Chapter 2506: Goddess

Zu An mused that this must be Erfu and the deceased Yayu. But why would Erfu leave his brother's corpse here after killing him? He gently held the Saintess's hand, worried she might be afraid. After all, Erfu's massive snake body topped with a human head looked incredibly oppressive and was unsettling. To his surprise, he found the Saintess's small hand warm, and she seemed to show no fear.

The snake body on the pillar slowly writhed, and a human head descended from above, scrutinizing the corpse on the stone platform at close range, an uncontrollable smile beaming on its face. It mumbled incessantly, the words ancient, obscure, and profound. Fortunately, Zu An had been to this world before and could largely understand about seventy to eighty percent of it.

"You are noble, you are magnificent. Father likes you, other gods like you, the shamans and the common folk like you. Everyone likes you."

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

This was followed by a burst of somewhat deranged laughter. After laughing for a while, his face seemed to turn dark and inscrutable again:

"Don't blame me. You brought this all upon yourself."

"You always had to compete with me for everything. Growing up, you competed for our parents' love, and later, you competed for everyone else's love."

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

"My foolish brother, do you know that all this praise comes with a price? It was this very praise that led you to your demise."

Zu An frowned slightly as he listened. He had originally wanted to experience a legendary celestial deity up close, but instead of the mythical divinity and compassion, he found a monster with a twisted mind. To be honest, he was quite disappointed.

Just then, a female voice spoke up: "Congratulations, Master! We celebrate your elimination of this significant threat." Only then did Zu An notice a slender woman standing in the corner. Erfu's enormous body was so visually striking that it was hard to notice her petite figure. With just a glance, Zu An's expression became somewhat strange. The woman wore black attire, resembling a trench coat yet also a long dress. Her inner garments were white, the black and white combination accentuating her graceful and delicate figure. If this were in a future online setting, many netizens would surely exclaim that with such a figure, her face wouldn't even matter. However, for this woman, not looking at her face was indeed impossible, because she didn't have a human face at all. To be precise, her entire head was a bird's head!

Zu An mused that it was no wonder those demons considered themselves descendants of celestial deities; their physical appearance did seem quite similar. Looking at the swallow-like bird head, Zu An figured this woman must be the legendary Wei Yueyan. In the future timeline, the history of Yayu's death, as told by the Ten Shamans of Mount Ling, stated that Erfu had killed Yayu after being incited by his subordinate, Wei. This bird-headed woman seemed to be that very Wei.

At that moment, Erfu's cold voice came from within the hall: "It is my brother who died. What is there to celebrate?" The bird-headed woman's expression stiffened. Inwardly, she cursed him for being a hypocrite. Of course, she dared not show what she truly thought. She could only steel herself and reply, "Not to mention how Yayu disgusted you in various ways during his life, and his end was self-inflicted. But simply put, with his death, there is no longer anyone to compete with you, Master, for the power of faith. This is the greatest benefit."

Zu An's heart stirred upon hearing this: the power of faith? From their conversation, it seemed the power of faith was extremely important to celestial deities. However, simply because his heartbeat quickened slightly, Erfu inside detected it. He abruptly lifted his enormous head and looked in their direction: "Who's there?"

A loud warning blared in Zu An's mind. Just as he was about to leave with the Saintess, a formidable force suddenly struck in front of him. He was somewhat bewildered, as he hadn't seen any sign of the opponent making a move. It was as if the attack 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. The terrifying power had already slammed into him. In a hurry, he could only shield the Saintess behind him, infusing his entire body with qi, preparing to withstand the blow directly. But an attack from a celestial deity – he wasn't sure if he could endure it.

Just then, a glimmer of light appeared in front of him, and a massive illusory turtle shell blocked his path. It was precisely the turtle shell that Wu Peng had given him earlier! Crack! Almost instantly, the turtle shell shattered into powder. However, the terrifying attack also dissipated significantly. With this buffer time, Zu An finally reacted, pulling the Saintess and using teleportation to escape outwards. After just one encounter, he clearly understood that the opponent's power was far beyond his own. Not only him, but even the Lord of Slaughter and the Lord of Demons at their peak would be no match for it here. Although he hadn't felt that glorious divinity from the opponent, he still felt the terrifying power of a celestial deity.

"A familiar, yet irritating shamanic aura," Erfu said, his expression turning cold. "Go, capture the intruders." As a celestial deity, he obviously disdained to act personally.

"Yes!" The bird-headed woman, standing below, bowed, then pushed off with her toes, flying into the air and instantly transforming into a small swallow. Though small in size, it was as fast as lightning.

Zu An repeatedly used Great Wind several times. Although Meixi's innate ability could help reduce the cooldown time of teleportation skills, it wasn't unlimited. Just as his skill entered cooldown, Zu An was startled to find a swallow already pursuing them from behind. Knowing the name Wei Yueyan, he did not lower his guard because it was a small swallow. With a flap of its wings, the swallow flew in front of them, its form instantly transforming back into the bird-headed, human-bodied woman. She scrutinized the two, her expression somewhat surprised: "Oh, it's two humans. Coming here is simply courting death. Come with me to see the Master."

Zu An smiled. "What if I say no?"

A sneer appeared on Wei Yueyan's face. "You dare to come here, clearly confident in your own strength. It's evident you're different from those weak humans. What a pity you completely fail to understand the difference between humans and gods." As soon as she finished speaking, black and white light emanated from around her. A sudden alarm blared in Zu An's mind. He didn't know the essential difference between humans and gods, but his combat instincts clearly told him there was danger. He was about to strike first, but how could even his fastest move 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 he were immersed in viscous asphalt. Not only were his limbs cumbersome, but even breathing became difficult.

"A domain?"

Wei Yueyan scoffed, "Your knowledge is limited indeed. How could divine light be compared to something as low-grade as a domain?" As she spoke, she casually waved her sleeve, and the wide fabric swept towards the two, clearly intending to capture them alive for her Master. But the next second, she suddenly froze, because she found that the opponent had actually regained mobility and dodged her sleeve. "How is that possible?" Her expression then changed: "The power of Taotie!"