Chapter 860: Clash of the World Gods

Great Demon God Fa Ji descended into the Ruin Realm, passing through the boundary wall with his demonic blade in hand.

Below him lay the Divine Court of Thunder, fully restored and still expanding at its edges. Magnificent palaces stood proudly across a silvery expanse. Lightning twisted like dragons through the skies and across the towering structures, casting a brilliance that made this fabled artifact appear both resplendent and sacred.

An instinctive dread seized Fa Ji's soul from this one glance.

"This is..."

The Gods of the Demon and Ghost Races had poured every ounce of strength and cunning they could muster into weaving elaborate schemes, even paying a dreadful price to turn many of the Thunder Gods once loyal to the Duke of Thunder against him.

This betrayal led to the Duke of Thunder's downfall, the destruction of the Divine Court of Thunder, and left the Thunder Pool adrift in the aftermath. The Duke of Thunder's path to Sovereignhood came to an abrupt end.

As one of the oldest Great Demon Gods, Fa Ji had actually participated in those events and thus had seen the original Divine Court of Thunder before.

Seeing the Divine Court of Thunder restored in full within this mysterious realm after so many years, it was no wonder Fa Ji was horrified.

Mu Duo's, Xing Huan's, and Yu Hang's gazes were similarly drawn to the Divine Court of Thunder the moment they entered the Ruin Realm.

"The Divine Court of Thunder!"

"This is the artifact the Duke of Thunder once forged. He intended to use it to annihilate the Demon and Ghost Races and elevate himself to Sovereignhood!"

"He's been dead for many years. How has the Thunder Pool transformed into this perfect form?"

Bai Zi, deliberately avoiding the cascading lightning, arrived in the Ruin Realm a step later than the other World Gods.

"So, Pang Jian successfully restored that Thunder Pool," she muttered as she surveyed the strange realm.

Her divine consciousness quietly spread out, sweeping through both the thirty-six stars above and the twenty-four continents below.

"Yuan Yi!" Bai Zi exclaimed in shock.

An intricate Dao of Life had been threaded through every star in the upper layer of the Ruin Realm, weaving into their very core.

The ancient ape's Dao of Life was silently reshaping the fundamental laws of this realm, branding his imprint into its fabric. Bai Zi clearly understood what such a deep intrusion into the laws of a world could mean for that ancient ape.

"Yuan Yi!"

Great Demon God Fa Ji, Xing Huan, Mu Duo, and Yu Hang similarly grasped what that savage ancient ape had done.

A blood-red World God Pendant materialized at the heart of the two-layered realm. Above the pendant hovered the radiant stars while below it lay the vast continents.

"Where's Pang Jian? Did only you lot come?" Yuan Yi asked, appearing in the form of a hunched ancient ape. In his hairy left hand, he wielded a small, crimson warhammer. The hammerhead looked like a lump of burning red crystal with lightning crackling within.

The stellar energy from the stars above and the spiritual qi of the continents below were drawn toward the ancient ape, surging into his body.

His gaunt form swelled with overwhelming might, as though ready to devour the continents and swallow the stars.

The bolts of lightning descending from the Thunder Abyss twisted under the influence of the Ruin Realm's laws, snapping apart like fraying cords before they could reach the Divine Court of Thunder.

"If a World God Paragon has to exist, it should be me!"

The bloodthirsty ancient ape, having steeled his resolve, felt even more confident when he saw that the ones to enter the Ruin Realm were not Pang Jian, but other World Gods like himself. His killing intent surged like a sea of blood!

"Fa Ji! In the Nether Abyss, you turned tail and abandoned me out of cowardice! If you'd fought by my side until the end, our ambitions for the Nether Abyss could have succeeded! You deserve to die."

The unreasonable ancient ape swelled to ten thousand zhang in size, the Celestial Fey Warhammer in his hand blazing like a crimson meteor as he hurled it up at Fa Ji.

The thirty-six stars below the boundary wall trembled. The strands of Dao of Life woven into them resonated with the ancient ape's bloodline, sending thirty-six torrents of stellar energy surging into the blazing crimson hammer.

Golden elephants, silver serpents, dragons, phoenixes, and apes, each conjured from stellar energy, manifested around the warhammer, roaring as they charged at Fa Ji.

The Ruin Realm was suddenly plunged into darkness, as though nothing existed in this realm but the ancient ape and his warhammer. The stars, the continents, and the World Gods seemed to vanish.

A distorted sense of the laws filled the hearts of the World Gods present, giving them the illusion that this Ruin Realm already had a master—Yuan Yi!

"Elder Yuan! No—Yuan Yi! So you were gravely wounded! Your blood essence was forcibly stripped away, and now you want to use my dead body to replenish it! Damn it! And to think I trusted you back then!" Great Demon God Fa Ji howled in fury.

