Chapter 514: Offense and Defense Reversed

Su Mu smiled and nodded. "I did consider that. Since you managed to snatch the Creator's Authority right out of the hands of The Gods, it proves you are the strongest among them. It would have been very difficult for Xuan Tian to succeed.

"I imagine you didn't want to become the target of their collective wrath, so you deliberately let Xuan Tian take the Creator's Authority and draw their siege. Xuan Tian fell right into your trap, which is why he met such an end.

"But what you didn't expect was that Xuan Tian would ultimately place the authority inside the Divine Dream World, ensuring no one could get their hands on it."

A cold sneer tugged at the corners of the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws' mouth. "Did you really think my goal was the Creator's Authority?"

Su Mu raised an eyebrow, as if realizing something. "Your target was The Gods!"

"Not just The Gods, but the entire world!" The Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws looked at the golden chains locking down all living beings and The Gods, a mocking gleam in his eyes.

"The Gods are terribly short-sighted. They had eyes only for the Creator's Authority, plotting to fuse with it and ascend as the new Creator. Little did they know, the world itself is also a part of the Creator. If the world is the Creator's body, then the authority is merely the heart.

"Why would I ever forsake the greater prize for a lesser one?"

Revelation dawned on Su Mu. "So you never intended to fuse with the Creator's Authority from the very beginning. Your true goal was to instigate the War of the Gods and let them whittle each other down so you could reap the final harvest. The gods have slumbered for all these years because you struck when they were at their weakest, right after the war!"

"Exactly. As long as The Gods were alive, no one could safely fuse with the Creator's Authority. Rather than facing their combined siege, it was far better to exploit their greed and turn my sights on the other gods!"

Su Mu finally understood everything. From the very beginning, the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws had intended to assimilate The Gods into his Divine Law. Using the law as his net, he hadn't just ensnared the deities—he had cast it over all living beings.

He had intentionally opened a Transcendent path for humanity, baiting them into willingly stepping into his web of law to become his prey.

Now that all living beings and The Gods were caught in his net, they had all been reduced to a part of his power. He only needed to slay the very last deity—the God of Nightmares—to safely fuse with the Creator's Authority and ascend as the new Creator!

"The Gods are dead, and now... you are the only one left, Xuan Tian!" the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws sneered.

"Your current emotions, and even your manner of speech, are very similar to a human's," Su Mu suddenly remarked, entirely off-topic.

The Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws didn't deny it. "By absorbing the world's Transcendents into the law, my consciousness was inevitably battered by billions of human minds, tainting me with a trace of humanity. But it hardly matters. Once I become the new Creator, none of that will be an issue.

"Besides, are you not the same? You were once a god, yet after your consciousness was scattered, you actually allowed a human mind to take the lead when you reformed. Compared to me, you are nothing but a human wearing the skin of a god.

"Enough of this nonsense. Savoring the moment instead of seizing an imminent victory—this innate human flaw brings me a certain pleasure, but it is a meaningless indulgence all the same. Once I ascend as the Creator, I will erase it completely."

Su Mu couldn't help but laugh, marveling at the sheer power of human nature. The old trope—villains die from talking too much—was a terrible habit that not even a god infected with humanity could escape. Even in this situation, his foe couldn't resist fooling around for a bit to savor the fruits of victory.

"Take your own life, Xuan Tian," the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws said impassively. "You now stand against all living beings and The Gods themselves. You have zero chance of winning. Allowing you to end it yourself is the final dignity I will afford you."

Good lord, another terrible human habit.

"How will we know if I don't try?" Su Mu asked with a smile.

"Hmph." The Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws let out a cold snort, his eyes brimming with mockery. "Your only trick is escaping into the Dream World. But you have already been bound by the Divine Chains of Law! I'd like to see how exactly you plan to try!"

"Then watch closely." Su Mu slowly extended his right hand. A crystalline blue light erupted in his eyes and converged in the center of his palm.

The Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws stood with his hands clasped behind his back, watching his actions haughtily, without the slightest intention of stopping him.

The next moment, a miniature replica of the Dream World materialized in Su Mu's hand.

"A futile struggle."

As far as the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws was concerned, nothing Su Mu did could possibly win against him. With every Transcendent in the world under his control, along with the might of ten gods, his lineup was absolute. Short of the Creator returning to life, he was utterly invincible.

Su Mu was merely a single god. How could he possibly win?

Even if, by some miracle, Su Mu refined the Creator's Authority within his body this very instant, he could still easily defeat him!

One wielded the Creator's body, while the other held the Creator's heart. Anyone could see at a glance who possessed the greater strength.

Just then, Su Mu's hand suddenly exerted force, viciously crushing the miniature Dream World in his palm.

Crack... crack...

The sharp sound of the Dream World shattering rang out continuously, followed immediately by a deafening boom!

An overwhelmingly vast consciousness surged upward, tracing the towering phantom of an angel against the void.

It was none other than... the Primal Angel!

The expression of assured victory on the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws' face froze. "This is... the consciousness of the Primal Angel! You didn't erase Him?!"

Boom!

The phantom of a divine tree bloomed outward, its branches looking as though they could hold up the entire starry cosmos.

The Celestial Sovereign of Longevity!

A massive, twisting vortex; a gate of bone spanning the stars; a colossal nest riddled with billions of hollowed pores...

The Twisted God, the Bone Gate God, the Void Mother Hive... The consciousnesses of all the gods descended upon the world.

The phantoms of ten towering behemoths crammed the heavens and the earth, standing as a protective guard around Su Mu.

"Since I figured out your scheme early on, why would I ever erase their consciousnesses?" Su Mu asked. "I really ought to thank you. If you hadn't forced them into a deep slumber, I never would have had the chance to seize control over the gods!"

Su Mu threw the exact words the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws had spoken earlier right back in his face.

"Gods, return to your places!"

At Su Mu's command, the ten colossal consciousness entities dissolved into streams of light and shot straight back toward their own bodies.

"Don't even think about it!" the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws roared. He closed his hand in the void, and the three thousand Stars of Law instantly wove into a massive net that snatched at the fleeing divine consciousnesses.

Unfortunately for him, he caught nothing but empty air.

Out of his Three Thousand Laws, the Dream Law was the only one capable of targeting consciousness entities—and he had already given it away to Su Mu.

In a flash, The Gods returned to their places. The ten deities bound by the golden chains opened their eyes and awoke!

Rumble—!

The heavens and the earth quaked violently, and the stars trembled as if ready to fall.

The Divine Law, perched at the very pinnacle of all laws, now showed signs of collapsing.

It was the struggle of the ten gods breaking free from the restraints of the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws.

The Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws' face turned icy. A golden palm large enough to blot out the sky materialized in the void, ruthlessly clamping down on the golden chains wrapped around the ten gods.

"Did you really think this would be enough to defeat me?" he bellowed. "Their very origins have already been assimilated into the Divine Law! Even with their consciousnesses restored, they will never break free!"

He spoke the truth. No matter how violently the ten gods thrashed, they couldn't shake off the golden chains, because they had already fused into the Divine Law. So had Su Mu; having absorbed the tampered Dream Law, he could control himself, but he was still bound by the chains.

The situation for the ten gods was even more dire. With their entire origins bound into the Divine Law, they had absolutely no freedom of movement.

"The Gods alone cannot defeat you," Su Mu said. "But what if... I add all living beings?"