In the vast desert, fifteen shuttle ships threatened to destroy a huge, towering fortress.
"Make your move."
"Time to act."
The drivers of two of the fifteen shuttle ships received a secret transmission through a concealed device.
After acting like a sleeper agent for so long, they’re finally letting me act? a thin old man thought, a very sinister expression crossing his face. His name was Pei Shan, and he was not part of the six big Transcendent organizations; he had instead formed his own small group of which he was the head. For a long time, he had laid low so as to let the Xia Clan put their trust in him and others of similar background. At the very least, the Xia Clan placed more trust in them than those who joined the Bloodshed Tavern or the Temple of The Earth God.
Although I must betray the Xia Clan, there’s not a thing I can do about it. The Great Demonic God has promised to reconstruct my corporeal body. For me to keep on living, for the sake of an immortal life, the Xia Clan has to be annihilated. It must be wiped out. A cold glint flashed through Pei Shan’s eyes.
In another shuttle ship.
The Xia Clan… A glimpse of frustration was currently displayed on Yuan Qing’s young and inexperienced face. Brother Xue Ying, sister Jing Qiu, elder brother Eternal Wind, brother Pu Yang… Many familiar faces flashed through his mind. In his two hundred years, from birth and until now, he had spent the majority of his time in the human world, as one of the humans. As for Xue Ying and the others, he already considered them his own family, his own brothers and sisters.
"Forgive me!" Yuan Qing closed his eyes.
He had never managed to forget a scene from his youth.
"Mother! Mother, why won’t you move? Are you sleeping?"
"We have to leave. She’s already been killed by the humans." A male wolf quickly bit a wolf cub by the scruff of his neck and fled.
"Father…father!" A now medium-sized wolf watched as soldiers of the Xia Clan chased and eventually killed a male wolf.
"Aaaaaahhhh~" Yuan Qing screamed.
Hong!
One of the shuttles suddenly took a turn and fired another black millstone, but this time toward another shuttle. With a power no less than the peak of the Deity bombarding it, the nearby shuttle went off-track and collapsed into another shuttle. In total, two ships had fallen from a single attack.
"Pei Shan!"
"Yuan Qing!"
The Xia Clansmen inside the other thirteen ships all stared in utter shock.
In the distance, Xue Ying was still wielding Blood-Drinking Spear when his expression turned grim. He had long since guessed that there would be another traitor, but under no circumstances did he consider one to be Yuan Qing! Despite not having many Transcendent friends, he really did care for this timid young transcendent as he would for his own younger brother.
"How could it have been him?" Xue Ying simply couldn’t believe it.
"Pei Shan, you have betrayed the Xia Clan! How…how could you?!" Chao Qing’s angry voice reverberated throughout the air.
"Big brother Chao Qing, you may have had good enough luck to become Deity, but what about me? Haha…you know, I’m already nearing the end of lifespan. When my time comes, how could I be worried with the Xia Clan’s survival?" Pei Shan arrogantly shouted, not a trace of regret in his voice.
Chi Qiu Bai stepped in, riddled with grief and indignation. "Do you live for the sake of living? Did you forget how you grew from an insignificant mortal until you became what you are today? Do you think that, without Xia Clan, you would now exist as you are? Are you really willing to sacrifice your clan just to be reincarnated in the Dark Abyss?"
"Chi Qiu Bai, I’m not some talented Transcendent like you are. I don’t hold a candle to your prospects," Pei Shan coldly replied.
From the very start, Yuan Qing didn’t interject to say anything.
"Mn?"
"What’s going on?"
Yuan Qing and Pei Shan were startled to find that they could no longer operate their shuttles.
The two of them received a transmission. "Don’t worry, these shuttles just have some countermeasures in place. Traitors will immediately lose control over the shuttles. Without a driver, though, a shuttle will not be able to continue fighting since they will no longer have access to Deity Crystals for energy."
Hua! hua!
The surrounding blurred, and a gold-robed figure walked out with his two hands extended. He seemed to be covering the whole sky. With a single palm, he captured the two shuttles. A ship powered by Deity crystal operating under normal circumstances would not be so easily captured by the Sorcerer God with his Demigod power. But since these two couldn’t be operated by the two traitors and were therefore unpowered, the Sorcerer God could easily take them.
Sou!
