Chapter 664: Collecting Divine Thrones (4) (Tying Up Loose Ends)

This crevice had existed in the Inner World for thousands of years.

Perhaps even longer.

No one remembered exactly when it first appeared.

After all, no matter how one looked at it, it didn't resemble a natural chasm, much less a tunnel plunging deep into the earth's core.

Even at its widest point, it was barely broad enough for a single person—narrower than a sidewalk. At most, it looked like a place where a giant python might make its nest.

But however inconspicuous it was, this crevice had been around for far, far too long.

And despite the passage of all those years, it had hardly changed at all.

Until today.

Boom... boom, boom... crack, crack...

The crevice slowly expanded outward. Clods of dirt and broken stone rained down, making it look as though the walls were on the verge of total collapse.

Hiss— Hiss—

Scalding steam billowed from below, instantly swallowing the falling rocks and reducing them to crimson ash that dissipated into the air.

Hiss— Hiss—

More and more steam poured out, turning into a torrential flood that rushed out of the earth and instantly washed away a chunk of space.

A pitch-black void appeared in midair. Pitch-black Weird Energy gushed forth, cascading onto the ground below and swallowing everything in its path.

Yan Jing's clone opened his hand and raised it, conjuring a spatial pocket to pull the pitch-black liquid back inside.

Then, he sensed his Fear Seeds dwindling.

That steam wasn't ordinary magma, but something extraordinary. The extreme temperature was so intense that even his current Fear Seeds couldn't withstand it and were gradually being corroded.

Fortunately, Fear Seeds could self-replicate. As long as a single seed wasn't completely swallowed up, it could grow infinitely.

Let alone tens of millions of them.

Yan Jing's expression remained calm as Weird Energy slowly flowed across his palm, reaching down into the depths.

The tips of those Fear Seeds were constantly taking root and sprouting. They weren't growing wildly at random; rather, they were reaching toward a single direction in a highly orderly manner.

Yan Jing sensed the location they were pointing toward.

Down there lay a profound, bottomless fear.

That fear originated from a single entity, yet it was vast enough to rival the collective dread of millions, or even tens of millions of people.

It was precisely because of this concentrated foundation of fear that the Fear Seeds' growth rate far outstripped their destruction, allowing them to multiply endlessly.

There was only one possible explanation for this: the source of this fear was of an incredibly high Tier.

Perhaps even unimaginably high.

"Found it."

Yan Jing reached out, manifesting his second-layer Fear Stance. Instantly, every single seed grew incredibly thick, evolving from vines into trees, and finally transforming into towering divine trees that pierced the heavens.

With such massive bodies and overwhelming numbers, they instantly forced the already widening crevice to tear open into a colossal abyss.

It spanned thousands of meters across and stretched on for an unknown length, splitting the entire Heavenly Kingdom in two.

Crack—

At that moment, everyone in the Heavenly Kingdom was shocked. They felt the earth moving beneath their feet at breakneck speeds. Relative to the sky, their position was rapidly sliding backward.

Yan Jing watched this scene with indifference.

There was no way he would make direct contact with a Deity.

They no longer existed on the same plane as humanity, and any promises they had once made could be invalidated on a whim.

After all, the other party didn't have to bear any risks.

Therefore, all he needed to do was widen the crevice.

The entity on the other side was a Deity. If they still couldn't escape after the crevice had been widened, Yan Jing likely wouldn't be able to solve the problem even if he went down there himself.

He quietly stared into the steaming, pitch-black abyss below, waiting for something to walk out.

One minute, two minutes... half an hour passed.

Let alone an entity, he couldn't see a single trace of life—only the scalding steam that felt hot even to him.

Yan Jing's expression remained calm.

It seemed this matter was quite troublesome.

It would require long-term planning.

Without any hesitation, he retracted his Weird Energy.

He decided to leave it alone for now. He wasn't desperate for a single Divine Throne.

Just as he turned around, preparing to leave, his eyes suddenly shifted. He sensed the aura of fear below rapidly dissipating.

Had they broken free?

Yan Jing curled his lips into a smile. If the other party had really broken free, then his time waiting here hadn't been wasted.

He quietly put some distance between himself and the abyss.

A second later, he looked down at his palm in surprise.

A letter had appeared there.

Half a second... no, much shorter than that.

It was so fast that no unit of measurement could describe it. The fluctuation of Weird Energy had vanished the instant it appeared. At that speed, even Yan Jing had barely been able to track it.

Only then did he notice the letter in his hand.

