Chapter 660: Eve of the Day of Godhood (Two-in-One)

"..." Qi Ming hadn't expected Yin Tianhuang to look at him first.

Feeling the gazes of the crowd, Qi Ming took a deep breath, then spoke slowly:

"Sir, I don't believe we've met before."

It was as if he had exhaled a breath of frost. As Qi Ming finished speaking, the temperature in the room dropped several degrees.

With those words, he turned, walked to the corner, and casually began filling a cup with milk.

But everyone could see that Qi Ming's hands were trembling slightly.

Sometimes, letting go was difficult. Even if their fallout had been unpleasant, watching the man face his death inevitably stirred up some emotion.

"Execute him."

In contrast, the attitudes of Zhao Dongchuan, Wang Gang, and the others were much more decisive.

They either didn't know Yin Tianhuang or held grudges against him. Seeing Yan Jing's stance, they firmly sided with him.

"Execute him!!"

Surprisingly, the next person to speak was Lin Xiaoran.

She looked at the utterly shocked Yin Tianhuang and said coldly, "After you left back then, you probably never thought about coming back.

"Those words you said, those oaths you swore—they all amounted to nothing but bullshit in the end, didn't they?"

For a wealthy young lady, she was using exceptionally crude language in this moment.

Hearing this, Yin Tianhuang hastily spoke up.

"No, Xiaoran, I—I really did think about coming back! But the Central Region was truly too difficult. There were too many geniuses there, and I had a very hard time."

"Really! And Youran, I've always been thinking about—"

"Don't you dare say Big Sister Shen's name!!!"

Lin Xiaoran snapped coldly. She glared down at Yin Tianhuang, her tone like solid ice.

"She was right to reject you back then. Facts have proven that her judgment is indeed much better than ours."

Having said that, she turned and looked at Qi Ming in the distance. "What are you doing?! Are you afraid to look at him?! Have you forgotten how we begged and pleaded with him to stay back then?! Have you forgotten the cold look on his face?!"

"Stop romanticizing the past."

Lin Xiaoran sneered.

"He only had his eyes on those Rituals in Big Sister Shen's hands."

"No, no, no, no."

Yin Tianhuang frantically waved his hands.

"It wasn't like that, it really wasn't. I was truly happy when I was with everyone before. Really, I swear."

"So you reached the Tenth Tier. So you could even send a Tenth Tier maid to kill Mr. Yan, yet you never once thought about coming back to kill Liu Xiaoyue and Mu Yi."

Lin Xiaoran pierced right through his lies, her smile icy.

"I won't believe another word you say."

"Domain Lord Yan, I support executing him."

After Lin Xiaoran spoke, Ren Tongtong also stepped forward and spat at Yin Tianhuang.

"Execute him."

"I support executing him."

The rest of them, including Xu Weizhou, also voiced their agreement without hesitation.

"Alright."

Yan Jing nodded with a calm expression.

"Then he shall be executed."

He raised his hand. Weird energy surged in his palm, and Yin Tianhuang instantly lost his life.

There were no flashy abilities, no scenes of a desperate struggle to the death like one might have imagined.

He simply reaped Yin Tianhuang's life force.

Yes, Lin Xiaoran and the others had guessed correctly. His intention had always been to kill Yin Tianhuang.

Bringing him here was simply to give everyone some closure regarding past events. By seeing his attitude clearly, they would know what to do next.

Looking at the corpse on the ground, the expressions of the people gathered around didn't change much.

In the next second, a piece of bone on Yin Tianhuang's shoulder emitted a faint light. It broke through the skin and hovered in front of Yan Jing.

A small beast's shadow, identical to the giant phantom Yin Tianhuang had summoned earlier, stood upon that faintly glowing white bone and looked at Yan Jing.

"This Ritual actually didn't disappear?"

Yan Jing felt it was a bit strange.

This was the first time he had seen a Ritual fail to dissipate after its master's death.

He reached out toward the white bone.

The small beast guarding the bone immediately bared its teeth. It let out low, hissing growls, every hair on its body standing on end.

It wasn't until Yan Jing's hand gently landed on its head that the small beast's eyes became clear.

"Slurp, slurp, slurp—"

It stuck out its tongue and frantically licked Yan Jing's palm, rubbing its head against the pads of his fingers.

"..."

The people around were speechless.

The small beast's constantly shivering tail gave away just how much pressure it was under.

"Let's get back to playing cards."

Seeing Yan Jing put away the white bone, Zhao Dongchuan smiled and pulled out a deck of playing cards.

"Let's play Fight the Landlord, how about it? Does the Domain Lord want to join?"

"You'll regret it."

Yan Jing smiled faintly.