At his normal seemingly slow speed, the gold-robed Sorcerer God flew back to a part of the fortress. As he crossed that distance, the space around him distorted and blurred.
"Sorcerer God, go to hell!" Xue Ying became furious. He turned into a stream of particles and simultaneously hacked his Blood-Drinking Spear outward. It traveled over thousands of kilometers and brought along unmeasurable might as it fiercely hacked one of six exterior parts of the fortress, emitting a loud sound in the process. Upon contact, one of the castle’s arrays activated. A hexagonal shape separated from the main fort to protect it.
The two shuttles laid on the ground inside the secondary fort.
"Don’t worry. They may have left countermeasures inside the ships, but I can easily break them." While his voice resounded, the Sorcerer God had already entered Yuan Qing’s shuttle. With the Deity Crystals no longer powering it, its defenses had no way of hindering him from entering.
Hua—
The two shuttle doors suddenly opened.
"What?" The Sorcerer God was surprised.
Yuan Qing should have had no way to control the ship, and he himself had yet to make any move; how was it that the shuttle had suddenly opened its doors?
"Not good." Regardless of the consequences, the Sorcerer God immediately caught Yuan Qing.
Peng!!!
A terrible explosion erupted from inside the shuttle, its power far surpassing any ordinary peak Deity attack. Strictly speaking, it was actually at the level of a supreme Deity.
What kind of power could a supreme Deity unleash?
According to the divisions of the cultivation realms, the Deity realm was separated into an initial stage, a middle stage, a late stage, and a peak stage. But if someone were to practice a powerful secret technique, create a formidable secret skill, or use some World Deity equipment, their power would surpass any ordinary peak stage Deity, and they would be known as supreme Deities.
"Damn it!" Still holding onto Yuan Qing, the Sorcerer God’s body become distorted. They might have been enveloped by the explosion, but it did not affect them in any way. After all, even Xue Ying himself had been hard pressed to land a hit on Sorcerer God, not to mention some simple God Thunderfire.
Indeed, the explosion had been caused by a previously set up God Thunderfire. Xue Ying had put a vial of it in each of the fifteen shuttles from the very beginning. Each portion was worth ten thousand Deity Crystals, and its explosive power was comparable to the power of a supreme Deity, even more powerful than what he could unleash. Unfortunately, such an explosion only harnessed raw power and had no Laws and Profound Mysteries incorporated, so the Sorcerer God could easily escape it.
"Argh….." Inside the other shuttle, Pei Shan let out a desperate cry before being burned into nothingness. The Great Demonic God was aware of it, but it was already late for him to save his soul. A power comparable to a supreme Deity’s was so terrifying, it could instantly extinguish everything in its path, even Pei Shan’s soul. It was entirely destroyed, with not a trace left behind.
Hong long long~ The Sorcerer God’s comprehension of the realms was high enough to leave him unscathed after the explosion, but the surrounding building was not as fortunate. Such a terrifying explosion caused all of the surrounding structures to begin crumbling.
While the frightening explosion occurred, Xue Ying was hovering outside the castle, watching it happen with a cold expression. He simply used his previous preparations in case of possible traitors to conveniently strike a blow at his enemy.
With the powerful protective arrays laid out on the outer wall, the fort was hard to penetrate while they remained intact. However, the inner part of the fort was a different story. Without any similarly powerful protective array, it was relatively easy to be destroyed by this kind of explosion. Those two God Thunderfire explosions alone had already dealt visible damage to the fort. As for whether the explosion would also kill Yuan Qing and Pei Shan…although Xue Ying still had some lingering trust toward Yuan Qing, he did not care for Pei Shan in the slightest. He would not show any traitor of the Xia Clan mercy.
The explosion had actually destroyed one of the auxiliary parts of the hexagonal fort.
"Mn?"
From the corner of the destroyed secondary fort, Xue Ying saw a block of the main fort’s outer wall still intact, with an array protecting it.
He shook his head. Such a sly move. Even so, one part of the fort is already done. Without the perfect cooperation of the six auxiliary parts, it will be much easier for me to destroy the main fort.
"Damn! Damn it!" The Sorcerer God grabbed Yuan Qing with one hand while furiously looking at what had just happened.
