Chapter 118 The Return of the God of War

Black Dragon Immortal Emperor steadied himself, coughed dryly, and spoke to the few clansmen beside him who were just as disheveled.

"Senior... is becoming increasingly unfathomable..."

Green Dragon Immortal Emperor nodded repeatedly, "He barely stretched his muscles, and it nearly shattered the realm barrier. If Senior actually made a move... who could withstand that?"

Golden Dragon Immortal Emperor said nothing. He simply lowered his head deeply and bowed once more in the direction of Gu Heng.

The Domain Master remained silent, as if digesting the terror of that moment.

Ripples spread through the Void Realm. A fissure opened in the space behind Gu Heng, and Chaotic Primordial Qi overflowed from within.

Accompanied by flashes of lightning, Thunder Emperor stepped out from the fissure.

A hundred years. In the time flow of the heaven-reaching tower, he had sat for a hundred years.

Contemplating the Dao circulating within the tower, he pushed his cultivation from the Peak of the Immortal Emperor Realm to the Half-step Divine Lord Realm. He was only one step away from a true Divine Lord.

Star Immortal Emperor, White Bone Demon Emperor, Li Tiantu, and seventeen other Immortal Emperors and Devil Emperors walked out.

Behind them were Jiang Wanyin, walking barefoot through the air, and Di Shitian, clad in dark red demon armor.

Finally, an old man in dusty Loose Cultivator robes squeezed out from the spatial fissure and shrank back to the end of the line. The fissure closed.

Thunder Emperor took a deep breath of the Dragon Domain air, Battle Intent churning in his chest.

Before his seclusion, the Dragon Domain was engulfed in flames of war. Now that he had broken through, his Half-step Divine Lord strength was just enough to find a few opponents for his Master.

He lowered his head and swept his gaze downward. Then, he froze.

The plaza was eerily quiet. Tens of thousands of Dragon Clan elites were sticking their butts in the air, gathered around a flowerbed piled up with yellow soil.

In the center of the flowerbed stood a stalk of dark cyan wild grass.

Thunder Emperor rubbed his eyes. He looked around and saw Green Dragon Immortal Emperor, who was climbing up from the ground and brushing off dirt.

"Fellow Daoist Green Dragon." Thunder Emperor flashed over, landed beside Green Dragon Immortal Emperor, and cupped his hands.

Green Dragon Immortal Emperor turned his head. Upon seeing Thunder Emperor, his eyes lit up, "Oh my, Fellow Daoist Thunder Emperor! You've come out of seclusion? This aura... Half-step Divine Lord! Congratulations, congratulations!"

"Where is the Divine Lord?" Thunder Emperor patted Green Dragon Immortal Emperor's arm, "Did that Divine Lord from Xuantian Hall hurt Master?"

"Divine Lord?" Green Dragon Immortal Emperor paused for a moment, then stroked his beard and laughed, "He died long ago."

"Died? How did he die?"

"Senior didn't even move." Green Dragon Immortal Emperor's eyes flashed with light, his tone full of worship, "He just sat on that low Peak drinking tea. That Divine Lord charged down himself and was struck by the aftermath of the two Divine Venerables fighting in the sky, destroying both his body and soul."

"Didn't even move?"

"That's right, he didn't even move." Green Dragon Immortal Emperor nodded heavily, pointing toward the low Peak, "He didn't even put down his teacup."

He squatted back down beside the flowerbed, cleaning the roots of the Lietian Grass while muttering incessantly.

"Fellow Daoist Thunder Emperor, you don't know, the sky outside was shattered at that time. The aftermath of the Divine Venerables' fight collapsed several layers of the Star Domain around the Ancestral Dragon Great World. We Immortal Emperors didn't even dare to raise our heads."

"But Senior... Senior just sat there, holding his teacup, watching the sunset, without even blinking. That composure, that calmness... everything was under his control!"

"And Senior even used a Divine Ability to reincarnate the fallen Divine Venerable Lietian. Look, that's the grass."

Following Green Dragon Immortal Emperor's finger, Thunder Emperor looked at the swaying Lietian Grass.

