The Heavenly Kings Clash

Overwhelming power, an utterly indomitable strength—that was Xiao Chen's only sensation. His entire being surged with boundless vitality, possessing a divine might that defied measure.

Those within the Pure Land naturally sensed this extraordinary aura, a suffocating pressure that swept in from the edge of the realm like roaring tidal waves.

With a blur of motion, Xiao Chen shot out from the grand formation, his body wreathed in towering divine flames that shook the entire Pure Land, threatening to collapse it. Outside, even the radiance of the Sun Star was suppressed. In that moment, he was absolute, overwhelming power.

His entire form was shrouded in blazing light, moving like lightning as he stepped into the Pure Land. He no longer seemed a man but a burning divine star.

Amidst the chaos of the Pure Land, someone attacked him immediately. Several beams of light streaked toward him like comets, leaving long, scorching trails in their wake.

With a thunderous boom, Xiao Chen raised his hand and cleaved forward, blocking the killing light with a single strike, shattering the divine radiance into scattered fragments as their power dissipated into nothingness.

His eyes shot forth twin beams of cold lightning. Fingers pressed together like a sword, he swept a vast blade of light across the heavens toward his assailants. A colossal, towering sword-light crossed the Pure Land, and the unmanifested Source Divine Laws sealed the sky. In an instant, three figures were cleaved in two, blood spraying into the void.

The three figures vanished instantly, choosing to flee rather than fight, harboring not a shred of optimism as they desperately teleported away. Xiao Chen could not spare the time to obliterate them completely, as his focus had locked onto the foreign faction's powerhouse—the “Mud Man.”

Like a dream, like an illusion, he materialized before the Mud Man in the span of a heartbeat, without any trace of deceptive artifice. A single great hand blotted out the sky, descending to envelop everything.

Divine power surged, causing the Pure Land to crack and split. As the unmanifested Source Divine Laws were unleashed, the heavens were no longer the heavens, the earth no longer the earth. All things were changed… everything was determined by a single will, a world held in absolute command!

The Mud Man, that mysterious powerhouse who had been as impassive as a carved statue, could no longer remain calm. The half of his wooden, expressionless face instantly contorted. His hands traced complex patterns in the air, summoning the Source Laws of Myriad Worlds to contend with the great hand descending from the sky.

But a terrible thing occurred. As the Mud Man's hands rose to meet the heavens, they silently disintegrated, dissolving into specks of ash that vanished into the void.

What manner of power was this? The arms of the Mud Man, a mysterious powerhouse, had crumbled to dust in an instant!

Where Xiao Chen's great hand passed, nothing could stand against it. This world had been completely dominated.

One could call it a reversal of heaven and earth!

Beneath that great hand, the world was being reshaped. The rules and order of the space it covered were being reorganized. All was grasped in the palm of its master, the world as illusory as a flower, subject to arbitrary alteration and fabrication.

This was the Source Law of a Heaven-Defying War God. This was the true, awe-inspiring power on display.

With a crash, the Mud Man regenerated his right arm, grasping a stone blade and cleaving it toward the sky. A hazy yellow radiance streaked across the boundless void like an immortal divine rainbow, illuminating billions of starry rivers.

But the great hand in the sky made a single motion—it pressed downward with terrible force. All the yellow blade-qi instantly collapsed. The stone blade gave a series of grinding, cracking sounds, then shattered into pieces in the void.

It was not a true stone weapon; it could not remain eternal and indestructible. Under the small world that the great hand had redefined and reorganized, it fractured inch by inch.

Nevertheless, this Mud Man was truly remarkable. Even in such a horrific situation, he remained unafraid. His body drifted like a floating weed beneath the Source Divine Laws, moving with uncanny agility. His form embodied the profound essence of the Great Dao, using Law to dissolve Law, creating a gap within the Divine Law's interstices, and escaping from this world.

To be able to escape from beneath the hand of a Heaven-Defying War God, this person was undoubtedly an extraordinary figure, possessing unimaginable cultivation. He was a supreme being among the giants of the Celestial Realm.

Perhaps his physical shell was not strong enough, but his comprehension of Divine Law had reached an incredibly profound height!

“Ancestral God of the Upper Realms, we have arrived!” Just then, waves of divine power fluctuations came from outside the Pure Land. A magnificent, dazzling divine city charged in.

The assembled powerhouses of the Otherworld faction, riding the ancient city left behind by a past Stone Man King, came into the Pure Land. The Mud Man flickered and vanished, plunging into the ancient divine city.

That the Mud Man, a mysterious powerhouse, was an Upper Ancestral God surprised Xiao Chen, but it also set his instincts on high alert. An Upper Ancestral God who had comprehended the Divine Laws of Myriad Worlds to a certain depth was this powerful, overturning his previous understanding.

