Chapter 925: Evil God's Secret (Part 1)

Golden Crow Lightning Flame Valley.

Yun Che had been specially permitted by the Golden Crow Spirit to enter at any time. This privilege had never existed in the ten-thousand-year history of the Demon Emperor Clan—not even for the Little Demon Empress.

Upon entering the Golden Crow Lightning Flame Valley, Yun Che distinctly felt that the fire aura in this independent world was even weaker than last time. Most of the volcanoes in sight had become dormant, and even much of the lava had stopped flowing, solidifying into patches of fiery red rock.

Yun Che knew the reason clearly. Throughout his life, he had encountered many benefactors who changed his destiny, and the Golden Crow Spirit was one of them. When they first met, it had given Yun Che the impression of being majestic, arrogant, and domineering, but afterward, its bestowals and help had always been unreserved.

“You’ve arrived.”

Reaching the end, Yun Che hadn’t even called out when the Golden Crow Spirit’s golden eyes opened in the sky, casting down a majestic and dazzling golden light: “The demonic aura from the north has completely vanished, and you’ve returned alive. It seems a miracle has occurred.”

“Yes,” Yun Che nodded, “it can indeed be called a miracle. Before I went to the Azure Cloud Continent, I was prepared to die, but unexpectedly, I gained the power to defeat Xuanyuan Wentian there.”

“The dark aura from the north had clearly reached the ‘Divine Path in the human realm’ not long ago; it was a power never before seen on this plane. When I sensed this, I thought the entire world would be shrouded in the darkness he created—because with that level of power, even if you had sacrificed your life to forcefully activate ‘Yama Emperor’ a month ago, you absolutely could not have killed him. I never expected that in just one month, your profound energy would undergo such an earth-shattering transformation. I am extremely curious to know what divine miracle you encountered on the Azure Cloud Continent.”

A vision of the bewitching girl with colorful eyes, bathed in an endless sea of Netherworld flowers, flashed through Yun Che’s mind: “Actually, in terms of overall strength, I still couldn’t match Xuanyuan Wentian. The only thing I surpassed him in was my body. The biggest reason I could defeat him…”

As he spoke, Yun Che slowly extended his arm, and a mass of black light rapidly condensed in his palm, so dense it resembled a distorted spatial black hole.

“…” The golden eyes in the sky suddenly narrowed, and the light throughout the world also underwent drastic changes. This fluctuation continued for several breaths before slowly subsiding, but the Golden Crow Spirit did not exclaim or press for answers; instead, it fell into a sudden silence.

Yun Che withdrew his hand, and the dark profound light instantly vanished. He continued, “In a certain place on the Azure Cloud Continent, I unexpectedly obtained another Heretic God Seed… My master once told me that there are five Heretic God Seeds in total, corresponding to the five basic natural elements: water, fire, wind, lightning, and earth. However, the one I obtained on the Azure Cloud Continent was dark-attributed, and the power it contained was clearly superior to the three I had previously acquired. Not only did it allow me to completely control dark energy, but my profound energy also experienced an extremely exaggerated surge.”

The Golden Crow Spirit remained silent.

“It was precisely because of this dark Heretic God Seed that Xuanyuan Wentian’s core profound art, the Eternal Night Illusion Devil Canon, was completely ineffective against me. He could only confront me with his profound energy and sword art. Coupled with my physical advantage and Hong’er’s suppression of him, I finally managed to eliminate him… But I still can’t understand why the Heretic God would possess a dark-attributed power seed. Although I don’t know much about the ancient era, I at least know that dark profound energy is a power almost abhorred by the Divine Race; it shouldn’t appear on a god at all. In all records and legends about the Heretic God, it seems there has never been any mention of him possessing dark profound energy.”

“…” The Golden Crow Spirit remained silent. From the increasingly restless air, Yun Che sensed an emotion of shock.

Yun Che continued, “Earlier, when I asked why the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign’s Devil Origin Pearl directly merged with my profound veins, you said you couldn’t explain it. But then, for a moment, you seemed to hesitate, as if about to speak. Is it… that you know something about the Heretic God possessing dark profound energy?”

He possessed the Heretic God’s profound veins and had unexpectedly gained dark profound energy, which could be considered a ‘forbidden’ power. He longed for answers.

“No, regarding the Heretic God possessing dark profound energy, not only I, but even the Golden Crow Divine Spirit, never knew. In the Age of Gods, there were no such rumors. This is because the ability to wield dark profound energy belongs to devils; even gods cannot possess it, no matter how much they might wish to. My hesitation last time was because the only possibility I could conceive for a profound vein capable of merging with a Devil Origin Pearl was that it possessed an extremely strong dark origin. I never expected…”

The Golden Crow Spirit’s voice trailed off, seemingly still unable to fully accept this fact.

“So, the Heretic God concealed the fact that he possessed dark profound energy throughout his life… No wonder. Given the gods’ aversion to devils, if it were known that the Heretic God possessed powerful dark profound energy, he would surely face immense rejection,” Yun Che said. He had made this conjecture after obtaining the dark seed under the Absolute Cloud Cliff that day.

“…” The Golden Crow Spirit remained silent for a long time.

“Could it be… that’s not it?” The Golden Crow Spirit’s reaction slightly startled Yun Che.

“...It should be so,” the Golden Crow Spirit said faintly. Though it tried to conceal it, there was still a hint of unnaturalness in its voice: “The Heretic God bestowed great kindness upon the Golden Crows, Phoenixes, and Dragon Gods, and he was considered one of their few friends. Yet even they never knew that the Heretic God possessed dark profound energy… It’s likely no one in the entire ancient era knew.”