Behind Gu Heng, the crowd of Immortal Emperors and Devil Emperors who had followed him out of the tower heard these words, and the corners of their mouths twitched in unison.

Di Shitian glanced at the grass from the corner of his eye, his dark red pupils filled with peculiarity.

At this moment, Gu Heng stood in the Void Realm, hands behind his back, staring at a certain point in the void.

"Where is Jiang Daoxuan?" Thunder Emperor took a deep breath, "Where is that Sword Cultivator in the gray robe?"

Green Dragon Immortal Emperor shook his head, "He hasn't appeared. Ever since he left on the day of the ceremony, he hasn't returned to the Dragon Domain."

Thunder Emperor stood in place. The thunderous Battle Intent that wanted to slaughter everything around him slowly extinguished.

Seeing him lower his head in silence, Green Dragon Immortal Emperor stood up and patted his shoulder, "Fellow Daoist Thunder Emperor, there is no need to be sad. Do you still not understand Senior's intentions?"

Thunder Emperor looked up, his eyes dazed. "Senior is protecting you!" Green Dragon Immortal Emperor said earnestly, "Senior knew you hadn't broken through yet and didn't want you to face those Divine Lords and Divine Venerables. As for fighting, Senior just sat there drinking tea and solved it; no need for you to worry. Just Cultivate with peace of mind."

Thunder Emperor's body trembled. He turned his head and looked at Gu Heng, who was not far away, tilting his head to talk to Lin Qingyue.

Sunlight shone on that white robe, as if it were yesterday. Thunder Emperor's eyes were slightly red.

A hundred years of sitting in isolation turned into a warm current in his chest at this moment. Master... would rather solve the Divine Lord by drinking tea himself than disturb my seclusion.

Just then, a commotion came from the direction of the side hall of Longyuan Hall.

"Make way, make way! What are you all gathering at the door for! The Chosen Son has come out of seclusion!"

Several Dragon Clan Elders surrounded an old man as they walked down the stone steps of the side hall. Old Ancestor Qingxuan was wearing that washed-out Qingyun Sect Daoist robe, holding a golden cage in his arms.

He had been staying in the secret chamber just fine, determined not to come out until the outcome outside was decided. But after so many days of seclusion, no one came to break down the door, and his cultivation resources were bottoming out, so he had to bite the bullet and come out to scout the situation.

"Ahem..." Old Ancestor Qingxuan cleared his throat, holding the golden cage in one hand and his other hand behind his back, straightening his spine.

"During my seclusion these days, I have comprehended quite a bit of the Dao." He scanned the surrounding Dragon Clan with his peripheral vision, "That... is the war outside still okay? That Divine Lord didn't break in, did he?"

Upon hearing this, several Dragon Clan Elders burst into tears. "For the sake of the Dragon Clan, The Chosen Son has been in bitter seclusion, unable to even pay attention to the war. We truly admire you!"

An Elder wiped away his tears, "Everything outside is fine! With Senior sitting in charge, let alone a Divine Lord, even if a Divine Venerable came, they would turn into fertilizer. The Dragon Domain is as stable as Mount Tai!"

A huge stone in Old Ancestor Qingxuan's heart fell. He exhaled a turbid breath. Fortunately, having Senior Gu as a backer is tough enough.

His courage bolstered, his steps grew larger. He swaggered toward the center of the plaza, wanting to see what these Dragon Clan members were surrounding the dirt pit for.

He hadn't even taken three steps. "Hum—" A vast, violent will erupted from the center of the altar.

Airwaves swept across the ground, kicking up dust several zhang high. Everyone in the plaza froze and turned to look.

The Lietian Grass began to glow. Dark golden patterns flowed along the narrow grass leaves, like pulsing blood vessels.

The Origin aura belonging to the Divine Venerable Realm emanated from within the grass. The plaza was dead silent for two breaths. Then it boiled over.

"Lord God-Venerable Lietian! It's Lord God-Venerable Lietian's aura! Lord has awakened!"

"The God of War has returned! Our Dragon Clan's God of War has returned!"

