Thud.
Star Lord Jonas knelt down, leaning on his divine sword. He gazed at his old rival approaching and chuckled, "Old Human Emperor, you and I are both puppets—playthings of the true gods. Even if you fight to the death to block us here, what does it matter? High Heaven sent two teams; we're just bait to draw you out. The ones actually going to activate the Celestial Phenomenon Weapons are elsewhere. Everpeace is doomed to destruction..."
Opposite him, the Village Chief's massive Primordial Spirit blazed fiercely, like a god wreathed in flames. Yet even this godly form was battered and torn, barely holding together.
His Primordial Spirit dimmed, on the verge of going out, but then flared up again, repeating over and over—clearly, he was burning the last of his blood and qi to keep himself at his peak.
"Star Lord Jonas, where is the other team?"
The Village Chief approached, ignoring everyone else on the battlefield. His gaze fixed tightly on Jonas: "We've been rivals for years. When a man is about to die, his words are kind. Do you really want to see the countless souls of Everpeace destroyed?"
Suddenly, a cracking sound came from within Jonas. The handsome deity's face turned ashen, and he laughed grimly, "Whether these lowly creatures live or die—what does that have to do with me?"
He looked up at the sky, murmuring, "My star is finally about to fall."
Crack.
His sword gave a faint cracking sound, then another, and then more, growing faster and denser. At the same time, the cracking within him intensified.
Behind the Village Chief, his Primordial Spirit gradually faded. He pushed his blood and qi, trying to restore his Primordial Spirit to its peak, but he simply couldn't reignite it.
Now, his body was like a bellows full of holes, leaking air everywhere. He tried to rekindle his vitality, but he was too damaged—he couldn't ignite it.
He was crippled, missing all four limbs. This had a huge impact on his body—and even more on his fighting strength. But most crucial of all, he was old.
He was so old his lifespan had reached its limit. He had just over a year left; if he quietly retired and cultivated, he might have patched his Divine Bridge Treasury before dying, stepped into a new realm, and become a god.
But this battle had burned up the last of his body's blood and qi.
Now he could no longer reignite his vitality.
"Tell me, where did the other team go?"
The Village Chief shouted, "Star Lord Jonas, where did you come from? Weren't you once like these people—just another 'lowly creature' as you call them?"
Jonas had already closed his eyes, waiting for death. Suddenly his body shuddered, eyes opening wide and empty, utterly lifeless. Sword wounds appeared one after another across his body.
The sword wounds kept deepening, as if invisible blades were slowly slicing and cutting open his godly flesh.
The Village Chief's final strike severed Jonas's vitality. His divine repositories were collapsing, his body torn apart—he was doomed to die here.
"What's the point?"
Jonas bowed his head, sneering, "Do you still have the strength to stop them? You're dying too, old friend. Just give up—sit down and journey with me. On the road to the Yellow Springs, we'll travel together..."
The Village Chief said in a low voice, "Tell me, which path did they take?"
Jonas glanced at him, his dull eyes shifting toward the darkness of the Great Ruins. His breathing grew rapid. "They should be almost there... Cough, cough. If you still have strength, go and stop them."
His expression changed drastically. Suddenly he grabbed the Village Chief's clothes, shrieking, "I see karmic flames—countless souls of Everpeace turning into karmic fire after death, demanding my life! Stop them! Don't let these commoners' deaths become my sin... Don't come near me, don't come! It's not my fault, I was just following orders... Every debt has a debtor, it's not me who wanted you dead!"
The Village Chief broke free of his grip and vanished into the air.
Jonas's eyes grew more hollow, as if he were seeing something terrifying. He screamed wildly, "It's not my fault, I'm helpless too—don't demand my life!"
"I see countless paper boats, so many paper boats, sailing from Everpeace into the darkness... Oh god, what's that? Tu Bo's horns... Hell! This is hell!"
"Save me! True gods, where are the true gods above me? Hurry and save me! You promised—you wouldn't let Tu Bo take me for judgment... Save me—!"
......
After a moment, Star Lord Jonas's face twisted with endless terror—and then he stopped breathing.
Snap.
The divine sword in his hand suddenly turned to dust, crumbling to the ground. Jonas's lifeless body pitched forward, and the sword wounds erupted, tearing his corpse apart.
The Village Chief charged into the darkness of the Great Ruins, racing forward at top speed. His Primordial Spirit flickered bright and dim, as he forced the last of his heart's blood to keep his body alive and his will unbroken.
He could feel death calling. His body was struggling more and more to contain his soul. Death was getting closer by the moment.
He sensed something chasing him. In fact, he'd often felt this in recent years—it was the summons of the Netherworld (Youdu), its laws binding him, trying to claim his soul.
As his body gradually died, the pull grew stronger—the summons from that other dark world became irresistible.
Tu Bo's Pact: from the moment of birth, everyone signs this contract. Once the body dies, the soul belongs to Tu Bo, sinking into the Netherworld (Youdu).