It was a Letter with a Pure White Envelope. Sealed with a gilded stamp, the entire envelope looked utterly spotless, even giving off a faint luminescence.

Yan Jing blinked, and the letter before him instantly dissolved into countless specks of light.

Each speck glowed with a gentle color.

He called for Xiao Xin and handed the letter over.

"Xiao Xin, take a look at this."

Xiao Xin leaned in, gave it a hard sniff, and then tilted its head up.

"Such a familiar scent."

"Who sent you this letter, Master?"

Yan Jing said softly, "An old friend. What do you think? Is there any danger in this letter?"

"Danger..."

Hearing that it might be dangerous, Xiao Xin leaned in again. This time, it was much more careful, doing more than just sniffing.

It looked, listened, and even poked the letter several times with its chubby little hands.

Then, it looked up at Yan Jing.

"Zhu Leng, there's no problem with this."

It was very certain, so Yan Jing nodded in agreement.

He then broke the gilded seal, opened the envelope, and pulled out the letter inside.

The page was completely blank.

There was only a pale gold mark on it, depicting something unrecognizable.

But Xiao Xin beside him seemed to recognize it and grew extremely excited.

"Wow! This is Zhu Leng's location!!!"

Location...

A second later, before Yan Jing could even react, a pillar of light shot up into the sky, instantly piercing the clouds.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Heavenly Kingdom.

A figure draped in a pale gold coat stared at the rising pillar of light, his expression changing drastically.

A second later, he vanished from his spot.

He had never expected that the very thing he had been searching for so desperately would be snatched away by someone else first.

At the same time, somewhere in the Central Region.

A woman in an azure trench coat, sitting cross-legged on the ground, opened her eyes.

Her eyes no longer held their usual calm and indifference. Right now, they were filled with shock.

She raised her hand and stared at a mark on the back of it, which was slowly fading away, disappearing completely.

This discovery terrified her. She immediately stood up, drew a door in the air, and stepped through it, vanishing from sight.

Something had definitely gone wrong in the Inner World.

She was certain of it.

Otherwise, the mark she had received back then wouldn't be fading like this.

Someone was stealing it. They were stealing the treasure that belonged to her!

...

Between heaven and earth, Xiao Xin was the only one overjoyed.

It felt the approval of the great entity that had nurtured it.

The Messenger who had led it down this path was now showing immense praise for the master it had found.

Praising Xiao Xin meant praising its master, and praising its master meant double the praise for Xiao Xin.

With this mindset, it spun around happily in circles.

As Yan Jing stared at the pillar of light, a look of confusion flashed in his eyes.

A second later, realization dawned on him.

"I'm a fake."

Having realized this, he slowly dissipated, turning to dust and scattering in the wind.

"Zhu Leng..."

Xiao Xin cried out in a panic, but before it could find its master, its figure also faded away into the wind a second later.

The real Yan Jing walked up to the pillar of light, holding Xiao Xin in his arms.

Instantly, the pillar of light reacted, transforming into a glimmering ray that sank into Yan Jing's glabella.

"This is truly powerful," Yan Jing muttered, somewhat moved.

As expected of a Divine Throne from a Deity who had reached the very end of their path. Out of all the Divine Thrones currently in his possession, only the Thrones of Life, Space, and Time could rival its strength.

Watching the fading pillar of light, Yan Jing smiled faintly and drew a door in front of himself, preparing to leave.

But before he could step through it.

A man in a pale gold coat materialized, his face grim as he threw a punch straight at Yan Jing.

Yan Jing looked at the man, a look of understanding flashing in his eyes.

Clearly, this was one of the three candidates.

"He has more than one Demigod Realm Divine Throne. If you two really want one, you can go ask for it." Yan Jing smiled and said, "But if you come trying to snatch it from me, your chances are going to be rather slim."

He raised his hand, reaching for the incoming right fist.

The fist was wreathed in pitch-black cracks. The man had specifically channeled his Weird Energy, constantly tearing space apart and letting it heal. Such high-speed spatial fluctuations were enough to annihilate anything in their path.

Anyone taking this punch head-on would likely suffer a massive, unexpected loss.

Yan Jing could see this, too.

But... he didn't really care.

He reached out his hand and directly touched the spatial cracks.

Whoosh—

Like a passing breeze, all the cracks vanished without a trace.

Yan Jing's fist then collided directly with the man's fist.

Bang!!!

The man let out a miserable scream as his entire arm exploded instantly.

Yan Jing blinked forward and planted a brutal kick square in the man's chest.

