Head-on Clash! Thousand-Zhang Saint Body Battles a Deity King!

"A deity king!" Lu Changsheng stared at the colossal palm looming in the void. A single hand blotted out the sun and sealed space, seeming to occupy the entirety of the firmament. A terrifying divine might swept forth in a vast, overwhelming tide. This was a deity king. Suffocatingly powerful. Towering far above Martial Saints, it was a fearsome entity rivaling an Earth Saint. Of course, a deity king was ultimately also an embodiment of rules. It was simply that the rules a deity king represented were extraordinarily potent! The stronger the rule, the greater the deity's power. Innate deities were in fact organized into distinct divine lineages. A single deity king represented a powerful rule. And such a rule had to branch into countless finer rules to mend, supplement, and bring the grand rule to total perfection. Take the rule of the void, for instance. How many rules lay beneath the void rule? Countless. The rule of the void belonged not to a deity king, but to a deity lord. High and mighty, a deity lord cast out countless subsidiary rules below to flesh out and perfect the void rule. From those emerged numerous deity kings and true deities. Under the aegis of the deity lord, they formed an entire divine lineage, ruling over all living beings in the mortal world. In the ancient past, the world had been governed by deities in just this way. After they were driven into the Divine Domain, the innate deities maintained their rule over it through the exact same structure. The deity king before him was almost certainly the deity king overseeing Fushan True Deity, the ruler of that divine lineage. Thus, with Fushan True Deity dead, this deity king had naturally come to avenge him. Lu Changsheng had never seen a deity king before. This was his first time. In fact, he could not even make out the deity king's true form; the colossal palm blotting out the sky was already enough to demonstrate the entity's horrifying power. When a deity king descended, all lesser gods stepped aside! "My divine ability... is being suppressed!" Lu Changsheng distinctly felt a suppressive weight settle over his divine abilities. The foundation of a divine ability was, after all, a law. Not all of his divine abilities were suppressed, but a portion of them certainly were—specifically, a part of his Five Elements Decomposition divine ability. It seemed the Five Elements Laws were experiencing suppression. Yet it was only partial, doing little to hinder him. Even so, this indirectly revealed that the deity king before him was likely associated with the Five Elements, perhaps a deity king belonging to a Five Elements divine lineage. While the deity king could suppress his divine ability, Lu Changsheng's Five Elements Decomposition could just as well suppress the deity king. "Since there is no retreat, then we fight!" Ever since Lu Changsheng forged his saint body, he had never truly gone all out. No matter whom he faced, the moment he unveiled his saint body, its momentum alone overwhelmed the opposition. Strike with full strength? There had never been any need. At most, he had used twenty or thirty percent of his power, and often ten or twenty percent was more than enough. Now, however, he faced a deity king. He had nowhere to run. Yet deep within his heart, there was no fear—only rising exhilaration. A deity king was something he genuinely wanted to experience. He wanted to see just what heights his hundreds-fold amplified divine abilities and saint body could reach! *Boom!* Lu Changsheng's Chaos Saint Body materialized in an instant. In that breath, the saint body was far more than a hundred zhang tall. It expanded rapidly, swelling to one hundred zhang, three hundred, five hundred, eight hundred... It grew to several hundred zhang, stretching close to a full thousand zhang. Such a monstrous saint body was utterly unheard of. An ordinary Martial Saint possessed a saint body merely several dozen zhang tall, yet Lu Changsheng's spanned hundreds of zhang, bordering on a thousand. While physical size was not an absolute measure of prowess, a saint body of such immense scale could never be weak. *What is Daoist Lu doing?* *Don't tell me he plans to clash head-on with a deity king?* *A Martial Saint, going toe-to-toe with a deity king?!* Seeing Lu Changsheng manifest a thousand-zhang saint body with soaring battle intent, how could Yang Mao fail to grasp his intention? He was preparing to meet the deity king head-on! Yet a Human Saint taking on a deity king was completely unprecedented—the equivalent of a Human Saint battling an Earth Saint. The gulf between the two realms was like heaven and earth; they could not even be mentioned in the same breath. No matter how mad the struggle, it would be useless. Lu Changsheng was dead! At the same time, Yang Mao felt his own heart turn to ash. At least Lu Changsheng had the courage to resist and strike back. But what about himself? He was merely waiting for death. Lu Changsheng's thousand-zhang saint body threw a punch straight forward. With this punch, the void trembled. With this punch, divine abilities surged with hundreds-fold amplification. With this punch, three boundless divine abilities converged. Lu Changsheng had never delivered such an unreserved, exhilarating strike in his entire life. He needed to consider nothing at all; he wished only to unleash every shred of his strength. As he threw the punch, Lu Changsheng felt as though an immense weight had lifted from his entire being. The momentum of all living beings attached to the ten sacred grounds around his saint body was continuously refined in that moment, ceaselessly augmenting the saint body's formidable might. *Crack!