Chapter 66: The Immortal God

Before anyone could react, the black energy surged again. This time it turned on the remaining yin corpses, splitting into countless blade-like tendrils that sliced through them and devoured them whole. In just a few breaths, every yin corpse shriveled and vanished before the onlookers’ eyes.

They had no chance to escape. Screams rose and fell, far more pitiful than when Xu Qingfeng and the elders had struck them. Terror and disbelief were still frozen on their rotting faces as their flesh and souls were consumed to nothing.

“G-God… why…” Some tried to speak, but they would never hear an answer.

It all happened so fast—barely a handful of heartbeats—and every yin corpse inside was gone.

“Not good!” Xu Qingfeng’s face changed instantly. “That thing inside is devouring their souls to awaken ahead of time!”

The group paled. Whatever it was, it could be nothing good.

“Quickly! We must suppress it now!” Xu Qingfeng shouted. Without hesitation, he pulled out several violet talismans and hurled them forward. The other elders reacted at once, weaving hand signs and chanting spells.

But they were too late.

With a deafening boom, a massive surge of black energy shot skyward. The entire ancestral shrine collapsed at once. Darkness poured upward like a storm, blotting out the sun and plunging the world into shadow. Day turned to night in the blink of an eye. In less than half an incense stick’s time, everything lay under an eerie twilight.

The earth shook violently. From the churning blackness a colossal figure emerged—towering like a mountain, its form shrouded in dense shadow. Its face was impossible to see, but the pressure it exuded pressed against every soul, crushing knees to the ground.

Xu Qingfeng grit his teeth, resisting the instinct to kneel. He shouted, “Elders! With me—cast the Evil-Sealing Mark!”

He bit his finger, drawing blood, and began to chant. The other elders caught on immediately, spreading out in a line to form seals and inscribe runes, voices ringing together:

“By the Supreme Mystic Gate, by the Ancestors’ shield,

Let all laws return to light, let no evil invade—

Seal demons, bind spirits!”

Brilliant white light flared. Golden chains shot from the air toward the massive shadow, wrapping tightly around its form. Just as the chains began to close, a chilling male voice echoed directly inside their minds.

“Fools.”

The single word wasn’t loud, yet it boomed in every head like thunder.

With a resounding snap, the Evil-Sealing Mark shattered. Power rebounded violently. The ten elders staggered back, coughing blood as spiritual force whipped through their meridians like a storm.

“Hall Master Xu!” disciples cried out, horrified. If even the combined strength of the Celestial Masters’ elders couldn’t restrain it, what was this thing?

Yun Jiao rushed to catch Elder Jiao, instinctively checking his pulse. His qi was chaotic, meridians reversed—classic backlash.

“How…?” Xu Qingfeng stumbled two steps before steadying himself, disbelief in his eyes. Why had the seal failed completely—and rebounded? Was this not a demon at all?

The cold voice rang out again, vast and echoing like the sky itself:

“I am a god of the Upper Realm. Ignorant mortals dare defy me? Only through devout worship will I pardon your trespasses… and grant you immortal flesh.”

Immortality. The disciples shuddered. Images of the devoured yin corpses flashed in their minds, and nausea twisted their guts.

“You vile thing—stop deceiving hearts!” Xu Qingfeng roared back. “We of the Mystic Gate will never allow you to plague the living world!” Wounded as he was, he still raised a sealing talisman and hurled it with all his strength.

The other elders followed suit, dozens of charms fusing into a single vast spell mark that slammed toward the shadow.

It did nothing. The mighty spell fizzled out on contact like a match in water—snuffed instantly.

Everyone froze. The thing radiated evil… yet anti-demon talismans had no effect.

Could it… truly have become a god?

Faces went pale.

“Hmph.” The immense shadow let out a cold laugh. The pressure around them deepened; some disciples crumpled to their knees outright, while even the elders trembled under the weight. The voice boomed like thunder:

“Bow—or die.”

At once, countless black threads shot forth from the shadow, the same force that had devoured the yin corpses.

The elders’ eyes went wide—they recognized the attack. They scrambled to throw up barriers, summoning protective talismans to hold back the deadly lines. Everyone—except Yun Jiao.

She stood at the front with the formation masters; her protective charms had all been used earlier on the safe house. She had no spiritual meridians of her own to defend with.

“Girl!” the old man shouted first, panic in his voice, rushing to reach her but already too late.

“Daoist Yun!” Jiao Hengyi gasped—he’d trusted her skills and hadn’t shielded her either.

Yun Jiao: “…MMP!”

Seeing the black threads close in, she clenched her jaw and in desperation snatched the one talisman her Grandmaster had shoved into her hands before she left. She didn’t even check what it was—she just threw it.

A flash of dazzling gold erupted. The light sliced through the darkness like a blade, forcing all the black threads to recoil instantly.

“Ahhh!” The massive shadow shrieked, its towering form shuddering as it staggered a step back. “What… what is that?”

The talisman Yun Jiao had thrown floated upward of its own accord, rising higher and higher as it blazed with blinding golden light.

“Could it be…” Xu Qingfeng stared in shock, an impossible thought flashing through his mind. “Is that…?”

“A Summoning-God Talisman!” Jiao Hengyi shouted first, voice cracking. It was unmistakable—this was heavenly radiance! Only a Summoning-God Talisman could call down such light.

The Summoning-God Talisman—supposedly a joke among talismans. In theory, it invited a celestial deity to descend, but it was regarded as useless; no immortal had ever answered the call. No one even bothered to draw them anymore.

Yet here it was… working.

(⊙ o ⊙)

Xu Qingfeng and the other elders were dumbstruck. As the golden light began to fade, he snapped back to action and yelled, “Daoist Yun! Quick—recite the Invocation of the Divine! Hurry! Once the light dies it’ll be too late!”

Yun Jiao jolted, then shouted without hesitation:

“Heaven and earth’s Mystic Gate,

Guardian of all living souls,

Slayer of evil, breaker of demons—

I summon the Divine!”

The moment her words rang out, the blinding gold surged skyward, tearing apart the roiling black clouds. A pillar of pure light speared into the heavens. From its heart, a figure slowly descended.

He was clad in spotless white, untouched by dust. His face was breathtakingly beautiful, yet impossible to gaze at directly, crowned with an unshakable divine majesty. Celestial radiance coiled around him; faint heavenly music echoed from far above.

Suspended in midair, he did nothing—yet all the evil qi recoiled in terror, scattering to the edges of the world. His cool, distant eyes swept the mortals below.

In one hand he held two long ceremonial implements… and in the other—a bowl!?

Σ(°△°|||)︴

Yun Jiao: “…”

Bai Yu: “…”

_-|||

Cultivation suddenly felt… pointless.

This was just too damn embarrassing!

(End of Chapter)