With a surge of divine power, all the dust on Ian Song's body was shaken off.
Afterward, Ian searched the cave mansion one more time. Finding little of interest, he decided to leave—after all, he'd already stayed here for over a year.
More than forty thousand years had already passed in the Immortal World.
Hannah Murong and his parents should have ascended by now.
Thinking he’d be able to see them soon, Ian couldn’t help but feel excited.
But before leaving, Ian carefully re-laid the broken restrictions, just in case someone else discovered the place.
Eager to return, Ian flew at full speed and made it back to Yushan Prefecture in just six hours.
Before leaving for his mission, he’d told Nathan Southwind and the others to check the Flying God Platform every so often.
"Boss, you’re back!"
As soon as they saw Ian, Nathan Southwind and the others rushed over in excitement.
"Mm!" Ian nodded. "Nothing happened while I was gone, right?"
Nathan said, "Nope! But the vice commander sent someone with a message—he wants you to see him as soon as you’re back!"
"Got it!"
Ian nodded, but to his disappointment, Hannah Murong and his parents still hadn’t ascended.
So, he hurried to the God-Demon Corps, handed in his mission, and then went straight to Galen Mu’s residence.
"Greetings, Vice Commander!"
Ian bowed politely.
"No need for formalities," Galen Mu waved it off. Then he laid down a soundproof restriction, his expression turning serious as he lowered his voice: "Your guess was right—the Owens Family really does intend to create a God-King!"
"What’s headquarters planning to do?"
Ian asked thoughtfully.
"Of course headquarters doesn’t want the Owens Family to succeed. They’ve already sent a team of top experts in secret, just waiting for the critical moment to deliver a fatal blow!"
After that, Galen Mu explained the whole situation to Ian in detail.
To create a God-King, the Owens Family had paid an enormous price and consumed unimaginable resources.
First, they spent countless resources to set up a Heaven-Defying Blood-Sacrifice Grand Array in a secret location.
Then, they secretly captured a large number of Heavenly Gods, planning to use the array to strip the law-power from their godheads and condense it into a single God-King godhead.
Once an Owens Upper Heavenly God refines the God-King godhead, they’ll have a chance to become a God-King.
But since that godhead wasn’t condensed through their own strength, the new God-King would be much weaker than a natural one—though they’d still be able to sweep through ordinary Heavenly Gods.
And after becoming a God-King, their cultivation could never advance again.
Even so, the Owens Family considered it worthwhile.
After all, a God-King-backed clan is a completely different entity from one without a God-King.
"Do Star River God, Galen Silverwing, and Rhea Redmoon know about this?"
Ian asked again.
Galen Mu nodded. "They’re all aware, and they plan to join us in striking the Owens Family when the time comes!"
"Why wait until they go through with their plan? Why not act sooner?"
Ian frowned and pressed the question.
He gave a strange laugh and explained, "The Heavenly Gods the Owens captured aren’t just from Yushan Prefecture—many come from other regions and powerful factions. Once the Heaven-Defying Blood-Sacrifice Grand Array is activated, all those Heavenly Gods will have their godheads stripped and be reduced to lower gods.
That’s when we’ll rescue them. Do you think the forces behind those Heavenly Gods will let the Owens Family off the hook? Plus, the array needs six Owens Upper Heavenly Gods to maintain it, and while they’re focused on the ritual, they can’t be distracted. That’ll drastically weaken the clan’s combat strength!
After hearing Galen Mu’s explanation, Ian sighed inwardly—looks like the Owens Family is finished this time.
Leaving Galen Mu, Ian headed to Selena Owens’s courtyard.
"You’re here?"
Selena Owens asked calmly.
Ian nodded. "Yeah."
"You’re planning to move against the Owens Family, aren’t you?" Selena pressed.
"That’s right."
Selena gave a bitter smile. "You’ve been plotting for so long—this time you’re planning to wipe out the Owens Family in one go, aren’t you?"
"You guessed it again!"
Selena pleaded, "I know I can’t ask you to spare the Owens Heavenly Gods, but could you let the lower gods go?"
Ian hesitated for a moment and said, "I’m afraid that’s not really my call. But when the time comes, I’ll try to persuade them."
"Thank you!"
A look of gratitude appeared on Selena’s face.
"Take these. Cultivate well!"
Ian tossed Selena five hundred drops of gray origin liquid, then left straight away.
A month passed in a flash.
Ian received word: the God-Demon Corps was about to move against the Owens Family, because tomorrow the clan would officially activate the Heaven-Defying Blood-Sacrifice Grand Array.
This time, the Corps sent fifteen Upper Heavenly Gods. With Huntley Hayes, that made sixteen in total—and all of them were Seven-Star God-Demons.
Compared to ordinary Upper Heavenly Gods, they were far stronger.
Add Frank Shaw and the legendary pair Galen Silverwing and Rhea Redmoon, and the force totaled nineteen Upper Heavenly Gods.
Nineteen Upper Heavenly Gods—more than enough to sweep the Owens Family.
At Ian’s request, Rhea Redmoon agreed to take him along.
Early the next morning—
At the Yushan Prefecture God-Demon Corps branch, everyone gathered together.
The leader this time was Brennan Cliff. He tossed out a small black boat, which immediately grew in the wind and quickly transformed into a gigantic warship.
This was a God-King weapon, personally forged by the Corps’ God-King weapon master. It was incredibly powerful and could briefly hide in the void. It also carried an energy cannon—every shot could easily kill an Upper Heavenly God, but the cost was immense: each blast required thirty million god-crystals and drained some divine power from the crew.
This God-King warship was definitely a supreme killing weapon.
"Everyone, board the ship!" Brennan Cliff rasped.
Everyone leapt up and landed on the warship, which shrank into a streak of black light and vanished from the branch compound.
The warship was incredibly fast, stirring up fierce astral winds as it flew.
Frank Shaw walked up to Ian and said gravely, "Kid, this operation is well-prepared, but a God-King-backed clan’s foundation is unfathomable. If anything goes wrong, you—an Upper-Rank God—could easily fall."
Ian replied, "Thanks for the warning, Uncle Frank. I’ll be careful. Anyway, you guys are the main combat force. I’m just here to carry soy sauce!"
After more than an hour’s flight, the warship stopped before a vast canyon—the site where the Owens Family had set up the Heaven-Defying Blood-Sacrifice Grand Array.
Only part of the clan’s forces had arrived so far, so defenses were still relatively lax.
Suddenly, mysterious runes appeared on the warship’s hull.
The ship slipped straight into the void, then reappeared in an inconspicuous corner of the canyon, stopping in a patch of dense grass.
"All right, everyone rest for now. Tomorrow, when the Owens activate the Blood-Sacrifice Grand Array, that’s when we strike!" Brennan Cliff instructed simply, then left.
Suddenly, Rhea Redmoon walked up to Ian, flicked her hand to raise a barrier around them, and asked with a teasing smile, "Little brother, I’ve always been curious—how exactly did you bring us out from that place? Mind telling your big sister?"