The Era of Gods

Chapter 597: Chapter 597: Hunting the Elder

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As Lin Xiao approached, his figure rapidly expanded, and the surging chaotic power burst out like a volcano, forming a thick pillar of chaos that rose thousands of meters into the sky without dispersing, spreading out layer by layer to form a vast layer of chaos.

An invisible force field slowly spread out with the expanding layer of chaos, gradually altering the rules within the range covered by the chaos field.

The sky grew darker, and flakes of grey snow slowly fell. Li Mei, over ten kilometers away, reached out of the carriage, caught a flake of grey snow in her palm that quickly melted into her flesh and blood. A flush of red appeared on her lovely face as she looked up at the expanding layer of chaos and whispered in a low voice,

“Leave this place.”

The strange horse pulling the carriage was half-kneeling on the ground, trembling. Hearing this command was like hearing the most wonderful sound in the world; it immediately stood up, turned the carriage around, and raced off, causing the carriage to bounce and bang over the rough road.

In the senses of the three ancient rulers, the rules of this void that belonged to their world had been forcibly changed into an unfamiliar system of rules they had never seen before; the omnipresent flames in the vast Fury Flame Gorge were slowly extinguishing, the strength of The Furious One was being expelled, and the powers of the professionals within the valley who belonged to the Fury Occupational Unit were being gradually suppressed.

“A higher ancient being!”

The three ancient rulers exclaimed this name in unison and instinctively retracted their powers, shrinking their domains in an attempt to resist this terrifying force.

In less than ten seconds, Lin Xiao’s figure vanished, replaced by an enormous being hundreds of meters tall standing at the edge of the gorge, its huge pupils exhaling black flames exerted immense pressure as they looked into the valley, causing the solid rock walls to crumble under their strength.

“Such formidable strength!”

This ancient power of laws fused with Divine Power and Chaotic Power was much stronger than he had imagined.

The three ancient rulers had not fled. Although the being before them was powerful, with a rank much higher than theirs, they were all ancient rulers with their own pride and tricks up their sleeves. Those without ability had long perished in the lengthy annals of history; those who survived were no ordinary characters, all possessing the capacity to confront a higher ancient being.

Indeed, they were confident in their own strength, which was why they all stayed behind, intending to face this ancient ruler they had never encountered before.

Of course, while they appeared to be brimming with confidence, they were also ready to flee at any moment.

Without any unnecessary words, the black flames in Lin Xiao’s pupils expanded, and without opening his mouth, a voice like thunder echoed between heaven and earth:

“I declare, gods have their duties; those who neglect them shall be punished!”

As the words fell, the space within a radius of several dozen kilometers suddenly sank, an invisible force descended, sweeping over the three ancient beings in the valley, making them appear slightly whiter and visibly diminishing their strength.

“I say, the gods…” @@novelbin@@

Lin Xiao suddenly paused and looked up at the sky with a trace of surprise on his face. In that instant, he felt a resonance from the entire world with the words he had just uttered in judgment. A power from this world descended, flooding into his expanded domain, swiftly replenishing the strength he had just used to weaken the three ancient beings.

This turn of events was completely unexpected to him, almost causing him to forget his next action.

In that moment, Lin Xiao considered several possibilities.

There weren’t many explanations for this phenomenon: either there was some powerful being who wanted to use him to eliminate the three ancient rulers, thus lending him power.

But this seemed unlikely because the source of the power that was fueling him originated from the whole world, and not like a gift from some powerful being.

Therefore, the most likely explanation was that this world, or this universe, was using him as a tool to eradicate these ancient rulers, which is why it granted him power.

This was a staggering discovery, and Lin Xiao was eager to test it, but the timing was not right. Curbing his curiosity, he decided to focus on defeating the enemies before him first.

“I say, gods have their responsibilities, and they must bear them. Those who abandon their duties will suffer… the world’s retribution!”

Lin Xiao changed the last part, wanting to test an idea.

As soon as the words were spoken, he instantly sensed the power of the entire world converging. Inside and even beyond his range of perception, the earth and sky were rumbling and vibrating. A force far beyond his current strength descended and entered his domain.

It was like someone had placed a knife in his hand. Lin Xiao had a sudden realization and, his gaze arrow-sharp, locked onto the three ancient rulers inside the valley who were alarmed by this anomaly. He shouted in a deep voice,

“Those who err must be punished, those with responsibilities must be held accountable. Mortals commit crimes and shall be judged by the law; should gods transgress, I shall enact the Supreme Will’s judgment, in the name of the Supreme Will I judge The Furious One…”

Lin Xiao took a deep breath. The authority he was about to pronounce had, strictly speaking, crossed a line. He currently held only the Trial Techniques, not the ability to judge True Gods or beings of True God Status. Directly judging True Gods would require an understanding of the Great Judgment Skill, which normally is a power held by those with a medium or higher Godhood and Supreme Divine Position.

But at this very moment, under inexplicable circumstances, his Trial Techniques possessed a power comparable to that of the Great Judgment Skill. Power, like authority, is void when expired, and he had no desire to ponder the current situation. What needed to be done was to follow this will and continue the judgment.

