The Otherworld Ancestral God Awakens

A mournful wail echoed from the upper reaches of the corpse river.

"Boom!"

The yellow corpse water surged as if boiling, hundreds of thousands of waves leaping skyward. The underground palace was flooded with murky yellow light, the stench of death suffocating.

"Master... what is this? Could he be emerging?" the monster whispered in terror, trembling as it stared upstream.

Xiao Chen's face was grim. Whatever lay at the end of the corpse river was a supreme being of the highest order. If it descended with the river, his situation would become dire. He immediately considered retreat; otherwise, he might suffer a great loss, even die here.

"Leaving? Not anymore!" The monster's eyes flashed with cold light as it burst from the river, blocking Xiao Chen's path. "Today, I will offer your fresh flesh and blood to our master. This is your fate."

"A mere rat dares to boast? Get out of my way!" Xiao Chen commanded the thirteen war swords to form a conical formation, piercing toward the monster.

"Thousand illusions, ten thousand manifestations!" The monster howled, splitting into dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of figures that filled every direction. Unlike ordinary avatars or phantoms, each seemed real—impossible to distinguish even with divine eye techniques.

From all sides, the monsters attacked with their four bone lances and scorpion tails, surrounding Xiao Chen with deadly intent.

"Rend them!" Xiao Chen swept the thirteen war swords in all directions. The thirteen rainbow rays instantly lengthened to several li, slashing through the vast underground palace.

"Pftt!" "Pftt!" ...

Blood sprayed as phantom after phantom was severed into blood mist, which scattered into radiant drops of blood that refused to dissipate.

Each of those countless phantoms was formed from a single drop of blood, possessing formidable combat power and making them nearly impossible to guard against.

The monster's main body crept closer, waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Bang!"

The four bone lances on its flanks suddenly blazed with blinding white light, merging into a single terrifying spear of death that stabbed toward Xiao Chen's throat in the blink of an eye.

Seven-colored light swirled as the sacred tree's holy radiance cascaded like silk ribbons, freezing the dreadful white bone spear at the critical moment.

"Clang!"

The elongated bone spear shifted downward, striking Xiao Chen's chest with full force. Though it did not pierce his Ancestral God battle suit, a strange power transmitted through the armor, shaking his physical body.

"Tss!"

At the same time, the scorpion tail shot forward like a bolt of white lightning, striking the exact same spot.

Xiao Chen felt as if struck by thunder; his face flushed as he spat a mouthful of blood. The monster's two full-power blows had both struck his chest, their strange, overbearing force injuring him.

"The Great Annihilation Spear, at its ultimate level, can kill even across several planets or an entire starry sky," the monster's cold voice came. "In the ancient days, Otherworld Ancestral Gods could wound our human Ancestral Gods from far-off heavens, across infinite space."

As it spoke, it did not stop its attack. Thousands of spear shadows shot toward Xiao Chen.

"Tss, tss, tss!"

By now, the war swords had slaughtered all surrounding phantoms and were converging on the true body.

"Boom!"

But at that moment, the thousands of blood drops floating in the air gathered abruptly, coalescing into a blood-colored war spear.

"Ancient Spear of Annihilation, heed my call and manifest!" the monster shouted.

That blood spear floating in the void blazed ever brighter, taking on a material form as the true Great Annihilation Spear appeared in the monster's hands.

Xiao Chen was alarmed. He knew that such a spear truly existed in this world, and now a portion of its weapon-soul was being summoned.

"Break!"

Unwilling to let the spear be fully summoned, Xiao Chen ordered the thirteen war swords to descend in sword formation.

"Boom!"

A heaven-shaking strike rocked the underground palace. The corpse river surged over a hundred meters high, yellow foulness spreading, yin winds howling, ghosts wailing, gods weeping—a scene to make one's hair stand on end.

Had the underground palace not been reinforced by great power, it would have been destroyed several times over; the earth above would have collapsed.

"Rumble!"

The war swords hacked the incompletely summoned Great Annihilation Spear into four pieces, leaving over a dozen terrible wounds on the monster's body, blood splattering.

With a flash, the monster retreated several hundred meters, its wounds healing quickly, blood flowing back. It stared at the hovering war swords and said, "So these war swords can even shatter the Annihilation Spear—truly terrifying. They might well clash with the true Otherworld Ancestral God's War Spear."

