“God” — a word that inspires awe just from hearing it. It has existed since ancient times, and the legends surrounding them are endless, supreme in power!

They make mortals revere and pay homage, make cultivators wary and afraid, representing strength and omnipotence. Legends of the gods are boundless, found everywhere, glorious across the ages.

However, there has always been much controversy in the world regarding them — some ancient star regions don’t even acknowledge their existence, believing it defies common sense and doesn’t match reality.

As for whether gods truly exist, mortals find it hard to touch upon, and it has always been a topic of discussion among cultivators, hence the various sharply opposing debates.

Once, for a very long period, in certain ancient lands, “god” was a taboo topic — those who angered them died, those who revered them prospered, making it seem all the more unfathomable.

Now, Long Ma, the Black Bear Saint, the Scorpion, the Golden Lion and others had carried back a stone coffin, claiming they had captured an ancient god — how could this not shock Ye Fan? He always felt it wasn’t quite real.

“He claims to be a god, and we combined our strength to forcibly break open his sea of consciousness, capturing a wisp of divine will, proving his words weren’t false.” Long Ma spoke with certainty, looking utterly convinced.

To obtain fortune, they had toiled hard beneath this declining ancient star — twelve saints combining their strength, merging their divine sea of consciousness together, sweeping through many famous mountains and great rivers, probing and searching.

Along the way, they had seen many ruins, and finally discovered an ancient cave dwelling. They forcibly broke open the stone gate sealing the cave and rushed in, where they saw this coffin.

It was a stone coffin, carved from rare evergreen stone, appearing ancient and simple yet imbued with spirituality — a treasured coffin meant for burying bones, rare since ancient times.

The god — white-haired, his skin withered and clinging to his bones, all the essence and blood in his body drained away — looked at a glance like a candle guttering in the wind, unlikely to live much longer.

His white hair was falling out in strands, his body gaunt to the bone, his wrinkled old skin dry and parched, his eyes turbid and dim, lacking spirit. His lips trembled as if he wanted to say something, yet found it difficult to utter words.

The one thing that still made him appear utterly divine and sacred was that even though his body had aged beyond recognition, it still radiated divine brilliance, as if a divine moon enveloped him, with the halo behind his head resembling a sea of stars.

Ye Fan’s whole body glowed, the Zhe Character Secret Art circulating, wisps of golden blood energy seeping from his body and enveloping him, making him appear even more resplendent than this god — his flesh crystalline, powerful beyond compare.

When the two made contact, the god’s body shook violently as wisps of rosy light sank into him, nourishing his life essence. Those dim pupils gradually gained a trace of luster, and his whole being took on a hint of vitality.

It had to be said — the “Zhe” Character Secret Art was unrivaled in the world, a divine technique for healing wounds, even having miraculous effects on extending one’s life source, making it supreme in this domain.

The god’s life origin had withered dry, but treatment from the “Zhe” Character Secret Art showed signs of slight improvement — clearly he could hold on a while longer now, and wouldn’t suddenly pass away.

“Are you really a god?” Ye Fan asked. He had already stopped, this person’s origin had already run dry — unless sustained by an immortality pill, there was fundamentally no hope of survival.

“I… am a god.” He spoke with great difficulty, his life essence still unable to truly condense, one foot already stepping into the shadow of death.

Who in this world could ask not to die? Almost no example could be cited. Since ancient times, heaven’s chosen have all turned to dust — if gods truly existed, they should remain eternally in this world, undying.

But no one could truly prove the gods still lived. It was believed they had all died within the passage of years, not true immortals after all.

“If you’re a god, could you still die?” Ye Fan said calmly. He didn’t believe true gods existed — from ancient times to now, legends of gods weren’t few, yet none had ever been proven real.

“I was… devoured of my origin by someone, otherwise this wouldn’t have happened.” He was very weak, gasping for breath as he spoke these words.

Ye Fan, Pang Bo, Long Ma, and the Black Bear Saint all shook — someone had once slain a god here and seized his origin? This was truly no small piece of news!

“Gods aren’t necessarily above everything either — there were plenty of rumors in ancient times of Great Emperors suppressing them.” The Golden Lion spoke up, because it was indeed true.

Ye Fan nodded, thinking of several supreme figures.

Boundless ages ago, the Emperor Venerate had swept across the nine heavens and ten earths, his qi swallowing the universe, subduing divine spirits — he had once ruled over all heavens and myriad realms, revered by all gods of the world who came to pay homage.

That was an age of extreme glory. The Emperor Venerate had established heavenly laws and rules, setting down statutes that all gods had to obey, none daring to defy — a truly mythical era.

Afterward, the Undying Heavenly Emperor rose, also possessing supreme might, having once reigned over the world with gods coming to pay respects, all races bowing together — that kind of majesty was unmatched, rare through ages past and present.

But those were, after all, just legends, long since passed. And there was much controversy in the world about whether those were truly gods in the real sense.

“Who was it — was it really done by a member of the human race?” Long Ma asked urgently.

If it was a god, and its origin was devoured by a human, this counted as an earth-shaking secret — thinking carefully about it made one feel a chill, the body filled with a sense of cold.

“You can’t even beat a human and you still dare call yourself a god?!” Long Ma taunted, his bronze bell-like eyes wide open, deeply curious what kind of person that could be.

“It should be another kind of god…” Ye Fan muttered to himself. By now the meaning of “god” had changed — he believed this person surely wasn’t the kind of god from ancient legends.

The being in the stone coffin, white-haired, lying like a corpse, yet enveloped in ring upon ring of divine light — even though aged beyond recognition, still radiating a trace of divine brilliance shining all around — spoke a name that immediately shook Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and the others.

