I might not necessarily lose against him. There’s no choice, I’ll have to give it a shot…
Given the combined prowess of him, the Dragonbone Divine Spear, Vicious, Ancient Sage Allfire, and Ancient Sage Mo Ling, even if the deity was a Dimension Shatterer realm expert, they might still stand a chance against him.
Zhang Xuan swiftly recovered from his tension to reveal a face devoid of emotions, making it impossible for one to peer into his mind.
The gaze of the deity alternated between Zhang Xuan and Sovereign Chen Ling, but a moment later, a slight frown appeared on his forehead. “You must have used your own blood essence when praying to the higher dimension. Offer your blood to me, and I’ll discern the real from the fake!”
The deity had thought that, given his means and power, he would be able to see through the lies of this bunch of hillbillies. Contrary to his expectation, he was unable to find any loophole despite examining closely for such a long period of time.
There was no physical difference between the two of them that allowed him to distinguish one from the other.
However, there was no way that there could be two Sovereign Chen Lings in the world!
That being said, even though the imposter had disguised themself impeccably when it came to physical traits, there was just no way they would be able to copy Sovereign Chen Ling’s bloodline as well, right?
Soon, two droplets of blood were sent the deity’s way. The deity swiftly scanned the two droplets of blood with his Spiritual Perception, only to have the confident look on his face collapsing into confusion.
To his disbelief, the two droplets of blood were actually identical to one another as well!
What the heck was going on?
“O great deity, this fellow has impersonated himself as me to make fun of you. We cannot allow such a gross act of disrespect go unpunished!” Thinking that the deity might have found something out from their blood essence, Sovereign Chen Ling stood forward and spoke imposingly.
“Shut your mouth!”
Pah!
The deity threw a slap toward Sovereign Chen Ling once more, causing him to roll across the ground.
The deity was still feeling a mixture of embarrassment and frustration at being unable to tell the two apart when Sovereign Chen Ling thoughtlessly butted in. It went without saying that this was an extremely foolish act!
“I…” Holding his cheek indignantly, Sovereign Chen Ling lowered his head.
“The real Sovereign Chen Ling has offered many valuable artifacts in order to allow for my descent to this world. There’s no way the fake will know what artifacts were used and the value of each of them… I want the two of you to write down a list of the artifacts used and their exact values. The one whose list is more accurate is bound to be the real Sovereign Chen Ling!” the deity commanded.
The ritual to summon a deity was extremely strict and pricey. If the artifacts that one offered did not meet a certain requirement, it could lead to a backlash instead. As such, the real Sovereign Chen Ling was bound to know the exact details of the offerings made to him.
“This…” Sovereign Chen Ling was taken aback for a moment before slowly nodding. “Alright then!”
He took out a jade token and imprinted the values of all of the artifacts that he knew of onto it.
Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment before taking out a jade token to imprint what he knew on it too.
To be honest, he was indeed unaware of the price that one had to pay in order to establish a window with a higher dimension. He had to admit that the deity was indeed extremely sharp, capturing the crux of the matter in an instant.
However, back when he was disguised as Appraiser Wu Tao, he had gone through all of the artifacts. Furthermore, as the souls of the living tributes had been pulled into the Stone of Divine Crusade before being absorbed by him and his clone, he was well aware of the exact numbers and their cultivation realms.
After a moment of contemplation, he jotted down the exact values and numbers onto the jade token.
Taking the jade tokens from both Sovereign Chen Ling and Zhang Xuan, the deity quickly scanned through the contents with his Spiritual Perception. A moment later, he turned to Sovereign Chen Ling with narrowed eyes gleaming with menace.
Seeing that the deity’s gaze was on him, Sovereign Chen Ling suddenly had a bad premonition. “Deity, I’m the real Sovereign Chen Ling…”
However, before he could finish his words, the palm of the deity was already descending from the sky.
“How dare you lie to me? You must be sick of living!”
Hong long!
It was as if the world had collapsed onto Sovereign Chen Ling, causing his entire body to freeze on the spot. He could not even escape. A seemingly boundless power loomed above him like a guillotine, threatening to squash him into minced meat.
“No!”
Not expecting that the deity whom he had paid such a heavy price to summon would actually try to kill him, Sovereign Chen Ling was horrified. With a furious roar, he drove his strength to his limits, causing his zhenqi to surge out.
