Go Challenge the Sword

The last uninvited guests to appear by the river were two.

In truth, they were one.

The great Fourteen Realms cultivators who had stood atop the mountains for years had sharp enough eyes to see it: their Great Daos were perfectly aligned. One had simply become two.

When the tall woman in white appeared alongside the gold-armored figure's "attendant," every cultivator turned to look at her—or at them. Or was it it?

The head and the golden armor were both spoils of war.

They belonged to the legendary ancient Sword Bearer, one of the five supreme gods.

Besides the Sage of Ritual, Bai Ze, the old Abbot of the East Sea Observation Daoist Temple, and Old Blind Man were all familiar with her.

But even Dao the Second, Yu Dou, the Three Sect Masters' Lu Chen, the Dragon Slayer, and Wu Shuang Jiang—along with most of the great Fourteen Realms cultivators at today's riverside council—were seeing this god, whose "killing power surpassed the heavens," with their own eyes for the first time.

Ten thousand years ago, humanity had ultimately succeeded in the Ascension Battle. Setting aside the human sages who had faced death with open arms, the Sword Bearer's challenge to the Armored One, the infighting born of the Water Fire Conflict, and the gods' contempt for humanity had all been crucial. Had any one of those pieces been missing, humanity's fate would have been wretched beyond measure.

Ten thousand years ago, humanity's plight on earth had been deep water and searing fire. People were reduced to puppets raised by the gods, treated as a source of incense offerings for refining immortal golden bodies. They were also hunted at will by the Demon Race that roamed the earth unchecked and regarded them as food. Early humanity had been far too