"One, two, three, four, five…"
Kua E and his brothers were thrown onto the square outside the Divine Sleeping Palace, lying in a straight line. Xiang Liu was looking at them with a malicious grin on his face.
Transparent, colorful crystal coffins flew out from the Divine Sleeping Palace one after another. Every coffin had a black divine talisman stick on it, releasing black and cold streams of power which were coiling around the coffin like fierce serpents. Twisted spell symbols formed from dark crystals covered those coffins, sealing every coffin.
The faces of Kua E and his brothers had turned deathly pale. In a daze, they looked at those divine Gods inside those coffins. Every coffin flew that out of the palace had a family member of each of these captured divine Gods sleeping in it. Those were their parents!
Xiang Liu was still unhurriedly counting those coffins. Gong Gong family warriors pushed out more coffins while laughing. At last, in front of Kua E and each of those captured divine gods, a coffin floated, containing the mother or father of the captured divine God before it.
If those divine Gods sleeping in these coffins had already died, Kua E and his brothers wouldn’t have such a strong reactions. To gods, they were given birth by nature, and they should naturally go back to nature after dying.
However, divine Gods sleeping in those coffins were still alive, and those were their parents. Through the thick layer of divine crystal and those complicated spell symbols created by Gong Gong himself, Kua E and his brothers saw their parents breathing slowly and slightly, saw their chests rising and falling, and even heard their hearts beating.
The first generation of Gods were creatures of nature. They didn’t have fleshy bodies, but they did have immortal lives. They were the most original and most powerful generation of Gods, and were the ancestors of all gods in the world.
As time went by, Gods gradually attained fleshy bodies and fertility, just like human beings. Descendants of Gods were naturally Gods too, and the descendants of Gods also had great powers and long lifespans.
Normally, even descendants of Gods didn’t need to worry about their lifespans, unless they wanted to die. At least, before the ancient heaven fell, not a single God died because he or she had reached the limitation of their lifespan. However, the non-humankind intruded Pan Gu world, and the heaven started a series of great wars against the non-humankind. Countless ancient divine Gods fell, and then the heaven fell. Afterward, the lifespans of divine Gods were shortened quickly and largely, and every new generation of Gods had shorter lifespans than the last generation.
The Divine Sleeping Palace was the last hope. Only with this hope, new generations of divine Gods could hang on in the heaven. They sealed themselves in the Divine Sleeping Palace when they were going to reach the end of their lifespan. In the Sleeping Palace, their bodies were nourished by the natural powers, and they hoped that one day, the heaven could rise again, back to the peak, and they could regain the glory of their ancestors and attain immortal lives.
Kua E, Qiang Liang and the other young divine Gods all believed that one day, the heaven would rise again. Then, their parents and grandparents, who were sleeping in these coffins, would regain their life-force, and they could live together again, happily ever after.
If they didn’t have this last hope, how could these powerful young divine Gods, who loved grilled meat and wine, obediently follow the rules of their ancestors and willingly stay in the cold and empty heaven, without taking a single step out if they didn’t have to?
But now, their parents were right in front them.
Gong Gong slowly walked out of the palace, looking at these coffins as he said blandly, "What a bunch of old things who are unwilling to give up. My father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, every generation of Gong Gong…Hehe, some of them had gone missing, but some of them died, as they had reached the ends of their lives.
"But you…You homeless dogs. You idiots, you still want the ancient glory, and you have actually figured out a way to steal the power of destiny."
"You sealed yourselves, vainly attempting to regain an immortal life when the heaven rises again!"
Gong Gong abruptly burst with a growl while slapping on a coffin.
The colorful crystal coffin was smashed by Gong Gong’s palm as countless thumb-sized crystal pieces clanged against the splendidly glowing ground. Lying in the coffin was a divine God with a human body and a dragon head, who had strangely-shaped, bulged bones on both shoulders. This divine God seemed to be brave and fierce, and also had a strong sense of power released from his body. However, in a deep sleep, he had no power of resistance. Gong Gong smashed his head.
A shrill howl could then be heard. The young divine god with a dragon head kneeled in front of this coffin, having his eyes popped widely out while hoarsely screaming ‘Abba’, then showed the whites of his eyes and fainted.
The dragon-head divine God in the coffin twitched intensively. His head was smashed and his soul was broken by Gong Gong. From his neck, his body began burning slowly. Seven colored divine flame lit gradually, burned his body and released pure streams of natural powers, transforming into a hurricane, roaring out of the flame.
Gods were generated by natural powers, and were the creatures of the natural law. Therefore, the more powerful a God was, the more natural powers he or she had in the body.
The dragon-head divine God’s body began burning while raging streams of natural powers surged out. Soon, the surrounding space was suffused by pure natural powers. Because of the high density, the natural powers even condensed into visible streams, coiling around everyone on the scene.
"For such a good thing, you didn’t tell me!" Gong Gong sighed slightly and said in a bland tone, "You should have informed our Gong Gong Family regarding this. You should…You should have told us, so that my father, my grandfather, they could be lying in coffins in this place as well."
"But you didn’t!" Gong Gong sighed slightly, then punched another seven coffins into pieces, perishing the souls of the divine Gods sleeping in those coffins.
The few young Gods kneeled in front of these seven coffins cried in sadness, then all fainted in heartache. Their parents were killed by Gong Gong just like this, right in front of them. The souls of Gods couldn’t remain existing in the world after they died, neither could they reincarnate. When a god died, both the body and the soul would cease to exist.
"What on earth do you want?!" Kua E even screamed hoarsely, "You’ve already controlled the heaven! Except for those areas that even we aren’t allowed to enter, you’ve controlled over ninety percent of the heaven! What else do you want?!"
"Who’s the gatekeeper?" Gong Gong looked at Kua E’s twisted face and asked word by word, "Who is the gatekeeper?"
All captured divine gods stared at Gong Gong in shock, had their bodies stiff and couldn’t say a word.
"You…shouldn’t know!" Kua E’s body swayed slightly. He almost fell unconscious.
"But I know…Who’s the gatekeeper? Stand out, do what I say!" growled Gong Gong, "Do what I say, so they can all live. Otherwise, I will kill every last one in the Sleeping Palace! All your ancestors will die!"
Remaining silent for a while, a short divine God, whose body was covered in soft silver hair, tremblingly said, "I…I am the current…gatekeeper!"