Swallowing the Stars: Heart of the Martial God

Chapter 188 The Strongest Defense in the Universe

The lava fireball grazed Xuan Gu's stone arm and exploded on the rock wall behind him. The rock wall, which stretched for tens of millions of kilometers, was instantly melted into a vast ocean of magma. Under the protection of the chaotic energy in Xuan Gu's palm, the Lord of Bilong did not feel even a trace of heat.

Taking advantage of the brief moment between the fireball explosions, Xuan Gu teleported again, instantly appearing hundreds of thousands of kilometers away with the Lord of Bilong.

But the Lava Demon God relentlessly pursued them, spewing out a torrent of magma over a hundred million kilometers wide, like a rushing galaxy, sweeping towards the two of them.

Seeing this, Xuan Gu's clone strode forward and fled, slightly turning his body to block the impact of the magma torrent with his massive form, while reminding, "Hold on tight, we'll be passing through a magma fissure zone ahead!"

The Lord of Bilong, hiding in a crevice on the shoulder of Xuan Gu's avatar, looked down at the land being swallowed by magma and the terrifying, sky-covering figure behind him, and felt a sense of relief: "Xuan Gu, thank goodness for you, otherwise my small body probably wouldn't have been able to withstand even the aftershocks of its attack."

"Don't worry, with me here, I'll definitely get you out of here safely." Xuan Gu's clone spoke with a calm and steady tone, his gaze sharp as a hawk, his eyes fixed on the rugged terrain ahead.

Faced with the Lava Demon's relentless attacks, he moved with a nimbleness unlike a giant three million kilometers tall. As the sweeping magma arm approached with scorching heat, he suddenly bent down, his stone body like a bent bow, dodging the giant arm while simultaneously protecting the Lord of the Azure Mound on his shoulder with his palm.

Seeing that its continuous attacks had all missed, the Lava Demon God's body, which was billions of kilometers tall, became even more ferocious, and its roar was like a thunderclap, causing the rock walls of the God-Slaying Abyss to crumble and crumble.

It suddenly accelerated, and with each step it took, it caused waves of magma tens of thousands of kilometers high to rise from the ground. The shockwaves, like invisible giant hands, pressed down on the direction of the Xuan Gu clone, trying to force him to stop.

In the chase, Xuan Gu's clone had already roughly figured out the Lava Demon God's strength by observing the frequency and intensity of his attacks: "Eleventh to twelfth level combat power. No wonder even the strongest in the universe, using the most powerful treasures, could not withstand his sharpness."

The thought flashed through his mind, but his movements did not slow down at all.

From beginning to end, he never intended to fight the Lava Demon to the death; he only wanted to find an opportunity to escape while resisting.

"Roar—" The Lava Demon roared repeatedly behind him. The Oro Realm unleashed by the Lord of the Azure Mound shattered instantly upon touching its body, just like paper. Although the Giant Domain of the Ancient Avatar could barely slow down the flow of magma, it could not hinder it in the slightest and could only watch helplessly as it continued to approach.

Just as the giant hand of the Lava Demon was about to grab Xuan Gu's clone's ankle, Xuan Gu suddenly stopped.

“Xuan Gu! You…” The Lord of Bilong exclaimed in surprise. Before he could finish speaking, Xuan Gu’s stone skin suddenly lit up: first, a faint golden light seeped out from every crack in the stone, and then the faint golden light spread rapidly along the texture of the stone skin, enveloping his entire body like liquid metal, even covering the smallest stone patterns with golden light.

The power of the Perfect Gene Supreme and the talent of the Giant Body were fully activated. The Supreme Emperor's might spread out like a tangible substance, causing the surrounding space to sink slightly. The flow and coverage of this pale golden light was a clear sign that the Giant Body was activating.

"Concentrate!" Xuan Gu's clone shouted. Facing the giant hand that the Lava Demon God was slapping down, he did not take it head-on. Instead, he protected the Lord of the Azure Mound even more tightly. At the same time, he turned his body to the side and used the golden light on his shoulder to touch the giant hand—both by using the defensive properties to weaken the impact and by rotating to deflect the force.

"Bang—" The moment the giant hand landed on Xuan Gu's shoulder, the golden light rippled violently, and the impact was weakened to one ten-thousandth. Xuan Gu only felt a slight numbness in his shoulder, and the ground beneath his feet was shaken into a depression tens of thousands of kilometers deep, but his body did not even show a crack.

After the collision, the Lava Demon God's giant hand paused for only a moment before rising again, the flames in its palm still blazing fiercely. Without any further reaction, it continued to strike Xuan Gu.

Xuan Gu's clone's eyes narrowed, his left hand always protecting the Lord of Bilong on his shoulder—the golden light on his left arm was obviously more intense than on other parts of his body, and the light flowed faster, clearly indicating that he had actively concentrated his defensive properties on the side protecting the Lord of Bilong.

