A resounding impact!

The gigantic battle axe connected with the Heavenly Palace as a spinning ring of plasma, causing a thunderous boom.

The giant Star Gazer mech waved its hand.

The battle axe slowly detached itself and flew back into the giant mech’s hand.

At the same time, several structures on the Heavenly Palace that had already been destroyed, together with the rubble all over the ground, began to transform into pure Samsara Origin Power and flew towards the Star Gazer mech.

——during the first attack of the Heavenly Palace on Star Gazer city, Gu Qing Shan had already realized a certain fact.

The paper sheets hovering above the two cities would utilize Merits from its Chosen Saints to protect the cities and prevent them from being attacked by Apocalyptic monsters within the great tomb.

But if an attack arrived from the other city, the paper sheets would not automatically defend.

Sure enough.

Star Gazer city’s attack connected right away.

The destroyed portions of the Heavenly Palace were turned into Samsara Origin Power and were absorbed by Star Gazer city without trouble.

Lines of bloody red text swiftly appeared:

[Absorbing Samsara Origin Power]

[Evolving]

[Advanced Technological city-scale weapon: Star Gazer Deus Machina (basic) has been slightly improved]

[You need to further upgrade your Star Gazer city to allow ‘Star Gazer Deus Machina’ to become more powerful]

Skimming through these messages, Gu Qing Shan made his decision without pause.

He grumbled: “Full Offense mode, engage weapons!”

Thousands of tiny hatches immediately started opening on the surface of the Star Gazer mech, from which numerous components flew out towards the battle axe.

The battle axe made of lightning rapidly changed its shape, transforming into a long blade that radiated distorted dark light.

Gu Qing Shan stood hovering in the air with the posture of wielding a blade.

The Star Gazer Deus Machina tightly gripped the hilt of the blade with its hands and raised it into the air——–

Shiii!

Layers upon layers of space were actively moving away from the edge of the blade wherever it passed.

The dark light blade easily cut through the layer of light outside of the Heavenly Palace and violently tore through its structures.

Rumble rumble rumble———

Large patches of structures collapsed into pure Samsara Origin Power that flowed into the Star Gazer Deus Machina.

「 STOP! 」

From the far distance, the Heavenly Emperor’s shout reverberated.

The Star Gazer Deus Machina looked up.

Only to see that in the far distance, the army of heavenly beings had gathered around the Heavenly Emperor, all of them forming the same hand seals as they declared in unison:

「 Eradicate Evil! 」

Numerous colorful heavenly lights manifested from the heavenly beings’ bodies before gathering on top of the Heavenly Emperor’s hand.

[Thousand Immortals Demon Eradicating Formation]!

The Heavenly Emperor placed his hands together forming a hand seal and pointed his finger towards the Star Gazer Deus Machina——–

A pillar of colorful light that was at least two dozen meters in diameter shot out, instantly traveling the long distance to strike the Star Gazer Deus Machina’s body.

The Star Gazer Deus Machina was forced a single step backwards.

“Self-scan!”

Gu Qing Shan swiftly ordered.

A mechanical voice responded: [Damage value: 0]

“No damage?” Gu Qing Shan was shocked.

The mechanical voice responded again:

[Report]

[A Chosen Saint city manifested by the Samsara does not take any damage from Samsara living beings]

Gu Qing Shan was ecstatic.

If the heavenly beings couldn’t do anything to the Star Gazer Deus Machina, then the result of this siege was already determined.

The Heavenly Emperor also noticed this fact.

“Oh no… I wouldn’t have left the Immortal City if I knew this before…”

He muttered anxiously.

The giant mech once again raised its dark light blade to violently assault the Heavenly Palace.

The sound of impact resounded across every direction.

Large arrays of structures started collapsing one by one, being converted into larger and larger chunks of Samsara Origin Power as they rushed unhesitatingly into the Star Gazer Deus Machina.

The Heavenly Palace was already on the verge of collapse.

The Star Gazer Deus Machina pulled its blade and raised it high into the air once more——–

This is going to be the decisive strike!

“Destroy it!”

Gu Qing Shan roared.

His hands swung down.

Following his motion, the Star Gazer Deus Machina’s dark light blade came down on the Heavenly Palace with its full might!

The results were clear——-

Right at that instant, the Heavenly Emperor’s figure flashed.

He reappeared directly above the Heavenly Palace and reached one hand out to receive the dark light blade.

They clashed.

A ring shape suddenly manifested in the air, which exploded into a deafening noise.

Like a cannonball, the Star Gazer Deus Machina was shot backwards and rolled uncontrollably several times on the ground, only being able to stop after readjusting its posture.

『 How is that possible! 』Li An exclaimed.

Earlier, the Heavenly Emperor attacked with the total combined power of himself and all the heavenly beings, but it couldn’t cause the Star Gazer Deus Machina any damage at all.

But now, when the Heavenly Emperor suddenly attacked again.

With only his own power, he stopped the full force of a Chosen Saint city!

“Self-scan!” Gu Qing Shan grunted.

[Damage value: 0, artificial combat intelligence evaluation: the other party did not use their full power] the mechanical voice responded.

Gu Qing Shan’s expression changed and ordered: “Switch to Defense mode immediately”

[Understood]

The Star Gazer Deus Machina once again stood up firmly in the wilderness, now placing the blade in front of itself like a shield.

