Chapter 1431, The King of Gods’ Imprint

Translator:  Ashish

Translation Checker: Silvain

 

Indeed, this felt far more right.

 

There was no such thing as perfection in this world. Even a Grand Divine Ability, for all its world-shaking power, bore its own inherent scars.

 

For instance, the sheer impossibility of mastering one was beyond the reach of imagination; the threshold for merely wielding such power was a height ordinary beings could never hope to glimpse, let alone scale.

 

Even Yu Zi Yu, a man favored by the Heavens and blessed with peerless talent, had been forced to rely on the crutch of Evolution Points, again and again, before he could grasp the essence of ‘One Qi Transforms into Three Pure Ones.

 

From this alone, one could imagine just how monstrous that prodigy of the Kun Peng Clan must be. To have mastered a Grand Divine Ability at only a hundred years of age… the thought itself was chilling. Regardless of whether he had walked a crooked path or inherited an ancient, staggering legacy, one truth remained unassailable; in terms of raw, innate talent, that youth was a peer to Yu Zi Yu himself.

 

Of course, when Yu Zi Yu considered talent, he habitually disregarded the existence of his Evolution Points. They were not talent of mind or body; they were a variable that had transcended the laws of understanding.

 

…

 

However, now was clearly not the time to ponder on the limitations of the Spacetime Rift.

 

Sensing a faint ripple in the void, Yu Zi Yu raised his hand, his fingers reaching toward a desolate corner of the starry expanse.

 

*Booooooom…*

 

With a thunderous roar, the rapidly fading silver halo tore through the distance and settled into his palm.

 

It was the Imperial Artifact, Vajra Ring.

 

Though its surface was now marred with jagged cracks and stripped of its former divinity, it remained a treasure of rare and precious measure. Even in its ruined state, it possessed a lethality that put ordinary Divine Artifacts to shame.

 

Yu Zi Yu watched as the massive weapon shrank, compressing itself until it was no larger than a common ring. With a casual flick of his wrist, he slipped it onto his finger.

 

Thus, he decided to wear it as a ring.

 

If the True Spirit of the Vajra Ring had known this, it would probably have spat out a mouthful of blood in pure indignation. A dignified Imperial Artifact, a weapon of legend that even Eternals treated with solemn reverence, had been reduced to a mere trinket.

 

Worse still, it was not bound to the hand of the very enemy it loathed to its core.

 

“Still,” Yu Zi Yu murmured, feeling a faint, inexplicable coolness from the metal into his skin. A thin, dangerous smile played across his lips. “An Imperial Artifact is an Imperial Artifact, after all.”

 

…

 

The moment Yu Zi Yu claimed the ruined Vajra Ring and turned his gaze toward Heaven’s Door, the universe seemed to hold its breath.

 

A silence, heavy and absolute like the void of the grave, descended upon the universe.

 

In the wake of that astonishing strike, the onlookers found themselves paralyzed by a singular, suffocating question: What has happened!?

 

As they strained their eyes toward the farthest reaches of the battlefield, where the silver radiance of the Imperial Artifact continued to slowly decay. Yet, amidst the fading light, that towering golden silhouette remained, standing in harrowing silence.

 

No one had an idea what had happened, but one thing was certain to everyone: the Vajra Ring’s ultimate gambit, a self-immolating Eternal Strike, had failed to claim the life of the Demon Emperor.

 

*Gulp…* A collective, jagged breath caught in the throats of the onlookers.

 

“Heavens…”

 

“Th-this…”

 

Stammered cries of disbelief rippled through the cosmos as powerhouses from every corner of the cosmos stared in raw horror.

 

Deep within the stellar depths, even the Lord of Reincarnation, who had been watching the spectacle with rare interest, couldn’t help but twitch at the corners of his eyes. He even slapped himself, his composure finally fraying.

 

“Damn… that thing is a literal monster,” he hissed. His eyes narrowed, focusing on the colossal gate looming over the golden figure. “Did Heaven’s Door arrival shield him from the disaster!?”

 

Suspicion gnawed at him.

