Chapter 1 The Intense Battle

Urgent, chaotic footsteps echoed through the jade-tiled corridors. In just over ten seconds, five figures raced down the long passage and arrived at the entrance of the temple.

A tremendous roar, violent gusts of wind, and surging spirit energy fluctuations emanated from within the temple.

"Stay here, don't move. I'll scout ahead," Zhang Wuqing said, the raging aura preventing him from acting rashly. He stopped his companions.

Xiao Yuan and the others nodded silently, their faces solemn.

Zhang Yuanqing cast Night Wanderer, concealing himself as he approached the temple entrance. The temple was vast and open, without walls or pillars, offering no obstruction. An endless starry sky hovered at the entrance.

Zhang Yuanqing saw the battling factions. Behind Xiahou Aotian floated a towering illusory image of a deity: an old man with white hair and beard, radiating an air of immortality.

This old man wore a Taiji Bagua robe, his right hand holding a bronze alchemic furnace, within which a tortoise shell pill orbited.

His left hand held a flame, the base of which was white, the middle black, and the outer layer yellow.

Dozens of props and materials revolved around the tri-colored flame. Behind the deity were Jiang Ju, her arm severed; Yin Ji, captivating but unconscious; and Xia Zuo, both arms severed at the shoulders, his face ashen.

All three were severely injured, especially Xia Zuo. Apart from his head, both arms were gone. He had terrible penetrating wounds in his chest and abdomen, revealing glimpses of raw, damaged flesh. He was nearly bled dry.

The Knight class lacked strong vitality and self-healing abilities. Such injuries were a death sentence. The only reason he was still alive was likely the endurance and will forged during the "Ascetic" stage, stubbornly refusing to yield.

On the evil faction's side were three peak Saints: the Sleeping Dragon Lord, Bloodbath, and a human-animal hybrid.

The Sleeping Dragon Lord was a haggard-looking, middle-aged white man with half-closed eyes, a slender build, and pale skin, appearing as though he had just woken from a hangover and couldn't even open his eyes properly.

Deep darkness swirled behind him, his tall figure sometimes vanishing into the inky blackness, sometimes emerging. His features were unclear, but when his outline occasionally appeared, the sealing power within the temple surged like a tide.

The flames in the Scholar deity's hand would weaken. Bloodbath and the human-animal hybrid consisted of an elderly man with white hair and a fiery, seductive woman.

The former had a long-haired, long-bearded deity floating behind him, depicted as an unkempt old man wearing simple ancient Greek clothing, reeking of alcohol, holding a staff woven from grapevines, with grapes and nuts hanging from the top.

The latter was one of the Ten Divine Sons, the demon "Kromi," with goat hooves and horns, his whole body red, membranous wings burning with blue flames, and scarlet, vertical pupils.

Xiahou Aotian, fighting one against three, had golden light in his eyes and a golden halo of Sanskrit-like characters behind his head, pedaling a cannon trigger like a sewing machine.

With each press, the thick cannon barrel spat out a ball of golden light, bombarding the enemy.

With each press, moisture returned to Xiahou Aotian's eye sockets. A dense rain of golden bullets slammed into the thick, viscous darkness, but there were no explosions. The light quickly extinguished, or the trajectory was twisted, sending it to the left and right, or up into the sky, easily neutralized.

Xiahou Aotian continued to fire relentlessly. As the flames melted the materials, props were forged into energy packs, which Reilly Eugene, a Saint from the Merchant Guild, loaded.

The alchemic furnace in his right hand continuously opened and closed, refining "Petrification Beam," "Distortion," and "Sleeping Curse" skills into nothingness.

For a high-level Scholar, anything in the world could be refined, rearranged, and recombined, including skills, and the foundation of Lingjing skills was spirit energy.

"What are you crying about?" Xiahou Aotian roared, his face contorted. "When you choose the Scholar and Merchant classes, you have to be prepared to be penniless. Wealth is something you can't take with you when you're born or when you die."

Reilly Eugene glanced at the tear stains on the other's face and thought he should learn Xiahou's stubbornness.

"And it's not like we don't have a chance," Xiahou Aotian suddenly said, blood faintly seeping from his seven orifices.

"What chance?" Reilly Eugene hoped it wasn't just stubbornness.

Xiahou's desperate struggle, having exhausted his entire fortune, and his driving of the deity's dharma body to its limits placed a huge burden on his body. Xiahou had little left. If this continued, he would inevitably collapse from exhaustion.

Xiahou Aotian did not answer, but looked towards the west side of the temple, where a circular formation with exquisite pig carvings stood next to a statue of a Witch Gu Master.

The chance he spoke of did not refer to Yuan Shi Tian Zun. The Night Wanderer statue had already been destroyed. In the battle between "deities" and Saints, Yuan Shi Tian Zun was no different from an ant.

The chance Xiahou Aotian pointed to was Yuan Shi Tian Zun's lover, Xiao Yuan. So far, she was the only Witch Gu Master left in the slaughter dungeon.

When the battle began, Xiahou Aotian retaliated by smashing the evil classes' deity statues, deliberately ignoring the Witch Gu Master statue.

The Sleeping Dragon Lord naturally would not deliberately smash the Witch Gu Master's statue. They were natural allies of the evil faction, and they were guaranteed one of the six names in the slaughter dungeon, which would not conflict with the later Witch Gu Master's inclusion.

"I admit I was too confident just now." Zhang Yuanqing, watching the battle from the side, sucked in a cold breath. The auras emanating from the two deities were definitely at the level of Sovereigns, and not comparable to ordinary beginner Sovereigns.