Chapter 14: This World Has No Gods!

Thud!

The corpse hit the ground, sending up a cloud of ash and dust.

On the still-intact half of Mu Nan's head, her eyes were frozen wide with terror.

It seemed she hadn't even registered what had happened in the moment of her death.

The other half of her skull was nothing but pulp.

Song Xuanqing looked at the red-and-white mess on his hand with disgust and gave it a shake.

He glanced down at the body on the ground. He felt a measure of relief — along with a flicker of contempt.

That's it?

He'd half-expected this to be a real struggle.

And yet, one palm strike had ended it.

True, he had put every ounce of his strength into that blow, and he'd struck without warning. But that only proved how utterly fragile the enemy had been.

Mu Tong stared at Mu Nan's fallen body, his eyes filled with pure, undisguised terror.

Since Song Xuanqing had gone straight for Mu Nan, Mu Tong had managed to dodge out of the way.

By the time Mu Nan's corpse hit the ground, he had already put several meters between himself and Song Xuanqing.

But now, looking at Mu Nan's gruesome remains, Mu Tong felt that distance was nowhere near enough.

After all… the speed Song Xuanqing had just displayed was terrifying.

He hadn't even been able to track Song Xuanqing's movement — in the blink of an eye, he had already been right there.

If Song Xuanqing had gone for him instead of Mu Nan, the corpse on the ground would have been his.

Mu Nan was slightly weaker than Mu Tong, but the gap between them wasn't a chasm.

Watching Mu Nan die without even the chance to resist made one thing crystal clear to Mu Tong.

If he could kill Mu Nan in an instant, he could kill Mu Tong just as easily.

In that moment, Mu Tong's mind was razor-sharp.

His eyes burned red. He fixed Song Xuanqing with one long, hard look.

Then, following every instinct he had, he made the only sensible choice — he turned and ran.

If he didn't run now, was he supposed to wait for Song Xuanqing to turn around and kill him the same way he'd killed Mu Nan?

As for fighting Song Xuanqing head-on?

After witnessing Mu Nan's instant death, Mu Tong had accepted the truth.

He didn't know if he could have matched Song Xuanqing at his peak. He absolutely could not now.

As he ran, Mu Tong cursed bitterly in his heart.

He'd known something was off the moment that little cat demon had fled into Xuanqing Temple — but he hadn't imagined it would be this bad!

In a remote mountain village with a backwater shrine, there was something this terrifyingly powerful lurking?

And even now, Mu Tong couldn't figure out what Song Xuanqing actually was.

He could tell Song Xuanqing wasn't human, but beyond that, his true nature was completely opaque.

The power gap was already obvious. Not knowing the enemy's background only made Mu Tong even less willing to fight.

All he could do now was be grateful he hadn't rashly charged into Xuanqing Temple earlier.

If he had, the one dead on the ground might not have been Mu Nan.

Even so, Mu Tong knew his situation was far from good.

Because Song Xuanqing had absolutely no intention of letting him escape.

If he'd never crossed paths with members of the Tianshan Sect, that would have been one thing.

But they had come to his Domain, set their sights on his idol, and targeted his believers. How could he let them walk away?

He was no benevolent god who repaid evil with kindness.

Having just effortlessly killed Mu Nan in an instant, Song Xuanqing now had a clearer sense of his own strength.

At the very least, Mu Tong no longer posed any real threat in his eyes.

Watching Mu Tong flee in a panic, Song Xuanqing let out a cold snort and gave chase.

Mu Tong had already sprinted nearly three hundred meters out of the village. He glanced back and saw Song Xuanqing coming after him — the sight sent a jolt of pure terror through him.

He pushed his legs even harder, squeezing out every last bit of speed.

But even that pace looked sluggish to Song Xuanqing.

Three hundred meters — Song Xuanqing closed the gap in one breath.

Mu Tong didn't dare look back, but the dread pressing down on his heart, and the faint scent of incense drifting to his nose, set every alarm in his mind screaming.

He knew. Song Xuanqing was here.

Right behind him.

Sure enough, the next moment Mu Tong felt something slam into the back of his knees like a kick. Searing pain made him stumble.

