If You Revere Gods, You Should Kneel to Me!

It was Su Lianxi.

"So she really is here!" Qi Lin's eyes turned cold.

He looked in the direction Su Lianxi was kneeling and saw a massive incense burner, packed full of burning incense.

Through the haze of incense smoke, he could make out a painting hanging above the seat of honor in the God-Serving Hall.

"What is that thing? It gets more incense offerings than my ten ancestors?"

Qi Lin felt a vague sense of displeasure.

He looked closer. Most of the painting depicted a black night sky, crisscrossed with blood-red streaks. They converged at the very center, where a blood-red full moon hung.

"No! That's not a full moon. It's an... eye!"

Though it was only a painting, the blood-moon eye was uncannily lifelike, watching Su Lianxi as if it were alive. For a moment, even the blood-red streaks in the dark sky seemed to writhe.

"True god who protects our nation... Eye of Heaven... I, the mortal woman Lianxi... beg for your grace..."

Su Lianxi's entranced murmurs echoed through the God-Serving Hall, sending a tingling sensation deep into the bones.

As she spoke, she bowed even lower, her face almost pressed against the floor.

Seeing the virtuous woman who had once been so holy reduced to such humility, like a debased, infatuated fool, Qi Lin looked at her with complicated emotions.

"Has she lost her mind? It's just a painting."

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than he saw the blood-red streaks in the painted night sky burst out of the canvas like countless tendrils and take root in Su Lianxi's head and back!

Su Lianxi shuddered all over. A blood-moon glow rose from her body, and her voice grew even more infatuated. "I bow in thanks to Heaven..."

"What the hell?"

Qi Lin's eyes widened. He could clearly sense that Su Lianxi's true essence was surging more strongly after the blood-red strands wrapped around her.

"Fatty, do 'gods' really exist in this world?" he asked in a low voice.

"Obviously. Where else would all those God-Inherited Bloodlines come from?" the little black beast said, rolling its eyes.

"But the Qitian Clan's genealogy says my ancestor sealed the Heavenly Gate ten thousand years ago and slaughtered all the gods in the world," Qi Lin said, puzzled.

"You said it yourself. That was ten thousand years ago." The little black beast was serious for once. "Ten thousand years is a long time. Who knows what happened? In any case, it's a fact that gods exist in the world now. But don't start crying to heaven and beating the earth just yet. At least there aren't any Symbol Gods around now."

Qi Lin recalled the gods' evil deeds ten thousand years ago, as recorded in the genealogy. What filled his heart was not fear, but icy hatred.

No wonder the people have forgotten the Qitian Clan. Is it because the "gods" have come sweeping back again? Qi Lin wondered.

The blood-moon eye in the painting was just such a bizarre sight.

And Su Lianxi was even more like the lost people of the world. Her delicate body trembled slightly as she let out strange whimpers, drenched in sweat.

"Blood moon? An eye?"

Qi Lin immediately took out the Myriad Gods Sacrificial Canon and looked through it while watching Su Lianxi receive the god's blessing.

To his surprise, he soon found an illustration.

The god depicted in it was almost identical to Su Lianxi's true god who protected the nation.

"Blood Moon God. Upper Crimson Firmament. Number 1991. A False God of the One God System."

"A single eye in the heavens, creating god-slaves and bringing calamity upon the people."

That was all the Myriad Gods Sacrificial Canon had to say about the Blood Moon God, far less than its entry on the Hundred-Eyed God.

"Fatty, what does Upper Crimson Firmament mean?" Qi Lin asked earnestly.

"The gods' heavenly ladder ranks! Crimson Firmament, Azure Firmament, and Purple Firmament all belong to the ranks of False Gods. Crimson Firmament False Gods are the lowest grade of god," the little black beast said with some disdain.

After all, the ten Symbol Gods it had suppressed were the highest grade among gods, surpassing Wandering Gods and King Gods. They could be called the ancestors of all gods.

"So this Blood Moon God is nothing special?" Qi Lin asked again.

"Nothing special, perhaps, but it's still a god. If this god's true body were here, a single drop of its blood could destroy your entire Mystic City," said the little black beast.

"An Upper Crimson Firmament god is that strong, and my Qitian ancestor could slaughter Symbol Gods. Doesn't that mean..."

