Chapter 272: The Second God

Let these ordinary mortals witness what a god truly is, and the power of divinity.

How could these common mortals know that the one who wielded the divine axe those two times was not Xin Kui herself, but Samael, the Dark Angel King, the divine sovereign who forever soars through the highest heavens.

A faint smile curved Xin Kui’s lips as she watched the remaining twelve elders charge toward her once again. She no longer had the strength or will to resist.

But that didn’t mean the gods had abandoned her. As long as she still held that silver axe in her hand, the radiance of the divine race would always shelter her.

The twelve elders attacked simultaneously, ruthlessly and without hesitation. They had already seen the fate of their comrades and understood the consequences of underestimating this woman. They struck together, determined to obliterate Xin Kui in one fell swoop.

After all, the divine artifact couldn’t be destroyed; only the person wielding it could perish.

As Xin Kui faced the blinding light before her, she knew the end was near. Yet instead of fear, sorrow filled her face, and suddenly, she began to sing.

No one had ever heard this melody before—it had never existed in the mortal world, nor even in this realm. It was something entirely new.

This song, like divine music, drifted forth from Xin Kui’s voice, carrying an ethereal and sacred quality that transformed her into a vision of angelic beauty.

It was the Song of the Divine Soul—a melody that Xin Kui could only release by pouring her very life force into it.

As the song echoed, the silver axe in her hand suddenly came to life.

The once lifeless weapon now pulsed with vitality. People could distinctly feel that within the axe, five souls were stirring restlessly.

Muzhe and Heifeng, the two stewards, suddenly became alert. They recalled the Yan Rong Bow—an artifact said to be the mightiest in the world—within which a divine soul had been sealed, granting it such immense power.

And now, if this silver axe contained five souls…

The moment that thought crossed their minds, Muzhe and Heifeng sprang forward, attempting to seize the axe before its power could erupt.

But they were already too late. The souls within the axe roared furiously, and around it, countless spatial vortices tore open. At least six elders, unable to evade in time, were sucked into the whirlpools and shredded into bloody mist within an instant.

“Damn it!!” Elder Heifeng roared in fury.

Their group had included two steward elders and twenty saint elders—an immense force, nearly a fifth of the entire Elder Council. Yet against a few mortals, they had suffered such catastrophic losses.

In the blink of an eye, eight elders had perished without even leaving a complete corpse. Even if they managed to seize the silver axe, such a heavy loss would be hard to explain.

Heifeng was truly enraged. Killing intent surged from his entire being as he and Muzhe launched their attacks together. The remaining six elders dared not hesitate either, pouring all their strength into their assault. Only then were they barely able to subdue the axe.

It was fortunate that the axe had not yet fallen into the hands of someone stronger. Greed surged in Heifeng’s heart—what if this axe belonged to him? If he channeled his ultimate saintly power into it, who in the world could stand against him, apart from the至尊?

Perhaps even the Supreme himself could be surpassed…

With this thought, Heifeng seized the moment of distraction and thrust his finger toward Xin Kui’s heart. He intended to instantly destroy her soul and claim the artifact for himself.

Xin Kui, already at the end of her strength, did not attempt to dodge. Heifeng’s long, pale finger, its curved nail gleaming sharply, pierced toward her.

But Xin Kui did not move—perhaps she no longer had the strength.

“Xin Kui!!!” Kan Ling shouted furiously. She disregarded the two elders beside her and turned to strike at Heifeng. But those two elders would not let the opportunity slip—two heavy palm strikes slammed into Kan Ling’s back, making her spit out a mouthful of blood, her internal organs already damaged.

Heifeng didn’t even deign to notice. With a mere flick of his sleeve, Kan Ling’s spear veered off course. Yet his killing strike continued toward Xin Kui.

Everything seemed hopeless.

But Xin Kui’s gaze never wavered from the sky, as if waiting for a savior to descend.

“No one can save you,” Heifeng sneered.