Song Xuanqing gave him no reprieve, following up with a second kick that sent him crashing to the ground.

Lying on the ground, Mu Tong felt as though his legs might be broken. He curled up like a shrimp, clutching both legs.

He gritted his teeth, seething with both fury and despair.

He didn't know why Song Xuanqing hadn't killed him outright, but having fallen into the enemy's hands, even if he wasn't killed now, death was only a matter of time.

He hadn't forgotten the sight of Song Xuanqing's palm caving in Mu Nan's skull.

For a moment, Mu Tong felt utterly hopeless.

Seeing that Mu Tong was in no condition to run, Song Xuanqing held back from delivering another kick.

He couldn't kill him yet.

He still had questions, and Mu Tong still had some value alive.

If he hadn't misjudged the enemy's strength at the start, he wouldn't have gone straight for Mu Nan and killed her on the spot.

But no matter — he still had Mu Tong as a living witness.

Song Xuanqing hauled Mu Tong up by the collar like a dead dog and walked back to Xuanqing Temple.

Mu Tong tried to resist along the way, but two sharp raps on the head from Song Xuanqing served as a clear warning, and he settled down.

Though Mu Tong had already steeled himself for the likelihood of death, the will to live is hard to suppress. One look at the ruined state of Mu Nan's head was enough to make his courage wither.

In front of Xuanqing Temple, the black cat saw Song Xuanqing return and let out a string of happy meows.

It had always known this divine lord was powerful!

Song Xuanqing ignored the black cat and tossed Mu Tong down beside Mu Nan's corpse, then stood over him, looking down.

When Mu Tong turned his head, the first thing he saw was Mu Nan's mangled skull. He understood — this was Song Xuanqing's warning.

He clenched his jaw, shot a hateful glare at the black cat, then raised his eyes to meet Song Xuanqing's gaze directly.

"Who exactly are you? What grudge do we have that you'd try to kill us? I was only chasing that little cat demon because it ruined my plans — I never actually did anything to it. We shouldn't have any blood feud. And I'm a member of the Tianshan Sect. Aren't you afraid of their retaliation for crossing them?!"

Song Xuanqing listened, and found the whole thing baffling.

"What grudge do we have? You set your sights on my idol, and you planned to slaughter the villagers who make offerings to me — and you're asking me what grudge we have?"

As for the threat of Tianshan Sect retaliation for killing Mu Tong and Mu Nan — Song Xuanqing didn't give it a second thought.

What a joke. Even if he hadn't provoked the Tianshan Sect, they had already been targeting his idol.

So what if he killed a few of their members?

At those words, Mu Tong froze.

He stared at Song Xuanqing in disbelief.

"You… you're the Lord Xuanqing idol from the temple?!"

Now Song Xuanqing was even more baffled.

They had already fought, and Mu Tong still didn't know who he was?

Mu Tong had been plotting to perform Blood Refinement on Song Family Village and smash his idol — and yet he couldn't recognize that Song Xuanqing was the idol itself?

Was it the effect of his God-Merge form?

But he had walked straight out of Xuanqing Temple. Wasn't the answer obvious?

Mu Tong, however, seemed unable to accept Song Xuanqing's identity. He stared with wide, unfocused eyes, shaking his head and muttering to himself.

"No… impossible. How could it be that Lord Xuanqing idol? Based on what the villagers described, under normal circumstances that idol should only be capable of producing a divine idol anomaly at most!"

"Even if a divine idol anomaly occurred, the idol would still be an inanimate object. How could something like you exist?! You can't be that idol!"

Song Xuanqing frowned, sensing something was off.

He thought for a moment, then fixed Mu Tong with a deep, unreadable gaze, his expression perfectly composed.

"What's impossible about it? I am Lord Xuanqing, enshrined by Song Family Village — the god of that idol!"

At those words, Mu Tong first went blank — then broke into laughter, wild and slightly unhinged.

"Ha! A god? Impossible! You're powerful, I'll grant you that, but you can't be any kind of god!"

"This world has no gods!"

Now it was Song Xuanqing's turn to be stunned.

This world has no gods?

Then what was he?

Bad enough that he was a Feral God with no official rank — now he was being kicked out of the category of gods entirely?