The six auxiliary parts acted as support for the main fort and could reduce the damage taken by the main fort. But with one part now destroyed, the main fort was bound to receive much more damage.
"Yuan Qing."
Xue Ying looked from afar at Yuan Qing, who was sitting in the Sorcerer God’s palm. "Why have you betrayed the Xia Clan. Why?"
"Betrayed?" Yuan Qing looked back toward Xue Ying. "This was no betrayal. If there was anything to blame, it would be my having been born a beast, and you a human being!"
"Beastkind? You, Yuan Qing, are a beast?" Xue Ying was stunned.
"My father, my mother…they’ve both been killed by your kind."
Xue Ying fell silent, but Yuan Qing continued, "I might feel sorry for you, but I will never regret it. Back when the Sorcerer God tried to kill you, you had instead survived while inflicted with the hex poison…I had acted as informant for that plan; I was the one who had leaked the information which led them to find you. For the sake of the Beast Clan, I’ve never regretted it, but you…"
Xue Ying had nothing to say. There was no hate left in him. In such a situation, considering their respective clan backgrounds, it was not so easy to determine who was in the right and who was in the wrong.
The Sorcerer God said through gritted teeth, "Hmph, Dong Bo Xue Ying, just you wait." With Yuan Qing still in his hand, he became blurred and vanished into the main fort.
Inside, the Sorcerer God relinquished Yuan Qing from his palm and ordered, "Go to my world and spend some more time cultivating." Sorcerer God truly considered Yuan Qing a member of his Beast Clan that was worth nurturing. After all, when compared to humans, beasts usually had a lower comprehension ability. Having managed to rank at the top in the Xia Clan, Yuan Qing would surely also become a top talent among the Beast Clan.
He valued this kind of talent in him, since he would eventually become his subordinate either way.
"Yes, Sorcerer God," Yuan Qing replied. He then turned and immediately left the Xia Clan world through the spatial passage. He would not get the chance to see the war to its end.
Hua.
Sorcerer God went back into the hall of the main fort, where the Great Demonic God was located.
"How is it?" the Sorcerer God asked.
"There is a surefire way of dealing with Xue Ying, but it will come at a hefty price," the Great Demonic God replied.
**
*****
In the vast desert, fifteen shuttle ships threatened to destroy a huge, towering fortress.
"Make your move."
"Time to act."
The drivers of two of the fifteen shuttle ships received a secret transmission through a concealed device.
After acting like a sleeper agent for so long, they’re finally letting me act? a thin old man thought, a very sinister expression crossing his face. His name was Pei Shan, and he was not part of the six big Transcendent organizations; he had instead formed his own small group of which he was the head. For a long time, he had laid low so as to let the Xia Clan put their trust in him and others of similar background. At the very least, the Xia Clan placed more trust in them than those who joined the Bloodshed Tavern or the Temple of The Earth God.
Although I must betray the Xia Clan, there’s not a thing I can do about it. The Great Demonic God has promised to reconstruct my corporeal body. For me to keep on living, for the sake of an immortal life, the Xia Clan has to be annihilated. It must be wiped out. A cold glint flashed through Pei Shan’s eyes.
In another shuttle ship.
The Xia Clan… A glimpse of frustration was currently displayed on Yuan Qing’s young and inexperienced face. Brother Xue Ying, sister Jing Qiu, elder brother Eternal Wind, brother Pu Yang… Many familiar faces flashed through his mind. In his two hundred years, from birth and until now, he had spent the majority of his time in the human world, as one of the humans. As for Xue Ying and the others, he already considered them his own family, his own brothers and sisters.
"Forgive me!" Yuan Qing closed his eyes.
He had never managed to forget a scene from his youth.
"Mother! Mother, why won’t you move? Are you sleeping?"
"We have to leave. She’s already been killed by the humans." A male wolf quickly bit a wolf cub by the scruff of his neck and fled.
"Father…father!" A now medium-sized wolf watched as soldiers of the Xia Clan chased and eventually killed a male wolf.
"Aaaaaahhhh~" Yuan Qing screamed.
Hong!
One of the shuttles suddenly took a turn and fired another black millstone, but this time toward another shuttle. With a power no less than the peak of the Deity bombarding it, the nearby shuttle went off-track and collapsed into another shuttle. In total, two ships had fallen from a single attack.
"Pei Shan!"
