Chapter 814: Everywhere is the Inheritance of Divine Gods

Chufeng truly wanted to rush back and give the young Daoist a good beating. He had just been slightly touched, hearing his son's heart-rending cries echoing behind him. But in the end, those cries were merely his son wailing to inform him he hadn't made a will yet. Chufeng felt an urge to beat the boy!

A cascade of light pulled Chufeng in, and he found himself caught between two enormous grinding stones.

*Crack!* He heard the sound of his soul tearing apart, an agonizing pain. It was the process of his spirit body being ripped to shreds, as if being dismembered by five horses while still alive.

He couldn't help but let out a loud cry as his soul light instantly surged with unbearable pain. He inwardly cursed his luck, realizing that without the stone box by his side, he would have to endure such terrible torment.

He realized the stone box was even more astonishing than he had imagined, capable of blocking the stone reincarnation millstones. The so-called talismans, while mysterious and powerful, were still somewhat inferior. However, he wasn't overly concerned. His soul light was condensing, forcibly held together by the talismanic patterns within his body, resisting the crushing force.

Meanwhile, the faces of those outside changed. They heard Chufeng's loud cry, and then all struggling ceased; no further sound from him could be heard. Only the millstones continued to turn, exuding an ancient, timeless aura, as they had done for eons.

"Chufeng, what's happening?" those outside called out.

Chufeng could no longer pay attention to them. His soul light shimmered; after being crushed into fragments, it was reassembled repeatedly. After dozens of such cycles, his spiritual energy was on the verge of collapse. This was the power of reincarnation, the might of the millstones. Any hero, no matter how formidable, would be "formatted" here, their soul light stripped of countless elements.

Chufeng realized this felt similar to the stone millstones in the Dead City of Mingguang. Could there be another path of reincarnation here? He secretly lamented how fortunate he had been when he possessed the stone box, completely unafraid of this destructive power!

"Even the gods of this realm are crushed; these millstones are truly terrifying!" At the same time, he marveled at the extraordinary origins of the talismans possessed by the young Daoist and his companions. These talismans could actually counteract reincarnation. He hadn't been "formatted" or lost his memories, thanks to the talismans' light resisting this terrifying energy.

"The world's strongest joined forces, with several ancient imperial dynasties and the most powerful sacred lands attacking the so-called First Forbidden Zone. Only after these lineages were utterly destroyed did someone manage to bring out a black talisman. It truly has an astonishing origin, containing world-shaking mysteries and terrifying power."

Chufeng also noticed that the Soul Bell was unharmed, having shrunk to the size of a seed, it floated within his soul light. He had long suspected it was an item from the stone box and should be extraordinarily remarkable. His suspicions were now confirmed. The so-called God-Beating Whip, which he had seized from Luo Shirong of the Heavenly God Palace, had long since turned to dust and ceased to exist. Chufeng nodded inwardly, understanding the situation.

After being crushed dozens of times, his spiritual energy and soul light repeatedly collapsed and reformed until he finally passed through the millstones and arrived before a gate of light. He was drawn in, disappearing from that realm.

The light gate was faintly golden and very gentle. The passage within was not long, resembling an antechamber. With a *whoosh*, Chufeng quickly emerged from the passage, appearing in a new space.

He found himself in an unfamiliar place. Was this a completely new world? Chufeng gazed out, the world appeared somewhat hazy, blurring his vision.

"This is... Yang energy?!" He was startled. The haze wasn't caused by mist; rather, it was wisps of warm light rising from the ground—vast quantities of Yang energy steaming upwards. Here, Chufeng felt a slight burning sensation in his soul body, which made him frown and then sigh inwardly. Just as the young Daoist had said, whether it was the Ferocious Beast Plateau or the universe where the young Daoist resided, any abundance of Yang energy was merely relative. At the very least, the Yang energy here was more abundant than on the Ferocious Beast Plateau!

He then recalled the young Daoist's explanation: the mighty beings of the Yang Realm collectively referred to these worlds as the Yin Realm, not considering this side of the universe to be connected to the Yang Realm at all, viewing them all as netherworlds. "It seems the Yang Realm is even more terrifying than I imagined. To what extent is the Yang energy concentrated there? Perhaps if my earlier self had ventured there, I would have been reduced to ashes!" Chufeng mused. His current so-called "Yang Soul," tempered through intense refinement, was likely only relative in its strength.

