Chapter 590: Gods Set the Rules, Gods Judge, Gods Decide

"It's you!"

The moment Shou saw Xiao Mo, her pupils contracted violently, and she immediately redirected her arrow, shooting toward Xiao Mo.

In an instant, dozens of arrow feathers rained down upon Xiao Mo like a torrential downpour of pear blossoms in a storm.

Xiao Mo was pierced through, like a hedgehog, by the golden arrow feathers yet Shou felt no satisfaction at having struck her target.

The "Xiao Mo" pierced through like a hedgehog dissolved into scattered green leaves.

In the blink of an eye, Xiao Mo appeared on the other side of "Tushan Meng."

Xiao Mo steadied himself, looking toward Tushan Meng's direction.

He did not know what exactly had happened to Tushan Meng but he sensed that Tushan Meng now seemed like an entirely different person, one filled with hatred toward him.

"Fall!"

Xiao Mo pressed his fingers together, pointing toward Shou.

In an instant, the heavens split open, and a River of Heaven poured down like a waterfall upon "Tushan Meng."

"The Great Dream of the Yellow Millet... heh heh... what a fine Great Dream of the Yellow Millet indeed!"

How could Shou possibly fail to recognize the technique Xiao Mo had just used?

Because this was a technique of the divine spirits!

Shou drew her bow once more, hundreds upon thousands of arrow feathers condensing behind her, all shooting at once toward that River of Heaven.

That River of Heaven was shattered by Shou into countless splashes of water.

A drizzling rain fell from the sky.

And just as Shou was about to strike again, Gui Ning, Yun Xi, Kongsheng, and Cun Caiguang, four Ascension realm cultivators, had already surrounded her.

Though Kongsheng was deeply unwilling to join forces with the human race.

Given the current situation, he understood who the true enemy was. If they failed to deal with these beings, he might truly have no way of escaping this alive.

"Might I ask, Senior, do you hail from the ancient era?" Gui Ning gave a respectful bow, asking the other party.

"I do." Shou answered coldly.

"Legend has it that in the ancient era, the myriad races fought a great war against the divine spirits. The Lord of the Gods was slain, and the remaining gods either died or were sealed away, every divine spirit's laws stripped from them and returned to the workings of heaven and earth."

Gui Ning continued.

"And I once saw an ancient text within a ruin, which recorded that there once existed a divine spirit who governed the art of the hunt throughout the world. The golden longbow in her hands carries the power of karma itself. Once loosed, an arrow can never miss, even should the target flee to the very ends of the earth."

"And this divine spirit's name is simple, a single character, 'Shou,' meaning 'hunt.'"

"Heh heh, I never expected that after all these millions of years, there would still be someone who remembers anything of us divine spirits."

Shou's gaze swept over Gui Ning and the others.

"Every one of you shows considerable talent. Were it not for the current thinness of spiritual energy in this world, your breakthrough into that supreme third realm would not be impossible at all."

"Submit to me, obey me! Once I reshape my divine form and reclaim the laws that are rightfully mine, I will help you break through into that supreme third realm!"

Faced with the divine spirit's offer of recruitment, Gui Ning only shook his head, asking once more, “If you, Senior, reshape your body, and the divine spirits return to this world once more, what then becomes of us myriad races? Slaves to the gods once again?"

"Gods set the rules, gods judge the world, gods decide all matters."

Shou spoke evenly.

"Is being a slave to the gods really so bad? Everything about you would be judged by divine spirits. Compared to that, how much better off are you myriad races now, tearing each other apart, than you were millions of years ago?"

"Even so, that's still better than having the gods decide the life and death of all races with a single word."

Gui Ning still shook his head.

"Legend has it that in the ancient era, the divine spirits deliberately incited wars between dynasties and sects, then wagered upon them against one another, purely for amusement."

"True dragons, phoenixes, and other divine beasts were all treated as mere mounts, stripped of all dignity."

"The myriad races were slaughtered at the gods' whim, subject to not the slightest shred of decency."

"Even with the myriad races warring among themselves as they do now, that is still better than being playthings of the gods. And I believe that the myriad races will, in time, set aside all their hatred, seek common ground while preserving their differences, and live together in peace."

"Then you may as well try."

Shou's tone carried no pity, no regret, only an indescribable calm.

"While I'm still unfamiliar with this body, still unaccustomed to this world's thinned spiritual energy, before I reclaim my laws, try to kill me now. Otherwise, you will have no chance again."

With these words, Shou drew her bow once more.

Gui Ning and the others unleashed their own killing techniques as well.

Though Yun Xi and the others were utterly shaken in their hearts, never having imagined that these legendary divine spirits truly existed, let alone appearing before them now but they understood, even more clearly, that they had no path of retreat left!

And should these divine spirits step beyond the Tushan clan's lands, the entire world itself might well have no path of retreat either.

In an instant, an Eight Trigrams formation array appeared beneath Shou's feet.

"This array, not bad."

Shou lowered her head to look, giving a note of praise.

This great array appeared ordinary at first glance, but was, in truth, a return to the fundamental, containing within it the great Dao of heaven and earth, countless array inscriptions fused into every single stroke of its design and she had not noticed it forming at all until this moment, which meant that Yun Xi had been drawing this formation array in the air even while fighting, and had, moreover, woven concealment patterns into it as well.

This was no small feat.

"My thanks for the praise, Senior!"

Yun Xi pierced the space between her own brows with her fingertip.

A drop of her essence blood fell upon the formation array.

The array blazed with a dazzling red light.

In less than half a breath's time, this array seemed to come alive, a kun-peng formed of yin-yang jade hooks surging upward, charging at Shou.

At the same time, Gui Ning once more gathered the power of the Eight Wildernesses, forming a shimmering mirage above Shou.

This mirage took the shape of the entire demon race's territory.

Under Gui Ning's will, the mirage crashed down violently upon Shou.

Meanwhile, Kongsheng raised his head and let out a long cry, the Serpent clan's "Terror" resonance, governing dread itself, seeping into Shou's mind, attempting to restrain her very soul.

Cun Caiguang swung the brush in his hand, writing his own true name, the character "Cun," meaning "inch."

The character "Cun" was written in the air, then dissolved into the air once more, falling as an ink-rain, scattering across Shou's body.

Shou tried to move, but found herself confined within a single square inch by the laws carried within the character "Cun," unable to move even a step.

Though none of them had ever killed a divine spirit before, and what they had heard of "deicide" was only ever legend but this being had only just descended into the world, her cultivation level still only at the Ascension realm. Killing her was not entirely impossible yet just as everyone believed they had succeeded.

Blossoms of every color bloomed within the night sky.

A lotus flower grew forth beneath Shou's very feet, at last blooming fully, spreading like an umbrella over her head.

"BOOM!"

With a great roar echoing through the sky, violent ripples of spiritual energy scattered wildly outward.

Countless flowers shattered in midair, petal after petal drifting down from the sky.

The children of the Tushan fox clan instinctively reached out their hands, wanting to catch these petals, but the moment the petals landed in their small palms, they vanished without a trace.

Not far off, Xiao Mo, having just erased a Jade Simplicity realm fox clan elder, hurried to look toward Shou's direction.

There, he saw Jingci, her hands folded before her, walking step by step through the air, a lotus blooming beneath each step she took, her bearing carrying an indescribable gentleness and holiness.

At last, Tushan Jingci came to stand beside Shou.

Within her lovely fox eyes, golden light spilled forth as well.