Facing the Apocalypse with My Other Selves

Wizard Shen Yu let out a light sigh, cupped his hands, and spoke: "Disciple requests the Venerable Uncle to appear."

He maintained a respectful posture, and only after a long while did that lazy voice once again echo from within the Gray Mist.

"A country god, ignorant and fearless."

The next moment, a figure slowly gathered behind the Space Gate.

It was a young man dressed in a red-patterned robe.

There was not a hint of Divine Power.

But—!

At the very instant he appeared without the slightest aura, all the Divine Spirits present— even including Flame God Ignoros, who arrived bearing Supreme Divine Power— suddenly retreated several steps, utterly unable to control their alarm.

Because, in their sight, what stood before them was not a man at all!

That was nothing but a fictitious façade; behind the appearance was a Great Sun, absolutely transcending the concept of life!

Just a fleeting glimpse, and it was as if they witnessed the laws of heaven shatter, the earth wailing, countless vast stars crumbling, even space itself twisting and breaking, torn apart along with innumerable worlds! And among them, countless innate Divine Spirits as insignificant as themselves perished in shrieks; accompanied by the soul-searing agony of burning, it felt as if their own Divine Power, consciousness, everything would dissolve in this apocalypse-like terror!

This is a Divine Spirit?

No, this is not something that mere Divine Spirits can describe!

In this moment, the gods felt boundless terror, and a sense of inexpressible absurdity.

There was no need for coercive pressure at all—just a glance!

Flame God Ignoros instinctively looked away, lowering his head, his awareness blank.

He wanted to flee, yet had no idea how to face this being that vastly surpassed his expectations, even defied comprehension, leaving only his body trembling uncontrollably.

The rest of the gods—many let out screams of terror, scrambling to retreat, not daring to cast another glance, still feeling the searing pain lingering deep in their minds!

But while they fell into silence, Shen Yu had no intention of staying silent.

At this very moment, with every passing second, an immense amount of Gray Mist was being consumed at a mad pace!

To maintain the high-level illusion capable of influencing Divine Spirits, instilling them with terror, the consumption was too great!

He continued, speaking in that same lazy tone, "Listen."

These two short words appeared in an instant at the ears of every Divine Spirit!

Yes, every Divine Spirit in this world!

Even those who had no idea what was happening still heard the voice!

Immediately, a great commotion exploded among the gods.

All the Divine Spirits continuously inquired, waves of Divine Power surging throughout every Divine Country.

But the voice continued:

"The Supreme Divine Court of All Heavens has its own laws and regulations; we do not interfere in our disciples' trials, nor do we concern ourselves with you ignorant wild gods who have not so much as crossed beyond your own worlds. However, the disciples of the Court must not be insulted; those whom the disciples value must not be harmed. This, too, is a rule. If what happened today should ever occur again—hmph."

With the final light chuckle, the figure vanished on the spot.

The Gray Mist Space closed gently, as well.

At that moment, Ignoros could no longer bear the terror gnawing at his heart, and in a flash, retreated into his own Divine Country!

His heart was left with nothing but endless panic and stupefied dread.

All-Heavens! All-Heavens!

At last, he understood the true meaning of "All-Heavens"!

And more and more Divine Spirits came searching, eager to know exactly what had happened, even including several extremely powerful Divine Spirits!

For tens of thousands of years now, since the birth of the gods, never had anything so far beyond comprehension occurred!

Someone could transmit their voice directly to all of them!

However, at this moment, all the Shen Yus understood—they had temporarily passed the crisis of the gods intervening directly!

And yet, they all knew as well just how much of a clever trick their actions had been.

Truly, they had relied on bluff and deception.

"Who knows what consequences it might lead to," thought Shen Yu in his mind to Wizard Shen Yu. "The best outcome is for the gods to be deterred, afraid to strike at you again, even afraid to destroy humanity— but the odds of that are too low, and honestly, the latter is almost entirely out of the question."

Indeed, for there had been no Gray Mist gained now.

Apart from acquiring a great amount of Gray Mist from killing the Curse God at the start, afterward, when intimidating the Flame God and sending word to the pantheon, they hadn't earned the slightest bit of Gray Mist.

This meant that, even to such an extent, they couldn't waver the gods' determination to destroy the mortal realm.

Shen Yu even felt a bit relieved.

Thankfully, he hadn't forbidden the gods from ending the world outright using the Gray Mist.

"The hardest part of bluffing is gauging the balance," Wizard Shen Yu understood as well. "Push too hard, and the other side might just become desperate, which would have the opposite effect. Even now, the gods are bound to keep probing continuously."

Thinking this, Wizard Shen Yu felt even greater pressure.

The gods' past actions were simply because they hadn't regarded mortals at all.

But from now on, they would be forced to take notice.

Not of mortals, but of Wizard Shen Yu.

Step by step, the tests would inevitably follow.

Thus, Wizard Shen Yu and humanity would soon face Divine Spirits finally taking things seriously!

"Do our utmost," was all Shen Yu could say.

Looking back, there truly was something of drinking poison to quench thirst—but there was no other way: if they hadn't done this, the gods would have destroyed the entire Magic Empire on the spot, then hunted down Wizard Shen Yu.

Shen Yu didn't even dare set clear terms, only dared to utter a vague "must not be insulted."

What exactly counted as insult?

If they left Wizard Shen Yu alone, but destroyed the Magic Empire, wiped out this Plane directly, did that count?

The boundaries of this standard were mutable; all to buy time, too.

Wizard Shen Yu nodded heavily. No matter what, the crisis of gods descending had, for now, been averted.

Then something occurred to him, and he asked aloud, "How much Gray Mist remains from killing the Curse God?"

"Fourteen-point-three billion," Shen Yu answered. "At the instant we killed the Curse God, we gained a total of twenty-two-point-six billion. The bluff just now, especially the final communication, consumed even more—in total, we spent seven point three billion."

Creating a deterrence that inflicted pain on the Divine Spirits, as well as forcibly broadcasting to all of them at once—

Both acts had burned through a colossal quantity of Gray Mist.

Shen Yu dared not skimp on Gray Mist in the least. Otherwise, the effect would never have matched their goals—and worse, the more powerful gods might have entered the fray directly.

They had to bring things to a point where the gods dared not act recklessly.

The final message achieved this, too.

Only the Flame God and a few others actually experienced the deterrence; those far more powerful Divine Spirits did not, which was clearly extremely perilous.

Yet by sending the message to all gods, they achieved the greatest impact for the least expenditure.

The implications therein were numerous.

It signaled that the All Heavens Divine Court knew of every Divine Spirit's existence and location, and could broadcast messages to all— so could they also attack each individually?

Even if it was just a message, it clearly represented a superior Power Level!

Combined with the terrifying deterrence felt by the Flame God and the others, it produced a compounding effect far greater than the sum of its parts.

"There's still fourteen-point-three billion left! This is also an unprecedented windfall!" Wizard Shen Yu understood the necessity of the expense and didn't regret the loss of the seven-point-three at all; on the contrary, he was greatly delighted by the fourteen-point-three billion that remained.

This was indeed the greatest sum that all the Shen Yus had ever gained at one time since the Association was founded.

It was almost equivalent to saving the entire Human Civilization Mother Star twice over!

It had completely exceeded what they'd initially expected.

While it might still fall short of facing the pantheon, it was already enough to accomplish a great deal.

"Your world's number of Planes is truly impressive," Shen Yu reflected with joy, not without some emotion. "Just a single Curse God could bring over twenty billion deaths; mortals before gods really are as fragile as ants."