# Chapter 322: The Heavenly Calamity's Gift

After repairing the Spatial Rifts at the Thundering Mountain Range, Lu Yuan moved on to the remaining Aberration Source zones, sealing their Spatial Rifts one by one.

In some zones, Battle Saints were already locked in combat with Heavenly Calamity Apostles. In others, the fighting hadn't even begun.

Regardless, Lu Yuan's arrival ended every battle in an instant.

Apostles, Aberration Servants, Saint Grade Aberration Feral Beasts — none could evade a single stroke of the Scythe of Death.

All that remained afterward was sealing the Spatial Rifts.

The Aberration Sources fell one after another, and Lu Yuan's Merits climbed steadily higher.

By the time only two zones remained, his Merits had surpassed forty million. More importantly, the Evolution Cube needed only a sliver more Unknown Aura to complete its next metamorphosis.

Those final two Aberration Source zones would easily provide what was needed.

Heavenly Calamity Star.

Eyes blinked in and out of existence in the void surrounding the altar, and tentacles writhed ceaselessly. Green light pulsed across its surface.

Thousands of humans — bound and helpless — were hurled into the altar's green glow. Screams pierced the air as their bodies dissolved into raw flesh, then disintegrated entirely beneath the radiance. With each sacrifice consumed, the light grew denser, more intense.

The Grand Archbishop and two Bishops knelt before the altar, eyes closed in prayer. Time trickled past. Moments later, the green glow trembled, and a Spatial Vortex materialized above the altar.

The vortex was barely a meter across. The instant it appeared, the entire universe seemed to roar in protest — Heavenly Calamity Star shuddered, the void fractured in every direction, and the starfield surrounding the planet darkened as though stained by ink.

The vortex began convulsing the moment it formed, as though crushed by invisible force. After expelling a single green tentacle, it could sustain itself no longer and shattered apart.

Only as the vortex collapsed did the cosmic upheaval gradually subside.

The Grand Archbishop opened his eyes and gestured. The tentacle — roughly a meter long and slick with mucus — floated before him, twitching faintly.

He narrowed his eyes, and a thin smile crossed his face.

"My thanks for the Calamity's gift."

He rose, and the two Bishops stood with him.

Behind them, Xue Han and the other Apostles waited in silence. A few stole furtive glances at the green tentacle before quickly averting their gaze.

The Grand Archbishop looked skyward. The once-countless Spatial Rifts had dwindled to just six.

As he watched, two more shattered, dissolving into spatial storms.

His expression darkened.

"Hmph. Whoever has been meddling — this time will be your last."

He raised one hand. The green tentacle drifted from his grasp and sank into one of the remaining Spatial Rifts, swallowed by green flame.

Greenjade Prairie.

This was a Wilderness Zone teeming with ordinary Feral Beasts, where Aberration creatures were comparatively scarce. Since most of the beasts here were mundane, the Gene Warriors who frequented the area tended to be modest in strength — those above Battle Emperor were few and far between. Under normal circumstances, it was a peaceful stretch of land.

But after the Aberration Source appeared, the ordinary Feral Beasts were broadly Corrupted. Massive hordes of Aberration Feral Beasts rampaged across the prairie, and the Gene Warriors stationed here suffered devastating casualties. Had Battle Emperors and Battle Saints not arrived in time to organize a counteroffensive, the losses would have been far worse.

Even so, with too few Battle Saints available, they couldn't breach the defenses surrounding the Spatial Rifts. All they could do was hold their lines and wait for reinforcements.

As more Battle Saints trickled in, they finally had the numbers to challenge the Heavenly Calamity Apostles head-on.

At last, they prepared to push toward the Spatial Rifts and eliminate the enemy.

Twenty-six Battle Saints had gathered — elite fighters drawn from various races, the Tianming Sage among them.

Dengba was there too, the Twin-headed Demon Race Battle Saint whom Lu Yuan had encountered in the Dark Night Forest.