Suddenly, the air grew unbearably hot, and the clear sky turned a deep crimson. People sensed a shift around them. Yet the mountains were still mountains, the stones still stones—nothing seemed to have changed.

But something had changed, something unmistakable.

Though the planet itself had not transformed greatly, its entire environment had shifted in an instant, as if in the blink of an eye, someone had brought several stars to orbit this nameless world.

Then the flames erupted, engulfing everything.

“Hehe!” Xin Kui laughed aloud, her eyes finally filled with satisfaction as she gazed skyward.

As the goddess laughed, everything around them burst into flames. An unimaginable inferno ignited the very air. When the scorching wind touched their skin, fire seeds ignited upon their bodies.

The entire planet turned crimson, except for Xin Kui, Kan Ling, and Shi Mingyuan. All else burned. First to fall into hell were the hundreds of thousands of holy disciples. Already weak, they were the first to face the endless flames. In an instant, hundreds of thousands were engulfed, the fire spreading wildly across their bodies.

From above the planet, one would see the figures twisting and clawing at their faces, desperately trying to extinguish the flames. But soon, they ceased moving altogether—the fire had already burst from within them, consuming their internal organs. Before long, those holy disciples would be reduced to hundreds of thousands of piles of ash.

The remaining elders near Xin Kui fared no better. They seemed to be specially targeted, as massive fireballs rained down from the sky. The elders immediately abandoned Xin Kui and focused on defending themselves against the fireballs.

Even the two stewards had to retreat from Xin Kui, leaping rapidly through the flames to avoid being burned.

Elder Heifeng stared in terror, pointing at Xin Kui and shouting, “It’s not you! It’s not you! It’s… it’s…”

Of course, it wasn’t Xin Kui. Even if this goddess had not been sealed by divine restrictions, she likely wouldn’t possess such power.

Following Xin Kui’s unwavering gaze toward the sky, a man began to descend slowly. His entire body was wrapped in red clouds, his face expressionless, his eyes brimming with killing intent.

“Yang Hao!!!” Heifeng felt himself on the verge of madness at the sight of this dreaded figure.

Muzhe and Heifeng both felt their hearts sink. After the battle at Elder Mountain, Yang Hao had been expelled by the Supreme Elder. According to the Supreme Elder, even if Yang Hao had survived, he would have lost half his life force and could never regain his former strength. Therefore, Heifeng and the others had believed that no one in the universe could surpass them.

But now, before their very eyes, Yang Hao—dressed in plain clothes like an ordinary man—was no longer ordinary. Upon his body, the glow of a divine domain shimmered.

In his eyes, flames roared, igniting new fires in the air wherever he looked.

Heifeng was all too familiar with that divine glow—it was the unmistakable mark of a god, something that only the Supreme had possessed before. Yang Hao was no longer merely a peak saint; he had ascended to become a god, standing equal to the Supreme himself.

A faint divine aura radiated from Yang Hao. When those six elders attempted to resist the fireballs, Yang Hao released his divine pressure. Instantly, they found themselves unable to move, their strength draining completely. Under Yang Hao’s overwhelming presence, they were like insects beneath a raised hand, utterly powerless.

Yang Hao merely lifted his chin slightly, and those six elders were torn apart in midair, reduced to dust.

Elders Heifeng and Muzhe stared in astonishment. They could hardly comprehend how Yang Hao had become so powerful—so incomprehensibly strong, rivaling even the至尊 himself. This was a level of strength that even the stewards and elders could only hold in awe and admiration.

“Why? Why?” Heifeng screamed wildly as he leapt through the flames.

“Was it you who tried to kill them?” Yang Hao turned his furious gaze toward Heifeng. “Old man, we meet again.”

“Yang Hao!! Impossible! You can’t have become this strong!!!” Heifeng’s hair was disheveled, his clothes half-burnt, his entire body resembling a madman’s.

The shock was too great. The contrast between Yang Hao’s growth and his own was unbearable. Heifeng, a steward elder who had trained for a hundred years, had barely reached the peak of the saint realm. Yet Yang Hao had ascended to such heights in such a short time.