"I'm an expert at Fight the Landlord."

...

...

"Huff... huff... huff..."

An overwhelming expanse of black robes slowly descended, shrouding an area of several hundred square meters.

Wherever the hems of the robes brushed past, everything withered away.

The man's face was deathly pale. He cautiously turned to look behind him, only breathing a sigh of relief after confirming that no one was giving chase.

He found a rock to sit on, lingering fear written plainly across his face.

Only then did he finally have the spare time to check his injuries.

There were minute lacerations on his internal organs, and a few of his bones were fractured, but otherwise, he was alright.

His injuries didn't seem severe, but the man's expression sank completely.

He belonged to the Pathway of [Death].

This Pathway was constantly accompanied by withering and decay. It possessed a natural resistance to any form of vitality recovery; in fact, healing powers might even harm him instead.

Even his natural regeneration was far, far slower than that of an ordinary person.

Therefore, an injury like this was practically a critical wound for him.

Since reaching the Summit, he had never suffered such severe injuries.

At the thought of this, he unconsciously clenched his fists until the veins bulged on the backs of his hands.

Yan Jing's figure seemed to appear before his eyes once more.

"Just you wait."

He had already memorized Yan Jing's aura and appearance.

A wild Divine Envoy whose Rituals centered around the two Pathways of [Life] and [Strength].

"Nothing but a miscellaneous path."

Rituals from two different Pathways meant he definitely wasn't on the pure one dao.

And he had never heard of any hunyuan dao that combined the Pathways of [Life] and [Strength].

Then only one possibility remained.

His opponent was walking a miscellaneous path.

It was perfectly normal for someone on a miscellaneous path to be stronger than other entities of the same tier.

But someone on a miscellaneous path could never complete one's own path, which naturally meant it was impossible for them to acquire a Divine Throne.

The moment Advent Day arrived and he stepped into the Demigod Realm, his opponent would have only a dead end waiting for him.

Thinking of this, he tapped his foot lightly. His body hovered in the air once more, and he transformed into a streak of rainbow light, flying off into the distance.

He flew for an indeterminable amount of time, crossing into the Central Region. He soared past the six massive statues standing in the center, flew over the mountains and the Wasteland on the outskirts, and didn't stop until he reached the very edge on the opposite side of the Central Region.

A cemetery appeared below.

He finally descended slowly and walked into the cemetery.

It was a modest cemetery. Within it, seven or eight tombstones stood scattered across different corners.

Miasma so thick it wouldn't dissipate shrouded the air above the entire cemetery; one could even faintly make out blackish-purple smoke.

He had barely stepped inside.

The smoke swarmed toward the man. Like pervasive ants, it burrowed into his body through the wounds on his skin.

"Phew—"

The man let out a long breath. His tense expression finally relaxed a little, and the corners of his mouth curled up.

This miasma, which would be fatal to outsiders, was a healing panacea to him.

As long as he didn't leave the cemetery, he would be almost fully recovered by the time Advent Day arrived.

He walked over to a tombstone, reached out his hand, and gently traced the engraved characters.

"Master, I'm back. You were right, old man; there are indeed some opponents in this life that I need to be careful of. I almost went down to keep you company."

After speaking, he lingered in front of the tombstone for a while before moving on to the next.

"A'Yuan, your big brother is back. I met a friend outside just now, but unfortunately, someone else snatched him away. I promise..."

"Liang'er, it's me. I'm back. Are you happy at home? I didn't bring you a present this time. I got bullied outside..."

"..."

"..."

He wandered among the tombstones, one after another.

Buried beneath them were his relatives, friends, and family...

Contrary to what anyone might guess, he did not come from one of those six organizations, nor even from any major faction.

His master was a perfectly ordinary Ninth Tier cultivator.

His best friend was the gardener of this plot, which had originally been a garden.

His lover was a girl as ordinary as could be.

And they had all died because of him.

He often had a dream.

In the dream, he was told that he was the child chosen by Death, the pioneer who would pave this path.

But when he woke up, all he could see were a few lonely tombstones, beneath which lay his beloved ones, taken by Death.

Was he the child of Death?

Why couldn't he even refuse Death?

Why couldn't he even give others a simple embrace?

He thought about this question often.

Thus, he had only one dream.

To become a Deity, and then bring those who had perished back from the clutches of Death.

He had to ascend to godhood, for he had a reason that absolutely demanded he become a Deity.

However, what he didn't notice was that as he wiped the tombstones, a speck of black light fell from his waist onto the ground.

It was a seed.

A Seed of Fear.

It began to take root deep underground, spreading out into the distance.

Those lush root fibers, like tentacles, slowly probed for the direction where the weird energy was most concentrated, creeping toward it.

