Lucifer's face finally contorted with horror as he frantically scanned his surroundings, as if searching for the trace of the God of Heaven.
The Holy Bell tolled; the God of Heaven had returned.
Having already stolen the opportunity for the God of Heaven's return, why would He return? Lucifer couldn't fathom it and didn't dare to believe it.
Suddenly, a burst of Holy Light flared up beside Wang Lan, like a torch ignited out of nowhere. Bathed in the Holy Light, Yulia slowly stood up. The wrinkled skin on her face fell away in flakes, like the shell of a peeled egg, revealing delicate and flawless skin beneath. Within the Holy Light, Yulia walked out, and the light abruptly condensed into a gold scepter in her hands.
Yulia approached Wang Lan. Amidst the ripple of her Divine Might, the Lucifer Divinity Pressure that Wang Lan had been enduring vanished instantly. Wang Lan rose to his feet in confusion, looking at the Yulia beside him who seemed both familiar and strange.
"You are... Yulia?"
"Congratulations to the God of Heaven on completing the 10,000-year cycle and gracing us with Your return," Gaia said, bowing slightly with a warm smile.
"This was thanks to the Mother of Gods and the God of Hou Tu," Yulia's voice was ethereal and holy, as clear as a wind chime.
"Wang Lan, I am both the God of Heaven and Yulia. Finally, I can fight by your side," Yulia said slowly, extending her hand and holding her fist firmly beside Wang Lan's.
Wang Lan looked a little startled, then suddenly beamed with a smile as radiant as the sun. "We can fight side by side again."
His fist met Yulia's dainty one. Instantly, a boiling Divine Light of Brightness surged within Wang Lan's body. This was the power of a god, a Divine Light of Brightness only a deity could possess.
Suddenly, a tremendous force rose from around Wang Lan, as if countless Starlights danced about him. Upon closer inspection, those Starlights were actually fragments of the Saint Cloth, each shimmering with divine splendor.
In an instant, a stellar vortex swirled upward, enveloping Wang Lan. This spectacle astonished even Gaia and Yulia.
Such pure Divine Light? Such formidable Divine Power? Could Wang Lan also be a reincarnated deity? No, that's definitely not it. The Divine Light's power didn't originate from Wang Lan; the Divine Power came from the stellar vortex around him. But what exactly was this stellar vortex?
The God of Heaven did not know, and Gaia, who had silently observed the earth, did not know either.
Suddenly, the stellar vortex converged above Wang Lan's head, transforming into a splendid silver-white Phoenix. The Phoenix raised its head proudly, its eyes sharp and spirited. It lifted a claw, each toe like a dagger. With wings outstretched in a majestic posture, splendid phoenix feathers, and a five-colored tail, its body was adorned with radiant and colorful sacred inscriptions.
The Phoenix Saint Cloth, originating as Bronze, remained a Bronze Saint Cloth despite being reborn from fire. Even when upgraded with special metals, which enhanced its level, its actual grade was not elevated. But... among the eighty-eight Saint Cloths, once stained with the blood of a god and blessed by the deity, a Saint Cloth had the chance to evolve into a Holy Cloth.
The Phoenix Constellation's Holy Cloth awakened at the moment Yulia ascended to godhood.
In a flash, the Saint Cloth disassembled and fitted itself onto Wang Lan. The Saint Cloth provided Wang Lan with more than just defense; it amplified his strength. However, until then, the amplification from the Saint Cloth had been negligible. This world lacked the power of cosmos, but it possessed the power of gods. When the Phoenix Saint Cloth was activated by divine blood, unleashing the power of the Holy Cloth, the Divine Power's blessing granted Wang Lan the strength to battle gods.
Above, Lucifer's face turned incredibly unsightly; more than just unsightly, it was ashen.
"Ten thousand years of scheming, ten thousand years of waiting! I endured your torture for ten thousand years, and in the end, you're resurrected again! Go to hell!"
Lucifer's wings flapped. In an instant, he crossed through time and space to appear before Yulia, his sword of darkness slashing down through the void.
"CLANG—"
A golden shield had appeared in Yulia's hand, blocking Lucifer's wrathful strike.
Instantly, both figures disappeared, and the skies of Heaven shattered—this was the tumult from Yulia and Lucifer's fierce battle. Heaven's Holy Bell rang incessantly. The Genesis Bible transformed into the God of Heaven's shield, and the scepter became a golden sword.
The powers of Lucifer and Yulia had both reached the level of the Dao, their Divine Power rippling freely. At such a level, combat also tended towards Return to the Original. Any flashy moves became pointless; the contest depended solely on the control and application of laws.
Wang Lan spent a few moments familiarizing himself with the use of Divine Power. He then lifted his head, his eyes sparkling with Holy Light. With a gentle gesture, the Zanpakuto appeared in his hand.
"Your sword is unique, but to face the Thirty-two Winged Fallen Angel, its weapon level seems insufficient," Gaia's voice reached him. Wang Lan slightly turned his head.
Gaia gestured simply, and a silver-white long spear appeared in her hand. Then, the spear rapidly shortened, transforming into a long sword in the blink of an eye.
"This is the God-slaying Sword, transformed from the God-killing Spear. Borrow it for a while. Help the God of Heaven slay Lucifer and create a new era for mankind."
Wang Lan solemnly took the God-slaying Sword. A terrifying Divine Power surged from the hilt into his body, an unprecedented strength coursing within him. He looked upward; in an instant, Heaven trembled, and he vanished.