What Qi Lin felt was not pressure, but a heart-stirring thrill.

His ancestor was too fearsome!

"Then what does this One God System mean?" Qi Lin looked at the description again and asked.

"What a coincidence." The little black beast gave a cold, mocking laugh. "It's the system of gods under Symbol God One, the Hundred-Eyed God. They all have something to do with eyes, illusions, and mental control."

"So the gods of the so-called One God System are all the Hundred-Eyed God's underlings?" Qi Lin asked quietly.

"You could put it that way!" said the little black beast.

"Oh..."

Qi Lin nodded meaningfully.

No wonder he had been drawn here.

He looked at the painting of the Blood Moon God again, the blood-red color in his eyes spreading steadily.

"Even so, you refined Symbol God One's divine vein in a mortal body. I'm not sure whether you can suppress this Blood Moon God..."

The little black beast had barely finished speaking when Qi Lin suddenly grabbed it.

"Become a sword."

As he spoke, Qi Lin leaped down from the eaves and landed with both feet on the incense burner, appearing between Su Lianxi and the painting!

"Su Lianxi."

Qi Lin's voice rang out of nowhere in the eerie hall.

Su Lianxi's delicate, sweat-drenched body jerked. She had been completely immersed in her worship!

"Who?"

She looked up sharply, her blood-moon eyes meeting Qi Lin's cold, still gaze!

"Qi! Lin!"

Seeing him standing on the incense burner, Su Lianxi's pretty face twisted with towering fury.

This rage was even more violent and distorted than when Qi Tianji had crippled her father.

Gripping the black wooden sword, Qi Lin looked back at the painting. "Your god has only one eye. How dare it call itself the Eye of Heaven?"

"Insolence!" Su Lianxi sprang to her feet, looking utterly deranged. "Disrespect a heavenly god, and disaster will befall a hundred generations! Qi Lin, get down at once, or else..."

"Or else what?"

Qi Lin smiled coldly.

As he spoke, the black wooden sword in his hand suddenly stabbed into the blood-moon eye in the painting.

Sizzle!

The blood-moon eye was pierced, and it let out a cry of pain. Black-and-gold flames engulfed the entire painting, burning it to ashes.

"Ugh!"

Su Lianxi stood rooted to the spot as if stunned. The blood moons in her eyes seemed to split apart, bursting with boundless savagery.

"You dare insult the true god who protects our nation..."

Bang!

Qi Lin kicked the incense burner over. "What true god who protects the nation? It's nothing but a sinister, mysterious thing that poisons the people."

"Shut up!"

Seeing the divine painting burned and the incense burner kicked over, Su Lianxi's killing intent climbed to its peak.

Her eyes had turned completely blood-red, blood moons hanging high within them, savage and ferocious.

This was the eruption of a God-Inherited Bloodline in battle!

Boom!

Vast true essence surged from the woman in the white dress and gathered around her like a river. The snow-white true essence rolled in waves, making her dress billow and fly!

Her breathtaking face, paired with those blood-moon eyes, possessed a morbid beauty.

She was both pitifully lovely and like an evil thing descended upon the world.

"This is bad. Mystic Sea Realm Fourth Stage, River Flow!" The little beast on the sword hilt was startled. "We'll have to fight her together."

It had eaten a Great Yang Turtle, so it sounded as though it had gained some fighting strength.

"No need."

Qi Lin's voice seemed to rise from an abyss. Not only did he refrain from attacking, he even put away the black wooden sword.

Rumble!

Su Lianxi charged forward, sweeping along a river of true essence. An ice-soul longsword in hand, she became a streak of blood-red light, its tip aimed straight at Qi Lin's eyes!

"Die!"

Her cold, vicious voice rang throughout the God-Serving Hall.

The difference in realms was an impassable chasm. A sword strike from the Mystic Sea Realm Fourth Stage was like a mighty river crashing into a place touched only by Frost Descent. How enormous was the gap?

The sword was about to pierce Qi Lin's eyes!

But in that very instant, the savage blood-red color in Qi Lin's eyes surpassed Su Lianxi's by more than ten thousandfold!

"Su Lianxi, if you revere gods, you should kneel to me."