According to Yan Jing's intent, the person he wanted to find would only be in the place with the densest weird energy.

...

...

In a place where myriad flowers were in full bloom.

A slender figure holding a watering can slowly watered the ground.

The ground was clearly barren soil, yet as the clear spring water sprinkled down, lush blooms sprouted one after another.

The flora rippled outward into the distance, and in the blink of an eye, the landscape was a riot of brilliant purples and vibrant reds.

"Not red enough."

The slender figure wiped the sweat from his forehead.

It was a slender young man with fair skin, wearing a short shirt and a straw hat.

Sunlight fell upon his right eye, and the flower within his pupil swayed gently.

"How long until the Day of Godhood?"

He tilted his head up and did the math.

Only about a week left.

"I'm really looking forward to it."

He gazed into the distance.

"Seeing this world in full bloom."

He lowered his head and went back to his planting.

What he didn't notice was that when those flowers spread into the distance, they automatically took a detour.

Because beneath that Domain in the distance, pitch-black roots had already covered the ground.

...

...

"Punch! Punch! Punch!!!"

A woman was dripping with sweat, yet the voice beside her didn't stop, constantly urging her to punch.

With every punch she threw, the punching bag in front of her would shake violently, but it still hadn't reached a level that satisfied her.

Thus, the woman struck even harder, her punching speed growing even faster.

"Punch! Punch! Punch!!!"

Finally, after the voice rang out once more, the woman landed a punch right on the most vital spot of the punching bag in front of her.

The towering mountain before her instantly collapsed, transforming into dust and sand that formed a massive sandstorm in the air, sweeping across the distant Domain.

"Phew—"

The woman wiped the sweat from her forehead, then threw a punch at the parrot next to her.

"Punch! Punch! Pu—Bang!"

The parrot was pulverized into a bloody paste, splattering all over the ground.

"Shut up."

The woman's face turned cold.

In truth, she had gone out of her way to find this parrot.

She had tens of thousands more exactly like it.

The tone the parrot had just used was her master's exact tone.

It was just a pity that her master had been killed by a single punch from her.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have had to go through so much trouble.

Having finished a set, she lowered her head and looked at the bare ground.

The longer she looked, the more blurred her gaze became.

This punching bag in front of her was better and larger than all the others.

When would she finally be able to blow up a punching bag like this without using weird energy?

Perhaps she'd be able to do it when the Day of Godhood arrived.

She was really looking forward to it.

...

...

"Start!!!"

The clear, crisp voice of a youth rang out.

After shouting those words, the youth sprinted wildly into the distance.

His footsteps fell as fast as the wind.

No, much faster than the wind.

Faster even than light.

He sprinted wildly toward the west, running all the way from one side of the Central Region to the other.

Everything he crashed into along the way was smashed to dust.

Finally, he reached the finish line he had set for himself.

At this moment, it was still just before dawn here.

The sunlight hadn't arrived yet.

But he had gotten there first.

Yes, he was racing against the light.

Seeing that he had won, the youth laughed happily.

He wasn't on a Pathway related to [Speed], but he had still managed to do it.

"I'm going to win!!!"

"Win everything!!!"

The youth roared at the sky.

He knew the titles of the Ten Monsters were all fake.

Once the Day of Godhood arrived, all those suppressed monsters—the ones who had never shown their faces, and even the ones who had been forcibly locked away the moment they were born—would all emerge.

Becoming a Deity—everyone's goal was to become a Deity.

That was going to be the maddest day of all.

...

...

Pair after pair of eyes, heart after heart, were all waiting for that day to descend.

They hoped for it with incomparable longing, watching quietly, waiting slowly.

Waiting for that day to arrive.

In contrast, Yan Jing was currently in a very conflicted state.

Should he step into the Demigod Realm before Advent Day?

For him, if he wanted to reach the Demigod Realm, he could do it right now.

But he wasn't very satisfied with the few Divine Thrones he held in his hands.

[Physique]—a Throne that currently had no Deity. He could smoothly ascend to godhood with it, but... the upper limit was just that. It wouldn't make him a Deity at the absolute end of a path.

[Folly]—similarly devoid of a Deity. He could ascend, and the upper limit was decent since it had once been glorious in the past. But what about after? Did the current world even still have a place for Folly?

[Corpse]—he suspected there were at least two or three Deities at the end of this path, making it already a bit too crowded.

[Life]—this one was even more mysterious. He had no idea what kind of existence lay at its end.

After considering it for a long time, he finally made his decision.

He wouldn't consider Divine Thrones that already had Deities. And since he had to choose one without a Deity...

Then why didn't he walk one's own path?