Chapter 158: Dying Struggle, War-Heavenly Dao?

Within the camp, the various factions who overheard the conversation between the two Ghost Gods finally understood—the claim that destroying the tomb would banish the Beimang Forbidden Zone was nothing but a pretext.

What the Blood God truly wanted… was to force the other Ghost God to return to the living world.

From beginning to end, they were merely pawns in a game played by Ghost Gods.

Though anger surged in the hearts of many, that flame was instantly extinguished the moment they witnessed the two hundred-meter-tall Ghost Gods manifest before their very eyes.

No matter what thoughts they harbored, everything felt insignificant before such monstrous beings.

The Giant Spirit God stood atop the mountain, golden runes flowing across his body. Every motion of his limbs birthed countless ethereal weapons from the dense ghostly aura surrounding him—each weapon sharp enough to cleave through mountains.

Each breath caused the air around him to freeze, emanating a pressure that made the very mountains tremble.

Opposite him, the Blood God, now fused with eight hundred Yin Soldiers, wore mysterious black armor inscribed with glowing sigils, resembling constellations drifting through the night sky.

Those Yin Soldiers transformed—some into mighty arms, others into impenetrable armor. Though each was a distinct soul, together they formed a unified, terrifying colossus.

Their opposing auras clashed in the sky, and the sheer force of their collision boiled the surrounding fog for hundreds of miles. With each step the Giant Spirit God took, the earth shuddered violently.

Meanwhile, the Blood God’s form constantly shifted within the swirling mists. The eight hundred Yin Soldiers flowed within him like dark, surging rivers.

Deep within the mist-shrouded spiritual veins, Lu Yan sat quietly, watching the grand spectacle unfold like a well-rehearsed play.

To outsiders, the two Ghost Gods appeared divine and imposing, towering over a hundred meters—but only Lu Yan could see the truth: most of what they saw was phantom energy condensed from Yin Qi.

Even after undergoing the Ghost God transformation and pushing the innate divine spell Giant Spirit Technique to its limit, the Giant Spirit God could only grow to around fifty meters. The Blood God? Merely thirty.

What seemed like a fierce battle was, in truth, harmless posturing—none of the blows landed on either Ghost God. Every divine spell, every explosive force, was directed at the surrounding mountain ranges instead.

The violent shaking of the mountains and cracking of the earth were due to a Second-Rank formation called the Earthquake Array, which Lu Yan had preemptively deployed—its seismic influence amplified by the terrain itself.

When paired with the grand illusion spells, this battle could easily fool even the most seasoned cultivator.

Lu Yan’s gaze flicked to the corner of the virtual interface.
Version Mutation Progress: 95%

“The Giant Spirit God consumed immense soul-computational power to fabricate a spiritual energy era that cannot be disproved.
The information has already been relayed to all factions through the murals within the Beimang Tomb.
Those who survived—He Dongsheng and Mu Chunqiu—have also helped disseminate the cultivation technique Everlasting Spring Technique.”

“All that remains is to complete this epic Ghost God clash.
With such overwhelming, undeniable force, the arrival of the spiritual energy revival era will be declared to the world.
That alone will push the Version Mutation to 100%!”

“Once achieved… I shall become the substitute for Heaven, and establish the supreme foundation!”

As Lu Yan whispered to himself, the Version Mutation Progress ticked up again—96%.

This great battle raged on in apocalyptic fashion. The once scenic Mount Beimang was now like a battlefield scoured by bombardment—entire mountains collapsed, rivers ran dry.

People from all corners of the world rushed to Luocheng, tuning into live broadcasts of this earth-shaking Ghost God war. The federal government initially tried to suppress the news, but ultimately chose to let events unfold.

Finally, after round after round of clash, both Ghost Gods seemed to reach their limits.

The golden runes on the Giant Spirit God dimmed. The Blood God’s soul body cracked, revealing the Yin Soldiers fused within.

With one final collision, both Ghost Gods collapsed simultaneously, shattering into nothingness.

And at that precise moment—

Version Mutation Progress: 99.9%

But just then, a terrifying sense of danger surged from deep within Lu Yan’s soul, forcing him to look toward the sky.

The endless ghost mist transformed into Lu Yan’s pupils, allowing his gaze to pierce the heavens—up to twenty thousand meters above the earth.

