The Forbidden Grounds of the Gods.
The God of Destruction and the God of Evil had joined forces. Their powers perfectly complemented each other. One side's destructive force was fierce and overwhelming, capable of shattering all defenses. The other side's evil aura was unpredictable and corroded the divine soul.
Under their suppression, no matter how ferocious the Golden Dragon King was, he was repeatedly beaten back. He roared as he retreated step by step. New wounds were continuously carved into his massive dragon body. Golden dragon blood rained down, dyeing the desolate ground below.
Although the Golden Dragon King was at a disadvantage, he remained ferocious. His body, which had inherited the Dragon God's ultimate physique, granted him astonishing recovery power.
The God of Destruction sneered. "This evil dragon is truly extraordinary. Despite being suppressed for thousands of years, his body has not decayed. Instead, it has been tempered by the chaotic forces of the Forbidden Grounds of the Gods, becoming even purer and reaching the pinnacle of God King level.
"Moreover, during this long period of imprisonment, his understanding of destructive power has actually deepened further, and he has already stepped into the quasi-God King realm!"
The God of Evil did not reply. His eyes grew even colder. He struck a palm at the back of the Golden Dragon King, who was attempting a counterattack, sending him flying tens of thousands of meters before smashing him into the spot where the tower had originally stood.
However, upon closer observation, it was clear that although the God of Destruction and the God of Evil displayed terrifying power, they were deliberately holding back when attacking the Golden Dragon King.
Their attacks focused more on suppression rather than directly aiming to completely destroy his body and annihilate his dragon soul. It was as if they were afraid of actually killing the Golden Dragon King on the spot.
In contrast, the Golden Dragon King was in a completely different state. He was always fearless and did not hesitate to risk his life for others.
Noticing the slight hesitation of the two God Kings, he burned his divine power even more recklessly, pushing his destructive power to the limit.
This barefoot and fearless attitude, combined with the two God Kings' reluctance to fight with full force, made the battle one-sided, yet the Golden Dragon King was not completely defeated.
Instead, after being repelled many times, the Golden Dragon King began a stubborn counterattack.
At that moment, strange ripples appeared in the distance. Chen Yi, clad in Thunder God's divine armor, slowly materialized and stood in the void.
He swept his gaze across the battlefield with slight surprise, then fixed his eyes on Qian Renxue.
With a slight movement, he appeared beside Qian Renxue the next instant.
At this time, Qian Renxue held the Angel Sword and coldly stared at the Sea God Poseidon lying at her feet.
His sacred body was already wounded and tattered, with only the final traces of his sacred soul still burning fiercely.
The will of the Holy Evil Sword burned violently within his shattered divine body, bringing indescribable pain every moment, yet it also clung to the last fragments of his life, preventing instant death.
"Kill me… please… kill me…"
Seeing Chen Yi approach, Poseidon's final consciousness seemed to reach its limit. His gaze toward Chen Yi was filled with pleading. This endless torment could break even a god. All he wanted now was for it to end quickly.
Chen Yi approached Qian Renxue from behind. He gently placed his hands on her slightly trembling shoulders. He stretched out his arms and softly embraced her from behind, then slowly pressed down the longsword with one hand.
He whispered softly beside her ear, "It's over… it's over now."
Feeling the familiar and solid support behind her, Qian Renxue's tension finally eased. Silent tears flowed down her cheeks.
In Chen Yi's arms, her entire body trembled as if releasing all the hatred she had accumulated for years.
Chen Yi said nothing. He simply held her more tightly and gently stroked her back with one hand.
After a while, Qian Renxue's trembling gradually subsided. She turned around, buried her face deep in Chen Yi's chest, and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, as if wanting to merge with his body.
Chen Yi gently stroked her long hair, but his gaze returned to Poseidon lying on the ground. Only hope remained in Poseidon's eyes.
"Do you want to die?"
Before he finished speaking, a dazzling holy light of the Eight Trigrams suddenly shone in Chen Yi's eyes. Phantoms of eight divine seals swirled deep within his pupils.
In the next instant, an Eight Trigrams phantom about thirty centimeters in diameter flew from Chen Yi's fingertips and landed on Poseidon's wounded divine body.
The final glimmer of hope in Poseidon's eyes instantly turned into boundless terror. He stared at Chen Yi as if looking at a demon.
Instead of the liberation he desperately longed for, he was completely trapped inside an invisible time-space bubble by indescribable time-space forces.
He wanted to scream, struggle, and even curse, but he realized he could not make a sound. Although he was conscious, he had completely lost control of his will—only his sharpened senses remained.
The core rule of this miniature time-space that Chen Yi had temporarily constructed was not killing, but freezing and cycling.
It completely erased the time fragment in which Poseidon had been subjected to death by a thousand cuts from Qian Renxue, forming an endless cycle.
From today onward, Poseidon would be eternally trapped in this time loop.
He would awaken in the agony of being slowly sliced apart. Enduring extreme torture. And just as the pain reached its peak and his consciousness was about to fade, time would reset again. He would return to the beginning of the suffering and endure it all once more…
This cycle would repeat forever!
There was no possibility of recovery, no hope of liberation—only eternal pain and suffering! This was a thousand times more cruel than mere death!
