Chapter Thirty: Union of Mortal and Divine

“Hisss...”

In a flash of thought, the golden centipede’s hundred legs slithered, stirring up clouds of dust across the ground.

“Ah...!”

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

“Don’t panic! Keep firing! Hit them hard! Whoever dares retreat, that’s what awaits you!” In the rear, seeing his soldiers falling back in terror before the sudden dust storm, Chen Sanpao didn’t hesitate—he raised his gun and shot the fastest deserters dead, roaring with menace.

Intimidated by Chen Sanpao’s savagery, the remaining soldiers quieted, regaining their composure and closing in on Li Yang once more.

“You impudent whelp, you’re at the end of your rope! Why not surrender now?” the old man sneered coldly. With a wave of his hand, several humanoid creatures, bodies wrapped in gray hemp, leaped out from behind him, lunging at the Six-Winged Golden Centipede.

“Open fire!” Li Yang, standing at the center of the encirclement, shouted. The golden centipede reared like a coiling dragon, swiping away the incoming shells and the writhing mummies, slowly ascending skyward.

Just then, the Furious Dawn Rooster let out a resounding crow. A beam of purifying light swept forth, momentarily driving back the Five Element Ghost Mothers blocking its path. Its body suddenly swelled, soaring toward Li Yang.

“Protect Madam! You go on ahead!” Li Yang slung Lady He onto his back, bent his knees, and leapt. He placed her on the rooster’s back, then landed steadily atop the centipede’s head.

“Trying to escape? Shoot that rooster down!” Chen Sanpao, seeing this, immediately ordered his men to redirect their fire at the Furious Dawn Rooster overhead.

At that moment, the golden toad nearby spat out a violent gust, whipping up dust and sand to obscure everyone’s vision.

“Damn it!” When the sandstorm cleared and everyone regained their footing, the rooster’s silhouette had vanished into the blackness of night.

“Boy, you can run, but you can’t hide! Once I’ve dealt with you, I’ll seek out that Moonshadow Physique. I refuse to believe she can escape my grasp!” Realizing his carelessness had let Lady He slip away, the old man’s face twisted in fury. The ten bone rings on his fingers shimmered with lights of various hues, forming a dazzling, multi-colored human-faced spider in the air.

“Evil god!” Li Yang’s brow furrowed at the sight of the grotesque spider looming overhead. These wild evil gods were often venerated as totems by primitive, uncivilized tribes—mysterious, unpredictable, and nearly immortal. They were formidable indeed.

“Heaven and earth made clear, grant me divine power: Human and god as one!” Facing such a foe, Li Yang dared not be careless. He sat cross-legged atop the centipede’s head, communing with the hieroglyphs in his mind. Sealing his hands in a mystic gesture, he spat out a mouthful of vivid blood.

The Six-Winged Golden Centipede beneath him let out a piercing cry, opened its maw, and spat forth a golden-red inner core, absorbing Li Yang’s blood completely. The core transformed into a hazy orb of light, which sank into Li Yang’s crown.

“The inner core!” The old man’s eyes flashed with greed at the sight of the centipede’s core gleaming with crimson radiance, but soon his expression turned grave.

As the core merged with his consciousness, a golden light erupted from Li Yang’s body. He exhaled a stream of heat, his entire form cloaked in golden armor, his body swelling into a towering figure over two meters tall. Muscles knotted across his frame, his skin imprinted with patterns resembling ancient coins.

“Spew venom, shroud with miasma, black clouds cover the sky!”

With a thunderous roar, the centipede unleashed a jet of toxic miasma, conjuring a pitch-black cloud overhead. Atop this cloud stood a golden-armored giant, his entire body agleam with resplendent gold, gazing coldly down upon the earth like a god descended.

“Enough of these tricks! Open fire—blast him to pieces!” Chen Sanpao bellowed.

The soldiers responded with a metallic clatter.

“Five Ghosts’ Execution! Spider God’s wrath: Annihilation!” The old man incanted.

Sparks danced across the giant’s armored body as bullets struck, but he sneered with contempt.

Turning to face the charging Five Element Ghost Mothers, the giant inhaled, then unleashed a torrent of crimson light. The ghost mothers screamed as if scorched by the sun, before being sucked into Li Yang’s mouth with a single breath.

At that instant, the spider overhead let out a bizarre, piercing screech. Li Yang faltered, his mind reeling with dizziness.

With a thought, Li Yang launched himself like a cannonball, intercepting the spider midair. The two clashed, blow for blow, the reverberations ringing through the night like the hammering of steel.

The golden centipede coiled through the black clouds like a divine serpent, its head and tail unseen, while poisonous miasma spread across the He estate.

“Help...!”

“Save me...!”

“Master... spare me...!”

“No... please...!”

“Priest... save me...!”

For a time, the mansion was filled with screams of agony and pleas for mercy, descending into utter chaos—a living hell on earth.

The old man’s face darkened as he watched, shrouded in a faint, sickly green glow that shielded himself and Chen Sanpao. His expression shifted uneasily.

“Hundred Ghosts Devour the Soul!” After a long moment, the old man gritted his teeth, produced a tattered scroll from his robe, and tossed it high.

A ripping sound filled the air as the scroll unraveled. A chilling wind swept forth, thickening the gloom, and countless ghostly visages surged at the centipede within the black clouds, savagely tearing at it.

The centipede writhed in agony, its cries echoing through the toxic mist, and as it faltered, the poison fog on the ground began to dissipate.

“Banish evil!” Seeing the soldiers writhing, Chen Sanpao making to flee, Li Yang’s gaze turned icy. He summoned his power, and the centipede’s body flared with golden-red radiance, repelling the ghosts. It inhaled the black mist, then spat it toward the old man.

“Trying to escape? Not so easily!”

Li Yang’s golden light blazed like the sun. With a thunderous crash, he struck the spider and then spun toward Chen Sanpao.

“Going somewhere...?”

A single punch, and Chen Sanpao, terrified and unable to finish his plea for mercy, was obliterated, his body exploding into a bloody mist.

Breathing in the metallic tang of blood, Li Yang felt not the slightest nausea—only an exhilarating sense of release.

“You insolent brat! How dare you!” the old man screamed, his face contorted in rage as years of painstakingly built power vanished before his eyes. White smoke billowed from his satchels, shielding him from the centipede. Between his palms, gray-white evil light flared, surging toward Li Yang.

“Mere parlor tricks! Today is the day you die!” Li Yang, now feeling as mighty as a divine titan, his golden blood boiling like mercury, met the old man’s attack with a cold laugh and hurled both fists forward.

Thunder shook the heavens, shockwaves rippling visibly through the air.

Li Yang stumbled back two steps, shook his head, and recovered instantly. The old man, though, was sent tumbling by the blast, vile green blood streaming from his seven orifices, his face twisted and ghastly like a demon from the underworld.