Chapter 3178: Heaven’s Punishment

"You've surprised me. While you may have reached the Origin realm and I might not be able to defeat you easily, I still urge you to reconsider. If I leave, Tian Fa will take my place, and its power is completely destructive. Not even Ortusers can easily stand up to it. Once it takes action, there is almost no chance for your people to survive. Tian Fa fears no creature, and it will not negotiate with anyone."

Shan Gu glanced over at Lu Yin, who asked, "Is Tian Fa stronger than you?"

The butterfly replied, "I am Tian En, the one who delivers heaven’s blessings. Tian Fa is the one who delivers heaven’s punishment."[1]

Lu Yin frowned. "Dealing with the Lost Clan should be your responsibility. The Heavens Sect hasn't interfered with your duties, so why would Tian Fa get involved?"

The butterfly was taken aback. "How do you know about that? Normally, no one knows anything about us. Even your Origin Progenitor tried to avoid us in the past and might not know everything about us. Only creatures from outside this megaverse who try to enter know such things. Are there other outsiders among your humans?"

Lu Yin's expression was calm. "It was just a guess."

Even Shan Gu glanced over.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The butterfly sighed. "Dao Monarch Lu, please understand that expelling outsiders is our duty as we ultimately want to protect this place. If outsiders from other megaverses are allowed to freely enter this one, it could introduce unimaginable disasters."

Lu Yin agreed with this. If the Boundary Guardians were actually fulfilling their proper duties and not getting involved in internal conflicts between forces within the megaverse, then he would have no reason to oppose them. Even if felt the need to protect Mister Mu and Great Elder Shan Gu, it would not create any hatred.

However, were the Guardians really not involving themselves in internal power struggles? At least for the moment, they seemed clearly inclined towards Aeternus.

Additionally, Ancestor Lu Yuan and the others from the Heavens Sect era had mentioned that the butterfly had entered the Origin Universe before. Back then, its presence had brought disaster upon the First Mainland before Tian En was ultimately driven away by the Origin Progenitor himself.

Lu Yin trusted the Origin Progenitor more than the butterfly. If the Origin Progenitor had driven the butterfly out of the Origin Universe, then the man clearly had not wanted it to stay in the First Mainland. From that perspective, Lu Yin also needed to consider that the butterfly's intentions might not be as simple as they appeared to be.

"Your responsibilities are heavy. I will support them, but I do have a question. Who gave you your duties?" Lu Yin asked.

The Great Elder stared at the butterfly. At this moment, he was suddenly reminded of his homeland and of the omnipotent being. It seemed that only a being with that level of power could assign an Ortuser a job.

The butterfly slowly flapped her wings, scattering light. "Dao Monarch Lu, once you reach our level, you will naturally understand the importance of protecting your own megaverse. We voluntarily joined together to stand guard over the four regions of the megaverse, with the sole responsibility to drive all outsiders away. No one assigned us this responsibility."

Lu Yuan arrived at that moment, and he rolled his eyes at the butterfly's words. "I'm also an Ortuser, so why don't I feel that way?"

Lu Yin chuckled. "I don't believe you, and I can't. Tian En, you keep telling us that humanity has shown you kindness, so why won’t you give us even this answer?"

"I'm telling you the truth, Dao Monarch Lu. I really don't want you to have to deal with Tian Fa. It will not discuss matters with anyone, and if it comes here, things won't end well for you," the butterfly replied.

Lu Yin nodded. "I've heard your warning, but my question remains the same: why would Tian Fa come here? Dealing with the Lost Clan should be your responsibility. If you are not capable of fulfilling your duties, they should not be pushed onto Tian Fa."

The butterfly denied that claim. "If Tian Fa can’t take over after I’ve failed, why would they be called heaven’s punishment?

"Tian Fa enforces heaven’s punishment, while 'heaven' refers to our megaverse. Tian Fa's duties cover the entire megaverse. So, Dao Monarch Lu, I will ask one last time: are you willing to allow the Lost Clan to leave this megaverse?"