“To conceal such power so perfectly, only the Heretic God in all creation could achieve it… and he concealed it for a full five billion years.”

“Five… billion years?” The time quantifier from the Golden Crow Spirit made Yun Che look up in astonishment, almost unable to believe his ears.

“One million years have passed since the end of the Age of Gods until today. To you humans, a million years is an extremely long time, but for the Age of Gods, it was merely a fleeting moment,” the Golden Crow Spirit said.

“...Did you just say that the Heretic God lived for… a full five billion years?” Yun Che exclaimed.

His two lives combined amounted to just over fifty years, which had already made his life far richer and more exciting than an ordinary person’s. He couldn't comprehend: five billion years of time, five billion years of life… what kind of concept was that?

“He was born in the early stages of chaos, and his lifespan was as long as the Age of Gods. He witnessed the birth, proliferation, and prosperity of the Age of Gods, and then witnessed its destruction. Although his personality was reclusive and peculiar, his actions were always beyond reproach, without a doubt. He was not only the most powerful god but also an incredibly great god. Though I am shocked that he possessed the power of devils, I also understand why he chose to keep it a permanent secret.”

The Golden Crow Spirit’s voice suddenly became solemn at this point: “Since this was a secret he kept sealed for a full five billion years, then let it remain permanently sealed.”

“I know that, apart from you, I haven’t told anyone about this. Even the fact that I possess dark profound energy was only known by the now-deceased Xuanyuan Wentian,” Yun Che sincerely asked, “Golden Crow Spirit, could you tell me more about the Heretic God?”

The Golden Crow Spirit was silent once more for a long time, then slowly said, “From your eyes, I see a strong desire for exploration. It seems that unexpectedly finding the dark seed has deepened your curiosity about the Heretic God.”

Yun Che nodded, “After all, I inherited his profound veins and power… Even now, I’m somewhat at a loss as to how to deal with the dark profound energy in my body.”

“The Heretic God is gone, and the gods have perished. I absolutely should not reveal divine secrets to mortals of later generations… But you are different. You inherited the Heretic God’s power and, as if by divine arrangement, discovered a secret of his that was unknown even in the Age of Gods. Although you don’t possess a savior’s heart, you first slew the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign and then destroyed Xuanyuan Wentian, saving two continents from peril. Given this, I might tell you what I know about the Heretic God.”

“However, you need not hold too high expectations. The Heretic God rarely interacted with others. Even the True Golden Crow God knew very little about him. I am merely a soul fragment of the Golden Crow Divine Spirit, so my knowledge is even more limited.”

Yun Che nodded, gratefully saying, “Thank you for your trust and generosity. I once incidentally heard my master say that the Heretic God was a very high-level True God in the Age of Gods, and also seemed to be a rather special existence… What was his actual standing among the gods?”

“No, he was not a very high-level True God,” the Golden Crow Spirit corrected, “but the highest-level Divine Spirit!”

“Highest… level?” Yun Che was deeply astonished. “Very high” and “highest” were entirely different concepts.

“Five billion years ago, chaos split into yin and yang poles, and at the center of these two poles, the world’s first living being was conceived. That being was later referred to by the gods as the ‘Progenitor God’.”

“Progenitor… God?” This was the first time Yun Che had heard this name. Perhaps even Jasmine didn’t know it.

“The Progenitor God was the first existence conceived by chaos. Even the ‘Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword,’ which gathered the power of the Yang pole, and the ‘Evil Infant’s Wheel of Myriad Tribulations,’ which gathered the power of the Yin pole, were born after the Progenitor God. As the first living being conceived by chaos, she possessed chaos’s most primitive, purest, and most powerful energy, an absolutely supreme existence.”

“Her power was connected to all of chaos; the power of chaos was her power. As long as chaos existed, she would be eternal and indestructible. Rather than saying she was conceived by chaos, it’s more accurate to say she was the consciousness of chaos itself. Like a sword spirit born from a sword.”

“…” Yun Che’s mouth hung open as he listened blankly… It felt entirely like he was listening to an utterly fantastical ancient myth.

The Golden Crow Spirit continued, “As time flowed, her consciousness matured, becoming a complete life form with extremely high wisdom. She created language, and the methods for circulating and storing power—which is the profound energy that all beings in later generations could cultivate—and she created profound arts that could maximize this power… But, as the sole existence in chaos, her only companion was eternal solitude.”

“Moreover, all the life aura of chaos was connected to and concentrated within her. If she continued to exist, no other beings could be conceived within chaos. Thus, after merely ten million years of existence, she finally made a choice: to dissipate herself, scattering her life aura to every corner of chaos, allowing chaos to freely conceive countless beings from then on—and the Age of Gods began from this.”

Yun Che couldn’t help but ask, “If she simply dissipated, later generations wouldn’t know of the Progenitor God’s existence, would they? Did she leave anything behind before dissipating?”

“Indeed,” the Golden Crow Spirit continued, “Before the Progenitor God dissipated, she left parts of her memory on eight life fragments. Finally, these eight life fragments scattered into the chaotic space as she dissipated. Four fragments fell into the Northern Chaos, giving birth to the Four Devil Emperors who later led the demon race. Four fragments fell into the Southern Chaos, giving birth to the three Creation Gods who led the Divine Race, as well as… the Heretic God.”