559: Four immortal gods in the four directions

“Tricked?”

“What do you mean by that?”

Zheng Yunfei asked, puzzled.

Zhang Lingxiao didn’t answer directly, he just looked at Yekaterina, and said, “I ask you, how far is the World Tree from here?”

Yekaterina looked to the northwest, estimated the distance, and said, “About two thousand kilometers.”

“Two thousand kilometers…”

Zhang Lingxiao gave a wry smile, “So what are you all rushing for?”

“Grand Tutor, what do you mean?”

Yekaterina was a bit confused.

Zhang Lingxiao explained, “Two thousand kilometers, this guy will have to crawl for a long time to reach the World Tree. In that amount of time, we can come up with ten thousand ways to stop it.”

Zheng Yunfei was stunned, “You mean, this is a feint to lure the tiger out of its mountain lair?”

“Something like that. In short, it’s just buying time.”

Zhang Lingxiao nodded, feeling very frustrated.

Just a moment ago, he had used his cunning skill of controlling fate to instantly kill Marfa, one of the former Nine War Gods, winning with extreme ease.

But this “ease” made Zhang Lingxiao slap his thigh and exclaim that he had been too hasty.

Marfa hadn't been scorched by Hui Yues Fire, so he would most likely be resurrected by the Demonic Eye.

His instant kill had, in fact, allowed Marfa to escape.

More importantly, he had exposed his identity to Marfa.

If the Divine Emperor knew he was Fate Controlling Evil Emperor, wouldn't his reputation be ruined in his later years?

“Of all people, why did I have to imitate Lin Xuan’s arrogance…”

Zhang Lingxiao's current mood was one of regret, extreme regret, to the point where he couldn't maintain his usual composure.

He only wanted to flip the entire Elf World upside down, find Marfa, and silence him.

So, he used his Divine Sense to cover the entire realm, trying to find Marfa’s traces.

But after doing so, he discovered a strange phenomenon.

Within the Elf World, there was a large amount of Five Elements Power.

The Five Elements Power flowed along the earth veins, slowly converging towards the northwest.

If his guess was correct… this Five Elements Power was nourishing the World Tree.

Therefore, Zhang Lingxiao had a bold conjecture.

Everyone had been deceived by the Demonic Eye’s smoke bomb!

Including the Goddess of Nature, and even the Divine Emperor.

The Demonic Eye commanding the beastmen to slaughter the elves was indeed to nourish the World Tree.

But this wasn't its only method.

Another way to nourish the World Tree was the Five Elements Power flowing towards it.

The reason the Demonic Eye wanted to control the Formless Tai Sui to go towards the World Tree was actually out of fear that after the battle, the Human Expeditionary Force would discover this and cut off the Five Elements Power.

However, the Demonic Eye thought too highly of humanity.

The Five Elements Power flowed along the earth veins of the Elf World.

Even he, Zhang Lingxiao, couldn't cut off all the earth veins.

What made Zhang Lingxiao feel even more despair was the increasingly intense sense of unease.

After examining this land with his Divine Sense, he could vaguely sense a very powerful existence hidden within the Elf World.

They were also watching this battle, and they were stirring.

In other words.

The Demonic Eye still had a trump card it hadn't used!

“Are there other Immortals here?” Zhang Lingxiao felt a chill in his heart.

According to his previous plan, after dealing with Marfa, he would directly use the life-exchange technique to perish with the Demonic Eye.

But now, things had become complicated.

Zhang Lingxiao wasn't sure what the Demonic Eye's last trump card was, so he truly didn't dare to die rashly.

What if he died too early, and the Expeditionary Force couldn't handle the trump card the Demonic Eye had hidden? What then?

After a moment of contemplation, Zhang Lingxiao didn't dare to tell the others present about this, only saying to Yekaterina, “Let’s return to the ship first. The battle has concluded for now, and we need to discuss the next steps.”

Boom!

No sooner had Zhang Lingxiao finished speaking than the ground suddenly shook.

Immediately after, thick beams of light burst from the ground, shooting towards the sky.

The lights were of different colors, each corresponding to the Five Elements of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.

At the same time, the locations where the light pillars appeared were also extremely precise.