Great Elder Shan Gu frowned. "We will not leave, even if it means our deaths."

In the past, he had behaved entirely reactively, no matter if it was in regards to the war with the Aeternals or the threat of being driven out of the megaverse. Even if all of his people were to be killed, he had not wanted to drag the Heavens Sect into the matter. However, things had changed. The realization that Lu Yin was capable of upgrading Heavenly King had given him a glimpse of an opportunity for their people to return to their civilization’s peak. How could Shan Gu abandon that?

The butterfly sighed. "In that case, I'm truly sorry, but Tian Fa will be coming. Take care."

With that, she flapped her wings and flew away.

Shan Gu looked at Lu Yin. "Dao Monarch, Tian Fa might not be easy to deal with."

Lu Yin pondered for a moment before ordering, "Take the members of your Lost Clan away. Great Elder, you will need to face Tian Fa alone. As long as you haven’t been dealt with, Tian Fa won’t target others, as they are far less valuable than you."

Great Elder Shan Gu expressed his gratitude. "Thank you, Dao Monarch."

Tian En’s retreat did not mean that the butterfly was incapable of defeating Shan Gu. According to her, she delivered the heaven’s blessings, but after encountering an Ortuser opponent, she made it sound like it was only natural for Tian Fa to deliver heaven’s punishment.

Once the butterfly left, the people of the Lost Clan were quickly and secretly evacuated. Aside from a select few, no one in the entire Heavens Sect knew about this matter.

Lu Yin remained in the Lost Clan's universe, waiting for Tian Fa's arrival.

He wanted to see just how powerful the so-called “heaven’s punishment” was.

Of course, Ancestor Lu Yuan stayed behind as well.

Before long, they were joined by Hongyan Mavis.

There were others who wanted to join them as well, but Lu Yin refused. This was not an all-out battle, and the presence of others would not make any difference.

Half a month quickly passed, and one day, a mass of blood-red liquid drifted through outer space. There was enough liquid to drown ten people.

The blood-red liquid moved oddly. There were times when it would vanish, only to reappear again. It did not take any turns or shift its route the slightest bit as it headed straight for the Lost Clan's universe, passing through other parallel universes along the way before it finally entered that universe.

Even when it arrived in the Lost Clan's universe, the blood-red liquid made no sound and did not alter course, but rather simply headed straight for the Great Elder.

Soon, there was an abrupt surge of blood-red light that filled the entire universe.

The Origin Universe was connected to the Lost Clan's starry sky, and Jiao Feng was in his mecha, Perpetua, at the spatial passage that connected the two universes. The mecha pilot stared ahead of him. Just what was happening? The Lost Clan’s entire universe had turned blood-red.

Lu Yin, Lu Yuan, Hongyan Mavis, and Great Elder Shan Gu's expressions all changed. What were they feeling?

"Heaven’s punishment has arrived. The Lost Clan is sentenced to annihilation," the blood-red liquid uttered in a deep voice that oozed bloodlust. It echoed across the universe and sent chills down the spines of all who heard it.

Lu Yin stared into the distance. Was that... a mass of blood?

Lu Yuan's face fell. "Such arrogance."

Hongyan Mavis clenched a fist. "This feeling... this is bad."

Shan Gu's expression had turned grim. He could feel just how terrifyingly powerful Tian Fa was. The entire starry sky had taken on a blood-red color, and the feeling that Tian Fa gave off was completely different from the butterfly.

Tian Fa’s only goal was slaughter.

Lu Yuan shouted angrily, "So you're Tian Fa, right? And your duty is to expel outsiders who don't belong to this megaverse? Tian En claimed the same thing, and yet you only want to kill?"

The blood moved through space, slowly approaching the three people. "Tian Fa exists solely for slaughter. All who obstruct my duty will be killed without mercy."

After that, a cold light rose up from beneath everyone's feet.

Lu Yin and the others looked down, and endless blades appeared throughout the entire universe, each of them targeting Great Elder Shan Gu.

