Chapter 601: Killing An Army Of Million With The Force Of One
Li Qiye murmured while standing inside the Ancestral Realm: "Legend said that before the Desolate Era, this was the best sacred ground in the Sacred Nether World; only a few territories across the nine worlds were comparable to it. What a shame that such a good place was occupied by these false gods for so long."
At this point, the Ancestral Realm was ready to meet its enemy. An army of one hundred thousand had amassed under the leadership of eight Grand Gods. Above them was the supreme ruler of this place — the Heavenly God!
The Heavenly God imposingly stood in the sky with the heavens right behind him as if he was the master of myriad dao. He was the tyrant of this realm and his will reigned supreme. Anyone would have to prostrate before this deity.
This was a dreadful existence; even God-Monarchs and eternal existences from imperial lineages would be quite wary in the presence of this being.
The tales told that during the era without Immortal Emperors, no one was his match. Of course, people couldn't verify these words since no one had seen him in action. However, it was undeniable that the Heavenly God’s might was dreadful.
All the heaven-defying masters from the imperial lineages watched with bated breaths as their gazes were fixated on their mirrors.
Meanwhile, in the outside world, the Ancestral City had been destroyed. Some experts from great powers lingered around the ruins, but they didn't dare to step inside, let alone enter the Ancestral Realm.
At this time, the Heavenly God spoke: "Your actions will bring about damnation to the human race." His words formed a mantra that suppressed the heavens. Against this type of compelling rhetoric, even Heavenly Kings would fall to the ground.
Li Qiye glared at him and said: "There is too much talking that I do not have the time for. Today, I shall not show mercy to those who oppose me!"
"Animal, don't act so presumptuously!" One of the eight Grand Gods interjected with a loud cry.
This was met with a swift rebuttal from Qin Guangwang: "A bunch of pretentious false gods still dare to act arrogant here? Tell that devil underground to come out!" With that, he rushed forward to pave a path for Li Qiye.
"Boom!" Layers of defensive perimeters rose up from the Ancestral Realm. Each layer carried the power of an invincible character.
"Break!" Qin Guangwang's three bloodswords slashed the sky with a world-destroying power and flew towards the barriers while he himself threw his trident at the same time.
"Rumble!" In the face of the trident and the three bloodswords, the defensive barriers of the realm trembled. One attack already caused the realm's light to darken.
His prowess shocked the great army, and all eight Grand Gods' expression greatly changed. Even the Heavenly God standing in the sky became more serious.
An extremely archaic existence from the Myriad Bones Throne was astonished as well as he commented: "Even our patriarch's number one divine general couldn't be any better than this in the past."
"Boom! Boom!!!" Right when Qin Guangwang attacked, Li Qiye's ninety-nine cannons began to bombard the barriers as well.
Qin Guangwang alone was terrifying enough, but with the help of the cannons, the Ancestral Realm's barriers couldn't withstand it despite their own formidable power.
"Bang!" With one last blast, a horrifying hole formed on the barrier after the combined efforts of Li Qiye and Qin Guangwang. The two then passed through the barrier into the realm.
The army of one hundred thousand cried out at this time: "Kill them!" All of them formed an extremely harrowing grand formation. In just a split second, the soldiers appeared to be bolstered into an endless army that consisted of 80,000,000 divine soldiers.
A great formation such as this would cause even gods to quiver; 80,000,000 divine soldiers could completely crush the Sacred Nether World with ease.
Li Qiye looked at the mighty army then told Qin Guangwang: "You deal with the Heavenly God's group, I will take care of this grand formation."
"Okay!" Qin Guangwang responded with a nod.
At this time, Li Qiye boldly stepped inside the formation.
"Kill!" He was surrounded by the endless army in the blink of an eye. The ninety-nine black holes hovering around his body fired instantly.
Meanwhile, Qin Guangwang flew into the sky and screamed out: "I have waited for this day for a very long time!" He pointed the three swords at the eight Grand Gods while his trident carried an unstoppable momentum that flew towards the Heavenly God.
The gods let out a battle cry and took action at the same time. Their divine weapons roared as divine laws appeared beneath their feet. The nine of them used an unstoppable momentum to plow their way towards Qin Guangwang.
