Chapter 509: The Missing Xuantian Origin

One year later.

Su Mu stared at the massive cocoon of light, his face pale. By now, the holy light radiating from it had nearly died out, leaving only a faint, lingering glow. All three hundred and sixty eyes on its surface were closed.

"Is it finally about to succeed?" Wuming watched from the side, his gaze intense. Witnessing the death of a God brought a rare trace of emotion to his normally tranquil eyes.

"Scatter!" Su Mu commanded, a crystalline blue light erupting in his eyes.

At his shout, the holy light covering the Primal Angel completely died out. The cocoon turned into a dull earthen-yellow star, utterly devoid of light.

At the same time, the crystalline blue light in Su Mu's eyes faded. To erase the Primal Angel's consciousness, he had spent not only an entire year but also a nearly infinite amount of spiritual energy.

Even with the Xuantian Origin, waves of exhaustion washed over him.

Just then, the earthen-yellow star slowly began to fade. It dissolved inch by inch like a fragile bubble, ultimately vanishing without a trace.

Su Mu frowned slightly.

Seeing his confusion, Wuming explained, "The Primal Angel hasn't dissipated; it has returned to the world. It was originally an incarnation of the rules. Now that its consciousness has perished, it naturally reverted to the most primordial rules and returned to heaven and earth.

"It is just like how the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws transformed into the Three Thousand Laws after their death."

Su Mu nodded. This was his first time seeing a God's consciousness scatter and return to the world to become rules.

Although Xuan Tian, the God of Nightmares, had also died, their death was fundamentally different from the Primal Angel's. The Primal Angel's consciousness had been completely erased, allowing it to return to the world. Xuan Tian's consciousness, however, hadn't been erased—it had merely fragmented.

It had fragmented into the consciousnesses of all living beings within the entire Dream World.

"How long will you need to recover?" Wuming asked. "After all, the Primal Angel is not the only God."

A bitter smile surfaced on Su Mu's pale face. "At least a month. Erasing the Primal Angel's consciousness nearly drained my divine origin. I can only recover slowly through rest. If I could find the rest of the Xuantian Origin, I could speed up my recovery."

Wuming shook his head, his voice low. "Over the past year, I mobilized the entire Temple of God Slaying. We've searched nearly every corner of this world, but there is absolutely no sign of the remaining Xuantian Origin. Could it be in Hell?"

"It's not in Hell. I've already searched there," Su Mu said. "The Xuantian Origin must be in Heaven. Since even you can't find it, there is only one possibility."

"It is in the hands of the Gods," Wuming concluded.

Su Mu nodded. "Exactly."

"There are twelve True Gods in the world. Currently, the Temple of God Slaying has only discovered eight. None of their slumbering grounds contain the Xuantian Origin, so it seems it must be in the hands of the remaining four Gods.

"You go back and rest first. I will find those remaining four Gods."

Wuming set off immediately without a moment's delay. He was like a tireless machine, never once stopping to rest over the entire year.

Upon returning to the Temple of God Slaying, Su Mu went into seclusion. His expenditure had been too immense; it had been a long time since he felt this hollowed out.

A month later, when Su Mu had fully recovered, Wuming appeared right on time.

"You really don't take a single moment to rest," Su Mu said helplessly.

Wuming replied calmly, "There will be plenty of time to rest once the disaster of the Gods is completely resolved. We must hurry. Other members of the Temple of God Slaying have sent word that some Gods have recently shown signs of awakening. We have to kill them before they wake up."

"That is truly bad news."

"There's another piece of bad news."

"What is it?"

"I found the Divine Realms where the remaining four Gods reside, but I still couldn't locate the Xuantian Origin. It seems it isn't in their hands after all."

Su Mu frowned. "Not in their hands?"

"Correct. I searched all of their Divine Realms. I know you might suspect I secretly hoarded the Xuantian Origin to prevent you from becoming a God. You can go search for yourself. You can sense the Xuantian Origin, so it will be easy to know if I'm lying."

"All right." Seeing Wuming speak so candidly, Su Mu decided to go look for himself.

He left the Temple of God Slaying and used Dream World teleportation to sweep through almost the entirety of Heaven.

With his current strength, he could appear in the dreamscape of any location at will. He didn't even need to search place by place. As long as he reached the general area, he could simply activate the Xuantian Origin to sense if the rest of it was there.

Unfortunately, he didn't find the missing Xuantian Origin anywhere in Heaven. Wuming hadn't lied.

Furthermore, Su Mu didn't believe Wuming could secretly hide it anyway. Given his connection to the Xuantian Origin, there was simply no way for Wuming to conceal it from him.

...

...

"Who is the next target?" Returning empty-handed, Su Mu went back to the Temple of God Slaying to continue taking on missions.

Even though the Xuantian Origin couldn't be found for the time being, the God-Slaying couldn't stop. Every single God was a ticking time bomb capable of destroying the world. They absolutely could not be allowed to wake up.

"The Celestial Sovereign of Longevity. It shows the strongest signs of awakening. Currently, two members are suppressing it. Let's head out."

As he spoke, Wuming opened a spatial channel.

The two immediately set off for the Divine Realm where the Celestial Sovereign of Longevity resided.

The Divine Realm of the Celestial Sovereign of Longevity was highly unusual. It resembled a chaotic land that had transcended the shackles of time and space. Standing right at the center was the Celestial Sovereign's true form.

It was an indescribable divine tree. Its billions of roots spread out in all directions like colossal pythons tens of thousands of meters long, snaking their way down into the endless dark Abyss. The divine tree's main trunk pierced straight into the clouds, as if trying to break through the very boundaries of the universe.

The bark was rough and ancient, crisscrossed with deep grooves, each one akin to a massive canyon.

Its foliage was as dense as a nebula, and every single leaf was the size of a mountain range. They radiated a mysterious light that intertwined to form a bizarre energy field, distorting the time and space around the tree.

At the edge of the divine tree, two figures were casting spells.

When Su Mu and Wuming appeared, the two immediately sensed their arrival and turned around.

"Greetings, Hall Master." A resolute-faced man with fiery hair bowed to Wuming, then shifted his gaze to Su Mu.

He smiled. "This must be the God-Slayer, Su Mu, I presume?"

God-Slayer?

Su Mu hadn't expected to gain another nickname, but he didn't mind. He smiled and nodded in greeting.

"I am Flame Lord," the red-haired man said, cupping his fists.

The other person also took a step forward and stated their codename: "Yong Ji."

Yong Ji appeared much more aloof, wearing a water-blue robe over a tall, slender build.

"Flame Lord and Yong Ji have been here suppressing the Celestial Sovereign of Longevity for many years. If you need helpers, these two are perfect for the job," Wuming said calmly.

Su Mu shook his head slightly. "There's no need. I am enough on my own. You two can go watch over the other Gods."

Wuming nodded and told the pair, "Let's go. Leave this place to Su Mu."

A hint of joy appeared on their faces. Clearly, they had spent enough time here and were finally free today.