In order to achieve success, the three gods were pulling out all the stops. Whether it was the God-Rejecting Mage Formation, the dagger-axe made from tens of thousands of years of stockpiled materials, the 108 domain treasures and the destiny aura of many species, or the Nobleplexus starry sky. Any of them could be considered extremely precious treasures. That was especially true of the Nobleplexus starry sky, which was absolutely terrifying, and surpassed the level of domain treasures to the point of being everlasting. All of that made it very clear how determined the three gods were to succeed in bypassing the tribulation fire level.

And yet all of that didn’t seem quite enough. The resistance thēy were facing… was shocking to the extreme. This mysterious red paper person was so astonishing that even the Captain seemed terrified of hīm.

That being said, the three gods weren’t out of options yet. As thēy burned thēir godsource to create a fire of god fate, thēy fused, reaching into time to bring thēir past life into the world. From thēir souls, from thēir memories, and from the fires of reincarnation emerged a dramatic and majestic figure.

He wore imperial robes and an imperial crown. His facial features weren’t possible to see clearly, but there was something noble and imperial about him that could shake the cosmos.

He was none other than… North Emperor!

As he emerged from the fire, he lifted his right index finger in the direction of the red paper person.

When the red paper person made contact with the finger, no sound came out. There was no wild tempest. But a white-colored hole appeared! It came out of nowhere and imparted a spine-chilling sensation to everyone present. That white-colored hole did not conform to any natural or magical laws. It was not something that the omniscience of gods could perceive. It was not part of any known dao or magic.

Then, like something that shouldn’t even exist, it vanished from reincarnation, from time, and even from the memories of everyone who had witnessed it. Along with it went the red paper person! None of them existed any longer.

Outside the god domain, the gods in hiding all shivered and looked at the figure that had emerged from the fire as if he were an extremely dangerous enemy.

North Emperor was still blurry and impossible to see clearly. As he hovered in the air, he looked down at the three gods and sighed. Suddenly, he chopped his hand down to sever, not the dome of heaven, but his connection to the three gods.

The three gods shivered as the flames once again turned into three different versions with three colors that swept back to the respective gods. The three of them opened thēir eyes and looked at North Emperor with complicated expressions.

“From this point on, our karma is severed.” North Emperor sighed and looked up at the dome of heaven over Revered Ancient. “I have three breaths of time left, so I might as well lend a helping hand.”

North Emperor stepped out of the god domain. His footfall caused intense rumbling to echo out along with endless lightning. All of the gods who were hiding in the area grunted and fled. The surroundings were now completely empty! The resistance had been cleared away!

Then, North Emperor took another step, entering the void to pursue the red paper person. It was impossible to say how that would end. After he was gone, the aura of the three gods once again began to climb. The resistance was gone, but thēy weren’t in very good shape. Thēir faces were ashen, and thēir god souls seemed extremely weak.

And then… another dramatic event unfolded.

Fire sprang up in the dome of heaven, raging wildly, becoming like a huge spear that stabbed toward the three gods with sky-obfuscating, land-enshrouding force! It seemed shocking and unstoppable, like a force that could destroy anything and everything. In the blink of an eye, it was right above the three gods.

It was just barely possible to see an illusory figure behind the spear, pulsing with astonishing fluctuations. The figure looked at the three gods and then spoke in a godly voice.

“By the authority of Netherworld, Northfate, and Redland Nobleplexus, I hereby notify Sunfire, Moonfire, and Starfire that the Firemoon people are not permitted to produce a fourth god!”

Moonfire’s eyes glittered mysteriously. Starfire said nothing. As for the grand steward, he sighed inwardly.

Meanwhile, in the emperor’s corpse in the abyss, Xu Qing, who was in the middle of forming his dao lineaments, heard the Captain speaking to him.

“The Netherworld Chasmcorpses. The Northfate Kings. The Redland Nobleplexuses. Those three species are all in the top five most powerful species in the Revered Ancient mainland!”

Almost at the same time that the Captain offered that explanation, Sunfire spoke.

“Grand Steward, as you can see, we have done everything we possibly can to live up to our promise from years ago. Back then, we told you that unexpected circumstances might arrive, and they have. Thēy don’t want a fourth god among the Firemoon Darkheaven people.

“On the one hand, you could exterminate your species but become a glorious god like us. Or you could perish, and entrust us to safeguard the Firemoons for as long as we exist. Do you choose the species? Or do you choose godly ascension? It’s up to you.”

The grand steward closed his eyes. None of this was a surprise to him. Just as Sunfire had said, when they made their deal years ago, this possibility had been discussed.

Three top species had determined that he wasn’t allowed to experience godly ascension. Thēy didn’t want the Firemoons to have a fourth god. Were he not the grand steward, he could have chosen to sever his connections to the Firemoons and become a god. But he couldn’t just abandon his identity.

