Chapter 1409: Release and Cost

Chapter 1409: Release and Its Price

"What's wrong?"

"Which one... could we possibly release that Supreme God? He's my friend."

Zhou Zhan said.

"Even if I release Him, He will still die," said the Shadow Will. "He has employed a technique based on self-sacrifice followed by survival—a method that may delay his death. However, if, before his final demise, he fails to eliminate the target marked upon him, he will die instantly. Only by killing the marked target can he borrow a body and return to life."

Zhou Zhan stiffened at this, then his gaze drifted to the distant Shadow King Supreme God, whose fury burned like wildfire.

There was no mistake.

The Sky Blade Supreme God must have marked this Shadow King Red Supreme God.

Therefore...

Only by killing the other could the Supreme God of Tian Ren be saved?

Zhou Zhan, upon realizing this, naturally knew that he alone could not stand against the Shadow King's Crimson Supreme God.

Yet if the Shadow King's Crimson Supreme God remained alive, then the ones suffering would be his own essence and the Sun's Divine Realm.

Even if the Supreme Will ultimately stepped in to save him, his standing in the Supreme Will's eyes would surely plummet.

For Zhou Zhan, who aspired to become the Supreme Lord, this was utterly unacceptable.

With that thought in mind,

He immediately bowed respectfully to the Will of Shadow, saying:

"Please, Master of the Will of Shadow, spare my friend. I will surely remember this favor."

"The favor need not be kept. How about you bring me two sacrifices from Four-Rank Supreme Gods in the future?"

The Will of Shadow chuckled happily.

A third-tier Supreme God puppet, traded for two fourth-tier Supreme Gods—how could it possibly be fair?

Yet Zhou Zhan agreed without hesitation.

There was no choice.

The Heavenly Blade Supreme God was now the lifeline of their Solar God Dominion. With the main body and its offshoots unwilling to take risks, the Heavenly Blade Supreme God puppet had to survive.

Seeing that the other party had already agreed, the Will of Shadow felt no surprise.

Though dwelling deep within the Shadow Realm, it was well aware of most events across the myriad realms. It naturally understood the critical importance of the Heavenly Blade Supreme God at this very moment to Zhou Zhan—otherwise, it would never have proposed such an absurd exchange.

With a mere thought, the Will of Shadow observed the Heavenly Blade Supreme God puppet bound to the black shadow pillar. The shadow tendrils binding it suddenly dissolved like water in a stream.

Free from its restraints, the Heavenly Blade Supreme God puppet instantly transformed into a blade of light and charged toward the Shadow King, the Supreme God of Crimson.

The Shadow King, the Supreme God of Crimson, flinched slightly at the sudden attack, immediately opening the gate to the Shadow Realm and fleeing from it.

A celestial blade of the Supreme Deity, empowered by six sacred artifacts, was a force even He dared not confront directly.

When the Supreme Deity of the Celestial Blade pursued, the portal of the Shadow Realm had already vanished.

Zhou Zhan's brow slightly arched at this sight.

So the other party had also mastered the ability of the portal of the Shadow Realm.

After all, it was originally bestowed upon Him by the Will of Shadows; to bestow it upon another was entirely natural. Especially considering that the Shadow King, the Supreme Deity Crimson, had licked the Will of Shadows for so long.

He did not dwell on it, merely thought it over in his mind.

The innate talent of the Holy Shadow Lord activated, and a portal radiating spatial tremors appeared before the Supreme Deity of the Celestial Blade.

The great gate burst open, revealing the Chaos Sea beyond.

Looking far into the distance.

Even faintly visible were the scenes of battle between the three paramount bloodline races and their elite offshoot species, and the forces of the Sun God Realm.

While the Supreme God of Heaven's Blade was contemplating how to exit the Shadow Realm, he suddenly witnessed this scene.

He turned his gaze toward Zhou Zhan.

