Chương 133: Deity in the Martial World (Part 9)

A seismic piece of news swept through War Martial Academy. One of the two Heavenly Rifts guarded by the academy—the Wolf Beast Heavenly Rift—had been completely pacified. This was an earth-shattering event. For the past century, no Heavenly Rift had ever been cleared. The international situation had grown increasingly dire; the mere thought of such a feat was unthinkable. Yet the identity of the one who had pacified the rift remained known to only a handful of people in all of Longxia.

Most speculated that one—or perhaps all three—of the vice-presidents had broken through to a new level of eighth-tier strength, finally granting them the power to eradicate the Wolf Beast Heavenly Rift in one decisive campaign. After returning to War Martial Academy, Su Chen immediately entered seclusion once more. The entire cultivation resources of a Heavenly Rift now belonged to him. His cultivation advanced at a terrifying pace. Time slipped by unnoticed. A full year passed.

Su Chen had not shown his face even once. Then, in the midst of deep cultivation, he suddenly snapped awake. An ominous premonition gripped his heart. Su Chen frowned. This instinctive warning carried weight. With his insight at the Dao Entry realm, he could sense impending crises before they fully manifested.

"Something major… is about to happen." The moment the words left his mouth, the entire capital city trembled. War horns blared across War Martial Academy—deep, resonant, and unmistakably the call to war.... On the towering walls that guarded the capital, soldiers clutched their weapons with white-knuckled grips. In the distant horizon, the sky itself seemed to tear open. A rift stretched from the firmament down to the earth. Endless black waves surged forth—trampling the ground, triggering violent earthquakes.

Beneath that infinite, terrifying tide, the capital city resembled nothing more than a solitary island adrift on a black ocean, moments from being swallowed whole.

"This… this is…" The soldiers on the walls stared at the horrifying sight. Their legs trembled uncontrollably. One defensive barrier after another flickered to life—yet they appeared pitifully small against the encroaching black tide… Inside the capital, powerhouses stood with expressions of utmost gravity. This was an unprecedented Heavenly Rift descent! They could all sense it: within that colossal rift brewed an unimaginable force—something capable of overturning the entire capital with ease.

Even the legendary eighth-tier powerhouses seemed insignificant before that dreadful presence.

"God… this is the descent of a legendary deity!" An elder of great authority voiced the fear that had taken root in many hearts. Long ago, scholars had proposed that the eighth tier was never the true endpoint of cultivation. Beyond the eighth tier existed another realm—a threshold into an entirely different order of being. And that realm… throughout ancient and modern times… had been called one thing:"God."... Su Chen stepped out of the cultivation chamber. Chaos already gripped War Martial Academy.

"Boss… the capital is under attack from a Heavenly Rift descent. The situation is extremely dire." Long Tianxing rushed forward the moment he saw Su Chen, as though grasping at a lifeline.

"A Heavenly Rift invasion? With War Martial Academy's current foundations, even a powerful rift should be resistible." Su Chen surveyed the panicked disorder around him. Instinct told him matters were far from simple. Long Tianxing gave a bitter smile and lowered his voice.

"Boss, this time I'm afraid it's big trouble… This is definitely not an ordinary rift descent! War Martial Academy has already abandoned guarding the other Heavenly Rift…" Su Chen immediately understood. Abandoning a rift meant unleashing its inhabitants upon the world—unleashing unimaginable consequences. Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, would die. War Martial Academy could never be unaware of such an outcome.

The only explanation was that this new rift was far more terrifying than the other one—so dangerous that if mishandled, the entire capital might be annihilated. At that moment, heaven and earth fell into an eerie stillness. The grand, resonant war horns froze mid-note. Su Chen and Long Tianxing snapped back to awareness. Behind them stood a middle-aged man whose temples were touched with white.

"President!" It was none other than the president of the War Martial Academy.

"The Long family boy is right. This matter is far more complicated than it appears." Wang Zhenguo's expression was solemn and grave.

"Jiang Chen, I will arrange for someone to escort you out of the capital. Your talent is humanity's hope. This time the capital may fall completely—but you cannot be allowed to perish here! I have prepared the highest-specification void train between the capital and the imperial capital. Once you board it, your aura will be perfectly concealed. It will carry you to the imperial capital at maximum speed." Su Chen frowned.

