Faced with Ian Song's taunts and provocations, Yuan Sovereign Moro was furious. But having lived for millions of years, he quickly regained his composure. Still, the look he gave Ian remained hostile.
As for the God Emperors of the Ten Supreme Races, their faces flushed with embarrassment. Although the Phoenix Infant Clan's God Emperor was only a late lower-segment, he died far too quickly, so none of them felt confident they could survive breaking Ian's formation.
So, the God Emperors of the Ten Supreme Races also fell silent.
"If that's the case, then let's go!"
Ian Song put away his formation and shot a contemptuous glance at Yuan Sovereign Moro and the God Emperors of the Ten Supreme Races. Meanwhile, the God Emperors on the Godborn side felt immensely relieved.
"Little thief, our business isn't settled yet. Where do you think you're going?"
Yuan Sovereign Moro suddenly spoke up.
"If you want to settle things, step into the array. If you break my formation, I'll let you deal with me however you want—assuming you even have the guts!"
Ian Song threw out another provocation.
"Die!"
Just then, Yuan Sovereign Moro suddenly struck. Without warning, he reached out, sending a massive void handprint hurtling toward Ian Song.
"How dare you!"
The God Emperors of the Godborn race were furious, attacking the void handprint together. But the handprint was so fast that in less than a blink, it appeared above Ian Song's head.
"Boom!"
A burst of radiance surged up, forming a grand array. The array split open, letting the handprint fall inside. In the next moment, destructive forces churned within the formation, and in a flash, the handprint vanished without a trace.
Ian Song's voice followed, thick with sarcasm: "A dignified God Emperor ambushing a mere God King—do you even have any shame? And the best part? You failed at your sneak attack. Embarrassing, isn't it? If I were you, I'd just dig a hole and bury myself!"
Hearing Ian Song's words, Yuan Sovereign Moro's face turned extremely dark. He'd thought ambushing a God King like Ian would be a sure thing, but failing like this was truly humiliating.
"Let's go!"
With a wave of his hand, Yuan Sovereign Moro vanished from midair.
Seeing this, the God Emperor of the Yuan-spirit clan also prepared to leave.
"Wait! Go back and tell your Yuan Sovereign this: from now on, I'll be laying Destruction Divine Arrays in every prefectural city of the God Realm. If you don't fear death, then by all means, come!" At this, Ian Song glanced at the Ten Supreme Races. "Same goes for you. You'd better withdraw your armies immediately, or don't blame me for taking my formation disks to the front lines!"
Hearing this, the Yuan-spirit clan looked deeply troubled, and the God Emperors and God Kings of the Ten Supreme Races didn't look any better.
A few days later.
News came in from every front: the armies of the Ten Supreme Races had completely withdrawn.
The Yuan-spirit clan also stopped harvesting souls.
"Ian Song, you've earned massive credit this time. You could say you've saved the entire Godborn race!"
God Emperor Galen Tian came in person, his tone excited.
Ian Song shook his head. "This is only temporary. Whether we ultimately win still depends on whether those three God Emperors can bring back that supreme treasure!"
If the Godborn's last three Holy Emperors also die in the primordial-chaos universe, then when the Ten Supreme Races' Holy Emperors return, Ian's formations won't be able to threaten them.
After all, at best, his arrays can only destroy late upper-segment God Emperors.
Even if Yuan Sovereign Moro entered the array, Ian still wasn't absolutely sure he could kill him.
However, he'd already mastered the first diagram of the Creation Heaven Diagram, so he could now see the pattern on the second Heaven Stele.
He believed that if he could fully comprehend the diagram on the second Heaven Stele, then the arrays he laid might just be able to kill a Holy Emperor-level expert.
But truly grasping the pattern on the second Heaven Stele was extremely difficult.
He'd already tried; even after his soul had undergone fifteen metamorphoses, he could only study it for three days at most. The drain on his soul power was enormous.
Luckily, he had the Time-Space Divine Hall, a sacred artifact where one year outside equaled a hundred years inside.
After seeing off God Emperor Galen Tian, Ian Song decided to bring his wives, family, and parents to Brighthelm Holy City. After all, there were always God Emperors stationed in Brighthelm Holy City, so their safety was guaranteed.
Soon enough.
Ian Song brought everyone over, spent a few days gathering, and then returned to the Divine Hall to begin another closed-door cultivation.
Three years outside passed in a flash, while inside the Time-Space Divine Hall, three hundred years went by.
A ripple flashed by, and Ian Song stepped out from the void, a deep exhaustion still on his face.
After comprehending a third of the second diagram, he made no further progress. Frustration built up, and after such prolonged deduction—even with Chaos Divine Liquid restoring his soul—he still felt utterly drained.
After forcing himself to deduce for several decades with no progress, he decided to end his closed-door cultivation.
After leaving seclusion.
He gathered with his family again, then went straight to the God-Demon Corps to seek an audience with God Emperor Galen Tian.
"Any news from the three Holy Emperors?"
Ian Song asked.
"The situation is very grim!"
God Emperor Galen Tian's face was troubled: "According to the news from the three Holy Emperors' avatars, contact was lost a year ago. Most likely, they've been trapped in that perilous place!"
As for why they're thought to be trapped rather than killed by the Ten Supreme Races' Holy Emperors, the reason is simple: if they'd killed the Godborn's last three Holy Emperors, they'd have already rushed back from the primordial-chaos universe.
The fate of the three Holy Emperors determined the survival of the Godborn race. Hearing the news, Ian Song was deeply troubled.
"Do you know where that perilous place is?"
Ian Song asked.
"You're not thinking of entering the primordial-chaos universe, are you?"
God Emperor Galen Tian looked at Ian Song in shock.
"That's exactly my plan!"
Ian Song nodded.
God Emperor Galen Tian said gravely, "Don't be reckless. The primordial-chaos universe greatly suppresses both God Emperors and Holy Emperors. If a God King enters, the chaos energy will directly assimilate him!"
"I have something that lets me move freely in the primordial-chaos universe!"
Ian Song replied.
He'd overlooked one thing before: the primordial-chaos universe suppresses Holy Emperors. In the God Realm, he couldn't do anything to those Holy Emperors, but in the primordial-chaos universe, it was different. Their power would be suppressed, but his wouldn't.
"Really?"
God Emperor Galen Tian was still skeptical.
Ian Song laughed. "I'm not an idiot. If I couldn't survive in the primordial-chaos universe, why would I go? Do you know how much it suppresses Holy Emperors?"
"If they can exert even one percent of their strength, that's already impressive. In the primordial-chaos universe, a Holy Emperor is basically equivalent to a lower-segment God Emperor!"
"Excellent!"
Ian Song was delighted. If they really were at the level of lower-segment God Emperors, then he could teach them a lesson—even without arrays, he could take them down.
Eventually, God Emperor Galen Tian handed Ian Song a simple map to that perilous place.
With the map in hand.
Ian Song didn't set out immediately; instead, he entered the Divine Hall and inscribed a large number of formation disks, then had the Time-Space Divine Hall shift itself from the God Realm into the primordial-chaos universe.
The primordial-chaos universe was filled with chaos energy.
As soon as he stepped out of the Divine Hall, Ian Song felt the assimilating force of the universe.
But the moment he activated his Pangu bloodline, that assimilating force vanished. After all, Pangu was born of chaos and could be called chaos's child—naturally, such a force couldn't affect him.