This path was different from the Stone Man path. The Stone Man path required preserving the physical body until divine power reached an absolute peak, after which no further change was possible—an eons-long stagnation.

An Upper Ancestral God's physical body could not compare to a Stone Man's. It might even be far inferior to the body of a failed Stone Man. But such a person's comprehension of Divine Laws was terrifyingly profound.

Perhaps many Upper Ancestral Gods, for a very long time, could not even contend with a failed Stone Man. But once they comprehended the Source of the Myriad Worlds' Divine Laws to a certain level, many things might change.

The Mud Man before him was on the verge of a qualitative transformation, having advanced very far on the Upper Ancestral God path, walking a road that was gradually opening before him.

No wonder the path of the Upper Ancestral God could stand alongside the Stone Man path as one of the two great cultivation paths!

Understanding this, Xiao Chen's killing intent surged even more fiercely. He charged toward the ancient divine city, his palm sweeping out like a blade, imbued with the Imprint of the Supreme Dao of the Five Kings.

Though it was not his own enlightenment, in this moment it could be used by him. The divine diagram within his body wavered hazily. The Old Goat had merged the Otherworld's supreme Dao Imprints, channeling the essence of the Dao through the diagram to the outside world.

Heaven and earth, like a curtain, were violently yanked aside, revealing a brand new stage for the world, one created by the Heaven-Defying War God for his own use, felt by the heart and changing with thought!

The ancient divine city was covered by the Source World Laws contained within Xiao Chen's palm blade. Heaven and earth were transformed. The colossal city shook violently, as if it were about to shatter at any moment.

But contrary to Xiao Chen's expectations, under the Heaven-Defying War God's world-shaking blow, the ancient divine city, after a violent tremor, erupted with a blinding, dazzling golden light that neutralized the supreme power contained in his palm blade.

“How can this be?” Xiao Chen asked the Old Goat within his body.

“That is no ordinary city; it was left behind by a King. It has been preserved intact and complete. In a sense, it is even more precious than a successfully refined stone weapon,” the Old Goat replied.

A low, resonant hum filled the air as the ancient divine city vibrated, releasing a sound like ten million divine insects beating their wings. A dazzling golden divine radiance bloomed forth, pressing down toward Xiao Chen.

With a thunderous boom, Xiao Chen threw a punch that sent the ancient divine city reeling, golden light soaring skyward. The city was blasted sideways, smashed deep into the Pure Land by the immense divine power, grinding countless immortal mountains to dust.

To send the city of a Stone Man King flying like that was something ordinary cultivators could scarcely imagine. Every expert present showed shock on their faces.

But the ancient divine city, after shattering several ancient mountain ranges, shot back into the sky. It was extraordinarily firm, showing not a single scratch.

“The master of this city has great designs,” the Old Goat transmitted to Xiao Chen from within the divine diagram. “Normally, when a Stone Man King emerges, his divine city reaches the end of its life, unless he willingly depletes his own essence to preserve it. After all, it was a crucial item in his Nirvana process. A preserved divine city is a treasure with unimaginable great uses, a slowly growing jewel. Unfortunately, the Otherworld Stone Man King was a tragic figure. He appeared in this world only briefly before being exterminated by King Pangu, leaving behind only an empty city.”

Xiao Chen did not stop for an instant. In the blink of an eye, he manifested deep within the Pure Land and struck toward the ancient divine city again.

Having inexplicably merged with the Old Goat to become a Heaven-Defying War God, he did not want to miss this opportunity. He intended to slaughter the Otherworld faction.

With a howl, the colossal divine city shook once more, magnifying a thousandfold, pressing down toward Xiao Chen.

“Rise!”

Xiao Chen raised a single hand to the sky, actually holding the ancient divine city in his palm. He lifted the city of immeasurable weight and hurled it toward the Heaven-Defying Battle Treasure flickering with chaotic radiance in the sky.

But just then, the Lotus King made a move, reaching out to grab the ancient divine city. As his hand touched the city's body, stone lotus petals danced in the sky, and the ancient city trembled, its yellow light surging skyward.

A thunderous crash shook the heavens. Corpse qi flooded the world as the Stone Corpse also struck. Rolling black mist surged toward the Lotus King. This showed that the Stone Corpse was partial to the Otherworld faction, lending a hand at this critical moment.

The Lotus King stepped back on his stone lotus, refining a patch of corpse mist and sweeping it toward the divine city. The impact caused the ancient city to shake violently, but it remained indestructible, unbroken.

“Kid, save your strength. Don't waste it on that city. It's hard to shatter in a short time. We still have to seize the Heaven-Defying Battle Treasure in a moment,” the Old Goat reminded him.

