"Impossible?!"
The Golden Light Hou staggered back three steps, its hundred-zhang body trembling. It couldn't believe what it was seeing. Its voice twisted into a shrill, distorted squeal as it roared, making the scene look absurd.
But the Golden Light Hou didn't find it absurd at all. It was shocked—utterly shocked.
It had thought it would casually slaughter a genius. It had never expected to encounter a Saint who regarded all living beings as ants. The enormous disparity drove the Golden Light Hou half-mad.
"Impossible! It's an illusion! It has to be! You can't fool me!"
"Gah! Vajra Might! Vajra Strength! Unbreakable! Die!"
The Golden Light Hou swung a ferocious punch, shattering the void. But its fist was fast, and Lin Huang's was faster.
At that moment, Lin Huang unleashed his full strength. His Saint Rank soul surged as he grasped every profound principle. The Golden Light Hou had only just thrown its punch when Lin Huang's fist slammed into its body.
One fist gripped the earth; the other turned heaven. It was an overwhelming, tyrannical force.
The Golden Light Hou staggered back three steps, its gaze savage. "So what if you're a Saint?! I refuse to submit! Today, I'll slaughter a Saint! Die!"
As it spoke, the Golden Light Hou's body suddenly swelled to ten thousand zhang, towering between heaven and earth. It brought one foot down toward Lin Huang.
Lin Huang remained expressionless and sighed softly. "Beneath Saint Rank, all are ants. You don't understand. You don't understand. You don't understand."
Three times, he said they didn't understand. One punch annihilated the Commonfolk.
Lin Huang's body didn't grow, but as he threw that punch, it enveloped heaven and earth, as if it were the only thing in all creation. Its divine radiance blazed, encompassing the universe. Like the starry sky crashing down, it was a world-ending fist, a doomsday calamity. No one could escape. No one could flee.
Under that punch, the Golden Light Hou's ten-thousand-zhang body was instantly suppressed. It shrank from ten thousand zhang to a thousand, then a hundred, ten, and three feet. At last, it was no bigger than an ant, clawing at the air in disbelief.
Lin Huang's body swayed, returning to normal size. He reached out and caught the ant-sized Golden Light Hou in his palm.
"W-what kind of divine art is that?! He turned a monster that huge into an ant with one punch?!" Tunbao leaped up, her face full of shock.
Xue Linglong was deeply shaken, too. After a long while, she sighed. "Beneath Saint Rank, all are ants. So that's what it means."
She paused, then continued with admiration, "The Golden Light Hou's Vajra Divine Body must have reached perfect completion, allowing it to attain Vajra Indestructible. If it had been you or me, we wouldn't have simply been turned into ants. That punch would have extinguished our life force, scattered our souls, and blown us to pieces."
"Ah! What kind of divine art did you use?! Just because you can manifest heaven and earth doesn't mean you've become heaven and earth! Even if you truly became heaven and earth, I'd still destroy the heavens and earth today!" The Golden Light Hou didn't realize it had become an ant. It thought Lin Huang had merely manifested heaven and earth, transforming himself into the world to refine it. It roared and unleashed a divine fist, but the punch that had once been strong enough to shatter the void couldn't even break through Lin Huang's palm.
Lin Huang remained expressionless as he gazed at the Golden Light Hou in his palm. He took a deep breath. Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind, along with Yin and Yang, surged and trembled. The Six Paths' origin descended and entered his body, repairing his shattered Divine Body at a visible speed.
"Damn it. Saints really are powerful. I can't fight him. I'd better escape first." The Golden Light Hou threw punch after punch but still couldn't shatter the void and get out. Shocked, it began thinking of escape.
"I can't believe that while I've been trapped here for a thousand years, such a terrifying genius has appeared in the outside world. Go, go, go. I'll avoid him, hunt enough sacrifices, and then escape this damned place. With a thousand years of accumulated strength, I'll surely trigger the Three Tribulations and become a Saint on the spot. Then I'll come back and fight this guy to the death!"
The Golden Light Hou's thoughts shifted. A flash of golden light split the void, streaking away like a rainbow—millions of li in an instant.
