The Broken Divine City

Xiao Chen and Yan Qingcheng walked across the waves in the morning glow, gradually approaching the Nine Provinces. The hazy outline of the coastline was already visible.

Just then, Xiao Chen halted. His expression turned solemn. He sensed no danger, but instinct told him something was amiss ahead.

This was an ill omen. For someone as powerful as him to be unable to perceive the threat clearly showed how grave the situation was.

A long laugh rang out, like a great drum booming across the sky—deep, forceful, echoing endlessly over the coastal waters.

"We are returning to the Death World," Xiao Chen said calmly to Yan Qingcheng, his eyes fixed on the misty shoreline.

Yan Qingcheng, peerlessly beautiful and clad in a feathered robe, nodded serenely. She seemed more ethereal than ever—nimble and otherworldly.

An unfathomably powerful figure stood on the shore. Though within Xiao Chen's field of vision, he had not sensed him until instinct warned him. Only after the other's laugh did he truly detect the tall figure, whose back was turned to him, standing motionless on the coast.

"Why rush away? Why not sit and talk?"

The tall figure slowly turned and strode across the sea, followed by four Otherworld Ancestral Gods.

He was a middle-aged man in archaic clothing. His gray-brown hair curled naturally, falling over his shoulders and back. His skin was deathly pale, as if deprived of sunlight for eons. His worldly-wise eyes were deep as the ocean, seemingly able to pierce one's very soul.

But most striking was his left arm—completely petrified, seamlessly fused with his flesh. Plain and unadorned, it radiated an aura that made one's heart tremble.

He was a contradiction, a being of unique temperament. He inspired both calm and terror—calm from his outward appearance, terror from the inner power he contained.

Xiao Chen sensed by instinct that this was a Supreme Ancestral God, but one with an extra stone arm, as if he had attempted both paths to further advancement. He was undoubtedly a pinnacle figure, standing at the summit. Facing such a man, Xiao Chen could only retreat. Without a word, he prepared to take Yan Qingcheng back to the Death World.

"Wait. Even enemies need not always fight to the death," said the extraordinary figure with a gentle smile. He stopped walking and sat cross-legged on the sea. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Ge Qian. I have slumbered through three cycles of civilization. Many, myself included, never thought I would survive the long silence."

His tone was calm, devoid of murderous intent, as if speaking to an old friend. "Sit and talk. At this realm, having endured countless tribulations, do you still fear life and death?"

Behind him, the four Otherworld Ancestral Gods stood motionless like petrified statues, clearly filled with awe and reverence.

The more Xiao Chen observed, the more extraordinary this worldly-wise, uniquely imposing Otherworld Ancestral God seemed. He sat down on the sea with Yan Qingcheng, facing him from a distance.

"Death is nothing. Perhaps living is more terrifying," Ge Qian said with a faint smile, looking at the pair. "All fears and ten thousand tribulations are for the living. The dead suffer none of this, for everything has ended."

"So you yearn for death?" Xiao Chen showed no reverence, retorting bluntly.

"No. Because living offers one thing death cannot: choice. After death, all is nothingness, irreversible. But the living can always choose death. Moreover, life holds not only fear but also hope. When hope is gone, life truly becomes worthless—then choosing death is indeed better." Ge Qian's gaze swept over Xiao Chen and Yan Qingcheng. "Take the Nine Provinces now. They have lost all hope. And you are among those who have lost it."

"Are you saying we live a fate worse than death?" Xiao Chen's expression turned cold.

"What I mean is, I can give you hope." Ge Qian's worldly-wise eyes grew deeper, like two miniature oceans. "Our realm embraces all things and teems with limitless hope. I welcome you to join us."

Xiao Chen burst into laughter, shaking the sea and churning waves. His voice was icy: "Are you joking?"

"I am not joking. The Nine Provinces have become a dead pool, devoid of all hope. Soon, I will wipe out every living thing on this land, and no one can stop me."

"You would annihilate every being in the Nine Provinces, yet ask me to join your world? Do you not see the absurdity?" Xiao Chen's eyes turned frigid.

The pinnacle powerhouse Ge Qian sighed and shook his head. "No wonder you possess such formidable combat power yet cannot step into the Ancestral God realm. You have too many attachments, too many things you cannot let go. This will halt your progress."

He paused, then continued, "What do the deaths of those ants matter to you? You have long since transcended them. You are no longer a clueless insect. You should dwell with those of your own realm. Why continue to wallow in the dust?"

"Might makes right, brutal force overrules justice," Xiao Chen remarked bitterly.

"Survival of the fittest, the strong dominate the weak—that is the way of heaven." Ge Qian's expression grew even more indifferent. "Take a simple example: sheep eat grass, men eat sheep. What is wrong with that? To you, is that not the natural order? Stand on a higher plane and look down upon the mortal world. Compared to us, are they not mere ants? The relation between ants and us is like that between grass and sheep, sheep and men. If you cannot comprehend even this, you will never advance another step."

