On the third day after Ye Yu’s return to Wuzhong Mountain, Tai Shi Xiaxin—the Lord of the Wuzhong Mountain Divine Alliance—personally summoned him.
According to Ye Yu’s report, Kong Yang was indeed an Evil God, ranked among the top eighty on the Mountain’s Evil Roster, known by the epithet Devourer of Gods. Her power matched her name: she devoured members of the Divine Race to bolster her cultivation. Yet a million years ago she had suffered a grievous wound and vanished without a trace.
Everyone had assumed she’d been slain by some mighty deity. No one expected she was still alive—and brazen enough to send her sister, Kong Ying, to Wuzhong Mountain to lure men! That was tantamount to a mortal thief sneaking into the Six Doors to abduct an imperial inspector. If word got out, the entire Wuzhong Mountain’s reputation would be °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° ruined.
So Tai Shi Xiaxin presented Ye Yu with a mid-grade artifact: the Reincarnation Longbow. Firing arrows forged from Heaven-and-Earth divine power, a light draw could send a god back into the cycle of reincarnation with unstoppable force. After improvements by the Divine Creation Hall, the bow bore eighty-one layers of Dao inscriptions. When it sensed grudges or vengeful spirits, its potency would only increase. Clearly, it was designed for slaying Evil Gods.
Disguising his gift as consolation, Tai Shi Xiaxin intended to use this artifact as hush money. Once Ye Yu had the bow, he would keep silent—besides, why expose such scandal? It would be humiliating for everyone.
Under Tai Shi Xiaxin’s veiled words, Ye Yu quickly grasped the meaning: they feared losing face, so they sought to placate him. Fine—he would negotiate. Ye Yu immediately put on an award-winning performance, delivering a stirring speech on the spot:
“I came to Wuzhong Mountain full of righteous zeal, believing everyone here was upright. Who could have thought there were demons in our midst? I was deceived, my emotions betrayed, and I nearly perished outside these gates. My body and heart suffered tremendous wounds—I’ve become socially anxious; now I can hardly go outside!”
Tai Shi Xiaxin was visibly moved. Indeed, here was a young deity brimming with justice, yet so tragically wronged by an Evil God posing as a sisterly confidante. But even so, the honor of Wuzhong Mountain could not lie in Ye Yu’s hands.
As Tai Shi Xiaxin fell into agonized contemplation, Ye Yu abruptly shifted tack and declared, “You’ll need to pay more!”
Tai Shi Xiaxin nearly lost his composure. Young gods these days, such deep schemes... He thought. If you wanted more money, you should’ve said so from the start, instead of making me think you’d wage war on the Divine Alliance!
In the end, under Tai Shi Xiaxin’s reluctant concessions, Ye Yu received not only the mid-grade Reincarnation Longbow but also a lower-grade artifact and a quantity of cultivation resources. Ye Yu accepted calmly and vowed never to mention the matter again.
Tai Shi Xiaxin admired such a man of his word. Learning that Ye Yu enjoyed studying divine techniques in the Cangtian Pavilion, he arranged free access up to the fourth level. “Come, study to your heart’s content!”
Two years later, Ye Yu advanced into mid-stage Great Deity Realm. Though not the fastest ascent compared to some dreamborn talents, it was a testament to his hard work—especially given that the Celestial Realm’s cultivation resources were limited and his time divided between refining artifacts and merging divine methods.
For example, the Reincarnation Longbow gifted by Tai Shi Xiaxin had undergone repeated fusions and now emerged as a repeating crossbow, which Ye Yu named Evil-God Terminator. Its original trait remained: in the presence of grudges or vengeful souls, each bolt’s power increased, culminating in a terrifying final shot after three thousand arrows.
People wondered if its strength would wane against non-Evil Gods, but Ye Yu knew better: true masters never complain about their environment. He could always manufacture grudges to fuel the crossbow’s power—true “buff management.”
Beyond the crossbow, Ye Yu also fused forth a divine technique called All Beings Equal. At his current mid-Great Deity stage, casting it created a hundred-meter “True Self Space” that stripped all combatants of divine power and severed their bonds with artifacts. Within, only physical might remained—and with his body refinement art Demon Over Heaven, Ye Yu could slay six gods in a single second.
Of course, All Beings Equal had its limits—it could only imprison foes up to two realms above his own before the space could be shattered. But for now it more than sufficed: any deity below mid-Golden Deity Realm was a lamb awaiting slaughter.
Having secured his artifact and divine art, Ye Yu prepared to set out on his next journey. His goal was simple: he wouldn’t leave the zealous, if eccentric, Divine Alliance until he’d studied every technique in the Cangtian Pavilion. Besides, the Alliance’s straightforward atmosphere suited him—if he truly joined the Celestial Realm in the future, he wouldn’t rule out affiliating here.
Just as Ye Yu prepared to depart, the Sanctity-Repelling Bell of Wuzhong Mountain suddenly tolled. Ye Yu turned back and narrowed his eyes.