As far as he could see, the ground was parched, with not a blade of grass growing across hundreds or even thousands of miles of barren land. There was no sign of human habitation, nor did he see the so-called Path of Reincarnation. Chufeng's eyes glowed with golden light, eventually condensing into two dazzling golden symbols. Even without a physical body, he could still employ his Fiery Golden Eyes to gaze into the distance and observe this world.

"Hmm, a silvery glow!" He spotted a peculiar target and, with a whoosh, flew towards it, positioning the Soul Bell above his head for protection. The target he had found was eighty *li* away, and it didn't take him long to reach it. It was a puddle of silver blood, alongside a corpse. To be precise, it was a partial corpse: only a small portion of the head remained, and less than a quarter of the body. It emanated a decaying aura, surrounded by pools of silver blood.

A god! Chufeng's heart pounded. He felt it was highly probable that a deity had died here, and in a rather tragic state. Only gods had a certain chance of passing through the millstones, and this partial corpse, along with its silver blood, still emitted an aura that made his heart race; it felt incredibly dangerous.

"However, if this truly is a god, its power seems a bit too weak. At my current level, I shouldn't be able to approach it," Chufeng mused, somewhat puzzled. The evolutionary level of gods was profoundly high, something Chufeng at his current stage could only look up to. Normally, even if they died, their spilled blood would be enough to cause heaven and earth to crumble.

"Hmm, it's already decayed?!" He was surprised that even in his soul-light state, he could detect a peculiar odor, much like a physical body could. It was a stench, reminiscent of putrid humus. Chufeng understood. He had previously smelled the scent of sacred medicine at the blood-colored peaks on the outskirts of the Ferocious Beast Plateau. It now seemed that certain high-level entities could emit "scents" with soul attributes.

"He has decayed, so his energy has plummeted. Even a god's corpse can't threaten me," Chufeng thought. He circled the area, searching for anything useful. This was a god's corpse; if anything had been left behind, it would undoubtedly be extraordinary and defy heaven. Unfortunately, after being crushed by the stone millstones, not only were any defensive weapons shattered, but his own body was also pulverized. Only a small portion of his head remained, revealing him to be male.

"What was the point?" Chufeng lamented. Gods on the Ferocious Beast Plateau had no favorable outcomes once they reached their twilight years. This individual had desperately fled, hoping to find a solution, yet ultimately died a tragic death. Rather than this, it would have been better to be buried on the Ferocious Beast Plateau.

Chufeng cautiously extended a wisp of his soul light to touch the silver blood on the ground. With a hiss, the wisp of soul light was enveloped by a cloud of gray mist and rapidly disintegrated! He gasped, quickly retreating. As expected, something was amiss. Since this god's death, both the flesh and blood emitted a decaying odor, clearly indicating an abnormality. This was no longer a divine artifact but a bizarre, eerie substance.

Chufeng conducted multiple tests, each time detaching only the weakest wisp of his soul light. The result was always the same: both the flesh and blood contained a dense gray mist that emanated from them, possessing potent corrosive properties. "Originally, there were many divine particles, possibly even containing Dao Ancestor substances, all belonging to a deity whose level was unimaginably high. However, in their later years, just like previous generations of gods, calamity struck. They underwent a mutation, their divinity extinguished, and they became entangled by bizarre energy, leading to this state."

Chufeng was wary. If one were to follow the tenets of fatalism, gods in ancient times had used forbidden arts to refine other beings for their own evolution, thus offending the natural order. In their later years, their bodies would accumulate too many strange substances, making the appearance of ghastly entities unsurprising. Alternatively, from an evolutionary perspective, this god's body had absorbed divine particles and Dao Ancestor substances from other beings. In their later years, these substances gradually dissipated, no longer fusing into a single entity but instead violently agitating, causing inexplicable bio-electrical reactions that led to their mutation.

