Chapter 146. The Olympian Pantheon, The Upcoming Great Era

Before the castle on Mount Olympus, Lu Yuan stood tall, golden vital qi swirled around him as if it were alive. Waves of overwhelming power erupted from him, surging outward like tidal waves.

The Celestial Archangel sprawled out beneath his foot. The arrogance of the figure worshipped by countless Westerners had vanished. Blood spilled from his mouth, and every bone in him was shattered. He looked pitiful, crushed under an oppressive weight so absolute that resistance was impossible.

His eyes held nothing but pure despair.

Lu Yuan pressed down with his foot, and the Celestial Archangel convulsed.

He struggled desperately, but he could not move even a fraction of an inch. The gap in their power was simply too massive. As for the arrays of the castle, they were powerless against Lu Yuan.

The Bloodforce Pagoda churned, and the arrays shattered, rendering them useless.

"God sent me here to save humanity. I represent Him. You—" The Celestial Archangel was terrified. He wanted to say more, but his pride wouldn't allow him to beg. Instead, he tried to use his status to stop Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan stomped on him.

Splat!

The Celestial Archangel scattered into a bloody mist. Streams of blood flowed from his dilapidated remains, and his wings of light dimmed until they became dark. He was dead, reduced to mere scattered bones and flesh.

It happened so easily as if Lu Yuan had taken candy from a baby. He had crushed the Celestial Archangel with a single stomp, and his expression remained unchanged the entire time.

Lu Yuan slowly turned to the side where the Holy Knight stood. The Holy Knight's face had gone deathly pale, terror flooding his eyes. When Lu Yuan's gaze landed on him, a chill shot straight to the crown of his head, as if someone had plunged him into an ice cellar.

This man was simply too powerful. He was decisive in his killing, utterly merciless, and held absolutely no reservations. Even a nuke couldn't kill him; he was nothing short of terrifying.

The Holy Knight knew one thing for sure—he was in danger!

"The Alliance of Humankind is great. It'll unite humanity as we go further down the path of evolution. It's a win-win alliance, and I absolutely support it!" the Holy Knight shouted in a hurry. Sensing that it wasn't enough, he added, "And not just Mount Olympus! I will persuade other nations to join the Alliance of Humankind. They will definitely agree!"

The Holy Knight believed there was still room for negotiations. He hoped these words would make Lu Yuan stop. He had no choice, as he truly did not want to die. In the New Era, his status had become incomparably noble. Even the councilors of his nation followed his lead without question.

He had reached the absolute pinnacle of power, especially in the current stage of evolution. In the future, he was destined to live a very long life, so how could he be willing to die?

Yet across from him, Lu Yuan seemed to have heard nothing at all and walked forward instead.

"Wait, wait, wait! Behind the castle, there's a garden filled with the spiritual fruits and exotic herbs I've gathered over the years!" the Holy Knight exclaimed, "There is an array guarding it, but if you agree, I can give them all to you. Yes, I will offer them as tribute!"

The Holy Knight was panicking now. He spoke desperately, begging for his life to be spared.

Lu Yuan's steps finally paused. The pause gave the Holy Knight a glimpse of hope for survival. Yes, what did the Awakened need the most? Was it not spiritual fruits and exotic herbs? There was salvation—true salvation at last!

However, Lu Yuan's next words left the Holy Knight completely stunned.

"Spiritual fruits and exotic herbs? Why would I need you to offer them to me?" Lu Yuan smiled faintly. "Once I cut you down, won't everything in this castle be mine to take as I please?"

With that, he took a single step forward, and golden vital qi erupted from him.

The Holy Knight and the flaming warhorse beside him felt as if an entire mountain had crashed down upon them in that very instant. They were rendered completely immobile.

Lu Yuan slowly raised his hand and pressed downward, and an even more powerful force descended upon them.

Splat! Splat!

Two consecutive grotesque noises rang out. The Holy Knight's armor shattered into pieces. Then, his entire body split apart, and his blood splattered into the air. The flaming warhorse also exploded; it couldn't be deader than dead.

Fortunately, the horse had company in the afterlife, as the Holy Knight followed immediately afterward. He sprawled out on the ground, never to stand up again.

The two representatives of two major Western powers were killed, but the reporters were halfway down the mountain, so the scene was bound to elude the world's eyes.

Of course, Lu Yuan couldn't care less. In fact, his emotions remained unchanged from the beginning until the end. They had set the trap first, using a literal nuke against him. In particular, the Celestial Archangel had provoked Lu Yuan multiple times before.

Hence, they deserved to die. Lu Yuan said nothing more. He simply raised his head to look at the castle, the legendary abode of the gods.

"Master," said the Golden-Winged Great Peng as it descended.

It had been circling the skies earlier. Thanks to their Blood Bond, it knew its master survived the nuke. The power of humanity's modern weaponry had greatly astonished the Golden-Winged Great Peng, but Lu Yuan's power had stupefied it.