To escape the underground palace, Xiao Chen had to get past this monster. He had no patience for idle talk and charged forward.

"Leave your flesh!" The monster charged as well.

They clashed again. With a deafening roar, the monster summoned the corpse river's waters, flooding the underground palace and using them to trap Xiao Chen.

"Wooo..."

A mournful wail, enough to make even a half-ancestor's scalp tingle, came from the upper reaches of the corpse river. It was bone-chilling, as if that terrifying presence had seeped into Xiao Chen's very marrow—impossible to escape.

"Master... what is this?" The monster's face showed fear and confusion.

Xiao Chen also felt uneasy. What kind of being could emit such soul-freezing aura? If they met face to face, how could he possibly fight?

But then, something surprising happened. The roaring corpse river gradually calmed, becoming as still as an ancient well, without a single ripple—like a pool of dead water.

"Huh?" Xiao Chen was puzzled.

"The master has fallen asleep again. I am now the sovereign of this underground world," the monster sighed with relief, then looked at Xiao Chen. "Since the master slumbers again, your flesh and blood will be mine to enjoy!"

Xiao Chen had initially intended to flee—not out of fear of this monster, but of the unknown entity upstream. Hearing this, he stopped retreating and turned back to fight.

"You dead rat, you don't know your limits! I'll slay you here and now, and then I'll leave!"

"I have an immortal body. How can you defeat me? And I will eventually find a way to break your armor," the monster said grimly.

"Then we'll see who kills whom!" Xiao Chen was determined to eliminate it. With the unknown powerhouse upstream in slumber, this was a heaven-sent opportunity he could not waste.

The fierce battle resumed. The two turned into streaks of light, tangled together, rising and falling in the corpse river, stirring up great waves, splashing foul yellow water everywhere.

This continued for half an hour. The monster still found no opening, and at last began to move through the corpse river and the surrounding earth, vanishing and reappearing with ease. Water could not block it, earth could not obstruct it—like a fish in water, like a pangolin through soil.

"A rat indeed—best in the world at fleeing, hiding, and digging holes!" Xiao Chen deliberately provoked it.

But the monster remained unmoved, flickering in and out of the corpse river and the earth.

Another hour passed. Still, it could not find an opportunity.

"I had wanted to torture you slowly, to savor your terrified expression as I devoured your flesh. But now I've changed my mind."

As it spoke, it reappeared, surrounding Xiao Chen from all directions with vicious attacks. The four bone lances and the scorpion tail struck the dark-iron war suit repeatedly, unable to pierce it, but the noise was terrifying.

Monstrous shadows filled every direction. Just as Xiao Chen expected a final, desperate charge, all the avatars merged into one at his front. The monster's eyes suddenly shot out two beams of green light, each three inches long.

A burning pain!

An intense, searing pain!

Xiao Chen felt as if his eyes were splitting apart. A powerful divine consciousness surged madly toward him.

Physical attacks failing, the monster had turned to pure spiritual assault, entwining Xiao Chen's divine sense in an attempt to invade his physical body.

"A rat's eye sees but an inch!" Xiao Chen cursed. But that light was devastatingly powerful.

The two beams of green light were condensed divine thought, grappling with Xiao Chen's released divine sense, trying to dissolve it.

"Damned rat!"

Xiao Chen was locked in a stalemate with the monster. His head throbbed with agonizing pain as his outward divine sense suffered a frenzied assault.

"Break!"

Xiao Chen roared. He grabbed the Seven-Colored Sacred Tree floating above his head and swung it forward.

Seven-colored divine rainbows illuminated the entire underground palace. The two green beams were forced back somewhat, but the monster was reluctant to let go, still entwining a portion of Xiao Chen's divine sense.

"Die, rat!"

The sacred tree blazed with divine radiance. The wisp of Ancestral Lord essence it had absorbed from the Great Dread Nether King suddenly released an oppressive pressure.

The monster's divine sense recoiled in horror, its heart filled with terror.

Xiao Chen finally broke free from danger.

Just then, the monster suddenly screamed in terror: "You... not dead! Your fragmented imprint hasn't fully faded!..."

Though the green light had returned to its eyes, the monster's body stiffened, as if no longer under its control. It seemed to be speaking to another soul within its body, and it shrieked in agony.

How could Xiao Chen miss this chance? He charged with the war swords, swinging continuously.

