Chapter 423: Chapter 423: Powerless to Reverse Fate — The Expansion of the Divine Realm, the Golden Dragon King Breaks Free

Li Zhexian gripped the God of Destruction by the throat and, followed by the assembled gods, sped toward the core of the Divine Realm.

Along the way—

Apocalyptic scenes unfolded before their eyes.

Pitch-black cracks appeared and vanished across the void, while the space of the Divine Realm emitted groans of unbearable strain.

The stars surrounding the realm fell one after another, trailing tails of flame as they slashed through the starry sky.

"The Spiritual Energy Pillars have been destroyed— the foundation of the Divine Realm has collapsed!"

"The heaven and earth primordial energy within the pillars sustains the Divine Realm’s operation—the great calamity has arrived!"

"God of Destruction, how dare you do this?!"

The God of Destruction coldly gazed at the collapsing heavens. Listening to the gods’ furious accusations, his voice came out hoarse from his constricted throat:

"Enough noise. One cannot build without first destroying. This pain is necessary for the rebirth of the Divine Realm."

Li Zhexian’s face was cold as frost. "Stubborn beyond redemption."

The core of the Divine Realm came into view.

He lifted his leg and drove a brutal kick into the God of Destruction’s abdomen.

"Pfft!"

The God of Destruction doubled over like a shrimp, spewing divine blood as he plummeted toward the central plaza like a meteor.

Boom—!!!

The plaza shook violently as dust and debris shot skyward.

When the dust finally settled, the gods who had arrived ahead stared in horror—

The God of Destruction lay weak and broken within a massive crater.

The Goddess of Life rushed forward, emerald divine light blooming in her hands as she helped him up.

"Destruction... why would you resort to such extreme measures?"

Tears streamed down her face, green droplets sliding along her cheeks.

The God of Destruction’s gloomy expression faltered. He stiffly turned his head away.

"I did this alone. It has nothing to do with you."

His gaze swept across the plaza.

The Sin Gods of Pride, Lust, and Gluttony had been beheaded by a single sword strike. The remaining four Sin Gods had been captured alive.

The God of Destruction’s body trembled slightly.

"For the sake of the Divine Realm, my conscience is clear."

...

Li Zhexian descended lightly onto the plaza.

Ji Dong and the Asura God hurried over.

"Zhexian, the God of Destruction—"

"The God of Destruction conspired to destroy the Spiritual Energy Pillars," Li Zhexian said coldly. "He can be imprisoned in the Divine Prison." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

With a beckoning gesture, the bloodstained Qinglian Sword flew back into his hand.

"The priority now is whether there is any chance to reverse the destruction of the pillars."

"There is no chance," Ji Dong’s face was grim.

"The pillars contain the accumulated energy of the Divine Realm across countless ages. Its scale far exceeds that of any God King."

"Even if we join forces, there is no way to reverse this."

At that moment—

From the shattered pillars, liquid torrents of radiant light poured forth.

The sheer magnitude of this energy was staggering.

So overwhelming that even the countless stars orbiting the Divine Realm had their trajectories disrupted—

Like iron filings drawn to a magnet, they spiraled around the massive energy vortex.

Even Li Zhexian’s expression changed.

Yet he was never one to wait for death.

"Qinglian Sword Song, Ninth Form— A Thousand Autumns Depart."

He exerted his spacetime Sword Intent to its limit, attempting to reverse the flowing time.

Under the unbelievable gaze of the gods, the surging, vast energy actually showed a slight sign of retracting!

However—

That hope vanished in an instant.

The energy flood was simply too vast.

After only a few breaths—

Li Zhexian’s face turned deathly pale as his divine power neared exhaustion.

He staggered backward as the time-space sword intent collapsed.

"Zhexian!"

Qian Renxue, Zhu Zhuqing, and the others rushed to his side.

"I’m fine."

Li Zhexian suppressed the turbulent divine power within him and, together with the gathered gods, looked toward the runaway energy maelstrom.

