The False God hovered high above the battlefield, his figure suspended in the heavens as if the sky itself had become his throne.
Below him, Liu Xin slowly raised his head, blood still dripping from the corner of his lips. Beside him, Sect Master Xingjin straightened his posture, his aura quietly gathering, sharp and restrained like a blade that had yet to leave its sheath.
The two exchanged no words.
Their gazes locked onto the False God simultaneously.
In that instant, the air changed.
The heavens trembled.
A deep, ancient pressure descended without warning, as though an invisible will had awakened after slumbering for countless years. The clouds churned violently, layers upon layers collapsing inward as glowing runes appeared in the sky, vast, incomprehensible, and cold.
The Heavenly Restrictions of the Mortal Realm had been triggered.
Boom—!
A terrifying force surged down from the sky, converging directly toward the anomaly that should not exist within this realm.
Toward the False God.
Invisible chains formed from laws themselves lashed out, binding space, crushing time, and enforcing the absolute limit of the mortal world. The pressure was enough to make even Sect Master Xingjin's breathing falter, his expression darkening as his cultivation instinctively suppressed itself.
Yet—
The False God merely glanced upward.
His expression did not change.
The heavenly force struck him head-on.
And then… nothing happened.
No blood.
No wounds.
Not even a ripple of pain crossed his face.
The Heavenly Restrictions did not injure him, nor could they.
They could only suppress.
A vast, overwhelming aura was forcibly compressed, peeled away layer by layer until it crashed down to a level the mortal realm could tolerate.
Mahayana Realm.
The moment the suppression completed, the False God exhaled softly, as though mildly inconvenienced.
"So this is the limit of your world," he said calmly, his voice carrying an unfathomable indifference. "How… fragile."
Liu Xin's pupils shrank.
Sect Master Xingjin clenched his fists.
Even suppressed to Mahayana Realm—
The pressure emanating from the False God still felt like standing before an unscalable mountain.
In the gate of Arena, City Lord Feng Haoran was still guiding the terrified spectators toward the exits when his gaze was inevitably drawn back to the sky.
The moment his eyes fell upon the False God, his breath stalled.
A suffocating pressure weighed down on his chest. His pupils shrank. For a split second, raw horror distorted his normally calm features, the sheer disparity between mortal and deity laid bare before him.
But only for a moment.
Years of leadership pressed that fear back into the depths of his heart. His expression hardened. His voice, though low, carried the weight of iron resolve.
"Elder Yi, activate the formation!"
Elder Yi's hand froze mid-seal. His brows knitted together, disbelief flashing across his aged face.
"City Lord… the formation can only restrain those at the Nascent Soul Realm. That thing—" His voice faltered as he glanced fearfully at the being floating above them. "—it is far beyond that."
Feng Haoran did not hesitate.
"I know," he said, each word sharp as a blade. "Activate it anyway. Even if our enemy stands above the Nascent Soul Realm… we will not simply wait here to die."
Silence hung for a heartbeat.
Then Elder Yi gritted his teeth and nodded.
"As you command."
He turned sharply, his old eyes blazing with grim determination.
"Formation Masters!" Elder Yi roared, his voice echoing across the shattered plaza. "Channel all remaining spirit stones—maximum output! Do not hold back!"
The formation elders stationed around the Arena walls stiffened.
"Yes, Elder!" they answered in unison.
Runes carved into the ground ignited one after another, lines of light racing through the city like veins awakening beneath the earth. Spirit stones shattered in succession, releasing torrents of spiritual energy that surged into the massive restraint array.
A colossal formation diagram slowly emerged beneath the False God, layers upon layers of restraining seals locking into place as chains of light shot upward, binding space itself.
Elder Yi slammed his palms together.
"Restraint Formation—activate!"
Boom—!
The formation roared to life, its power rushing toward the False God like a desperate gamble born from mortal defiance.
Whether it would succeed or fail.
None of them knew.
But they had chosen to resist.
Then.
The restraint formation fully activated.
Chains of light surged upward, sealing space and locking onto the False God as the massive formation diagram spun beneath him, its runes blazing at maximum intensity.
The False God glanced at it once.
Then he waved his hand.
That was all.
The air rippled gently, as though brushed by a passing breeze.
The restraint formation collapsed instantly.