The Five Great Dragon Emperors' tears welled up, and tens of thousands of Dragon Clan elites knelt down in unison. "Welcome back, God of War!"

Cries and roars shook the heavens and earth. Elder Green Dragon threw himself to the edge of the flowerbed, tears streaming down his face, "Lord God-Venerable Lietian! This old servant knew that your unyielding pride, even reincarnated as grass, would definitely wake up!"

In the center of the altar, the Lietian Grass's leaves began to tremble. A consciousness that had floated in dark Chaos for who knows how long finally took shape.

He remembered. His name was God-Venerable Lietian, leader of the Dragon Clan's radical faction, an existence at the Peak of the Divine Venerable Realm.

He remembered charging toward the Lower Realm, remembered Pojun slapping him. The pain of his Divine Soul tearing still lingered in his perception.

He had been reborn? Where was this? God-Venerable Lietian tried to open his eyes, but he discovered he had no eyelids.

His vision was 360 degrees, but it was too low. So low that he could only see the knees and foreheads of the people kneeling on the ground around him. Who buried me in the dirt?

Relying on his newly recovered Divine Sense, he saw a reflection in the pupils of the Domain Master in front of him. A stalk of dark cyan grass, swaying in the wind.

He... the Dragon Clan's God of War. Turned into a stalk of grass? "Roar—" God-Venerable Lietian roared inside the grass. But he had no throat.

The outside world heard no sound; they could only see the grass trembling in the wind. The surrounding Dragon Clan were still kowtowing, crying, and shouting "The God of War has returned".

Returned my ass! I'm a piece of grass now! A piece of grass that can't even move an inch!

Just as God-Venerable Lietian's consciousness was struggling on the edge of collapse, a pitch-black little dragon cub squeezed out from a gap in the crowd.

It wobbled, crawled to the edge of the flowerbed, tilted its head, and stared at the trembling Lietian Grass for a moment. Then, it turned around, with its back to the Lietian Grass, and slowly lifted one of its hind legs.

Lietian Grass: "?"

A steaming jet of water traced a parabola in the air, pouring onto the roots of the Lietian Grass. Warm. Damp. And with a faint smell of urine.

Lietian Grass froze. The crying in the plaza stopped. All the Dragon Clan members who looked up had their expressions frozen.

God-Venerable Lietian's consciousness reached an unprecedented level of clarity in this second. Not because of the Awakening of his Origin, but because he was woken up by this puddle of urine.

He could feel the warm liquid seeping down through the loose soil, soaking his newly grown roots. He, God-Venerable Lietian, the Dragon Domain's God of War, the man who had once punched apart countless extraterrestrial stars with one fist. At this moment, was being... urinated on by an unweaned dragon cub.

Lietian Grass began to tremble violently. The hard grass leaves whipped around in the air, creating a whistling sound. He wanted to pull his roots out of the soil, wanted to manifest his ten-thousand-zhang true form, wanted to slap this little black dragon into a mist of blood. But he couldn't move.

Black Dragon Immortal Emperor's roar exploded across the plaza. "You beast!!!"

His face turned from black to white. He turned into a black lightning bolt and rushed over, grabbing the little black dragon by the scruff of its neck and lifting it up from the edge of the flowerbed.

The little black dragon's four short legs flailed in the air, its tail wagging back and forth, looking at its father in a milky voice, "Daddy, I peed."

"I'll let you pee! I'll let you pee on the God of War's head!"

Black Dragon Immortal Emperor's eyes turned red, his palm raised high, and he slapped the little black dragon's butt. "Smack!"

The sound spread across the plaza. The little black dragon was stunned for a moment, then wailed, its face covered in tears and snot.

The whole place was dead silent. No one dared to speak. Divine Venerable Lietian had just been urinated on right after Awakening; if he unleashed a Divine Punishment, everyone in the plaza would be buried with him.

However. "Pfft." Behind the crowd, an Elder, no one knew who, let out a laugh.

Low laughter spread like a tide among the tens of thousands of Dragon Clan members. "Pfft... did I see that right... Lord God-Venerable Lietian was peed on?"

"That's the Black Dragon family's cub, right? Its guts are bigger than the sky!"