At this moment, all of them were extremely cautious since they knew they had encountered an absolutely terrifying enemy. Qin Guangwang was an unbeatable Godking; his strength was enough to sweep through the nine heavens and ten earths.
The invincible Qin Guangwang roared as well and fought against nine by himself with his demonic bloodswords and the unstoppable trident.
However, the Heavenly God and the eight Grand Gods relentlessly attacked to stop Qin Guangwang. They had no other choice; either he would die, or they would perish.
"Rumble!" Meanwhile, inside the grand formation, Li Qiye used his most overbearing style to unleash the ninety-nine cannons; each cannon aimed towards a different direction.
Amidst the grand formation, countless divine soldiers could be seen. Each of them was stalwart and holy as if they were actually troops from the immortal world. However, despite their numerous and brave attacks, they were bombed to pieces by the cannons. The tidal-like onslaught couldn't get close to Li Qiye.
Li Qiye unleashed powerful attacks one after another. He trod among the vast grand formation as his tiny figure seemed to be lost.
The truth was that this was not his first time seeing this unstoppable formation. This time, he met it head-on only to get familiar and recall some memories. Although it seemed that he was lost within the formation, the army still couldn't get close to him despite their efforts due to being blown into pieces by the cannons.
After finding the familiar sensation in the formation when some time passed, Li Qiye used an amazing speed to reach the center of the formation — this was also its weakness! He roared: "Have another taste of these unstoppable cannons!"
With that, the ninety-nine holes arranged themselves to form a gigantic cannon array that locked onto the center of the formation.
"Boom!" With a huge blast, the black light from all ninety-nine cannons was concentrated at the same spot and fired. The power of this shot was absolutely peerless; it was no weaker than a Heavenly Annihilation, capable of killing gods and immortals!
"Boom!!!" Finally, the unbeatable formation was completely destroyed. The 100,000 troops revealed their true selves as the remnants of the blast went on and caused the army to fly. In just a second, the majority of them went belly-up from this shock wave.
"Boom—boom!" Li Qiye defeated the grand formation in one breath and didn't show any mercy. The ninety-nine cannons aimed for the huge army once again.
With shrill wails, mangled flesh flew everywhere. The bombardment of the cannons rendered this huge army into dust in a short amount of time.
The imperial elders back at the Sacred Nether World couldn't hide their amazement and gasped while watching this scene.
After destroying the 100,000 man army with his cannons, the remaining experts from the Ancestral Realm didn't dare to approach Li Qiye.
In the sky, Qin Guangwang was still fighting the Heavenly God and the eight Grand Gods, causing the heaven and earth to collapse and the moon and stars to lose their brilliance. The eight Grand Gods were full of wounds from being continuously pushed back by Qin Guangwang's bloodswords; they were clearly not a match.
However, the Heavenly God was indeed worthy of his title. He alone fought against Qin Guangwang's trident. Although he was not at an advantage, at the very least, he could still withstand the assault. Without his help, the other eight gods would have been massacred by Qin Guangwang long ago.
"But… this is the Ancestral Realm!" The imperial elders from various sects all took deep breaths while watching this scene.
The archaic existence from the Myriad Bones Throne that had been sealed for many years and was on the verge of dying murmured: "Although the Ancestral Realm is strong, Necropolis' Imp is no less notorious. Legend states that he is an extremely old and invincible existence."
Another ancestor from the throne of bones asked: "Does Ancestor know his identity?"
The near-death existence replied: "Yes, I have heard of it from our Patriarch Immortal Emperor when he spoke about Imp. This was a very, very old story; Imp is even older than our Patriarch Wan Gu."
The other ancestors all felt a chill running through their spines after hearing this. Immortal Emperor Wan Gu tested his dao during the Desolate Era, but if Qin Guangwang was even older, how was it that he had managed to live for so long?
At this point, Li Qiye climbed to a highland — the center of the Ancestral Realm. This place was abandoned and only had a few large ancient temples towered here.
This land was out of place in this realm. The entire realm was extremely sacred; springs were everywhere and lotuses bloomed with every step. Each inch of the earth was covered by a sacred breath. However, this desolate land seemed to have been abandoned.
In the Sacred Nether World, the imperial mirrors from the sects followed Li Qiye's path. Many people were quite confused once they saw this highland as well.
