
Qi Huang narrowed his eyes. "To think... you truly possess... the combat power of a full-fledged mythological expert."
This far surpassed a withered mythological figure.
In fact, without guiling source, all of them attacking together might not even be a match for him.
"As expected of a Mandate bearer favored by destiny. Had it been any other guishen, you might truly have turned the tables against the heavens. What a pity you ran into me!"
Qi Huang was bursting with confidence.
"Even if Uncle Luankong came today, he would still be doomed, let alone you!"
Uncle Luankong was the very guishen who had defeated the mortal-transforming Qi Yuan a thousand years ago.
"Everyone, do not fear! Simply self-destruct! End this swiftly and give this mortal a taste of... shock and awe from Heitian!"
Qi Huang had more wealth than sense.
His guiling source was limitless; he harbored not the slightest fear of attrition.
Seeing this, the other guishen hesitated no longer.
"Human, behold the gap between us!"
"Despair!"
"Tremble!"
In an instant, ninety-seven brilliant blooms of pyrotechnics erupted.
Such a concussive force, if unleashed in the outside world, would tear heaven and earth apart.
In the Canglan Realm, it could blast an entire continent into the depths.
All the attacks slammed squarely onto Qi Yuan.
It sounded like a barrage of firecrackers—*crack-crack-boom!*
"Ouch!"
"It hurts so much!"
"Wah wah wah, I'm dying!"
Qi Yuan shrieked wildly, pushing his acting skills to their absolute limit.
As for injuries?
He had none at all.
Absolute Adaptation paired with the embryonic rules condensed from Dying Radiance rendered him completely immune to any force weaker than his own.
These attacks couldn't even tickle him.
Yet he had to wail at the top of his lungs.
His experience bar was surging madly.
After all, he had tested it before: monsters provoked to death by his taunts still granted him experience.
These self-detonations naturally drove his bar through the roof.
His experience skyrocketed, and within just a few breaths, he gained a whole level.
One had to realize that beyond level 170, the experience required for every single level was astronomical.
"You're still alive..." Qi Huang froze. "Is this the peak of a mythological expert?"
The guishen who had self-destructed revived one by one, staring at Qi Yuan in utter disbelief.
Seeing Qi Yuan's breath hanging by a thread, he was clearly grievously wounded.
"No matter. We are all in prime condition; the advantage is ours!" Qi Huang proclaimed smugly.
At this moment, Kaichi stepped forward. "Lord Qi Huang, allow me to slay him!"
Having been cut down with a single stroke earlier, he felt deeply humiliated.
"He is a Mandate bearer. Even if he has only a single breath left, you are no match for him if you engage him directly," Qi Huang said generously. "I'm on a tight schedule. Continue self-destructing!"
The other guishen hesitated no further.
They detonated themselves once more.
"Aaargh!"
"The pain is killing me!"
"Mommy!"
Qi Yuan wailed again, his aura reduced to the faintest wisp.
When the revived guishen looked at Qi Yuan once more, a chill crept into their hearts.
Still not dead with only one drop of blood left?
Did he have his health locked or something?
Qi Huang narrowed his eyes. "Is this a Mandate bearer? Detonate again! If twice isn't enough, three times, five times, ten times will surely do it!"
His guiling source was sufficient to revive Realm Lord-level guishen countless times.
"Even a Mandate bearer must grovel before me!" Qi Huang declared, utterly confident and domineering.
...
Yunxue City.
The Master of the Academy gazed toward where the guishen and Qi Yuan had vanished, his expression conflicted.
Zhao Yan gritted his teeth. Too much had occurred today, each event shattering his comprehension.
"Mister Qi... should not perish here," the Master of the Academy sighed softly.
He made a decision.
As a bronze mirror materialized, a profound, wondrous aura rippled outward.
Reflected within the mirror was a battered, dilapidated warship.
Dried blood stained its war banners, and bowl-sized holes gaped pitch-black and bottomless.
Upon the warship rested various divine artifacts and ancestral divine artifacts.
A closer inspection revealed motley scars covering every inch of the hull.
It looked like a relic salvaged from an ancient battlefield.
The scene shifted, reflecting a towering, majestic man inside the bronze mirror.
In tattered robes and fractured armor, his long hair draped loosely over his shoulders, blood dripping from his shoulder.
"Yuan... I need your help."
The figure within the mirror was none other than the foremost expert of the Divine Wood Universe, Yuan.
A supreme mighty expert at the second tier of the Yang God realm, the pinnacle of the realm of Great Ultimate Reason.
"What is it?" Yuan spoke, his voice weathered and ancient, yet beneath the antiquity seemed to burn an eternal, blazing sun.
"In the Kuijin Realm, I have found a Mandate bearer. His aptitude... is extraordinary.
"He is currently only a single step away from becoming an Ancestral God. If he breaks through after destruction, I fear... he may one day reach your heights," the Master of the Academy said.
A bitter smile touched Yuan's handsome face. "Is he in great danger?"
"Yes," the Master of the Academy replied.
"Within ten years, two Ancestral Gods will journey to the Kuijin Realm to escort him to the Tai Star Domain."
The image inside the bronze mirror faded away.
The Master of the Academy breathed a sigh of relief. "Let us hope he can endure for ten years. After ten years, anything is still possible."
The Master of the Academy turned to Hongmei, his eyes tinged with sorrow. "Come, it is time for us to leave... the Kuijin Realm."
Hongmei froze, looking back at Zhao Yan with reluctance. "Teacher, I..."
The Master of the Academy shook his head. "He is not like you. He belongs to the Kuijin Realm. Let us go."
...
Time flowed on, and in the blink of an eye, three years passed.
The situation in the Kuijin Realm had grown rather bizarre.
The guishen had vanished without a trace, and the rebel forces had advanced triumphantly, seizing numerous cities.
Great battles raged everywhere.
Compared to the other cities, Yunxue City remained remarkably peaceful.
Chen Kangbao stuffed a steamed bun into his mouth, chewing vigorously. "No need to worry! Young Master is a Heavenly God descended to earth; even if the world is wiped out, he'll still be standing!"
Beside him, Shen Lingxuan's cool, aloof face carried a hint of hesitation.
Meanwhile, outside the Kuijin Realm, a man clad in blue robes appeared, his face radiating intense fighting spirit.
"Well played, Qi Yuan! To evade my challenge, you actually hid yourself all the way out in the Kuijin Realm.
"Unfortunately for you, I've tracked you down at last!
"Soon, you will learn who is the true number-one powerhouse among the Five Steps of Sky Treading!"
Chapter 551