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That was especially the case considering he was in this backwater Holytide Region. As he knew, before Grand Duke Holytide became a Smoldering God, it had been countless years since any Smoldering Gods had existed in the Holytide Region. To the people here, Smoldering Gods... were almost no different from real gods. Both were as mighty as heaven, and simply couldn’t be defied or shaken.

He also knew that humans were the last species to conquer all of Revered Ancient. Although they had experienced a lot of setbacks, they could still be considered one of the top species. And when compared to the Nightshades, they had more Smoldering Gods.

In the past, if humankind had wanted to forcibly retake the Holytide Region from the Nightshades, it would have been simple. The enclaves they had in other areas would also enable them to retake other regions if they wanted. That said, such actions would be very costly, and the overall political situation made it challenging. There were a lot of nonhuman species that put pressure on humans.

The seven counties they controlled in other regions were embroiled in complicated circumstances. What was more, all of the regions involved were controlled by major species with domain treasures.

In the past, humankind didn’t have a domain treasure, and thus, had to be patient. It was only by having a domain treasure that a species could truly have the power to protect itself.

That was why humans had so many problems with the nonhumans back when Sea-Sealing County first went to war. However, after the first Dawning Sun was unleashed, the other species trembled and backed down.

Of course, just having a domain treasure wasn’t enough on its own. What surpassed a domain treasure in terms of importance was a god. Gods were what truly decided if a species was strong or not. When a god became involved, Smoldering Gods and domain treasures didn’t count for much. That was why, though the Nightshades actually weren’t as strong as humankind, they were still able to make humans tremble in fear. Gods could overturn anything and everything.

The ultimate reason for the Nightshades’ defeat was that their god, Crimson Mother, was put to sleep thanks to a complicated plot hatched by the human emperor. As one force declines, another will flourish. And thus, it was no surprise that humans started getting stronger.

Of course, there were many other factors at play that foolish people couldn’t see. Such people had simple ways of thinking, and would often ask ridiculous questions such as: if humans were so strong, why didn’t they take back the Holytides sooner? Only intelligent people with good observation skills and all the right information would be able to see the truth.

So, what is this asset that Sea-Sealing County is relying on?

King Heaventide hadn’t actually looked up into the sky, but rather, was scanning it with divine will. He looked as calm as ever.

However, just as he was about to scan even more deeply, a cold snort echoed out, piercing into his divine will in domineering fashion. It turned into something like heavenly thunder crashing into King Heaventide’s mind.

His expression turned serious as he looked up into the canopy of heaven. There, above his major world, the sky emitted a massive cracking sound as a huge rift appeared on its surface. It obviously hadn’t appeared naturally. It was perfectly straight, almost as if it had been cut out by a blade. In terms of the size, it was roughly 30,000 meters long.

Looking from below, that rift was extremely prominent. But even more shocking was the heaven-shaking, earth-shattering stream of sword energy that emerged from within it and spread out in all directions.

Clouds collapsed. The land shook. Living beings trembled. Everything else seemed to disappear, turning dark and blurry. The only thing visible was that stream of sword energy emerging from the rift.

It was as if a heavenly sword had slashed into King Heaventide’s major world above the county capital.

Instantly, the major world trembled violently, emitting deafening rumbling sounds that resembled 10,000,000 thunderclaps all happening at the same time. The outer walls of the world crumbled, turning into an infinitude of debris that rained down into the terrain of the world like falling meteors.

The world shook, and yet, the sword energy didn’t stop. After slashing through the outer walls, it pierced through its sky and then hewed into its lands. The mark left by the sword caved in on either side. Mountains collapsed, rivers evaporated, and living beings howled in anguish as they turned into the color of blood.

However, this sword energy was truly mighty and terrifying. It continued on, its effects spreading until... the entire major world was cut clean in half by the sword! The world had been destroyed! From a distance, it was possible to see two halves of a major world, slowly separating in the sky above the county capital.

It was a shocking and ghastly scene. The two blood-red halves of a major world were filled with howls of anguish and falling debris. Then the two halves became transparent and started falling down. As they fell, they collapsed. The ground shook as King Heaventide’s major world became a hail of rubble that fell down into Sea-Sealing County. All of this takes a bit of time to describe, but it all happened in an instant.

As the major world collapsed, everyone in Sea-Sealing County was stunned. Also stunned were King Heaventide’s subordinates. Everyone in the army was shaking as badly as if they were witnessing the end of days. Their minds were complete blanks. What they had just witnessed was so terrifying and so sudden that they couldn’t possibly have been prepared mentally. What was more, even if they had been prepared mentally, it still wouldn’t have been possible to watch the major world of a Smoldering God be destroyed with one sword move and react with anything but disbelief.