"How many people in the capital can escape?"

"Only one. You alone." Wang Zhenguo spoke calmly.

"Any more would draw the attention of the rift's powerhouses. If you are discovered, everything will be for nothing." Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Su Chen let out a soft sigh in his heart.

"President, this descent is no ordinary rift event. What exactly has happened?" Wang Zhenguo answered gravely, "A deity has descended—a being that surpasses every rank we currently know. They are called gods. Against such a level, we are powerless. The only thing we can do is ensure you escape safely. I don't know if this decision is right. But I hope you can understand War Martial Academy. Understand the choice we have made." Long Tianxing spoke up.

"Boss, you should leave. President Wang's decision is correct. Right now, humanity doesn't need thousands of people like us. It needs someone like you." Su Chen nodded.

"I understand." Wang Zhenguo personally escorted Su Chen to the location of the void train. Moments later the train carried Su Chen away, vanishing into the distance. Watching it disappear, a wistful smile touched Wang Zhenguo's lips. The entire space of the rift began to creak and groan.

"All personnel of War Martial Academy—exit the rift! Swear to defend the capital to the death!" The war horns sounded once more. Figures surged out of the War Martial Academy. Inside the capital, countless demonic creatures tore through rising barriers. Innumerable warriors fell in battle against the monsters. Defensive screens shattered one after another. Warrior after warrior stepped forward to fill the gaps. Familiar faces vanished, replaced by new ones, then vanished again.

"Brothers—follow me and kill!"

"To die defending the heavenly capital is our glory! A man's life—even in death—must be magnificent!"

"Kill!" Cultivators formed human walls with their own bodies. Brilliant explosions of multicolored fireworks lit the sky as Martial Spirits detonated in suicide attacks, filling the battlefield with their final fury. The president of War Martial Academy led instructors and disciples charging forward. Monstrous beings, powerful beyond measure, ripped open spatial fissures, stepping from the rift into reality. Wang Zhenguo gripped his long spear and unleashed his full power against a colossal Nirvana-realm demon.

White spear-light pierced toward the stars.

"Die!" With that single strike, an eighth-tier demon exploded on the spot! This was one of humanity's absolute pinnacle forces! Every member of War Martial Academy fought with frenzied desperation to stall the demonic tide. Even if it was a drop in the ocean. Even if it bought only seconds. They would not die in vain! The battlefield raged with unrelenting fury. More and more demonic powerhouses crossed the boundary into reality. Even Wang Zhenguo—Longxia's foremost warrior—felt despair creep into his heart.

Too many… thirty… forty… fifty… an ever-growing tide of eighth-tier demons surged forth. They swarmed like locusts. Wang Zhenguo slew one eighth-tier demon, but before he could catch his breath, another attack arrived without warning. His Martial Spirit wailed in agony; his body was shattered.

"Perhaps… this is where I die. That kid Jiang Chen should have reached the imperial capital by now… The capital has the means to resist a deity. Even if the entire city falls, the imperial capital can buy him enough time… Old Jiang, Wang Zhenguo has not broken his word!" Ferocious eighth-tier demons tore at him, intent on ripping his soul to shreds, wrenching his limbs apart. The warriors of War Martial Academy watched with bloodshot eyes.

"President!" They witnessed their invincible leader fall—his mighty frame torn asunder, not even a complete corpse left behind. Just as only his torso and head remained, on the verge of being utterly destroyed, the sky itself split open. A blade-light spanning tens of thousands of meters descended like a galaxy crashing to earth, shattering stars in its wake. The two eighth-tier demons closest to Wang Zhenguo were annihilated—body and soul erased in an instant.

The rest were forced to scatter before the terrifying edge. The slash struck the ground. Tens of thousands of demon soldiers vanished without a scream, without even corpses remaining. The earth opened into an abyss too deep to fathom. The sky convulsed; torrential rain poured down. Wang Zhenguo opened his eyes. Before him stood a youth wreathed in unparalleled divine radiance, descending like a heavenly sovereign.

"You… shouldn't have come back…" Su Chen shook his head.

"I should have left. But fleeing like this is not my way. The Jiang family has never produced a deserter who abandons the city in its hour of need." Rain fell in sheets. Yet Su Chen's expression remained resolute. He could have escaped the capital. Becoming a deity was only a matter of time. But unfortunately, Su Chen had never developed the habit of fleeing from battle. He could die. He could start over. The one thing he would never allow was to live as a coward—like a dog.