"In summary, this is no longer a divine body but an anomalous, eerie one that must not be touched!" Chufeng thought, alerted. He was fortunate to witness the twilight years of a god. Overall, for a god of a realm, such a death was rather pathetic and desolate, with no one to bid them farewell or even bury them. Even if he had achieved immense glory in life, with his name sung across the entire world, his post-mortem decay and tragic end were truly lamentable.

The ground was parched and hard, with wisps of Yang energy continuously emerging. This world was deathly silent, devoid of plants or any other living creatures. Chufeng resumed his journey, and not long after, he encountered another partial corpse. This one was female; although her hair was snow-white, the well-preserved half of her face was still captivating. Sadly, this female deity had also met a tragic end. The small remaining portion of her body was tattered, clearly bearing marks of having been crushed by the millstones before she ultimately perished here. Around her lay traces of blue blood, also divine in nature.

Chufeng briefly tested it. Sure enough, gray mist arose from the slightly decaying corpse and blood, capable of corroding soul light and containing a large amount of bizarre energetic substance. "What a pity that a goddess of her generation met such an ignoble end."

At this moment, Chufeng felt a wave of emotion. No matter how great a hero or peerless a beauty one was, upon death, they became nothing. "Life has its peaks and valleys, like the ebb and flow of tides. Seeing their fates makes me ponder my own future," he sighed softly. For a moment, he wondered what it would be like if, one day, his lifespan reached its end, and he arrived at life's ultimate conclusion. Perhaps, at that point, he would feel that everything he had cared about in life would lose its original meaning, that all so-called glory was nothing more than a pile of ashes, worthless when offered to one's deceased self.

Then, he shook his head vigorously. He was thinking too much. He was still alive and full of vigor; there was no need to dwell on gloom or concern himself with affairs beyond life. "I'm still young; I should just pursue the excitement that belongs to me in this current stage," Chufeng murmured to himself. Then, he shamelessly added, "I'm only fourteen and a half; the little lotus has just begun to unfurl its sharp tip!"

Chufeng resumed his journey. Soon after, he successively discovered three more god corpses, both male and female. All were tattered, partial remains, and their states of death were too gruesome to behold.

"To have endured the crushing of the stone millstones, they must have been among the strongest of all gods!" Chufeng had learned from his time on the Ferocious Beast Plateau that gods of average strength would simply perish at the millstones, unable to pass through. Over the long ages, it was difficult to say how many generations of gods had emerged from the Ferocious Beast Plateau, or how many had embarked on this path. At the same time, he considered the young Daoist's black talisman, which could protect his soul light. Didn't this imply that the talisman brought out from the so-called First Forbidden Zone was incredibly astonishing?

The desolate land was barren, without a single blade of grass. Yang energy surged out, gurgling like springs emerging from underground, steaming upwards.

"Hmm?" Suddenly, Chufeng detected a brilliant light that reflected into the golden symbols of his eyes, causing his Fiery Golden Eyes to unleash beams of light. "A group of deities!" He was greatly surprised to see at least a dozen deities in the stone forest area ahead. They all radiated brilliant light, lying fallen on the ground amidst sparkling pools of blood. He felt a surge of emotion, wondering if these gods, who had left seeking a way out, had ultimately found only a graveyard. This world could truly be called a necropolis of deities, a grand burial ground for gods.

"Huh?!" Upon entering the stone forest, Chufeng was utterly delighted this time, his face filled with shock, so excited that he nearly jumped for joy. Within the stone forest, some deities had carved inscriptions on the colossal stones before their deaths. Some were last wills, others were heartfelt confessions from their final moments, and some even contained the inheritance of extraordinary arts!

After spending so long on the Ferocious Beast Plateau, Chufeng and his companions had already learned the script of this world, and it was now proving immensely useful. These individuals belonged to different eras; they were not deities from the same period. Chufeng quickly scanned the inscriptions. At least six deities had left behind inheritances of extraordinary arts—each a peerless secret method from their respective glorious eras!

Chufeng was profoundly shocked. This was a truly unexpected boon that greatly impacted his mind. On the Ferocious Beast Plateau, not only were divine arts unobtainable, but even the extraordinary arts of marquises were impossible to acquire. Yet here, divine inheritances were scattered everywhere!