Yao Guang!

That member of the human race turned out to be Yao Guang, a name not unfamiliar to them, only they hadn’t seen him in decades. It was he who had devoured this god’s life origin, claiming his divine origin as his own.

So many years had passed, and this person still followed his usual conduct, remaining quite low-key on the ancient starry road. Only Nan Yao had accidentally glimpsed his tracks; no one else knew.

Pang Bo had always kept watch, yet had never gotten news of him, remaining strictly vigilant — he never expected to stumble upon Yao Guang’s eerie trail here.

“It’s him?!” Ye Fan’s brows furrowed slightly.

“This person is very difficult to deal with, he will surely become a great enemy in the future, he’s undoubtedly received the inheritance of the Ruthless One!” Pang Bo also frowned, thinking of the events of the past.

Back in the battle at the Zhongzhou Ancestral Temple, Yao Guang had directly used the Dragon-Patterned Black Golden Cauldron to suppress and kill them — had they not already anticipated the danger and used the Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar to respond, they would surely have been in grave danger.

Ye Fan had never underestimated Yao Guang, but he also didn’t believe he could devour gods — that wasn’t realistic. He stared at the old man in the stone coffin, convinced he wasn’t a true divine spirit.

“You’re not a god!” Pang Bo glared, extending his fan-like large hand and poking him, nearly sending him flying out of the coffin.

“This kind of god… isn’t that kind of god…” the being in the stone coffin said weakly, worried that Pang Bo’s radish-thick fingers would poke several holes clean through his body — his finger strength was frighteningly strong.

“I am a member of the Divine Race!” His pupils were dim, yet when speaking of his race, a startling brilliance flashed through them — pride and arrogance.

A true god was immortal, a forbidden existence from legend.

But since the gods could never truly be seen, people’s hearts began to waver, and later the meaning of this title gradually shifted, often used to refer to certain heaven-defying existences.

And so “god” gradually came to have two meanings.

From ancient times to now, every “god” that had been seen eventually grew old, one by one settling into the dust of history, becoming a mound of yellow earth, unable to live forever.

The various saints believed that divine miracles, legends, and other inexplicable events of old were actually the doing of powerful living beings, not true manifestations of the gods.

“God” had two meanings — the true gods, and creatures from beyond the domain, powerful beyond comprehension. By now, the former had almost been completely refuted.

This person claiming to be of the Divine Race immediately made Ye Fan, Pang Bo, Long Ma and the others suddenly realize something, while also being greatly shocked — such a race truly did exist, rumored to be the continuation of the bloodline of the gods.

Regardless of which meaning of “god” was used to explain it, it demonstrated that this race was supremely powerful, considered a heaven-defying lineage, rumored to be capable of anything.

In fact, ever since stepping onto the ancient starry road, one could hear their legends — all the saints said there was an ancient road belonging to the Divine Race, the most mysterious of all, one outsiders found nearly impossible to locate.

Yet this race’s numbers were extremely scarce, rarely seen since ancient times. Some powerful groups often claimed to be the Divine Race themselves, but they weren’t — the true members of this race rarely manifested.

“Not a true god, but the Divine Race — I have heard of this before.” Pang Bo nodded, then asked, “Just how powerful is this race, exactly?”

“Extremely powerful, rumor has it they’re almost heaven-defying.” The Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon said gravely.

Ye Fan also nodded solemnly. Over the years he had read through many ancient texts, inquiring among saints from different star regions along the starry road, learning of many powerful races.

Members of the Divine Race were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, but truly heaven-defying — it was rumored that the divine bodies that occasionally appeared among the human race were similar to this race!

“What, that’s not possible, is it?!” Pang Bo was shocked, somewhat disbelieving.

This kind of secret was truly astonishing — even Ye Fan had found it inconceivable when he first learned of it, but it was recorded as such in several nearly-lost ancient texts.

“This… is hard to believe. Ji Haoyue, the Jiang Family’s divine body — such rare and powerful physiques — the blood flowing in their bodies is actually similar to the Divine Race’s?!” Pang Bo was truly stunned.

Not a single individual, but an entire race — even though extremely scarce, it was still a race, a whole bloodline of divine blood. Just how powerful could such a race be? It was almost unimaginable!

“Ordinary members of that race are all divine bodies — the most outstanding among them must be extraordinarily powerful. Divine blood restored to its ancient state would surely surpass the world!”

“If Ji Haoyue and the Jiang Family’s divine body were included in that race, they’d only be ordinary members. If that race gave birth to a young king… that thought makes one’s scalp go numb.” Pang Bo murmured to himself.

“Don’t worry, that race’s numbers are pitifully few, nearly extinct. Most who claim to be Divine Race in this world are false.” said the Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon.

Ye Fan and his group had traveled the Golden Ancient Road for six years now, and besides tempering themselves, their main purpose was following a lead to search for the whereabouts of the Ji family siblings.

Yet now they had unexpectedly learned of Yao Guang’s trail, and encountered a true member of the Divine Race — an unexpected gain amid all this.

“So does that mean Ji Haoyue and the Jiang Family’s divine body aren’t actually of the human race?” Pang Bo asked.

Ye Fan shook his head. According to those few ancient texts, in that distant past, the Divine Race had also been a branch of the human race — only their bloodline was too powerful, and they considered themselves noble, extremely self-important, eventually separating themselves and establishing their own race.

“These things conflict with the legends of the gods, so the Divine Race doesn’t acknowledge it — they’ve never accepted this account.”

Yet, occasionally individual divine bodies would appear among the human race — and purely in terms of physique, as well as the divine blood flowing in their bodies, they truly were very close to them, proving there was some truth to it.