Long Tianxing stared at the figure in the sky. Tears, blood, and rain mingled on his face.

"Boss… the Long family has no cowards either!" Long Tianxing grinned fiercely, battle intent blazing once more. Ancient, mysterious divine patterns surfaced on Su Chen's forehead. Golden eyes burned without a trace of emotion. Behind him towered an incomparably majestic figure that stood astride the cosmos. The full might of the Heaven-Covering Divine Body erupted—swallowing the heavens, suppressing all enemies. In this instant, Su Chen resembled an unrivaled divine king, dominating every foe!

Even with only fourth-layer Void Refining cultivation, a casual strike from him obliterated eighth-tier demons with ease. Peerless in the world! One after another, eighth-tier demons fled in terror before him, retreating back into the rift. The people of the capital watched in awe and shouted with one voice: "Guardian deity! This is Longxia's guardian deity!" They seemed to glimpse the light of victory. But neither Su Chen nor Wang Zhenguo showed the slightest joy—only deepening solemnity. Was it over? No…

the true catastrophe had only just begun. Heaven and earth shuddered violently. Vast oceans were drawn upward by an unimaginable gravity. The sky turned ashen gray, blotting out sun and moon. From the spatial fissure emerged an enormous leg, followed by a body taller than mountains. Five eyes crowned its head, each revolving with the profound principles of the five elements. Wherever its form passed, reality itself fractured like shattered glass. All who saw it fell into stunned silence.

The aura radiating from the giant crushed their very souls—leaving no room for resistance. What kind of existence was this? As though sun, moon, and stars were mere trinkets dangling from its fingers! In every mind, only one word remained:"God!" Su Chen's expression grew grave. This was a Saint… and an exceedingly powerful one. Any being capable of reaching the Saint realm possessed talent and comprehension far beyond the ordinary—geniuses among geniuses, the difference between innate and acquired life.

"Method of the myriad realms… Interesting. Where do you come from? Speak the origin of the myriad realms' cultivation art, and I will grant you a swift death." The colossal, terrifying murmur echoed in Su Chen's mind. Myriad realms… this demonic Saint actually knew of the myriad realms! The towering deity lowered its head to observe Su Chen, curiosity flickering in its five eyes. In their surveillance, this world's cultivation methods were laughably primitive.

Yet here stood a being who practiced the myriad realms' arts. This realm had long been isolated from the myriad realms by supreme power—how could such a method exist here? Su Chen smiled.

"You know of the myriad realms—then you should also know where the Emperor of the current era resides! You dare pen a corner of a realm and harvest its living beings as sacrifices—aren't you afraid of drawing the reigning Great Emperor's wrath?" Rage flashed through the towering deity's eyes. The five elements grew violent. A mere ant dared use the reigning Great Emperor to threaten him?

"I will drag you back to the Heavenly Prison Realm. There are countless ways to pry open your mouth!" Cold light gleamed in the demonic deity's gaze. One massive hand opened wide—encompassing the entire world within its palm—as it prepared to seize Su Chen and depart. Su Chen summoned his Martial Spirit and pointed upward.

"If you want to take me, you'll have to ask him first." As his strength grew, Su Chen increasingly sensed the true terror of the Martial Spirit dwelling within him. This might not be a Great Emperor—but it was undoubtedly an existence capable of contending for that throne. Like the Spirit Divine King of old—an alternative path to the Dao! He could feel that this terrifying Martial Spirit harbored grand designs. The demonic deity remained unmoved. How could a mere Martial Spirit frighten him?

Just as the colossal hand was about to close around Su Chen, the seated Martial Spirit abruptly opened its eyes. In that instant, Su Chen seemed to behold an ancient, boundless starry sky orbiting the mysterious man. Countless grand daos manifested; indescribably powerful beings bled and perished; even time and space shattered; ancient history sank into oblivion. The mysterious man moved. He simply extended one finger. That single finger seemed to pierce through endless futures.

In the outside world, Su Chen moved as well. Man and Martial Spirit became one. His long hair whipped in the wind. He extended a single finger. At its tip, grand daos flowed; stars extinguished.