Chapter 2503: Divine Light

Zu'an surmised that these must be Erfu and the deceased Yaoyu. But why would Erfu leave his brother's corpse here after killing him?

He gently took the Saintess's hand, worried she might be scared. After all, Erfu's massive serpentine body topped with a human head looked incredibly oppressive and could easily cause one's sanity to plummet.

To his surprise, however, he found the Saintess's small hand warm, and she showed no signs of fear.

The snake body on the pillar slowly wriggled, and a human head descended from above, closely examining the corpse on the stone platform, its face alight with an irrepressible smile.

It mumbled to itself, its words obscure, profound, and ancient in pronunciation. Fortunately, Zu'an had visited this world before and could understand roughly seventy to eighty percent of it.

"You are noble, you are remarkable. Father liked you, other gods liked you, those shamans and common folk also liked you. Everyone liked you."

"But what good is that now? Aren't you dead?"

A bout of somewhat deranged laughter followed.

After a moment of laughter, his face seemed to turn dark and inscrutable.

"Don't blame me; you brought all of this upon yourself."

"You had to fight me for everything. You competed with me for our parents' love since childhood, and as we grew up, you competed for the love of others."

"It was bad enough they praised you, but why did they constantly compare me to you? The better and kinder you were, the worse and more detestable I appeared!"

"My foolish brother, do you not know that all these praises came with a price tag? It was these praises that led you to your demise."

Zu'an frowned as he listened. He had wanted to experience the legendary celestial god up close but found no trace of the fabled divinity or compassion; instead, he saw a monster with a twisted psyche.

To be honest, he was quite disappointed.

Just then, a female voice rang out: "Congratulations, Master, my heartfelt congratulations on eliminating this major threat."

Only then did Zu'an notice a slender woman standing in the corner. Erfu's massive body was so visually impactful that it was difficult to notice her petite form.

With just a glance, Zu'an's expression turned peculiar. The woman was dressed in black attire, resembling both a trench coat and a long gown.

The inner garment was white, the black and white combination accentuating her graceful and delicate figure.

If this were online in a later era, many netizens would surely exclaim that with such a figure, her face wouldn't even matter.

However, it truly wouldn't do not to look at this woman's face, because she didn't have a human face at all—to be precise, her entire head was that of a bird!

Zu'an mused that it was no wonder those demons considered themselves descendants of celestial gods; their appearance and build indeed seemed somewhat similar.

Gazing at the swallow-like bird head, Zu'an surmised that this woman must be the legendary Wei Yueyan.

In the future timeline, the history of Yaoyu's death, as recounted by the Ten Shamans of Mount Ling, stated that Erfu had killed Yaoyu after being instigated by his subordinate, Wei.

This bird-headed woman appeared to be that very Wei.

At this moment, Erfu's cold voice echoed through the hall: "It is my brother who died. What is there to be happy about?"

The bird-headed woman's expression stiffened. She inwardly cursed him, thinking he was pretending to be virtuous after doing something despicable.

Of course, she dared not show her true thoughts and could only brace herself to reply, "Leaving aside how Yaoyu vexed you in various ways during his life, making his fate well-deserved, his death means there is no longer anyone to contend with you for the power of faith. That is the greatest benefit."

Zu'an's heart stirred upon hearing this. The power of faith?

From their conversation, it seemed that the power of faith was extremely important to celestial gods.

However, simply because his heart rate accelerated slightly, Erfu inside detected it. He abruptly raised his massive head and looked in their direction.

"Who's there?"

A loud warning blared in Zu'an's mind. Just as he was about to lead the Saintess away, a colossal force suddenly struck in front of him.

He was bewildered. He hadn't seen any sign of the opponent's attack from beginning to end; it was as if the assault had instantly materialized around him. This method of attack was utterly beyond his comprehension.

Even though he had been secretly on guard, there was no time to defend himself. The terrifying power had already crashed down before him.

In a rush, he could only shield the Saintess behind him, infusing his entire body with qi to brace for the impact.

Yet, he wasn't sure if he could withstand an attack from a celestial god.

Just then, a glimmer of light appeared before him, and a massive spectral turtle shell materialized, blocking his path.

It was precisely the turtle shell Wu Peng had given him earlier!

*Crack!*

Almost instantly, the turtle shell shattered into powder.

However, the terrifying attack was also largely dissipated.

With this brief reprieve, Zu'an finally reacted, pulling the Saintess and using his teleportation ability to escape outwards.

After just one encounter, he clearly understood that the opponent's strength far surpassed his own. Not only him, but even the Lord of Slaughter and the Lord of Demons at their peak would be no match here.

Although he hadn't sensed any radiant divinity from the opponent, he still felt the terrifying power of a celestial god.

"A familiar yet detestable shamanic aura," Erfu said, his expression turning cold. "Go, capture the intruders."

As a celestial god, he clearly disdained taking action himself.

"Yes!" The bird-headed woman below bowed, then pushed off with her toes, soaring into the air and instantly transforming into a small swallow.

Though small in size, it was as fast as lightning.

Zu'an used Grand Wind several times in succession. Although Moxie's innate ability could help reduce the cooldown time for teleportation, it wasn't unlimited.

Just as his skill entered cooldown, Zu'an was startled to find a swallow already pursuing him from behind.

Knowing the name Wei Yueyan, he didn't lower his guard just because it was a small swallow.

The swallow flapped its wings and flew ahead of them, instantly transforming back into the bird-headed, human-bodied woman.

She scrutinized the two, her expression somewhat surprised. "Hmm, so it's two humans. Coming here is practically courting death. Come with me to see the Master."

Zu'an chuckled, "What if I say no?"

A hint of mockery appeared on Wei Yueyan's face. "You dared to come here, clearly confident in your own strength. It's evident you're different from those feeble humans, but unfortunately, you completely misunderstand the difference between humans and gods."

As soon as her words fell, black and white light emanated from around her body.

A sudden warning surged in Zu'an's mind. He didn't know the inherent difference between humans and gods, but his combat instincts clearly told him there was danger.

He was about to preemptively strike, but how could even the fastest action compare to the speed of light?

As the black and white light shone upon him, he immediately felt his entire body grow heavy, as if submerged in thick asphalt. Not only were his limbs cumbersome, but even breathing became difficult.

"A domain?"

Wei Yueyan scoffed, "Your knowledge is limited indeed. Divine light is far beyond a lowly thing like a domain."

With that, she casually waved her sleeve, and the wide fabric swept towards the two, clearly intending to capture them alive and bring them before her Master.

The next second, however, she suddenly froze, discovering that the target had regained mobility and dodged her sleeve. "How is that possible?"

Her expression immediately changed. "The power of Taotie!"