Longevity by Grinding Skills

At the center of the battlefield, Rockman and Bosse were locked in combat.

With a wave of Rockman’s hand, a vast expanse of land was sealed in ice. A frigid chill capable of freezing the very heavens and earth descended, and countless icicles like giant spears shot toward Bosse.

Helplessness washed over him, but now that he had acted, he couldn’t afford to hesitate. After all, he was well aware of the situation.

Xu Yunfan’s strength far surpassed his imagination. When they first met, Xu Yunfan had lifted him up with one hand, demanding to know if he chose life or death.

Heavens have mercy, who would ever want to die?

If he hadn’t identified the man as an Outer Heaven Demon, Xu Yunfan’s power would have led him to believe he was an ancient god awakened from some forgotten corner of the world.

For him to willingly conceal his power and pose as a Middle-Rank God, he was surely plotting something immense.

But to save his own life, he had no other choice.

Meanwhile, Bosse had transformed into an intangible gale, weaving through the gaps between the icicles. With a lift of his hand, he summoned a tornado that tore across the land, grinding the layers of ice to dust.

Each collision triggered a celestial Anomaly. Shards of Ice Crystals and Wind Blades rained down like an apocalyptic deluge, causing several nearby mountain ranges to tremble ceaselessly.

The battle between the two Upper-Rank Gods was a clash on multiple levels: a confrontation of the Laws and Divine Authority bestowed by the Celestial Dao, a contest of power between their Divine Countries, and a standoff of Incense Fire Wish Power. The aftershocks alone could instantly cripple or even annihilate any ordinary Middle-Rank God who drew too near.

The battlefield below was even more brutal.

The Ice Giants of one Upper-Rank God and the Wind Elemental Spirits of the other were locked in a deadly struggle, filling the air with icicles and Wind Blades.

Empowered by the blessings of their respective gods, the Barbarian Warriors fought with frenzied abandon. Frost froze their flesh, and gales tore them limb from limb.

The Middle-Rank and Lower-Rank Gods of both pantheons also paired off, locked in battles to the death, either blasting each other with Divine Power or pitting their authorities against one another.

The Icefield Wolf God, Lokan, was naturally among them. The depression in its chest had mostly healed thanks to the Wind Divine Power granted by Bosse. It was now ferociously lunging at a Middle-Rank God from the Frost Winter Pantheon who controlled a giant frost serpent. As ice claws and serpent fangs clashed, a shower of ice shards and bloody rain filled the air, revealing its savage nature.

As for Xu Yunfan, with Rockman providing a distraction, he remained hidden. Like a ghost in the shadows, concealed by the Triple Cause and Effect Secret Technique and cloaked by the Star Spirit Banner, he silently closed in on Lokan’s position.

With Multiple Secret Techniques concealing his presence, Xu Yunfan naturally intended to achieve the greatest result with the least amount of effort.

Xu Yunfan fixed his gaze on Lokan, his eyes calm and impassive.

He patiently waited for an opportunity.

Meanwhile, Zhang Ziyang, hidden at the edge of the battlefield, continuously relayed information to him via his Investigation Divine Format.

This allowed him to precisely predict the brief lull in power following each of Lokan’s outbursts.

’The opportunity is here.’ A glint flashed in Xu Yunfan’s eyes.

Lokan had just used a ferocious ice explosion to shatter the frost serpent’s domain, forcing the Middle-Rank God back several steps. In that moment, an imperceptible stutter inevitably appeared in the circulation of its own Divine Power.

In that split second, when its old power was spent and new power had yet to rise.

Xu Yunfan’s figure flashed into existence without warning, just above and to the side of Lokan’s massive wolf head.

His disguise fell away. A thirty-foot-tall Martial Arts Golden Body Dharma Aspect materialized abruptly, surrounded by peals of thunder.

Its main head glared with fury as all six arms spread wide. The terrifying suppressive force of the Arctic Purple Star Suppressing Evil Qi crashed down with the roar of thunder, heavy as an invisible mountain.

Until now, he had been cautious about using the Divine Sky Thunderbolt technique. It was completely alien to this world’s Celestial Dao, and if he used it too often and was discovered, the consequences would be severe.

Even though the Primordial Sect had a well-practiced set of countermeasures for such situations, it was still best to avoid detection altogether.

Using the authority of the Thunderous Divine Format to amplify his power was the optimal method.