Gradually, the blade transformed into a giant shield glowing in starlight, which fully covered the Star Gazer Deus Machina.

———the Star Gazer Deus Machina was sent flying with a single parry.

Was the fake Heavenly Emperor that powerful?

Such a thought crossed Gu Qing Shan’s mind.

Unfortunately, he had so little information right now that the truth remained clouded in the fog, and there was no way for him to see through it all.

The Heavenly Emperor was now standing in the void of space, his eyes coldly glancing behind himself.

The paper sheet had begun to release a colorful heavenly light to envelope the Heavenly Palace again.

It was being repaired at an extremely slow pace.

This process would expend plenty of Merits, but the city itself was no longer on the verge of collapsing and had temporarily stabilized.

The Heavenly Emperor slowly turned back to face the Star Gazer Deus Machina.

For some reason, he appeared annoyed.

Just like that, he stood hovering in the void of space while staring coldly at the Star Gazer Deus Machina, not attacking, but not retreating either.

“What do you want?” Gu Qing Shan couldn’t help but ask.

He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, casually replying: “This level of combat… is too laughable…”

Gu Qing Shan remained silent.

——this was the first time he had seen someone so arrogant in the middle of a battle.

This fake Heavenly Emperor’s… personality seems to have changed…

“Let’s just be frank, you don’t have the courage to personally attack a Samsara Chosen Saint city, just in case…” Gu Qing Shan purposely cut his words short to see the Heavenly Emperor’s reaction.

The Heavenly Emperor didn’t show any expressions on his face, there wasn’t even a hint of emotion.

“The Samsara will become my weapon sooner or later, so if I damage it now, it and I will be estranged”

He casually replied.

——as if he was stating an obvious fact.

Gu Qing Shan stared closely at the other party while feeling speechless.

This attitude.

As expected, not the same fake Heavenly Emperor from before.

Could he have been possessed…?

Even the fake Heavenly Emperor wielded countless Heaven realm’s Immortal Crafts, capable of leading the army of heavenly beings to unleash that incredible attack earlier.

If not for the fact that Star Gazer city won’t receive any damage from any Samsara living beings, it might have been too much for it to take just now.

Then…

What kind of person would be able to possess the Heavenly Emperor like that?

Gu Qing Shan subconsciously felt a chill run down his back.

As various thoughts crossed his mind, he suddenly realized something.

A few days ago, something belonging to a Sequence attacked me from above the sky.

I couldn’t do anything except to activate [Virtue] and endure it until the entirety of Luo Shui city was destroyed.

It wasn’t until it broke through the ground all the way into the Elements Purgatory that the Samsara finally acted.

The monster that called itself the Supreme Lord of Annihilation was captured by a casket and put into a world filled with caskets.

Indefinitely.

This sort of outcome would be more than enough to cause any of these ‘vultures’ to feel a chill.

Perhaps…

It’s not that this guy doesn’t want to act against the Star Gazer Deus Machina.

Gu Qing Shan turned to him.

Only to see that he was staring closely at the Star Gazer Deus Machina while observing the surroundings.

… He… seems to be probing something.

Perhaps he’s afraid that the Samsara would act again so he decided to probe and discern where the Samsara draws the line first.

Only by knowing where the line is drawn would he be able to eliminate the owner of Star Gazer city!

Did I assume correctly?

Gu Qing Shan stopped his train of thought here and commented: “It seems that you have to kill me first before you can obtain the Samsara, then try to use it for some sort of purpose”

The Heavenly Emperor coldly looked at him.

Their gazes met.

Gu Qing Shan activated [Overlooking Soul].

Empty.

It was completely empty.

The other party had absolutely zero thoughts.

On the contrary, Gu Qing Shan’s mind fell into a state of nothingness, making it so that he almost couldn’t come up with a single thought.

Gu Qing Shan suddenly snapped out of it and stopped [Overlooking Soul]

The Heavenly Emperor indifferently muttered: “[Overlooking Soul]… so it was a power of the Saint realm, you wanted to know my thoughts, but regretfully——-”

He knows about [Overlooking Soul]!

“Regretfully, what?” Gu Qing Shan asked with a heavy tone.

“Other than the Samsara, no living being or thing is worth a strand of my thought” the Heavenly Emperor’s eyes became drooped and replied with a bored tone.

Gu Qing Shan’s heart slowly sank.

It’s unmistakable, the other party is no longer the fake Heavenly Emperor.

This tone is a bit similar to the real Heavenly Emperor.

—–that monster who has lived for over ten million years!

“So you know about [Overlooking Soul]?” Gu Qing Shan tried asking.

“Of course I do—— the fact that you possess a Saint realm ability makes you qualified to become my subordinate” the Heavenly Emperor commented.

He casually waved his hand.

At the very next moment——

The entire world vanished.

Everything turned into emptiness, with only the Heavenly Emperor and the Star Gazer Deus Machina still remaining in place.

Gu Qing Shan was shocked.

Immediately, lines of bloody red text swiftly appeared:

[The other party has summoned a Phase Realm, you are about to enter a world under their possession]

[Warning!]

[Absolutely do not leave the Star Gazer Deus Machina, it is the Samsara’s link with you, which can ensure that the Samsara is constantly monitoring the current situation]

[It is your only saving grace]