In the Abyss, there exists a place feared even by the gods themselves—the Endless Fog Sea. It is not merely a stretch of desolate land drowned in darkness, but the very heart of despair, corrosion, and annihilation.
The deeper one ventures into its depths, the more violent the laws of destruction become. The abyssal dust thickens, seeping into flesh, gnawing at bones, and clawing at the very soul. With every step taken further into the fog, the more profound the suppression becomes… until even the gods feel their divine essence flicker like dying embers.
Most believe it is only the abyssal dust that suppresses their power. But those with deeper knowledge—the gods, and especially the Ancient True Gods—know better.
They understand the truth that lies beneath their feet.
The very ground of the Abyss is not soil or stone, but pure destruction crystallized into existence. The laws that make up this land are ancient, unyielding, and absolute. The further one goes, the blacker the earth becomes—a void forged from the deepest truths of ruin. It doesn't just suppress from above, but from below as well.
Even now, though High Priest Liu Xiao had used the power of his inner worlds to part the abyssal dust and create a temporary haven, the land itself still weighed heavily on them all.
Still, with six True Gods and three Ancient True Gods, what reason do they have to fear?
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!"
Godly auras surged through the skies like crashing thunder, shaking the heavens as the divine figures descended in unison. The world beneath them, though cleared of the choking abyssal dust, still carried the deep pressure of the Endless Fog Sea. The air trembled. The land, blackened and cracked from the corrosive laws of destruction, pulsed with a haunting energy.
With High Priest Liu Xiao having already forced back the dust with his mighty divine power, the battlefield had become unnaturally still—eerily clear, yet far from safe. It was in this space, devoid of haze but thick with tension, that the gods now moved. Their target: the swarm of abyssal beasts surging from every corner like shadows trying to reclaim the light.
At the head of the group, High Priest Wan Dao flew calmly, golden robes gleaming under the dim skies. Despite the chaos on the horizon, he held a tranquil smile, as if even the Abyss itself could not stir his heart.
With a graceful wave of his hand, dozens of golden formation poles shot forth from his sleeve. They pierced the cracked ground like divine nails, each one radiating soft, golden light.
A low vibration pulsed across the battlefield, and in the next breath—"Divine Law Formation!" Wan Dao's voice rang like a bell across the endless battlefield, echoing with sacred authority.
Golden runes erupted from the poles, lacing together into a massive formation that pulsed with divine rhythm. Light rose from the ground—not to dispel the dust, but to harmonize the field, suppress the corruption, and bind the very laws of the battlefield to the will of the divine.
A radiant divine light burst outward, flooding across the battlefield in a brilliant explosion of gold. It surged like a tidal wave, engulfing the skies before descending with authority upon the land—forming a colossal dome of divine brilliance. In a single breath, the corrupted ground and all lingering traces of abyssal dust were sealed away beneath the golden canopy.
Within the dome, it was as if the suffocating pressure of the Endless Fog Sea had been peeled back.
"This… this is Lord Wan Dao's power!" one of the gods gasped, awe-struck.
All around, divine figures stirred in wonder as their bodies—moments ago heavy and suppressed—suddenly felt light, free. It was as though they had stepped back into the outermost edge of the Endless Fog Sea, where the law of destruction held little sway.
The suffocating pressure of the Abyss, the crushing weight of its corrupted laws—it had all been weakened by the divine dome that now blanketed the battlefield.
"With this… these beasts are nothing!" Hua Fuchen shouted, his voice booming with renewed vigor.
In the next instant, his divine aura exploded outward like a crashing wave, forming an immense sword formation in the air around him. Thousands upon thousands of blades shimmered into view—blades not of cold steel, but pure divine will, humming with power far beyond anything Hua Qingying had ever displayed.
A heartbeat later—
The formation vanished.
Reality twisted. Space distorted.
Then—"SHHHHHHRRRKKKKKK!!!"
Tens of thousands of swords reappeared in an instant, having already carved their way through the abyssal beasts. There was no time for the monsters to react. No room to flee.
They were simply… shredded.
Their roars were swallowed by silence. Their bodies fell in pieces, their essence dissolved into the divine glow of the formation.
And Hua Fuchen stood firm amidst the golden light, his eyes sharp with resolve.
"BOOOMMMMMMM!!!!"
"BOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!"
"BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!"