Zhang Lingxiao merely glanced at them and knew that they all corresponded to the positions of the star palaces in the Upper Realm.

Seeing this, Zhang Lingxiao's expression immediately changed drastically, and he shouted, “The Demonic Eye is overturning the table!”

“What?”

Zheng Yunfei and the others hadn't reacted yet.

They saw giants breaking out of the earth in the southeast, northwest, as if buried divine statues had suddenly come to life.

But Zhang Lingxiao knew.

Those were not divine statues at all.

They were four Immortal Gods!

One god in the east, with a face like white jade, holding a pipa.

One god in the south, with blue eyes and a blue forehead, holding a precious sword.

One god in the west, with a red face and furious hair, with a Dragon wrapped around his body.

One god in the north, with a face like a green lion, holding an umbrella in one hand and a pagoda in the other.

The four colossal gods stood up together, reaching to the sky and earth, their faces hidden in the clouds, indistinct.

Only their eyes, bursting with golden light, were as dazzling as stars.

In comparison, both humans and elves were like ants and mayflies.

Even the massive planar mothership was nothing more than a floating coffin in front of them, easily overturned with a casual sweep.

“These… are these gods…?”

Yekaterina was terrified, her face losing its color.

Although she had experienced the Divine Wars in the Human World and witnessed the majesty of true gods.

But observing these four gods in the sky, they seemed even more powerful than true gods.

“They are indeed gods.”

Zhang Lingxiao nodded silently, “You can call them Outer Gods.”

“Gods from other worlds, like the Demonic Eye?” Zheng Yunfei asked.

“Yes.”

Zhang Lingxiao affirmed.

Immortal Gods were the highest secret of the Shenzhou Empire.

Only he and the Divine Emperor could discuss them privately; even Lin Xiao’er knew little.

However, there was no need for secrecy now.

The Immortal Gods on the list had already descended before humanity.

Humanity had reached its most dangerous moment.

“Truly, man proposes, God disposes.”

Zhang Lingxiao sighed.

It turned out that four Immortal Gods had been dormant beneath the Elf World all along.

Their mission, perhaps, was to protect the World Tree.

The arrival of the Human Expeditionary Force had, instead, caused them to awaken prematurely.

“I can only take one with me, and it doesn’t feel very useful.”

Zhang Lingxiao lit a cigarette, helpless.

He could die, but not without value.

There were four Immortal Gods revealed. Even if he forcefully exchanged his life for one, there would still be three.

Such a sacrifice would be meaningless.

It would be better to first cover the retreat of the Expeditionary Force to a safe zone, and then make further plans.

After all, the Divine Emperor’s The Eldest Princess was still on the planar mothership.

Thinking of this, Zhang Lingxiao said to Yekaterina and the others, “Return to the ships quickly and have Lin Xiao’er lead the fleet to retreat far away.”

“What about… the elves…?” Yekaterina asked with a trembling voice.

Zhang Lingxiao exhaled a smoke ring and said, “Consort Xue, if you can’t bear to leave your family, you can stay here, but the Human Expeditionary Force must leave.”

Yekaterina nodded silently, then said to Chen Moran and Jiang Liyue, “The position of Vice-Captain 001 will be taken over by you two. The Grand Tutor and I will stay.”

“Yes,” Chen Moran and Jiang Liyue replied in unison.

Zheng Yunfei, who was beside them, said, “I’ll stay too. I don’t have a position on the ship.”

Zhang Lingxiao nodded slightly.

Facing Immortal Gods, Zheng Yunfei’s Annihilation Divine Thunder still had some combat capability; it was a desperate measure.

Just then, a voice rang in Zhang Lingxiao’s ear, “If possible, you should take out the Demonic Eye first. Then I can step in and put on a show to buy time for Qin Yang.”

Zhang Lingxiao’s heart trembled, and he asked, “Who are you? How do you know about my life-exchange skill?”

His life-exchange skill had only been used in front of Qin Yang, Lin Xuan, and Elebella.

Aside from them, only Lin Xiao’er knew some information.

Who exactly was this person speaking in his ear?

And where did he learn that he had a life-exchange skill?

As Zhang Lingxiao was wondering, he heard the person say, “Guangjiang Estuary, Yang Erlang.”

…