Chapter 661: An Unexpected Discovery

First, a tremendous impact struck Lucifer's 'Shield of the Morning Star', causing the Lord of Hell to frown deeply, nearly forced to yield ground.

Then Li Mochen's 'Shield of Thebes' and Nyx's 'Night Realm' were also struck in succession, producing a series of thumping sounds. The dense force of the impacts nearly made them lose their footing as well.

"This is a divine abomination!"

Nyx's face turned pale, yet her eyes held excitement: "There must be a divine corpse nearby, and of no low rank."

Lucifer also perked up: "It should be to our left."

Li Mochen could understand the source of their excitement, for divine abominations are only generated under two circumstances. One is from a deity's offspring that died prematurely or mutated. Their main consciousness has perished, but the flesh cells still possess a will to survive, with powerful divine properties, and have been twisted, given strange and terrifying marks during the birth pangs of the 'god'.

The other is born directly from a divine corpse, much the same as the former. The main consciousness of the deity has died, but their flesh cells still live.

The things that emerged from Amon's remains earlier could be called 'divine abominations'.

Since such a powerful 'divine abomination' exists nearby, there must be a divine corpse of considerable strength in life.

This undoubtedly confirmed the conjectures of Nyx and Lucifer, but what truly delighted Nyx was the vast profit hidden in this truth.

Nyx had already cast a spell to observe that direction, and Lucifer and Li Mochen followed suit. They saw a corpse somewhat resembling a pit fiend from the Abyss, with two twisted horns on its head, hooves for feet, and pale golden mysterious patterns all over its body. There was a deep pit in its forehead, like an eye socket, but the pupil inside was missing. Additionally, there were two huge wounds in its heart and abdomen.

What was particularly startling was that this divine corpse was over a hundred thousand meters long, much more massive and robust than the primordial Titans.

Li Mochen's pupils also contracted, for the rhythm of truth on this divine corpse was only slightly inferior to that of Lucifer beside him. This showed how powerful it must have been in life.

Could a divine corpse of a vice-king rank be found just in the outer layer of this Sea of Calamity? What about the inner layers?

His two companions were also stunned, taking a long time to snap out of it under the continuous assault of the divine abomination's tentacles.

"It should be an ancient god with a divine rank of nineteen."

The Night Goddess Nyx seemed to suppress her emotions, taking a deep breath in this Sea of Calamity: "Indeed, the calamitous power of this world must originate from these divine corpses."

Her gaze swept over the divine corpse, then she sighed softly: "What a pity!"

This powerful being of vice-king rank had left behind quite a few things, but unfortunately, due to the vast passage of time, these legacies had lost all value.

On one hand, this was because the divine corpse had existed for an extremely long time, possibly billions of years.

Under such a high concentration of calamitous pollution, even truth-level mythical armaments could not last more than a hundred million years.

On the other hand, it was due to the tearing of the laws.

By now, she had roughly understood the origin of the flaws in the laws of the Dark World. They also stemmed from the massive corpse before her and the divine corpses that might exist deep within the Sea of Calamity.

These vice-kings who died in war had left their residual divine power here. Countless different 'truth' and 'pseudo-truth' divine powers were jumbled together in this ancient battlefield, crisscrossing and conflicting, causing a huge irreparable tear in the core of this Dark World.

This also blocked any possibility of these divine corpses 'reviving'. Otherwise, the environment here could have given birth to a pure child of calamity, like Amon in the depths of the Abyss.

"Let's bypass it from the side."

Lucifer continued to gaze into the depths of the Sea of Calamity: "The truth has been revealed, but now I am even more curious about what lies inside."

He was still very wary of the divine abomination stretching countless tentacles toward them. Although he was a true king of gods, they were all greatly suppressed here. And that divine abomination had an endless supply of power.

This Sea of Calamity was vast; they didn't need to waste their strength against this abomination.

Next, Li Mochen took the lead, guiding the two deeper. Although the Sea of Calamity was vast, in its deeper layers, there was no strict distinction between up, down, left, or right. The space around them changed and twisted almost every moment. Coupled with the obstruction of calamitous power on sight and perception, Lucifer could no longer accurately sense directions.

