Gods Vanish on a Cloudy Day

Chapter 22 The Four Paths to Ascension (4000)

Chapter 1 What Exactly is the Concept of Thirty Million?

Three people can create a tiger; thirty people can field a football team with substitutes. Three hundred people can become warlords in chaotic regions. Three thousand people can claim to be a local government's armed force. Thirty thousand people can launch a small-scale war, and a collective of three hundred thousand people can construct a completely self-sufficient little society.

And if three million people share a single will, their decisions are enough to influence the direction of the entire world.

But now, thirty million 'lives' are being rapidly extinguished.

Blood, blood, blood.

Everywhere you look, there is only blood and corpses.

Standing on the distant hilltop, the white-haired Qingqiu person gazed at the scene unfolding in Zhenling Pagoda City, his body frozen in place, unmoving for a long time.

At first, there was a kind of exhilaration.

Tianmo (demons) being slaughtered? That was just too good! Yes, it was these evil beings that had killed his family, his sister had lost her physical body, and her soul was still eking out an existence in the electronic underworld. All the suffering the Qingqiu people were enduring now was the work of these evil Tianmo!

Kill! They should be killed like this, or rather, they could only be killed like this!

But then, after the joy of revenge and the desire for destruction were completely poured out in the long slaughter, what gradually emerged in Gu Zechuan's heart was an uncontrollable, chilling 'fear'.

Why?

Because the Tianmo and the Qingqiu people were just too similar…

No, they were exactly the same.

Creatures identical to himself were being silently killed and destroyed with the simplest and most direct means. Flesh bodies similar to his own were being pulverized into bloody fragments. This instinctive empathy brought about by the excessive similarity made him feel all the pain of that destruction.

Even though Gu Zechuan knew that they were all Tianmo, the overly weak thought in his heart, 'what if there are still innocent Qingqiu people inside the Zhenling Pagoda,' always lingered.

Especially that person, that awe-inspiring Venerable… when he killed those Tianmo, there was not the slightest fluctuation on his expressionless, calmly indifferent face.

So, if one day he killed Qingqiu people, would his face be just as devoid of emotion?

No one knew…

Gu Zechuan was well aware that his fear was just a pure delusion. Since Su Zhou had appeared, this Venerable's actions had shown no hint of cruelty or bloodthirst. He was so decisive and calm in the face of various emergencies, and so compassionate and loving towards the Qingqiu people… This was just killing Tianmo, there was nothing to fear.

But thirty million… that number was just too much.

Gu Zechuan stared blankly into the distance, like a statue, watching the youth enveloped in cyan-purple spiritual light systematically cleanse the one hundred and fifty Zhenling Pagodas. One after another, the towering giant pagodas collapsed and crumbled under his Tianlei (heavenly lightning) and spear strikes, and the Tianmo who tried to attack him were like weeds, harvested and withered.

There was not a single scream. The Tianmo attacked silently and then died silently. Apart from the distant sound of the spear strikes and the explosive roar of the air being torn apart, all that remained between heaven and earth was the rustling sound of the torrential rain.

Ah, no, there were other sounds.

Accompanied by a low hum, countless ice-blue spiritual lights emerged from the bloody corpses, flickering like sparks in the rain, rising and drifting towards the sky.

One, two, three. Then, they transformed into a terrifying tide.

Those were the souls of the Tianmo, preserved by someone's compassion. Without using any large-scale spiritual techniques, without using breath attacks, without using Tianlei strikes, and without using the divine blade capable of severing immortality and souls—he had only used a spear imbued with the power of a divine tree, using pure physical means to kill, so the preserved souls had now gathered into a vast river.

Even though not all Tianmo possessed spiritual power or souls, the number of these lights still exceeded one million.

The ice-blue soul light swirled, forming a ring-shaped halo in the sky above the entire Zhenling Pagoda City, replacing the sun and illuminating the entire world.

The slaughter was over.

The white-haired youth knelt on the ground, staring blankly as Su Zhou, carrying his spear, walked step by step out of the city filled with blood and corpses. Countless souls rose from behind him, like a reversed meteor shower, returning to the halo, returning to the illusion of the divine tree growing against the clouds, and then slowly merging into the youth's body as thunderbolts struck down.

There was not a trace of killing intent on Su Zhou's body—yes, killing toys, killing Tianmo, could that be considered killing people?

