But soon, he realized something was off. The three black dots in the sky seemed to be two chasing one. The figure fleeing ahead was a young woman in her twenties, clad in blood-stained silver armor, gripping a long sword with a chipped blade. Her face was pale and bloodless, looking utterly exhausted—clearly gravely wounded.
The two pursuers behind her, though travel-worn, moved with far greater composure. One was an elderly man with white hair and beard, hands clasped behind his back, riding the wind with an immortal bearing. The other was a middle-aged man in blue robes, lips curled in a faint smile and eyes shadowed with gloom. The moment Ian Song saw his face, he knew his identity—the Mistveil Martial God.
So, if he guessed correctly, the white-haired elder was the Oblivion Martial God, and the battered, desperate fugitive was the Heavenreach Martial God.
But what puzzled him was—why were Oblivion Martial God and Mistveil Martial God teaming up to hunt down Heavenreach Martial God?
Were they putting on some kind of act?
He immediately dismissed that idea. If all three Martial Gods joined forces, they could crush him outright—why bother with theatrics?
Besides, thinking back to how he’d been quelling internal unrest lately, and how the three Martial Gods hadn’t shown up at all, it was likely that they’d fallen out with each other, which was why they hadn’t intervened. For a moment, Ian even felt a bit of schadenfreude.
Soon, the two-chase-one trio of Martial Gods closed in on Ian Song.
"All three of you, stop right there!"
Ian Song called out in a low voice, "Ahead lies the Holy Capital, home to over a hundred million civilians. You can’t go in!"
The moment Heavenreach Martial God saw Ian Song, a faint light flickered in her dim eyes. With a flash, she dropped to his left, about a hundred meters away, while Oblivion Martial God and Mistveil Martial God stopped two hundred meters ahead, hovering in midair.
"Great Martial Emperor, my senior brother and I are capturing a traitor to our sect. If you know what's good for you, you'd best stay out of it!" Mistveil Martial God said, his tone laced with resentment—after all, Ian Song had once shattered his projection.
Facing Mistveil Martial God's threat, Ian Song smiled slightly. "Your feud is none of my business—I can stay out of it. But ahead lies the Holy Capital. I hope you'll change course!"
"Great Martial Emperor, my eldest and second senior brothers both want to seize your empire. If you stand aside and let me die, you'll be their next target. Why not work together?" Heavenreach Martial God suddenly spoke, her voice flat and unreadable.
Ian Song couldn't help but look intrigued, while Oblivion Martial God and Mistveil Martial God both tensed up.
Oblivion Martial God spoke up: "Leon Huang, I'm your father's Grand-Master. That makes us practically family. How about this—if you help us kill her, we'll never meddle in your empire's affairs again."
Heavenreach Martial God spoke quickly: "Great Martial Emperor, whatever you do, don't trust them! Since you founded your empire, you've gathered all the world's qi-luck to yourself. They need to refine qi-luck just to stay alive. So for them to keep living, they either have to seize your empire or destroy it!"
"Shut your mouth, you wretch!"
At Heavenreach Martial God's revelation, Oblivion Martial God and Mistveil Martial God both flew into a rage.
Oblivion Martial God roared and hurled a punch.
"Boom!"
Power exploded, shaking the void. Heavenreach Martial God let out a muffled grunt, blasted back several hundred meters, blood at the corner of her mouth. Yet a hint of triumph flickered on her face—she used the recoil to speed up and shot straight into the Holy Capital.
"Damn it! Don't let her get away!"
Seeing this, Oblivion Martial God and Mistveil Martial God hurried after her.
Ian Song didn't stop them—in fact, a faint smile curled at the corner of his lips.
In an instant, all three Martial Gods charged into the Holy Capital.
But the moment they entered the city, a colossal grand array roared to life, enveloping the entire Holy Capital.
To set up this array, Ian Song and Huang Yan worked five days and nights without rest, burying over four hundred thousand supreme-grade spirit crystals in and around the Holy Capital. To boost its power, Ian even embedded several hundred pieces of divine iron into the formation.
This was a pure trapping array—because he knew that even a killing array probably couldn't do anything to Martial Gods.
Precisely because the array was so specialized, its trapping power was immense—especially the spatial barrier. Ian had tested it himself: even when he unleashed all his qi-luck to attack the array walls, he couldn't budge them.
So trapping all Three Martial Gods was no problem—but the array burned through supreme-grade spirit crystals at a huge rate. He'd calculated that once it was activated, it would consume over three thousand crystals a day.
As soon as Heavenreach Martial God entered the array, she was shifted to a boundless prairie. Oblivion Martial God was sent to a vast ocean, and Mistveil Martial God was dropped into a desolate mountain wilderness.
At first, none of the three Martial Gods panicked. Their cultivation was already at the level of breaking the void—just a step away from sensing a higher world and tearing open the passage to reach it.
Heavenreach Martial God didn’t rush to break the array. She took out a pill from her storage ring, swallowed it, and began to heal—Oblivion and Mistveil had chased her so relentlessly lately that she’d never had the chance to recover.
Now that she was inside the array, she could finally seize the chance to heal.
Out above the sea, Oblivion Martial God hung in midair, the ocean wind whipping his robes.
"You think a mere little array can trap me, the Oblivion Martial God? Watch me break it!"
Before he finished speaking, he hurled a punch. Fist force shook the air, shattering the void ahead and opening a black hole. Oblivion Martial God stepped right in.
But when he emerged, he looked stunned—he was still above the same endless ocean.
"What’s going on?"
Oblivion Martial God’s heart sank. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and began to sense his surroundings. Soon, he detected a thick spatial barrier.
A sneer curled at his lips. He raised his hand and threw another punch: "Watch me break it!"
"Buzz!"
A massive, crimson fist force slammed into the spatial barrier. Instead of shattering, it only trembled for a moment before falling still.
"How is that possible?"
Oblivion Martial God was stunned. That punch had used eighty percent of his power—any other array would’ve collapsed instantly, but this barrier held firm. It was unbelievable.
So, in the next moment, he unleashed a full-power punch...
"Bang!"
The barrier shook, but quickly returned to calm.
For a moment, Oblivion Martial God’s expression darkened, his face growing heavy.
Meanwhile, Mistveil Martial God had also found the array’s barrier and attacked it, but even with his power, he couldn’t break through.
"Damn it, what kind of array is this?"
Cursing, he kept attacking several more times, but still couldn’t break the barrier.
Hidden in the shadows, Ian Song watched all this and finally breathed a sigh of relief. With a flash, he landed on the grass where Heavenreach Martial God was healing.