When everyone reappeared, they were still atop an altar—almost identical to the one in the abyss, but this one stood in the heart of a massive canyon.
"Roar! Roar! Roar!"
A horde of death spirits frantically surged toward the group atop the altar.
"Get lost!"
A God-King barked out a light shout, and instantly, all the charging death spirits were shattered. But even more kept coming, swarming toward them.
Though these death spirits weren't strong, their numbers were overwhelming—easily in the hundreds of millions.
"Don't get bogged down fighting—follow me!"
Snowsun God-King reminded everyone, taking the lead and flying toward the canyon's edge. Countless death spirits were slain along the way, but since these undead had no intelligence, no matter how many were killed, they just kept coming, throwing themselves into death without hesitation.
Standing in the center of the God-Kings, Ian Song didn't need to lift a finger and looked pretty relaxed. He sensed that the divine power in this broken universe was extremely thin, the laws were chaotic and filled with a violent, frenzied factor, and the whole environment was utterly lifeless—there was no sign of vitality anywhere.
In such conditions, ordinary gods and Heavenly Gods were basically unable to cultivate.
And you had to constantly guard against those violent, crazy factors invading your body.
Half an incense stick later.
They finally flew out of the canyon, and a ruined building appeared in their sight.
"This is the temporary base I set up!"
Snowsun God-King led everyone to the front of the ruined building, rapidly casting a series of formation hand seals. The defensive array protecting the building opened up, and the group followed him inside.
The array blocked out the death spirits, instantly improving everyone's mood.
With a casual wave, Snowsun God-King summoned a giant map condensed from divine power into midair. Pointing to a spot, he said, "We're here. Any area marked in red on the map has a city, and every city is packed with death spirits. Last time I came, I only scouted one city. When I tried a second, I was besieged by two God-King-level death spirits and spent years tangled with them before finally escaping. So now we need to decide—do we split up to explore, or move as one?"
"With a place this huge, we should split up. That way, we'll get more out of it!" King Tuer suggested. "There are twelve of us, so let's do three God-Kings per team."
No one from the God-Demon Corps objected to King Tuer's idea. Snowsun God-King's side only had him, Silverwing God-King, and Redmoon God-King—just three people, so even if they opposed, it wouldn't matter.
As for Ian Song and Mira Skylar, they were naturally ignored—nobody bothered to ask their opinion.
Snowsun God-King added, "Alright, everyone state which direction you'll search, then every three months we'll meet back here. If any team runs into trouble, the rest of us can try to help out!"
Nobody objected to the plan.
Half an incense stick later.
Everyone flew out of the array, splitting into four teams and heading off in different directions.
Ian Song's group of five headed east. Over a hundred thousand li away lay a city.
Because the laws here were so chaotic, even God-Kings couldn't just teleport at will. If the dimension fractured, they might get hurt, and since this universe was already dead, chaotic currents from outside had flooded in. If you accidentally shifted into those chaos streams, you'd be in real danger.
So even their flying speed wasn't all that fast.
There were tons of death spirits, but luckily, most weren't strong. It wasn't like the Netherworld Forbidden Land, where Upper Heavenly God-level death spirits clustered together. Ian Song guessed that place had become so fierce only after countless years of death spirits devouring each other.
They pressed forward for most of a day.
It took Ian Song's group nearly a whole day to reach the city.
The city was as big as Yushan Prefecture, but over ninety percent of its buildings had collapsed—just heaps of rubble and broken walls everywhere. Death spirits roamed all through the ruins.
"Everyone be careful—there should be God-King-level death spirits in here!"
Snowsun God-King said in a low voice.
Whoosh!
Redmoon God-King's body split off another version of herself. She told Ian Song, "Little brother, it's too dangerous in the city. You and Miss Skylar should stay outside. I'll leave a divine-spirit avatar here to protect you!"
"No need!" Ian Song waved her off. "I can set up a formation—unless a God-King-level death spirit shows up, nothing can break it. So you don't need to leave the avatar behind!"
As he spoke, Ian Song started laying out a formation. In no time, a defensive grand array was complete.
Redmoon God-King tested the array's defenses, nodded in approval, and said, "Not bad—only a God-King could break this formation!"
Next moment—
The three God-Kings carefully entered the city, while Ian Song and Mira Skylar waited inside the array.
Time slowly passed.
Three whole hours went by, but Snowsun God-King and the others still hadn't come out.
Ian Song stayed pretty calm—he'd secretly slipped a God Emperor artifact short sword to Redmoon God-King. Even if they ran into danger, she'd have no trouble escaping. Although the sword's true power was sealed, if it sensed a real threat, it would counterattack on its own.
"Hey! Why aren't they back yet?"
Mira Skylar couldn't help asking Ian Song.
"How should I know?"
Ian Song snapped back.
Mira Skylar was left fuming and stopped talking to Ian Song. But after another two hours, she finally spoke up again: "Do you think they're in danger?"
"It's possible! Maybe your dad's being besieged by a bunch of God-King-level death spirits!"
Ian Song said.
"Nonsense! Where would so many God-King-level death spirits come from?"
Mira Skylar retorted.
Ian Song curled his lip. "If you already know, why ask? With those three working together, even if they run into five or six God-King-level death spirits, they'd be fine. What's there to worry about?"
"Look!"
Suddenly, Mira Skylar pointed outside the array in horror.
Ian Song looked up and saw three mountain-sized death spirits flying toward the city.
"Oh crap!"
Ian Song blurted out.
Just then, those three God-King-level death spirits suddenly turned their blood-red gazes toward their direction. Instantly, Ian Song and Mira Skylar froze, hastily suppressing their auras.
They both knew the array couldn't stop three God-King-level death spirits. If the formation broke, they'd be killed for sure.
"Roar!"
Suddenly, two different furious roars echoed from deep inside the city—both thick with rage. Unless something unexpected happened, those had to be from two more God-King-level death spirits.
Hearing the roars, the three giant death spirits withdrew their crimson gazes and sped toward the city interior.
"Jinxed mouth!"
Mira Skylar shot Ian Song a hateful glare—he'd just joked about five God-King-level death spirits, and sure enough, five had appeared. His 'jinxed mouth' prediction was dead-on.