"Strength God, please step aside. Tianlin said if Evil Sword Immortal encounters the Seven Deadly Sins, it will cause a catastrophe. We must stop him." To Qian Renxue, not returning to the mortal realm didn't matter—she already carried Qian Daoliu's remnant soul.
Everyone else she cared about—Tianlin and his parents—would soon be brought up by Tianlin anyway. She could just wait here. But to slink back into the Angel Temple with her tail between her legs?
Absolutely impossible.
"Hmph, Qian Renxue, no need to waste words on him. Since he won't move, we'll beat him first. Path of the Sword—Annihilation." Chen Xin didn't bother speaking further; he swung the Seven Kill Sword, sending out a blade of sword qi.
Now that the Seven Kill Sword had ascended to an artifact, the power of the Path of the Sword—Annihilation was incomparable to before.
The Strength God didn't dare be careless and brought out his own divine weapon.
This generation's Strength God didn't use a earth-boundless ring set like Zhou Weiqing's, but the Annihilation Godblade—a step stronger even than the Seven Kill Divine Sword.
Blade qi and sword qi collided. If these two first-rank divine powers clashed in the lower realm, countless lives might perish. Fortunately, this was the God Realm, whose planar stability far surpassed Douluo Continent.
Chen Xin and the Strength God were both shaken back—it seemed a stalemate.
A trace of surprise flashed in the Strength God's eyes. He clearly felt that in divine power and cultivation, he, at the peak of First-Rank God, far surpassed Chen Xin, who had just stepped into that rank. Yet he couldn't gain the upper hand—he was even slightly suppressed. After all, Chen Xin's strike was casual and without killing intent, while he himself had been fully prepared.
Sword God—worthy of a being who could rival first-rank gods even as a second-rank. Now at first rank, his offensive power was likely unmatched below God-King.
"Hmph, Sword God… just as we feared—hard to handle, daring to defy even the joint order of our five God-Kings."
God of Destruction, spoke coldly. If he weren't occupied, he would have personally punished Chen Xin.
"Tch!" Evil Sword Immortal was also displeased. These two lingering pests, choosing this moment to cause trouble—trying to ruin his plan.
Luckily, the God-Kings' greed was too great. They had even stationed another first-rank god to stall them. While the Strength God was no match for Qian Renxue and Chen Xin together, with his cultivation he could delay them for a while without issue.
That window was enough for Evil Sword Immortal to complete his plan.
The Evil Spirit Pearl's glow grew dimmer and dimmer, about to be completely drained.
The five God-Kings all felt their power rising rapidly—especially the Evil God-King. His attribute aligned most with the Evil Spirit Pearl; he was nearly breaking the God-King limit. One more step, and he'd reach the realm of the Dragon God of old: Supreme God-King.
Destruction and Asura were a bit behind him, but not by much. Breaking through to Supreme God-King was only a matter of time.
Goodness and Life were slower; they couldn't directly absorb the power. The evil energy entering their bodies had to be purified before it could strengthen them.
Behind the Seven Sins, the seven rings of light that signified first-rank gods now had an impossible eighth ring—and even a ninth flickered faintly. They, too, were about to break through to God-King.
Destruction was overjoyed. They were about to succeed. With five Supreme God-Kings plus seven ordinary God-Kings, the expansion of the God Realm would be unstoppable. Even the spatial storms the Committee feared after expansion would be nothing before five Supreme God-Kings.
"My ideal is about to be realized. From now on, I can become a Supreme God-King of the pantheon—no, perhaps go one step further, to a God-Emperor even the Dragon God never reached."
Watching the triumphant Destruction God-King, Evil Sword Immortal sneered inwardly. Let you dream a little—so the greater the hope, the deeper the despair.
Boom!
With a loud blast, a God-King broke through—the Evil God-King. He surpassed the God-King limit and became a Supreme God-King.
Next came Destruction, Asura, Life, and Goodness, each breaking through in turn.
Finally, the Seven Sin Gods and the former Rakshasa God advanced as well, becoming the Sin God-Kings and the Rakshasa God-King.
The Evil Spirit Pearl began to fracture, crumbling into powder. The God Realm Committee's plan appeared to have gone perfectly. With the pearl's destruction, Evil Sword Immortal would surely be doomed as well.
Qian Renxue, Chen Xin, and the Strength God stopped fighting, staring blankly. Even for them, when had they ever witnessed so many God-Kings—let alone the legendary Supreme realm once said to be held only by the Dragon God?
"Hahaha, this is wonderful. With this power, I'm confident we can expand our God Realm a thousandfold." The God of Destruction laughed.
"Mm. With this, even second-rank gods can be allowed to bring a couple of loved ones to the God Realm, preventing the tragic separation of gods and mortals."
The Goddess of Life was delighted. She didn't crave power; she rejoiced for the realm's bright future.
The Evil God-King clapped Asura on the shoulder. "Asura, I told you not to worry. Look—we all broke through, the Evil Spirit Pearl is ash, and everything went to plan."
"Yes, it seems I was overthinking it." Asura nodded. He hadn't expected things to go so smoothly, though he still felt a nagging unease he couldn't place.
Only the Goddess of Goodness, most sensitive to evil, sensed something wrong. The five God-Kings were still within the Original Sin Grand Array. She immediately questioned, "Seven Sins, the Evil Spirit Pearl has been refined. Why haven't you withdrawn the formation?"
The Goddess of Lust, one of the Seven Sins, said helplessly, "Your Majesty, I want to, but my divine power feels snagged. I can't pull it back."
The other Sin Gods were the same; trying to withdraw their power, they found it out of control. Not only could they not retract it, the array spun even more furiously.
"What's going on? The Sin Array is your trump card—why can't you control it?" Destruction barked. He knew exactly how proficient they were with the formation.
"Heh. Because the one controlling it now is me." At the array's center, Bibi Dong, who'd kept her head bowed, lifted her eyes and smiled wickedly.
"First, congratulations to the five God-Kings on advancing to Supreme God-Kings. Does that power satisfy you? But that power was borrowed from me. Time to pay it back."
"What… what do you mean?" For the first time, the five high-seated God-Kings felt fear at Bibi Dong's chilling smile.
Suddenly, something changed on all five of them—the immense power of Supreme God-Kings began to drain away.