This was a brilliant rain of light, falling rapidly, endless and boundless, golden radiance flickering, dense and countless, like symbols of some kind, covering the entire thirteenth-layer small world.
The big black dog fled without a trace, Duan De covered his head and scurried away, Ye Fan and the others also paled, breaking into a run, for they now knew what this was—utterly terrifying.
At this moment, the golden rain of light in the sky intensified further—they had revived, each one like a divine lamp, dazzling and brilliant, emitting clanging sounds, the resonance of light particles colliding, like the chiming of metal.
“Ahh…”
Screams of agony rang out. People scattered in every direction, fleeing for their lives—everyone sensed that great disaster was upon them. This kind of thing could pierce through divine power, devouring one’s very essence, energy, and spirit.
Most people didn’t recognize it. Only a handful of living fossils cried out in alarm, warning their own people—this was the God-Slaying Worm, not to be trifled with, flee at once.
The God-Slaying Worm—a terrifying name, but anyone with knowledge of it would change expression the moment it was mentioned.
“Ahh…”
Screams erupted from all sides. Protective true-essence barriers proved utterly useless; the golden rain of light fell, covering people’s bodies, devouring the essence within their flesh and blood completely clean, not even sparing their primordial spirits.
People trembled with terror, summoning every kind of magical treasure to strike back, yet the strange insects were incomparably ferocious and difficult to stop. Every single worm was like it wore golden armor, each about the length of a finger, its shell hard as iron—even powerful experts struggled to crush them.
“Don’t use your physical body to charge in—these things can only be refined away through Dao cultivation and the laws.” someone shouted.
But at this moment, who dared stop and calmly refine them away? Even if one person could refine away dozens, with the rain of light endless and boundless, there was no way to handle them all.
At this moment, everyone saw it clearly—that box forged from five-colored iron essence resembled a beehive, covered in small holes, with more of the God-Slaying Worms crawling out from within.
Moreover, it wasn’t hard to notice that this box contained a spatial order chain within, like a small world unto itself, far larger than imagined—heaven only knew how many more strange insects might be inside.
A living fossil let out a furious roar, engulfed by the golden rain of light. Despite exhausting everything he had, he still couldn’t escape this calamity—his seven orifices pierced through, even his primordial spirit devoured.
And this was merely one scene among countless others—no telling how many people had died tragically, turning to dust amid the golden rain of light across this terrifying, hellish ground, every drop of light rain a death talisman.
These worms were each about the size of a thumb, their bodies densely covered in tiny golden scales, shaped like a small flood dragon, only without horns.
Ye Fan and the others could only flee as well—in this place it wasn’t wise to use heirloom holy weapons, because upon entering, every sect had agreed in advance that such weapons must not be used; with so many people present, word getting out could bring serious trouble later.
This wasn’t Ye Fan’s first encounter with such strange insects—back when he, Duan De, and Dongfang Ye had once encountered them within the Immortal Mansion World in the Central Prefecture, though at that time there had only been a few dozen. Now they blanketed everything, countless in number, no one able to withstand them—everyone could only flee in terror.
Amid the fleeing masses, Hua Yunfei was the first to rush into the fourteenth-layer temple small world—he had been the first to notice and discover the God-Slaying Worms.
Ye Fan and his group were the second wave. Just as they were nearing the stone gate, Duan De suddenly stopped, saying: “This is the legendary Divine Worm—its value isn’t much less than an ancient scripture. Cultivated for a few thousand years, it might just give birth to a purebred God-Slaying Worm.”
At this moment, Duan De’s hand grew shameless once more, making a decision that left everyone else utterly furious—he pulled out a treasured item, a Treasure-Gathering Basin, turning back to collect that five-colored iron essence box.
“Fatty Duan, what are you doing?”
“All these divine worms have already emerged from the nest—there must be divine eggs inside the box, priceless beyond measure. Taming this kind of thing can only start from the eggs.”
Purebred God-Slaying Worms, according to legend, could gnaw through even divine beings, with virtually nothing able to stop them—capable of biting through anything, slaying anything.
The golden strange insects before them, though quite powerful, were not true divine worms—their ancestral blood was diluted, presently in a primal state, far from comparable to their true ancestors.
Legend has it that in ancient times, a Saint successfully raised a few half-divine worms—not true ancestral worms—and together with them managed to kill and dismember an awakened ancient king.
“Buzz!”
The five-colored iron essence was collected. Duan De was practically glowing with delight—just this treasure box alone was enough to make a Saint’s heart stir, being of the same tier as Great Luo Silver Essence, and the divine worm eggs within were beyond priceless. If he truly managed to raise a purebred ancestral worm, being unrivaled under heaven wouldn’t be far off.
