CHAPTER 19: THE SLAUGHTER OF DIVINITIES AND THE PRIMORDIAL HEART'S CRY
The crystalline city of the Eternal Gods, once a sanctuary of celestial peace and divine commerce, was now a theater of absolute carnage. Li Xiao stood upon the sun-matter pedestal, the faint white flicker of the ancient soul hovering near his chest. Around him, the "Lesser Gods"—beings who had ruled over entire galaxies for aeons—were frozen in a state of primal terror. The very air of the Star-Cluster, which was usually saturated with sacred God-Essence, had been tainted by a cold, obsidian fog that drained their immortality with every breath they took.
"Who... who are you?" The Soul-Auctioneer stammered, his skin of shifting constellations beginning to crack and bleed black ichor. "This is the Star-Cluster of the Eternal Gods! We are protected by the Laws of the Primordial Origin! You cannot simply bypass the Divine Edict!"
Li Xiao didn't even look at him. His gaze was fixed on the white soul, a trace of a memory from ten million years ago flickering in his mind. "The Divine Edict?" Li Xiao whispered, his voice shattering the crystalline spires nearby. "I was the one who signed the first Edict in blood. I was the one who gave your ancestors the light they used to build this cage. And now, you use my own light to sell the soul of the one who taught me the meaning of 'existence'?"
He raised his obsidian hand, and the 'Fate Tax' reached a level of absolute annihilation.
[ Ding! Fate Tax: Divine Harvest Mode - Activated. ]
[ Target: 10,000 Lesser Gods. ]
[ Estimated Karma Yield: 1,000,000,000 units. ]
"Lin Yue, Wei, Han Xue, Yan Feng," Li Xiao commanded, his voice vibrating through the foundations of the planet. "The gods of this realm think their 'Laws' make them invincible. Show them the truth of the Void. Let their divine sparks become the fuel for our ascension."
The four Void Apostles didn't hesitate. They were no longer the broken mortals of the lower world; they were the extensions of Li Xiao's dark will. Lin Yue lunged into the crowd of gods, her obsidian sword leaving trails of nothingness that cut through divine armor as if it were parchment. Every god she struck didn't just die; their entire history was erased from the Star-Cluster's records.
General Wei became a gargantuan shadow, his war-axe crushing celestial chariots and shattering the shields of the star-generals. Han Xue summoned an ocean of dark, corrosive tears that drowned the divine priests in their own regret. Yan Feng, his crimson arm glowing with a hunger that surpassed even Li Xiao's, began to refine the captured gods into 'Divine Essence Orbs' on the spot.
As the slaughter continued, a massive presence descended from the higher stars. Three figures, draped in robes of living nebulae, appeared. These were the 'Triad of Origin'—the supreme rulers of the Star-Cluster, beings who had touched the threshold of the 'Primordial Heart' stage.
"Calamity of the Void! You were supposed to be sealed for eternity!" The center figure, the God of Eternal Light, roared, his voice shaking the entire star system. "The Five Simulations were designed to turn your heart into stone through human suffering! How did you break the Cycle of Redemption?"
Li Xiao looked up at the three gods, his violet eyes swirling with a dark, triumphant laughter. "The simulations didn't turn my heart into stone. They turned my stone heart into a weapon. You wanted me to feel 'Regret'? I felt it. I felt it so deeply that it became the forge in which I unmade your seals."
He reached into the white soul hovering before him. As his obsidian fingers touched the light, a massive, crimson-gold crystal began to manifest from the void—The Primordial Heart. It was the core of his true power, the engine of the Devourer that the gods had stolen and hidden in this Star-Cluster ten million years ago.
[ Warning: Merging with the Primordial Heart. ]
[ Resonance Level: 100%. ]
[ Warning: The 'System' is being overwritten by the 'Original Will'. ]
As the Heart merged into Li Xiao's chest, the black eclipse covering the suns of the Star-Cluster turned a terrifying shade of blood-red. Li Xiao's hair grew until it touched the ground, becoming a river of devouring shadows. His obsidian wings shattered and reformed into ten colossal, celestial wings made of darkness and dying stars.
"NO! THE SEAL IS BROKEN!" The God of Eternal Light screamed, his divine form beginning to dissolve.
Li Xiao didn't use a technique. He didn't even move a finger. He simply let out a heartbeat.
*THUMP.*
The shockwave of the Primordial Heart's beat traveled through the entire Star-Cluster. In a single second, ten thousand planets were extinguished. The crystalline city was reduced to cosmic dust. The Triad of Origin, the supreme gods of the realm, were unmade, their divine essences sucked into Li Xiao's new heart like water into a parched desert.
[ Evolution: Primordial Devourer - Stage Final. ]
[ You have surpassed the concept of 'Karma'. ]
[ You are now the 'Source' of Fate itself. ]
Li Xiao stood amidst the ruins of the divine realm, the white soul now cradled in his palm. The Star-Cluster was silent. The gods were gone. The only things left were the four Apostles, who knelt in the void, their auras having reached the 'Divine Spark' stage through the crumbs of his feast.
He looked at the white soul, and for the first time in eighteen chapters of slaughter and coldness, a genuine, warm smile appeared on his face. "Teacher... I told you I would come back for you. I told you that the Heavens could not contain the fire you lit in me."
The soul flickered, a faint image of a woman in white robes appearing for a split second. She didn't look at him with fear. She looked at him with the same love she had ten million years ago.
"But we are not finished," Li Xiao's voice dropped to a whisper, the violet light in his eyes looking toward the very center of the Multiverse. "The Star-Cluster was just the treasure chest. Now, it's time to find the 'Loom of Existence' where the Five Simulations were woven. It's time to pay a visit to the 'Primordial Weaver' who thought he could play with my life."
He tore a hole in the fabric of the higher dimensions, a rift that led to the 'White Void' where the creators of the universe resided.
"Lin Yue, Wei, Han Xue, Yan Feng... the harvest of the gods is over. Now, we go to harvest the Creators."
With a single step, the Architect and his shadows vanished from the Star-Cluster, leaving behind a graveyard of dead stars. The final act of the simulation had begun, and the world was about to learn that when a monster
learns to love, even the Heavens will be burned to ashes.