With his right fist pressed against his body, chaotic energy and golden light intertwined. Whenever the Lava Demon God's attack approached, he would gently block it with his fist, using the weakened impact of the golden light to push himself and the Lord of the Azure Mound closer to the exit.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Several loud noises rang out in succession. The magma fist shadow was blocked and the splashed magma landed on the stone skin of the Xuan Gu clone. As soon as it touched the golden light, it was instantly bounced away without even a trace of burning. Only tiny specks of light appeared on the surface of the golden light, disappearing in an instant like water droplets merging into the surface of a lake.

Taking advantage of the moment when the Lava Demon God withdrew his fist, Xuan Gu's clone seized the opportunity and teleported tens of thousands of kilometers towards the exit with the Lord of Bilong.

The Lava Demon God relentlessly pursued, raising its giant arm once more and sweeping it towards the direction of Xuan Gu's clone. The shockwave generated by the giant arm swept up countless magma like a hurricane, forming a magma wall tens of millions of kilometers wide, which pressed down on Xuan Gu's clone.

Upon seeing this, Xuan Gu's clone immediately shielded the Lord of Bilong in front of his chest. The golden light around his body instantly surged several times over, and the faint golden light on his body surface surged like a tide. It even formed a semi-transparent golden light shield around him and the Lord of Bilong. This was the ultimate manifestation of the defensive characteristics of the giant's body, concentrating all attacks on the light shield to weaken them.

"Hold on! The exit of the God-Slaying Abyss is just ahead!" Xuan Gu's clone shouted to the Lord of Bilong while withstanding the impact of the magma wall.

Although the high temperature inside the light shield gave the Lord of Bilong a slight warmth, it was still unable to break through the defense.

Xuan Gu's clone used the recoil from the magma wall to rush towards the exit like an arrow. His stone boots left a trail of golden light as they stepped across the ground, each step bringing him closer to the exit.

Seeing that Xuan Gu was about to escape, the Lava Demon God became even more ferocious, constantly slapping with its giant hands and using waves of lava to block him, but it was still unable to break through Xuan Gu's golden light defense.

Finally, after another teleportation, Xuan Gu's clone led the Lord of Bilong out of the Extinction God Ravine and arrived at a relatively flat area outside.

After chasing it to the edge of the exit, the Lava Demon God stopped. Its body, which was billions of kilometers tall, roared a few times at the exit, but it did not take a single step out of the God-Slaying Abyss—as if there was some invisible restriction preventing it from leaving the range of the God-Slaying Abyss.

It stared in the direction of Xuan Gu's clone, paused for a moment, then turned and returned to the depths of the God-Slaying Abyss, and the magma waves gradually subsided.

Xuan Gu's clone breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the Lava Demon God retreat to the bottom of the ravine, and slowly withdrew the golden light around him.

As soon as the Lord of Bilong regained his footing, his gaze was fixed on Xuan Gu, his voice full of worry: "Xuan Gu, are you alright? Just now inside, I clearly saw the Lava Demon God's giant hand slap you several times!"

She still felt lingering fear when she recalled the terrifying scene, especially when she saw Xuan Gu being struck by the giant hand; her heart was in her throat.

Upon hearing this, Xuan Gu's avatar calmly shook his head, his stone face showing no sign of fatigue: "Don't worry, don't forget my innate secret technique. Its attack looks fierce, but by the time it hits me, its power has been weakened to one ten-thousandth of its original strength, not even a superficial wound." "But what about the divine power consumption?" The Lord of Bilong was still worried and asked again, "That's the Lava Demon God, even the strongest beings in the universe have to avoid its edge. You've been holding out for so long, your divine power consumption must be considerable, right?"

In her heart, the Xuan Gu was the Zerg's secret weapon, and absolutely no mistakes could be made.

"It's alright." Xuan Gu's clone remained relaxed, raising his hand to move his arm, the stone joints making a slight "crack" sound. "With my current divine power reserves, this little bit of consumption is nothing. I can find a place to rest for a few days and fully recover."

Hearing this, the Lord of Bilong finally breathed a sigh of relief, his face beaming with undisguised excitement, his voice rising several notches: "Amazing! Xuan Gu, your defense is comparable to those strongest beings in the universe who wield supreme treasures! Just now inside, I almost thought we were going to perish there!"

Xuan Gu's clone simply shook his head, looking unconcerned: "This is nothing. You've forgotten, I'm known for my defense, so blocking these attacks was to be expected."

The Lord of Bilong couldn't help but recall Yintuo's fate, his eyes dimming further as he said with lingering fear, "Thank goodness you were here. You saw it yourself, even a Universe Lord like Yintuo, renowned for his defense, couldn't withstand a single move from the Lava Demon God. If it had only been me, I'm afraid..."

She didn't say what came next, but both of them were well aware of the danger involved.

"It's alright." Xuan Gu's clone interrupted her thoughts, his tone returning to its usual calm, his gaze fixed on the distant spaceship. "Now that we've left the God-Slaying Abyss, it's not safe to stay here any longer. Let's set off now and reunite with the Empress as soon as possible."