The truth was… he had already made his choice, long ago. It didn’t matter what words he spoke. He knew in his heart that his act of betrayal years ago had been for the sake of his people, but also for himself.

But now, for some reason, he was having trouble making the decision. It was hard to say if the three gods had planned for things to work out this way, but in the end, it didn’t matter. In the end, the three gods were letting him decide what he wanted to do.

“Ah, whatever….” Sighing, he thought back to the look in Ninedawns’ eyes when he died. It was an expression of pain, bitterness, and regret. He remembered what he had said to Ninedawns at that moment. “The end of your line will bring hope to the species.”

Numerous scenes from back then were playing out in his mind. He saw himself in ancient times, inside the God-Rejecting Mage Formation, rising to the position of grand steward step by step. Eventually, he took over as ruler of his species and gradually lifted them from despair to glory. Eventually, he saw Ninedawns’ return. This time, the words he had spoken back then seemed to come out of Ninedawns’ mouth.

“Like reincarnation….”

A few breaths of time passed, and he bowed his head. “There are some things,” he murmured with a faint smile, “that if you say them enough, you actually start to believe….”

The grand steward closed his eyes and completed the godfire within him. It erupted, spreading out to cover him, burning his flesh, his soul, and everything else about him. At the same time, all members of the Firemoon Darkheaven species felt the connection to their ancient bloodline stirring, and realized that they were about to burst into flames and die. But then, the fire within the Firemoons went out.

The grand steward’s fire raged, engulfing him until… he turned into ashes. He had ceased to exist. It didn’t matter what he had thought in the past. When the moment came to make that difficult decision, he ultimately decided… to give up on godly ascension!

What was more, he took his authority over the god domain and turned it into a god talisman that glittered brightly as it shot toward Sunfire. That god talisman was something that was even more precious than the most precious treasure, as it contained the godhood power of a god domain!

He also left behind a few words. “I hope… that you keep your promise.”

“We always keep our word,” Sunfire replied. “That’s the foundation of being a god.”

When Xu Qing perceived all of these things, he felt mixed emotions. However, there wasn’t time to analyze the situation right now. The void soil within him was seething as a critical moment had arrived in forming his dao lineaments. When the dao lineaments formed, that was true Void Returning.

Meanwhile, as the ashes of the grand steward faded away, the huge, flaming spear over the three gods also vanished. So did the godly figure that had come with it. Heaven and earth went back to normal. It was as if nothing had happened to begin with.

The three gods closed thēir eyes. Thēy were just about to skip past tribulation fire and become Flawless Gods. The eyes of the broken face were now almost completely closed as well.

But then… the dome of heaven suddenly went dark!

A huge black hand appeared, taking advantage of the moment to lunge viciously toward the three gods. It was attempting to snatch the three gods’ destined opportunity, and seize thēir god karma!

The arrival of the hand caused all three gods to react with shock.

The hand had arrived at precisely the right moment, which was when the three gods were just about to achieve success. After all the resistance that had cropped up, the three gods were left feeling completely drained. As the hand dropped toward thēm, though, a mysterious figure suddenly stepped out of nowhere to appear right in front of the black hand.

This person did not have the aura of a god. It was a cultivator!

It was impossible to see which species the cultivator was from. And in a shocking development, nine major worlds appeared! After the nine worlds appeared, they turned into nine planets! Scattered amongst the planets were a host of twinkling stars. It was a planetary system!

This was what came after a Smoldering God formed nine worlds. It was the Imperial Sovereign level!

This was the current limit of the cultivation system in Revered Ancient, and was something similar to a god. If someone reached the peak of Imperial Sovereign, they could battle with a god in the tribulation fire level.

The arrival of this cultivator caused all onlookers to be shaken to the core. That was because, as far as all the onlookers knew, in the Revered Ancient mainland, Imperial Sovereigns were extremely rare. What was more, any who did exist weren’t very far into that level.

In the current cultivation system, the path after the Smoldering God nine-world level had been severed. The only way to become an Imperial Sovereign now was to make use of bloodline legacies, destiny aura, or some other forms of heaven-defying destined opportunity.

But this mysterious cultivator already had the beginnings of a planetary system, which wasn’t the beginning of the Imperial Sovereign level. No, that was the hallmark of being halfway into the peak of Imperial Sovereign!

Even in ancient times, cultivators like that would be considered profoundly domineering. In fact, the historical records of most species didn’t even mention people like that! The only possibility seemed to be… that some powerful person in ancient times had faked their death and remained in hiding until this moment.

As for this cultivator’s identity… everyone was already starting to come up with speculations.

When the cultivator appeared, their planetary system rumbled, and the incoming hand shivered. At the same time, the auras of the three gods climbed rapidly higher.