Death of the True God

"Damn it..."

The moment it began to flee, the Monster Beast Progenitor's heart sank. The surrounding domain was under Shi Yan's control, pressing down on it so heavily that it could barely move an inch. Now, its speed could not even break the speed of light.

"I should never have returned the Holy Sound Ship to that bastard Zhen Jiao!" The Monster Beast Progenitor was filled with regret.

Peak Palace Treasures were extremely rare, and the Monster Beast Progenitor did not possess one itself. Back when it was hunting Shi Yan, the Monster Beast Progenitor had borrowed the Holy Sound Ship from Zhen Demon Ancestor. After the hunt failed, the treasure was naturally returned to Zhen Demon Ancestor.

But now, without a palace treasure on its person, the Monster Beast Progenitor had fallen into a life-or-death crisis.

Although Shi Yan had deliberately guided the battle earlier, the place where the three had fought was still not too far from the Primal Universe.

Yet under the influence of the domain, the Monster Beast Progenitor's speed was pitifully slow. Zhen Demon Ancestor had even released the white flying boat, the "Holy Sound Ship," intending to swallow and suppress the Monster Beast Progenitor. Layers of restraints bound it, and a distance that should have taken mere moments now seemed unreachable.

"Damn it, damn it!"

The Monster Beast Progenitor tried again and again to activate the Black Wind Realm, but it had no effect whatsoever.

"Boom!"

Shi Yan struck down with another claw, shattering the Monster Beast Progenitor's lower body. This time, however, it did not repair its divine body, for the divine power within it had dwindled to a pitiful ten percent, and it would still take several minutes to fly to the membrane of the Primal Universe.

"No!"

The Monster Beast Progenitor's eyes were filled with despair.

It had never imagined that as one of the oldest True Gods of this era in the Primal Universe, it would fall in such a manner.

"Zhen Jiao! I am the Progenitor of the Monster Race—why do you betray me!" Knowing there was no hope of escape, the Monster Beast Progenitor turned and hysterically demanded an answer from Zhen Demon Ancestor.

Even if it was going to die, it wanted to die knowing why.

Faced with the Monster Beast Progenitor's frenzy, Zhen Demon Ancestor's face was utterly cold: "You are the Progenitor of the Monster Race, but the Monster Race does not need an ancestor who holds the power of life and death on a whim. Since you care nothing for the lives of Monster Race disciples, why should we care about yours?"

"Nonsense! I led the Monster Race to rise! Offering their lives for me is the natural duty of the Monster Race!" The Monster Beast Progenitor roared unwillingly. Zhen Demon Ancestor's words seemed utterly absurd to it.

Zhen Demon Ancestor sneered in response: "So then, die in peace. Only when the Monster Race is led by a true strongman of the Monster Race will it have a better future."

With that, Zhen Demon Ancestor said no more, but his attacks grew three parts fiercer. Beside him, Shi Yan also let out a mocking laugh and struck down with another claw.

"You two! Come with me to the grave!"

Seeing that death was certain, the Monster Beast Progenitor stopped fleeing and instead turned around to struggle desperately.

"Dream on!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

After several exchanges, the Monster Beast Progenitor's divine power was exhausted. Shi Yan seized the opportunity and lashed his tail against the Monster Beast Progenitor's head.

"Boom!"

The fine head exploded, and the Monster Beast Progenitor's divine body was shaken into a pulp.

Zhen Demon Ancestor took the chance to kick it while it was down.

"Ah..."

A black whirlwind blew the remnants of the Monster Beast Progenitor's divine body into ash.

The Monster Beast Progenitor had fallen.

"..."

With the Monster Beast Progenitor's fall, the treasures that had belonged to it were also left behind.

A golden drill, the "Demon Ancestor Drill"; a crimson armor, "Fire Scale"; a black wine flask, the "Black Wind Realm"—three supreme treasures fell from the sky.