"Lord of Heaven's Blade, swiftly slay the Shadow King, Supreme God Crimson," he commanded.

"There's no way he can escape."

Zhou Zhan smiled.

As the Master of Sacred Shadows, who had mastered countless transit gates, he truly had the right to speak with such certainty.

The Supreme God of Heaven's Blade nodded slightly, then burst through the transit gate, charging after the Supreme God Crimson.

"Master, I must also be departing."

Zhou Zhan, seeing the resolve of the shadow will, bid farewell and then passed through the portal back into the Chaotic Sea.

After the portal closed, a shadow suddenly coalesced, forming a somewhat illusory Shadow King, the Crimson Supreme God.

"Master."

"Why did you let that one go?"

"That one possesses six Supreme God artifacts and has marked me—has a death intent toward me. If you let him go, he will kill me!"

The Shadow King, Crimson Supreme God, gritted his teeth.

"What does that have to do with me?"

The Shadow Will spoke indifferently.

The Shadow King, Crimson Supreme God, froze.

What... what does that have to do with me?!

How the hell did I send so many Supreme Deities to be offerings for you, licking your every inch for so long—now you just give me one word and say it's none of my business?

The Will of Shadow seemed to sense the thoughts of the Shadow King, the Supreme Red Deity, and spoke softly:

"I have given you the Supreme Artifact, I have guided you—don't be greedy."

A single sentence.

It chilled the Shadow King's heart to the very core.

So that's what the Great Will of Shadow truly believed.

He looked up at the supreme shadow in the sky, feeling the utter coldness seeping through its depths.

"Very well... then. The junior bows and departs."

His heart was filled with sorrow, yet his outward bearing remained respectful. His form then faded silently.

"Greedy. Unaware of when to stop."

The will of shadow scoffed, then faded silently.

And then, the colossal column of shadow dissolved into nothingness. After the column vanished, the beings kneeling in the shadow realm rose up, gazing upward with reverent fervor.

...

The Chaos Sea.

When Zhou Zhan returned here, he found both the Supreme God of the Heavenly Blade and the Supreme God of Shadow, Crimson King, absent. Clearly, they had vanished somewhere, off to fight.

Yet Zhou Zhan did not worry.

The Supreme God of the Heavenly Blade had already proven capable of defeating a Supreme God of the fourth rank.

Now, with six Supreme Divine Artifacts at his command, there was no reason to believe he would lose—unless something unforeseen occurred.

He activated instant teleportation and arrived directly at the battlefield where the armies were engaged in combat.

As soon as he returned.

He froze.

For the situation on the battlefield had turned completely upside down.

Previously, the three bloodline races and their elite offshoots had jointly attacked the army of the Jiayang Divine Nation.

Now, among these three top-tier bloodline races—the Primal Spirit Clan and the Herd God Clan—had suddenly reversed their direction of attack, turning instead to assault their former allies—the Chaos Divine Clan!

Seeing this, the Jiayang Divine Nation army acted with remarkable wisdom, immediately joining the assault alongside the Primal Spirit Clan, the Herd God Clan, and their elite offshoots—now turning the battlefield into a three-on-one confrontation!

The "one" in this equation had changed entirely.

Looking again, he noticed that both Yuan and the Emperor were now attacking the Tianzu Beast.

"This... is a sudden realization?"

Zhou Zhan felt utterly confused.

But it didn't matter.

What mattered was that the situation favored him.

"Of course, this advantage only holds in the current battlefield situation."

"The true determinant of the war's outcome will still be the Supreme God of Tianling."

Zhou Zhan murmured softly.

A Supreme God's influence over the battlefield was terrifying—almost capable of dictating half the outcome of any battle.

Especially one skilled in assassination.

A single misstep, and if the enemy managed to assassinate the leader of their race, the war would be lost!

But fortunately.

Zhou Zhan soon stopped worrying.

For the Heaven-Blade Supreme God, whose head had regrown, returned with a black dagger with no master.