Heaven-and-earth primordial energy swept across the entire Divine Realm. The barrier of the realm grew thin at a visible rate, and chaotic air currents from the outer domains began to seep in. Thousands of divine palaces teetered on the brink of collapse.

Driven by this energy impact, the territory of the Divine Realm began to expand frantically. In the blink of an eye, it had doubled in size, and it was still spreading.

The God of Destruction, watching all this, let out a hearty laugh unlike any before. "The Divine Realm is being reborn! I was not wrong!"

The gods stared at the chaotic expanse that continued to spread as heaven-and-earth primordial energy ran rampant, disbelief and shock filling their eyes.

Could it be...

Had the God of Destruction truly succeeded?

Ji Dong and the God Asura God were momentarily stunned. Then they focused their senses, their brows knitting tighter and tighter, until at last they released a powerless sigh.

The newly formed territory of the Divine Realm, though vast beyond measure, was nothing more than an undeveloped wasteland.

More fatally—

These new regions were completely exposed beyond the original defensive barrier of the Divine Realm.

And the heaven-and-earth primordial energy that sustained that barrier—

Had already been completely drained,

Consumed in its entirety to fuel this mad expansion.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Stripped of its protective barrier, the Divine Realm now lay exposed to the cold universe.

The celestial bodies that once moved in orderly cycles were thrown into chaos by the released energy, transforming into a torrential meteor storm that crashed down toward the Divine Realm.

In the past,

The Divine Realm’s defensive barrier would have effortlessly neutralized such disturbances.

But now—

The gods themselves were forced to act.

Beams of divine radiance shot skyward as the deities unleashed their divine power or summoned their artifacts,

Shattering incoming meteors one after another in the void.

Li Zhexian swept his Qinglian Sword horizontally. A clear arc of sword light streaked across the starry sky, cleaving a massive star cleanly in two.

"Destruction, do you see clearly now?!"

His furious shout echoed amid the rain of stellar debris.

"The defenses of the Divine Realm have already collapsed! Even ordinary meteor disasters now require the gods themselves to resist!"

"With such a shattered realm, what right do we have to withstand the spacetime cataclysm that will sweep across the universe?!"

The God of Destruction violently broke free from the divine guards restraining him and swung his scepter, smashing a falling meteor apart.

His grievously injured body suffered further backlash. Divine blood spilled from the corner of his mouth as he retorted hoarsely:

"By using the expanded Divine Realm to welcome more powerful beings from the mortal realms! As long as the gods work together, we will build a new defense!"

"How can a hastily assembled barrier ever compare to the Divine Realm’s defenses accumulated over countless ages?!" Li Zhexian’s eleven Sword Intents circled him like dragons.

Every time a streak of sword qi flew out, a meteor was ground into powder.

"The crisis of the Divine Realm does not end here!"

His gaze was sharp as a blade as it pierced into the God of Destruction.

"Destruction, did you think what I said before was just alarmist talk?!"

The gods’ expressions shifted.

Ji Dong and the Asura God’s pupils constricted.

What Li Zhexian had warned of earlier—

Was precisely the calamity of the Golden Dragon King, the incarnation of the Dragon God’s malevolent will, breaking free of its seal!

Rumble—Rumble—Rumble—Rumble!

Rumble—Rumble—Rumble—Rumble!

Just as that thought flashed through their minds, the entire Divine Realm seemed to be gripped by an invisible giant hand and began to shake violently.

At the most remote frontier of the Divine Realm, within the divine forbidden land that should have been bound by layer upon layer of divine seals—

Now, because the heaven-and-earth primordial energy sustaining it had been exhausted—

Crack! Crack!

Crack! Crack!

Vast cracks stretching millions of miles tore open the ancient barriers of the forbidden land.

Immediately after—

An aura seemingly condensing all the violence and madness of the universe—like a ferocious beast slumbering for eons opening its eyes—surged out from deep within those cracks.

Where that aura passed, space shattered, laws retreated, and even the falling remnants of stars were reduced to dust in an instant.

"Not good!"

The gods cried out in alarm:

"The divine forbidden land has been shattered!"

"We must not let the Golden Dragon King break free of the seal!"