Chapter 516: Welcome Home... Leader

Within the Golden Giant lay a space of consciousness like a cosmic starry sky.

Three thousand Stars of Law dotted the dark universe, illuminating the consciousness of billions of living beings.

A crystal-blue phantom stood before the masses. It was Su Mu.

Above him, ten colossal divine consciousnesses spanned the starry sky.

At this moment, everyone shared a single target: the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws.

"Kill!" Su Mu's calm voice echoed across the universe.

The gods and mortals controlled by his Illusion Technique roared in unison, descending like rain to strike at the consciousness of the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws.

Facing this desperate situation, a cold sneer curved the lips of the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws.

Like a divine emperor whose very words were law, he spoke coldly. "Illusion Technique, dispel."

An invisible ripple immediately swept over the masses and the ten gods.

Confusion flashed through the eyes of the masses. After a brief silence, the ten gods suddenly grew furious.

They raged at being schemed against by the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws all these years—forced into slumber and nearly having their consciousness erased.

In that instant, every last layer of Su Mu's Illusion Technique was broken.

The Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws sneered. "You merged with me of your own accord, hoping to seize my body through a battle of consciousness. Little did you know that during our fusion, I naturally acquired your Illusion Technique as well. Now that the masses and The Gods have broken free from your illusions, it remains to be seen who will ultimately emerge victorious!"

Su Mu smiled faintly. "It seems you still don't understand human nature well enough. Did you really think I relied on illusions to control the masses?"

He turned to look at the countless living beings behind him.

"Where are the Seven Deadly Sins?!"

Suddenly, a resolute Black-Haired Man stepped out from the crowd.

Yang Dongqing stood silently beside Su Mu, directly facing the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws. He took a deep breath and shouted, "Seven Deadly Sins—Wrath!"

Immediately after, figure after figure stepped forward.

Nangong Mengli: "Seven Deadly Sins—Envy!"

Jun Wushang: "Seven Deadly Sins—Lust!"

Duanmu Qing: "Seven Deadly Sins—Sloth!"

Lin Canyang: "Seven Deadly Sins—Greed!"

Shangguan Mingyue: "Seven Deadly Sins—Gluttony!"

The six figures stood shoulder to shoulder. In unison, they called out to Su Mu, "All members of the Seven Deadly Sins... greet the Leader!"

The Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws looked at these six ants and scoffed. "This is your foundation among humanity?"

Su Mu only smiled, offering no answer.

At that moment, Yang Dongqing suddenly turned around. Facing the billions of human consciousnesses scattered across the starry sky, he roared, "Subjects of the Blood Moon Empire, hear my command! Follow your King... to God-Slaying!"

"We vow to follow the King of Wrath to the death!" countless citizens of the Blood Moon Empire roared from the crowd.

Jun Wushang: "Subjects of the Longyuan Empire, hear my command..."

"Red Lotus Empire..."

"Holy Empire..."

"Chiyan Empire..."

...

Led by their Kings, the citizens of the seven empires of the Divine Dream World stepped forward. The crowd boiled over!

Soon, the Transcendents of the three great domains—the Illusion Ash Realm, the Primal Desolation Realm, and the Dawn Domain—also joined the fray.

Su Mu's ranks swelled, drawing in people even from unfamiliar domains they had never seen before.

Seeing this, the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws's expression turned thoroughly grim. Even if these minuscule human consciousnesses were nothing but ants in his eyes, enough ants could still bite an elephant to death.

"Thanks to you stirring up humanity's hostility toward the gods, making them purge the faithful, loathe divinity, and turn entirely to cultivating the Law, they now view gods as the source of all disaster," Su Mu said with a smile. "Otherwise, they wouldn't have followed me to God-Slaying."

His gaze shifted to the masses. "Everyone, follow me... to God-Slaying!"

"Kill!!"

Roars of slaughter surged to the heavens. A battle of consciousness had thoroughly erupted.

It was a chaotic melee—a complete and utter free-for-all. Now that the ten gods had also broken free from the illusions, they no longer fought for Su Mu, but for themselves. Every single one of them wanted to seize control of this divine vessel and become the supreme God.

Among the ten gods, a few moved to besiege the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws, seemingly to avenge their years of forced slumber. Others attacked Su Mu, seeking revenge for being hypnotized and controlled.

