Sundering Nature

The crowd knelt down in front of the deities descending from the sky, chanting for Li Yiming’s punishment and justice to be served. 

One of the giant deities raised its right hand slowly. 

“Hand of Mercy?” Bai Ze frowned. 

The giant golden palm slowly made its way towards Li Yiming. Having more than enough time, Li Yiming flashed away to an area away from the bystanders, erecting his Boundary. To his horror, his Boundary completely vanished the moment it came into contact with the body of the giant deity. 

“Thunderflash!” Realizing that his enemy was targeting the crowd and not himself, Li Yiming immediately appeared right under the deity.

“Ten-thousand Thunder!” Li Yiming called upon a lightning fist from the skies and smashed it up against the deity’s hand. 

Boom! 

A blinding flash ensued, followed by a deafening sound. 

“What are you doing?!” Li Yiming roared in anger at Yin Mei. 

The ear-splitting collision was enough to make the crowd go deaf briefly, followed by a massive shockwave which sent many flying, killing many in the process. Even with the effort Li Yiming had put in to mitigate the blow, the damage caused was much too devastating — had he not intervened, the entire city would have been wiped out. 

“What do you think?” Ying Mei grinned and leaped forward, landing on the deity’s hand. 

“What is she up to?” Qing Qiaoqiao exclaimed, furious by what she had just witnessed. 

“It’s not her, but him…’ Big Beard looked at the sky. The person behind this ordeal could not have been anyone other than Mr. Kong. 

“Obviously. He’s about to build a new world,” Qing Linglong said. 

“He’s going to destroy the world?”

“Well, put it simply. If you were a painter, would it be easier to paint on a clean canvas or try to repaint what already exists? Now that he has control, he can do whatever he wants.” 

Crack! 

Another noise was heard as the two servants who appeared with the Bodhisattva flew toward Li Yiming with their weapons, followed by other deities. 

“Leave! Now!” Li Yiming yelled, his voice resonating throughout the entire city. He activated Thunderflash to fly high into the sky, in an attempt to lure his opponents away. 

“You think you can run?” Ying Mei flashed a fiendish smirk and put both of her hands on the back of her head. 

The crowd had now turned into a chaotic stampede, most of the people starting to regret their decision of coming up to protest. They all thought about how it would have been better if they simply encouraged other fools in their stead from the comfort of their screens at home. They foolishly believed they were immune to the law, not understanding that it only extended as far as human laws were concerned. 

The army, which was posted right outside of the ruins of the city, waited eagerly to help the evacuation, but they were disappointed by complete silence from their superiors. 

“We can’t save them…” Pan Junwei looked at the increasing number of casualties within the crowd, and then at the warrior in golden armor looking down at him. 

As the crowd dispersed, fleeing for their lives, the shadow beneath their feet suddenly began moving. Tenebrous claws emerged and each person by their waist, pulling them into the ground. 

Swallowed whole by their own shadow, the crowd could not help but let out desperate cries of help. In only over a minute, and the city was completely empty, as if the protest never happened. The only ones remaining were the guardians, who witnessed the tragedy with widened eyes. The birth of a new world was a topic talked amongst many a year ago once Heaven’s Laws vanished, but only now did they understand what it truly meant.

“Do you understand now? I don’t know where you should go and hide, but this isn’t the place for you to be” Bai Zi said as she handed Wu Jia over to Chen Jiawang. She was the only one she could save from the crowd. 

“I…” 

“You need to get out of here. There’s nothing you can do.” Bai Ze said as she gave Chen Jiawang a tap on the stomach, sending him flying to the military camp outside of the city. 

“Do you need help?” Bai Ze took out her last bag of chips and asked.

“You…” Li Yiming stared at Ying Mei with bloodshot eyes, completely ignoring Bai Ze’s question. 

“What? You’ve killed a lot more than me back in Shangbei, didn’t you?” Ying Mei seemed like she had gained greatly from absorbing the protesters 

“That was in a domain!” 

“Is there a difference?” Ying Mei licked her lips. “Do you want to know why he chose me? Because I don’t mind seeing the world burn to ashes, and I’ll start with you…” 

With Ying Mei’s command, the golden deities all flew toward Li Yiming at once. 

“Should we go now?” Big Beard looked at the people around him. 

“We can’t,” Qing Linglong said with frustration. She feared that if they were to rush into the battle too rashly, their bodies would be taken over by the Heart Trial Punishment, forcing them to fight against Li Yiming. 

“These deities aren’t as strong as they look. A lot of them are just hollow husks.” Eyeglasses pointed at his computer, on which footage of the deities from other cities around the country was shown.

“It’s not going to be the first time we fight against the Heavens…” Qing Qiaoqiao sighed and tapped on Big Beard’s shoulder. The latter called down his mecha and the entire team hopped on it, leaving the scene promptly. 

“How’s the situation?” Li Huaibei landed right next to Bai Ze with a flash of white light. 

“It’s a stalemate.” Bai Ze leaned down lazily against Li Huaibei, as if they were father and daughter watching a movie. 

“These things are everywhere…” Li Huaibei drank a mouthful from his wine gourd before offering it to Bai Ze. 

“I’m still a kid, you know…” Bai Ze pushed the gourd back. “It’s not going to be that hard to deal with these things. He shouldn’t be able to produce many sages. The world wouldn’t be able to handle it. The only problem is how we’re supposed to kill them for good.” 

This was the reason why Li Huaibei and Bai Ze chose to stand by rather than help Li Yiming. These golden deities were nothing but creations sent down by Mr. Kong to waste their strength, which even Liu Meng had realized as she decided to save her powers for the final fight. 

The people from the other cities did not even know about the current situation in Shangbei, most were kneeling down and burning incense for the newly-appeared “gods”. 

“We need to seal them away again.” Li Huaibei said. 

“And how are you planning on doing that? The only one who managed to do it is long gone, and Mr. Kong… well, he might be able to, but he’s our enemy right now…” Bai Ze remarked with frustration.