Chapter 2504: Ceremony

Zu'an was startled. He was using the "Gluttony Devouring Heaven Art," a technique inspired by his battle with the Shadow Demon King in the Sealed Land. Back then, the Shadow Demon King also glowed and possessed the ability to distort time around himself, which Zu'an countered by distorting the surrounding space with his art.

The divine light displayed by his current opponent instinctively reminded him of that past experience. So, he activated the Gluttony Devouring Heaven Art, his entire body transforming into a black hole, frantically absorbing the surrounding energy. He actually managed to break the opponent's divine light control.

However, this wasn't the first time his power had been recognized as that of the Taotie. Furthermore, from their tone, it was evident that the Taotie they spoke of was entirely different from the small monster he had encountered in the Yin Ruins. He wondered if he would ever meet the true Taotie one day.

At this moment, Wei Yueyan had recovered. "Though you have some tricks," she declared, "you still won't escape death." She dared not be careless. Unleashing her full power, she transformed into a black lightning bolt. Almost instantly, her sharp wings sliced the entire space into a fishing net; thousands of slashes were completed in the blink of an eye. She believed no one could remain unharmed under such a dense barrage of attacks.

However, her smile quickly froze on her face. She realized that the two figures seemed to have vanished from this space. "A space teleportation array?" she muttered. Although she was merely Erfu's subordinate, she was a god after all, and she immediately detected the fluctuating spatial elements. With a cold sneer, her figure also entered the void.

Soon, she reappeared in a room several miles away, but still saw no sign of the two. "A continuous teleportation array, then? What a pity if they think they can shake me off like this! How naive!" she scoffed. After speaking, her figure once again traversed the void. She consecutively jumped through space more than a dozen times, passing through various forests, cliffs, and piles of rocks along the way. The last teleportation landed her back in the very room where she had first lost them.

Her expression finally changed. By now, she understood that her opponents had tampered with the spatial teleportation fluctuations, leaving a false teleportation array. More than a dozen such arrays were linked in a chain, keeping her trapped in a futile loop, endlessly going back and forth. It was clear that her opponents had used this opportunity to escape.

At that moment, a terrifying pressure emanated through space. Erfu's enormous serpent body appeared on the ceiling, his massive head drooping down. "You seem to have lost the target," he rumbled. Wei Yueyan immediately half-knelt on the ground and bowed. "Forgive me, Master," she pleaded, "the opponent was extremely cunning and seemed to possess a spatial understanding far beyond ordinary people."

"You disappoint me greatly," Erfu said, a hint of coldness radiating from the vertical pupils in his eyes. Wei Yueyan felt all the hairs on her body stand on end, and she couldn't help but tremble. Erfu opened his huge mouth, drawing closer and closer to Wei Yueyan. Wei Yueyan trembled all over but dared not make the slightest move to dodge.

Suddenly, Erfu's massive head snapped up. He abruptly turned to look towards the main hall. "Seeking death!" he roared. His enormous serpent body vanished instantly. Immediately afterward, furious roars and terrifying surges of energy emanated from the main hall at the mountain peak.

Outside the palace, Zu'an and the Saintess stood on a tree, observing the distant commotion. Zu'an couldn't help but sigh with emotion. "Fortunately, Sister Ling'er reminded me, which led to the design of that teleportation trap. Otherwise, we might have been caught." His tone was quite appreciative. After some time apart, her mastery of spatial arrays seemed to have surpassed his own.

The Saintess smiled shyly. "I just thought that the opponent is a legendary Heavenly God after all, so they might be able to traverse the void directly. It was just a cautious design; I didn't expect it would actually be used." She didn't want to continue this topic, naturally shifting to the great battle in the palace. "Brother Zu," she said, "those few shamans' power seems greater than we imagined."

"Indeed, it's higher than we imagined," Zu'an replied, his brows furrowed. Although he had only had a momentary encounter with the Heavenly God named Erfu, the opponent's formidable strength had left a deep impression on him. Yet, this time, the Six Shamans of Kaiming were able to fight him to a draw! It was worth noting that when he dealt with the Ten Shamans of Lingshan in the secret realm last time, they hadn't displayed such formidable power.

"It seems these legendary Heavenly Gods aren't that different, apart from being more powerful," the Saintess suddenly remarked. Zu'an shook his head slightly. "No, that's not right. When Erfu attacked us just now, I didn't even see him make a move. It was as if the attack arrived the moment he willed it. The elemental energy of that part of the world seemed entirely under his mental control. This feeling is actually very familiar to me. I could achieve this level of control in the cultivation world when I wielded the authority over the world."

The Saintess's expression changed slightly. "Could it be that this Erfu has mastered the World's Law Beacon?" Seeing her tension, Zu'an chuckled. "It's not that extreme. If he truly mastered the World's Law Beacon, how could we still be alive? And he wouldn't have conspired to murder his own brother out of jealousy. It's more likely that as a Heavenly God, he can manipulate the elemental energy within a certain range. Although it's not like mastering the Law Beacon, which allows control over the entire world's energy and will, this world is immeasurably more powerful than the cultivation world. So, even if he can only utilize a small fraction of this world's power, combined with his inherent formidable strength, it becomes quite terrifying."

"No wonder the pressure from him was so intense just now," the Saintess said thoughtfully. "Did you gain anything else from this risky close encounter with a Heavenly God?"

"Of course, there's more. These Heavenly Gods also possess what's called 'divine light'," Zu'an explained, recalling and reasoning. "Last time I came to this world, when the Heavenly Court bestowed the Sun-Shooting Bow, there were colorful rays of light filling the sky. At the time, I thought it was just an entrance effect. Now it seems these are the special abilities of Heavenly Gods. That Wei Yueyan just now was clearly not a powerful Heavenly God, so her divine light only had two colors, black and white. I also had a way to break through it. But if it were a high-ranking Heavenly God, and the five-colored divine light fell upon me, I truly don't know if I could break free."

The Saintess's eyes were downcast, seemingly lost in thought, and she didn't reply. Zu'an continued, "Besides those two points, I believe the power of faith is extremely important to Heavenly Gods, possibly even directly affecting their strength."

The Saintess looked up at him, her gaze complex. This guy was truly impressive; he could deduce so much information from just a brief encounter. "Let's go. The Six Shamans of Kaiming seem to have succeeded," Zu'an said. He saw that the battle in the direction of the palace had subsided, leaving only Erfu raging powerlessly there.

Soon, he and the Saintess arrived at the agreed meeting point with the Six Shamans of Kaiming. They found them gathered around a stone platform, on which lay the human-headed, serpent-bodied corpse they had seen earlier in the main hall. The six shamans chanted obscure syllables. The magic array beneath their feet began to glow with blue light. These blue lines converged onto the stone platform, causing the corpse upon it to also faintly glow. The entire space was filled with an extremely rich life essence.

Zu'an had originally intended to go forward and ask about the Glazed Hairpin Flower, but the Saintess pulled him back. "They seem to be performing an important resurrection ritual right now," she warned. "Don't disturb them, lest they blame you if they don't succeed." Zu'an glanced at them and secretly sighed. "They won't succeed," he murmured.