It was a battle without any suspense.

As soon as Erza ignited his divine kingdom for one final burst of strength, his waltz towards destruction became inescapable.

All he wanted now was a final display of strength, one worthy of the glory that he felt he deserved. Even if he died, he wanted to drag Su Chen down with him.

Erza’s aura began to surge. Even the Blood Ancestor and the other Origin Beasts felt a headache coming on when they thought about how they would deal with them.

At his final stand, Erza had recovered to his peak state.

Su Chen’s pupils constricted.

A god at full-power was not to be underestimated. The difference between Erza’s current state and his weakened state was impossible to overstate.

At that moment, Erza’s powerful divine will surged forwards. Even the Blood Ancestor couldn’t stop himself from trembling, as if all of his past traumatizing memories had come flooding back.

“Yes. This is the true power that a god should possess,” the Blood Ancestor murmured to himself. “The Barrier has weakened them far too much!”

Then, he cried out, “Be careful, Su Chen. A god at their peak strength is far more powerful than even us! And since he has immolated his divine kingdom to make a last stand, he is not far from reaching that state!”

“I know.”

Naturally, Su Chen could also sense the immense change that had taken place within Erza. His strength was suffocatingly powerful.

It felt as if he were fighting against the entire world, filling him with despair.

In that moment, however, a strong sense of unwillingness welled up from deep within his heart.

So what if the entire world is against me?

I have my own path.

My self will be my own world!

Immortal energy surged forth from Su Chen’s body, pouring out in an almost uncontrollable manner.

Compared to Erza’s divine power, Su Chen’s immortal energy was far less vast and imposing. However, it was fearless in its own way; no matter how hard the boundless divine power pushed against it and threatened to swallow it whole, the immortal energy continued to unceasingly protect Su Chen. He was like a stone, being tossed around by violent waves, but ultimately remaining undamaged.

This was not an exchange of blows in the conventional sense. This was a contest between one’s essence.

The two seas of immortal energy and divine power battled it out, putting on a stunning show. Erza’s divine power was like the old guard, while Su Chen’s immortal energy was like the new contender — he might be weaker, but his youthful vigor and exuberance made up for that weakness.

The new contender forcefully endured the old guard’s onslaught, constantly flickering like a small flame on the verge of being swallowed by the darkness. It appeared quite pitiful, as if the immortal energy enveloping Su Chen could be extinguished at any moment in time.

But no matter how powerful the established energy appeared to be, the seed of rebellion always managed to survive, remaining steadfast until the end.

As long as he could survive, he would emerge victorious.

Su Chen fought as hard as he could just to withstand the opponent’s attacks.

He didn’t need to actively strike back because the Guardian God was permanently burning his divine power. Even though he had gained a temporary advantage by doing so, it also ensured his doom.

Furthermore, Su Chen wanted to use the immense pressure from his battle with Erza to search for a way to break through to the next realm.

However, this immense pressure was also excruciatingly painful for Su Chen to bear.

He didn’t have any time to convert any of the divine power into immortal energy. Even attempting to do so while weathering a storm this intense was laughable.

The only thing that Su Chen could do was endure for as long as he could and use the pressure to temper and refine himself. That was the key to surviving through this trial.

By this point, Su Chen could no longer remember the last time he had been in such dire straits.

After reaching the Thought Manifestation Realm, no opponent had ever managed to put up much of a fight against him. He had basically steamrolled his way through every enemy since then.

On this day, however, this ancient, majestic power finally helped him remember what it felt like to have his life threatened.

Yes, the threat!

A truly dangerous threat. This was not a simple battle, but rather a struggle of life or death.

The instant he gave up was the instant he would die. Even the Blood Ancestor wouldn’t be able to save him if that happened.

But that was just how it should be.

Only by going through and overcoming such struggles would he be able to find the path that he was searching for.

Su Chen fought with all his might, but it seemed as if Erza’s might was endless; an ocean’s worth of divine power continued to pour down on him.

Damn, how does he still have so much divine power left?

Su Chen could sense his death quickly approaching if things did not change.

But he could not afford to give up! Not now!

He glared at Erza as he desperately willed every ounce of immortal energy out of his body.

Come forth! Su Chen roared in his heart.

At that moment, every part of his body seemed to groan under the pressure, and a subtle cracking and popping sound could be clearly heard throughout the battlefield.

It was as if something was breaking inside of Su Chen’s body. Even though the physical sound itself was very quiet, this sound seemed to echo in their hearts.

A formless wave of consciousness power swept over all the spectators, clear and gentle. A warm feeling surfaced in their hearts, arousing an incredibly comfortable sensation.

Then, they turned to glance at the battlefield once more.

It was as if time had suddenly frozen in place. A quiet peace had enveloped their surroundings.

Everything seemed to have slowed down to a halt.

Then, the divine power suddenly exploded forth with a renewed surge of strength.

This time, however, Su Chen remained completely motionless.

White light blazed from his body, preventing any divine power from touching him. Not only that, but petals began to descend from the sky around Su Chen, gently fluttering to the ground.

The powerful waves of divine power were incapable of destroying even a single one of them.

Then, the sky, which had once been dominated by the red glow of fire, suddenly returned to its former multicolored state.

“This is impossible!” Erza howled in disbelief.