But if the body does not die, you can escape Tu Bo's Pact. When a god cultivates their body to the divine realm, the final divine repository contains a Divine Bridge. When the Primordial Spirit crosses it, the flesh becomes divine, and the soul is no longer bound by Tu Bo's Pact.
The Village Chief had once had a chance—but now, Jonas's dying strike had cut off his path.
Now, all he could hope for was to find the other gods and demons sent by High Heaven in time. Yet even if he found them, he wasn't sure he had the strength left to keep fighting.
[This chapter isn't over ^.^ Please click next page to continue reading!]
"I'm truly old now..."
The Village Chief felt his blood and qi surging, unable to restrain his Primordial Spirit. Suddenly it shook violently, threatening to leave his body. Still, he dared not stop—if he did, he might fall forever.
He pressed on madly. In the darkness, countless demons and monsters stirred, following him along the mountain slopes, waiting for the moment he died.
When he finally fell, these monsters would swarm over him, tearing him to pieces.
He ran slower and slower, feeling his limbless body grow heavier. A wave of sadness washed over him, and he forced a bitter smile. He wanted to stop: "I suppose I'm really going to die..."
Just then, he saw a giant bird flap past in the darkness. It landed on a mountaintop ahead, folded its wings, and transformed into a bird-headed, human-bodied deity. With its beak, it slowly preened its feathers.
"Time's up," the great bird said in a human voice.
The Village Chief kept moving forward, slower and slower.
"Just a little longer!"
He heard his own voice as if it came from eighty thousand miles away—distant and hazy.
"Wait—just a little longer, I still have things left unfinished!"
The bird-headed deity looked at him with a strange gaze and repeated, "Time's up."
"Just wait."
The Village Chief heard himself pleading, voice trembling: "Just a moment longer. I don't want Everpeace to become hell. I can still fight—after all, I am the Human Emperor of this land. I still have duties and burdens..."
An owl's cry echoed in the darkness, as if the bird-headed deity was laughing. The Village Chief flared with anger: "You dare mock me? I may be old, but my spirit is undiminished!"
The bird-headed deity spread its wings, scattering the monsters in the darkness, circling around him before landing on a branch ahead. It laughed, "I laugh at heroes in their twilight—grieving over white hair, but powerless now."
The Village Chief ignored him and staggered onward. After a while, the bird-headed deity perched ahead again, calling out, "It's time to go. If you wait any longer, Youdu Underworld Envoys will come! There's an old friend waiting for you in Nether City."
"I can still fight..."
The Village Chief saw his own face turning black, the aura of death spreading to his head, pushing his brain toward death.
His Divine Repository was collapsing, but his Primordial Spirit still stood atop the Magpie Bridge. Beneath it stretched endless, bottomless darkness.
This was his Divine Bridge Treasury—nothing from outside should intrude. Yet from the darkness, something foreign invaded: the world of the Netherworld (Youdu).
His body was dying, and the Netherworld was invading through his Divine Repository.
From the depths of darkness in his Divine Repository, a paper boat floated toward his Primordial Spirit.
It was time to go—if he didn't, Tu Bo would claim his Primordial Spirit.
The Village Chief's Primordial Spirit gazed across the Magpie Bridge, where the Mysterious Guidance Bridge led to the Heaven Court. Yet a gap remained between the two bridges; only by mastering the Divine Crossing Art could he cross and enter a new mythic realm.
But his blood and qi were utterly depleted, his vital energy unable to flow through his dying body. It was nearly impossible to activate the Divine Crossing Art.
"As Human Emperor, I must fight on!"
He let out a furious roar, but could no longer hear his own voice. Then, he saw a ship—a vessel sailing out of the darkness.
The ship was shaped like a three-legged toad made of mountains, moonlight flowing over its hull. On board, a giant swung half a broken moon at a god-demon, nearly crippling it with a single blow!
The Village Chief froze, stunned.
The Moon Ship.
He had seen this ship before—when he searched for Carefree Haven, Quinn Shepherd had piloted it through the darkness to look for him.
He never expected to encounter the ship again here.
The god-demons fighting the ship were from High Heaven. Compared to Yan Jingjing, Quinn Shepherd was far more violent—swinging the broken moon without a care for the consequences!
Alongside him, the Dragon-Qilin was also on the ship, carrying the little fox, Serena Yunxiang, and a sapphire-blue Flood Dragon King who circled the vessel, battling another god from High Heaven.
"Quinn..."
Tears streamed down the old chief's face, his heart finally at peace as it slowly stopped beating.
The bird-headed deity tilted its head and looked at him. "Now you can be at peace, can't you? Come with me—Lord Hades is still waiting for you."
The Village Chief's heart beat one last time. He smiled, "I refuse to grow old."
His Primordial Spirit leapt from the Magpie Bridge, charging toward the Heaven Court.
"I was born a god of war! I will never surrender to age!"
His Primordial Spirit laughed, sword-qi swirling as he rushed toward the radiant Heaven Court. In that moment, it felt eternal.
Yet his white-haired, aged body collapsed to the ground.
Quinn Shepherd turned at the sound, and saw the Village Chief slowly petrify into a stone statue, falling from the sky.
——Second update!