Bang!!!

The man's chest blew open just the same, and he plummeted toward the ground.

Yan Jing didn't spare him another glance. He raised his hand, and countless Fear Thorns rained down. The figure in the pale gold coat met his destruction amidst endless agony.

By then, Yan Jing had already vanished from the spot.

An unknown amount of time passed before another figure appeared exactly where the two had just fought.

The woman in the azure robes scanned her surroundings. Finally, her gaze locked onto the man who had died within the forest of Thorns.

What a terrifying sight it was. The dense Thorns blotted out the sky, resembling a thick, overgrown forest that entirely blocked out the sunlight and fresh air.

Every single Thorn was hundreds of meters tall. They intertwined and overlapped with one another, forming a massive net.

Had the woman not relied on her ability to track an aura from a Pathway similar to her own, she might not have even detected the man's body.

His body lay across the bottom of the Thorn forest, looking as insignificant as a bug compared to those towering behemoths.

Staring at the twisted expression of fear on the man's face, the woman gradually fell deep into thought.

Finally, she exhaled a long breath.

"In the end, my luck was simply better."

With that, she drew open a door, and her figure vanished from the spot.

As far as she was concerned, the man had to have been killed by the Deity known as "Messenger."

Thanks to her deep fortune and providence, she had managed to escape disaster.

If she had been the first to find that Deity and free him, her fate would have undoubtedly mirrored the man's.

She returned to the Surface World and immediately headed back to her courtyard.

Sensing her aura, her maids had already readied a warm bathing pool for her.

The woman slipped out of her clothes and slowly sank her body into the water, closing her eyes with a contented expression.

An unknown amount of time passed before a sultry female voice roused her from behind.

"Are you ready? The Day of Godhood will begin in less than a day."

"When that time comes, the heavens and earth will undergo drastic changes, and all things will revive. Powerhouses from every era across the Inner World and the Surface World will take the stage. Don't let your guard down too much."

Standing behind her was a woman clad in sheer purple tulle. Even though the garment was loose, one could still make out her figure; she was an absolute mortal temptress.

The woman soaking in the pool merely pursed her lips.

"I know."

"It doesn't matter who stands in my way, I will slaughter them all."

The woman in purple tulle frowned, somewhat dissatisfied with this declaration.

"Do you understand the difficulty involved? Do you remember your mission this time?"

"My mission is to seize a Divine Throne," the bathing woman said slowly. "As for the difficulty?"

"There is no difficulty."

"Though, if you keep nagging beside me, the difficulty might rise a little."

With the woman speaking so bluntly, the lady in purple tulle had nothing left to say and turned to leave.

Free from the nagging presence of the woman in purple tulle, she finally let out a long breath of relief.

Gazing at the swirling mist before her, the relaxed ease on her face gradually faded, replaced by a solemn expression.

How could she not know the difficulty?

In the Inner World, a thousand years constituted a generation, and a hundred years constituted an era.

The absolute strongest of any given era was crowned the King of the Era.

And the supreme being who swept away all others within a generation was known as the Emperor of that generation.

The Inner World had ten thousand years of recorded history following its severing, which meant there were ten Emperors and a hundred Kings.

Add to that the Heavenly Prodigies from the severed eras and the various Emperors from ancient times.

Not to mention the hidden holy lands and ten-thousand-generation noble families of the Surface World.

She could no longer pride herself as one of the Ten Monsters of the Central Region. Moving forward, the only thing she could do was constantly defeat the enemies before her.

"Becoming a Deity..."

She murmured softly, slowly submerging her entire body under the water.

There wasn't a single person in this world who didn't want to become a Deity. To even the most powerful factions and terrifying entities, a Divine Throne was incomparably precious. It was by no means some cheap street trinket found at a market stall.

...

"Not this one."

Yan Jing reached out and crossed out a line of text in the ledger.

Sitting across from him, Zheng Youlan watched with a mixture of heartache and delight.

The heartache stemmed from the fact that this single stroke meant at least 100 million Central Coins were gone, and all the manpower dispatched for this clue had been wasted.

After all, that was a clue regarding a Divine Throne!

If leaked to the outside world, it would be enough to ignite a bloodbath!

The delight, on the other hand, came from knowing that if he didn't want it, she could keep it for her own use.

Thinking of it this way, she felt a bit more at ease.

"Not this one either. We're out of time."

Just as her thoughts were racing, Yan Jing reached out again and swiftly crossed out three more Divine Throne clues.