More shocked than anyone else was King Heaventide. His heart was battered by waves of astonishment, and he also felt a sensation of unprecedented danger. He stepped off the black dragon, which howled in anguish as it was unable to sustain the might coming off him.

As the dragon fell to the ground, King Heaventide grew larger. He went from being the size of an ordinary person to being 300 meters tall. Then 3,000. Then 30,000, making him like a giant that could prop up heaven and earth. Compared to him, the county capital of Sea-Sealing County looked like a child’s bouncy ball. However, King Heaventide wasn’t calm because of his extraordinary size. Instead, his expression was very serious.

“Who are you, Fellow Daoist? Are you really trying to start a war with humankind?”

As the words left his mouth, King Heaventide reached toward the rift in the canopy of heaven and made a grasping gesture.

Boundless pressure erupted from him. Suns, moons, stars, and heavenly bodies swirled around him. Countless natural and magical laws appeared. It was as if he was heaven. It was as if he was the dao.

The response he got was a cold snort.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to see me?”

A second sword fell! Scintillating sword light formed a dazzling sea that rushed toward King Heaventide. King Heaventide’s heart raced as natural and magical laws converged on his palm and then surged forward. However, the sea of light disregarded everything in its path, passing through King Heaventide’s palm attack and entering into his body. A tremor passed through him, and his eyes suddenly lit up with disbelief.

“Second stage—?”

Before he could finish speaking, a sword emerged from his mouth. Then a sword emerged from his legs and his hands. Then his legs, his torso, his neck, and his head. Countless swords stabbed out from inside of him. After innumerable swords were stabbing out of him everywhere, he exploded.

It was the same thing that happened to his major world. He couldn’t even stand up to one sword move. His fleshly body had been destroyed.

Heaven and earth shook. All living beings were astonished.

As the blood and flesh fell down, King Heaventide’s god soul flew out. A god soul was different from an ordinary soul. It looked just like the fleshly body, although, if you studied it closely, you would see that it was actually made up of magical and natural laws. [1]

Terror appeared in King Heaventide’s eyes. He had never encountered a sword that sharp, and had also never met a second-stage Smoldering God who was this terrifying. Without any hesitation, he fled in god soul form. He wanted to get far, far away. He had sensed the impending arrival of death, and he didn’t want to die.

However, before his god soul could back up more than 30,000 meters, a wall of sword energy rose up to block his path, rising high into the sky.

King Heaventide’s expression flickered, and he turned to flee in a different direction. A second wall of sword energy appeared to stop him. Then a third, a fourth, and a fifth. In the shortest of moments, King Heaventide had nowhere to run to. He was completely surrounded by walls of sword energy.

From high above, it was possible to see five walls of sword energy formed into a pentagonal shape. In the middle of it was King Heaventide in god soul form, trembling in despair and disbelief.

He just couldn’t believe that he, a Smoldering God and a heavenly king... was actually about to die.

“Who are you??” he screamed shrilly.

The only response he got was a single word. “Execute!”

The five walls of sword energy shrank toward King Heaventide’s god soul. In the blink of an eye they converged, and he was slashed through by the sword energy. His god soul had been destroyed!

Heaven and earth dimmed, and rumbling echoed out like the roar of heavenly daos. There were no clouds overhead, yet a blood rain began to fall. The effect spread rapidly until it was roughly the size of half a prefecture. That area was filled with a rain of blood, which made it seem like the dome of heaven was weeping. The blood rain nourished the lands it fell on, ensuring that they would be very different going forward.

This was the spot where a Smoldering God had perished, and the fragments of that Smoldering God’s major world had become spirit energy. As a result, that half-prefecture sized land now abounded in spirit energy.

There were also mountains rising up in that area. They were made from the flesh of King Heaventide. They were becoming spirit mountains! King Heaventide’s shredded god soul turned into the spirit foundation for a century of children born in that area. Their spirit foundation would be different from other people. All of them would conform to the dao of King Heaventide.

That was what happened when a Smoldering God died, similar to what happened in Sea-Sealing County when the Ghost Emperor passed away into meditation. The effects weren’t as pronounced as with the Ghost Emperor, but they would still provide nourishment to countless living beings.

1. The translation ‘god soul’ is a very literal translation. It’s not related to ‘nascent souls.’ If you want to really get into the weeds, the ‘ordinary soul’ is the most common word for soul in Chinese. It combines the character I normally render as ‘spirit’ with the character for ‘hun soul’ or the ‘spiritual soul.’ In contrast, the ‘god soul’ replaces the ‘spirit’ character with ‘god.’ To make things really confusing, ‘god soul’ is sometimes used by the author synonymously with the ‘ordinary soul.’ ☜