A Simple Mountain Ancestor quietly asked: "Where is this place?"
An older existence in his sect took a calming breath before saying: "Legend states that this is the divine shrine of the Ancestral Realm that was used to worship the various senior gods of this place."
"Open!" At this time, Li Qiye shouted and recommenced the bombardment with his cannons.
601 TeaserLi Qiye murmured while standing inside the Ancestral Realm: "Legend said that before the Desolate Era, this was the best sacred ground in the Sacred Nether World; only a few territories across the nine worlds were comparable to it. What a shame that such a good place was occupied by these false gods for so long."
At this point, the Ancestral Realm was ready to meet its enemy. An army of one hundred thousand had amassed under the leadership of eight Grand Gods. Above them was the supreme ruler of this place — the Heavenly God!
The Heavenly God imposingly stood in the sky with the heavens right behind him as if he was the master of myriad dao. He was the tyrant in this realm and his will reigned supreme. Anyone would have to prostrate before this deity.
This was a dreadful existence; even eternal existences from imperial lineages or God-Monarchs would be quite wary before this being.
The tales told that during the era without Immortal Emperors, no one was his match. Of course, people couldn't verify these words since no one had seen him in action. However, it was undeniable that the Heavenly God was dreadfully mighty.
[collapse]Chapter 602: Five Fiend Lords
In an instant, these ancient temples emitted a divine pillar of light that reached the sky. Unfortunately for them, these cannons could even suppress the Ghost-Devourer, let alone these temples.
"Buzzz!" After these old temples collapsed, an endless light spewed out from the highland, seemingly wanting to protect this land.
Li Qiye didn't care for it and continued to fire his cannons. Eventually, this protective power could no longer hold and began to crack.
Meanwhile, inside Necropolis, the Ancestral Flow Master who was seated on her stone throne softly sighed and murmured: "With you shooting randomly like this, what will you use to fight that ghastly creature underground? If you focus all of your cannons to fire at it, then you might be able to suppress it for some time! But now, you unleashed half of your firepower all at once…"
"Boom!" Finally, the highland was completely annihilated by Li Qiye as a new vast landscape appeared before everyone.
This was a huge basin that spanned for millions of miles. The mist hovered around this place as if it was hiding a monster. Taking one step further was the same as descending into a world of darkness.
The most terrorizing and dreadful matter was that this gigantic basin was full of corpses. Countless corpses were piled on top of one another like a mountain or an ocean. No one knew how long this piling of corpses had been going on, but these corpses were still quite intact without any signs of decay.
Back in the Sacred Nether World, the elders were shocked to see this scene through their mirrors. There were too many to count from this gigantic pile of corpses.
Someone meticulously looked at these ancient corpses. From their features, one could tell that most were from the Desolate Era and they consisted of various races — ghosts, humans, golems, charming spirits… However, at least seventy percent were from the ghost race.
One ancestor muttered: "There must be at least ten million corpses here. This was the slaughtering of an entire realm!"
Anyone would feel a sense of creepiness while looking at this huge basin covered with corpses. No one knew why the sacred Ancestral Realm would have an ocean of corpses that mainly consisted of ghosts.
The near-death existence from the bone of thrones quietly whispered: "If the Ancestral Realm only relies on the Grand Gods and the Heavenly God, then it would have been destroyed countless times by the Immortal Emperors."
Another ancestor was quite puzzled and asked his senior: "What do you mean, Ancestor?"
The near-death existence shook his head and replied: "The Ancestral Realm is not a good place at all. During the Desolate Era, our Immortal Emperor Wan Gu had attacked it as well. Alas, he was unsuccessful."
This revelation shocked all the ancestors of the bone of thrones. One of them exclaimed with fright: "How… could that be? The Ancestral Realm… is the origin of our ghost race!"
Although the ghosts in the Sacred Nether World didn't believe that their progenitor lived on in the Ancestral Realm, the great powers never denied the claim that it was the origin of the ghosts.
When it came to the possible places where ghosts originated from in the Sacred Nether World, the Ancestral Realm was the most likely candidate, just like the Eastern Hundred Cities for the humans back in the Mortal Emperor World.
