Deceiver, the Doomed One

Fighting scenes are my weak point as a fledgling writer, so this part came out a bit slow—my apologies.

He’s dead for sure.

That was Blood God’s thought the moment he seized Li Mo in his grasp.

This body had long since perished, been suppressed for years, and was now further shackled by Ying Bing’s restraints. Yet he still believed no physical form in this world could surpass his own.

Even the Great Yu’s innate divine Dragon Body was modeled after his own ever-shifting physique.

As for this brat who had barely crossed the threshold of the Fourth Realm? If not for that staff and armor of unfathomable origin, he wouldn’t even be qualified to stand before him.

"Could those be relics from the Celestial Realm?"

Blood God had witnessed countless geniuses and heroes in his time.

But someone like Li Mo? Truly unprecedented...

Just then, Blood God suddenly felt his palm grow scalding, as if clutching a blazing stellar core—growing hotter still, as though transforming into a miniature sun.

Within the blood clouds, the sky of another world had unknowingly manifested, bearing six celestial bodies, one of them the Moon.

No—not six. Seven. The last one was...

"Inner Realm Projection...? No... This isn’t a mental landscape... nor an external one..."

Even as shock gripped him, Blood God’s greed flared brighter than his caution.

A real world? One even more tangible than the Heavenly Phoenix Domain?

Wasn’t this what the Nine Immortals had been chasing, something only Phoenix Heaven had ever come close to achieving—

BOOM!

His palm exploded in layers of bloody mist, foul and corrupt energy scattering wildly.

That nascent world, from the moment it descended, began to collapse. The force of its destruction was something even he struggled to endure.

A treasure coveted by the Celestial Immortals of the Nine Heavens was crumbling—yet its owner remained unmoved, his gaze burning only with fiercer battle intent.

Young Li knew the miniature world was disintegrating.

Li Mo understood the chasm between their strengths.

He was fully aware that the being before him could be called the Ancestor of Physical Cultivation across all Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.

And that was exactly why he sought this moment—to learn what it meant to dance between life and death.

To comprehend the cataclysm of heaven and earth.

To grasp the essence of indestructibility through countless calamities.

To witness the profundity of the Seventy-Two Transformations.

Struggling to restrain the collapsing world, he drew its myriad tribulations and phenomena into himself. Then, shrinking the Compliant Golden-Hooped Staff, he drove it into his dantian—ensuring this foreign power wouldn’t instantly obliterate his flesh and soul.

He was no emperor, yet his burdens outweighed any sovereign’s.

He was no deity—he was the tribulation of the rotting gods!

Lawful Aspect of Heaven and Earth!

......

Above the firmament, the struggle for control over the Heavenly Phoenix Domain raged on.

The commotion in the Celestial City seemed to have quieted momentarily.

Meanwhile, the Earthly and Mortal Cities had become grinding pits of flesh and blood. Blood God’s ability to regenerate from droplets spawned hundreds of martial artists mutating into demonic abominations.

Those who had inherited the Celestial Clan’s legacy were spared—though whether this was fortune or misfortune remained unclear.

"Wake up, damn it!"

Old Li’s roar accompanied a sweeping blade strike, hurricane-like winds engulfing a white ape demon ahead.

Ooo—

The ape demon only grew more frenzied, charging despite knowing it stood no chance.

The result? A bisected corpse, its grotesque blood splattering the ground. In its final moments, a flicker of clarity returned to its eyes as it gazed at Old Li with remorse:

"Young... Master..."

"What in the world is happening...?"

Grief and fury twisted Old Li’s heart—this ape had been his family’s martial instructor for years.

Yet when he’d rushed over upon sensing something amiss, the creature no longer recognized its own wife or child.

Now Old Li was certain: every martial artist in the city who hadn’t received the Celestial Clan’s inheritance was likely...

CRASH!

The Li Manor’s gates exploded inward, shattered by two leading demons—a pitch-black bear and a violet-striped tiger—followed by dozens of other horrors.

"No winning this..."

Old Li edged toward the rear exit.

But after two steps—

BAM!

The back gate was kicked—no, hoofed—open.

Old Li froze, face paling as despair gripped him.

Before him stood a three-zhang-tall cow-headed demon, seemingly female, wielding a spiked mace. Her breath steamed like white silk, muscles gleaming like tempered steel.

Terrifying!

Even deadlier than the ones at the front!

"Done for... I never got to see Li Mo marry, never held a grandchild... all over..."

Pincered from both sides, wasn’t Old Li about to become sandwich filling?

Turns out—not quite.

The cow demon lunged forward, crossing a hundred feet in one step before smashing the bear demon into a pelt with her mace.

The two demon factions clashed, with the cow demon’s side fighting brutally.

"They’re slaughtering their own kind! Why spare me?"

"With this scrawny body, would there even be enough to go around...?"

Mid-mutter, Old Li noticed something odd.

That emblem on the cow demon’s chest... looked familiar.

"Uncle Li, you alright?"

The cow demon spoke while still fighting.

Old Li: "?"

Bafflement.

"Brother Li Mo sent us to find you. The city’s too dangerous now."

"Oh."

Relief washed over Old Li.

Soon, the demonic assailants bearing the Blade-Capturer insignia were either dead or fleeing under the onslaught of these "neutral party" demons.

"Come with us to evacuate. The closer to the Celestial City, the deadlier it gets. Safety in numbers."

"How did Heavenly Mortal City come to this... Will we even survive this calamity?"

Old Li sighed, then asked:

"What about that brat? Isn’t he with you? Did he leave already?"

"Nope."

"Then where is he?"

Old Li wouldn’t budge without seeing his son.

"Just look behind you."

"Behind...?"

Dong Ge Yu’s words made Old Li turn—and what he saw rooted him to the spot.

Within the Celestial City,

Two colossal figures clashed. One was ink-black, which he’d glimpsed earlier.

The other blazed in crimson-gold—perhaps originally pure gold, now stained with blood—standing titanic amidst the crumbling sky and earth, an unyielding light in the apocalypse.

Rooted in chaos, he wielded hammer and sickle.

Like a scarlet lightning bolt, he collided head-on with the darkness.

"That’s... my son..."

Old Li followed Dong Ge Yu’s group, but his gaze kept drifting back.

Had anyone else told him, he’d never believe it.

But as a father, seeing with his own eyes left no room for doubt.

If Heavenly Mortal City needed a savior, why did it have to be his boy?

The selfish thought arose, yet he could do nothing but pray that the giant wouldn’t fall.

Meanwhile—

Perhaps because Chu Ge was fully occupied contending with Ying Bing for the Heavenly Phoenix Domain, he could no longer suppress Emperor Jingtai.

Once more, the phantom image of the Rivers and Mountains Scroll flickered above the Imperial Capital.