But he could not understand Xiao Chen's complex emotions. Xiao Chen could not control himself; he attacked the divine city again.

His palm covered the heavens, his might weighed down the sun and moon. He struck with his full strength, manifesting the Dao Imprints and slapping toward the king's city below.

As if sensing the terror of this power, the ancient divine city tore through space itself, teleporting an immeasurable distance to hide behind the Stone Corpse.

But unexpectedly, a blood light descended from the heavens, covering the sky and earth, striking the ancient divine city. It was the Bloody Warrior charging in from the Celestial Realm's ancient battlefield.

Seeing this, the Stone Corpse tried to intervene again. But the Lotus King stepped forward, blocking his path and unleashing a world-shaking blow. Stone lotus petals flew everywhere, each petal a world in its own right!

The Myriad Heavens and Myriad Worlds enveloped the Stone Corpse. As the Lotus King's supreme Dao Law was unleashed, even the ancient Stone Corpse, who had existed as long as the world itself, was forced to change color.

With a crash, Xiao Chen seized the moment, appearing before the ancient divine city and striking down with a palm.

At the same time, the Bloody Warrior within the blood radiance struck, smashing against the colossal city.

Simultaneously, a spiraling mist of water rushed forward, shrouding the divine city, as another mysterious powerhouse attacked the ancient city.

“Heh heh, let me also have a share of the spoils!” Just then, the child-like Lishi Beast let out a cold laugh and also struck, transforming into a beam of light that dove straight for the ancient demon city.

The Bloody Warrior within the blood light, the mysterious figure within the spiraling water mist, the young Lishi Beast, and Xiao Chen—four great powerhouses grasped the ancient divine city at the same time. With terrible force, they tore at the king's peerless treasure. The once intact and flawless city began to shake, emitting a terrifying sound.

A grinding, cracking noise echoed out. The colossal city walls, the magnificent ramparts—cracks began to appear! Especially the enormous gates, which collapsed with a thunderous roar.

From a distance, the Stone Corpse's eyes shot out two beams of cold light. A long, hair-raising roar tore from his throat as he forcibly escaped from the Myriad Worlds, breaking free of the Lotus World and charging to the front of the ancient divine city.

Just as the scattered cultivators all thought this ancient, world-weary corpse had come to rescue the ancient divine city, he did something that left everyone utterly stunned.

With a thunderous boom, a withered, desiccated claw tore down from the sky and grabbed hold of the colossal city. He, too, intended to take a share of the spoils! The Stone Corpse's ruthlessness and cruelty were plain to see.

Even if there was a connection, it could be wiped away in an instant. This was his fickle, terrifying nature. Unable to preserve the city, he would dip his hand in regardless of anyone's opinion.

Five great powerhouses struck simultaneously. Even as unyielding as the ancient divine city was—a peerless treasure left by a King—it could not withstand the assault. Amidst a deafening explosion, the King's divine city was torn apart by the five great powerhouses.

Blinding, radiant golden divine light illuminated every direction. A peerless treasure was thus destroyed, divided equally among the five great experts, each grasping a segment of the city's body.

A Stone Man King's divine city was no ordinary object. Even though it was torn asunder and shared among them, the surge of supreme divine power unleashed at the moment of its rupture was unimaginable. The five great experts were all sent reeling by the impact of the divine radiance, struggling to suppress it!

Whether it was the cultivators of the Sun Star or the experts from the Celestial Realm's lands, all were deeply shaken. The five great experts, even if only manifested avatars or imprints, were this terrifying. To tear apart a King's divine city in such a manner was a display of divine might that truly struck fear into the heart.

The Otherworld's Upper Ancestral God, the Mud Man, wrapped his faction's experts in a flash of light and vanished from the Pure Land without a trace. Xiao Chen wanted to block him but could not spare the strength. The segment of the city in his hands was raging out of control, threatening to crumble into flying ash at any moment.

The mysterious Upper Ancestral God, as wooden and expressionless as a clay statue, possessed a secret treasure. He successfully escaped the perilous place, flying far from the Sun Star and descending to the Celestial Realm's lands, where he revealed himself.

“You are sinners!” the Upper Ancestral God roared in fury. The destruction of his faction's divine city was an immense loss for the Otherworld in the Celestial Realm.

Back in the Sun Star's Pure Land, the five great powerhouses suppressed the remnants of the city, temporarily refining them and absorbing them into their bodies. Then, all of them shot into the sky, charging toward the Heaven-Defying Battle Treasure, for the Lotus King was on the verge of success, his lotus petals enveloping the treasure.

The war drums rumbled, shaking heaven and earth. The Floating Island burst forth with billions of rays of divine light, also charging forward. At the same time, many scattered cultivators followed behind the Floating Island, striking out to stir up chaos and seize the heaven-defying treasure.