"GROWL?!"

Lokan’s ice-blue, slitted pupils shrank to pinpoints as boundless fear and despair instantly overwhelmed it.

’This power!’

’It’s that Golden Armored Monster! Tatus is a fake!’

It wanted to roar, to warn its master, the Upper-Rank God Bosse.

But the formless suppressive force had locked down its divine body, its Divine Power, and even its Divine Soul.

It couldn’t even form a single thought.

It could only watch helplessly as a hand wreathed in Purple Gold Thunder Patterns, radiating a terrifying aura that could pierce through anything, pressed down with unerring precision on the spot between its eyes, right on the upper bridge of its snout, which had fallen slightly agape in terror.

Celestial-Eroding Netherworld Talisman.

Seizing God.

An ethereal light flared from Xu Yunfan’s fingertips.

Countless Heaven-Eroding Talismans, capable of twisting cause and effect, sank into the spot between Lokan’s eyes. They ignored its tough hide and thick skull, piercing directly into the core of its Divine Format.

Simultaneously, the Star Spirit Banner within his sleeve flared with an intense, ethereal light, its surface unfurling into a light-devouring black hole.

CRACK!

A dull, cracking sound echoed.

Lokan’s massive body went rigid. Its ice-blue, slitted pupils instantly lost all their light, becoming vacant and ashen.

The storm insignia between its eyes—the mark of its Subordinate Contract to the Gale Pantheon—abruptly dimmed and crumbled.

Its Divine Format—a nexus of interwoven ice-blue and azure light symbolizing the authority of the Icefield Wolf God—was brutally ripped from its Divine Soul Origin by the Heaven-Eroding Talismans.

In the next moment, the ethereal light of the Star Spirit Banner washed over Lokan’s body like a tidal wave.

Deprived of its Divine Format, the Wolf God’s body disintegrated inch by inch like a weathered sand sculpture, dissolving into a sky full of Ice Crystals and floating ash. Everything, including the struggling remnant of its soul that had been ripped free, was swallowed whole by the Star Spirit Banner.

On the banner’s surface, a new point of starlight bearing the silhouette of an ice wolf flared brightly before merging into the celestial tracks of the Stars of the Celestial Sphere.

The entire process was over in the blink of an eye. Shielded by the chaotic torrents of energy and the blinding light of the battlefield, it went almost completely unnoticed.

’Successfully refined the remnant soul of the Middle-Rank Divine Spirit Lokan into a Banner Spirit. The Star Spirit Banner’s Origin has been enhanced. All Heaven Star Formation (46/365).’

Xu Yunfan quickly glanced at the notification that had popped up in his field of vision.

’It seems my recent efforts refining the Star Spirit Banner have paid off. After getting used to consuming Incense Fire Wish Power and the Divine Formats of the Weak Gods I captured before, it can now handle the entire devouring and conversion process with considerable skill.’

However, the Anomaly that accompanied a god’s death in the mortal world could not be completely concealed.

"AWOOOOO!"

An ethereal wolf’s howl, filled with endless sorrow, fury, and terror, echoed between heaven and earth, exploding in the hearts of every Divine Spirit belonging to the Gale Pantheon, and even some within the Frost Winter Pantheon.

The numerous Divine Spirits under the God of Storm sensed the Icefield Wolf God Lokan’s disappearance from his node within the pantheon’s network.

It was Lokan’s final, agonized cry, transmitted through the pantheon network of the Aitira World the moment its Divine Format shattered and its Divine Soul was utterly obliterated.

It signified the complete and permanent fall of a powerful Middle-Rank God.

For one bizarre moment, the entire clamorous and chaotic battlefield seemed to freeze.

The Wind Elemental Spirits battling Frost Giants, the Frost Winter Knights charging on their Ice Crystal War Chariots, and even the Middle-Rank and Lower-Rank Gods trading blasts of Divine Power—all of them paused for a fraction of a second.

Every Divine Spirit clearly heard the lament that signified a god’s death and felt the mark of annihilation on the level of Law and divine authority.

The Wolf God Lokan’s authority had returned to the world.

Bosse was in the middle of conjuring a hurricane spear capable of tearing the heavens asunder to strike at Rockman. When he sensed Lokan’s mark vanish completely, his movements faltered, and for the first time, a look of utter horror filled his eyes.