While Lu Yin and the others were within the blades’ range, none of them were targeted. However, they had no doubt that, if they interfered, those blades would turn on them as well.

Shan Gu instantly pulled out his card, and the appearance of Heavenly King brought out the three statues. They sealed off the void in an attempt to block the approaching blades.

Countless blades slashed at the Great Elder, only to be blocked by the three statues. The endless attacks were all continuously eliminated.

The space around the man and his card was constantly being shattered, and the Hollow appeared before spreading out.

Lu Yin and the others had no choice but to pull back. They could only hope that Shan Gu would be able to survive Tian Fa's blades.

The blades seemed endless, and the power of Heavenly King was being rapidly drained. There was a feeling of desperation, and one of the statues suddenly moved. Its hand slowly rose up to point at Tian Fa.

Blood leaked from Shan Gu's mouth when he activated this attack. He was capable of unleashing his card’s attacks without pulling his opponent into the card’s pocket dimension, but only those who had reached the Great Elder’s level of strength were capable of doing such a thing.

However, that had only been true in the past, before Heavenly King was Enhanced. An Immemorial card coincided with the strength of a peak powerhouse, but Heavenly King had been upgraded to the level of a Primeval card. This meant that Shan Gu was using a power that exceeded his cultivation, and there were consequences for overreaching.

As the statue raised its hand, inexplicably, a massive hand seemed to appear in outer space, and it covered the entire universe.

Lu Yin and the others saw the hand, and it left them all stunned. What kind of battle technique was this?

Lu Yuan frowned. "Such an oppressive hand."

Shan Gu slowly bowed. "Heaven and Earth Cosmic King, I humbly request your aid—Xuantian Immortal Hand."

Those words prompted the image of the hand that covered the universe to suddenly take physical form, and it instantly held back the blood-red color that had spread across the universe before reaching forward to grab Tian Fa.

Tian Fa was some kind of mass of blood-red liquid, and it had no visible expression.

As the Xuantian Immortal Hand drew closer to Tian Fa, countless blades shot upwards to slash at the approaching hand.

The Lost Clan’s entire universe was trembling.

At the connection point between the universe and the Origin Universe, the people of the Infinity Empire were flabbergasted. They saw countless stars shatter as blades filled the entire universe before being overshadowed by a giant hand.

What kind of battle was this? Jiao Feng piloted one of the Infinity Empire’s Pillars of Heaven, and he had always believed that his twelve-ring mecha was strong enough to fight against sequence powerhouses. At this moment, the man realized his own insignificance.

Was this the level of the Heavens Sect’s enemies?

When he thought back, he realized that the Heavens Sect had been incredibly lenient against the mechas in the Imperial City. If they had unleashed this level of attack on the Imperial City—no, on the Infinity Empire—who could have stopped it? The empire would have been completely annihilated.

The blades and the hand clashed in an infinite exchange that covered the universe.

Shan Gu's face turned pale. He was attacking with a Primeval card, and this attack far exceeded his own capabilities, even when controlling a seven-star card. This attack would be regarded as incredibly powerful even among Ortusers, and yet Tian Fa still managed to block it with its blades.

The hand slowly faded, but the blades remained endless. Finally, the hand shattered.

Hongyan Mavis sighed. "That hand was powerful, but unfortunately, it was nothing more than a borrowed attack from that statue. It was nothing more than an image from the past. If the true owner of that hand had been here, the results would have been different."

Lu Yuan marveled. "I now completely believe what Shan Gu told us. The Lost Clan once had incredible cultivators, and the owner of that hand must have been one of them. What a pity."

Lu Yin was staring at Shan Gu. There were three statues, and only one had been used to attack. That attack had failed, but what about the other two statues?

Countless blades shot towards Shan Gu from every direction.

The man spat out a mouthful of blood and then bowed low to another statue. "Warking of Infinity, I humbly request your aid."

1. Tian En (天恩), heaven + grace/favor. Tian Fa (天罚), heaven + punishment. ☜