Chapter 685: The Deities Change Flags (Two in One)

A kite that covered half the sky, both its front and back overgrown with giant mouths.

A queen seated upon the Ice Crystal Throne, surrounded by drifting frost and snow.

A spring standing independent of all creation, pitch-black droplets bubbling from its source, echoing with fear.

An Old Man covered in countless different faces, with innumerable hands stretching behind him.

A giant whose head scraped the heavens and feet planted firmly on the earth, every inch of his skin its own world—mountains, rivers, and forests teeming with animals and plants.

...

...

There were more than ten figures in total. A mere trace of any one of them would be enough to shock the entire Surface and Inner Worlds. Their gazes swept over countless believers, and their sheer power was enough to drive generation-suppressing heavenly prodigies into absolute frenzy.

Yet at this moment, they stood respectfully before Yan Jing. Faced with his greeting, none dared to speak.

"It seems none of you really want to spend time with me?"

Yan Jing smiled.

At those words, the dozen or so figures shuddered simultaneously before instantly exploding into a chaotic uproar.

"You know I favored you back then. When you came to the cold pool for me, I gave you my Divine Throne without a word."

"I... am the Pathway... of your first Ritual..."

"Would you like some nice clothes? I feel your current attire doesn't suit your level..."

"The ocean belongs to you, my lord..."

Yan Jing listened to their stiff flattery, smiled, and said nothing.

For entities like them, simply opening their mouths was already difficult enough.

Some of the existences present hadn't praised a single soul since the day they were born.

Besides, even if they praised him to the heavens, it wouldn't mean anything to him.

That wasn't what he wanted.

"I only have one question."

Yan Jing's tone was calm.

"If I go to war with the Firmament, which of you will stand on my side?"

Every figure instantly froze.

Once some of them recovered, they immediately turned back to look at the spectating Deities. Seeing that the others had no reaction, they breathed heavy sighs of relief.

Yan Jing had blocked the sound.

Even so, they were still trembling in fear.

This was a blatantly lethal trick question!

If they spoke up now and sided with Yan Jing, they would truly pass the point of no return.

But if they chose to stand with the Firmament...

They probably wouldn't even get the chance to draw their bows.

The strings would snap right then and there.

...

For a moment, all the existences fell into absolute silence.

"No one wants to speak?"

Yan Jing smiled faintly, causing the few Deities standing at the very front to shudder in unison.

...

...

...

...

The Surface World.

At this moment, the heavenly prodigies were hurrying toward the Domains corresponding to the Deities of their respective Pathways.

They were heading there to perform the final ceremony.

The ultimate bloodbath for every existence striving for a Divine Throne.

Only the final winner would be allowed to remain in the Domain corresponding to their Deity.

But suddenly, someone looked up and noticed something strange.

Why...

Why was there more than one Deity standing in that Domain?

And it wasn't just two or three, but...

"Look! There's something bizarre going on in that Domain!"

The more impatient ones shouted at the top of their lungs, while the level-headed ones had already stealthily circled around from below to investigate.

They had long since noticed that this place was anything but simple; incredibly intense fluctuations of weird energy and dense divinity had radiated from it earlier.

But when they arrived and questioned the existences present in the Domain, they found that most of them currently had vacant eyes and pale faces, looking as if their souls had fled their bodies.

"What happened?"

Someone found a friend in the region and asked aloud.

...

His friend finally managed to recover his senses, his voice trembling as he spoke.

"The Deity... our Deity is dead..."

"What?"

The questioner hadn't heard clearly, or perhaps they thought they had misheard.

"Our Deity is dead."

But when his friend spoke again, it was the exact same answer.

"Our Deity is really dead."

His friend crouched down and clutched his head with both hands. His face was filled with despair and reluctance, tears even welling in his eyes.

"The Tower, the Deity of the Victory Pathway, is dead. It happened right in front of us. I couldn't clearly see what happened, but our Divine Thrones have lost their power, and we can no longer sense His presence."

"How is that possible?!"

The questioner refused to believe it. Who in this world could kill a Deity? And to do it so effortlessly that those standing even a short distance away hadn't noticed any anomalies at all?

But it wasn't just him. Everyone standing in this Domain had profound sorrow written all over their faces. Some were agonizing in despair, while others sat slumped on the ground, staring blankly as if they had lost the will to live.

Every single one of them was a prodigy among heavenly prodigies—peerless figures spanning past and present who had clawed their way out from mountains of geniuses to reach the absolute pinnacle.

Yet now, they all looked like utterly defeated failures, so dispirited they couldn't even take a single step.

"What exactly happened?"

Suddenly, a voice rang out.

Everyone shuddered and looked toward the newcomer.