It was just eliminating pests, eliminating monsters that should not exist in the world.

Without realizing it, Gu Zechuan found that he had knelt on the ground while gazing at Su Zhou's figure, which was gradually approaching him.

——Able to execute, and also to punish; able to save, and also to destroy.

He could both help the Qingqiu people and exterminate them—all the creatures on this planet were things that he could easily destroy.

This… was a Xianshen (immortal)…

After realizing this, Gu Zechuan closed his eyes.

He finally realized that the figure was wreathed in a majesty that made him feel presumptuous even to look at, even to gaze upon.

So, Gu Zechuan slowly lowered his head, bowing,

Just as the Qingqiu people had bowed to the first Emperor, to Emperor Yu, and to all the Xianshen in ancient times, naturally and spontaneously kneeling and worshipping.

But this time it was different.

"Hey, Gu Zechuan, what are you doing?"

With the World Tree spear shouldered, and a huge package, at least nine cubic meters in size, hanging from the end of the spear, Su Zhou looked at the other party with some bewilderment, carrying the top-grade compressed Xingtian Gangsha he had collected, exceeding nearly a thousand units: "Why are you kneeling? Don't your knees hurt? Get up quickly."

As he said this, he stretched out his right hand, directly grabbing the white-haired fox-man's hand and pulling him up from the ground: "It's time to go back. The Zhenling Pagoda City here has been completely destroyed by me, and the Tianmo all over the planet probably know about it—I guess revenge will come soon, so we need to prepare as soon as possible."

"Ah…"

And pulled up by Su Zhou, Gu Zechuan stood up a little at a loss, his eyes full of confusion. Seeing that this person was not quite right, Su Zhou frowned and reached out to pat the other party's head, intending to make him sober up a bit: "Wake up!"

Of course, when patting his head, perhaps because of some accident, Su Zhou casually rubbed Gu Zechuan's ears.

——Eh, fluffy, as expected, very comfortable!

"U-understood."

And this stimulation immediately woke Gu Zechuan up. His bewildered gaze quickly regained clarity, and then he subconsciously took a few steps back.

This instead caused a misunderstanding, making Su Zhou a little embarrassed: "Sorry, I was really just a little curious about what it felt like."

He generously admitted his mistake, because he knew that this behavior was very impolite—but the aura of 'I was wrong, but I'll do it again next time!' was obvious: "Speaking of which, do you Qingqiu people have four ears, or just fox ears?"

"Both are possible… depends on preference…" Gu Zechuan lowered his head and replied softly, while Tang Yuan on the side chuckled, causing Su Zhou to turn his head and glare, his eyes flashing with a sharp light: "What are you laughing at? Don't you want to touch them too?!"

"N-no… that's not it, it's not that I don't want to, but…"

"I was curious, I took action, I have the ability to act, I deserve it… okay, it's indeed impolite, but I apologized! So what are you laughing at?"

Tang Yuan seemed to want to explain, but after receiving the hint 'if you talk again, your bonus is gone!', he immediately shut up. Su Zhou turned around and slowly ascended towards the direction of the spaceship. He ordered: "Stop talking nonsense, time is tight, hurry back to the *Yuanwang*."

Then, without saying much more, Su Zhou transformed into a stream of light and flew towards the distance.

Recovering from the initial shock, Gu Zechuan first stared at Su Zhou's departing figure. He did not rush to catch up, but turned his head to look at Tang Yuan on the side, his eyes showing doubt.

"You… aren't you afraid?"

Although there were no more words, there was no need to say more—facing the slaughterhouse of thirty million Tianmo not far away, everyone knew what they should be afraid of.

To this, Tang Yuan just shrugged: "What's there to be afraid of—although it looks like a terrible slaughter, the souls are still there."

"In this extraordinary world, merely the destruction of the physical body does not count as death. It is only when the souls are extinguished that it can be considered death."

When he said this, the black-haired youth could not help but recall the soul light floating in the sky, and the divine tree growing upside down in the clouds, and a trace of awe could not help but appear in his eyes.

——It was precisely because he was a member of the *Yuling* (Spirit Controlling) race that he understood what that divine tree illusion, and the illusion merging into Su Zhou's body, represented.

If the electronic underworld was a modern imitation created by humans imitating the ancient underworld,

Then Su Zhou was truly using his own soul, his own mind, together with that divine tree illusion, to jointly bear the souls of those millions of Tianmo.