"Yuan Qing!"
The Xia Clansmen inside the other thirteen ships all stared in utter shock.
In the distance, Xue Ying was still wielding Blood-Drinking Spear when his expression turned grim. He had long since guessed that there would be another traitor, but under no circumstances did he consider one to be Yuan Qing! Despite not having many Transcendent friends, he really did care for this timid young transcendent as he would for his own younger brother.
"How could it have been him?" Xue Ying simply couldn’t believe it.
"Pei Shan, you have betrayed the Xia Clan! How…how could you?!" Chao Qing’s angry voice reverberated throughout the air.
"Big brother Chao Qing, you may have had good enough luck to become Deity, but what about me? Haha…you know, I’m already nearing the end of lifespan. When my time comes, how could I be worried with the Xia Clan’s survival?" Pei Shan arrogantly shouted, not a trace of regret in his voice.
Chi Qiu Bai stepped in, riddled with grief and indignation. "Do you live for the sake of living? Did you forget how you grew from an insignificant mortal until you became what you are today? Do you think that, without Xia Clan, you would now exist as you are? Are you really willing to sacrifice your clan just to be reincarnated in the Dark Abyss?"
"Chi Qiu Bai, I’m not some talented Transcendent like you are. I don’t hold a candle to your prospects," Pei Shan coldly replied.
From the very start, Yuan Qing didn’t interject to say anything.
"Mn?"
"What’s going on?"
Yuan Qing and Pei Shan were startled to find that they could no longer operate their shuttles.
The two of them received a transmission. "Don’t worry, these shuttles just have some countermeasures in place. Traitors will immediately lose control over the shuttles. Without a driver, though, a shuttle will not be able to continue fighting since they will no longer have access to Deity Crystals for energy."
Hua! hua!
The surrounding blurred, and a gold-robed figure walked out with his two hands extended. He seemed to be covering the whole sky. With a single palm, he captured the two shuttles. A ship powered by Deity crystal operating under normal circumstances would not be so easily captured by the Sorcerer God with his Demigod power. But since these two couldn’t be operated by the two traitors and were therefore unpowered, the Sorcerer God could easily take them.
Sou!
At his normal seemingly slow speed, the gold-robed Sorcerer God flew back to a part of the fortress. As he crossed that distance, the space around him distorted and blurred.
"Sorcerer God, go to hell!" Xue Ying became furious. He turned into a stream of particles and simultaneously hacked his Blood-Drinking Spear outward. It traveled over thousands of kilometers and brought along unmeasurable might as it fiercely hacked one of six exterior parts of the fortress, emitting a loud sound in the process. Upon contact, one of the castle’s arrays activated. A hexagonal shape separated from the main fort to protect it.
The two shuttles laid on the ground inside the secondary fort.
"Don’t worry. They may have left countermeasures inside the ships, but I can easily break them." While his voice resounded, the Sorcerer God had already entered Yuan Qing’s shuttle. With the Deity Crystals no longer powering it, its defenses had no way of hindering him from entering.
Hua—
The two shuttle doors suddenly opened.
"What?" The Sorcerer God was surprised.
Yuan Qing should have had no way to control the ship, and he himself had yet to make any move; how was it that the shuttle had suddenly opened its doors?
"Not good." Regardless of the consequences, the Sorcerer God immediately caught Yuan Qing.
Peng!!!
A terrible explosion erupted from inside the shuttle, its power far surpassing any ordinary peak Deity attack. Strictly speaking, it was actually at the level of a supreme Deity.
What kind of power could a supreme Deity unleash?
According to the divisions of the cultivation realms, the Deity realm was separated into an initial stage, a middle stage, a late stage, and a peak stage. But if someone were to practice a powerful secret technique, create a formidable secret skill, or use some World Deity equipment, their power would surpass any ordinary peak stage Deity, and they would be known as supreme Deities.
"Damn it!" Still holding onto Yuan Qing, the Sorcerer God’s body become distorted. They might have been enveloped by the explosion, but it did not affect them in any way. After all, even Xue Ying himself had been hard pressed to land a hit on Sorcerer God, not to mention some simple God Thunderfire.
