“What?!” Tang Xiaoyun, Chamu, and the rest immediately exclaimed. Their hearts had nearly stopped when they heard what Gu Suihan had uttered out loud.
“The…gods!” The scholar seemed to have suddenly thought of it. His eyes lit up, and he gnashed his teeth nastily.
“The city god, the earth god, the gate god, the kitchen god…not a single one is around. Where are they?” Tang Xiaoyun unleashed his spiritual sense and started searching for any presence that carried the power of human vows and faith but came back with nothing.
“The north side…150 kilometers from here seems to be the newly built temple of the city god within Fengyang,” said Gu Suihan in an indifferent voice and a murderous look in his eyes as he withdrew his spiritual sense that had covered the city like the ocean.
Chamu scratched his head, and the giant hammer next to him began to exude a murderous air. “What a bad thing to happen. The second step hasn’t started, and we’re already facing such a major disaster.”
“The lowest of humans have been wiped out, so faith in them has crumbled, and their prowess has hit a low point.” The scholar put away his folding fan and glared northwards with a look of disgust.
It was well known that Confucius never spoke of the supernatural and that referred to these things that prided themselves on being gods and similar spiritual beings.
Ghosts weren’t so bad. At most, they could turn into vengeful ghosts and kill the living, but the only ones who would get killed were the ones who brought misery to these angry ghosts. But these gods were different. They were also creatures that existed like ghosts, except that they shamelessly cheated and fooled ordinary humans in order to gain power from their vows and faith, thereby making themselves more powerful. Their methods were quite similar to those of baldies who cultivated in Buddhism.
But when it came to being pretentious, the monks were clearly superior. Monks used the vows of ordinary people to cleanse their bodies and quench their spirits. Gods, on the other hand, could survive on just the faith of their believers.
The scholar’s words carried a clear message. Now was a good time to get rid of this potential threat. If they waited too long to do it, things might change.
“I need their godly crystals.” Gu Suihan looked at everyone, and a murderous smile spread across his lips. He didn’t really care about the existence of such beings in general, but right now, they were a variable that could upset his plans. Also, godly crystals, or their godhood, were something that was excellent for helping his spirit to recover from its injuries.
What were godly crystals? That referred to the stupid godhood thingy that those novels loved putting on a pedestal. To put it simply, those were spirits that were quenched with the vow power of their believers to the point where it became tangible. It was similar to a cultivator’s spirit. But compared to the latter, godly crystals were merely the gathering of belief from countless ordinary people. Its quality could not be compared to the spirit of a cultivator.
That was why once a deity suffered a decrease in believers, their godly powers would also decrease and they could even be completely destroyed.
In other words, if people believe in them, they’d be ridiculously powerful. If people don’t, then deities were garbage. For example, that mountain god who asked Gu Suihan for help. He couldn’t kill a demonic tiger that hadn’t even solidified its core for the same reason.
To put it the way a cultivator would, these deities were just a bunch of parasites that lived off lowly, ordinary humans. They were pathetic and hateful creatures.
“Kill them.” Chamu licked his thick lips and grabbed hold of his axe and hammer. He carried them on his back and glared unblinkingly at the northern side of the city with a violent glint in his eyes.
To cultivators, the existence of these deities was a major disturbance to the order of the cultivation world. An evildoer that wanted to claim territory for themselves. They were unscrupulous within their own territory, but they groveled at the feet of potential believers outside of it.
But because their ability to fool ordinary humans helped to maintain stability within the empire, the empire couldn’t be bothered to do anything about them.
“I’m done recuperating.” The scholar’s paleness was gone, and a faint but brimming trace of internal energy spread across his face.
“Let’s go.” Xia Yun finally got up by herself and slowly drew her curved sword, seemingly from nowhere.
She hated these deities, too, because their existence had impeded the advancement of the Order. So now, she was more than happy to bring them down.
A light breeze blew, and the tower suddenly started transforming into nothing but sand, flowing onto the ground and becoming a mound of dust. The people who once stood on top of it had disappeared.
“What do we do now?” whispered Li Yu. He carefully squeezed himself into the rubble of a collapsed house and looked at Rou Lingyun as he licked his dry lips. The more he looked at her, the more beautiful she seemed.
“We wait.” Rou Lingyun glanced at him indifferently and said emotionlessly, “We wait for the one who can save us.”
Us…
Li Yu had caught that. He felt even more admiration and respect for the Esteemed One. The Esteemed One was seriously nothing short of perfect. He even knew how to win the hearts of women!
“Save us?” Li Yu didn’t seem frustrated at all. The Esteemed One had secretly told him what to do, so Li Yu shamelessly continued to get closer to Rou Lingyun and put his face near hers like they were on close terms. He looked curiously at a crystal ball in her hands and said, “Only five people are allowed to live, and you think someone would save us both?”
Rou Lingyun could sense the growing manly scent next to her and frowned uneasily. She shifted away from him without making it obvious and said, “Yes, he will. He’s my father.”