They rushed into the fourteenth-layer temple small world, yet the danger hadn’t dissipated—the endless rain of light followed right along, converging entirely on Ye Fan’s group, abandoning everyone else.
“Fatty Duan, your hand is too damn itchy!”
“Damn it, you grave-robbing bastard, aren’t you afraid your hand will rot off?”
The whole group wanted to strangle him—this was practically inviting all the firepower onto themselves. Just moments ago the God-Slaying Worms had been scattered about; now they had all converged together, forming stream after stream of golden waterfalls cascading down.
With so many divine worms, who could possibly block them all? This was lethal—they were nearly being buried alive.
“What good people, saving us like this.”
“Who were those people, could they be holy monks from the Western Desert? What selflessness, throwing themselves into hell to save us.”
Hearing these words from afar, Ye Fan, the Black Emperor, and the others nearly spat blood, wanting even more to skin Duan De alive—this bastard’s hand was far too itchy, bringing down this great calamity upon them.
“I say, do these worms really hold such a grudge? Seriously, chasing us relentlessly like this.” Duan De grimaced, his buttocks, shoulders, and chest all pierced through, blood flowing freely.
“It’s your own itchy hand’s fault—hurry up and throw that box away.” Old Blind Man said. Even he had been wounded, blood streaming, the situation growing dire.
“How could I possibly throw it away? This rivals a Great Emperor’s scripture in value. Not long ago, this old Daoist excavated an ancient text from a certain ancient tomb, containing records about these divine worms—if raised for ten thousand years using a special method, one could hatch a true ancestral worm. I wouldn’t trade this even for a Great Emperor’s scripture!” Duan De clutched the box, refusing to let go no matter what. As a result, his fingers were pierced straight through—it turned out there were still God-Slaying Worms inside the nest.
Qi Luo, who had remained silent all this while, spoke up: “I actually think these worms do hold immeasurable value. Though we ourselves can’t live ten thousand years, we could raise them for future generations to inherit—when our Heavenly Court someday rules the world, this would add one more supreme deterrent.”
“Then let’s use the heirloom holy weapons.” Dongfang Ye moved to pull out his Wolf Fang Great Club.
“Let me handle it instead.” Ye Fan made his move, invoking the nine-colored flames within the Myriad Things Mother Qi Cauldron, burning and slaughtering the golden rain of light, causing them to fall in swaths—but there were simply too many of these things, and they no longer approached directly, instead beginning to surround and trap the group.
Ye Fan urged: “Fatty Duan, hurry up and dig out the divine eggs, throw away the five-colored iron essence—there’s no way, these worms are too numerous, there’s no way to kill them all.”
Duan De was extremely reluctant—the five-colored iron essence was a divine material too—but with the God-Slaying Worms overwhelming in number, he had no choice. Squealing like a pig being slaughtered, he dug out a handful of golden divine eggs, and despite his considerable wounds, unwillingly threw away the treasure box.
By this point, they had already fled into the sixteenth-layer temple small world. Fatty Duan’s hands looked like they’d been gnawed on by a dog, and he grimaced in pain.
Having finally shaken off the God-Slaying Worms here, they all let out a long breath of relief, the whole group scolding him for his itchy hands.
“I originally thought this kind of creature had long gone extinct—even the Immortal Mansion World only had a few dozen left. I never expected the Ancestral Temple would hold such a terrifying nest. Back in its day, the Yuhua Divine Dynasty truly was formidable—they must have once raised true purebred ancestral worms!”
They began dividing up the spoils, worried about mishaps within the Ancestral Temple, with each person carefully tucking away some of the glistening divine eggs on their person.
“Where are the Heavenly Imperial Son, Hua Yunfei, and Li Xiaoman?” They turned back, wanting to settle scores with these three, but they had long since vanished without a trace, all having fled amid the chaos.
“Since they’ve come inside, we’re bound to run into them eventually. Come to think of it, could they also be after the Five-Colored Sacrificial Altar?” Pang Bo said, uncertain and suspicious.
“Let’s move quickly!” everyone said, their expressions changing.
This place was the Yuhua Divine Dynasty’s ancestral temple, its most sacred site—containing not only the insights of ancient sages, but also every manner of secret record, likely holding clues to the Ascension Scripture as well.
What worried Ye Fan most was the possibility that others might beat them to discovering the various texts and carved images regarding the Five-Colored Sacrificial Altar within the temple—if that led to someone successfully crossing the star域 and dragging the flames of war to Earth, it would be an absolute catastrophe.
