Goddess Awakens, Against the Demon God!

In the center of the canyon stood a vast, majestic ancient ruin.

Towering white-jade pillars lay collapsed haphazardly to the side, and the ground was paved with large bluestone bricks carved with intricate patterns, exuding an ancient air.

Most crucially, at the very center of the ruins, a circle of soft, luminous white light was still radiating outward.

The boundless, viscous darkness outside the gate, accompanied by waves of teeth-aching monster chewing, slammed against that halo like surging tides, yet could not force its way even half a step inside.

The two ran into the area shrouded in light and collapsed weakly onto the cold jade floor.

Hu Liena gasped for breath in great mouthfuls, her chest heaving violently, feeling as though she had just crawled back from the gates of hell.

She leaned against a broken stone pillar and rested for a moment before finally collecting herself, then raised her head to take in her surroundings.

With just one look, Hu Liena's pupils abruptly contracted, and she froze in place as if struck by a paralysis spell.

Qin Mu also turned his head then, following Hu Liena's gaze, and his little mouth involuntarily rounded into an O.

On this spacious white-jade plaza—

There were dozens of skeletons sitting cross-legged in dense rows.

There was not the slightest trace of the pallid, sinister quality ordinary bones should have had.

These skeletons were crystal clear, as if carved from the finest mutton-fat white jade, their surfaces flowing with a faint, holy radiance.

Even from far away, one could sense a sacred aura that made people unable to resist the urge to prostrate themselves in worship.

The remains of Goddesses!

Dozens of incomparably graceful Goddesses had collectively passed away in seated meditation within this deserted underground ruin of the Great Ruins.

The visual impact of this scene was in no way inferior to witnessing a divine war that destroyed heaven and earth.

The people of Douluo outside the light screen watched this scene, even their breathing becoming cautious, afraid they might disturb the peace of this ruin.

But what made Qin Mu and Hu Liena's breathing grow even more rapid was still to come.

Qin Mu mustered his courage and stepped forward, carefully examining the Goddess skeleton at the very front.

The skeleton's hands were folded over her chest, and in her palms, she quietly held a Nine-Colored Lotus that was just about to bloom.

The lotus looked like a plant, yet it emitted an enormous surge of vital energy that made one's heart tremble. Faint, fine bolts of lightning flickered across every petal.

Hu Liena also leaned in, her gaze sweeping toward the other skeletons.

In the hands of the Goddess on the left was a simple, ancient Whisk, while on the other side was a Bronze Mirror. Its surface was clear to the bottom, and within it seemed to be reflected a brilliant river of stars flowing slowly by.

Looking around, each of these dozens of crystal-clear Goddess corpses was actually holding a supreme treasure blazing with boundless light and a terrifying aura!

Just as Qin Mu and Hu Liena were so shaken by these Goddess skeletons holding supreme treasures that they could not speak—

From the slope of shattered stones above the canyon, there suddenly came a jumble of footsteps and heavy panting.

"Senior Brother, look! There's light down there!"

Along with that cry of alarm, five blood-soaked, utterly bedraggled figures tumbled and scrambled down the slope.

They were precisely those five sword-cultivator disciples of the Lijiang Sect.

Although they had seized the chance to escape calamity while the Demon Ape went berserk, every one of them was wounded, their robes were torn, and even the longswords in their hands had been chipped with several gaps.

Qin Mu reacted extremely quickly. The instant he heard the voices, he grabbed Hu Liena by the hem of her clothes, and the two quietly hid behind a massive fallen white-jade pillar at the edge of the plaza.

The Five Lijiang Disciples staggered into the plaza and were also stunned by the dozens of crystal-clear Goddess skeletons before them.

When they clearly saw the treasures held in those skeletons' hands, the fear and exhaustion from fleeing for their lives just now were instantly swept away, replaced by an unconcealable greed.

"Supreme treasures... They're all supreme treasures left behind from ancient times!"

The cold-looking young man stared at the Nine-Colored Lotus at the very front, which faintly flickered with lightning, swallowed, and even his eyes turned red.

"We're rich! As long as we can get even one of them, our Lijiang Sect will be able to dominate all of Yankang Kingdom! We won't even have to take the Imperial Preceptor seriously!"

A tall, thin disciple rubbed his hands together, trembling all over with excitement, and was about to rush toward the center of the plaza.

But the cold-looking young man grabbed his shoulder, his brows tightly furrowed.

"Don't be rash."

The young man swept his cold gaze around the surroundings.

"The ruins in this Great Ruins are strange everywhere."

"These Goddesses passed away here in seated meditation, and the treasures in their hands are still brimming with spiritual energy after countless years. They're definitely not that easy to take."

He turned his head and looked at a round-faced disciple beside him who was the youngest and also had the weakest cultivation.

