Entering the void space, Zhang Ruochen used the Secret Tome of Time and Space to form layered spatial barriers, shielding himself from the void’s corrosive force.
Opening his heavenly eye at his brow, he saw an immense continent suspended in the far distance.
A reddish-yellow land shrouded in thick blood mist, its rivers, lakes, and seas flowing with blood—blood rivers, blood lakes, blood oceans—an arresting, chilling sight.
“Is that the Shura Domain Map Black Heart Demon Lord mentioned? Unfurl the scroll, and it becomes a world.”
With his current cultivation, Zhang Ruochen could only sense the continent’s unfathomable divine power, faintly glimpsing countless runes flowing across it.
A pristine full moon hung above the vast Shura continent, spanning countless li, the Moon God standing at its centre.
Blood qi tendrils, like chains, rose from the Shura continent, tightly binding the moon, while blood pillars shot skyward, bombarding the Moon God at its heart.
Even from tens of thousands of li away, Zhang Ruochen was forced back by the divine power’s tremors, unable to approach.
He drew out the Kaiyuan Deer Cauldron, pondering how to deliver it to her.
“Boom.”
A thousand li from him, space suddenly shattered.
A wave of crimson flames flooded into the void.
“Lord Yan! That old cur, he’s definitely here to kill me.”
Zhang Ruochen’s expression darkened, he leapt into the Kaiyuan Deer Cauldron, urging the bronze vessel forward, charging recklessly towards the Shura continent.
Lord Yan stood amid a sea of fire, his voice sharp, “Where do you think you’re going? The Moon God can’t save herself, you think she can save you?”
Though just a sound, it worsened Zhang Ruochen’s injuries, his body tattered, his saint soul and qi sea teetering on collapse.
The spatial layers from the Secret Tome couldn’t hold.
Neither could the Moon God’s borrowed power.
A god’s mere voice could annihilate a world’s beings.
Earlier, Zhang Ruochen had crushed the demonic figure and shattered the divine avatar only because Empress Chi Yao had pinned down Black Heart Demon Lord’s true form, limiting his focus.
The figures’ unleashed power had been restrained.
“Whoosh!”
As Zhang Ruochen neared his limit, the Kaiyuan Deer Cauldron blazed with radiant cyan light.
Golden characters emerged on its surface.
Their glow outshone all else.
Lord Yan’s eyes narrowed, a colossal jade hand appeared above the cauldron, stretching from the moon across tens of thousands of li.
For reasons unknown, panic gripped him.
“Boundless Merit.”
Lord Yan summoned merit power, his hand reaching out, turning into a multicoloured cloud to seize the cauldron, vying with the Moon God.
Had she not been occupied by Second Jia Blood Ancestor and the Shura Domain Map, Lord Yan wouldn’t dare challenge her, even with merit power.
But now was different.
Merely contesting a cauldron, he brimmed with confidence.
Bolstered by merit, his strength surged, gaining the upper hand, steadily forcing her power back.
The Moon God’s voice rang out, “Merit power is hard-won, per the Merit Temple and Heavenly Palace rules, Greater Saints and gods may only use it against the Hell Realm. Lord Yan, you’re breaking those laws.”
Lord Yan laughed, “What’s this? The mighty Moon God, unable to withstand me, resorts to citing Merit Temple and Heavenly Palace rules to suppress me?”
“You overestimate yourself! I’m merely pointing out that merit power belongs to the Heavenly Realm, not you alone. Since you’ve misused it and broken the rules, punishment awaits.”
“Boom.”
The moon above the Shura continent shattered, a spectacle like a giant star exploding.
Lord Yan, thinking her defeated by Second Jia Blood Ancestor, smirked, but his smile froze.
A white streak burst from the broken moon, streaking towards him.
The Sun-Moon Crystal Coffin.
“Trouble.”
Lord Yan’s divine eyes blazed, hands lifting, conjuring a star-sized mass of multicoloured merit power, its force nearly rivalling the Moon God’s.
Yet when he unleashed it, the coffin pierced through effortlessly.
“How? How could merit power collapse in an instant?” Disbelief filled his eyes.
The Moon God’s voice sounded by his ear, “For gods, cultivating divine power is the basest path, mastering mysteries lets you stand atop the cosmos.”