* Lu Changsheng felt as though an immense shackle bound the void, restricting everything within it. Yet as his punch drove forward, fine fissures spiderwebbed across the surrounding space. They were only fissures, but they were there. "The void is cracking... Is this... the strike of an Earth Saint?" Seeing this, Yang Mao's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. What was he looking at? He was actually watching the void crack! A cracked void was a distinctive hallmark, a signature sign. Only power at the level of an Earth Saint could shatter space in such a manner. Yet Lu Changsheng was clearly nothing more than a Human Saint—how could he fracture the void? How could he unleash an Earth Saint-level strike? Yang Mao had no idea, nor could he fathom what was happening. He could only stare dumbfounded as Lu Changsheng's towering, thousand-zhang saint body drove its fist forward, colliding violently against the colossal, sky-blotting hand hurled down by the deity king. *Rumble!* The world shook. This was a genuine tremor of heaven and earth. Across several hundred li, it felt as though the sky were collapsing and the ground caving in, like the arrival of the apocalypse. Countless living beings threw themselves prostrate upon the earth, trembling in utter terror. The void where the fist and palm met shattered with an almighty crash. It was not merely cracked now; as the two forces collided, space itself ruptured, leaving behind a massive black void. Of course, the rift vanished in an instant, and the fabric of space rapidly stitched itself whole again. Earth Saint-level power could only rupture the void; blowing it apart entirely was still a distant impossibility. Let alone an Earth Saint, not even a Heavenly Saint could truly obliterate the void. Even so, the collision was world-shaking and utterly unbelievable. Lu Changsheng's saint body took a colossal impact, yet he held his ground. Not only did he withstand it, but the deity king's massive palm was directly shattered. The colossal hand that had blotted out the sky vanished without a trace. A deity king's strike had been broken head-on by Lu Changsheng! "Impossible!" "The seals around the Divine Domain's periphery remain intact—an Earth Saint cannot possibly set foot inside. How could you unleash an Earth Saint strike?" A divine figure emerged within the void, so vast that its divine form seemed to enshroud the entire sky. A terrifying pressure weighed heavily upon Lu Changsheng and Yang Mao. A deity king! A genuine, authentic deity king! Yet this deity king was filled with astonishment. He had never imagined that against a mere Martial Saint, he would fail to take his target down. Worse still, his opponent had unleashed power on par with a deity king. This was utterly preposterous, something unheard of: a mortal Martial Saint unleashing a deity king's strike! "Nothing is impossible," Lu Changsheng's saint body spoke, his voice echoing across the void like rolling thunder. "Judging by your aura, you must be Chongshan Deity King. Does Fushan True Deity serve beneath you?" "Indeed. This king is Chongshan Deity King," the entity replied. "Which Martial Saint are you? One capable of unleashing a deity king's strike could never be an unknown. Even during the Ancient Divine War, a Martial Saint like you would have been far from ordinary." The Ancient Divine War was the great conflict waged between the deities and the alliance of martial artists and immortal cultivators. That battle had been fought until the skies darkened and the sun and moon lost their luster. The heavens wept, the earth trembled, the entire world was nearly torn to pieces, and countless living beings were wiped out. In the end, however, the deities were defeated—a crushing, total defeat. They were driven together into the Divine Domain by the combined might of martial artists and immortal cultivators. Had deities not been embodiments of rules that could never be truly destroyed, none of them would even exist today. "The Saint Alliance, Lu Changsheng!" he answered calmly. The Saint Alliance was no secret. The deities had long known of its existence, though they could never eradicate it. "Lu Changsheng..." "This king has memorized your aura." "I shall report this to the deity lord. From now on, wherever your aura appears, the deity lord may strike you down across the void." "The Divine Domain has no need for a Martial Saint capable of a deity king's strike!" "The Divine Domain does not permit such a Martial Saint to exist!" Chongshan Deity King's words caused Lu Changsheng's lips to part, though in the end, he said nothing. Had he made the deities of the Divine Domain feel genuinely threatened? Or had they simply been driven into a rage born of humiliation, to the point where even a deity lord would personally intervene? "Let's go!" Lu Changsheng could not be bothered to say another word. Lingering in a standoff with Chongshan