Above the Nine Heavens, a boundless sea of clouds stretched into the distance.
This was an absolute forbidden zone for living beings. Chaos mist surged into towering waves, churning and raging, crushing everything tangible and intangible.
At the center of the storm, the Sky-reaching Jianmu Tree stood majestic. Each leaf was the size of a star, breathing endless life essence and displaying nature's wondrous powers of creation.
And atop its crown stood an ancient Dao platform.
Its surface was weathered, the patterns carved into it long since blurred beyond recognition. Only one line of ancient script remained faintly legible-
To become a god or buddha of the heavens, first be an ox or horse for all living beings.
It was hard to imagine that the master of the Sky-reaching Jianmu Tree, the supreme existence who ruled billions of worlds, cultivated in seclusion somewhere so humble.
The God Lord sat cross-legged upon the Dao platform, his expression composed. Like an unruffled chess player, he quietly arranged the shifting fortunes of the heavens.
Anyone who witnessed this scene, however discerning, would have praised him: what an enlightened master, transcendent and untouched by worldly dust!
Unfortunately, the Primordial Spirit above his head, blazing with towering bloodlight, utterly destroyed that impression.
As the saying went: lightning tribulations filling the sky were easy to evade, but karmic fire engulfing the body was hard to extinguish.
That dark, brooding bloodlight was the monstrous karma condensed from his slaughter of billions of living beings. It had long since branded itself deep into his Primordial Spirit, entwining it without respite.
Even the legendary red lotus karma fire, before such an utterly vicious power, was merely a firefly beside the bright moon, unworthy of comparison.
Yet despite the bloodlight coiling around him day and night, the God Lord remained