Indeed, the explosion had been caused by a previously set up God Thunderfire. Xue Ying had put a vial of it in each of the fifteen shuttles from the very beginning. Each portion was worth ten thousand Deity Crystals, and its explosive power was comparable to the power of a supreme Deity, even more powerful than what he could unleash. Unfortunately, such an explosion only harnessed raw power and had no Laws and Profound Mysteries incorporated, so the Sorcerer God could easily escape it.
"Argh….." Inside the other shuttle, Pei Shan let out a desperate cry before being burned into nothingness. The Great Demonic God was aware of it, but it was already late for him to save his soul. A power comparable to a supreme Deity’s was so terrifying, it could instantly extinguish everything in its path, even Pei Shan’s soul. It was entirely destroyed, with not a trace left behind.
Hong long long~ The Sorcerer God’s comprehension of the realms was high enough to leave him unscathed after the explosion, but the surrounding building was not as fortunate. Such a terrifying explosion caused all of the surrounding structures to begin crumbling.
While the frightening explosion occurred, Xue Ying was hovering outside the castle, watching it happen with a cold expression. He simply used his previous preparations in case of possible traitors to conveniently strike a blow at his enemy.
With the powerful protective arrays laid out on the outer wall, the fort was hard to penetrate while they remained intact. However, the inner part of the fort was a different story. Without any similarly powerful protective array, it was relatively easy to be destroyed by this kind of explosion. Those two God Thunderfire explosions alone had already dealt visible damage to the fort. As for whether the explosion would also kill Yuan Qing and Pei Shan…although Xue Ying still had some lingering trust toward Yuan Qing, he did not care for Pei Shan in the slightest. He would not show any traitor of the Xia Clan mercy.
The explosion had actually destroyed one of the auxiliary parts of the hexagonal fort.
"Mn?"
From the corner of the destroyed secondary fort, Xue Ying saw a block of the main fort’s outer wall still intact, with an array protecting it.
He shook his head. Such a sly move. Even so, one part of the fort is already done. Without the perfect cooperation of the six auxiliary parts, it will be much easier for me to destroy the main fort.
"Damn! Damn it!" The Sorcerer God grabbed Yuan Qing with one hand while furiously looking at what had just happened.
The six auxiliary parts acted as support for the main fort and could reduce the damage taken by the main fort. But with one part now destroyed, the main fort was bound to receive much more damage.
"Yuan Qing."
Xue Ying looked from afar at Yuan Qing, who was sitting in the Sorcerer God’s palm. "Why have you betrayed the Xia Clan. Why?"
"Betrayed?" Yuan Qing looked back toward Xue Ying. "This was no betrayal. If there was anything to blame, it would be my having been born a beast, and you a human being!"
"Beastkind? You, Yuan Qing, are a beast?" Xue Ying was stunned.
"My father, my mother…they’ve both been killed by your kind."
Xue Ying fell silent, but Yuan Qing continued, "I might feel sorry for you, but I will never regret it. Back when the Sorcerer God tried to kill you, you had instead survived while inflicted with the hex poison…I had acted as informant for that plan; I was the one who had leaked the information which led them to find you. For the sake of the Beast Clan, I’ve never regretted it, but you…"
Xue Ying had nothing to say. There was no hate left in him. In such a situation, considering their respective clan backgrounds, it was not so easy to determine who was in the right and who was in the wrong.
The Sorcerer God said through gritted teeth, "Hmph, Dong Bo Xue Ying, just you wait." With Yuan Qing still in his hand, he became blurred and vanished into the main fort.
Inside, the Sorcerer God relinquished Yuan Qing from his palm and ordered, "Go to my world and spend some more time cultivating." Sorcerer God truly considered Yuan Qing a member of his Beast Clan that was worth nurturing. After all, when compared to humans, beasts usually had a lower comprehension ability. Having managed to rank at the top in the Xia Clan, Yuan Qing would surely also become a top talent among the Beast Clan.
He valued this kind of talent in him, since he would eventually become his subordinate either way.
"Yes, Sorcerer God," Yuan Qing replied. He then turned and immediately left the Xia Clan world through the spatial passage. He would not get the chance to see the war to its end.
Hua.
Sorcerer God went back into the hall of the main fort, where the Great Demonic God was located.
"How is it?" the Sorcerer God asked.
"There is a surefire way of dealing with Xue Ying, but it will come at a hefty price," the Great Demonic God replied.
**
*****