Immortal Emperor Wan Gu was the first emperor of the ghost race, yet he had attacked the Ancestral Realm — this news would scare many people to death. It was understandable for Immortal Emperor Fei Yang or Immortal Emperor Qian Li to attack the Ancestral Realm. They were outsiders after all, and they would attack the realm so that the humans and demons could have more room to live.
However, Immortal Emperor Wan Gu was the pride and glory of the ghost race, so why did he attack the Ancestral Realm? There was no rational explanation for this.
The old ancestor of the throne of bones shook his head and said: "Among the ghosts in the Sacred Nether World, our emperor was not the only one to attack the realm. Do you all know why there are so many ancient clans living reclusively in this world? It is because there are many of them that had previously attacked the Ancestral Realm, such as the ancestors of the War Clan."
All the other ancestors were quite astounded. One of the ancestors of the War Clan was an amazing Immortal Emperor, but the War Clan did not try to control the rest of the world like the other imperial lineages. After their emperor disappeared, the War Clan left the secular world; no outsiders knew where they were staying.
At this moment, Li Qiye had entered the corpse-filled basin while the spectators in the Sacred Nether World watched with bated breaths.
A black smoke emerged and filled the entire basin upon Li Qiye's intrusion, then a terrifying voice appeared: "You shouldn't have come to this place!"
Ferocious black shadows rose from the mountain of corpses. They emitted a murderous air like fiends crawling out of the ground.
Thousands of ghastly creatures rose up from the ground as well. These creatures emitted an evil aura that instilled fear in all; it was clear that they were extremely powerful. These ghosts were led by five creatures with crowns on their heads. The sentence from earlier was uttered by one of them.
These creatures looked like humans yet also ghosts; some had three heads and six hands, others had fiendish horns, and some had terrifying deformed bone spurs protruding from their bodies…
The ancestors examining these creatures all took a deep breath since the five commanding ghastly creatures emitted a shiver-inducing aura. One ancestor asked himself: "Are these five Godkings?"
Five creatures of the Godking level — these were dreadful existences capable of sweeping through the entire world!
"So it is the five Fiend Lords." Li Qiye was still very calm in the face of these thousands of fiends while he looked at the five fiends with crowns.
He continued on: "Immortal Emperor Fei Yang decapitated all five of you in the past, making your heads roll like potatoes. After such a long time, all of you finally managed to find your skulls again."
One of the five Fiend Lords said with a devious smile: "Hahahaha! Naive fool, we are eternal!"
"Eternal?" Li Qiye burst out in laughter then slowly uttered: "Don't flatter yourselves. Your so-called eternality is only because you all obtained the Ghost Ancestral Tree!"
All the ancestors stared at each other, perplexed, after hearing this. To the ghost race, the Ghost Ancestral Tree was only a legend, and no one had seen it before. For millions of years, many ghosts didn't believe that this tree existed in this world, that it was only a lie told by future generations.
But now, Li Qiye revealed such a shocking secret; this was too hard to believe.
One of the five Fiend Lords smiled ominously: "Hahaha! What an interesting little human. No wonder you made it all the way here, you know too much!"
Another one added: "You ignored the accepting heavens and barged into the unwelcoming hell! Today will be your funeral!"
"Is that so?" Li Qiye responded with a smile before taking out the ancient temple and released the Ghost-Devourer.
The devourer instantly appeared before everyone. While Li Qiye stroked it playfully with one hand, his other hand was holding the Ghost-Devourer Lock.
Li Qiye then chuckled and said: "I know you guys are very amazing, so I have prepared a gift for you fiends."
The five Fiend Lords became aghast after seeing the devourer and exclaimed: "How… How could you have let it out?! Impossible!"
The other ancestors didn't know what the devourer was, but it was surely formidable judging by the five Fiend Lords' frightened expressions.
They all wondered: "What is that thing?"
Lan Yunzhu softly sighed and said: "Ghost-Devourer — an existence from the legends. Outside of Immortal Emperors, no one would be able to stop it in this world."
The five Fiend Lords had cold countenances at this time; they appeared to be fiends from hell as they cried out: "Kill!!!"
The five lords led their army of fiends, heading for Li Qiye. With their roars, they were able to devour the sky and swallow the moon. A terrifying fiendish energy swept through myriad realms with enough momentum to turn the entire nine heavens into the legendary hell.