Deity King was hardly wise. If he delayed any longer, the other two deity kings would arrive, and a deity lord might even strike across the void. No matter how confident Lu Changsheng was, he did not believe he could withstand a strike from a deity lord. He immediately took Yang Mao and fled into the distance. Chongshan Deity King made no move to stop them. He knew full well that he could not keep Lu Changsheng here. Moreover, with the spatial lock shattered by Lu Changsheng, the two could use a Shift Talisman at any moment to warp away. Gazing at Lu Changsheng's receding back, Chongshan Deity King murmured under his breath, "A Martial Saint capable of matching a deity king... The Divine Domain is about to churn with turmoil once more." "I hope Their Majesties make a swift decision. Otherwise, this brat will bring disaster upon the entire Divine Domain sooner or later..." With that thought, Chongshan Deity King's colossal divine form swiftly vanished into nothingness. *** "We made it back." Returning to the Saint Alliance branch, Lu Changsheng and Yang Mao could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Yang Mao in particular had spent the entire journey on edge, terrified of another ambush by a deity king. "We obtained two large deity fragments this time. Daoist Yang, as agreed, one of them belongs to you." Back within the branch, Lu Changsheng wasted no words and immediately handed one of the large deity fragments to Yang Mao. Yang Mao was overcome with excitement. A deity fragment! He had finally obtained one! This was the very first deity fragment he had acquired in over a decade within the Divine Domain. With the fragment in hand, the efforts of those dozen-odd years had not been in vain. "Daoist Lu, I plan to leave the Divine Domain. With this deity fragment, if I comprehend it in seclusion, I may be able to grasp a rule, glimpse the heaven-and-earth origin, and use it to elevate my saint body to an Earth Saint." "You should leave the Divine Domain as soon as possible as well. You have already drawn the attention of a deity king, and it is highly likely a deity lord will be watching for you too. Remaining here would be perilous. Since you already possess a deity fragment, you can focus on comprehending rules in peace." Yang Mao urged Lu Changsheng to depart, hoping he would no longer take risks in the Divine Domain. His advice was entirely reasonable, reflecting the standard approach of any normal Martial Saint. Once they secured a deity fragment, Martial Saints typically left the Divine Domain to use the fragment for rule comprehension. Lu Changsheng, however, was different. He already had deity fragments before this. In fact, he had already comprehended one rule and could draw upon the heaven-and-earth origin whenever he wished. Yet Lu Changsheng had loftier ambitions; he had no intention of stopping at a single rule. Furthermore, he had made promises to ten sacred grounds, meaning he needed at least ten large deity fragments. With only four in hand, he was still far short. Naturally, Lu Changsheng kept these thoughts to himself. In the end, Yang Mao departed, leaving the Divine Domain. Lu Changsheng chose to stay at the Saint Alliance branch. He was in no rush to seek out another deity right away. Just as Yang Mao had said, his name had likely already been reported by Chongshan Deity King to a deity lord. Being marked by a deity lord was troublesome indeed, so he needed to lay low and keep things steady for a time. In any case, he had acquired fresh deity fragments. Beyond the large one, there were over a dozen smaller pieces. With his comprehension, they were more than enough for him to grasp a second rule. Thus, Lu Changsheng secluded himself within a private chamber in the Saint Alliance branch, using the tiny deity fragments to concentrate on comprehending rules. Inside the chamber, he began refining the fragments. One, two, three... Refining deity fragments was already second nature to him. By the time he refined over a dozen small fragments, he finally comprehended a second rule and caught sight of the heaven-and-earth origin. Now, with a mere thought, he could summon a second heaven-and-earth origin. But Lu Changsheng held back. He intended to prepare far more thoroughly; merely two origins were not enough. *Swish.* Lu Changsheng opened his eyes. Refining those dozen-odd deity fragments had taken roughly ten days. "Some time has passed. The Divine Domain is vast; even a deity lord cannot guard against me every single moment." "As long as I move fast enough, nothing will go wrong." "The most crucial thing is clues regarding deities. With a lead, I can kill a true deity instantly and claim the fragments." "A few more hunts, and I will have enough..." Lu Changsheng's confidence had surged. Previously, he only knew he was exceptionally strong, likely unrivaled among Human Saints. But how he measured up against an Earth Saint or a deity king had remained uncertain, leaving him without a clear gauge. Now, he had solid footing. His clash with Chongshan Deity King had essentially confirmed his capabilities: he possessed genuine deity king-level combat strength. The only limitation was that he could not easily dispatch a deity king either. Therefore, so long as he avoided being besieged by multiple deity kings, he could practically run