 

None of the ancient legacies he had mastered ever suggested that Heaven’s Door could serve as a bulwark against such violence. However, as he searched for logic, it remained the only explanation.

 

It had been an Eternal Strike, a force capable of reducing even someone as powerful as himself to cinders in a heartbeat.

 

[No… Wait… Powerful… Me!? Did I seriously call myself powerful!? Compared to the Demon Emperor, I am nothing but trash. If even the Demon Emperor almost met his end, what chance would I have!?]

 

*Haaaa….* The Lord of Reincarnation let out a long, weary sigh, but it was not born of regret. Instead, a rare, genius spark of delight kindled in his eyes.

 

[That’s more like it! How can a peerless prodigy like the Demon Emperor possibly fall to an Eternal Strike!?]

 

“Only now,” he whispered with a soft chuckle, “are you truly worth chasing…”

 

Then, without waiting for the final act, he slowly turned back and left. There was no longer any need to watch. He decided to return to seclusion; he would temper himself and push his cultivation toward the Realm of Hegemony with renewed fervor.

 

As for the spectacle of the Demon Emperor forcing open Heaven’s Door!? He didn’t need to see it to know the ending. The outcome was already set in stone.

 

If even the Demon Emperor failed to open Heaven’s Door, then no one in the entire universe would ever succeed.

 

…

 

Across the vast expanse of the cosmos, the greatest experts of the age watched with bated breath, but Yu Zi Yu had no leisure to acknowledge their gaze.

 

A ghost of a smile touched his lips as he surveyed the starry expanse. The surrounding expanse had fallen into a state of absolute stasis, as if time itself had been paralyzed by the sheer gravity of the moment. In this frozen void, only the ancient, colossal gate remained.

 

Then, the Dao began to sing.

 

A grand majestic resonance rippled through the fabric of space, emanating from the depths of Heaven’s Door. It was a celestial melody, capable of scouring the Soul of its impurities. Even for a being of Yu Zi Yu’s caliber, the sound brought a fleeting, surreal sense of tranquility.

 

However, this was merely the final calm before the storm.

 

*Booooooom…*

 

The silence was shattered by a thunderous roar that seemed to originate from the beginning of time. The tightly shut gate started to open, but just enough to reveal a narrow slit.

 

And through that silver of an opening, the glimpses of the mysteries hidden beyond the door bled into the universe.

 

*Boooooom…* With a world-shaking detonation, a pillar of blinding radiance erupted from the gap, piercing straight into the Starry Sky.

 

“I am the King of Gods…My strength can sunder the Heavens…”

 

A roar of ancient, unknown origin sent shockwaves through the stars. Within the surging radiance, the light began to weave itself together, knitting into a terrifying phantom.

 

It was a member of the God Race, a being whose presence alone caused the vacuum of space to shudder. And in its grip, it held a gigantic axe.

 

This was no mere shadow. It was the indelible imprint of the God Race’s First King of Gods, and the Progenitor of the Gods. He was a fearsome entity who had once attained Eternity. And the weapon he brandished was the stuff of legend, a Creation Divine Artifact, also known as a Primordial Imperial Artifact, the legendary Axe of Nature.

 

“Is there some cosmic grudge between me and the God Race?” Yu Zi Yu murmured, a soft chuckle escaping him as he looked upon the familiar, daunting figure.

 

He couldn’t help but sigh at the irony. When he had descended upon the God Race in his guise as the Soaring Purple Dragon, the Genesis Star Chart had summoned this very projection to oppose him. Even earlier, when Yggdrassil, the World Tree, had attempted to breach Heaven’s Door, that same divine axe had descended to bar the way.

 

But there was a chilling difference this time.

 

When the World Tree had stood here, it had faced only the weapon. Yu Zi Yu, however, had summoned both the axe and the titan who wielded it.

 

This disparity spoke volumes of the sheer, terrifying depth of his current foundation. By attempting to shatter Heaven’s Door, he had provoked the universe into manifesting the imprint of one of the era’s most formidable entities, a being who stood on equal footing with the God of the Angels or the Great Shakyamuni of the Buddhist Sect.