“Father?” Li Yu’s face froze, and he let out a few sad laughs.
“My father, not yours,” emphasized Rou Lingyun as she rolled her eyes at him.
“Same difference, same difference.” Li Yu laughed awkwardly, then said to her with a resolute look, “Don’t worry, I will take responsibility.”
Rou Lingyun’s expression darkened, and she felt like yelling at him. Take responsibility, my foot, she thought.
But for some strange reason, the scene of how Li Yu had bravely charged at Xia Yun earlier suddenly appeared in her mind, followed by the scene of their lovemaking. She felt a little weak, and her calm heart was immediately thrown into confusion. She looked at the man grinning awkwardly at her and sighed inwardly. Just my luck, she thought.
“This is the temple of the city god?” Tang Xiaoyun held his halberd loosely and scanned the temple before him with a flippant look. Its gates were shut fast.
Bam! Gu Suihan didn’t want to waste any time. He drew a line in the air, and his qi turned into a sword with a gleam that was tens of meters in width. It whooshed loudly as it crashed down on the gate of the temple as well as its outer walls.
His qi spread out, and a loud and bright explosion instantly blew a huge hole in the once-gray and dead place.
ROAR! The two stone lions at the gate came alive and pounced at Gu Suihan with a roar.
“Get lost!” Chamu gave a sinister laugh as he kicked one lion and slapped the other, turning the two majestic lions into broken pieces instantly.
“Gate god!” Tang Xiaoyun carried his halberd, exerted strength in his waist, took a step forward, and flung the weapon. It shot out like a rainbow and moved as quickly as a roc. The illusion of a ferocious beast appeared on it and howled as it flew toward the gate.
“Who’s there?! How dare you desecrate the temple of the city god! You must be tired of living!”
Two angry voices resounded at the same time. The two colorful paintings above the gate lit up as qi was gathered to become two three-meter-tall warriors with strange weapons and gold armor.
“You’re the one who’s going to die!” Tang Xiaoyun’s halberd spun rapidly and came down powerfully as he screeched maniacally. The gold-armored warriors could barely raise their weapons, and before they could launch an attack, the spirit of a dragon residing in the halberd roared. Its aura gushed out like a rushing river, drowning the two warriors in an instant, then smashing the gate without any reduction in its energy level.
“For you!” Tang Xiaoyun picked up his halberd with ease and threw two transparent crystals the size of beans to Gu Suihan.
Gu Suihan nodded in response and threw both crystals into his mouth at once. The faint screams of the warriors could be heard but were cut off by a cracking sound as Gu Suihan chewed the crystals up and swallowed everything.
“The god of court officials, the god of writing, the city god, the earth god, the kitchen god…there are at least a few dozen more gods in there. None of them are getting away.”
Gu Suihan immediately refined the extremely pure and concentrated power of souls he possessed. He raised his right hand slightly and gently touched his saber. He moved swiftly to one side, and the gleam of his blade shone as frostily as the moon and filled the air like the ocean. Murderous qi shot into the sky, violent qi overshadowed the temple. He swung his blade, causing the sounds of ghosts crying and demons howling to resound. Countless vengeful souls wailed as they appeared one after another. The entire temple looked like a scene from hell.
Kaboom! Thunder boomed, and a deafening explosion echoed all around them. The entire temple was turned into dust after Gu Suihan had brought his blade down on it.
“Which lowly rat dares to offend me this way!” An angry and frustrated roar was heard, and a vast godly might gushed out from the main hall of the temple, the only place left standing. A gleaming golden figure loomed over Gu Suihan. It chased away the murderous qi he emanated, turning into more than ten humanlike figures that glowed brilliantly.
“Ha! Calling us rats? And that we’re offending you?”
The scholar gave a few snorts, then his gaze hardened. The temperature within a 100-meter radius fell within seconds. He flicked his fingers and snow began to fall. A powerful wind started blowing from all directions. It was as sharp as a knife and as aggressive as a sword. A frosty moon suddenly appeared in the sky, shining brightly with an icy silver gleam that covered the brilliant golden beams from the gods.
“Confucius does not like talking about deities!” He took a step forward and began ascending into the sky, as though there were a staircase made from air. His righteous qi exploded from within his body and the milky white aura turned into a boundless field of flowers. The flowers trembled and swayed in the wind, blooming and fading in the blink of an eye. His words seemed to have shaken the universe.
It only took seconds for him to push those deities back to the ground. They were unable to glow as brilliantly as before.
“The Way of martial arts, the Way of Confucius, and the Way of weapons.” Gu Suihan watched the rest launch their attacks, and his lips curled into a faint smile. He held his saber up, and the blade hummed quietly as the eyes of the sculpted ferocious beasts around its hilt lit up. He didn’t give those deities any chance even to speak as he brought his blade down on them. That was an attack filled with the fearsome murderous qi from decimating lives and exterminating living creatures. The attack was bold and vicious, unleashing its energy like an angry sea.
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