They pressed onward, carefully navigating past all manner of trouble, arriving at the twenty-first layer of the ancient temple. In total there were thirty-six layers, and as for the countless ancient halls and small worlds within, those were beyond counting.
“Something’s not right.” Duan De muttered. Earlier he had prepared a great deal of materials, believing that once inside they would certainly encounter undead spirits, yet everything they’d encountered so far had been living creatures.
They continued moving forward without pause, soon arriving at the twenty-seventh layer, growing increasingly certain something was amiss—it had been an entirely smooth path, without any danger at all.
Just as they stepped into the twenty-eighth layer temple small world, the void split open without a sound, and a golden divine sword slashed straight down, aimed directly at the space between Ye Fan’s brows, world-shaking in its power, moving at terrifying speed.
A heirloom holy weapon! Someone had lost their patience, wielding such a terrifying weapon to launch an assassination attempt, and moreover, there had been no warning beforehand—it had nearly slipped past everyone’s spiritual perception entirely.
“Boom!”
The Hell Soul-Suppressing Pagoda surged upward, pure white and crystalline, forged from the essence of five Killing Saints’ Dao bones left behind after their samadhi—its power was boundless, instantly blocking the golden sword.
At the same moment, Qi Luo shot skyward against all natural law, vanishing into the void, pursuing the attacker, a series of clashing, ringing sounds echoing through the air.
Not long after, he returned, though this time he hadn’t brought back a bloodied severed head as before—the attacker had escaped.
“That golden divine sword contained a strand of a Killing Saint’s primordial spirit!”
Everyone was startled. A Saint hadn’t manifested in person, yet had placed a strand of their primordial spirit within a golden holy weapon, passing it down to a subordinate king—this too was a ruthless, formidable method of attack.
People found Qi Luo increasingly unfathomable—perhaps he was on the verge of becoming a Saint himself, though this was good news, giving them all the more confidence.
Not long after, proceeding cautiously, they arrived at the thirtieth-layer temple small world, discovering some traces of evidence. After careful discussion, they unanimously concluded that the Four Great Divine Dynasties and Yao Guang Holy Land had likely already been through here long before.
“Could the temple have already been emptied out by them?”
“No, it seems they stopped here, without venturing any deeper.” Duan De took out his divine mirror, obtained from an ancient tomb, polished from the forehead-bone of a Human Race Great Sage, capable of restoring fragments of past scenes.
Through the bone mirror, they could see some blurred human figures lingering here for quite some time before finally departing.
“So that means the true danger lies within these final six layers of the ancient temple. Even they didn’t dare act rashly, wanting to rely on the strength of the entire world instead.”
The stone door leading to the thirty-first layer remained tightly shut, yet from within seemed to emanate the presence of some primordial savage beast, as if connected to the underworld itself, exuding wisps of eerie, unsettling energy.
“Something’s not right.” They deliberated for a long while, then retreated some distance, using a divine hammer to smash open the stone door, peering inside.
Ahead lay pitch darkness, yet the sound of rain could be heard, as if it were a genuine, vast world unto itself, with blurred figures moving about within the night rain.
“There’s something alive in there—what is that?!”
Inside, it was deeply unsettling; even Heaven’s Eye clairvoyance seemed suppressed somehow, as if order chains of some kind were densely woven throughout the void.
“Boom!”
Heavy rain poured down, several bloody crimson bolts of lightning intertwining across the night sky, illuminating everything within, causing everyone’s expressions to change—they staggered backward, quickly sealing the stone door shut again.
“What in the world is going on?”
In the light of the blood-red lightning illuminating the rainy night, the road was muddy and waterlogged, and they saw several columns of soldiers wearing ancient armor, holding black iron halberds and spears, patrolling the area.
“That’s… the armor of the Heavenly Soldiers from two hundred thousand years ago, from the Yuhua Divine Dynasty—they’re the so-called Heavenly Soldiers!” Ji Ziyue said, her beautiful eyes flickering with an inconceivable light. Before coming here, she had consulted various records and classical texts in the Ji Family’s Scripture Repository, and had seen this type of armor before.
Everyone stood there, utterly stunned.
“Have you all noticed—everything we’ve encountered since entering has been alive. Could it be that these soldiers too are…”
“Something’s off, something’s very off!” Duan De shook his head, pacing back and forth, saying: “I once discovered a bizarre record in a remote ancient tomb, stating that back then the Yuhua Divine Dynasty ended its own rule—it wasn’t destroyed by outside forces. They were secretly carrying out some heaven-defying scheme. Could this be true?!”