As for Nyx, she wasn't much better. She had to constantly pour divine power into her eyes just to barely discern her surroundings. But that meant an extra consumption of divine power.

So at this moment, Li Mochen's 'Fate' divine power was more suitable, allowing him to use the power of fate to guide them deeper.

Even so, the three encountered attacks from five divine abominations along the way.

At this point, even Lucifer, who had the best composure, could no longer remain calm. He wondered what had happened in ancient times that caused so many 'vice-kings' to fall here.

He had long suspected that the Sea of Calamity in the Dark World was not simple and might hide great secrets, but he never imagined that this secret would be so shocking.

Li Mochen's heart also stirred. He was both shocked by the five vice-king-level corpses and couldn't help feeling puzzled.

Were the Golden Immortals and vice-kings of ancient times free for the taking? And what were they fighting over here?

"This is already the sixth divine corpse of rank nineteen—"

Nyx smiled bitterly: "Suddenly I feel that I, Nyx, am just so-so. I thought I stood at the pinnacle of the gods, but in reality, I am nothing."

But Li Mochen had already glimpsed a clue: "These divine corpses should be remnants of the previous epoch."

"Previous epoch?"

Lucifer raised an eyebrow: "Andre, are you sure?"

"The traces of fate told me."

Li Mochen gathered spiritual power in his eyes and looked at the web of fate around a divine corpse ahead.

It had originally had no intersection with anything in this world, until the three of them arrived, when strands began to intertwine with this world.

"This is very interesting!"

A strange light flashed in Nyx's eyes: "I'm getting more and more curious about what's inside. But for now, we should return. My divine power reserve is less than forty percent; continuing deeper might be very risky."

Lucifer rarely disagreed with her; he also nodded: "Agreed. My situation is also bad; I can't sustain it anymore."

Li Mochen sneered inwardly, knowing that both of them had held back a lot. Words like 'divine power reserve less than forty percent' and 'can't sustain it' were just for show and should not be taken seriously.

The reason they were unwilling to go deeper was either due to other reasons or because they had discovered something during the exploration and didn't want to share.

Li Mochen also felt the same; he had made considerable gains as well.

"Same here. This is about my limit too."

But before leaving, Li Mochen used his 'Titan's Eye' and 'True Dragon's Vision', along with his 'Fate' divine power, to sweep a glance into the depths of the Sea of Calamity.

He had done this a few times before, but this time was slightly different. Li Mochen also added the power of the 'Divine Firmament Spiritual Fortune Purple Gold Pagoda', making a small wish—to perceive this 'Sea of Calamity' to the greatest extent within his ability.

The next moment, Li Mochen felt a sharp pain in his eyes, as if his pupils were about to explode. A drop of blood indeed trickled from the corner of his eye. But he quickly concealed it, showing no change in expression.

Li Mochen would not tell his two companions what he had seen.

Not far ahead of them, there were hundreds of divine remains. None were below Divine Rank 19, and there were five at Divine Rank 20, with the status of Great Golden Immortals.

The mere threads of fate extending toward Li Mochen, representing destiny, caused a tremendous impact on his primordial spirit.

From this moment, his fate became connected to these divine remains that should have stood apart from the world.

A realization also arose in Li Mochen's heart: he thought that these powerful divine remains might be the 'core' of this dark world itself, even though they were fragmented and not unified.

Beyond that, there was likely something else hidden within, something that even he, a Divine Rank 18 sovereign god, could not gaze upon directly. A single glance made him feel as he had when entering the Astral Realm as a mortal.

Moreover, there should be more than one such thing that he could not look upon! One of them radiated incomparable brilliance and holiness, so much so that even this boundless Sea of Sin could not taint it or dim its light.

It was unbelievable that the most dazzling and holy thing in the world existed in the most filthy and dark place.

The combined force of these unseeable things not only nearly burst Li Mochen's pupils but also caused his body and flesh to stir violently. If he had not suppressed it in time, his physical form would have nearly undergone a mutation.

Yet what truly shocked him were the two powerful waves of information that accompanied them, crossing the void and pouring into his eyes.

This left Li Mochen's mind shaken and incredulous, but also filled with joy.