The glowing chains shattered into fragments of light, the runes extinguishing one by one as the formation diagram cracked apart and vanished. Spirit stones embedded throughout the city crumbled into dust, their energy dissipating without a trace.
Formation masters were thrown backward, coughing blood as the backlash struck. Elder Yi staggered, barely managing to remain upright, his face pale and lifeless.
Silence fell.
The False God lowered his hand, his expression unchanged.
"Too fragile," he said calmly.
The False God looked down at the remnants of the shattered formation.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"…A Nascent Soul–level restraint?" he said, amusement creeping into his voice. "You dared use this on me?"
A faint chuckle escaped his lips.
"To think that such a thing was activated in my presence…" His gaze lifted, indifferent yet sharp. "It is not resistance. It is an insult."
The pressure around him subtly intensified, causing countless cultivators below to stiffen, their faces draining of color.
"This formation was designed to cage Nascent Soul cultivators," the False God continued calmly. "And yet you believed it could bind a god."
He shook his head.
"How laughable."
His eyes swept over the city like a judgment from the heavens.
"Know your place, mortals."
The words had barely faded when—
Bang!
No warning.
No fluctuation of spiritual energy.
No visible movement.
City Lord Feng Haoran's body jerked violently as an invisible force slammed into his chest.
"Pu—!"
Blood burst from his mouth as his figure was hurled backward like a broken puppet. The ground shattered beneath his feet as he was blasted out of the arena, crashing through layers of shattered stone before disappearing beyond the outer walls.
Boom—!!!
A deafening explosion echoed in the distance.
Silence followed.
Elder Yi's face turned deathly pale.
"C-City Lord…?"
The False God did not even look in Feng Haoran's direction.
"To interrupt a god's judgment," he said calmly, as if stating a fact, "is unforgivable."
Liu Xin and Sect Master Xingjin froze.
Shock flashed across Xingjin's face, he had barely noticed the attack. The sheer speed and subtlety of the blow left him momentarily paralyzed.
Liu Xin's eyes narrowed, burning with intensity. His fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles whitened.
If Master were here… he thought, teeth gritting. He would tear this bastard apart without breaking a sweat.
Sect Master Xingjin's brow furrowed as he recovered from the shock, his gaze hardening. Even he could feel the overwhelming gap between the False God and them.
The air seemed to grow heavier with every second, as though the False God's presence alone crushed the courage of mortals.
Yet Liu Xin's gaze remained fixed on the being above.
Determination blazed within him.
As Liu Xin's gaze burned into the False God, his mind filled with thoughts of his Master—how he would have handled this effortlessly, how he would have torn this invader apart. Determination flared in Liu Xin's chest like a roaring flame.
For a moment, the False God's composure wavered—not outwardly, but in his mind.
Oh… shit.
A flicker of worry crossed his thoughts. Maybe I went too far… I hope he's okay…
Before he could dwell on it further, a sharp, panicked voice cut through the tension like lightning.
"Master! What have you done!"
The shout ripped through the void, echoing in every corner of the battlefield, raw with desperation and fear.
It was Yue. Her aura churned violently, radiating like a storm. Her voice trembled, teetering on the edge of a meltdown.
Even Liu Xin could feel the intensity spike across the arena. Her panic seemed to pull at the threads of fate itself, tightening the tension in the air.
Lin Xuan appeared calmly beside her, his expression unreadable, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
"Relax, Yue. I've got this… maybe," he said, his tone teasing yet sharp, his eyes never leaving the battlefield.
"Maybe!?" Yue snapped, her fists clenched so tightly that the void around her rippled with her fury. "Do you even understand what's happening down there? Maybe!?!"
Lin Xuan blinked once, the faint smile widening. "I said maybe. There's a difference between panic and strategy, Yue."
Yue's glare could have burned through steel. But her mind was already sharp—she knew. She knew that the False God wreaking havoc below was not independent. It was Lin Xuan himself, controlling the vessel body. One mind… two bodies.
"I know, Master." Yue's voice trembled, but she tried to steady it. "But… controlling him like that… one misstep and everyone down there could die!"
Lin Xuan's calm tone remained unshaken. "Exactly. But I know what I'm doing. There is no accident, Yue. What I feel, it feels. What I intend, it acts."
Yue's eyes widened slightly. Even knowing the truth, the raw scale of his control—the tether linking mind and vessel—was enough to make her pulse quicken.