"Golden Light Traverse!" Tunbao leaned close to Lin Huang, curiously eyeing the Golden Light Hou in his palm. The moment it moved, she recognized the Golden Light Hou clan's innate divine art. It could cover millions of li in an instant—a supreme path of speed. Only a handful of things in heaven and earth could outrun Golden Light Traverse.
"What a guy. This Golden Light Hou must be a true genius among its clan. Who knows how long it's been cultivating? It's incredibly powerful. Too bad it still ended up in your hands, unable to live or die."
Tunbao glanced at Lin Huang, then suddenly burst out laughing.
"This guy looks so powerful, but he's actually an idiot. Does he still not realize that no matter how far he's run, he's been in your palm the whole time?"
The Golden Light Hou truly didn't know that the world it thought it had entered was nothing but Lin Huang's palm. With its divine art unleashed to the fullest, it felt it had already run hundreds of millions of li, racing through the void. Lin Huang could never catch up. Only then did it breathe a sigh of relief and look around. Suddenly, it wondered, "Where have I run to?"
"I've been roaming this God-Fallen Battlefield for a thousand years. I know it well. When did five pillars of heaven appear here?"
Watching the Golden Light Hou's reaction, Tunbao laughed until her stomach hurt. "Oh, I'm dying. Xue Linglong, did you invite this Golden Light Hou here as a clown?"
Unlike Tunbao, Xue Linglong wasn't so carefree. Lin Huang's methods had shaken her, and her voice came out strained and bitter. "Could this be the legendary Divine Kingdom in the Palm?"
Lin Huang nodded, looking rather pleased. "I only happened upon a small insight. It still can't compare to a Divine Being's true Divine Kingdom in the Palm. That's the kind that creates all things with a single palm, where life and death turn with the palm."
Lin Huang sighed, no longer in the mood to show off. He flipped his hand, and the Golden Light Hou cried out as it tumbled to the ground.
"Uh-oh! The heavens are turning upside down? Is the God-Fallen Battlefield about to collapse? Run!"
The Golden Light Hou shrieked. The moment it hit the ground, it used Golden Light Traverse to flee.
But Lin Huang pointed a finger, and the Golden Light Hou dropped back down, knocked flat by an overwhelming force.
The Golden Light Hou jolted in alarm and turned to look. It was a genius, too; seeing Lin Huang and the others, how could it fail to understand? Its face went pale, and it stared in disbelief. "Was everything just now an illusion?"
Tunbao laughed so hard she could barely stand. "You idiot! You were running around in Lin Huang's palm just now. You had me dying of laughter!"
"Impossible!" The Golden Light Hou still couldn't believe it. "My clan's Golden Light Traverse pierces the void and travels hundreds of millions of li in an instant. How could it—how could I have only been in his palm?"
Its voice grew quieter and quieter. The Golden Light Hou's face turned paler with every word, and it staggered backward, its voice bitter. "Divine Kingdom in the Palm?"
Lin Huang looked at the Golden Light Hou without expression. "Useful, and you live. Useless, and you die."
His voice was cold. The Golden Light Hou's scalp prickled, and it hurriedly said, "I'm useful. I'm useful. Very useful."
"Speak." Lin Huang waved his hand, and the earth beneath his feet rose, changing into a chair. He sat down with imposing ease, carrying the air of a tiger surveying heaven and earth.
"The God-Fallen Battlefield was once a Divine Being's arena. You need enough sacrifices to leave."
The Golden Light Hou obediently told him everything it knew.
Lin Huang nodded, seeming to understand. Beneath Divine Beings, all were ants. The God-Fallen Daoist Temple, which made countless geniuses and even Saints envious, was nothing but an arena for Divine Beings' amusement. That truth was enough to make anyone sigh.
The Golden Light Hou had been trapped here for a thousand years. Perhaps it had simply gone too long without anyone to talk to. Once it opened its mouth, it chattered on and on.
Tunbao suddenly cried out, "I remember now! You're Jin Guangba, the number-one genius of the Golden Light Hou clan a thousand years ago. I heard you and several geniuses from the Demon Race got lost in the outer starry skies and vanished without a trace. I never imagined you'd been trapped here."
The Golden Light Hou nodded. "That's right. It was me. There were thirteen of us exploring the outer starry skies. In the end, we were all trapped here for a thousand years. Besides me, three others survived. The rest died in the struggles over the past thousand years."
Before you continue