First, within this battlefield of the gods, there was 'life,' or at least 'souls'—intelligent, powerful beings, not divine aberrations.

Second, through these two waves of information, he gained some additional, pleasantly surprising benefits.

This would aid his further cultivation and might even resolve a crisis he might face soon.

How interesting—why now? Could this be the result of the combined favor of the 'World Will' and the 'Sea of Human Subconsciousness'? Was he favored by fortune?

But what exactly was inside? And what had happened?

Li Mochen was intensely curious about the situation within, but he knew it was something he could not explore now, unless he could advance in rank to become a true Vice God King, or even a God King.

Moreover, the gains this time were already too many, too much to make him uneasy.

"Let's go back! We'll return the way we came."

After saying this, Li Mochen stared deeply into the Sea of Sin for half a minute before moving. He still faced forward as he walked, but he had secretly used divine power to distort space and change direction.

The return was much faster than their arrival; at least Li Mochen could now accurately avoid the attacks of the six divine aberrations.

But two days later, just as the three had left the depths of the Sea of Sin, Lucifer secretly contacted Li Mochen with his divine sense.

"Are you really planning to just walk out of the Sea of Sin like this? Don't you think Nyx is suspicious?"

Li Mochen's eyes flickered, but his face showed no change: "Suspicious? Do you have any evidence, Lord Lucifer? Or have you discovered something?"

"I haven't found anything, and I have no evidence."

Lucifer snorted: "If you must ask why I say this, it's intuition. You should know that Venus is considered in some regions to represent prophecy and foresight, guiding human destiny."

In fact, he had felt a vague unease since leaving the divine aberration zone.

"And don't you find it strange? We left the danger zone half a day ago."

"Intuition?"

Li Mochen actually understood Lucifer's thoughts. Given Nyx's suspicious nature, she should have distanced herself or left alone after leaving the danger zone. Yet Nyx was still following them closely, never straying.

Of course, this shouldn't be a reason for suspicion. Nyx's temperament was changeable; no one could guess her thoughts. Perhaps she truly wanted to turn enemies into friends?

But rash suspicion would alienate people, while continuing like this would also expose them to unnecessary risk.

Moreover, at this point, choosing to continue traveling together would seem unnatural and suspicious.

At this location, that thing could also exert its full power without threatening itself.

He then looked ahead with an unreadable expression, watching the fleeting traces of fate. Someone was using immensely powerful divine abilities to conceal the tracks of fate and time.

But that person underestimated his current strength.

During the year of secluded cultivation in the Heavenly Mandate Divine Kingdom, although he had not broken through 'Fate' and 'Time' to pseudo-truth, he had gained something else.

It was a supreme divine authority derived from these two and surpassing them—though its level was still low, it was enough to help him identify methods that obscured heavenly secrets.

"Let's stop here!"

Li Mochen turned around decisively: "Lady Nyx, I think we can part ways here."

Nyx paused, then showed a knowing, slightly hurt smile: "It seems Lord Andrei has limited trust in me."

Li Mochen thought this Night Mother Goddess's acting could win her an Oscar, but he didn't care: "We were only cooperating, Lady Nyx. Trust is expensive; it needs to be built gradually, not overnight. If there were no reservations between us, there would be no need for a pact."

"Well said."

Nyx smiled radiantly: "But before we part, I must thank you. I'm glad I chose to come; otherwise, I would regret missing this adventure for life. In these six days, you've fundamentally changed my understanding of this world."

"I'm honored!"

Li Mochen asked with a smile: "So, shall we continue? I mean further exploration. I'll need about twenty more days—"

He couldn't finish, as he sensed a change in the surrounding situation.

"Why not? I'd like to see what's inside. Unfortunately—"

Nyx sighed: "If I had known the truth ten days ago, I wouldn't have made this choice. But it's too late now, Lord Fate Dominator."

As she spoke, several extremely powerful auras crossed the Sea of Sin, entering their divine sense range and rapidly approaching.

Lucifer was horrified; he recognized these figures and immediately fully deployed his 'Victory Morning Star Shield.'

He only regretted not warning Li Mochen earlier, but who would have thought that this always cautious man would have no guard against Nyx?