It was a man in a gray trench coat. His expression was cold and his facial features were far from soft, giving off an aloof aura that pushed people thousands of miles away. A dark vortex seemed to swirl in the depths of his eyes.

With every step he took, a rift blurring the line between illusion and reality materialized behind him.

Mo Qian.

The heavenly prodigy of the Mo Family.

The former rank one of the Deity Ascension Roll.

The crowd's expressions instantly turned grave, and they all backed away, putting some distance between themselves and Mo Qian.

Although Mo Qian had lost to that crazy black cat during the Domain Revelation...

He was still within the top ten of the rankings, and the only person to survive an encounter with that cat.

Everyone still held a fundamental understanding of just how terrifying his strength was.

"What happened?"

Mo Qian stopped in his tracks, looking over the crowd as he asked again.

After grasping the situation, weird energy surged around him. Countless rifts gathered over his eyes as he cast his gaze into midair.

As the weird energy condensed, the sky, which originally seemed shrouded by a thick layer of fog, gradually began to clear up.

Only then did the crowd finally notice the dozen or so Deities, managing to vaguely make out their appearances.

"Something's not right..."

Someone whispered.

"Do you guys feel like those Deities are missing a certain kind of aura?"

"That grand, imposing aura that belongs only to Deities."

At his words, quite a few people quietly nodded in agreement.

Indeed, the Deities standing before them were visibly different from the arrogant, supreme existences they had pictured.

Although their appearances still radiated dignity...

But...

For some inexplicable reason, they somehow seemed a little wretched and guilty?

"Look, there's a figure standing across from them!"

Someone called out.

The crowd looked over and discovered that among the Deities, there really was a tiny figure. Compared to the colossal gods, that figure was far too small, like comparing a grain of rice to the bright moon.

"What kind of existence is that? Why do I get the feeling that those Deities are terrified of him?"

"I feel it too. It's almost as if... that person is an existence that has transcended Deities."

"I can't make out his face. It'd be great if we could see what he looks like, but it's just too blurry."

Listening to the crowd's murmurs, Mo Qian chuckled and shook his head.

"Us managing to pry at the Deities at all is already taking advantage of the Day of Godhood. Trying to clearly see the face of an existence like that is truly asking too much of me."

Unexpectedly, right as his words fell...

The figure high in the sky seemed to notice something, lowering his head to look down.

His originally blurry face instantly snapped into clarity.

The crowd stared at that face, freezing for a brief moment before the exact same thought surfaced in all their minds.

This face...

Why did it look so incredibly familiar?

Mo Qian's breath hitched instantly, his mind reeling as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning.

Because he was far more familiar with this face than anyone else present.

That was...

Yan Jing.

A human.

An existence who had once stood on the very same ranking list as him.

Even right before the Domain Revelation began, he had actively hunted for Yan Jing, intending to slay the fiercely rising star.

But now...

The man had appeared right amidst the Deities, completely forcing them to tremble in submission.

"No, this is impossible..."

He murmured subconsciously, refusing to believe that the figure up there was actually Yan Jing.

"He must have seen into my inner demons and intentionally assumed this form. That has to be it."

Yet in the very next second, the figure in the sky seemed to hear his words. Yan Jing smiled faintly, reached out a hand, and lightly tapped the air.

In the blink of an eye, Mo Qian vanished from his spot. His figure was pulled high into the sky, reappearing right in the middle of the Deities.

Looking at the towering giant, the queen upon her throne, and the mass of flesh radiating pure immortal qi...

Mo Qian felt severely dizzy and utterly disoriented. In the next second, he actually doubled over and violently threw up.

Not just anyone possessed the mental fortitude and sheer willpower to directly face Deities like Yan Jing did.

"This is our first time meeting, Mr. Mo Qian."

Yan Jing spoke, then suddenly shook his head and laughed.

"No, accurately speaking, this isn't our first time meeting."

"I've seen you before, you simply didn't know it."

"Regardless, let me introduce myself. I am Yan Jing."

...

Mo Qian forced his head up to look at Yan Jing and opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but he just violently retched again.

"Alright, it seems you don't really want to see me."

Yan Jing smiled.

"My apologies, let me send you back down."

With a snap of his fingers, Mo Qian vanished from his spot once again.

This was nothing more than a minor interlude. Yan Jing didn't much care about what Mo Qian was thinking or what would happen to him later; it was merely a whim, an impulse he found mildly amusing.

His gaze fell back upon the Deities as he smiled.

"As I was saying, if you aren't willing to stand on my side, you may surrender your Divine Thrones. I will find others to inherit them. Have I made myself clear?"

"I feel that we have a bit of history together, so I would rather not resort to violence."