There, a bomber streaked through the air at supersonic speed, tracing a perfect arc.
Its destination: Mount Beimang.

This bomber didn’t belong to the Federation. That alone was enough to confirm—

The Urban Heavenly Dao has interfered with reality once again.

Under normal circumstances, the bomber would have been shot down by anti-air missiles the moment it crossed the border. The fact that it made it this far could only mean one thing.

Lu Yan chuckled quietly, his eyes piercing through to that faint, weakened will high above the sky.

“So this is your final card?”

Lu Yan had long known that even a weakened Urban Heavenly Dao wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Even a dying beast will struggle to its last breath. So how could a Heavenly Dao do any less?

That’s why, while Lu Yan was actively pushing the Spiritual Energy Revival, he was also constantly preparing for a counterattack from the Urban Heavenly Dao.

Now, upon seeing the bomber, he finally understood—

This was the Urban Heavenly Dao’s final gambit.

The bomber was from the United States, the only country on par with the Eastern Federation.

The Urban Heavenly Dao, in its final act, had taken advantage of a real-world geopolitical crisis and stoked hostility among the upper echelons of the United States.

The Beimang Spirit Vein lay deep within the Federation’s territory. The U.S. couldn’t touch it directly. But the Federation’s recent breakthroughs in spiritual research had shattered the balance between the two superpowers—something the U.S. would never tolerate.

With a final push from the Urban Heavenly Dao’s lingering will, the United States made a mad decision:

Drop a nuclear bomb. Annihilate the Beimang Forbidden Zone.

It was madness, yes—but to the United States, and to the Urban Heavenly Dao, this was a chance at rebirth.

Lu Yan had anticipated this. When the Urban Heavenly Dao was replaced, two outcomes remained:

• One was the Spiritual Energy Revival version, which he guided by hand.
• The other was the World War version—a path of blood and fire, upending all existing order and peace.

If the U.S. succeeded in dropping a nuclear bomb on the Federation’s sacred spiritual vein, the two superpowers would enter into irreversible conflict.

Once war began, the rest of the world would be forced to choose sides. It would become a global war, without end.

With spiritual revival ruined, and global conflict ignited, the Urban Heavenly Dao could abandon its old persona of peace and order…

…And recast itself as the Heavenly Dao of War.

A rebirth through death. A resurrection through destruction.

But Lu Yan merely smiled.

“A clever plan… But you’ll never get the chance.”

He summoned the Soul Banner into his palm. As he waved it, the weakened Yin Soldiers and Ghost Gods were instantly restored to peak condition.

Gazing toward the heavens, Lu Yan whispered:

“Form the formation—Shoot Down the Celestial Wolf!”

With the two Ghost Gods as the formation cores, and eight hundred Yin Soldiers as the formation nodes, the Second-Rank Supreme Formation: Shoot Down the Celestial Wolf instantly activated.

This was the highest-grade formation recorded in Formations of the Mystical Profound. Even a Third-Rank Formation Master might struggle to construct it.

But for the Ghost God Computer, no formation was too complex.

Ordinarily, the Celestial Wolf Formation was nearly impossible to deploy mid-battle. It was typically used to defend sect cities or marketplaces.

But once deployed, it possessed unmatched killing power among all Second-Rank formations—even a Golden Core cultivator caught in its sights would suffer devastating injuries.

Massive ghostly energy surged through the formation.
A black longbow emerged at its center.

Draw. Nock.

From the bright blue sky, starlight descended. The Big Dipper poured its radiance into the formation, condensing into a blinding arrow of starlight.

In the next moment, it fired like a comet streaking across the sky.
Ghost mist and clouds were pierced clean through, revealing a vertical chasm in the sky that stretched upward for kilometers.

This stunning celestial anomaly captured the attention of all onlookers.

And then—they all saw it.

A second sun rose above the sky.

The nuclear fireball erupted, spreading its blinding light across the heavens. Many who looked directly at it had their retinas scorched.

The roaring explosion and shockwave engulfed the world.

Yet in the instant the nuclear bomb detonated, the malice that had lingered in Lu Yan’s senses all this time…

Vanished completely.

Then, a new prompt appeared on his virtual interface:

【Version Mutation Progress: 100%】

(End of Chapter)