He had assumed that the Fate Dominator had prepared something or had ulterior motives for traveling with Nyx.

"I knew it! She's a bitch! You shouldn't believe a single word she says!"

But what puzzled Lucifer was that Li Mochen made no move—neither trying to flee nor strengthening his defenses.

Could it be that this guy really had a plan, that he was scheming something?

At that moment, Li Mochen's divine sense reached him: "Trust me this once, Lord Lucifer. I guarantee there will be no danger, but I need your help. I promise today might let you vent your anger."

Lucifer frowned, then decisively abandoned the idea of finding an escape route and stood still.

He thought that Li Mochen indeed had a plan. As expected, this shrewd, cunning fellow couldn't be without some scheme.

Just at that moment, four figures materialized around them one after another.

—They were 'Holy Mother' Isis, 'Abyss King' Satan, 'Goddess of Freedom' Eris, and 'Earth Mother' Rhea.

Four god-kings, four directions, blocking Li Mochen's path ahead and forming an encirclement.

The other three were as expected, all within Li Mochen's anticipation. Only the appearance of 'Earth Mother' Rhea surprised him greatly, and he looked at her with a meaningful gaze.

“Interesting! It seems that Your Highness Rhea is not as loyal to your mother as I thought.”

“Everyone has the right to pursue their own path.”

Rhea replied calmly, glancing at him indifferently: “The Wishing Tower is in your hands, isn’t it?”

Behind Li Mochen, the Night Goddess Nyx was still smiling, but her eyes held a hint of uncertainty: “Your Majesty Andrei, you don’t seem surprised at all?”

“Of course I’m not surprised.”

Li Mochen calmed the turmoil stirred in his heart by the 'Wishing Tower' and shifted his gaze to the Holy Mother Isis: “It’s nothing more than selling the same goods twice, am I right, Your Highness Isis?”

The moment Rhea mentioned the 'Wishing Tower,' he already knew the reason.

What Isis used to persuade Nyx was naturally the qualification for the second 'Supreme God,' while 'Earth Mother' Rhea came for the Wishing Tower.

As for Eris, it might be one or two powerful mythical armaments, or source essences, or some 'divine office' or 'divine authority' she had long dreamed of.

With no hope of contending for 'God Above Gods,' settling for the next best thing like Lucifer was undoubtedly an excellent choice. As for this betrayal of the Night Goddess—compared to the prospect and temptation of becoming the God Above Gods, nothing was unforgivable.

“Your Majesty Andrei, that accusation is a bit excessive. It’s hardly selling the same goods twice, is it? Nor can it be said that I broke the contract—Gaia hasn’t been expelled yet, has she?”

Isis shook her head, but her eyes were also grave. Li Mochen’s reaction today was very strange, completely beyond her expectations.

Whether it was choosing to travel with Nyx after leaving the danger zone, or his current calm demeanor with no intention of breaking through and escaping—these anomalies made Isis suspicious and secretly vigilant.

At the same time, she was puzzled: what gave Li Mochen the confidence to stand before them in such a leisurely posture?

Was it Gaia? Odin? Or Zeus?

But she was one hundred percent certain that these few would definitely not appear here. Even if they did come, they would probably prefer to see this man dead.

“I have no intention of accusing Your Highness Isis.”

Li Mochen responded with a smile: “I’m just somewhat impressed by Your Highness’s wisdom. I think if both Lucifer and I die here today, then the strife over the 'God Above Gods' in this world should come to an end.”

Without the restraint of him and Lucifer, the alliance Isis had formed would be enough to decide the ownership of the 'God Above Gods.'

Neither Gaia, Odin, nor Zeus would find it easy to shake the Radiant Lord again. Even if each of them had hidden reserves and secrets.

The combined force of the Radiant Lord and the five god-kings was something they could never resist.

“Thank you for the compliment. If it could truly be achieved, burying you and Your Highness Lucifer here would naturally be for the best—”

“Is there any need to say so much to him?”

Eris seemed somewhat impatient, forcibly interrupting Isis: “Why not act now? Although this place can isolate the Mother Goddess Gaia’s senses to a certain extent, the longer we delay, the more variables arise.”