Every Saint wore a grim expression.

One of Dengba's heads spoke first. "We have more than enough people. Let's go kill those Apostles."

A Battle Saint frowned at this. "If we all go, who holds the defensive line? There aren't many strong fighters left here. If the Aberration Corruption spreads unchecked, the consequences would be catastrophic."

Another Saint chimed in. "Exactly. I've heard there's someone with War God-level strength clearing out other Aberration Source zones. Perhaps we should prioritize defense and wait for him to reach us?"

A third Saint shook his head. "There are far too many Aberration Source zones for us to rely on one War God alone — even a War God can tire. And if we don't deal with this source quickly, the Corruption will deepen. More Saint Grade Aberration Feral Beasts will emerge, making the situation far harder to contain. It could even threaten the stability of the Land of Origin's Upper Layer."

Silence fell over the group. Then another Saint spoke up.

"How about this — five of us stay to hold the line while the rest advance on the Aberration Source. With the War God clearing other zones, the Battle Saints from those areas should be freed up soon. Reinforcements won't be far behind."

The others nodded.

Five Battle Saints were stationed at the defensive line. The remaining twenty-one set out into the depths of the Greenjade Prairie.

The moment they entered the prairie's interior, they saw it: the Spatial Rift, wreathed in green flame.

Every face hardened.

The Tianming Sage swept his gaze across the area and spotted a cluster of Heavenly Calamity Apostles and Aberration Servants nearby. His brow furrowed. "They have numbers too. Stay sharp."

Dengba bared his teeth in a savage grin. "Follow my charge!"

With a thunderous roar, he surged forward, terrible power blazing around him as he led the assault on the Apostles and Servants.

At that instant, the green flames wreathing the Spatial Rift twisted and erupted violently. The fire surged upward — and from within it, a grotesque tentacle slathered in green mucus burst forth.

The Apostles and Servants froze, momentarily bewildered.

Dengba and his companions halted as well, every eye locked warily on the bizarre tentacle.

Then a mouth split open along its length, and from it came a sound unlike anything natural.

The sound bypassed the ears entirely, erupting directly inside their minds.

Dengba and his companions went white in an instant. The weaker among them coughed up blood as fractures spiderwebbed across their bodies — critical injuries in the span of a heartbeat.

The darkness swirling around the Tianming Sage churned into chaos. Horror etched itself across his face.

"A Divine Grade Aberration Feral Beast?!"

"Fall back!" another Saint shouted immediately. "Get away from it — NOW!"

While the Battle Saints reeled from the devastating psychic assault, the Apostles and Aberration Servants fared far worse.

The Aberration Servants — already more beast than human — collapsed into writhing masses of raw flesh on the spot.

The masses of gore flew toward the tentacle against their will, merging into a single amalgamation.

The two remaining Apostles convulsed. Green fire blazed in their eyes as tentacles sprouted across their skin and eyeballs pushed through their flesh. They too began drifting inexorably toward the growing mass.

"No! No! NO!"

Some shred of self-awareness still lingered in them, and they fought the pull with everything they had — but it was futile. They could only watch in horror as their bodies were absorbed into the grotesque amalgamation.

Sickening sounds of chewing echoed from within as the flesh twisted and reshaped itself, sculpting a new form.

Every Battle Saint felt ice settle in the pit of their stomach.

The less-injured Saints exchanged glances. Dengba's face twisted with ferocity. "Hit it now — while it's still forming!"

The others nodded. None dared close the distance. Spirit Power surged through all of them as they unleashed their most devastating Combat Techniques at the pulsating mass from range.

A barrage of Saint-level attacks slammed into the amalgamation with annihilating force.

The impacts thundered across the prairie, carving enormous craters into the earth below. When the shockwaves dissipated, every Saint stared wide-eyed.

The writhing mass hung in the air, completely unscathed. If anything, it had taken on a more defined shape.

It was a sphere of compacted flesh. A massive mouth gaped at its center, ringed by a forest of tentacles. Upon each tentacle, eyes burned with green flame.

