Chapter 641: Entry Point
On the leeward side of an icy slope, dozens of miles from where the Divine War had erupted, an adventuring party of five humans struggled onward.
They wore thick fur coats and armor, carrying packs and weapons, their faces bearing the weary, weathered look of those who had long adventured in the wilds.
Their leader, a middle-aged man with a scarred face and a broken eyebrow, wielded a two-handed greatsword. He suddenly stopped, his expression one of absolute horror as he stared toward the Icy Fissure Canyon.
"G-Gods! What is that?!"
A young adventurer in the party pointed into the distance, his voice cracking with fear.
In the direction of the canyon, an unseen force parted the wind and snow, while a furious energy ripped a gaping hole in the heavy, leaden clouds above.
A colossal golden figure, three-headed and six-armed, wreathed in terrifying Purple Gold Thunderbolt, was locked in a fierce battle with a pure-white giant wolf the size of a mountain.
The roar of thunder and the wail of the ice plains intertwined. Even from over ten miles away, the cataclysmic pressure felt like a physical hammer slamming into each of their hearts.
Every clash of fist and claw, every flash of Thunderbolt, was accompanied by violent tremors in the earth and the distant, rumbling roar of collapsing icebergs.
Stray Thunder Serpents and fragments of frozen Divine Power occasionally shot toward them like meteors, blasting deep craters into the permafrost and instantly flash-freezing entire areas.
"It’s Divine Spirits! Divine Spirits are fighting! This is a Divine War!"
The old Mage in the party turned deathly pale, his staff trembling in his hand. He could sense the utterly chaotic elemental turbulence in the air and the fluctuations of Law far beyond mortal comprehension.
"It must be the Icefield Wolf God Lokan from the Frosty North Plains, and the Thunder God, Tatus. Why are they fighting here?!"
The scarred captain’s voice was hoarse, his eyes filled with incredulous terror.
As adventurers who made their living on the Frosty North Plains, they were all too familiar with the legends of the local Divine Spirits.
Bordering the Frosty North Plains was an empire of the Human Race.
"Captain, we have to go! Let’s get out of here. If we stay any longer, a single stray shockwave will wipe us from existence!"
The young warrior was on the verge of tears, the premonition of death so palpable.
It wasn’t that he was afraid of death. As an adventurer, making a living on the precipice between life and death was a regular occurrence.
But for a mortal to willingly venture into a Divine War like this was simply courting death.
"Right, go, let’s go! Leave this area, run in the opposite direction, and don’t look back!"
The scarred captain made a snap decision, forcefully suppressing the shock and reluctance in his heart. After all, witnessing a battle between Divine Spirits was the stuff of legend, and as an adventurer, he naturally yearned to explore such legends.
This was a true divine miracle, a sight rarely seen by mortals.
But survival was more important. He roared at his team members to turn and flee.
Like startled rabbits, the five of them burst forth with the greatest speed of their lives, scrambling and tumbling as they fled desperately away from the canyon, not daring to cast another glance at the perception-shattering divine battlefield.
Xu Yunfan’s Divine Thought had, of course, registered the insignificant little adventuring party, but his mind was not on them, nor did he pay them any attention.
The battle with Lokan was more like a test, a drill.
After just a few exchanges, he had already taken the full measure of this Wolf God. Its power was wild, its use of Ice Divine Art was adept, its close-quarters combat was ferocious, and its battle instincts were extremely strong.
But when faced with the refined power from the Divine Sky Scripture, the tempered techniques of his Martial Dao Dharma Aspect, and the combat awareness optimized to its absolute limit by the Attribute Panel, Lokan’s strength—at the peak of Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment—was still not enough.
’According to Aitira’s power system, this Icefield Wolf God is at the Mid-Rank God Peak. With the recent change in Divine Office, he probably saw this as an opportunity for advancement.’
’But if I, Xu Yunfan, were Rockman, the ruler of the Frosty North Plains, I would never allow such an advancement to go unchecked.’
Unfortunately, when Xu Yunfan connected his Heart and Spirit to Rockman, the other god indicated he had no such intentions.
’So naive!’
Xu Yunfan couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. ’Back in the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm, if anyone dared to seek the Golden Attainment Fruit Position, a Golden Core True Monarch would immediately strike them down from the shadows.’
’The paths for advancement in the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm are all tightly controlled by those True Monarchs.’
’In the last several thousand years, only the Pure Yang True Monarch has successfully achieved a Dao Attainment Fruit Position.’
"Tatus, you’ve been hiding your true strength?!"
Lokan was both shocked and enraged. Its claws, a source of great pride, raked across the other’s arms, which were covered in Thunder Patterned Golden Armor, leaving only a few shallow white marks. In contrast, its opponent’s Thunderous Heavy Fist could easily shatter its Ice Armor, sending a violent shock through its entire being.
It felt as if it had been caught in an invisible net that only tightened the more it struggled.
Xu Yunfan’s expression was indifferent.
"Hide my strength? Why would I need to do that against you?"
Before the words had even faded, a vicious light flared in the eyes of his main head, and the power he had been holding in reserve surged forth.
The two golden-armored arms that were blocking the giant claws suddenly flexed with power, instantly augmented by the Dou Character Technique and the Arctic Purple Star Suppressing Evil Qi.
His strength multiplied several times in an instant.
CRACK!
BANG!
A sickening sound of splintering bone rang out.
The massive claw Lokan had brought down was brutally bent backward.
Simultaneously, another of Xu Yunfan’s arms formed a Dharma Seal and shot out like a bolt of lightning, viciously stamping the Purple Sky Thunder Seal onto Lokan’s ribs.
"PUH!"
As if struck by a primeval behemoth, Lokan’s enormous body was flung backward. Its crystalline fur shattered and flew, and its sturdy ribs were clearly caved in. It violently coughed up a great mouthful of Divine Blood laced with ice shards, which was instantly evaporated into a bloody mist by the Thunderbolt in the air.
Its massive body slammed heavily onto the distant ice field, carving a deep trench in the ground. The fluctuations of its Divine Power instantly waned, and its eyes filled with horror and disbelief.
Xu Yunfan did not pursue. His Dharma Aspect stood its ground as the surrounding lightning receded. He looked down upon the giant wolf struggling to its feet, his tone icy.
"Begone! I’ll spare you for Bosse’s sake. But if you dare take so much as half a step into my territory again, I swear I will shatter your Divine Format and annihilate your Divine Soul."
Within the Frosty North Plains, there were three Upper-Rank Gods: Rockman, who ruled the Eternal Freeze Royal Court; Bosse, the God of Storm; and Anya, the God of Ice and Snow.
This wolf served under the God of Storm, Bosse.
’Using this as a pretext to initiate a dispute between Pantheons is perfectly reasonable. Then, when the time is right, I can drag the other Pantheons into it... wouldn’t that be perfect?’
As Xu Yunfan mused to himself.
Lokan struggled back to its feet. The searing pain in its chest and the chaos roiling within its Divine Power made it almost impossible to maintain its giant form.
It stared venomously at the three-headed, six-armed, golden-armored figure in the canyon, its eyes filled with humiliation and rage, along with a trace of deeply hidden shock.
It couldn’t understand how Tatus’s power had become so terrifying in such a short time.
Its close-quarters combat, which it took great pride in, had been so effortlessly crushed.
"ROAR..."
A low growl, filled with endless hatred, rumbled from deep within its throat. Lokan didn’t utter any more threats, but its gaze said everything.
’I will be back!’