In the blink of an eye, his figure grew more than two zhang 1 tall. The flourishing power of a Blood Reincarnation realm consummation expert burned furiously within him like an inferno.
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Padah!
But the flame was extinguished as soon as it came into contact with the deity’s hand. The entire altar collapsed, and Sovereign Chen Ling crashed right into the ground, leaving a huge crater around him.
The might of a Dimension Shatterer realm expert is so powerful! Zhang Xuan’s eyebrows leaped up in shock.
He could tell that the deity was not even using his full strength. It was only a simple wave of his hand, but even the Blood Reincarnation realm consummation Sovereign Chen Ling did not stand a chance despite using his full strength.
Was this the gap between a mortal and a deity?
Previously, he had thought that with the combined prowess of him, the Dragonbone Divine Spear, and the others, they might be able to put up a fight against the deity. However, what he had just witnessed crushed all of such hopes… It would be a futile struggle.
The difference in their strength was so absolute that no number could hope to bridge the difference.
This was similar to the difference between a Great Sage and an Ancient Sage. As beings on different levels of existence, a Great Sage could never hope to match up to an Ancient Sage.
While Zhang Xuan was astounded by the prowess of the deity, some doubts arose in his mind as well. If the deity had chosen to turn against Sovereign Chen Ling, did it mean that the list of offerings that he had jotted down was even more accurate than Sovereign Chen Ling’s?
In other words, was Sovereign Chen Ling was unaware of the true value of the offerings to the deity?
Otherwise, why would the deity make a move on him?
The truth was exactly as Zhang Xuan thought. Sovereign Chen Ling was indeed unaware of the true value of the offerings.
He had prepared countless treasures and brought in nearly all of the esteemed appraisers of the Spirit Tribe to value each of these treasures for him. Despite all of his effort, due to abrupt changes in plan, he had been unable to figure out the true value of all of the artifacts. Nevertheless, in his mind, the answer that he had jotted down should have been more accurate than Zhang Xuan’s!
How could Zhang Xuan’s answer possibly be more accurate than his?
At this rate, even he would start to wonder if he himself was a fake!
Hong long!
Rising up from the massive crater, Sovereign Chen Ling clenched his teeth in fury. He wiped away the fresh blood trickling down from the corner of his lips before facing the deity with unwavering determination.
“It seems like you believe that I’m a fake?”
“Are you still not going to admit it?”
The deity narrowed his eyes as a terrifying surge of power revolved on his palm, ready to break forth and reduce Sovereign Chen Ling to dust at any moment.
“If that’s what you have chosen to believe, there’s nothing I can say in my defense. I can only say that the other party’s ability to disguise himself is too outstanding. However…” Sovereign Chen Ling took in a deep breath as a streak of madness flickered across his eyes. “… I am willing to offer my life up to you. I am willing to serve as your slave and heed your orders for life without the slightest complaint. As for him…”
Sovereign Chen Ling halted for a moment as he turned a chilling gaze in Zhang Xuan’s direction. “… does he dare pledge the same?”
Right after saying those words, a droplet of blood essence flew forth from Sovereign Chen Ling’s forehead toward the deity.
As long as the deity accepted his blood essence, he would become no different from a contracted tamed beast. He would become a slave who would be at the beck and call of the deity. Even his life and death would no longer be in his control.
“This fellow…” Zhang Xuan’s heart skipped a beat.
No wonder he had said that Sovereign Chen Yong was not as decisive as him and that he would even forsake his own life… He had thought that Sovereign Chen Ling was referring to the ritual, but who could have known that the latter had already made up his mind to offer his entirety to the deity?
That would explain why he was able to remain nonchalant about the deaths of the Ancient Sage in his faction as well. It turned out that his greatest trump card was the deity from the higher dimension!
By relinquishing all of his freedom to the deity, Sovereign Chen Ling would earn the unreserved trust of the deity in return. As his master, there was no doubt that the deity would side with Sovereign Chen Ling to deal with the rest of them and even mankind at large!
Hula!
The deity reached out and accepted the blood essence. The next instant, he grasped control over Sovereign Chen Ling’s will and soul. With just a thought, he would be able to end Sovereign Chen Ling’s life in an instant.
After doing all of that, the deity turned his gaze toward Zhang Xuan. His eyes no longer reflected calmness but coldness.
Under the gaze of the deity, Zhang Xuan felt his heart squeezing up a little.