Now, it felt fortunate to have such a master. Mutated beasts always believed that might would make right; they respected and feared the strong.

Just like back on Mount Tai, why had the Peacock King agreed to halt the beast tide? The reason was simple. Even if Lu Yuan couldn't slaughter every mutated beast in the world, he would have easily slaughtered those beast kings at the time.

The Golden-Winged Great Peng's thoughts eluded Lu Yuan. He simply nodded and walked straight into the castle. The castle was vast, containing many rooms and secret chambers underground.

He didn't have the luxury of time to check every room, so he opened his Martial Dao Heavenly Eyes to scan the area. He immediately knew that most rooms were useless, holding no secrets worth mentioning.

In the end, he went straight to the great hall where twelve seats stood arranged.

Three seats held positions of honor, while the other nine stood behind them in succession. Sunlight streamed in from outside, reflecting off the glass, making the great hall truly feel and look like the legendary abode of the gods.

Lu Yuan looked around and discovered murals on the walls.

"Master, what are those?" The Golden-Winged Great Peng had shrunk its form to look around, and its eyes were filled with confusion.

"The twelve Olympians. I guess we truly are in

the

pantheon," Lu Yuan answered. He looked at the first three figures on the wall, which depicted Zeus, the King of the Gods, Poseidon, the God of the Seas, and Hades, the King of the Underworld.

"Gods? The King of the Gods? How arrogant. I wonder how they compare to the Human Sovereigns," the Golden-Winged Great Peng remarked. It found the figures depicted in the murals to be of little significance. It believed that only the Human Sovereigns of Huaxia could truly be called "gods."

"I don't know about anything else, but in terms of character and achievements, they fall far short of our Human Sovereigns." Lu Yuan smiled faintly as he casually explained, "Who among the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of Huaxia had not made great contributions to humanity?

"Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs, Suiren introduced fire, Fuxi split the heavens with a single stroke to create the

bagua

; Emperor Yao created an accurate calendar to track the four seasons for agriculture, and so on. Every single one did their best to help humanity develop and thrive.

"In contrast, the lives of the twelve Olympians were full of conspiracies and power struggles. Whatever blessings they bestowed upon people were often accompanied by disasters. How could they compare to our Sovereigns?"

The Golden-Winged Great Peng nodded upon hearing that. Then, it asked, "So Master, are these so-called gods still alive?"

"They

might

appear in the future," Lu Yuan replied. Within his ten years' worth of memories, they appeared but only after multiple Global Awakenings. Indeed, there wouldn't be just one Global Awakening. More awakenings would ensue, culminating in the arrival of the Great Era.

Lu Yuan pondered over it. More than a year had passed since the first great awakening. Soon, there would be another Global Awakening. Just then, a question came to him. If even these gods would manifest, what about the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors? And what about those figures in myth?

Would they ultimately descend into this era as well? In his previous life, he had struggled at the bottom. He hadn't lived a long life, either, so he hadn't witnessed that much, but now... perhaps things would be different.

Lu Yuan shook his head to dismiss his thoughts.

"Let's go to the back of the castle," he said. According to the Holy Knight, a garden lay there, planted with spiritual fruits and exotic herbs they could not miss.

Soon, one man and one peng arrived before a massive garden.

A layer of light shrouded the area, preventing entry. Beyond the light array stood ancient trees along with spiritual fruits and exotic herbs sparkling with rich life essence.

Lu Yuan noticed that some of them were almost as good as a divine artifact, but they had yet to mature, which explained why they remained planted here.

The Golden-Winged Great Peng stared in shock, finding the sight astounding.

"So the Holy Knight didn't lie..." Lu Yuan murmured. He knew the Holy Knight had likely collected these treasures from the many nations of the Western world. The Holy Knight was a domineering individual. He was willing to kill anyone who opposed him, and he often did it to seize their treasures.

Today, it seemed Lu Yuan would end up harvesting the fruits of the Holy Knight's crimes. Without further ado, Lu Yuan stepped forward and threw a punch.

Crack!

The light array shrouding the garden shattered. Without hesitation, Lu Yuan flipped his palm and formed hand seals. The Meridian Heavenmend Furnace appeared and grew dozens of feet wide while suspended upside down in midair.

A powerful suction force erupted from within, swallowing every spiritual fruit and exotic herb in the garden. Even the soil wasn't spared; Lu Yuan plundered everything.

Afterward, the Meridian Heavenmend Furnace shrank until it became as big as Lu Yuan's thumb. Lu Yuan then tucked it into his robes.

The scene left the Golden-Winged Great Peng speechless.

It really is a useful artifact.

Lu Yuan sighed with appreciation. He had done pretty much everything that ought to be done. There was no need to stay here any longer.

He had already killed the Celestial Archangel as well, so he had no need to visit the Vatican. It was time to go back. Of course, before that, he had one last matter to attend to.