Explosions echoed like the drums of war, shaking the skies and splitting the earth beneath the divine battlefield.
"Falling Dream..." Meng Kongchan whispered, his voice solemn as gray, mist-like energy gathered around him. With a wave of his hand, his divine art surged forward—an eerie, dreamlike wave of power that swept toward the incoming abyssal beasts.
The gray energy passed through them, silent and calm… yet the beasts kept charging, unfazed.
"Your power won't work here! Move!" a sharp voice bellowed from behind.
"BOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!"
A blinding golden light erupted from behind Meng Kongchan as a torrent of destructive energy exploded past him like a divine wrath unleashed. Where it landed, the ground split apart, space itself warped and tore violently, and the abyssal beasts were obliterated in an instant—nothing left but ash and shockwaves.
Through the golden blaze, a figure flew past, his presence dominating.
"You're so useless!" Dian Juizhi sneered as he shot forward, golden light pulsing off his body like a blazing star. Every step of his path carved devastation through the horde of abyssal beasts.
Meng Kongchan's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.
"Old Meng, just use your godly strength and crush them already!"
The twin gods roared in unison as they surged past Meng Kongchan, frustration laced in their voices. In the next instant, their auras ignited in perfect sync—the brilliance of moon and starlight intertwined as a celestial domain unfolded in the heavens above.
A divine moon rose, and stars glimmered like sharp blades. The air froze, then exploded outward as their domain descended with overwhelming might. Every abyssal beast caught within it was instantly obliterated, their bodies disintegrating into nothing beneath the crushing weight of moon and stars.
From the distance, Yun Che watched the gods with interest sparkling in his gray, abyss-tainted eyes.
The way they fought together… how they covered each other, supported without words, trusted without doubt.
He smiled.
A smile of mockery. A smile of disdain. A smile full of malice.
He would shatter all of it.
He would break every bond.
With a single motion of his hand, the gray abyss stirred.
"ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!"
A chorus of madness erupted across the battlefield as millions of abyssal beasts and abyssal ghosts surged forward like a tidal wave. Their combined roar split the sky and fractured the earth beneath. Space itself trembled, distorting wildly as their charge turned the world into chaos.
And at the center of it all, Yun Che stood like a sovereign of destruction, his hand raised… commanding ruin itself.
Yet—
"BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!"
The divine might of the gods exploded like a wrathful tempest, tearing through the abyssal beasts and ghosts like fragile paper before a storm. Bodies of black dust were shredded apart, vanishing into the ether as divine energy surged.
But still, they came.
Millions upon millions, an endless tide of darkness and destruction. They surged with no fear, no hesitation, no mind. For they were not alive.
They were born of annihilation.
Pure destruction given form.
Yes, the gods held the advantage. Their strength was overwhelming. Their divine might could crush anything in their path. And yes, with the formation of High Priest Wan Dao bolstering their domain, even the suppression of the Endless Fog was manageable.
But the man standing behind the wave—the Fog Monarch—Yun Che...
He wasn't the type to play fair.
He had yet to reveal his hand.
"BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!"
Dian Jiuzhi roared forward like a blazing comet, divine light pouring from his every pore. Under the golden radiance of Wan Dao's formation, the weight on his body lessened, allowing his might to burn freely.
From afar, the three Ancient True Gods watched the battlefield in silence, their divine senses locked onto every movement, every shift in aura, calculating all possible outcomes.
Liu Xiao was already pushing his power to its very limits, maintaining the forceful expulsion of abyssal dust across nearly a million miles of corrupted terrain. His six internal worlds blazed silently behind him, anchoring the battlefield in clarity.
Wan Dao had already cast his mighty formation, supporting the gods and amplifying their strength within this corrupted domain.
Only Ling Xian remained unmoving, her eyes half-closed as if in deep thought, yet her divine sense reached farther than most could comprehend. She hadn't made a move—not yet. Because the next step, the most crucial one, would fall to her.
If the Ancient True Gods truly wished to end this war quickly, they could have done so long ago. A wave of a hand, a breath of power, and this battlefield would be reduced to ash.
But power wasn't the problem.
The true obstacle before them... was Meng Jianyuan.
He was no longer standing here as himself. His body was now the vessel of the Fog Monarch. And yet—he was still alive. Still in there somewhere. Before they ever stepped into the Endless Fog Sea, their Lord had already given a single, absolute command:
"Bring Meng Jianyuan back. Alive."