"Shut up! If you want to die, don't drag us with you!"

Some Dragon Clan members covered their mouths, shoulders shaking, their faces flushed red. Some bent down, pretending to look for something on the ground, laughing until tears came out.

In the center of the altar, the Lietian Grass was still trembling. Black Dragon Immortal Emperor's face was livid, "All of you, shut up!!!"

He held the sobbing little black dragon in one hand and took out a jade pot from his Storage Ring with the other. He squatted down and rinsed the soil at the roots of the Lietian Grass over and over again with water.

The little black dragon sniffled, looking aggrieved, "Daddy... does the grass-grass not like peeing?"

"You still dare to talk!" Black Dragon Immortal Emperor was so angry he was fuming, "From today on, you will come to the altar every day... and water Lord God-Venerable Lietian! Use Spirit Spring Water! You are not allowed to eat until you've poured three pots!"

The little black dragon's eyes widened: "???"

[part:gemini-3.0-flash]

It was just tired of playing and found a dirt hole to pee in.

As the scene grew more awkward and the Lietian Grass shook so hard its leaves almost fell off, Elder Green Dragon stepped forward.

He coughed twice, tidied his robes, and struck a profound and mysterious pose.

"Everyone! Hear me out!"

The dragons quieted down.

Elder Green Dragon pointed at the patch of soil that had been washed clean by the water, his gaze deep.

"Do you think this is really just a small interlude? No! This is the will of heaven!"

The dragons: "???"

"Think about it!" Elder Green Dragon's voice was high-pitched. "The little dragon cub has a pure heart and doesn't know the rules of status. But his inner instincts led him to the altar."

"What do plants and trees need most? Moisture!"

"Look!"

Elder Green Dragon pointed a large hand at the shaking Lietian Grass. "Why are Lord God-Venerable Lietian's leaves trembling so violently? It's not anger; it's because he's absorbing moisture—he's excited!"

"This is the God of War telling us that he needs more vitality and nourishment!"

The dragons were stunned for three seconds.

Then a burst of exclamations erupted.

"So that's how it is! As expected of Elder Green Dragon, his Wisdom Eye is like a torch!"

"Heavens, we almost misunderstood the God of War's deep meaning!"

In the altar,

God-Venerable Lietian's consciousness was soaked in the moist soil, falling into despair.

It's over.

Just awakened and someone peed on my head, and now I'm being treated as 'excited' by this bunch of idiots.

I'm angry!

Angry, okay!?

Black Dragon Immortal Emperor slowly lowered the hand holding the little black dragon.

He looked at his son, then at the 'baptized' Lietian Grass; the rage on his face gradually faded, replaced even by a hint of pride.

"So... Lord God-Venerable Lietian really needs moisture?"

The little black dragon looked at his father in confusion.

"Son."

Black Dragon Immortal Emperor patted his chest. "From today on, the maintenance of this flowerbed is your responsibility! Fertilize Lord God-Venerable Lietian once a day. This is your honor, don't be lazy!"

The little black dragon was dumbfounded: "???"

...

In the distance,

Gu Heng's gaze fell on the void, on the System panel that only he could see, where a line of golden prompts flickered.

[Detected that the Lietian Grass true spirit has completely awakened.]

[Target has been successfully incorporated into the servant contract system]

Gu Heng looked at the panel, a curve forming at the corner of his mouth.

Then he looked from afar at the farce, pressing a finger to his lips, almost laughing out loud.

Lin Qingyue stood beside him, her lips also curling slightly upward.

"That grass... seems so angry it's about to explode."

"Indeed."

"Aren't you going to do something? He was a Divine Venerable in his past life, after all."

"Do what?" Gu Heng rested his hands behind his head and said leisurely, "How interesting. A grass that's the Reincarnation of a God of War, getting peed on by an unweaned dragon cub. It would be a pity to miss such a legendary scene."

"He has the foundation of the Divine Venerable Realm, after all..."

"So what if he's a Divine Venerable?" Gu Heng raised an eyebrow. "If a Divine Venerable turns into grass, does he not need fertilizer?"