"Junior Brother, your lightness skill is the best."

"Go try it. Bring back the white-jade Whisk in the hands of that Goddess at the very edge."

"Remember, be extremely careful. The moment you get it, retreat at once."

The round-faced disciple's face went pale, and he was somewhat unwilling, but under his senior brother's coercive gaze, he could only grit his teeth and nod.

He took a deep breath, circulated the vital energy within him, and lightly tapped his toes against the bluestone slab. His entire body swept out like a swallow, rushing toward a Goddess skeleton at the edge of the plaza.

On that skeleton's knees quietly rested a jade-handled Whisk radiating a gentle white light.

The round-faced disciple landed in front of the bones, held his breath, and carefully reached out with his right hand, grabbing toward the whisk.

Just as his fingertips were about to touch the whisk.

The white-jade whisk, which had been perfectly still, suddenly moved without any wind.

Among the tens of thousands of pure-white strands on the whisk, one suddenly lifted.

It was only a single strand, yet it traced an almost imperceptible white line through the air.

Pfft!

There came the soft sound of a sharp blade slicing through silk.

The round-faced disciple's outstretched right hand, along with half his shoulder, slid to the ground in an instant as if tofu had been cut apart.

Fresh blood sprayed out, but it was blocked by a layer of invisible light, unable to stain the white-jade plaza in the slightest.

The round-faced disciple did not even have time to scream before that strand gently looped through the air and passed straight around his neck.

Rumble, rumble.

A perfectly good head rolled to the ground, and the headless corpse toppled stiffly over.

Seeing this, Hu Liena, who was hiding behind the stone pillar, was so frightened that she covered her mouth, her entire body turning ice-cold.

The remaining four Lijiang Sect disciples were even more terrified, retreating again and again. The way they looked at those goddess bones was as if they were staring at man-eating ghosts.

Just as they were overwhelmed with fear.

The entire underground canyon suddenly shook violently without the slightest warning.

Rumble!

It was as if a great earthquake had struck, and enormous chunks of rock kept crashing down from overhead.

From within the thick black night beyond the plaza, two gigantic black hands, so vast they could not be described in words, suddenly reached out.

The two hands were covered in coarse, stiff black hair, their nails like curved heavenly blades.

One on the left and one on the right, the two enormous hands clamped tightly onto the invisible barrier at the edge of the ruins, as if gripping two tightly shut gates.

Roar!

The next second, a terrifying demonic sound erupted from the depths of the darkness.

That demonic sound carried a piercing force that could crush dry weeds and smash rotten wood. It ignored the distance of space entirely and poured viciously into everyone's minds.

Hu Liena screamed, clutching her ears as she curled up on the ground in agony, fine threads of blood beginning to seep from all seven orifices.

The four Lijiang Sect disciples could not even remain standing. One after another, they dropped to their knees and let out pained roars.

Those two massive palms suddenly exerted force to either side, seemingly trying to rip open the protection over these ruins by brute force and let the darkness swallow everything here completely.

At that critical moment, just as the barrier was about to collapse.

On the white-jade plaza, the dozens of goddess skeletons sitting cross-legged suddenly lit up in unison with a brilliant, sacred radiance.

Although only skeletons remained of them, at this moment, within that dazzling light, it was as if the peerless shadows of their former selves had gathered once more.

Their robes fluttered, their bearing solemn and majestic.

The bone jaws of all the goddesses opened and closed slightly, and a grand, ancient divine sound rang leisurely through the canyon.

"Return..."

"Come back to the old court..."

At first, the divine sound was extremely faint, but it quickly gathered into a vast, surging torrent and collided thunderously with that terrifying demonic sound in midair.

At the same time, the goddess skeleton seated at the very front slowly raised both hands.

She tilted the Treasure Vase cupped in her palms, the one emitting a hazy glow.

A drop of golden liquid slid from the Treasure Vase and fell onto the large bluestone brick.

"Drip."

The sound was clear and pleasant.

Immediately after, the instant that drop of golden liquid touched the ground, it actually swelled wildly in the wind, transforming into a dazzling Golden Lotus the size of a millstone.

The Treasure Vase tilted, and countless drops of golden liquid scattered down.

In an instant, the entire white-jade plaza, and even the dry riverbed and rubble slopes around it, were covered with thousands upon thousands of radiant Golden Lotuses.

The sacred aura emitted by the Golden Lotuses wove together into a golden sea, forcibly keeping those two Demon God hands that were trying to tear apart the barrier outside.

Behind the stone pillar, Qin Mu was tightly gritting his teeth.

In his ears, on one side was the violent demonic sound from outside that seemed intent on tearing his soul apart; on the other was the vast divine sound of the goddesses, soothing the heart.