“Heifeng, you are already within my divine domain. Why do you still say it’s impossible?” Yang Hao said coldly. He lightly traced a line in the air, as if tearing open space itself, and a vortex of flame erupted before Heifeng.

Heifeng screamed in agony, barely managing to escape by expending nearly all his strength.

“Divine domain! Divine domain!!!” Muzhe was trembling in disbelief.

“That’s right. My divine domain. I have transformed this nameless planet into my domain. Now you shall taste the true power of my Flame Realm!” Yang Hao said calmly.

Since grasping the laws of space, Yang Hao had come to understand the true nature of a divine domain—a god’s power to manipulate the spatial rules to their own advantage. Just as the至尊 had turned Elder Mountain into his domain, effortlessly annihilating thousands, Yang Hao had now done the same, transforming this planet into his own domain infused with the essence of fire. The holy disciples could not escape the inferno, and even the elders stood no chance within Yang Hao’s spatial dominion.

Though Heifeng and Muzhe were steward elders, they too could not escape unless they shattered Yang Hao’s rules.

Heifeng suddenly thought he had found a way—though it was only what he believed.

It was the silver axe in Xin Kui’s hand. That artifact’s power was clearly no weaker than the Yan Rong Bow. If Xin Kui could already hold off over a dozen saints, then if Heifeng, a peak saint, wielded it, he might stand a chance against Yang Hao.

With this thought, Heifeng dove downward, ignoring the flames scorching his body, aiming to seize the axe from Xin Kui.

But could Xin Kui not have thought of this? She had regained much of her strength. Seeing Heifeng charge, she sneered and swung the axe, hurling it into the air toward Yang Hao.

“A gift from the Five Lords!” Xin Kui shouted. “The Axe of the Lords!”

Yang Hao reached out, and as if recognizing its master, the silver axe flew into his palm.

The moment Yang Hao grasped the axe, his entire being transformed. His hair grew longer, spreading out like needles. His power surged violently, intensifying the heat of the divine domain, making the flames even fiercer.

His eyes gleamed with silver light, and behind him, six pairs of illusory wings flickered into view.

Xin Kui stared at Yang Hao in awe. He looked just like Samael, the Dark Angel King.

But in this world, there would never again be a Samael.

Yang Hao himself had yet to realize what kind of artifact he now held. Gripping the axe with both hands, he roared, “Haaa!!”

The blade cleaved through radiant brilliance, as if the glory of an entire era vanished with that single strike.

Far away, Heifeng was cleanly sliced into seven pieces under that peerless force, dying instantly.

The wind stilled. The flames extinguished.

Yang Hao descended from the sky like a celestial deity. Moments ago, this planet had been filled with hundreds of thousands of roaring enemies, twenty elders, and two stewards, all determined to tear Xin Kui and her companions apart.

Yet within minutes of Yang Hao’s arrival, everything had changed.

Kan Ling and Shi Mingyuan gazed at Yang Hao in stunned silence, thinking, “What kind of man is this?”

But Yang Hao felt no sense of grand accomplishment. The secrets he had uncovered long surpassed this universe.

After landing, he arrogantly slung the axe over his shoulder and strode toward Elder Muzhe.

The once-invincible Steward Elder now stood battered and broken, gazing at Yang Hao without the slightest courage to resist. Yang Hao had now become a god of the cosmos, just like the Zun. How could Mu Zhe dare to defy a deity?

In Muzhe’s heart, he could only sigh in despair. The至尊’s era of absolute divinity, built over centuries, had finally come to an end.

In this universe, the Supreme One was no longer the sole deity.

Yang Hao had become a new god.

“Another god after the Supreme One”—this prophecy, once spoken by the Supreme One, had now come true.

From this day forward, the glory of the cosmos and the reverence of all beings would no longer belong solely to the Supreme One.

Yang Hao would reshape this era.

He had already gained the power to do so.

This was the age of two gods…