Blood sprayed. Under the rainbow flashes, the monster's body was covered in horrific wounds. Finally, it was severed into several pieces, blood pooling on the ground.

But then, something strange happened. The screams turned into loud laughter.

Then the body on the ground rapidly reassembled, all wounds healing quickly.

The monster flexed its body as if newborn, brimming with curiosity about everything around it.

"Hahaha..." Then "it" laughed wildly.

"Who are you?" Xiao Chen watched with extreme wariness.

"Ancestral God Babra!" The monster stopped laughing and stared at Xiao Chen coldly. "You are a not-weak human, but meeting me means death."

"An Otherworld Ancestral God?" Xiao Chen's expression grew grave. One wave had not yet settled before another rose. The unknown supreme being at the corpse river's end had fallen asleep, but now an Ancestral God had appeared.

"The Otherworld? Yes, in your way of thinking. I am the Otherworld Ancestral God Babra!" The monster's posture was that of one looking down on all creation, dominating the world.

"This filthy rat disgusts me more than a human like you," Ancestral God Babra said, glancing at the body he now occupied and then looking down at Xiao Chen. His gaze was not that of regarding a person, but of looking at livestock, filled with contempt.

"On the contrary, I find this rat more agreeable than you. You make me sick," Xiao Chen replied with equal contempt, looking at him as if at an insect.

"You..." Ancestral God Babra fixed his icy stare on Xiao Chen. "In the old days, even Nuwa and Suiren dare not insult me so!"

"They simply couldn't be bothered with you," Xiao Chen sneered. "But I don't care about any of that. Even if you are an Otherworld Ancestral God, without flesh, you'll still have to kneel before me!"

"You insignificant human dare to be so insolent before me? In all of history, no one has ever spoken to me like this. I will make you understand that the dignity of an Ancestral God must not be violated!"

Though Ancestral God Babra's words were calm and his demeanor composed, that only made him more terrifying.

Ancestral Gods never jest—their words always become reality.

"The dignity of an Ancestral God? You? In whose name? Whose ancestor? Whose god?" Xiao Chen said indifferently, treating the figure before him as nothing more than a minor role. "Before you say those words, please add the prefix 'Otherworld.' Sorry, but to us, you are truly nothing."

With a flash, the monster vanished. Xiao Chen felt as if struck by lightning.

It was too fast. He could not even see the trajectory before he was sent flying. Four bone lances had all struck the same spot on his chest, shaking his qi and blood, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.

In another flash, the monster had returned to its original position.

"This filthy rat's body is terrible," it said, then its eyes shot two beams of icy light toward Xiao Chen. "But even so, it should be enough to kill you."

"Stop boasting!" Xiao Chen placed all the war swords in front of him. "I have killed half-ancestors before, but I have never killed an Otherworld Ancestral God. It seems I may fulfill that wish today."

"You?! In the past, even your human Ancestral Gods dared not spout such madness!" The monster's expression grew even colder. "I personally half-killed Sovereign Youchao. And now a mere ant like you dares to look down on me? Unforgivable!"

"Sovereign Youchao?" Xiao Chen could not hide his shock upon hearing this. He longed to know the deeds of those ancient Ancestral Gods.

Seeing his reaction, Ancestral God Babra revealed a cruel smile. "When I saw Youchao's blood stain the earth... ah, that feeling was truly exquisite!"

Xiao Chen quickly calmed down. "But in the end, you still fell, didn't you?"

"Though Martial Ancestor killed me, he must have died as well. I had left plans to deal with him back then," Ancestral God Babra said with a regretful shake of his head. "What a pity—he wasted a cultivation at the Ninth Heaven of the Ancestral God realm..."

"You treacherous bastard!" Xiao Chen's eyes went red, his teeth grinding in hatred. His blood surged. He had already learned of those ancient events from Tianwaitian and Renwairen.

Martial Ancestor and Fuxi had been the strongest among the human Ancestral Gods. The death of Martial Ancestor was a tragic loss.

"It seems Martial Ancestor is indeed dead. Then, in a sense, he died by my hand." The monster laughed with cruel satisfaction, then coldly fixed on Xiao Chen.

"Heaven has eyes! Today I met you—Babra—and was given the chance to kill you myself!" Xiao Chen's voice was icy. "Without flesh, you are nothing more than a stray dog. Even if you don't want to kneel, you will! Today, I will vent my fury for the Ancestral Gods who stained the earth with their blood! I will flay you alive!"