“Deprive… of power!”

As soon as the words were uttered, Lin Xiao and the three ancient ones all looked up, as if they saw an ice-cold and ruthless pupil appear in the void, watching over them.

Lin Xiao felt nothing, but the one undergoing the trial, the Furious One, let out an unwilling roar as if he had seen some terrifying sight. The flame of wrath burned fiercely all over him, erupting upwards like a volcano bursting forth into the sky.

But it only surged halfway before vanishing into thin air; the raging flames of anger swiftly extinguished. Soon the Furious One, as per the ancient one’s perception, had his strength rapidly drained. In less than three seconds, it was forcibly stripped away, leaving only a pitch-black humanoid rock standing in place.

The Furious One, fallen!

Witnessing all this, Lin Xiao felt as if something within him had disappeared; his mind became transcendent, and now he could return at any time without any regrets.

But he definitely couldn’t return at this time. Not to mention the need for more strength after the fall of the Emperor of Myriad Forms, but more importantly, his task was not yet complete.

The will he surmised to be that of the Crystal Wall Universe Origin had not yet departed. The borrowed power was still present, and he certainly had to complete the task before leaving.

He extended his right hand, and on a plane invisible to ordinary people, intangible waves of the Rules converged, quickly forming a blazing flame suspended in the palm of his hand.

This was the Power of Wrath once mastered by the Furious One, and now, as a reward for representing the Crystal Wall’s will in the judgment, it belonged to him.

At this moment, Lin Xiao did have some speculation. He guessed that this Crystal Wall Universe was probably fed up with the chaos these ancient beings had caused on the Primary Material Plane, but there hadn’t been a way to deal with them until now, and it had likely been tolerating this for a long time. Now, encountering Lin Xiao, an outsider True God with Trial Techniques, it took the opportunity to use his power to resolve them.

With the death of the Furious One, the other two ancient ones were thoroughly frightened, having witnessed the moment when the Furious One was deprived of his Rules. They fled on the spot.

One transformed into a sky-full of black smoke, soaring upwards, while the other turned into pus and sank into the Earth, vanishing in an instant.

But Lin Xiao was not in a hurry. Indeed, their methods were elusive; capturing them would be difficult for him, but to the will of this world, no matter how they ran, they were still under its watchful eye.

Lin Xiao’s massive figure flashed. With unlimited teleportation capability within his Field, he instantly appeared before a forest of rocks, collapsing the stone forest below. Opening his mouth, a tide-like black flame surged forth, covering several kilometers in radius like a vast ocean. Amidst the raging black flames, a clump rose and exploded, with the ancient one, shaped like a head with horn-like protrusions, rapidly transforming into black smoke, furiously spewing a rich plume at Lin Xiao, which swiftly morphed into a massive figure resembling Lin Xiao, charging directly at him.

Lin Xiao snorted coldly and threw a punch, ‘Boom!’ A circle of transparent shockwaves, containing intense force, exploded from where their fists collided. Both the smoke-formed duplicate and he himself took a step back.

“Eh!”

Without a second word, he turned and charged forward, a series of impact sounds bursting forth. Intense shockwaves, sharp as blades, carved out enormous ravines in the surrounding ground.

After withstanding more than a dozen hits with his sturdy body, Lin Xiao traded blows, crushing the smoke-formed duplicate of himself and causing it to dissipate.

“What a magical ability!”

This mere smoke-formed illusion was capable of clashing head-on with him for so long, it must possess around seventy to eighty percent of his own strength.

However, this must have been the other ancient one’s trump card and was not suitable for frequent use. After dispersing the illusion and catching up to the ancient one again, such tactics were no longer seen. Lin Xiao, borrowing the world’s power to lock onto his target, pronounced his judgment in the same way, likewise stripping the ancient being of its mastered Rule—Shadow.

Wrath, Shadow.

The last ancient being’s Rule remained unknown, for it had fled.

Indeed, it had managed to escape under the watchful eye of the world’s will, disappearing underground without resurfacing, its destination unknown.

Nonetheless, directly stripping two ancient ones of their Rules was already quite an accomplishment. After closely understanding the abilities of these two Rules, completely deciphering their powers and the knowledge they contained, Lin Xiao absorbed the essence of both, acquiring their core abilities.

As for fusing the two Rules, he did not do so directly. Under normal circumstances in this world, it is impossible to merge multiple Rules simultaneously, especially if there is no common ground between the Rules, they cannot be indiscriminately integrated.

The Power of Wrath was put into the Creation Magic Cube and passed to his True Body to be deciphered by the Divine Power, while the Shadow Rule was temporarily retained.

He found his carriage again, which was parked in a forest dozens of kilometers away from the battleground. Next to it lay the carcass of a wild beast, on which the strange horse was feeding, crunching the bones loudly.

Lin Xiao transformed into a wisp of black smoke and descended. The strange horse looked up alertly, recognized him with a few strange calls, and then lowered its head again.

Li Mei, hearing the noise, opened the carriage door, her face showing relief at the sight of him. She ran out joyfully and threw her arms around him.