No one knew exactly how many Evil Gods still existed in the deepest reaches of the Heart of the Universe.
But each of the eighteen strongest and most ancient Evil Gods possessed strength nearly on par with the supreme experts of their respective races.
Under ordinary circumstances, the reason the various races could withstand the Evil Gods' assaults was entirely because of their numerical advantage, relying on strength in numbers to overwhelm the few.
Moreover, not every one of the eighteen ancient Evil Gods sought to break out of the Heart of the Universe.
A small portion of those ancient Evil Gods had even been transformed from Immortal Venerables who had lost all hope of breaking through to the level of the Great Experts. Their purpose...
Was not to degrade the universe.
Instead, they wanted to study the Evil God system and use it to forge a path capable of resisting the Dao Ancestors' purge, or even reaching a level comparable to that of the Dao Ancestors.
For this very reason, when the scattered, disorganized Evil Gods assaulted the defenses of the Heart of the Universe, they were beaten back time and time again, preventing the Evil Gods who sought to degrade all things from running rampant throughout the universe.
Even so, powerful Evil Gods could still project their power outward and exert influence in the form of avatars.
From this alone, one could see the difference in strength between the Evil Gods and cultivators.
Right now...
The ones who had abducted Gu Jinlai were precisely two such powerful Evil Gods.
When the attack came without warning, Gu Jinlai had done everything he could to break out of the area completely filled with azure-blue radiance.
But no matter what power he employed—even when he brought out the supreme immortal artifact,