Shi Yan waved his hand, and the three treasures flew before him. Divine power seeped in, Life Imprints formed, and the treasures acknowledged him as their master.

Zhen Demon Ancestor, meanwhile, subtly distanced himself from Shi Yan and said, "Congratulations to the Time Beast God for avenging your great grudge. There are still some trivial matters within my Monster Race, so I will not accompany the Beast God further."

"Hold on!"

Shi Yan spoke, and with a thought, the surrounding Space-Time Domain began to suppress Zhen Demon Ancestor. Of course, Shi Yan did not go all out; this faint suppression was merely a warning to Zhen Demon Ancestor.

"Beast God, what is the meaning of this?" Zhen Demon Ancestor's expression shifted slightly.

"No need to panic, Zhen Jiao. I'm just reminding you that regarding the supreme treasure you promised me before, I will come to the Monster Race to collect it in one year. If I don't see the treasure by then, it's hard to say what I might do." Shi Yan looked at Zhen Demon Ancestor with a smile.

"Beast God, doesn't the Monster Beast Progenitor's corpse already have three Peak Supreme Treasures? The weapon and armor are not as valuable as a domain-type treasure. My Monster Race will compensate the Beast God later," Zhen Demon Ancestor said with a fawning smile.

"That's not how it works." Shi Yan shook his head at this. "The Monster Beast Progenitor's treasures are my spoils of war. What you promised before must be counted separately. What, are you trying to play me for a fool?"

The Beast God's tail flicked slightly, and the surrounding space-time moved with it, growing increasingly turbulent.

"..."

After a brief moment of silence, Zhen Demon Ancestor finally lowered his head: "What are you saying, Beast God? Since my Monster Race has made a promise, we naturally will not break our word. In one year, the Beast God may come to my Monster Race as a guest, and the treasure will be presented then."

"That's good." A smile reappeared on Shi Yan's face, and the surrounding space-time calmed down.

After giving Zhen Demon Ancestor a slight warning, Shi Yan parted ways with him.

"That Monster Beast Progenitor is finally dead."

Having killed the Monster Beast Progenitor and swindled so many treasures, Shi Yan's heart was filled with elation.

"It's just a pity that they're all only Peak Supreme Treasures."

Though this trip allowed him to harvest quite a few treasures, letting Shi Yan instantly escape the predicament of being poorer than even Universe Masters, he was still desperately short of supreme treasures.

Peak Supreme Treasures could only play a very limited role in True God battles—the Monster Beast Progenitor was a lesson learned from the past.

One had to know that in battles at the Universe Master level, a Universe Master clad in a Peak Supreme Treasure armor was essentially immune to material attack kills.

The super-strong protective effect, which could weaken attacks to as little as one hundred-thousandth or one millionth of their original power, allowed Universe Masters to rest easy.

But that wasn't the case in True God battles.

A seventh-tier attack was already enough to breach the endurance limit of a Peak Supreme Treasure armor, causing its weakening effect to plummet dramatically. If facing an eighth-tier attack, wearing an ordinary Peak Supreme Treasure armor wasn't much different from going naked—only top-tier Peak Supreme Treasure armors like the Mad Demon God-Extinguishing Armor could still provide some effect.

In this battle, if the Monster Beast Progenitor had possessed even a single Supreme True Treasure, he wouldn't have fallen today.

"I still need Supreme True Treasures..."

Shi Yan sighed inwardly. Even the cheapest Supreme True Treasure weapon could mostly extend to form a protective armor, with an effect no less than the "Mad Demon God-Extinguishing Armor," and its endurance limit far exceeded the former. Such Supreme True Treasures were the true treasures True Gods should use.

"Forget it. This battle's harvest isn't small. I'll first return to the Primal Universe to rest and reorganize. Once I obtain the treasures from the Monster Race, I'll begin my adventures in the Universe Ocean." Clearing the jumbled thoughts from his mind, Shi Yan quickly made his decision.