She knew that among the god-kings present, the only one capable and motivated to rescue Li Mochen was Gaia. Even after being pulled from her roots, she and the Radiant Lord remained the most powerful among all the god-kings.

But Li Mochen, after this, looked at her with a half-smile.

“Your Highness Eris seems eager? But are you sure this is a trap set for me, rather than a collaboration between Nyx and me, aimed at you goddesses?”

Eris couldn’t be bothered to respond; she simply pointed her Freedom Scepter from afar, and a beam of cyan-green ray shot toward Li Mochen.

The supreme law 'Divine Disintegration' and her divine authorities 'Freedom' and 'Strife' began to decompose Li Mochen’s body and everything he possessed to the utmost.

But Li Mochen remained calm, even though his cells and flesh began to race toward freedom under the effect of the opponent’s divine authority, with conflicts arising among them.

However, his cultivation over the years in 'Suppression,' 'Eternity,' 'Solidity,' 'Indomitability,' 'Domination,' 'Decree,' and 'Defense' had paid off. Although most of these divine authorities were only at high rank, combined with the pseudo-truth-level 'Fate' to guide them, they were enough to resist the power of the Goddess of Freedom Eris in direct combat and suppress the mutations within his body. At the same time, with pseudo-truth-level 'Equality,' he forcibly pulled the power of the god-kings before him down to a rank close to divine rank 18, reducing Eris’s power by more than thirty percent!

But Li Mochen’s divine power consumption was also extreme, tying up about seventy percent of his divine power source.

'Holy Mother' Isis sighed softly. She had been feeling uneasy just now. On one hand, she wanted to delay time through dialogue to make more preparations and ensure nothing went wrong; on the other, she wanted to review her own plans for any other oversights.

But Eris’s preemptive strike forced her to follow up.

She raised her hand, and a black-and-white ray shot forth—a power extremely similar to Li Mochen’s 'North-South Pole Life-Death Divine Light,' but even stronger, containing truth-level 'Life' and 'Death'!

What eased Li Mochen’s mind was that she also possessed pseudo-truth-level 'Nature' and pseudo-truth-level 'Magic,' but both were rejected by this world and could not exert their full power.

At the same time, the Earth Mother 'Rhea' also acted instantly, still a ray, a gray-white beam emitted from Rhea’s eyes toward Li Mochen.

Besides 'Earth,' she also had truth-level 'Nature,' which could amplify this petrification ray to its ultimate peak!

Only Satan did not act; together with the Night Goddess Nyx, he was vigilant against Lucifer’s movements.

Meanwhile, behind Nyx, a cobweb-like thing spread in all directions, enveloping all the surrounding space.

—It was a mythical armament never before seen in the bright world, containing powerful temporal and spatial forces, almost isolating the space they were in into an independent world.

Lucifer’s pupils contracted slightly, confirming that the opponents intended to kill him as well. They indeed had the ability to do so, as long as they could keep him here until his ally died.

Lucifer’s mind grew restless, and he couldn’t help but focus most of his attention on Li Mochen.

Although Li Mochen had given him assurances, and Lucifer had considerable trust in this 'Fate Dominator' who had risen in just over a decade, their current situation made him unable to avoid worry.

Just then, Lucifer’s expression shook, and he once again revealed an incredulous shock and surprise.

Li Mochen and the Goddess of Freedom Eris had suddenly swapped positions, leaving the latter under the combined assault of Rhea’s 'Petrification Ray' and Isis’s 'Life-Death Light.'

Even more shocking was that behind the Night Goddess Nyx, tens of thousands of black tentacles suddenly extended, surging like a tide past Nyx toward the Goddess of Freedom Eris.

—Those were divine aberrations! And two extremely powerful ones, each mastering at least two truth-level powers!

The way the Fate Dominator and the Goddess of Freedom Eris forcibly swapped positions was also astonishing. If he wasn’t mistaken, it was truth-level 'Space' and truth-level 'Truth'! Exactly the same formidable powers as those two divine aberrations!

Although Lucifer didn’t understand what was happening, his reaction was not slow. Countless chains instantly extended toward the Goddess of Freedom Eris and the Night Goddess Nyx.

