Chapter Twenty-Seven: Origin

As Chen Ming beheld that tiny thread of divinity, a vision of boundless slaughter seemed to surge within his eyes. He shook his head and strode out of the manor, gazing up at the sky and sensing the seal upon his divinity within.

"The seal has been broken?" he murmured.

Within him, the divinity that had been heavily sealed now shone with a new radiance, as the second layer of the seal was undone. This was the accumulated strength of over ten thousand believers gathered over several months. Under this ceaseless influx of divine power, the seal had finally yielded. From this moment, the gateway to the second rank stood fully open to Chen Ming.

He glanced back at the manor, waved his hand, and in an instant, the once-standing estate vanished, transforming according to his will into a large tournament ground and a military camp.

Nodding in satisfaction, he willed his divine soul to swiftly depart the divine realm.

In the next moment, Chen Ming stood upon the earth, looking up at the sky. The shroud of black miasma that had hung over the tribe was now entirely gone. In its place, a pure light, formed by the devout intentions of countless believers, enveloped the land, expelling all calamity and subtly merging with the tribe's fortune, shielding its people.

Seeing this, Chen Ming nodded slightly. Such a phenomenon signified that the forces once belonging to the ancestral spirit and the high priest had been utterly expelled from the tribe, and that the majority of the tribe's people now devotedly worshipped him—hence this auspicious scene.

He turned his gaze northward. In the distance, a faint aura echoed with his own, drawing him onward, as if calling him home.

"It seems the time has come to return," he said, a clear light glimmering in his eyes, unforgettable in its brilliance.

With the seal on his divinity broken, his power was now more than sufficient. Yet, as he was only present in spirit, and though his soul had begun its metamorphosis, he still needed to return to his physical body to complete the final ascension.

"However, before that..."

Chen Ming looked back, his soul tracing the faint resonance in the void, and soon arrived within a house.

Inside, someone lay asleep—it was Clury.

When he had entered the divine realm and battled the ancestral spirit, bringing a mortal body would have been most inconvenient. Thus, before embarking, Chen Ming had sealed Clury with divine power where he lay.

Looking back now, it was indeed fortunate he had done so. Otherwise, after months of depletion, no matter who it was, their strength would have been utterly spent.

Surveying the surroundings, Chen Ming recognized it as Good's house. Clury had likely been discovered during his slumber and carried back by Good.

"Let this serve as compensation," Chen Ming said, gazing at Clury.

A surge of pure divine power enveloped Clury, cleansing his body and erasing all old wounds. Then, after a moment's thought, Chen Ming imprinted several divine arts onto Clury's soul—a parting gift.

Having finished, Chen Ming nodded, lifted the seal, and departed before Clury awoke.

Traveling northward, perhaps due to his greatly increased strength compared to his southbound journey, his speed was much swifter this time.

Yet one day, as he reached the mouth of a canyon, an indistinct premonition came from the surroundings, as if warning him.

At once, Chen Ming was startled. His divine gaze swept the area.

Threads of the world's power descended softly, continuously reinforcing him. At that moment, sensing something, an impetus seemed to pull him toward a certain place.

"This is the power of the world itself," he mused, perplexed.

Indeed, when he had annihilated the ancestral spirit, aside from accruing merit, threads of the world's power had suffused him.

This source energy was a reward from the world itself, bestowed upon those who uphold order—a sign of heaven's favor.

He looked in a certain direction, his divine core spinning rapidly, channeling waves of divine might into his eyes, piercing all illusions.

At once, the scene before him shifted. In the barren land ahead, a faint blackness gradually emerged, though his vision remained hazy.

Then, as if sensing something, a surge of the world's power flooded into Chen Ming's soul, and his sight suddenly cleared, revealing the land's true appearance.

The barren earth was now transformed. Intense calamity wafted and swirled, exuding a force of decay and ruin that spread incessantly in all directions.

"What is this?" Chen Ming was taken aback, staring intently ahead.

For reasons unknown, the sight of such rot and desolation brought to mind the pack of demon wolves he had once encountered.

"The demon wolf king came here years ago—could it have been searching for this very place?"

He pondered the thought. The demon wolves had journeyed thousands of miles to this region years ago. Without particular reason, why linger here so long, attacking the tribe, slaughtering mercilessly, yet leaving the corpses untouched?

Their actions, more than mere slaughter, seemed as if they were searching for something.

And nearby, if there were such a place, this must surely be it.

With this realization, Chen Ming gazed into the distance.

Ahead, the calamity rolled thick and heavy, mingling with a dense, corrupting demonic energy that spread outward ceaselessly.

He followed the guidance that welled up from the void, moving forward.

Stopping and starting along the way, he finally reached a marsh when the sense of premonition faded.

Here, Chen Ming frowned. Before him, the air was thick with almost tangible blackness, heavy with the stench of decay, corroding everything it touched.

Above, tendrils of black smoke spread steadily across the sky.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but as the black miasma spread, Chen Ming felt a profound sorrow and decay emanating from the world's power that enveloped him.

He gazed at a pond, where the water was pitch black, exuding a rotting demonic aura.

Just as he was about to step closer and examine it, the scene changed abruptly.

A dazzling flame of deep crimson shot from the side, striking Chen Ming directly, only to be stopped by a shield of condensed divine power, issuing a muffled thud.

In response, Chen Ming willed the shield to dissipate into divine energy. Turning, he regarded his assailant with a cold gaze.

It was a beast in the semblance of a bull, adorned with several sharp horns, its body covered in crimson scales and grotesque tentacles, exuding a palpable, decaying malice.

Its eyes, wild and brutal, fixed on Chen Ming, sharp fangs gnashing as saliva dripped in anticipation of a delicious meal.

Ferocious in appearance, its strength was formidable as well—it had already broken through some limit into the first rank.

It glared at Chen Ming, let out a low roar, and its body seemed to ignite in flame as it charged straight at him.

Chen Ming sneered, unmoving. With a surge of divine might, the power of over ten thousand believers coalesced into a monumental force, and under the impetus of his divine core, it pressed down upon the beast.

In an instant, the monster was forcibly suppressed by this overwhelming strength; its flesh was torn, and droplets of blood tainted with the power of decay spattered, corroding the earth wherever they fell. Yet, despite such devastation, the beast still clung to life, enduring the blow and surviving beneath that mighty force.

Chen Ming's expression sharpened.

Though both were of the first rank, he had already surpassed its limits and was on the verge of ascension. Moreover, as a deity, the combined power of thousands of believers, though not at its peak due to their numbers, was more than enough—especially when added to his own divine strength—to utterly crush a first-rank lifeform, even one at the very threshold.

And yet, the beast had survived and was still able to struggle. Such tenacity was truly terrifying.

"But that's as far as you go," Chen Ming thought.

He waved his hand, mind focused. Another surge of vast divine power erupted forth, imbued with a grand consciousness that crashed into his opponent.

Across from him, confusion flickered in the monster's eyes.

In the void, it was as though thousands upon thousands interrogated its soul, assailing it with relentless questions.

"Who are you?"

"How dare you strike at our god?"

Each question pierced the very core of its soul. With every bout of interrogation and battle, its soul's essence weakened further. At last, as the confusion in its eyes deepened to the point of no return, the creature's soul utterly collapsed, erased by an overwhelming force—leaving behind only a mangled body.