Above the void, Yulia and Lucifer's battle had entered the Time Ravine. This was a space within the discontinuities of temporal law, where time was indefinitely paused—a realm forever beyond the reach of mortals. As Wang Lan ascended, the spatial fluctuations around him rippled continuously, and the surrounding world grew quieter. Suddenly, he felt as if he passed through a membrane, a sensation of abrupt clarity overwhelming him.
Having crossed the boundaries of time, he arrived at the Time Ravine, where Yulia and Lucifer's battle raged back and forth. Although Yulia had awakened the Divine Power and divinity of the God of Heaven, she was, after all, a newly born deity. Lucifer, on the other hand, was once the war god of Heaven. With this rebirth, he had broken through the limits of a twenty-four-winged Holy Angel to become a Thirty-two Winged Fallen Angel. His strength and combat experience seemed to suppress Yulia.
Wang Lan's appearance slightly startled both Lucifer and Yulia. Neither had expected a mere mortal to enter the Time Ravine so effortlessly and reach the domain of gods.
But in an instant, both regained their composure, and a look of pleasant surprise even appeared on Lucifer's face.
"How wonderful, truly wonderful, that you could actually arrive here, that you've come to meet your death! I felt I would gain no sense of achievement by using Divine Power to kill a mere mortal like you, yet I would have felt truly awful not to. Your arrival here is just perfect!"
As he spoke, Lucifer's figure instantly transformed into a streak of light, appearing before Wang Lan and thrusting his sword.
Wang Lan raised the God-slaying Sword and gently parried Lucifer's thrust. This instantaneous exchange left an incredulous expression on Lucifer's face.
"How did you..."
Wang Lan countered with a sword strike, fiercely stabbing into Lucifer's chest.
"SQUELCH—"
Blood splattered as Wang Lan's God-slaying Sword penetrated a foot deep.
"How is this possible... How could you wield such Divine Power? In the Time Ravine, how can you still move so quickly?"
Within the Time Ravine, time is suspended, and every action of a god almost transcends time. Within the Time Ravine, even gods are suppressed. Previously, Lucifer and Yulia fighting with swords like ordinary people wasn't because their strength or skill had diminished; movement in air is vastly different from movement in water. Similarly, the resistance they faced in the Time Ravine made such actions their only option. Even at Lucifer and Yulia's level, they faced such immense resistance. In Lucifer's view, Wang Lan's level of strength should render him utterly immobile here.
Yet, Wang Lan could not only move, but his speed also exceeded Lucifer's wildest imagination. He had not only effortlessly parried the incoming sword but had also counter-stabbed, driving his blade directly into Lucifer's chest.
In that moment, the God-slaying Sword's power erupted. The terrifying force of laws rippled from the sword, freezing Lucifer in the void.
Yulia would not miss such a golden opportunity. She instantly threw her shield, which rose into the sky and transformed into the Genesis Bible.
"Divine Technique of Revelation! Annihilation of Chaos!"
Instantly, four forces from the dawn of creation surged from the Genesis Bible: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind!
These four primal elemental forces, from which chaos evolved into the myriad things of the universe, appeared above Lucifer's head. While struggling against the encroaching power of the God-slaying Sword, Lucifer ferociously tilted his head back, staring at the rapidly converging primal forces above. His expression was savage and terrified, his wide eyes filled with profound dread.
"No—"
The power of chaos descended from the heavens, brutally striking Lucifer's chest.
Lucifer's body shuddered violently as the terrifying power of chaos exploded inside him. Veins bulged on his forehead as he struggled to lift his head, looking at the God of Heaven, a flicker of a plea in the depths of his eyes.
"God of Heaven, may I ask you one last question?"
"No," Yulia stated indifferently.
Receiving this answer, Lucifer's face grew pale. He managed a pained, yet relieved, smile.
"The Demon God has found a way back. He's returning soon. Be prepared."
"BOOM—"
A burst of light, like fireworks, exploded before their eyes. Lucifer's body instantly disintegrated into a mass of blue Chaos Qi.
"Resolved the human race's extinction crisis, slain the divine-level Fallen Angel Lucifer, assisted in the advent of the new God of Heaven, initiating the new Fifth Era. Reward: Two hundred million experience points, thirty million skill points."
This message resounded in Wang Lan's mind the moment Lucifer's body exploded in death.
Hearing this, Wang Lan felt satisfied. With this, Lucifer should have truly bitten the dust.
But in the next instant, Wang Lan was stunned.
Wait, how much? How much?
BOOM—
Suddenly, the experience bar in the system filled completely. A clear Star Energy Fluctuation arose, and Wang Lan's level of Star Martial Art upgraded from Star Sea Eight to Star Sea Nine. Then, the experience points once again reached the maximum.
But this time, Wang Lan did not level up again.
Wang Lan was shocked and quickly delved into his Spiritual Sea of Consciousness. The experience points bar was indeed full, but it was as if the system had frozen, motionless. There was no level-up button, no error message; it was just stuck at Star Sea Nine, unmoving.
Coinciding with Wang Lan's breakthrough, Yulia, beside him, looked at Wang Lan in amazement. If it weren't for this breakthrough, she wouldn't have dared to believe that the man before her—who possessed the power of a god and had taken out Lucifer with a single move—was still merely in the late stage of the Star Sea realm. In fact, he had only just reached the peak of the Star Sea realm now.