The many banners Fa Ji used to spy on others swept downward, only for the overwhelming force of Yuan Yi's divine power to tear them to shreds before they could even get close to the Celestial Fey Warhammer.

Rivers of blood surged skyward like inverted waterfalls, twisting into monstrous blood-colored serpents that lunged at Fa Ji's towering form.

Fa Ji, though a World God and a high-ranking God himself, found his massive body instantly reduced to a mangled mess of torn flesh and blood.

The blood-colored serpents devoured the vast reserves of blood essence in Fa Ji's body, draining his vitality as it rushed outlike a breached dam.

Swinging his demonic blade to slay the blood-colored serpents, Fa Ji cried out in agony, "Bai Zi! This ancient ape has gone mad!"

The ancient ape born of the Fey Abyss had clearly forged a deep connection with the stars and continents in the Ruin Realm, likely in preparation for Pang Jian.

Fa Ji was merely the appetizer. Once Fa Ji fell, he would undoubtedly target another one of them until all of them were dead.

Before Pang Jian's rise, this ancient ape had been the strongest of the World Gods and the most powerful divine being in the entire bizarre mist.

Even though he had been injured, with much of his blood essence stripped away, his understanding of the Dao of Life remained intact. If he could absorb a large enough amount of blood essence, he would return to his peak in no time.

If Yuan Yi were to completely consume Fa Ji's vitality, it would probably be enough for the ancient ape to regain most of his strength.

"Only World Gods are allowed into the Ruin Realm. Is this place trying to pit us against each other to choose a new leader?"

Yu Hang of the Celestial Abyss watched as Fa Ji was repeatedly forced back. The artifacts Fa Ji summoned shattered one after another under the might of the Celestial Fey Warhammer.

After a brief hesitation, Yu Hang declared, "If this is truly a battle for dominance between World Gods, then forgive me, I will not take part!"

A radiant spear appeared in Yu Hang's hand. Radiance surged at the spear's tip, and Yu Hang's pristine wings spread wide behind him as he flew toward the boundary wall.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Break!"

Ancient runes shimmered across several of his wings. A divine power capable of tearing through barriers and rending space surged into the tip of the spear.

The spear struck the boundary wall above with a loud boom, but failed to pierce through. The ancient runes on Yu Hang's wings ignited in a blaze.

The suppression of the Heavenly Dao struck down the World God for attempting to leave the Ruin Realm. His divine power was wasted in vain, and he was left in a pitiful state.

"Seems he got it right after al, this place really does want to pit us against each other." Xing Huan sighed, a bitter smile tugging at his lips. Drawing a platinum divine sword from his sleeve, he turned to Mu Duo and Bai Zi. "That ancient ape is the strongest among us, and he's already resonated with this realm. We'll have to join forces if we want to hold our ground."

Mu Duo gave a slight nod.

Bai Zi tilted her head back to look at the boundary wall above. "Why hasn't Pang Jian come down yet?"

Having witnessed many miracles surrounding Pang Jian, her mind could not help but go to him first when faced with this troubling situation.

"Perhaps this is a trap he laid for us," said Xing Huan, the wrinkles on his face deepening with his frown. "Knowing that some kind of law would trigger once World Gods like us entered this peculiar realm, he called us here and sent us in ahead of time.

"He likely wanted to force us to turn on one another. That ancient ape is the bloodthirsty blade in his hand, and we are his sacrificial offerings."

Xing Huan became more convinced with every word he spoke.

"The Sovereign of the Fey Race is his blood sister, and that ape serves under her. It all fits together far too well."

Mu Duo grew uneasy at Xing Huan's words. "Impossible! Pang Jian—he wouldn't—"

The God of the Wood Race in the starry skies simply could not accept the notion that Pang Jian had lured them into the Ruin Realm just to die.

"The human race, always scheming and deceitful!" Yu Hang sneered. "The Sovereigns hated the human race for a reason."

Bai Zi stood there, visibly stunned.

She, for one, did not believe Pang Jian would deliberately lead them to their deaths. However, with the boundary wall altered and Pang Jian still nowhere in sight, she could not help the flicker of doubt.

"No, impossible."

The suspicion was dispelled before it could take root.

"We can't leave, meaning we have no choice but to join forces against that ancient ape." Xing Huan sighed reluctantly before slashing his sword into the empty air.

Blinding starlight erupted with each swing. Xing Huan's sword severed the Dao of Life within the stars, stopping their flow of stellar energy into Yuan Yi's Celestial Fey Warhammer.

The dim stars soon flared bright once more.

At the same time, Pang Jian's Immortal Divine Soul finally emerged from the boundary wall above.

"Huh?"

The happenings in the Ruin Realm left Pang Jian baffled.