rampant across the Divine Domain. As for deity lords? Deity lords rarely showed themselves and were extraordinarily few in number. They were the supreme rulers of entire divine lineages, standing so high above that they would hardly pay close heed to a mere Martial Saint. As long as he did not act too recklessly, he could rest easy. "I don't need much. Slaying a few more true deities will give me enough fragments." "So, going forward, I can afford to be bolder—as long as I can obtain the exact location of a deity." Lu Changsheng made up his mind. He decided to make a splash. Martial Saints in the Divine Domain typically kept a low profile, but he now needed to be high-profile. Playing modest served no purpose; if he hid his strength, who would give him leads on deities? Lu Changsheng rose and left the cultivation chamber, heading straight for the Saint Alliance square. Out in the plaza, many Martial Saints were still trying to form hunting teams. Leads on deities could be considered both rare and plentiful: solitary intelligence was scarce, but groups assembling to hunt deities were abundant. Since they were gathering teams, how could they lack specific leads on their quarry? "Still need one top-tier Human Saint to complete our team for hunting Blood River True Deity!" a top-tier Human Saint was calling out, putting great effort into recruiting members. Yet many surrounding Martial Saints shook their heads. The reason was simple: Blood River True Deity was terrifyingly strong! This was not the first time Martial Saints had banded together to surround and slay Blood River True Deity. Teams had attempted it at least three times, and every single attempt had ended in failure. Lingering fears kept most Martial Saints from daring to try again. Lu Changsheng, however, had no such qualms. So long as it was a true deity, no matter how powerful it was, could it possibly rival a deity king? If it were truly that strong, it would be a deity king, not a true deity. With brisk strides, Lu Changsheng walked toward the recruiting Martial Saint. "You are forming a team to hunt Blood River True Deity?" Lu Changsheng asked. The Martial Saint's eyes lit up upon seeing him, and he promptly replied, "That's right. We need five people in total. We already have four Martial Saints, so we're just short of one. However, we require a top-tier Martial Saint..." Lu Changsheng did not answer that point directly, asking instead, "Since you plan to hunt Blood River True Deity, do you know his precise location?" "We don't know the exact spot, but we have a general area pinned down. Once we set out, we will definitely be able to track him down." Lu Changsheng nodded. A general area was sufficient; tracking him down would not take long. "Very well, I agree to team up," Lu Changsheng said. "However, the team will consist only of you and me. The others can be removed." The recruiting Martial Saint froze, his eyes widening in utter disbelief. "What did you say? Remove the other Martial Saints, leaving only the two of us?" The stranger stared in shock. He had seen arrogant Martial Saints before, but this was the first time someone had demanded that other Martial Saints be barred from joining, let alone that already-recruited members be kicked out. "Hmph, how arrogant!" "You want to kick us out? That depends on whether you have the strength to hunt a true deity!" "Probably a greenhorn Martial Saint, isn't he? Doesn't even know what a true deity is capable of, yet dreams of hoarding all the spoils? With just the two of you, meeting a true deity means certain death!" "In all my years in the Divine Domain, I've never seen a Martial Saint so brazenly conceit-ridden." Hearing that Lu Changsheng wanted to clear them out, the other Martial Saints sneered one after another. Even the recruiting Martial Saint began to wonder if the man before him was simply full of hot air. A team of just two—was that even feasible? If they set out to hunt a true deity only to end up hunted themselves, they would become the laughingstock of the Divine Domain. "Daoist Lu, you see..." The recruiting Martial Saint still lacked confidence in him. Unwilling to waste breath, Lu Changsheng cut straight to the point: "To the arena. The three of you can come at me together." Let actions do the talking! "The three of us together?" The sneers vanished from their faces. The three Martial Saints were happy to mock Lu Changsheng for not knowing the heights of heaven, laughing with unrestrained scorn. Yet when Lu Changsheng told them to step onto the arena together, they hesitated. Could someone speak like that without something to back it up? "Hmph, what is there to fear? The three of us together stand a chance of slaying a true deity—why should we fear some nobody who popped out of nowhere?" "Indeed. Since you wish to lose face and humiliate yourself, we shall grant your wish." "Daoist Luo, you can serve as witness." The one recruiting the group was, in fact, Martial Saint Luo. He had already gathered three others, and with Lu Changsheng, that would have made five—a full team capable of hunting Blood River True Deity. Yet now, things had taken an unexpected turn. Lu Changsheng insisted on only the two of them going, carrying himself with absolute confidence. For a moment, Martial Saint Luo had been torn. Seeing both sides agree to