Simple words. But the execution was anything but.
Saying it was easy.
Doing it, under these circumstances… with an enemy like the Fog Monarch possessing the very one they came to save…
It was a nightmare in disguise.
If this—this display of beasts and corrupted energy—was the Fog Monarch's full strength, then killing him would be like swatting away dust.
But that was the very problem.
They knew it wasn't.
And so, their eyes didn't narrow in fear, but in deep, patient caution.
"BOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!"
"ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!"
"ROARRRRRR!!!!!!"
Among the surging tide of abyssal beasts, over fifty roared with the terrifying power of Middle Stage Divine Limited Realm—a force that, anywhere else in the Abyss, would be enough to plunge entire realms into chaos and despair. Their howls twisted the sky, their massive frames shook the earth, each one a calamity in its own right.
Yet here… under the unified banners of the gods… there was no fear.
"Divine Annihilation!"
Golden light erupted like the wrath of the heavens. A colossal palm, formed from pure divine might, surged into the sky before crashing down like judgment from the heavens.
"BOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!"
The land beneath cracked and heaved as the impact scattered the beasts' bodies into dust, their corrupted souls torn apart and reduced to nothingness in an instant.
Dian Jiuzhi hovered in the sky like a war god, golden brilliance burning in his eyes.
"Is that all you've got, Fog Monarch?!" he roared, defiance echoing through the battlefield.
Around him, the rest of the gods regrouped.
The army—millions of abyssal beasts and abyssal ghosts—was gone. An entire tide of destruction crushed in under ten minutes.
This...
This was the power of the gods.
This was the fury of the divine.
"Hehehe... Hahahahah!!!"
Suddenly, a cold, ancient laugh echoed from Yun Che's body, his gray eyes sweeping over the gods before him, glowing with a madness that chilled the soul.
"Hahahaha!!!"
The laughter grew louder, wild and unrestrained—like a madman delighting in chaos.
"Good! Good!! Very good!!!"
The Fog Monarch's voice thundered out, laced with dark excitement. "As expected of the gods! Your might is truly... astonishing!"
In a flash of gray light, his figure vanished—only to reappear just a few miles away from the gathered gods. A mere breath of distance for them… yet in this moment, it felt far too close.
"Crack..."
The sound of space shattering echoed as three figures stepped forward through the broken void—none other than the High Priests.
Ling Xian, Wan Dao, and Liu Xiao.
The battlefield fell into a suffocating silence. The gray world trembled under the weight of power. Tension coiled in the air like drawn blades.
All eyes locked on the Fog Monarch—on Yun Che.
Then suddenly, he moved.
With both arms raised and knees slightly bent...
"???????"
The gods tensed. Their auras surged to life, barriers rising instinctively. None could understand the purpose of the strange stance. Was he preparing an attack?
Then—
Bang!
The sound of knees slamming into the abyssal ground echoed like a thunderclap across the desolate field.
Everyone froze.
Yun Che—no, the being known as the Fog Monarch—lifted his head slowly. His gray eyes shimmered, not with fury, but with sorrow. With... desperation.
"Seniors..." the ancient voice trembled. "I'm sorry... I'm truly sorry..."
"I surrender!!"
The voice cracked. Ancient, boundless, yet filled with anguish and despair. The Fog Monarch… was begging.
The gods stood stunned. The High Priests narrowed their eyes.
Not a single one of them had expected this.
"I didn't think you all would have kill my entire army with such ease, I was wrong senior, I am so sorry, please spare me!" The Fog Monarch begged. His form was of absolute submission, it was filled with emotion and despair as he begged.
"......"
The gods watching couldn't help but twitch their brows in disbelief. Was this really happening?
Even the battle-hardened deities who had fought countless wars had never seen something so absurd, so… utterly bizarre.
The three Ancient True Gods glanced at one another—and without a word, High Priest Ling Xian lifted her hand.
BOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!
A palm of raging Vermillion Bird flames exploded forth, soaring across the battlefield and crashing directly onto Yun Che's body. Divine fire erupted violently, engulfing him in a torrent of godly heat.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
A voice not just ancient, but piercing and broken with pain roared through the abyss.
"AHHHH... I surrender! I surrender!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
The screams echoed endlessly.
"Yuan'er!!"