As the creature solidified, waves of increasingly oppressive power radiated outward. The sheer weight of its aura pressed against the Saints' chests like a vise.

"What the hell is that thing?!"

One Saint couldn't contain his disbelief.

"That aura — it's absolutely War God level. I never imagined something this powerful could exist."

At that moment, the sky above the Land of Origin's Upper Layer went dark. Storm clouds massed overhead, and bolts of tremendous lightning crackled within their depths.

It was as if the Upper Layer's will itself had been roused to fury.

Eyes widened across the battlefield.

"War God level, confirmed. Even the Land of Origin's will has been stirred — it's trying to forcibly expel this monstrosity."

**Boom! Boom! BOOM!**

Lightning rained down, hammering the flesh sphere in a relentless barrage.

**CRACK! CRASH! BOOM!**

The thunderbolts — far more powerful than anything the Battle Saints could muster — tore hideous, gaping wounds across the creature's surface.

Yet the moment each wound appeared, the flesh squirmed and knitted itself back together at terrifying speed. Though the damage seemed to accumulate incrementally, at this rate the creature would outlast the assault long enough to fully Corrupt the entire region before the lightning could destroy it.

Two beams of green light flashed outward. Two fleeing Battle Saints were pierced clean through. Their bodies erupted in green flame and crumbled to ash.

The sight sent a chill through every remaining Saint, dread crawling up their spines.

The power behind those beams was beyond comprehension.

"Run!"

Dengba shouted and was the first to pull back. The others scrambled after him.

They hadn't even been able to track that green beam — the Ironclad Battle Saint was simply dead before anyone registered what happened. This was no creature they could hope to fight.

And that thing was being struck by the Upper Layer's lightning the entire time.

Even under that divine bombardment, it still possessed such terrifying power. The implications of its true strength were staggering.

Lightning continued to crash down. Massive, hideous wounds kept splitting open across the flesh sphere's surface, only to seal themselves moments later. Though the injuries appeared to mount slowly, at this pace the entire region would be fully Corrupted before the creature was destroyed.

Two more beams of green light lanced out. Two more fleeing Battle Saints were pierced and consumed by green flame, their bodies disintegrating into nothing.

Seeing the Saints in full retreat, the flesh sphere unleashed another shriek. The devastating sound wave shattered through them, and every remaining Saint coughed up blood.

Terror filled their eyes. At this rate, they might not even manage to escape.

Lu Yuan had just finished closing a Spatial Rift and was preparing to move to the next Aberration Source zone.

Two remained: Greenjade Prairie and Silver Lake.

He had been about to head for Silver Lake — the closer of the two — when he suddenly froze. His head snapped toward a distant direction, uncertainty flickering across his face.

From that direction, an utterly terrifying aura bled across the landscape. Even at this vast distance, Lu Yuan could feel its dreadful intensity. Even for him, it registered as dangerous.

*War God?!*

He was stunned.

This was unmistakably Aberration energy. Had a War God-level Aberration Feral Beast appeared?

His brow creased. In the next instant, his body vanished.

A few breaths later, Lu Yuan materialized above a vast grassland.

The sky was black with storm clouds. Lightning roared as hundreds of bolts hammered a bizarre, tentacled sphere of flesh at the center of the plain.

Nearby, numerous Battle Saints with weakened auras and ashen faces were clearly badly wounded.

He even spotted the Tianming Sage among them, looking decidedly worse for wear.

Lu Yuan frowned. Before he could fully assess the situation, two beams of green light lanced from the flesh sphere toward a pair of retreating Saints.

His eyes narrowed. Twisted silver threads of space materialized in his vision.

In the next instant, both beams froze in place.

They had been banished by Spatial Rift.

But Lu Yuan's frown only deepened. Gravity settled into his expression.

He'd felt it — his Spatial Rift had wavered, destabilized. It couldn't fully banish those beams of terrible green light.