Anyone who saw this scene wouldn't be able to help themselves from shivering, especially those from the ghost race. They couldn't believe that the Ancestral Realm, the origin of the ghost race, had such terrifying fiends. When these fiends came out, the Ancestral Realm no longer had the appearance of a sacred ground, it was more like a realm of fiends.
An imperial ancestor suddenly thought of something and commented quietly: "What if the Ancestral Realm was never our ghost race's origin?"
Back at the Ancestral Realm, the five lords led their fiends to attack as they terrifying howled. Li Qiye let go of the chain, but the collar remained on the Ghost-Devourer's neck.
He let go of it and slowly spoke: "Go, have a taste of these fiends. You'll love their taste!"
Chapter 603: Ghost Ancestral Tree
"Grarrr!" The devourer let out a roar that shattered the heaven and earth, signifying its happiness at being free once more. It ferociously leapt outside in an invincible manner. At this moment, it was the most vicious creature in this world; the five Fiend Lords and their army were not comparable to the devourer.
"Chmmpp! Clangg! Clackk!" Biting sounds appeared. Wherever the devourer went, only corpses would be left as these fiends got torn apart. The five Fiend Lords didn't last very long before they were torn limb from limb as their black flesh flew everywhere.
This was the embodiment of horror; the devourer was like a meat grinder that only left mangled meat behind. This scene caused the legs of all the spectators to tremble in fear.
However, an even more dreadful thing happened. The five Fiend Lords who were the first to be bitten suddenly came back to life and stood up again. Earlier, they were torn into countless pieces with meat flying everywhere, but in a short amount of time, these little pieces came together, allowing them to crawl back up.
And it wasn't just the five Fiend Lords, the other fiends quickly came together as well as their torn pieces combined once more.
The imperial ancestors were not only astonished at the devourer's terrifying power, they were even more aghast due to the fiends: "Just what are these ghastly creatures?"
After being torn into countless pieces, they were still able to reform — this was too abhorrent. These creatures were virtually immortal!
"Die!" The five Fiend Lords angrily shouted. They no longer wanted to attack the devourer and instead rushed together to kill Li Qiye.
However, with a loud roar, the devourer arrived to quickly cull the masses with superb speed. Sounds of flesh being torn appeared once more as the five Fiend Lords were ripped into pieces in the blink of an eye.
Li Qiye didn't even bother looking at this scene, and his cannons didn't fire a single shot either. Although the army of fiends was very strong, the devourer was their nemesis. The devourer was still wearing the collar so it would only listen to Li Qiye's commands. With the lock in his hand, no matter where or when, as long as he was there, the devourer would always be under his control.
He didn't linger behind to watch this battle with the five Fiend Lords. Instead, he turned around to leave. He had more important things to do.
The battle had become a chaotic struggle. The devourer kept on tearing these fiends apart, but they came back together and got up time and time again.
Although these fiends were unkillable, the devourer continued its rampage while devouring the fiends' thickest fiend energy. Because of this, each time the fiends were torn apart, their recovery speed would be a bit slower. The five Fiend Lords and their army had spent a lot of energy, and rebirth was becoming more and more difficult. It would eventually reach a point where they wouldn't be able to fix their bodies if this continued on.
The fiendish energy that empowered these creatures was the most delicious feast to the devourer, so it was very excited. It had been a long time since it tasted something this delicious!
The devourer's torture became increasingly cruel as it tore off the flesh and tendons of the five Fiend Lords. The thousands of the other friends were also ripped into thousands of pieces before the devourer let them go. It wanted to suck the energy of these things dry.
Anyone would be horrified at this scene, whether it was due to the might of the devourer or the resilience of the fiends.
"Ahhh!!!" A shrill shriek emanated throughout the Ancestral Realm at this moment. Currently, the sky of the realm was bathed in blood as the three bloodswords split the eight Grand Gods into numerous pieces. Meanwhile, the Heavenly God had been nailed by the trident into the ground; his blood dripped along the ground's little crevices.
This scene was too distressing, especially to the ghost race. When was the last time the Ancestral Realm had been attacked like this? When was the last time the deities of the realm were completely murdered?