With a boom, Xiao Chen clashed with the Stone Corpse before colliding with the Lishi Beast, an impact that nearly separated him from the divine diagram.

“They're just manifested avatars,” Xiao Chen asked the Old Goat. “Why is it still so hard to overpower them?”

“Being able to contend with their avatars is not bad at all. After all, our combination is a flash in the pan, a makeshift arrangement, not a true Heaven-Defying War God. You have to seize the opportunity yourself,” the Old Goat replied through gritted teeth. By channeling the Otherworld's supreme Dao Imprints while simultaneously connecting to the great formation he had carved, his current state was extremely painful.

When everyone in the Pure Land made their move, the Heaven-Defying Battle Treasure was once again knocked to the central region. Chaotic light shone in all directions, impossible to grasp. No one could seize it alone.

Just then, the Stone Corpse suddenly and abruptly struck at Xiao Chen, unleashing a palm filled with the Source Divine Laws.

Xiao Chen's body jolted violently as he turned to engage in a great battle.

At the same time, the Lishi Beast also struck with a killing blow, assaulting Xiao Chen.

With a thunderous crash, the spiraling water mist surged into the sky as well, charging at Xiao Chen to kill him.

The situation was extremely critical. Three great powerhouses struck in unison, threatening to repeat the tragedy of the Otherworld's ancient divine city.

“Those three scheming bastards… I'll never, ever let them off!” the Old Goat growled bitterly from within the divine diagram.

But what was even more shocking and infuriating was that the Bloody Warrior within the blood light, the one who had charged in from the ancient battlefield, also struck at Xiao Chen.

These individuals clearly intended to eliminate him first, forming a temporary alliance.

Xiao Chen snapped at the Old Goat within the divine diagram, “Is the second great formation carved yet? If not, I'm retreating.”

This was their secret agreement. Xiao Chen flew through this space while the Old Goat's master secretly carved out his vaunted second great formation at close range to spirit away the Heaven-Defying Battle Treasure.

“Almost ready!”

“I can't hold on any longer!” The four great powerhouses had all unleashed their own Dao Sources, pressing down toward him, trying to seal him here alive.

“Ready! Let's retreat!” the Old Goat growled.

“I'm afraid it won't be easy to get away now,” Xiao Chen said, a note of anxiety creeping into his voice. The four great powerhouses had pinned him down. His body groaned and creaked in the sky.

“No need to worry!” the Old Goat's voice rang out.

Just then, the Lotus King suddenly struck from outside, shaking the four great powerhouses.

The Myriad Heavens and Myriad Worlds materialized, and the Lotus King tore open a path, allowing Xiao Chen to reconnect with the outside world and break free from his confinement.

This caught the four great powerhouses off guard. They had not expected the Lotus King to aid a competitor at this moment.

War drums pounded in unison as the Floating Island appeared not far away, sweeping down with thousands of divine beams to cut off Xiao Chen's escape route.

“Floating Island, I'll remember you,” the Old Goat said through gritted teeth. “It seems your founder really hasn't died. Otherwise, how would you dare to be this arrogant, to block the path of a Heaven-Defying War God at a time like this?”

With a boom, the four great powerhouses sealed off space once more, isolating Xiao Chen within. Even if the Lotus King struck, it would be difficult to break open in a short time. This time, the four had taken precautions, clearly intending to seal Xiao Chen first.

“Activate!” the Old Goat bellowed.

At the same time, the stone lotus petals floating around the Heaven-Defying Battle Treasure all blazed with intense light. Mysterious patterns appeared on each one—the second absolute formation secretly carved by the Old Goat!

Xiao Chen had already sensed that this old bastard had a special relationship with the Lotus King, but he had not expected it to run this deep. At this crucial moment, the old man had carved his second great formation onto the lotus petals provided by the Lotus King!

With a thunderous crash, the Heaven-Defying Battle Treasure's light surged skyward. It shook violently, then began to grow dim and faint, about to disappear.

“Not good!” The four great powerhouses were incandescent with rage. They all shot into the sky, unleashing their supreme power to block the Heaven-Defying Battle Treasure.

“Let's go!” the Old Goat shouted urgently.

Xiao Chen did not look back. He shot forward with desperate speed, charging out of the Pure Land. As he passed the Floating Island, he struck without mercy.

With a crash, the corner of the incomplete, broken divine diagram emerged, pressing down in an instant. Half of the Floating Island in the sky collapsed, sending a dozen figures tumbling down.

Xiao Chen's great hand reached out, grabbing two of them. With a vicious squeeze, two clouds of blood mist burst forth. He passed by in a flash, retreating from the Sun Star Palace along the path he had entered, and shot out of the Sun Star.