"..."

Lin Qingyue was speechless, actually finding some sense in those words.

Gu Heng turned to look at Lin Qingyue. "Anyway, he's my servant now. What's wrong with a little pee? Just consider it a baptism before starting the job."

Lin Qingyue was stunned. "A servant? That grass?"

"Yeah." Gu Heng nodded. "Though, he's just starting to Cultivate from a blade of grass."

An image of a blade of grass absorbing the essence of the sun and moon appeared in Lin Qingyue's mind, and she finally couldn't help but let her smile show.

...

After the laughter and joking,

Gu Heng withdrew the casualness from his face.

He turned and walked along the jade steps toward the depths of Longyuan Hall. Lin Qingyue followed half a step behind.

Behind them,

Thunder Emperor, Jiang Wanyin, Di Shitian, and a group of Immortal Emperors and Devil Emperors followed silently.

Entering the hall,

The clamor of the outside world was cut off.

Gu Heng sat down on a jade chair.

"About the Upper Dragon God Realm..."

"That old loach, the Ancestor, suffered a backlash and will definitely seal off the Dragon God Domain. A frontal assault isn't wise."

He looked up toward the left.

"Wanyin."

"What are your orders, Master?"

"I want to ask, if I wanted to get close to a God Emperor's Physical Body—like yours, or Di Shitian's... would it be easy?"

Jiang Wanyin was stunned for a moment.

She hadn't expected Gu Heng to ask this question.

But facing the master of her contract, she thought for a moment and gave a definitive answer.

"To be honest, Master... it's extremely difficult. One might even say it's nearly impossible."

Gu Heng raised an eyebrow. "Oh? How difficult? Is it because they have guards, or is the Formation at their cultivation site too strong?"

Jiang Wanyin shook her head.

"Neither."

"The reason a God Emperor is called a taboo is that once cultivation reaches this level, the dimension where their Physical Body resides is no longer on the same plane as the Three Thousand Great Worlds we are in now."

As soon as these words were spoken,

All seventeen Immortal Emperors and Devil Emperors in the hall pricked up their ears.

This was a secret of the God Emperor's Dao; normally, they wouldn't hear a word of it even if they begged.

"Divine Lords and Divine Venerables Cultivate the Peak of Law. But God Emperors Cultivate the Origin of time and space."

"Reaching the God Emperor Realm allows one to influence the river of time. They can jump out of the current time node and perform time reversal on specific local areas."

She turned and glanced at Di Shitian.

"Back then, when Di Shitian was fighting me for the heaven-reaching tower in the Lower Realm, he reversed the time and space where the heaven-reaching tower had disappeared."

Di Shitian snorted coldly but didn't refute her.

"And if it's someone like Her Majesty the Empress, who stands at the Peak of the God Emperor Realm..."

"She can not only manipulate time but also step into the river of time with her Physical Body and travel upstream... back to the past."

"Back to the past?"

Whispers echoed through the crowd.

Thunder Emperor looked up sharply toward the void, his eyes—accustomed to life, death, and slaughter—filled with a near-pathological obsession.

"One can... go back to the past..."

Thunder Emperor murmured, repeating those words.

If he could go back to the past...

Jiang Wanyin noticed Thunder Emperor's emotional fluctuation.

She turned and looked at him, throwing cold water on his hopes.

"Don't think too much."

Jiang Wanyin shook her head. "Going back to the past isn't without a price. The backlash from reversing time and space is something even Her Majesty the Empress wouldn't dare to attempt lightly."

"It's just that those of us who haven't reached that Realm don't know what the price is."

The light in Thunder Emperor's eyes dimmed, and the lightning around him let out a mournful cry before falling silent.

Jiang Wanyin looked back at Gu Heng. "So, Master, to get close to a God Emperor's Physical Body, unless they appear of their own accord and descend from a higher dimension, you wouldn't be able to find a trace of them even if you searched through all the Three Thousand Great Worlds."

"Moreover, beings at this level have lived for countless eons and act with extreme caution; they would never put themselves in danger."

Gu Heng leaned back in his chair and nodded.