Meng Kongchan's anguished voice cracked through the air, his body trembling as he took a step forward. His heart twisted in pain—watching his own son's body being consumed by divine fire.
"Let go, Kongchan!" Hua Fuchen grabbed his shoulder, holding him back with all his strength. "The High Priests know what they're doing. If there's even a sliver of a lie… we can't risk it."
Yet despite the flames scorching him, despite the burning pain that could tear even gods apart, Yun Che—no, the Fog Monarch—did nothing to resist.
No retaliation.
No defense.
Not even a whisper of energy to shield himself.
He simply burned. And wailed.
And continued to surrender.
Just like he said—he truly might be giving up.
"I give up, seniors... I was wrong… ahhh…!"
The Fog Monarch's voice whimpered through Yun Che's mouth, his body rolling helplessly on the scorched abyssal ground as flames engulfed him.
High Priest Liu Xiao's voice cut through the chaos like divine thunder, steady and absolute.
"Leave Meng Jianyuan's body… and we will spare you."
A hush fell upon the battlefield.
Every god present went still, watching with taut nerves and narrowed eyes. Even the Ancient True Gods, despite their superiority, kept full attention—one wrong move, and they'd obliterate him where he stood.
"Ahhhh… yes… yes, senior…!" the ancient voice stammered. Then—woosh—a streak of gray light burst upward from Yun Che's body, surging into the ancient eyes above, which now shimmered not with arrogance or menace… but with what almost looked like regret.
"..."
With a soft flick of her wrist, High Priest Ling Xian dispelled her Vermillion flame. The blaze vanished in an instant, leaving Yun Che's figure smoldering, his body badly burned, charred skin crackling faintly beneath the ashen mist.
Without the Fog Monarch's possession, Yun Che's power plummeted—his overwhelming aura of Peak Divine Limited Realm collapsed like a crumbling mountain, falling rapidly until it settled at Divine Master Realm, Level Six.
In that moment, another flash of light—gentle and golden—wrapped around him.
Swoosh—
Yun Che's limp body vanished from the burning ground and reappeared before the gods, hovering quietly in front of them. His breath was shallow, his consciousness blurred, but his face... his face was his own again.
And Meng Kongchan, who hadn't dared blink through the whole exchange, finally breathed a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"Yuan'er!" Meng Kongchan cried out as he rushed forward and caught his son in his arms. Without hesitation, he channeled his godly power into Yun Che's body, desperately trying to stabilize him, to mend his wounds, to bring life back to the battered form of the child he had lost once before.
"So now..." High Priest Liu Xiao's eyes narrowed as he turned his gaze skyward. "Tell us what you are, and we will spare you."
"Yes, yes… I…" The enormous face lingering in the sky, once pitiful and full of sorrow, suddenly twisted. The pleading eyes curled into slits. The mouth stretched into a wide, malevolent grin. A dark glint flashed in its eyes.
The gods froze.
A shiver crawled down their spines.
"Shitttttttttttttttt!!!" One of the gods cursed aloud.
But it was too late.
CRACK!
A blinding flash of red light erupted without warning, faster than anything they had felt before—untraceable, unblockable. The moment it appeared, the world around them warped. The formation dome shattered like fragile glass, the divine light snuffed out in an instant. The heavy abyssal fog, which had been held back for nearly a million miles, surged back with thunderous speed, swallowing everything in pitch-gray.
And in that instant… they were gone.
Of course, Yun Che had wanted to return to the Divine Kingdom. To see the Pure Land again. But if he had escaped too easily, if he simply strolled out of the Endless Fog after being "rescued" from the Fog Monarch, even the dumbest elder would raise suspicion.
So in all that time while waiting, pretending, burning, bleeding—he was planning.
He had no strength to match the gods. But he had the one thing no one else in the Abyss possessed.
The deepest understanding of the Endless Fog.
He knew they couldn't survive it. Not easily.
And now, with a single red flash, Yun Che—the unconscious "victim"—and all the gods, including the three High Priests, were instantly transported more than five hundred million miles deeper into the Endless Fog Sea!
In that place, even light struggled to exist. In that place, the law of destruction pulsed with terrifying might. And the corrosion... it surged like a tidal wave, gnawing at godly power, devouring profound energy, seeping into soul and bone alike.
The gods had walked into a trap.
And now, even their divinity was trembling.