Swallowing the Stars: Heart of the Martial God

Chapter 82 A Glimpse of Life

"You three seniors are too kind." Ling Xuan was not arrogant at all. He knew that the people respected the creator of the giant axe behind him, not him, a mere domain lord. Qian Yue Venerable was probably the same way.

"We humbly request that the three seniors lend a hand and break the restrictions outside this holy city."

The three nodded in unison. Venerable Tianfeng's eyes sharpened, and he said to Venerable Qianyue, "Qianyue, you should stay here and protect Lingxuan."

Venerable Qianyue chuckled and shielded Ling Xuan behind him, "Of course I will protect my junior uncle."

After saying that, the three Venerables flashed and flew towards the phantom of the Thunder Armor War God.

The Celestial Phoenix Venerable flicked his spear, and thousands of phantom fire phoenixes, carrying the intense heat of scorching the heavens and boiling the seas, surged from the spear tip, instantly distorting the surrounding space into a crimson vortex.

The Thunder Armor War God's six vertical pupils emitted a warning purple light as he swung his six arms and hurled thousands of lightning spears. However, the moment those spears, tinged with a ghostly blue, touched the phantom of the fire phoenix, they melted into molten iron with a "sizzling" sound.

At the same time, Venerable Jinyu and Venerable Linghuan had already rushed towards the city wall.

Venerable Jin Yu formed hand seals like phantoms, and countless golden spears materialized from the void, crashing down on the black stone city wall, which gleamed with a cold light, with the force to split mountains and shatter rocks.

Each spear that struck the city wall, which was covered with dark red runes, sparked dazzling sparks, and the light of the runes flickered erratically under the attack.

A bluish-gray mist emanated from the Spirit Illusion Venerable's body. With a wave of his hand, the space on the surface of the city wall began to distort and deform. Countless illusory siege giants emerged from the mist, brandishing their weapons and attacking the barrier together with the Golden Universe Venerable's golden spear.

"Is it alright for Senior Tianfeng to deal with this Thunder Armor War God by himself?" Ling Xuan asked Venerable Qianyue beside him with some concern, watching the other two Universe Venerables bombard the city wall.

"Don't worry, Uncle-Master, this Thunder Armor War God is only at the level of King-level Invincible. Heavenly Phoenix can deal with it with ease," Venerable Qianyue explained patiently.

As expected, in just a few seconds, the Thunder Armor War God was blasted into pieces countless times. If it weren't for its large divine body, it would have been completely annihilated by now.

Even so, the Thunder Armor War God's condition continued to decline, and his aura visibly plummeted to its lowest point.

"Nothing special." Venerable Tianfeng sneered, and the flames around him suddenly surged, illuminating the entire abyss as if it were daytime.

With a light touch of her toes, her figure transformed into a streak of crimson light, her spear pointing directly at the Thunder Armor War God's brow.

The God of War roared and swung his giant axe to meet the attack, but the storm of lightning brought up by the axe blade melted away the moment it touched the protective flames of the Heavenly Phoenix Venerable, just like ice and snow meeting the scorching sun.

The moment the spear pierced the God of War's brow, the resulting energy shockwave caused the bottom of the abyss to tremble violently, and the dark purple mist within a radius of tens of thousands of miles was burned to nothingness.

The Thunder Armor War God's massive body exploded with a deafening roar, dissipating into a sky full of lightning and leaving behind only a charred, giant crater.

"Break!" Venerable Jin Yu shouted, and all the golden spears converged into a golden torrent.

With a deafening roar, the 10,000-meter-high city wall collapsed, sending debris flying and raising dust that obscured half the sky.

Inside the city, the powerful beasts hiding deep within the buildings were terrified.

A porcupine-like beast covered in sharp quills was huddled in a secret chamber made of special minerals. Hearing the rumble of the collapsing city wall, its quills stood on end, and its eyes were filled with fear: "How is this possible? The Thunder Armor War God has protected the Holy City for billions of years!"

A bat-like beast with three pairs of wings trembled violently the moment it heard the sounds of battle, knocking over the precious spiritual herbs placed beside it. It shrieked, "How did those extraterrestrial demons find this place so quickly?"

The locations of each holy city are extremely well hidden; without the guidance of a powerful figure from the holy city, no one could possibly enter.

However, the three Heavenly Phoenix Venerables did not give these strange beasts more time to think or complain, and quickly rushed into the city.

These strange beasts, each capable of becoming a regional overlord in the outside world, were utterly powerless against the three high-level cosmic venerables and were easily killed.

Venerable Qianyue grabbed Ling Xuan, his divine power transforming into a crimson stream of light, protecting him as they headed into the city.

Suddenly, a rhinoceros-like beast with a body as large as a mountain charged towards Venerable Qianyue and Ling Xuan with red eyes in order to cover the retreat of its companions. The sharp horn on its head, which was flashing with a dark blue light, contained power that was enough to kill an ordinary immortal.

Venerable Qianyue snorted coldly, and the axe in his hand shone brightly as he charged towards the rhinoceros beast.

The axe and horn collided, and the sparks that erupted were as dazzling as fireworks. Venerable Qianyue used the force to leap into the air, and with a backhand swing, a crimson light flashed, and the rhinoceros beast's divine body instantly exploded, turning into a stream of particles and completely dissipating.

"A mere King-level expert dares to offend his martial uncle; he's overestimating himself."