The Lord of Bilong nodded vigorously, suppressing the lingering fear and emotion in his heart. He exchanged a glance with Xuan Gu's clone, and the two of them simultaneously unleashed their forms, transforming into two streams of light and speeding towards the direction of the spaceship. They soon disappeared into the vast cosmic sea.

"Damn Lava Demon God, I've passed through the God-Slaying Gorge three times, and you've beaten me up twice. Just you wait." Ling Xuan couldn't help but write down the Lava Demon God's name in his little notebook.

……

Deep within the demon realm, a palace floats in the endless starry sky, surrounded by flames—black, white, purple, red, green, blue… flames of all colors, each the size of a star, swirling around the palace.

If you were far away, you wouldn't be able to see any of this at all.

Clearly, the spacetime around the palace has been distorted, forming its own separate spacetime.

"Kill it with all your might! We must kill it with all our might!" A giant black wolf, over ten kilometers tall, sat on the throne and roared angrily. Its terrifying aura was like that of a supreme god who ruled over everything, causing the air pressure inside the entire palace to drop to a level that was suffocating.

Below, a massive yet incredibly humble white serpent lay prostrate, almost touching the ground. Its scales gleamed coldly in the eerie light of the magic crystal, yet trembled slightly with fear.

Its head was buried deep in the ground, and it dared not even breathe, for fear that the slightest movement would anger the terrifying being before it.

"Damn humans, how come another super genius has emerged so quickly?" The Lord of Sirius paced back and forth in the hall, his footsteps heavy and powerful, each step seemingly about to pierce the ground.

His face was contorted with rage, and his eyes burned with a fury that seemed capable of incinerating the entire world.

As the chief of intelligence and assassination for the demon race, the continuous emergence of super geniuses among humans and their successful growth is undoubtedly a huge negation of his work, which makes him feel extremely angry and ashamed.

Ten million epochs ago, in the pinnacle genius battle of the human giant axe arena, two unparalleled geniuses, the Flame Emperor and the Lord of Blazing Sun, emerged simultaneously. However, the demon race failed to contain them in time, allowing them to grow into beings that even the demon race feared without them realizing it.

Now, Meng Yan has risen to power again, and in the eyes of the Lord of the Heavenly Wolf, he absolutely cannot repeat the same mistakes. Meng Yan must die.

"Emperor Yan, your chief disciple is about to die by my hand. Let's see how you'll still have the face to command the Giant Axe Arena then." Lord of the Heavenly Wolf gritted his teeth and said viciously, his eyes flashing with malice, as if he could already see Emperor Yan's grief-stricken appearance when he learned of Meng Yan's death.

At this moment, the atmosphere in the hall became increasingly heavy, and the immortals serving around them huddled in the corners, even their breathing became cautious.

The Lord of Sirius suddenly stopped, his gaze sweeping like lightning across the white serpent lying prostrate on the ground. He coldly said, "Remember, do everything in your power to kill this Meng Yan, and then frame the damned insect race, at all costs! This is a genius valued by Emperor Yan. Killing him will definitely be a great blow to Emperor Yan and the human race."

Upon hearing this, the white serpent trembled even more violently. It quickly raised its head and responded in a voice filled with awe and fear: "Great Lord, rest assured, your subordinate will do everything in his power to complete the mission. However... this Meng Yan is said to be exceptionally talented and has many powerful protectors around him. We need to plan carefully and formulate a comprehensive plan."

The Lord of Sirius snorted coldly, a hint of disdain flashing in his eyes: "Hmph, so what if he's strong? My demon race has countless elites. As long as we plan properly, killing him will be as easy as taking candy from a baby. This Meng Yan has already crossed the Primordial Tongtian Mountain, a cosmic-level peak, achieving the benchmark of humanity's strongest genius at the cosmic level. Staying at the cosmic level is undoubtedly a waste of time. He will definitely become a domain lord soon, and then he will definitely be sent out to guard a region."

Knowing human nature, he'll definitely prioritize returning to his birthplace, the Azure Peak Universe, to serve as the Inspector of the Giant Axe Arena. We'll eliminate him there. Also, contact our informants within the Zerg and prepare relevant evidence so we can smoothly frame the Zerg after the deed is done.

The large white snake nodded repeatedly, its forehead covered in cold sweat: "Your Excellency is wise, I will take care of it immediately. However... please instruct Your Excellency on the timing of the assassination team's operation."

The Lord of Sirius pondered for a moment, a cold glint flashing in his eyes: "The sooner the better. However, before taking action, we must ensure that everything is foolproof and there can be no mistakes. If we fail, not only will all our previous efforts be in vain, but it will also alert humanity, leading to endless troubles."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the white serpent replied respectfully, then slowly retreated until it was out of the hall. Only then did it dare to straighten up and hurriedly leave to carry out the dangerous and arduous assassination mission.

The Lord of Sirius returned to his throne, his gaze still fixed on the intelligence report, pondering his subsequent plans. A cold smile played on his lips, as if he could already see Meng Yan lying in a pool of blood.

Not only the demon race, but the same scene is also playing out among the mechanical race next door.

They discussed how to deal with this newly emerging human genius.

(End of this chapter)