Chapter 296 – One Cannot Gaze Upon the Divine

“?!?!”

Devouring a deity to nourish oneself—Lingxu Zi’s words shocked Jade Daoist, Drunken Wanderer, and many of the Prodigy Cultivators present.

After the initial shock, the first emotion that surged in the hearts of Jade Daoist and the others was—temptation.

Qi Refiners respected the power of immortals and deities but never worshipped or believed in them, especially Prodigies.

As peerless Prodigies, and young ones at that, both Drunken Wanderer and Mu Lin possessed the boldness of newborn calves unafraid of tigers.

Given the opportunity to devour a deity and strengthen themselves, whether it was Jade Daoist, Drunken Wanderer, or even the Demonic Sect’s Crimson Shadow and Blood River, none would hesitate.

However, Jade Daoist’s temptation lasted only a moment. Soon, he shook his head and regained clarity.

“Refining oneself with Divine Blood to become a Divine Body—a fine idea! If you were a Celestial Master, or even a True Person, I would praise your lofty ambition! But now, you’re merely a Spell Master, not even a Mortal Shedding Adept. With such meager strength, who gave you the courage to believe you could maintain your own consciousness in the presence of a deity?”

Drunken Wanderer: “You felt the heartbeat of that Evil God too, didn’t you? Just the sound of its beating, without even seeing the heart, was nearly unbearable for us. Do you think you can make it to the Evil God’s heart?”

The Evil God they spoke of was, in terms of true realm, a Celestial Deity equivalent to a True Lord in the immortal path.

This was a realm above the Nation-Protecting Celestial Master.

Gang Sha Sorcerer, Mortal Shedding Adept, Earth Master True Person, Nation-Protecting Celestial Master… Even above the Celestial Master, one might not necessarily reach the level of a Celestial Deity. This was several tiers beyond Mu Lin and the others.

And as everyone knew, the higher the cultivation realm, the greater the disparity in strength.

The gap between a Celestial Deity and Mu Lin’s group was like the vast sun compared to a flicker of light, or the boundless sea to a single drop of water.

This immense disparity meant that not only could they not contend with a deity, but at this moment, they couldn’t even directly face or listen to a deity’s voice.

The heartbeat of the Evil God gave Mu Lin a faint sense of losing control—a true manifestation of the principle that deities cannot be directly gazed upon, nor their voices directly heard.

And this was with the Evil God already dead and sealed by the Grave Lord. Otherwise, when the deity’s heartbeat echoed in all directions, it would also be the moment Mu Lin and the others, being close to the deity, would be corrupted, polluted, and driven to madness.

…

If they weren’t even qualified to listen to the Evil God’s voice, Jade Daoist naturally didn’t believe Lingxu Zi was qualified to fuse with Divine Blood and refine himself.

“Fool, you’ve been deceived by the Evil God Scion!”

Lingxu Zi did not agree with this.

“I haven’t been deceived.”

“As I said, after this Evil God died, its scions, followers, and believers were taken away by other Evil Gods. Evil Gods aren’t saints—they wouldn’t help another Evil God revive for no reason…”

Drunken Wanderer: “Normally, Evil Gods indeed wouldn’t. But now, the Evil Gods are trying to invade our world. Reviving an Evil God within our world to cause chaos—those Evil Gods wouldn’t hesitate to do it as a mere side task!”

“Moreover, your idea of refining yourself with Divine Blood cannot succeed!”

“No, I will succeed.”

At this moment, Lingxu Zi’s eyes were red, and he seemed somewhat crazed:

“A normal deity, I truly cannot approach, nor can I resist its will.”

“But the Evil God here is already dead. Its spirit has been sealed by the Grave Lord in the central tomb. What remains outside is only its corpse, which does not contain its immortal will. Your concerns are unfounded.”

“In fact, we don’t even need to completely break the seal on this Evil God’s heart. The God of Wild Hunt has a secret method—using the aura of the Evil God, combined with your essence blood, we can refine Divine Blood through a ritual…”

“Enough, Lingxu Zi. It’s just as well they don’t agree. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have enough sacrifices to refine the Divine Blood.”

The speaker was the Evil God Scion, who looked at Jade Daoist and Drunken Wanderer with boundless malice.

“Hmph, bastard! Thinking of using us as sacrifices? You’re not worthy!”

“Boom…”

As the words fell, a fierce battle erupted at the site of the Evil God’s heart seal.

  …

Mu Lin did not witness the battle taking place in the distance, but halfway along his path, he encountered injured cultivators from the Daoist Sect and the Demonic Sect.

These people were rushing anxiously back the way they had come.

“What’s going on?”

This scene left Mu Lin momentarily stunned. Instinctively, he stopped a few of them to inquire.

“Get out of the way!”

However, most only wanted to leave and had no intention of stopping to explain.

Just as Mu Lin’s eyes flickered, considering whether to use some means to detain them, a familiar figure approached not far from him.

After a moment of hesitation, that person did not immediately depart but instead descended toward Mu Lin’s location.

“Young Master Mu, you must leave this place quickly. It is no longer safe here.”

The sudden voice made Mu Lin turn his head, and he saw that the newcomer was Jiang Yingying of the Yin-Yang Joyous Union Sect.

However, at this moment, her face was deathly pale, and she appeared to be in poor condition.

“Not safe? Has the crisis within the Grave Lord’s Tomb erupted?”

Jiang Yingying: “Not only that. There are also the Evil God Scion and the aberrant demonic monsters. They have broken some of the Evil God’s outer seals and intend to use us for a Blood Sacrifice to refine Divine Blood.”

“Hurry and leave. If we delay any longer, we won’t be able to escape.”

These words truly stunned Mu Lin.

“Evil God Scion!?”

“Weren’t the Daoist Sect and the Demonic Sect always guarding against them? Don’t tell me after all your efforts, you still failed to stop them?”

To be honest, this was something Mu Lin had never anticipated.

He had always believed the Daoist and Demonic Sects were quite strong. With prior knowledge and their combined forces, they should have easily defended against the Evil God Scion.

“You all…”

Mu Lin left the last sentence unspoken, but Jiang Yingying had already sensed his meaning.

‘What have you been doing? How are you so weak?’

Mu Lin’s confusion made Jiang Yingying smile bitterly. Finally, she explained helplessly, “If it were only the Evil God Scion, our two sects could have easily defended against them. However, this time, many Daoist Practitioners and Demonic Sect cultivators were persuaded by the Evil God Scion and chose to collude with them.”

“Caught off guard, with some even launching sneak attacks, that’s why we ended up at a disadvantage…”

At Mu Lin’s request, Jiang Yingying detailed the situation unfolding ahead.

After listening, Mu Lin was speechless.

He hadn’t expected there to be so many traitors within the two sects.

The first to betray were Lingxu Zi, Fa Yan of the Celestial Buddha Sect, and Mingling Zi of the Demonic Sect.

But even now, with the Daoist and Demonic Sects united, they were still fighting on equal terms with the enemy.

Unexpectedly, during the battle, more people rebelled and suddenly ambushed Jade Daoist and Drunken Wanderer.

Both were wounded, and with several more fierce generals added to the enemy side, the fight naturally became impossible to continue.

“With so many traitors, are you running a brewery?”

(End of Chapter)