The Seven Realms' Heavenly River.
Inside a grand hall of the Seven Realms' Sacred Temple, the Clan Master of the Spirit Clan was in discussion with the various elders.
The appearance of the Primordial Killing Sea, the God Clan, and the Zhao Immortal Clan had made them realize that the power of the ancient races still lay beyond their grasp.
The God Clan in particular — their power was bizarre, and it warranted serious discussion so they could formulate a proper response.
Suddenly, an elder's voice came from beyond the hall doors.
"My Lords, the Observation Elder has detected unusual activity in Pingyuan Upper Realm of the Divine Body Heavenly River."
Upon hearing this, the Clan Master of the Spirit Clan immediately led the elders to the Observation Formation.
And once they looked, even their expressions changed.
They could see that the enormous Pingyuan Upper Realm had been engulfed by a mass of golden light.
The emergence of the golden light made Pingyuan Upper Realm appear even larger and far more conspicuous.
And that golden light seemed to be radiating from deep underground.
The golden light was no ordinary phenomenon — it had even interfered with their Observation Formation, making it impossible to see the situation inside Pingyuan Upper Realm.
"Activate the Sound Reception Formation located in Pingyuan Upper Realm," the Clan Master of the Spirit Clan ordered.
The Seven Realms' Sacred Temple was exceedingly ambitious. Even beyond the Seven Realms' Heavenly River, they had established Sound Reception Formations in many places they deemed important. Those formations could pick up sounds from certain areas.
"My Lord, all the Sound Reception Formations in Pingyuan Upper Realm have been destroyed," the Observation Elder reported.
"Then activate the Sacred Temple's own Sound Reception Formation and lock onto Pingyuan Upper Realm," the Clan Master of the Spirit Clan commanded.
An invisible wave of barrier energy shot out from the Seven Realms' Sacred Temple, traveling so fast that it reached Pingyuan Upper Realm in mere moments.
The wailing of Pingyuan Upper Realm's inhabitants then echoed through the Observation Formation, heard with perfect clarity by everyone present.
"This is dire — has some evil power emerged?" one elder asked.
Another elder immediately spoke up: "That golden light… doesn't it look remarkably similar to the golden light of the God Clan?"
When those words left his mouth, all the elders of the Seven Realms' Sacred Temple studied the golden light more closely — and found that the resemblance was indeed striking.
"Bullshit God Clan — that's clearly the Demon Clan," one elder cursed furiously.
"With commotion of this magnitude, is the God Clan about to fully reveal itself?"
The Clan Master of the Spirit Clan, meanwhile, fell into deep thought.
…
Meanwhile, in a certain location within the vast Martial Cultivation World, there existed an extremely hidden expanse of space — vast and mysterious, nearly impossible for ordinary people to observe, let alone enter.
Inside this vast space was something akin to another starry sky. Its area was naturally far smaller than the Martial Cultivation World, but it was nonetheless immense.
The starry sky stretched endlessly in all directions, and numerous worlds floated within it — though every single one was devoid of any aura of life, eerily silent and dead.
In one corner of the starry sky, a man with a great axe strapped to his back stood upon the void. This was Song Changsheng.
Song Changsheng gazed forward, his expression grave — yet the starry sky before him was pitch-black, completely empty.
But the hand gripping the axe handle behind his back told the truth: he was facing a formidable enemy.
Far away in the starry sky, in the direction of his gaze, another figure stood.
It was a woman dressed in white robes.
Her eyes were hollow — no eyeballs within them — and her black hair hung loosely behind her. At first glance, she looked like a vengeful specter.
In her left hand, she held a sword.
The sword remained sheathed, but Song Changsheng recognized its pommel.
When the Era of the Gods first began and people from across the realms had gathered, a demonic creature had appeared within the Era, intent on slaughtering everything in its path.
A bronze sword had slashed through the sky, cutting the creature down with merciless precision.
At the time, the sword was seen — but its wielder was not.
And the pommel of that sword was identical to the one in this woman's hand.
Suddenly, the white-robed woman turned her head and looked elsewhere.
Eyeballs had materialized within those previously hollow sockets.
They were a pale blue, like frost — beautiful, yet radiating power.
Song Changsheng could feel that her gaze was piercing through this vast space and reaching into the real Martial Cultivation World.
He had sensed something himself as well, but locked in a standoff with this woman, he dared not be careless.
Seeing that she had turned her attention outward, he followed her gaze. His own sight could also penetrate this vast space and reach the true Martial Cultivation World.
He saw the Divine Body Heavenly River. He saw Pingyuan Upper Realm engulfed in golden light. He could even ignore the golden light's interference and clearly see the miserable plight of Pingyuan Upper Realm's inhabitants.
He detected that the golden light was coming from underground and attempted to see through to the source, to uncover its true nature.
But he… was blocked.
Even he could not see through.
Song Changsheng withdrew his gaze and looked back at the woman.
Seeing the slight furrow of her brow, he felt somewhat reassured.
This white-robed woman also could not see through to what lay beneath the surface of Pingyuan Upper Realm.
…
Meanwhile, Chu Feng stood within the underground world of Pingyuan Upper Realm.
"A First Rank Heavenly God?"
Everyone stared at Chu Feng — whether members of the God Clan or the Fish Clan, not a single person could close their mouths.
Just moments ago, Chu Feng had unleashed the Thunder Mark, Thunder Armor, Thunder Wings, and Thunder Flames.
He had also pushed the Nine Slashes of Heavenly Thunder to the fourth slash. Originally a combat technique designed to stack his already heaven-defying battle power, Chu Feng had instead converted it into cultivation.
He had forcibly elevated himself from First Rank True God all the way to Ninth Rank True God.
This was the harvest Chu Feng had previously told Eggie about — what he would gain upon breaking through to the True God realm this time.
However, the drawback of this technique was that its consumption was enormous, far beyond what Chu Feng could fully control in his current state.
Using it now would not only ruin his future in martial cultivation, but would most likely cost him his life.
But Chu Feng had still activated his Bloodline Ability, raising his cultivation from Ninth Rank True God to First Rank Heavenly God.
Under normal circumstances, the Bloodline Ability could be used.
But having elevated his cultivation this far had already pushed him far beyond normal limits. His bloodline was under tremendous strain, and entering the Heavenly God realm through his Bloodline Ability in this condition was like pouring salt on a wound.
Yet Chu Feng had no choice. He had to save Little Fishy.
At this moment, the golden blood of the million God Clan members Chu Feng had slain spilled outward, but all of it dissolved into golden light and dissipated into the air.
Just as Zhao Daobin had said — the God Clan seemed to possess no Origin, not even a true soul. They were not living beings in any normal sense.
"Soul Gathering!!!"
But as several voices boomed out in unison— The Heavenly God brothers of Shen Bai who stood high in the sky were already forming hand seals.
And then the golden light that had dispersed from Shen Bai vanished in the blink of an eye.