take it to the arena, his spirits lifted. This was the ideal solution, offering a clear, direct demonstration of everyone's true strength. "Very well. I hope that once you step onto the stage, this remains a friendly spar. By all means, do not let it harm our harmony." With that, the group of five headed straight for the arena. Before long, Lu Changsheng and the three Martial Saints stepped onto the platform, facing off against one another. The spectacle instantly drew the attention of numerous Martial Saints. Arena bouts were almost exclusively one-on-one; a three-on-one contest—a single Martial Saint taking on three peers—was exceptionally rare. "That Martial Saint looks familiar..." "Isn't that Lu Changsheng, the one who sparred with Martial Saint Yang Mao on the arena not long ago?" "Right, that looks like him! Back then, he defeated Yang Mao in a single move, forcing Yang Mao to concede on the spot. His strength seemed formidable." "Why is he back on the arena? And against three Martial Saints all at once?" Many onlookers still remembered Lu Changsheng. The Saint Alliance branch housed only so many people, and Martial Saints were hardly common cabbages; one did not simply see one and forget him a moment later. Moreover, Lu Changsheng's overwhelming display against Yang Mao had left a deep impression, allowing them to recognize him at a glance. Martial Saint Luo was taken aback. He did not know Lu Changsheng personally, but judging by the chatter, Lu Changsheng was remarkably powerful—strong enough to best Yang Mao. Martial Saint Luo was acquainted with Yang Mao, though Yang Mao had vanished recently, seemingly having obtained a deity fragment and left the Divine Domain. Regardless of the discussions below the stage, the three Martial Saints on the arena remained unaffected. They were exalted Martial Saints who had weathered countless battles, having clawed their way up through life-and-death struggles; their combat experience was extraordinarily rich. Before a fight, taunts and disdain were harmless. Once hands were raised, however, they held nothing back. Even a lion used its full strength to catch a rabbit, to say nothing of facing another Martial Saint. Thus, the three committed their full power from the very outset, reserving nothing. *Boom! Boom! Boom!* The three Martial Saints unleashed their saint bodies simultaneously. Saint bodies standing dozens of zhang tall radiated terrifying auras. One of them had even reached roughly fifty zhang—a truly formidable sight, given that ordinary saint bodies measured only twenty to thirty zhang. Acting in concert, the three saint bodies locked down the void and hurled their combined might toward Lu Changsheng with astounding force. Yet Lu Changsheng showed not the slightest trace of fear. He stood entirely at ease, his expression placid as still water. *Buzz!* In the next instant, a saint body materialized abruptly above Lu Changsheng's head. The moment it appeared, an uproar erupted from the crowd. A saint body a full hundred zhang tall stood astride the void. This was with Lu Changsheng holding back its true scale, refraining from going all out; had he unleashed everything, his saint body could border on a thousand zhang! Yet even at a hundred zhang, the suffocating aura rolling off it was overwhelming. A single glance laid bare the vast chasm between his saint body and the other three. Lu Changsheng's saint body brought a colossal palm crashing down toward the three Martial Saints. The strike swept forward in a vast, sky-blotting sweep, making it seem as though the entire world were encompassed within that single hand. Even joining forces, the three Martial Saints felt as though they were teetering on the brink of death. Sheer terror gripped them to an unbearable degree—they felt, with absolute certainty, that they were about to die! "How can this be?!" "With the three of us together, we can't even withstand his aura?!" "We can't stop this..." The three Martial Saints turned pale as paper, all their prior pride shattered in an instant. As the towering palm of Lu Changsheng's saint body bore down with overwhelming force, the attacks of the three saint bodies crumbled inch by inch under its sheer weight, ultimately disintegrating into nothingness. The three saint bodies were left completely exposed before the descending palm, their minds shuddering before its terrifying might. "We concede! We concede!" Without the slightest hesitation, the three Martial Saints yielded. If the strike continued, their saint bodies would likely shatter—a devastating loss they could not afford. This was merely a matter of bruised pride; there was no reason to throw their lives away. Besides, even if they fought to the death, they could never withstand it; the only ones dying would be themselves. Hearing their surrender, Lu Changsheng showed no surprise and promptly withdrew his saint body. Against his Chaos Saint Body, let alone three Martial Saints, even eight or ten working together would meet the exact same end. Yet seeing three Martial Saints unite only to fail against a single strike—and immediately throw in the towel—sent shockwaves through the crowd below. Countless Martial Saints stood wide-eyed and slack-jawed, unable to believe what they had witnessed. The scene had dealt an immense shock to every spectator present.