Chapter 472: Enmity

Geng Chengyun and his party were actually very lucky.

They ran into the Holy Goddess Quentina, a Tier 9 god from the Light Faction and a typical clean freak who'd always detested any contact with blood.

Otherwise, a team of five Star Rulers traveling together like them probably would've been captured immediately, even if they didn't have any Godhead on them.

And once the "God Hunting Manual" was found to be in their possession, then nothing more would need to be said.

Moreover, if they ran into some of the more brutal people in the Dark Faction, killing them on the spot wouldn't be out of the question.

Although Geng Chengyun and his team left in a hurry, a large number of other Star Rulers still lingered in the World of Gods. Their goal naturally didn't need much elaboration—they all came here for Godheads.

The godly hierarchy also reacted with extreme speed as soon as the thirteen greater gods made their decision, with a group of powerful gods being quickly dispatched to specifically look for Star Rulers who crossed over illegally.

The matter of illegal crossings had previously received little attention from either side.

Star Rulers benefited from this and could easily come to the World of Gods, but on the flip side, they were also easily caught by the gods because they didn't do enough to hide their traces.

Thus, this wave of God Hunts started by Gu Nan was quickly suppressed through overwhelming force.

But as stated earlier, Pandora's box was already open, and everything had just started.

...

Myriad Heavens.

If it was the gods next door who were on edge earlier, then now, it was the Star Rulers' turn to voice their grievances.

The greater gods had responded too decisively. A majority of the Star Rulers who sneaked over were killed outright, while half of the remaining ones were searched, and the manuals they carried were discovered. Naturally, those people also suffered the same fate.

Only a very small portion of the luckier ones—or innocents who truly weren't involved in the God Hunt—were repatriated back.

But even then, accidental killings couldn't be avoided, and even some innocent Star Rulers who had gone to the World of Gods a long time ago and didn't even know about the God Hunt were affected by this purge.

More importantly, be it Star Rulers or gods, they weren't alone and had a huge network of relationships behind them.

This was how enmity was formed.

In a rare moment, Song Fei was feeling a headache as he stared at the disciple standing in front of him inside Academic Heaven.

Song Fei had many direct disciples, but only a handful actually succeeded and became truly powerful Star Rulers.

Graceful Heaven's Fang Chaoyun naturally counted as one, but Old Fang had always been hot-tempered, even if he cultivated the supposedly calm and composed Dao of Confucianism.

So the disciple Song Fei had the highest hopes for wasn't Fang Chaoyun, but the person before him.

Phoenix Feather Heaven's Shi Yeyan. His Tier 9 cultivation was slightly lower than Fang Chaoyun's, but his mentality and temperament were way better.

Fang Chaoyun ran to Academic Heaven practically everyday, yet besides the routine respects Shi Yeyan came to pay, he had never gone to Academic Heaven for his own matters in almost a hundred years.

Which was why the one time he did come for personal matters, Song Fei had to give him justice, as well as give himself justice.

"Master, you know it too." Shi Yeyan said calmly, "Youngest Martial Brother traveled to the World of Gods six hundred years ago to study the difference between the power of faith and the Shinto path's incense prayers, so how could he be related to the God Hunt?"

"Just two days ago, Youngest Martial Brother even sent a letter back, saying that he finally had a breakthrough in his research and that he hoped to return within a few decades. He also said he misses the meals in his hometown…"

A trace of anger finally entered Shi Yeyan's voice as he continued, "Master, Youngest Martial Brother doesn't even know what's happening on this side, so how can he be related to the God Hunt?"

Hearing this, Song Fei already understood what Shi Yeyan wanted to say and sighed softly.

The "Youngest Martial Brother" Shi Yeyan mentioned was none other than Song Fei's closed door disciple, Lu Yang, who'd been interested in all sorts of obscure and esoteric paths ever since he started cultivating.

Six hundred years ago, Lu Yang suddenly became enamored with the Dao of incense prayers, and after studying the relevant spells, he ran to the World of Gods and never returned even now.

Song Fei knew better than anyone else that it was impossible for Lu Yang to be interested in the God Hunt—plenty of Void Cutters in Academic Heaven would be willing to help Song Fei's direct disciple if he wanted assistance, so why would he need to do such a thing?

But Song Fei also knew that one must remain calm at times like this. If even they—the Unified Dao powerhouses—let emotions affect their decisions, then war between the two sides would be inevitable.

So Song Fei said in a low voice, "I will give him justice, but not now."

Shi Yeyan was silent for a while before he slowly nodded.

...

Song Fei summoned all the Unified Dao cultivators as soon as he sent Shi Yeyan away.

In fact, as a latecomer among the Unified Dao group, not everyone would give him face, but this time was an exception.

Apart from Zi Luo Elder—whose whereabouts were unknown—even the ever-elusive Jiu Po showed up. Every single one of the original Thirteen Heavens was present, with not a single person missing.

"How rare it is to see you!" Weapon Martial Heaven's Zou Jiming looked to the side and revealed an amused expression.

Beside him stood a bearded man with an average face, wearing plain black clothes. From appearance alone, no one would believe that he ruled over the most mysterious of the Thirteen Heavens, Jiu Po Heaven.

Jiu Po didn't mind the jab at all and also smiled. "If you want to see me so much, how about I pay your Weapon Martial Heaven a visit every day from now on?"

"No way!" Zou Jiming hastily waved his hand. "I can't afford to provide for a great god like you."

It was true that there weren't many opportunities for the Unified Dao powerhouses to meet, but now was clearly not the time for casual greetings. Song Fei coughed lightly and said, "Everyone, let's get down to business."

Zou Jiming turned to Song Fei again. "Old Song, I heard your disciple was also killed? Don't be polite to those gods; let them see what it means to be the most overprotective person in the Myriad Heavens."

In terms of pulling aggro with his words, Classmate Zou Jiming was definitely on a completely different level. The No.1 Aggro Puller in the Myriad Heavens was none other than him.

Song Fei already knew his personality and ignored this person altogether. He redirected the topic back to the official subject, "It's very likely that this God Hunt movement will lead to the beginning of a war. What is everyone's opinion?"

Lu Wen was the first to speak up, "We need to first catch the person who planned all this, or else who knows what kinds of schemes the mastermind is still hiding?"

"The mastermind should certainly be investigated, but now that things are already like this, finding out won't affect the big picture." Yu Lian said, "Godheads can create Void Cutters—now that this is common knowledge, who can guarantee that the Star Rulers down below won't be swayed?"

Lu Wen didn't say anything else, because he knew what Yu Lian said was true.

Don't be fooled by how the gods were able to hunt down Star Rulers en masse in the World of Gods right now. That was because many people were blinded by greed and weren't careful enough when smuggling themselves in.

After this wave of purging passes, Star Rulers have countless ways to sneak around secretly. They could even ask others to do it for them.

Everyone was a Star Ruler. Who among them was truly dumb?

Faced with such a situation, the thirteen Unified Dao cultivators were truly in a dilemma.