Two completely different powers clashed wildly inside his mind.

If it had been an ordinary person, they would long since have been blasted into an idiot by these two extreme powers.

But Qin Mu did not retreat.

He recalled the breathing technique Grandpa Village Chief had taught him, and simply sat down cross-legged behind the stone pillar.

He closed his eyes and actually began using the tremendous pressure produced by the collision of those two forces to temper the Spirit Fetus he had just awakened!

His breathing became extremely steady. With every inhale and exhale, the golden little figure deep between his brows swelled a little larger.

That insane move of borrowing force to counter force made Hu Liena's scalp go numb as she watched from the side.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the plaza.

The four disciples of the Lijiang Sect lay in the gaps of the Golden Lotus, looking at the corpses and bones around them that radiated divine light, listening to that grand divine sound.

The cold young man raised his head, his face full of disbelief and confusion.

"How is this possible..."

"The sect's ancient records clearly said that the gods abandoned the Great Ruins long ago."

"The Great Ruins is a cursed land that was forsaken. The statues here are shattered, and the temples have collapsed."

"But... if the gods already abandoned this place, why are they still struggling so bitterly here against the darkness?"

The young man murmured to himself, his entire worldview suffering a tremendous shock.

Not only that, with the light of the Golden Lotus, they saw the boundary where the darkness met the edge of the plaza.

At some unknown point, countless wild beasts from the Great Ruins had gathered there in dense numbers.

There were demon foxes with three tails, black bears as huge as mountains, and giant pythons coiled around tree trunks.

These wild beasts, usually incomparably savage, were now all lying meekly at the edge of the light, their forelimbs on the ground as they kowtowed in perfect unison toward the dozens of Goddess corpses and bones at the center of the plaza.

Ten thousand beasts paid homage.

That eerie yet sacred scene deeply shook the hearts of everyone present.

And that equally shocking scene was transmitted without reserve through the Sky Screen to every corner of Douluo Continent.

At the same time, on the training field of Shrek Academy.

The night wind blew, bringing a trace of chill, yet everyone's back had long since been soaked through with sweat.

Yu Xiaogang tightly clutched the small notebook in his hand that recorded countless theories on martial souls. By now, the notebook had already been deformed in his grip.

His eyes, which always carried a somewhat rigid look, were now bloodshot as they stared fixedly at the Sky Screen in midair.

"This is true power. This is the law that belongs to heaven and earth!"

Yu Xiaogang's voice was hoarse beyond recognition, and his body trembled slightly.

"Did you all see it?"

"When that Lijiang Sect disciple went to take the Whisk."

"That Whisk didn't release any magnificent lights or shadows at all, nor was there any commotion of soul power exploding."

"It was just a single strand of thread, a gentle flick, and a living man was separated from his head just like that."

He turned his head and looked at Tang San, Dai Mubai, and the others behind him, an unprecedented fervor in his eyes.

"By comparison, those soul tools of our Douluo Continent, even those soul bone skills people take such pride in..."

Yu Xiaogang gave a bitter laugh, one that sounded utterly powerless.

"They're practically as laughable as toys children knead out of mud."

Tang San stood to the side without speaking, but his expression was frighteningly dark.

In his mind, the scene of the Whisk killing that man kept replaying over and over.

As a genius of the Tang Sect's outer sect, he was proficient in the creation and use of all kinds of hidden weapons.

The Pear Blossom Needle in Rain, the Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus—these were the greatest sources of confidence in his heart.

But when he saw that Whisk merely lift a single strand of thread and instantly kill a cultivator who had awakened the Spirit Fetus realm, ignoring any defense...

Tang San's pride still wavered.

"If that was a hidden weapon, where is its mechanism? What is the principle behind its force?"

Tang San asked himself again and again in his heart.

He slowly closed his eyes, and the Goddesses' low chant of "Return, return to the old court" seemed to echo again beside his ears.

That chant came through the Sky Screen. Although it had been weakened countless times, it still carried a penetrating force that struck straight at the soul.

Tang San subconsciously wanted to imitate that pronunciation, wanted to explore the hidden mysteries of cultivation within that divine sound.

But just as the inner strength of his Mysterious Heaven Skill began circulating through his meridians, before he could even open his mouth—

"Pfft!"

Tang San only felt the blood and qi in his chest churn violently. His throat turned sweet, and he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, his body staggering several steps backward.

"Xiao San!"

"Third Brother!"

Ma Hongjun, Oscar, Xiao Wu, and the others around him turned pale with shock and hurriedly rushed forward to support him.

Yu Xiaogang was also startled and quickly checked Tang San's pulse.

Tang San wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and shook his head, his face as pale as paper.

"Teacher, I'm fine."