At this second, all the ancestors watching the events unfold felt that perhaps the Ancestral Realm would turn into ruins because of Li Qiye.
At this time, Li Qiye was still inside the basin, standing on a low hill. He had moved some of the bodies away to reveal the muddy ground. There was nothing except mud in this place, but Li Qiye had an extremely solemn expression as he slowly uttered: "Heaven Calculating, you little trickster, you better have gotten the spot right or else I'll use your head as my chamber pot!"
At this moment, Daoist Heaven Calculating in the distant parts of the Sacred Nether World suddenly felt a chill down his spine as if a ghost was watching him.
Li Qiye took a deep breath then took out the Ghost's Origin Ancestral Key. With a pop, the key suddenly exploded.
It looked like a wooden ruler, but now, all these little wooden pieces were splitting apart. "Buzz!" These little pieces of wood then came together once more and, like metal, melted together to form a golden key!
At this time, Li Qiye pushed the golden key into the little hill below his feet.
"Clangggg—!" The sound of metal doors opening appeared as the hill cracked, revealing a cave. Inside the cave was a not-so-large tree. The body was not too big; two people could hug it completely. It appeared to be very ancient as if it had been growing for countless eons. Each branch, each leaf had experienced tens of millions of years as the tree passed through the arduous and endless river of time.
However, this tree that had experienced the endless time had been dead with withered leaves and dried branches for a very long time now. Nevertheless, this dead tree was still exuding waves of universal laws — the beginning of life. Each law contained the power of the heavenly grand dao, the primal source of this world.
This dead tree seemed to have given birth to countless existences and was the start of life. Moreover, the fallen universal laws took root on the earth and protected this sky. It was the reason why this place continued to exist.
However, there was a terrifying anomaly — a corpse was attaching itself to the root of the tree as it just lied there. This big corpse was lying head down so one couldn't see its face. The root of the tree was growing from the chest of the corpse. No one knew whether this was its initial state or if someone else planted it on this corpse.
Inside the Myriad Bones Throne, the near-death ancestor suddenly sprung to life once more. He got up from his bed and screamed: "The Ghost Ancestral Tree!"
The other ancestors standing before the mirror lost their minds after hearing these words and exclaimed in unison as well: "The Ghost Ancestral Tree??"
One ancestor gasped then asked: "Ancestor, is it… really the Ghost Ancestral Tree? It really exists in this world?"
Up till now, everyone thought that the tree was only a legend. Too many ghosts disputed its authenticity because this tree had a connection to another interpretation, a different theory of the ghost race's origin.
The near-death ancestor sat back on his bed and spoke with a feeble tone: "Although… I have never seen the real Ghost Ancestral Tree… Immortal Emperor Wan Gu had left behind a book that contains a picture of this tree!"
This answered moved all of the Myriad Bones Ancestors. If the tree really existed, then what they believed to be the origin of the ghost race was actually false!
Li Qiye looked at the corpse under the Ghost Ancestral Tree and heaved a sigh of relief as if a gigantic weight had been lifted off his back. He murmured: "Fortunately that isn't it."
"Coughh—" The ground below the tree cracked as a pair of devil hands reached out. No one had climbed out just yet. An ancient yet awe-inspiring voice appeared: "Who is disturbing my slumber?"
This ancient yet substantial voice caused all the ghost ancestors back in the Sacred Nether World that were staring into the mirrors to palpitate. The Ancestral Realm had always claimed that the ghost progenitor was sleeping within, so now that such a voice was ringing from the earth, how could the ghost ancestors not become alarmed? Could it be that their progenitor was about to come into being?
All of the ancestors' eyes were fixated on their mirrors. A monster crawled out of the ground; its characteristics consisted of a gigantic body, a human head, and a snake's body. Countless towering bone fragments protruded from its back. It also had a huge horn the color of crimson blood.
However, the most terrifying characteristic was the strange image that appeared behind its back. One world of just pure-white bones, a world of silence, a world of death. At that place, countless white bones paved the road and were the foundation for the pavilions and temples — the dwelling of a death god. Anyone would feel creeped out looking at this world built by bones; they would feel uncontrollable dismay.
Myriad realms and worlds trembled before this monster. It emitted a terrorizing aura that was perhaps only a bit weaker or even equal to the Ghost-Devourer's.