In the distance, Venerable Tianfeng and his two companions were already displaying their divine power, continuously clearing out the strange beasts within the city, and the view ahead suddenly became wider.

In the center of the holy city stood a stone tower. This tower was thousands of kilometers high, and its entire body was cast from deep purple ore. The mottled marks on its surface were not caused by the erosion of time, but by the flow of densely packed restrictive patterns.

Each line flashed with eerie blue lightning, intertwining to form a gigantic phantom of a thunder dragon, its head facing a dark purple crystal atop the tower.

An invisible pressure poured down from the top of the tower, causing Ling Xuan to catch his breath, as if an invisible hand was gripping his neck.

Ling Xuan followed behind Venerable Qian Yue, watching the terrified appearance of the strange beasts in the city, and couldn't help but sigh at the cruelty of war.

Just then, a nimble figure darted out from the ruins—it was a strange beast resembling a deer, its body covered in crystal-clear scales that emitted a soft glow, its crystal-carved antlers adorned with fluorescent light, and its bewildered eyes filled with fear.

Venerable Qianyue flashed to block the little beast's path, gently catching it in his hand. He turned to Ling Xuan with a playful smile: "Uncle-Master, this little guy is quite cute. How about I give it to you?"

Ling Xuan looked at the little beast that Venerable Qian Yue was holding in his hand.

Although the opponent was manipulated at will by Venerable Qianyue, the aura emanating from him clearly indicated that he was a peak Realm Lord.

"Qian Yue, this is a Realm Lord." His eyes revealed a hint of something else, as if to say, "Aren't you afraid he'll kill me?"

"I'll help you control it, then you can enslave it, right?"

"I haven't learned any secret techniques for controlling souls." Ling Xuan shook his head.

His cultivation time was extremely short. He had to cultivate the Heaven-Covering Technique, study the essence of spatial laws, and learn various secret techniques. Where would he find the time to cultivate the secret technique of soul control?

“That was something I hadn’t considered.” Venerable Qianyue smiled and used a soul attack to put the little beast to sleep. “It won’t be too late to enslave this little beast after my uncle has learned the secret technique of soul enslavement. I think this little beast has a lot of talent. Most of the people in this Holy City are immortal beings or above. I’ve only seen one World Lord. If we train it well, we can keep it to protect the family in the future.”

Ling Xuan then chuckled and took the little beast, saying, "Qian Yue, you're too kind."

“The aura of this tower is of the same origin as the defensive formation of Thunderstorm Holy City.” The Spirit Illusion Venerable appeared beside everyone at some point. His gray robe was still dripping with divine blood from the recent battle, but a wisp of flickering light was wrapped around his fingertips. “I just searched the soul of the last immortal-level beast and learned that this city is under the rule of the Ice Crystal Butterfly God. The key to opening the stone tower is the ‘Thunder Abyss Token’ that the Ice Crystal Butterfly God always carries.”

"The Thunder Abyss Token?" Venerable Qianyue frowned, his face full of doubt.

The Ice Crystal Butterfly Goddess died at his own hands. After her demise, all her treasures fell into his possession, but he had never seen such an item before.

At that moment, Venerable Qianyue raised his hand and took out all the divine relics containing the Ice Crystal Butterfly Lord.

After much effort, they still couldn't find anything that could open the stone tower.

"It seems we have no choice but to try to break through this stone tower by force." Just then, the flames around Venerable Tianfeng slowly subsided. After clearing out the remaining enemies, he flew over like lightning.

"Uncle-Master, you should hide in my Thousand Yue Tower first. This stone tower looks like a priceless treasure. When we go all out later, we may not be able to protect you completely." After saying this, Venerable Thousand Yue raised her hand and took out a small tower that was the size of a palm but extremely exquisite.

"Alright, you all be careful too." Ling Xuan nodded without hesitation, and transformed into a streak of light, disappearing into the Thousand Yue Tower.

Subsequently, when Venerable Jinyu arrived at lightning speed, the four high-ranking Venerables quickly took their positions around the stone tower.

"Attack!" With a roar from Venerable Tianfeng, the four Venerables unleashed their power simultaneously.

Four devastating attacks, carrying boundless power, surged towards the stone tower like four raging dragons.

In an instant, the world changed color, the bottom of the abyss trembled violently, and space was torn to pieces by this terrifying power. Black spatial rifts, like the mouths of ferocious beasts, continuously devoured everything around them.

The attack arrived in an instant, crashing into the stone tower with a deafening roar.

A deafening roar, like the first roar of creation, echoed throughout the entire Chaotic Ruins.

The stone tower shook violently under the impact of this powerful force, and the runes on its surface flickered wildly, trying to resist this deadly attack.

However, the combined power of the four Venerable Ones was too terrifying. After only a moment of support, the stone tower could no longer withstand it and collapsed with a crash.

The moment the stone tower collapsed, an aura seemingly from the primordial era surged forth. This aura was wild and ancient, so powerful it was suffocating, as if an ancient demon god, who had slumbered for countless eons, had been suddenly awakened.

Wherever the aura passed, the space shattered like fragile glass, and the surrounding mountains instantly turned to dust under its pressure.

The entire secret realm seemed to be shaken by this power, trembling violently. Countless spatial cracks spread rapidly like a spider web, as if to tear this world apart completely.

(End of this chapter)