A few others harboring old grudges broke directly into infighting.

For a time, the scene was chaotic to the extreme.

Yet in this massive brawl, the most miserable of all was the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws. Su Mu completely ignored the other gods, focusing entirely on beating him.

Leading the billions of human consciousnesses, he swept forward like a world-blotting plague of locusts.

These humans descended upon the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws's colossal consciousness and bit wildly, tearing countless tiny wounds into him.

This was the nature of a battle of consciousness. There were no flashy Transcendent abilities, no array of Artifacts or divine taboo objects. There was only the collision and brawl between consciousnesses—the most primal slaughter.

Attacked from all sides, the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws realized that if this continued, he would undoubtedly die. Once his injuries grew too severe, all the gods would unite to finish him off.

This was an elimination tournament. Every God was a potential competitor; eliminating one opponent meant a greater chance of winning.

"No!!"

As his injuries mounted, the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws suddenly roared at the sky. In the next moment, chains violently surged all over the Golden Giant in the outside world.

Crack! Snap!

The sound of shattering chains rang out continuously. The chains tethered to the billions of Transcendents completely snapped.

In the blink of an eye, the billions of Transcendents fighting in the starry sky of consciousness dissipated into nothingness. The starry sky instantly grew empty.

The Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws had discarded the masses.

Without the interference of their consciousnesses, the pressure on the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws drastically plummeted.

He tried to repeat the trick, intending to discard The Gods as well so he could focus entirely on Su Mu. Reality, however, did not grant his wish.

Now that all the gods had merged into one body, every single one of them knew this was a prime opportunity to become the Creator. Naturally, they wouldn't give up.

The Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws severed the chains binding The Gods, but instead of leaving, The Gods forcefully anchored themselves in place using their own divine power.

With this, the grand battle between the world's twelve True Gods raised its curtains.

At this moment, Su Mu also revealed his true form. His massive consciousness transformed into a swirling nebula in the cosmic starry sky, countless crystal-blue points of light flashing within it.

Twelve colossal behemoths relentlessly collided, annihilated, and devoured each other in the starry sky...

"This is the home ground of the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws. Why don't we slay him first, then settle the ultimate victor among ourselves?"

Sowing discord was practically Su Mu's specialty. His words instantly tempted the other gods.

The Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws's face darkened. Seeing the aggressively glaring gods, he knew he was in trouble. By normal logic, The Gods would undoubtedly unite to kill the strongest first—and as it happened, he was the strongest.

No, he had to throw the situation into chaos.

To break the deadlock, he could only introduce external forces.

He couldn't possibly bring human consciousness back in; that would only assist Su Mu. But humans weren't the only ones in this world. There were also Transcendent beasts, Nightmare Creatures, and... demigods!

With this thought, the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws immediately unleashed his power.

Outside, billions of golden rays erupted from the towering Golden Giant. The golden light wove into endless chains, directly sealing off heaven and earth.

All Transcendent beasts, Nightmare Creatures, and entities of the Demigod Realm between heaven and earth were bound by the golden chains, their consciousnesses dragged into the Golden Giant's body.

The once-vacant starry sky of consciousness became crowded again.

In the past, doing something like this wouldn't have been easy for the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws. But now, having fused with The Gods and possessing the Creator's Authority, he was basically half a Creator. He could achieve it with a mere thought.

Although Su Mu, as the God of Nightmares, had absolute authority over Nightmare Creatures, his origin had already merged as one with The Gods. With everyone indistinguishable from one another, all the gods held that authority—which essentially meant no one did.

The consciousnesses of Nightmare Creatures were chaotic, their behavior driven purely by the rules of their own nightmares. They attacked indiscriminately. Though they were far too weak compared to divine consciousnesses, their sheer numbers prevailed, practically exceeding the human population.

Everyone had nightmares, but not everyone had only had one.

Such numbers were enough to pose a threat to divine consciousnesses. It wasn't that the gods couldn't handle them; rather, no one was willing to expend too much of their own consciousness. The moment one's consciousness weakened, it would likely invite a combined assault, leading to an early elimination from this war for the Creator's seat.

Compared to the madness and chaos of the Nightmare Creatures, the demigods were much smarter. They scattered into the dark corners like jackals watching a pack of tigers fight, waiting for a chance to strike.

They wanted to become the Creator, too!