Dimensional differences, the river of time.

This was indeed a problem.

His current cultivation was at the Divine Venerable Realm Peak, but he hadn't yet touched the core concept of time.

"Since I can't go looking for them directly, I'll just have to improve myself."

"A year isn't long, but it isn't short either. Is there any way to cross the threshold of the Divine Venerable Realm Peak in a short time?"

Jiang Wanyin fell silent for a moment.

Then,

She looked up, a flash of determination in her eyes.

"If Master wants to quickly increase his combat power or even touch the Law of Time, perhaps you could try fusing the complete... heaven-reaching tower."

"The heaven-reaching tower?"

Gu Heng opened his hand, and the small tower appeared in his palm, circulating Chaotic Primordial Qi.

"Isn't this thing already refined by me?"

"Master has only refined the tower's body."

Jiang Wanyin explained, "The heaven-reaching tower was damaged in that great war long ago, and a core Dao Foundation Fragment was lost in the Original Realm."

"If Master can go to the Original Realm, retrieve that Dao Foundation Fragment, and..."

"Integrate the entire Original Realm as a Small World, along with the Dao Foundation Fragment, into the myriad worlds within the heaven-reaching tower, achieving a trinity."

"Then, the heaven-reaching tower will be completely restored!"

"Master knows that the heaven-reaching tower possesses the great power to open passages to the Three Thousand Great Worlds. If it were complete, as long as you are inside the tower, you could go anywhere in the Three Thousand Great Worlds with just a thought, except for certain realm barrier-sealed Forbidden Grounds!"

Gu Heng's eyes lit up slightly.

But that wasn't enough.

"If it just makes traveling convenient, how does it help increase combat power?"

Jiang Wanyin took a deep breath. "At the moment of complete Fusion, the heaven-reaching tower will release the Chaotic Origin from the beginning of creation, feeding back into the owner!"

"Oh?"

Gu Heng became interested. He sat up straight, staring at the small tower in his hand.

He was currently at the Divine Venerable Realm Peak, and the Origin within him was like a vast ocean.

If another Divine Artifact released the Origin of creation to feed back into him... with that kind of energy poured in, what level would his cultivation reach?

Half-step God Emperor?

Or would he directly step into that river of time?

At that moment,

Ao Lie, who had been shrinking at the back of the group, finally found an opportunity to show off.

He stepped forward quickly.

"Master!"

Ao Lie's voice was booming. "What the Imperial Preceptor said is absolutely correct! My previous mission was precisely to refine the Original Realm as ordered by the Ancestor."

"However, by now, the Ancestor must have entered secluded cultivation, and the Dragon God Domain is completely sealed. For the time being, the Dragon Clan cannot spare anyone to go to the Original Realm."

Ao Lie looked up.

"The only ones we need to guard against now are the Divine Court and those among the myriad races who have heard rumors of the White-robed God Emperor and want to go to the Original Realm to pick up scraps."

"I venture to suggest: Master can personally go to the Original Realm and refine it before anyone else, fusing it with the heaven-reaching tower. This is a god-given opportunity!"

Gu Heng looked at Ao Lie kneeling on the ground and nodded.

Although this Peak Divine Lord servant was forcibly bound, his mind worked fast enough and he was loyal enough.

"Original Realm..."

Gu Heng repeated the name in his mind.

His thoughts drifted far away.

He thought of the people he met when he first came to this world and landed in the Lower Realm.

The Senior Brother struggling in the outer sect of the Qingyun Sect.

Ye Wentian, who was a great help.

And Prime Minister Turtle, who always carried his shell and was timid but loyal.

That Lower Realm,

later came close to collapsing in the aftermath of the God Emperors' Divine Sense battle.

"I wonder if they're still alive?"

Gu Heng sighed softly.

Although he acted as if he didn't care about anything, those were his first bonds in this world, after all. If the Original Realm really collapsed completely, those people probably wouldn't even have ashes left.

"Then I'll go."

Gu Heng withdrew the heaven-reaching tower into his Physical Body and stood up.

"Wait a bit, once I've arranged things here in the Dragon Domain, we'll set off."