A blinding light flashed before him.
“Pfft.”
Half his body—left arm, left leg—sliced off, claimed by the Moon God.
“Splatter.”
A palm strike sent his remaining half flying, nearly shattering again.
The next moment, she stood at the cauldron’s edge, white robes fluttering, ethereal and graceful, her slender, tall frame like a willow branch.
Yet this willow had humbled Lord Yan beyond words.
She placed the blood-drenched Zhang Ruochen from the cauldron into the Sun-Moon Crystal Coffin, her gaze flicking back, spotting Lord Yan’s attempt to flee.
“You came, don’t leave.”
The Kaiyuan Deer Cauldron spun in her hands, golden characters streaming out, forming a golden rivulet through the dark void, imprinting on Lord Yan.
“Crack, crack.”
Those characters, wielding unimaginable force, pinned him immobile.
“It’s… it’s…”
Lord Yan finally recognised the cauldron’s origin.
Before, though no match for her, he’d been certain he could escape alive, she couldn’t kill him.
Now, terror filled his eyes.
For the cauldron she held could slay and refine gods.
What baffled him was how a mere Saint King wielded it.
He tried to warn Second Jia Blood Ancestor, but the golden characters silenced him, blocking even his spiritual power and divine thoughts.
The Moon God ignored him, turning to the distant Shura continent.
It rose like a scroll, flipping over, bearing down on her.
Her dark hair billowed, star-like eyes gleaming, the Kaiyuan Deer Cauldron rose slowly between her hands.
Spinning, it grew vast.
Soon, her delicate form seemed a speck beside it.
“Boom.”
The cauldron clashed with the Shura continent, the void trembling.
The shockwave reached the material world, spawning countless spatial rifts across a million li of the Shatuo Heavenly Domain.
If this battle persisted, the domain might become a half-real, half-void realm, akin to the forbidden depths of the God-Sealing Platform.
But after one strike, the cauldron pierced the Shura continent, collapsing it entirely.
“Pfft.”
Second Jia Blood Ancestor and the Shura Domain Map fell from the ruins.
The Moon God claimed the map, golden characters branding Second Jia Blood Ancestor.
“No, I am the undefeated war god, today I’ll shatter your myth, Moon God.”
Unresigned, he surged with divine power against the characters, but couldn’t break free, his body cracking under the strain.
Her gaze impassive, she drew him and Lord Yan into the cauldron.
Emerging from the void back to Moon God Mountain, she stood before the Guanghan Divine Palace, her voice thundering across the Heavenly Realm, “Heavenly Palace gods, if you don’t show yourselves, today marks Second Jia Blood Ancestor and Lord Yan’s end.”
The Kaiyuan Deer Cauldron hung above, their cries echoing from within, enduring the torment of divine refining.
You God and Fourth Jia Blood Ancestor, shaken, deemed the domain’s edge unsafe, fleeing as far as they could.
Black Heart Demon Lord, though formidable, also withdrew from the domain at once, avoiding her wrath.
The Shatuo Heavenly Domain’s cultivators fell silent, some kneeling to Moon God Mountain, others trembling, sweating coldly.
All saw she wielded god-slaying power.
Would gods truly fall today?
Gods perishing in Heavenly Realm internal strife was rare, each instance unleashing dire consequences, ensnaring countless beings.
A god’s fall wasn’t just one death, its ripple effects could devastate a world.
Moments later, the domain’s sky turned dark red.
Looking up, a majestic blood-red temple floated amid blood clouds, seemingly thousands of li away, yet as if in another spacetime, billions of li distant.
At its sight, the Moon God’s face grew unprecedentedly solemn, “Jia Tianxia.”
“Long time no see.”
A vast, ancient voice echoed through the realm, rich with the charm of the Dao.
“Are you stepping in yourself?” she asked.
Silence lingered, the temple’s master weighing his choice.
She continued, “I must admit, these ten millennia have honed you greatly. Facing you, I might not best you by half a move as before. But with this cauldron, entering the Paradise Realm isn’t too hard, nor is slaughtering all but you in the Blood War Temple, or wiping out dozens, even hundreds of Paradise Realm clans. Care to test me?”