At this moment, in mid-air, above the heavy black clouds, cold moonlight shone.

"How is it, Wisdom Tree, are you okay?"

Su Zhou spoke to the Wisdom Tree's spirit in his own soul space, his tone carrying a hint of fatigue: "If you can't hold on, transfer a little more pressure to me."

"—I—CAN!"

However, what he received was the Wisdom Tree's somewhat grumpy response. The Wisdom Tree's spirit seemed to feel that it was being looked down upon, and was a little temperamental, causing Su Zhou to smile wryly.

"Is that so." He said softly, "That's really great, little guy."

And hearing this praise, the divine tree's spirit immediately shook its branches, and even the main body in the personal space trembled slightly, as if it was standing with its hands on its hips, self-satisfied: "—AS—EXPECTED—OF—ME!"

"As expected of you, as expected of you."

After comforting the Wisdom Tree, Su Zhou could not help but close his eyes while flying, and began to ponder his own path.

After fighting against the hundreds of Tianmo leaders in Zhenling Pagoda City, and finally sharing the burden of all the Tianmo souls with the Wisdom Tree, Su Zhou felt quite strained, but he also grasped a glimmer of 'advancement'.

That realm above the leader level, truly belonging to the 'higher realm', belonging to the category of Xianshen—the realm of 'Overlord'!

As early as when he had just advanced to the leader level, Su Zhou knew that when he completely decomposed and digested the supernatural powers he possessed, and integrated and perfected them with his own power system, forming a self-consistent system unique to himself, he could be said to have reached the end of the leader level and could begin to choose the path to the Overlord realm.

Leader, Human Immortal, these are all levels that can establish a sect. Although they are only the most initial ones, they at least meet the minimum standard.

The reason for this is that existences at the leader level can break down their supernatural powers into individual spells and cultivation methods, and finally integrate them into a legacy, teaching them to others and turning them into the initial 'Immortal Dao Classics'.

This is also the origin of the ancient name 'Human Immortal'—the beginning of Immortality begins with teaching, imparting knowledge, and pioneering a legacy.

Su Zhou had already done this to the extreme. He had long ago broken down various spells from his supernatural powers. For example, the Art of Distinguishing Good and Evil, a basic spell, had already been circulating among a portion of strictly vetted patrol officers and intelligence personnel. In a sense, Su Zhou was also the patriarch of this school.

And after strengthening his true soul and adding the additional supernatural power of the Flames of Sin, he directly touched four paths leading to the Overlord level.

——Nature, Life, Law, Spirit.

——Soul, Body, Technique, Spiritual Power.

These are the four orthodox paths of Immortals and Gods. Choosing one and going to the end will allow one to ascend to immortality and become a true Immortal God.

Generally speaking, practitioners who reach this step will not have too much hesitation. They only need to choose the one they have cultivated the deepest and are most familiar with to move forward.

But the problem lies here—with Su Zhou's strength and foundation, he could choose any path without demeaning himself.

The Path of Nature—his soul is resilient, and he has the True Spirit of Immortality.

The Path of Life—his body is perfect, and he has the *Zhuzhou* True Body.

The Path of Law—he devours evil souls, able to contain all rivers and seas.

The Path of Spirit—his talent is amazing, and his foundation is exceptionally deep.

In theory, 'I want them all' should be the best choice, but Su Zhou understands very well that sometimes insisting on advancing on all fronts can only kill himself. Even if several paths are pursued at the same time, one should be the main one, commanding the others. Otherwise, he will only end up self-destructing because he cannot control the massive power after ascending to immortality.

"If Yara were here, that would be great…" Su Zhou muttered to himself subconsciously, and could not help but sigh.

Then, he paused slightly.

——That's not right… when did I become someone who can't even make my own choices and needs advice from others?

Yara is indeed powerful and can perhaps provide him with the best choice from a high-level perspective… but does that mean that I can't find the best choice myself?

Moreover, is what He says always right?

Where's the logic in that!

Laughing softly, Su Zhou shook his head. He noticed that two streams of light had already caught up to him from behind, and then he slowed down again, preparing to take Tang Yuan and Gu Zechuan to accelerate forward.

Soon, following the river of three streams of light, above the dark clouds, high in the sky, the cyan-purple light was like a shooting star, flashing past.