After finishing all this, Chen Yi gently patted Qian Renxue's back while she was in his arms and said softly, "Let's go over there and take a look."
Qian Renxue raised her face from his embrace, nodded, and flew toward the battlefield hand in hand with Chen Yi.
Seeing Chen Yi and Qian Renxue arrive together, the God of Evil maintained his attacking rhythm, but when he saw Chen Yi, a deep sense of unease flashed deep in his crimson eyes.
Although he could not fully understand the profound mysteries of the mysterious techniques Chen Yi had used earlier, the immense power hidden within them made even this God King's heart pound with fear.
The God of Destruction temporarily stopped moving and gave Chen Yi a firm pat on the shoulder.
"Well done! As expected, my judgment was not wrong!"
Chen Yi smiled and replied, "Senior, I am honored by your praise. Without your continuous support over the years, the current me would not exist."
"Hahaha!" Hearing this, the God of Destruction laughed even more heartily, clearly greatly pleased.
He was satisfied with Chen Yi's strength and had almost no fear.
He had witnessed everything Chen Yi had accomplished over the years and trusted his character. The stronger Chen Yi became, the brighter the future of the God Realm would be. For the God of Destruction, who had always desired territorial expansion, this was exactly what he wanted.
After a brief greeting, Chen Yi turned his gaze to the suppressed Golden Dragon King.
Seeing this, the God of Destruction immediately explained, "If we completely kill this evil dragon, the destructive power erupting at the moment of his death is highly likely to contaminate large areas of the Divine Realm or cause unknown anomalies in the Forbidden Grounds of the Gods, leading to unpredictable consequences."
He was clearly worried that Chen Yi might impulsively kill the Golden Dragon King. If that happened, it would be too late for regrets.
Upon hearing this, Chen Yi nodded thoughtfully.
So that was the real reason the two great God Kings had hesitated to act. It was not that they could not kill the Golden Dragon King, but that they could not easily kill him—or had not yet found a harmless way to dispose of him.
Just then, spatial fluctuations repeatedly occurred outside the Forbidden Grounds of the Gods. The gods appeared one after another.
Seeing Qian Renxue's calm expression, Shui Bing'er, Ye Lingling, and Dugu Yan realized the truth of the matter. A trace of worry appeared in their eyes.
Qian Renxue met her sisters' gazes, nodded lightly, and signaled with her eyes that she was fine.
Immediately afterward, two even more magnificent divine lights descended. The Goddess of Life and the Goddess of Good appeared beside the three great God Kings. Their gazes remained fixed on the ferocious Golden Dragon King, their expressions calm.
At this point, the strongest combat force of the God Realm had gathered here.
Faced with such overwhelming power, even the mad Golden Dragon King could not help but show a trace of despair in his blood-red dragon eyes.
He had only just been liberated—would he be sealed again? He never wanted to experience hundreds of thousands of years of imprisonment again!
His gaze hurriedly swept across the gods and finally fixed firmly on the pair of thunder wings behind Chen Yi.
"Thunder God!" The Golden Dragon King let out an earth-shaking roar. "Now that my dragon race has gained this opportunity, will you not return it?!
"If you release me, from today onward, all grudges between you and my dragon race will be resolved. I swear on the Dragon God!"
The moment these words were spoken, all the gods' gazes instantly focused on Chen Yi—especially on the thunder wings behind him.
Many gods who knew the inside story had a slight glint in their eyes. In a sense, Chen Yi did indeed owe the dragon race a considerable debt of gratitude.
Facing the Golden Dragon King's moral coercion, a mocking expression appeared on Chen Yi's face.
A favor from others? Cause and effect? Chen Yi naturally acknowledged it, but he believed the debt had already been repaid.
Was this mad dragon in front of him trying to use him as a shield?
"Do you want to die? That's simple enough.
"I shall grant your wish!"
Chen Yi suddenly stepped forward. He spread the five fingers of his right hand and reached out to grab the Golden Dragon King in the deep pit below!
Buzz—!!!
A gigantic dragon claw phantom suddenly appeared before Chen Yi's right hand. It was exactly the same as the thunder god phantom from earlier.
The Golden Dragon King, realizing that Chen Yi was not persuaded but was instead showing direct killing intent, and that the attack was terrifying, suddenly felt shocked.
"Thunder God! How dare you?!" The Golden Dragon King roared toward the heavens. "If you kill me, the God Realm will surely face a great catastrophe. You will not be able to bear the consequences!
"If you insist on killing me…"
"Of course, there is a solution."
Chen Yi's emotionless voice echoed through the Forbidden Grounds.
Just as the Goddess of Life and the God of Destruction were about to open their mouths to persuade him, they heard this and froze, swallowing the words that were about to leave their lips!
If there was a harmless way to dispose of the Golden Dragon King, who would want to keep a time bomb that could explode at any moment in their own home?
Who would be willing to expend enormous divine power to rebuild complex seals and constantly monitor it to prevent it from leaking out again?
If Chen Yi could truly kill the Golden Dragon King and simultaneously resolve the anomalies caused by his death… that would be an immense stroke of luck!
There was nothing more to wish for!
In an instant, the Goddess of Life and the God of Destruction took half a step back, completely yielding the center of the battlefield to Chen Yi.