The situation was dire—far beyond anyone’s imagination.
One Upper Heavenly God turned and hurried toward the Misty Forbidden Land, while the remaining four stayed behind, their faces dark and grim. A chilling suspicion crept into their hearts: everyone who entered the formation was dead!
After all, those were fifteen Upper Heavenly Gods.
Even though they guessed the outcome, they still couldn’t believe it.
Inside the formation.
Watching the departing Upper Heavenly God, Ian Song gave a strange smile, stepped into a small teleportation array, and vanished in a flash of light. The next moment, he reappeared outside Xuliang Prefecture’s city limits.
With his current strength, he couldn’t set up a long-distance teleportation array, but for a jump of several dozen li, he could manage. Setting up a true long-range teleportation array would require a God-King who cultivated the Dao of Space.
Ian had only just appeared in the teleportation array outside the city when, after only a few breaths, an Upper Heavenly God flew out from the prefectural city.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Ian shot up into the sky.
"You’re Ian Song? What are you doing here!"
The Upper Heavenly God stared at Ian, momentarily stunned. Because Henry Jensen had previously projected Ian’s image, this Upper Heavenly God recognized him at once.
A smile flickered across the Upper Heavenly God’s face; in a flash, he reached out, conjuring a massive palm to grab at Ian.
"Die!"
A divine axe appeared in Ian’s hand.
Pangu Axe First Form – Open the Heavens!
Chaotic divine light surged, thundered down, and with a wet splatter, the enemy was cleaved cleanly in two.
Ian reached out and grabbed.
He stored the corpse in his storage God‑ring, then dropped back into the teleportation array below.
A moment later, four streaks of light shot out from the city.
It was the four remaining Upper Heavenly Gods.
"Not good, Evan Tiano's been killed!"
One of the Upper Heavenly Gods spoke with a grim expression.
"Who did it? How could they kill him so fast?"
Another Upper Heavenly God asked in a deep voice.
"Looks like that little thief Ian Song has backup ambushing us outside the city!"
"Damn it, what do we do next?"
"Let's head back to the Misty Forbidden Land together!"
"What if he gets away?"
"Doesn't matter, if we split up, he'll pick us off one by one!"
In no time, the four Upper Heavenly Gods vanished, turning into streaks of light heading for the Misty Forbidden Land.
"Sigh."
Ian Song let out a soft sigh, teleported straight back into the city array, quickly dismantled his formation, and left Xuliang Prefecture.
On the other side.
When the four who'd returned explained the situation, the remaining Upper Heavenly Gods all turned pale. Their anger was now mixed with a growing sense of fear.
After some discussion—
Eighteen Upper Heavenly Gods once again headed for Xuliang Prefecture.
When they arrived at the courtyard from before, Ian Song was already long gone.
It left them feeling stifled and frustrated.
They spread their divine sense throughout the city, but with no sign of Ian Song, they could only return to the Misty Forbidden Land, disgruntled.
The remaining Upper Heavenly Gods began another round of discussion.
None of them could come up with a way to deal with Ian Song.
"Look! There's a stone stele over there!"
Suddenly, one of the Upper Heavenly Gods pointed several kilometers away and shouted, then flew straight over.
As he was examining the writing on the stele, a flash of axe-light erupted from the void—splurt! The Upper Heavenly God was split clean in two. A hand reached out, grabbed both halves of the corpse, and disappeared into the void.
"Damn it!"
Someone shouted, rushing over and spreading his divine sense to search, but there was no trace of the attacker.
Bang!
One Upper Heavenly God suddenly smashed the stele to pieces, furious at the words carved on it: 'Upper Heavenly Gods? Weaklings. Killing you is like slaughtering dogs—Left by Ian Song.'
Being humiliated like this by a Lower Heavenly God—how could these Upper Heavenly Gods stand it?
"Everyone, split up and chase him!"
So the Upper Heavenly Gods split into groups of three to five, spreading their divine sense in all directions to hunt for Ian Song.
But aside from finding a few stone steles that Ian Song had deliberately left behind, they didn’t even find a hair of him. Every stele was carved with words mocking them.
For example, one stele read: 'Bullshit Upper Heavenly Gods, if you’ve got the guts, duel me one-on-one—Ian Song.'
Another stele: 'A bunch of cowardly losers—if you dare come alone to Xuliang Prefecture, I swear I’ll beat you till you piss yourselves—Ian Song.'
A third stele: 'Weaklings, are you mad now? Are you furious? You’d better not get caught alone, or I’ll kill every single one I see—Ian Song.'
Faced with Ian Song’s provocations and insults, the Upper Heavenly Gods were all hopping mad, some even roaring in rage. But there was nothing they could do about that Lower Heavenly God.
"Anyone got a way to deal with Ian Song?"
A quarter of an hour later—
The remaining Upper Heavenly Gods gathered together, frustrated, to discuss countermeasures.
"I heard Ian Song has relatives in Yushan Prefecture. Why not grab them and force him to show himself?" someone suggested.
"That's not a good idea! He's just a Lower Heavenly God. If we really did that, both the Tian and Jiang clans would become laughingstocks!" another Upper Heavenly God objected immediately.
Someone else suggested, "How about we send one person as bait while the rest hide in a storage God-ring? As soon as he shows himself, everyone jumps him and we guarantee he'll be dead!"
"That's a solid plan!"
"Let's go with that!"
Everyone voiced their approval.
Soon, one Upper Heavenly God put twelve companions into his storage God-ring, then sped toward Xuliang Prefecture.
Too bad.
He went back and forth to Xuliang Prefecture several times, but Ian Song never showed up.
With no other choice, they had to scrap the plan.
In the end, one person said dejectedly, "Forget it! Ignore him. Our main job is to keep Galen Jensen and Rhea Tiano trapped in the Misty Forbidden Land!"
Just as they decided to stop worrying about Ian Song, a huge white cloth suddenly floated across the sky, with bright red letters: 'Scared yet, you dumb birds?'
"This is outrageous! That little thief is just too much!"
An Upper Heavenly God shouted furiously.
"Don't be rash—he's trying to bait us!"
Someone reminded them.
But a quarter hour later, another white cloth floated by, with more words: 'A bunch of turtle-shell cowards!'
One Upper Heavenly God finally lost it, shot into the sky, and swung his sword at the cloth.
But right then, a giant axe flashed out of the void.
Splurt!
That Upper Heavenly God, body and Divine Soul, was split clean in two.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!
A group of Upper Heavenly Gods shot into the sky, unleashing a frenzied barrage on the void, but Ian Song had already slipped away—they were just wasting their energy.
A quarter hour later—
Another white cloth drifted down, reading: 'Grandsons, scared yet?'
A crowd of Upper Heavenly Gods shot into the sky again, attacking the void in a frenzy.
The void was torn open and collapsed, but Ian Song was nowhere to be found—clearly, he hadn't come.
For several hours after, every quarter hour another lettered white cloth floated down from the sky, but the Upper Heavenly Gods finally wised up and just ignored them.
But just then—
A terrifying aura came from inside the Misty Forbidden Land, and above it, a mass of Tribulation Clouds appeared. Even from a distance, the energy radiating from those clouds was shocking.
"Not good, one of those two traitors must be undergoing God-King Tribulation!"