That was his ultimate mythical armament 'Heavenly Chains'! Although its quality and rank were below pseudo-truth-level, in battles against deities, its power rivaled pseudo-truth-level artifacts!

His 'Dark Holy Seal' also fully expanded at the same time, beginning to fully manipulate the surrounding darkness and boundless aberrant power.

“I told you, this might not be a trap for me, but for you, Goddess of Freedom Eris!”

Li Mochen seemed to be speaking to Eris, but his gaze was fixed on the Night Goddess Nyx, cold and merciless, with a hint of mockery.

He was guessing what choice the Night Goddess would make.

The key was the soul contract they had signed upon entering the Abyss Sea, which prohibited mutual attacks. So although she had joined the encirclement, she had not made any offensive moves against him or Lucifer, only sealing the space-time with the dark cobweb.

But now, the moment had come when she had to make a decision: abide by the contract and stand by, or risk the cost of damage and watch Eris fall into death!

Nyx’s eyes, filled with shock and distraction, flickered uncertainly. In the end, she stood still, motionless, allowing the myriad tentacles to pass by her.

“You cannot succeed!”

'Holy Mother' Isis also changed color drastically. The situation before her was something she had never imagined. She raised her hand to withdraw the ongoing 'Life-Death Ray' and at the same time, a holy light condensed into a blade, slashing toward Eris.

Of course, she was not attacking the Goddess of Freedom; the holy light blade was aimed at the tentacles originating from the divine aberrations.

But before that, Li Mochen swept a sword light across, forcibly shattering the holy light blade. Following closely was Li Mochen’s 'Zhou Tian Thunder Fire Star Core Sword Formation.'

A total of four hundred and one swords instantly erupted into a tide of millions of sword beams, not only completely engulfing Isis but also enveloping the 'Earth Mother' Rhea with the remaining force.

What was truly terrifying was the 'Space' and 'Truth' that Li Mochen had applied to the 'Fate Sword' and the 'Zhou Tian Thunder Fire Star Core Sword Formation.' These two truth-level powers gave these powerful mythical armaments several times their previous majestic might.

Even the powerful Rhea and Isis had to go all out to defend, unable to spare any strength to rescue their ally.

At this moment, even the wise 'Holy Mother' Isis couldn’t help but feel doubt.

Could it be that this was indeed a trap set by Nyx and the Fate Dominator against them? That she had seemingly sold out the Fate Dominator’s location to them, but in reality, was luring the Goddess of Freedom Eris and the others into the Abyss Sea of this dark world?

“Nyx!”

Eris seemed to have confirmed that she had been betrayed by Nyx. Her body exploded with countless disintegration rays in a scream, trying to forcibly decompose the myriad tentacles of the divine aberrations. At the same time, layers upon layers of white light shields formed around her, nearly a thousand layers in an instant, so dense it made one’s scalp tingle.

But Eris’s struggles were futile. The divine aberrations were already in a state of extreme division; under Li Mochen’s manipulation, the strife and conflict among them did not lead to division but instead caused the tentacles to erupt with even greater power.

The total of a thousand layers of white light shields were all shattered in less than one hundred-thousandth of a second.

Eris then tried to break through space-time to escape the Abyss Sea, but was blocked by Li Mochen. The truth-level 'Space' and pseudo-truth-level 'Time Sequence' were already extremely powerful, and truth-level 'Truth' could further elevate the power of these two superior divine authorities!

In addition, there was Nyx’s black cobweb. As a 'neutral' in this battle, the Night Goddess’s mythical armament still locked down the space, without any relaxation.

—This was supposed to be her way of circumventing the soul contract, but now it seemed to have become a reason for her to trap Eris.

Even the full interference of the Abyss King Satan, 'Holy Mother' Isis, and 'Earth Mother' Rhea with space-time could not shake the space-time locking Eris in the slightest!

In the next instant, Lucifer’s 'Heavenly Chains' arrived after the fact, further piercing the body of the Goddess of Freedom Eris. This mythical armament’s suppression of divinity also drove all of Eris’s resistance and struggles to a low ebb.

Then came the dark tide formed by countless twisted and ugly tentacles, which in an instant engulfed the body of the Goddess of Freedom Eris, and then devoured it!