NOVPUBJust as the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable met his demise, far away, tens of thousands of miles distant in the Donghuang Domain, the Donghuang Divine Palace—constructed from a range of mountains—emitted a roar as if the heavens were collapsing and the earth was splitting.
An imposing divine statue carved from mountain peaks crumbled at that moment, its enormous head falling to the earth like a meteorite, causing the mountains to tremble and the ground to quake. Inside the shrine hall, numerous believers could not help but cry out in terrified wails as they watched the catastrophe unfold.
It was then that a massive hand, formed from the gathered power of incense offerings, appeared above the shrine hall, and a Divine Venerable stepped out from a side hall to prop up the collapsing divine statue.
But this was already too late to save the statue, which contained the incense offering willpower of hundreds of millions of people. It began to spread uncontrollably throughout the entire shrine hall.
The side hall that Yu Ke had previously entered also developed cracks as the statue fell, its divine charm completely dissipated.
"What’s happened?"
"Why has the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable’s statue collapsed?"
"The incense power is scattering. What has befallen the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable?"
Surprised voices emerged from within the side halls, followed by the manifestation of six Divine Venerables in the firmament above the six side halls that still stood intact.
Among the six Divine Venerables present, even the weakest had power comparable to the Void Refining True Monarch, and the oldest among them, the Stars Divination Divine Venerable, had lived for more than forty thousand years. His power was comparable to that of the Great Perfection Taoist Doyen; the only thing he lacked to reach the Divine Monarch Stage was a Divinity Path ranking by a Heavenly Court Decree.
With the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable included, these seven Divine Venerables were the pillars of the entire Donghuang Divine System.
After using the power of the Divinity Path to calm the turmoil within the Donghuang Divine Palace, the six Divine Venerables tried to ascertain the reason behind the collapse of the Giant Mountain statue.
However, when their Divinity Path Will probed the entire Donghuang Domain using the many divine statues as anchors, they witnessed a scene that filled them with utter horror.
It was not just the Donghuang Divine Palace; inside tens of thousands of ancillary temples dedicated to the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable across the entire Donghuang Domain, the statues had all collapsed.
The power of incense offerings, accumulated over tens of thousands of years, spread unanchored throughout the Donghuang Domain like driftweed.
"The Giant Mountain Divine Venerable is dead?"
"How is that possible!"
"Why did I not sense the return of the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable’s True Spirit to our Divine System?"
"He, a divine figure sealed by the Heavenly Court, even if he faced a formidable enemy he could not fight, should have the capability to flee."
"Inside the Primal Chaos Realm, who would dare to kill a Divine Monarch of our Donghuang Divine System?"
Utterances of shock came from the mouths of the six Divine Venerables; the fall of the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable was beyond their belief.
They did not know that the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable had been lured into the Secret Realm Square-Inch by Shen Yuan and was subsequently killed by the Opening Heaven Divine Skills, with not even his True Spirit left behind.
If not for the collapse of his Divine Venerable position creating ripples that affected the many statues within the Donghuang Divine System, they would not even have immediately known of the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable’s demise.
The Stars Divination Divine Venerable, clasping divination tokens, seemed to recall something and said with a slightly changed expression,
"A few days ago, the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable sought me out, asking me to use causality as a medium to help him lock onto the whereabouts of the Falling Clouds Taoist."
As soon as the Stars Divination Divine Venerable spoke, the other Divine Venerables also frowned slightly.
"I seem to have heard similar news."
"A few days ago, the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable emerged from seclusion in his side hall, claiming that he wanted to avenge the Huayu Mountain God."
"The Huayu Mountain God is a local deity under the Earth Abyss Divine Venerable. Since when has he been so close to the Huayu Mountain God that he would avenge him?"
Amidst their conversations, a few Divine Venerables began to sense something was amiss.
Glancing at the near-collapsed side hall of the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable, the Stars Divination Divine Venerable waved his hand, summoning a bat deity from within the side hall to stand before the other Divine Venerables.
"Do you know the reasons behind the matter concerning the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable and the Falling Clouds Taoist?"
The bat deity trembled under the scrutiny of the six Divine Venerables and disclosed everything that transpired after Yu Ke entered the side hall.
Hearing this, the expressions of the six Divine Venerables changed abruptly.
"The Giant Mountain Divine Venerable had some nerve!"
"He dared not report the issue with the Blank Heavenly Court Decree."
"Did he not take the Divine Monarch seriously at all?"
The six Divine Venerables understood that the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable had not chosen to kill the other local deities as a way of silencing them but must have had the intention to report to the Eastern Glory Divine Monarch; however, he did not do so actively since the Eastern Glory Divine Monarch was in seclusion at the time.
Subsequently, Yu Ke’s private conversation with the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable must have revealed the secrets concerning the Falling Clouds Taoist, leading the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable, unable to resist the temptation, to bring the Blank Heavenly Court Decree with him, eventually leading to his untimely demise.
After clarifying the cause and effect, the six Divine Venerables still could not conceal their shock.
Every piece of information pointed the finger at the Falling Clouds Taoist for the killing of the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable.
But all the Divine Venerables present knew very well that the Falling Clouds Taoist had been nothing more than a Qi-training cultivator three years earlier, who could only kill Yu Changming by taking advantage of an Immortal Artifact.
By now, the Primal Chaos Nifty Pagoda had already vanished into the outer heavens, leaving no support to draw upon.
Even if the adversary advanced rapidly, he would at most be at the Spirit Refining Stage now and could not possibly have the strength to kill a Divine Venerable.
"There must be other secrets behind this!"
"Certainly, it must be the involvement of that legendary Taoist Sect, the Falling Clouds Sect!"
As the six Divine Venerables hesitated on what action to take, the incense offering willpower that had been scattering due to the collapse of the Giant Mountain Divine Venerable’s statue suddenly began converging towards the center of the Donghuang Divine Palace.
A disk like an ascending morning sun rose above the central main hall, which seemed to reach the skies. Subsequently, the long-sealed doors of the main hall burst open as a divine figure as dazzling as the Great Sun descended upon the mortal world.
"We greet Your Majesty!"
Within the Donghuang Divine Palace, from the six Great Divine Venerables down to the ordinary believers, all knelt down and paid their respects in the moment that divine figure appeared.