Now that his strength was close to the eighth tier, and he excelled in speed and domain secret techniques, he was considered a relatively strong existence even among True Gods. To take the next step forward, he naturally needed to seek opportunities in the Universe Ocean.

The Three Great Forbidden Lands of the Universe Ocean were filled with countless opportunities, especially the Universe Boat. It was the remnant of a complete legion left behind by the Origin Continent's superpower, the "Wu Kingdom." Even a sliver of opportunity leaking through their fingers was enough to propel True Gods of the Universe Ocean straight to the Void Level.

"Pfft."

Shi Yan tore through the membrane of the Primal Universe and returned to it, but his heart had already flown to the Three Great Forbidden Lands.

Primal Universe, Hulan Secret Realm.

This was one of the lairs Shi Yan had previously operated in the Primal Universe. It was one of the more desolate regions of the Primal Universe, where even the weakest races wouldn't be willing to come and multiply.

Thus, after the resources of the Hulan Secret Realm were gradually plundered to exhaustion by various powerful beings, it became completely uninhabited, with only lone wanderers occasionally passing through.

Of course, when he was being hunted by the Monster Race, Shi Yan was in another lair, but since that one had already been exposed, its importance in Shi Yan's eyes naturally diminished.

Among his still-unexposed lairs, the Hulan Secret Realm was the closest to his Miniature Universe, so Shi Yan planned to construct a Universe Passage here.

"Let's begin."

Shi Yan triggered a resonance between his Miniature Universe's origin and his True God Heart, while simultaneously diving into the Space Interlayer.

The Space Fragments in the Space Interlayer rapidly gathered under Shi Yan's guidance, and a Universe Passage gradually took shape.

After spending ten days, Shi Yan constructed a Universe Passage here, officially making the Hulan Secret Realm his most important lair in the Primal Universe.

"I also need to make a trip to the Ancestral God Sect."

After tidying up his lair a bit, Shi Yan set off again, heading for the Ancestral God Sect.

The Ancestral God Sect was located in the Ancestral God Secret Realm, the undisputed number one secret realm of the Primal Universe. With a diameter of a full 160 million light-years, it was the most prosperous secret realm in the entire Primal Universe and held the most treasures. Besides producing quite a few Peak Supreme Treasures, it was also where the Primal Universe's only domain-type Supreme True Treasure, the "Five-Colored Aurora Lake," was discovered.

But then again, the Ancestral God Secret Realm was a gift from the Origin Will of the Primal Universe to its own proxies—something others could envy but never obtain.

Of course, the Ancestral God Secret Realm was also the most dangerous Universe Secret Realm. Some of its perilous locations could easily kill a Universe Venerable, and in extremely dangerous areas, even weaker Universe Masters had to be cautious.

But for Shi Yan, who had long since advanced to True God, the Ancestral God Secret Realm was no different from a playground.

As one of the current Eight Great Beast Gods of the Ancestral God Sect, in theory, the Ancestral God Sect should be considered the faction Shi Yan belonged to.

However, due to the Ancestral God Sect's previous inaction while the Eight Natural Beast Gods were being hunted, Shi Yan, as the sole surviving Natural Beast God, no longer had any bond of goodwill with the Ancestral God Sect.

Passing through the Black Scorching Whirlwind Zone on the outskirts of the Ancestral God Secret Realm, he entered the inner domain. An ordinary expert would have to wait here for a space teleportation, but Shi Yan didn't need to. With his mastery of space, he easily teleported into the inner domain of the Ancestral God Secret Realm.

It was still an endless void, but in the distance, a surging, colorful river appeared—it was the domain-type Supreme True Treasure controlled by the Ancestral God Sect, the "Five-Colored Aurora Lake."

"Shi Yan, your esteemed presence graces us. We failed to welcome you from afar. Please forgive our offense."

The Three Ancestral Gods of the Ancestral God Sect were already waiting for Shi Yan in the void.