He could sense the power of his opponent increasing at a drastic rate.

A strong sense of danger surfaced in his heart, an ineffable one that was hard to describe with words alone.

It wasn’t a fear of death. Erza was fated to die, anyways. Instead, it was fear towards his opponent’s strength.

His opponent had somehow made a breakthrough in this life threatening environment.

And a breakthrough on that forbidden path to boot.

This caused Erza to fall into despair.

He knew that Su Chen was still weaker than him if he had his full strength. Su Chen had not yet reached a point where he could single-handedly dominate this world and suppress the gods.

But he was slowly and surely encroaching on their power.

And in their moment of weakness, he had managed to surpass quite a few of the weaker gods.

“NO!” Erza howled in despair.

The gods believed that they would stand a chance to win as long as they infiltrated the Origin Realm.

But now that a human had actually reached this point, the gods may have possibly lost their final opportunity.

He wanted to tell the other gods that Su Chen’s forbidden power had reached a terrifyingly powerful level.

Unfortunately, he found that he could no longer send messages out.

The formless fluctuations of Su Chen’s powerful consciousness energy had telepathically isolated him, preventing him from communicating with the other gods as well as interfering with his thoughts.

Wait a second. Powerful consciousness and formless restriction of thought......

Erza suddenly realized something.

He murmured, “So it was you...... You kept yourself hidden quite well......”

Then, he fell silent and toppled over.

Ezra’s divine kingdom had finally been fully consumed, he had run out of holy soldiers, and his divine power was running out as well. Without a core of divine power, the faith of his believers was no longer enough to sustain his life.

He began to die.

This being, who had existed for tens of thousands of years, finally returned to the dust that he had come from.

Su Chen’s flames surged forth, crawling all over Ezra’s body.

Erza, like Amelie, was burned down until the only thing that remained of him was a ball of divine power.

The flames in the skies were still raging.

Apparently, the battle had not yet ended.

Su Chen stood in the midst of these flames, which danced around him like a troupe of circus performers as they flickered with unprecedented vigor. At this moment, it felt like Su Chen was the ruler of these flames.

“Su Chen!” Gu Qingluo and Zhu Xianyao both cried out for him, wanting to embrace him.

“Don’t move.” But the Blood Ancestor stopped them. “He has reached a critical moment in his cultivation. Don’t disturb his perception.”

“Perception? What is he perceiving?” Both of them were confused.

In the world of cultivation, what usually mattered the most was one’s ability to use energy. Very rarely would people focus on sensing energy.

The Blood Ancestor calmly explained, “He’s perceiving himself and the world around him. That is something that can only be understood after one reaches a certain level.”

Gu Qingluo and Zhu Xianyao were both very suspicious. “How do you know this?”

The Blood Ancestor shook his head. “I actually don’t, but...... I once met a person.”

“A person?” The two of them were taken aback for a moment before understanding dawned on them. “Are you saying......”

The Blood Ancestor gently nodded his head. “The first human who ever walked this earth — the Human Ancestor.

Even the Gu Clan’s ancestor, Gu Huiming, grew agitated when he heard the Blood Ancestor say this. “Are you telling me that we humans once were able to control immortal energy during the time when the Human Ancestor roamed the earth freely?”

The Blood Ancestor nodded. “Yes. The human race was once a powerful, vital race, albeit one created by accident — in fact, they were strong enough to overthrow the gods.”

Upon hearing this, everyone present was stunned.

What did that mean?

Were the humans somehow different from the other Intelligent Races? Were they something more than a weak and small race? Weren’t they merely fit to become the gods’ worshippers and food for Origin Beasts?

Since when had they been an accidentally created race that was powerful enough to overthrow even the gods?

The Blood Ancestor was just about to respond, but then Su Chen made a move.

He slowly lifted his head while, at the same time, the white flames around him began to withdraw and condense until they formed a staircase that seemed to ascend towards the heavens.

Su Chen began to slowly walk up the staircase. With every step he took, the stairs behind him would solidify further.

A boundless, majestic aura spilled forth.

Su Chen took step after step until he finally arrived at the top and faced everyone.

He smiled, giving off the feeling of a spring breeze, which roused all of their hearts.

Gu Qingluo asked in a trembling voice, “Husband, have you broken through?”

Su Chen thought for a moment and then replied, “No, I didn’t break through. Rather, I smashed through.”

Everyone was nonplussed by Su Chen’s response.

Su Chen continued, explaining, “The moment I was about to ascend, I could clearly sense the world around me, allowing me to understand what took place a long time ago in the past. The Blood Ancestor is right; we humans were never common creatures. Because we were not only created by the gods, we also possessed immense strength, making us capable of defeating the creatures of other gods. We became weak because the gods discovered our existence and became afraid. They sealed us off so that we would remain small and weak......”

As Su Chen spoke, a faint smile appeared on his face. “But today, we have returned to our former glory. We will break through these restrictions and regain what has always rightfully belonged to us. Our position will be returned to us!”

As he spoke, he raised his arms and faced the Origin Realm army once more. “The final chains that the gods shackled us to have finally been shattered. The seal that has bound us for so long is no more! The human race will, on this day, rise to prominence. I have decided to name this realm, Deification!”

“Deification!”

“Deification!”

“Deification!”

All of the humans began to chant the name of this realm together.