...

Amidst the silence, Upward Kite, the Deity of the sky, was finally the first to speak.

"Very well, I will side with you."

Once the first folded, the queen-like existence upon the throne, Bottomless Cold Pool, also spoke up and agreed to stand with Yan Jing.

Then came The Immortal, the Creator, Gray Dust...

In the end, only the Source of Fear of the Fear Pathway, Blood Yi of the Bloodline Pathway, and the Old Man of the Hundred Arts Pathway surrendered their Divine Thrones.

The Source of Fear's reasoning for yielding was that it had been manufactured by the Firmament back then. It was completely impossible for it to turn against the Firmament, and even if it tried, the Firmament's innate restrictions over it meant it would be of no help anyway.

As for Blood Yi and the Old Man, they possessed far more foresight than the Source of Fear.

The two of them had already met Xue Mo and Luo Sheng respectively, and knew full well that both of them shared the exact same origin as Yan Jing. Thus, they simply went with the flow and handed their Divine Thrones over.

"Good. Thank you all for your cooperation."

Yan Jing nodded.

Truthfully, the Space Rat had also wanted to surrender its Divine Throne to Mao Si, but since Mao Si was already the victor of the Domain Revelation, it would be largely meaningless. Ultimately, it stayed put.

With that settled, Yan Jing turned his gaze toward the spectating Deities and smiled.

"Now that my old friends are willing to side with me, may I ask if any new friends would like to join us?"

The complexions of the surrounding Deities rapidly shifted as they quickly weighed their options.

Before they could come to a conclusion, three figures suddenly hurtled over from the distance.

The three newcomers radiated a dazzling dark blue light, their bodies completely concealed beneath flowing white robes.

They looked exceptionally uniform in their color coordination.

Aside from their incredibly dense divinity, the three shared one other prominent trait: they all exuded the exact same aura.

When the surrounding Deities saw those three, their expressions drastically shifted. Even the existences who had just been about to agree to Yan Jing's offer instantly snapped their mouths shut, not daring to speak another word.

Firmament Envoys.

That title alone was more than enough to strike terror into the hearts of the gods.

In reality, Firmament Envoys weren't quite as terrifying as they seemed. Even though they possessed the strength of Upper Deities, there were plenty of Upper Deities present here as well; there was no need to fear these three in a straight fight.

But... the critical issue was the existence backing them.

Since they had arrived...

It meant that the Firmament very likely already knew what was happening!

Who would dare make a move now? Every single one of them instantly played deaf and mute.

The few Deities who had just agreed to stand with Yan Jing silently backed away, putting some distance between themselves and him.

But...

Yan Jing merely raised his hand again.

"Bang!"

As a domain was created and a new set of rules was established, the three Envoys instantly disintegrated, scattering into drifting specks of light.

The crowd of Deities watched helplessly as Yan Jing cleanly seized the Firmament's origin source and completely absorbed it. None of them dared to even breathe.

"Does anyone else have objections?"

Yan Jing swept his gaze over the gods.

...

The Deities all drew in deep breaths, exchanging glances with one another...

In the end, a massive upheaval within the Divine Realm took place just like that on the day of the Revelation of the Gods.

All the Sources of Mutation surrendered their Divine Thrones, while the rest of the Deities switched factions and flocked to Yan Jing's side.

In an instant, every single Divine Throne completely changed owners!

They had no other choice.

Some of the Deities still felt loyal to the Firmament in their hearts, but...

The Firmament simply wouldn't show up!

The only entity capable of fighting Yan Jing was the Firmament.

God only knew where the Firmament was hiding!

Aside from surrendering, there seemed to be no other option.

And Yan Jing's method of controlling the gods seemed much simpler than the Firmament's.

Every Deity simply drank a drop of his diluted blood, and the matter was considered settled.

Afterward, the Revelation of the Gods proceeded according to schedule, except... the entire nature of the event had completely changed.

Those Deities who had long desired to surrender their Divine Thrones naturally couldn't wait to hand them over and win their freedom.

And the Deities who hadn't wanted to give up their thrones were now forced to seriously consider it, not wanting to throw their lives away over this.

Therefore, right on the heels of the gods' massive upheaval came the most terrifying changing of the guard the Deities had ever seen.

And while all of this was in full swing here...

Every existence present harbored a very similar question in their hearts—

Where was the Firmament?

Now that the Deities had changed flags and the Divine Realm had undergone such massive upheaval, as the supreme existence who had governed the gods for the past era, there was no way it could just watch all this happen without taking any action, right?!

And yet, at this exact moment.

High in the Firmament.

In some unknown place.

A figure was staring into the Mirror, looking as if they were entirely lost in a daze.