Relying on the battlefield's chaos, the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws temporarily shook off the siege of The Gods and gained a moment to catch his breath. However, this also added many uncertain variables to who would claim final victory.

At this moment, Su Mu struck again. He fought for control of the Golden Giant's body, wanting to pull the human consciousnesses back in to bolster his own odds of winning.

However, the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws quickly caught on. He immediately wrestled for control of the body, stopping Su Mu's efforts.

While the two were locked in a stalemate, the Primal Angel broke through layers of Nightmare Creatures, tearing across the battlefield to reach Su Mu's side.

On the other side, the Celestial Sovereign of Longevity arrived near the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws. Clearly, they intended to seize the opportunity of this deadlock to launch a sneak attack.

The two were forced to abandon their tug-of-war and engage the other gods.

In the outside world.

Yang Dongqing and the others watched the Golden Giant from afar as they led humanity in a constant retreat, putting distance between them and the battlefield.

"My power is dissipating..." Yang Dongqing said gravely.

"The connections to the Law have all been severed; we've all become ordinary people! And not just us—it seems all Transcendent power has been reclaimed," Nangong Mengli said, her expression equally solemn.

"But the physical enhancements from the Law are still here. Although our physiques are slowly degrading without the support of our power, we at least have to lead humanity far away from here before we turn completely into ordinary mortals."

"Exactly. A battle between gods is not something we can take part in. We can only hope the Leader wins against The Gods." Jun Wushang looked back, his expression etched with worry.

"He definitely will," Yang Dongqing said with absolute certainty. He glanced back, a confident curve suddenly touching the corners of his mouth. "Because... since the day I met him, I've never seen him lose.

This time... will be no exception!"

Right then, an anomaly erupted!

The desperately fleeing people suddenly noticed the towering Golden Giant melting inch by inch, like a phantom bubble. In mere moments, it dissolved without a trace.

Immediately after, the three thousand Stars of Law vanished along with it.

It was as if an invisible, giant hand had erased all Transcendent presence from the world in an instant.

The crowd stopped in their tracks, staring in shock at everything that had vanished.

"What is going on? Did the Leader win?" Jun Wushang asked blankly.

However, no one could answer that question.

Within the starry sky of consciousness.

"Xuan Tian! I have used the Creator's Authority to banish myself into the endless void. This time, no one will come to help you. Between you and me... we fight to the death!"

The Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws's gaze was feral. His decades of scheming had all been ruined by Su Mu; all his blood, sweat, and tears had washed down the drain.

Now, he had abandoned every plot, banished himself at all costs, and severed his own escape route. Now... all that was left was a desperate struggle for survival!

Banished into the endless void, even a God would struggle to find a way back. There was no concept of time or space here. There was absolutely nothing.

The sole chance of returning was to fuse with The Gods and the Creator's Authority to become the new Creator!

This was destined to be a fight to the death. In a chaotic battle of billions of consciousnesses and gods, only one person could survive... and ascend to the supreme peak!

Looking at the ferocious Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws and the sky full of brawling gods, within the crystal-blue nebula swirling above the black torrent of countless Nightmare Creatures, a figure in a black tailcoat was laughing.

That smile gradually widened. A sickly blush surfaced on his pale human face, and his crystal-blue eyes brimmed with joy and madness.

"Hehehe... This suits me just fine!!"

Deranged laughter echoed across the starry sky.

Su Mu was absolutely delighted. The more than ten years of boring life prior to this had left him terribly empty. Now, this battle to the death with The Gods made him feel a long-lost boiling of his blood.

At this moment, much like the Heavenly Venerate of Myriad Laws, all his tricks were exhausted. The only thing left was the most primal and purest slaughter!

This feeling of the situation slipping out of control, without any backup plans, without any preparation, where the outcome was completely unknown... It was truly... truly wonderful!!

Amidst Su Mu's mad laughter, the final battle completely erupted!

...

...

One year later.

A full year had passed since that war of the gods, and the human world had undergone earth-shattering changes.

Because the Transcendent Tier vanished, everyone had been reduced to ordinary mortals. The era of individual martial power ruling the world had come to an end.

This sudden change plunged the human world into turmoil, giving rise to countless ambitious individuals who had formerly been ordinary.

Some were wealthy merchants, some belonged to lowly gangs, and some were from family clans. But without exception, they were all ordinary people who had previously been suppressed by Transcendents.