"Your parents gave birth to you and raised you. When you far surpassed them, did you then consider them ants—beings utterly different from yourself?"

Ge Qian smiled faintly and said to an Otherworld Ancestral God beside him, "Tell him how I achieved my present status."

The Otherworld Ancestral God replied, "Lord Ge Qian lost his parents soon after birth. He grew up in deadly struggle with his nine elder brothers. He killed them all, one by one, devouring their homologous soul force, and thus attained the position of Supreme Ancestral God."

Xiao Chen drew a sharp breath. The seemingly calm, placid middle-aged man before him was utterly ruthless—a demon in human form.

"I have nothing more to say to a cold-blooded fiend like you."

Ge Qian shook his head. "You are stubborn. But do you know that a heavenly pride of the Nine Provinces once joined our realm? Once you see through it, your horizons will broaden immeasurably."

"Who?"

"Even if I told you, you wouldn't know. But if you survive, you may meet him one day." With that, Ge Qian looked toward the Nine Provinces and said, "Now, let me show you a play."

He lightly tapped a finger, and a divine rainbow shot into the sky, flying toward the Nine Provinces.

"You—!" Xiao Chen immediately struck out with a Heavenly Mark to block it.

"Can you truly stop me?" Ge Qian's flat tone carried a trace of cruel amusement. He tapped out another finger, and another rainbow soared toward the Nine Provinces.

At the same time, the four Otherworld Ancestral Gods transformed into four beams of light and flew toward the Nine Provinces.

Boom! Blood-red light erupted. One region of the Nine Provinces after another had all its life drained away. Through heavenly vision, the horror was clear: hundreds of thousands of corpses, a scene too tragic to behold.

Boom! As the four Ancestral Gods descended, four more regions collapsed. Millions of beings perished, their blood dyeing the land crimson.

Xiao Chen shot to his feet on the sea, but he knew he could not stop it. Before him was a demon lord, a Supreme Ancestral God, aided by four Ancestral Gods. He had no recourse.

"I had not planned to exterminate those ants so soon. But today, you disappointed me. I find that the human race, with its stubbornness, has no reason to exist. Perhaps it is time to replace them with a new species."

Xiao Chen said nothing more. With Yan Qingcheng, he tore through space, about to return to the Death World. He could not bear to watch any further.

"Do not rush. It is not impossible for me to change my mind," the demon lord Ge Qian said casually.

Just as Xiao Chen was about to vanish, he reappeared. "You threaten me? Speak. What do you want?"

"I have here a broken…" As he spoke, yellow light flashed from his petrified left hand, and a shattered ancient divine city appeared, no larger than a palm. Yet its vast, terrible aura surged like an ocean. "This is the city in which I once slumbered. A pity it ended up in this state. I awakened prematurely." He sighed. "I am very sorry for that."

"What do you want?"

"I have heard that you once drove two divine cities into our realm, stirring up quite a storm. Since you have such resources, I propose a trade. You use other ruined cities to repair this one for me. In exchange, I will spare all living beings in the Nine Provinces." He said this with an air of indifference.

"You have quite the appetite. Are you still trying to take the final step?" Xiao Chen looked at him coldly.

"I have already left my divine city, so I can no longer take that step." Ge Qian stroked the broken city in his hand. "I simply wish to reinforce it, so that I might one day petrify another arm."

He looked at Xiao Chen. "Let me give you another hope. If you repair my divine city for me, I will decide to preserve all life in the Nine Provinces completely, and will not wipe them out. I know your ancestral gods have done their utmost to take away many ants, leaving seeds of hope for continuation. But I think you would not bear to see the remaining ants all annihilated simply because you refused to cooperate, would you?"

"You—!"

"No need to answer right away." With that, Ge Qian struck the broken divine city, sending it flying toward Xiao Chen.

The palm-sized ancient city was unadorned but unimaginably heavy. Xiao Chen caught it with all his might. He felt an urge to shatter it on the spot, but he held back. "You can take the city away, repair it, and then return it to me," Ge Qian said, seemingly unconcerned.

Xiao Chen thoroughly searched every inch of the broken city with his powerful divine sense, then, without another word, vanished in a flash of light, leaving this world.

At that moment, the four Otherworld Ancestral Gods flew back from the Nine Provinces and appeared before Ge Qian.

"My lord, how could you take such a risk? You cannot hand over the divine city to him!"

"What if he hardens his heart and destroys your city body?"

"It is a small matter!" Ge Qian's expression flickered, unfathomably deep.

On his way back to the Death World, Xiao Chen kept the palm-sized ancient city suppressed under his incomplete divine diagram and two Heavenly Marks. After arriving, he chose a desolate region, studied the city for a long time, silently stood still, and finally made his decision.

Boom! The divine diagram pressed down, vibrating repeatedly, and finally crushed the city!

But at that moment, as the divine city shattered, a stone mountain flew out from within, upon which three War Swords stood embedded.