With the disappearance of the Transcendent Tier, their ambitions began to swell. In just one year, hundreds of nations were established. Endless wars broke out as these nations fought over territory and population.

Of course, many of these kingdoms were established by former Transcendents. While some Transcendents who couldn't accept reality faded into the crowd, others quickly adapted, rapidly building up factions and growing stronger.

However, this chaotic situation was soon brought under initial control.

Relying on their powerful militaries and world-leading technological advantages, seven massive empires quickly carved out their domains in the human world and re-established order.

These seven colossal empires were precisely those led by the Seven Deadly Sins.

Even though Yang Dongqing and the others had become ordinary humans, they remained the Kings of their respective empires. Back in the Divine Dream World, their reforms and abolition of the noble system had long ago won them the hearts of the people.

The ten-plus years since arriving in Heaven had further allowed them to lead their empires in establishing a firm foothold.

Now that the Transcendent Tier had vanished, the empires experienced a period of unrest, but rebellions were quickly quelled. Perhaps some among them were unsuited to be Kings, but they were all members of the Seven Deadly Sins. By watching out for and supporting each other, they could handle any incident.

Furthermore, because Heaven had previously teemed with Transcendents, its technology had never fully developed. Overall, Heaven's technological level lagged behind the Divine Dream World's.

Given all these advantages, the Seven Great Empires became the seven strongest nations in the human world.

Five years later.

The seven nations joined forces to thoroughly pacify the world. With that, the era of hundreds of kingdoms ended, and the Era of the Seven Kings began.

Unlike in the Divine Dream World, this Era of the Seven Kings was extremely peaceful. There was no friction between the nations, because they all belonged to a shared organization and answered to a common Leader. Moreover... they were all waiting for their Leader to return.

Over the years, the members of the Seven Deadly Sins held the Seven Kings Council annually. Besides discussing international cooperation, the topic they debated most was: when would the Leader return?

Time slipped quickly by. They waited year after year. Without Transcendent power, the years left their marks upon them.

The Seven Kings Council convened less and less frequently. The topic of conversation also shifted... Could the Leader still return?

Ten years later.

The Seven Kings Council hadn't been held in a long time. The topic of the Leader seemed to have been forgotten, rarely brought up by anyone.

In truth, they hadn't forgotten; they had merely buried it deep in their hearts.

Some began to waver, feeling that the Leader might truly never come back.

Others remained steadfast in their belief that the Leader would undoubtedly return, but... perhaps they themselves just wouldn't live to see that day.

...

...

Twenty years after Su Mu's disappearance.

The Dark Night Empire.

The King of this massive empire, which held one-seventh of the world's population, stood alone by the window. The cold moonlight spilled through the glass over her, as if draping her in a layer of silver silk.

A simple, elegant silk nightgown outlined her tall, slender figure.

She stared blankly out the window for a long time. Despite possessing all the glory, wealth, and honor in the world, her face held only loneliness and desolation.

"Sigh." A quiet, mournful sigh echoed through the empty, luxurious room.

She returned to bed, took two sleeping pills, and slowly closed her eyes.

Moonlight filtered through the gap in the window and cast over her face, illuminating stunning features that had weathered the baptism of time. Even though a few wrinkles had appeared at the corners of her eyes, they couldn't hide her beauty; instead, they added an air of mature charm.

Though her youthful glamour had washed away, her deep sentiments remained; time never truly defeats a beauty.

Lying in bed with her eyes closed, she still found it hard to fall asleep, even with the aid of medication. Her mind traced the contours of that man's face over and over again.

Suddenly, she realized the moonlight on her face seemed to be blocked by something. A shadow had fallen over her.

She opened her eyes and looked toward the window, her entire body freezing.

Her beautiful eyes widened uncontrollably, her pupils trembling. Tears quickly welled up, then slid silently down her cheeks.

Under the cold moonlight, a figure in an elegant black tailcoat leaned against the window, a smile playing on his lips.

"I'm back," Su Mu smiled. His smile was exactly as it had been twenty years ago, as though it had never changed.

Looking at the face before her—the face she had studied countless times in the dark of night—Nangong Mengli broke into a smile. She was radiantly beautiful, like moonlight blooming in the night.

She gently wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled as she spoke.

"Welcome home... Leader."

[End of the Book]