Humanity was jolted awake from the abyss of despair.
Across silent squares, empty streets, and closed rooms, a tsunami of cheers erupted instantly. People before screens across the globe, whether they had slumped in weakness or stood frozen in fear, felt pulled by an invisible force and knelt one after another.
People of different skin colors, beliefs, and races discarded all estrangement. Their movements were uncannily synchronized as they offered their most devout worship toward the space steeped in sacred golden light.
Countless people on the land of Huaxia had tears streaming down their faces. They straightened their backs with unparalleled pride, as if announcing to the entire world:
"Did you see that! That is our God!"
"This is the faith of Huaxia!"
In the starry sky, the Cosmic Red Fish let out a terrified hiss. The arrogant provocations that had just been broadcast to Earth via unknown means came to a screeching halt. The sight before it shattered the pride of the Precursor civilization. They had never imagined that the God of this civilization would be so terrifying. In the six planet-sized giant eyes of the Red Fish, fear appeared for the first time.
After a brief, deathly silence, the collective consciousness of the Precursor civilization fell into chaos, shock, and disbelief. They barely managed to recover some computing power, analyzing the incredible existences before them through the senses of the Red Fish.
The broadcast voice rose again, now sounding somewhat timid: "We harbor no ill intent; we only came here to hunt down an individual who killed our kin..."
These words were pale and powerless.
Responding to it was the cold, disdainful sneer of the Northern Heavenly King of Much-Hearing: "The majesty of the Heavenly Court is not for you demon beasts to provoke!"
His voice exploded directly within the consciousness of the Red Fish.
The Southern Heavenly King of Growth was even more direct. He looked at the massive Cosmic Red Fish with eyes filled with pure disgust. He tilted his head slightly and spat out a glob of thick phlegm imbued with divine power toward the Red Fish.
That was no mortal saliva; it sliced through the vacuum with the power to burn everything, accurately hitting one of the giant eyes of the Red Fish.
"Sizzle!"
Unimaginable pain caused the Red Fish to let out a wail that vibrated the stars. The struck giant eye was instantly corroded by a higher-level power, rapidly turning cloudy and ulcerating.
The voice of the Southern Heavenly King of Growth rang through the void with supreme arrogance: "Filthy thing, you truly soil this Heavenly King's eyes!"
The extreme pain drove the Cosmic Red Fish into a total frenzy. This biological weapon, modified for hundreds of millions of years, once again broke free from the control of the Precursor civilization. Now, its actions followed only the primal instinct for destruction.
It snapped its giant mouth open. An energy source comparable to a supernova explosion condensed within its maw, gathering unimaginable destructive power before suddenly firing directly at the five deities hovering before the Southern Heaven Gate.
The Precursor civilization still clung to a shred of fantasy, guessing that this might just be a powerful energy projection since their sensors had captured no gravitational anomalies. They decided to make a grand gamble.
However, how could they ever comprehend the mighty power of the gods?
Facing the world-ending attack, the Giant Spirit God let out an angry roar that shook the universe: "The light of a mere ant dares to be so insolent before a God!"
He moved. The ancient giant axe in his hand seemed to possess the power to tear the universe apart. He swung the massive weapon, driving ripples through space-time as he struck directly at the head of the Red Fish. There were no fancy techniques here, only the purest strength.
Simultaneously, the four Heavenly Kings struck.
The Northern Heavenly King of Much-Hearing's Vajra Pestle flew from his hand, swelling against the wind into a wild dragon composed of billions of purple lightning bolts, roaring as it crashed into the massive body of the Red Fish.
The beads in the hand of the Eastern Heavenly King of Nation-Upholding scattered, each transforming into a real star to form a profound Stellar Array, coiling around the Red Fish from all directions to imprison it.
The Western Heavenly King of Wide-Gaze lightly plucked his Jasper Pipa. Silent sound waves turned into physical spatial ripples, tearing through the void around the Red Fish in layers.
The Southern Heavenly King of Growth held a divine sword burning with blue flames and made a casual forward slash. A tiny but supremely sharp beam of sword light crossed a million miles instantly, piercing into the Red Fish's body.
The attacks of the five deities landed accurately on the Cosmic Red Fish and its energy beam almost simultaneously.
"BOOM—!!!"
An indescribable collision erupted in the silent space. The energy beam was easily annihilated by the divine power.
Sensing a danger originating from its very life source, the Cosmic Red Fish let out a shrill, pained hiss. Countless bone-deep cracks appeared on its incredibly hard surface, and blue blood erupted.
But surprisingly, these wounds—enough to destroy a star system—began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye. The Precursor civilization's eons of biological modification technology gave it terrifyingly tenacious vitality.
Stimulated by the intense pain, the Red Fish became even more savage and violent. Countless hideous bone spikes, each comparable to a planet, suddenly grew from its surface. Thousands of slimy tentacles burst from its body, wildly lashing at the void. Its six giant eyes simultaneously fired even more violent destruction beams, sweeping madly in all directions to launch a fierce assault on the five deities.
Just as those beams were about to sweep across Earth and annihilate it, a low shout that seemed to originate from the source of the Great Dao suddenly echoed through the universe: "What sort of centipede dares to act so insolently here!"
The voice clearly entered the consciousness of every living being and every existence. The entire Solar System, regardless of distance or the presence of a medium, was pulled by this voice.
The next moment, an indescribably huge golden palm reached out from the void.
The Cosmic Red Fish, whose size was comparable to a star, was like a toy before this palm. The golden hand gently closed, grasping the struggling Red Fish in its palm like a person pinching a bug.
Inside the Red Fish, the remaining individuals of the Precursor civilization let out the most shrill and desperate screams of their lives.
How! How is this possible! How could such a powerful biological existence exist!?
Then, the owner of the golden palm slowly revealed his true form. He was a majestic deity surpassing all limits of imagination. As his three eyes opened and closed, it seemed as if universes were being born and destroyed. He wore golden divine armor that reflected the light of billions of stars.
The newcomer was the Celestial God of Justice, Erlang Shen, in his Law Projection form!
His size was vast and boundless. Earth, before his Law Projection, was as tiny as a speck of dust.
Seeing the true form of the True Lord appear, the Giant Spirit God and the four Heavenly Kings before the Southern Heaven Gate immediately restrained their divine aura and bowed toward Yang Jian: "Greetings, True Lord!"
The Cosmic Red Fish, held in Yang Jian's palm, was still struggling frantically. Its six eyes desperately fired energy beams at the golden palm, yet they couldn't leave the slightest mark. Countless tentacles lashed out wildly but couldn't budge the hand an inch. It exhausted every trick and used every ounce of power within its body for a final resistance.
However, all of this was beneath Ian's notice.
His majestic and boundless third eye looked coldly at the creature in his palm. The divine voice rose again, carrying the weight of judgment: "An ant dares to come here barking; today, I grant you death!"
The moment the words fell, Ian's fingers holding the Red Fish began to close.
Unimaginable pressure acted on every inch of the Cosmic Red Fish's body, every cell, and every particle. The Red Fish let out an incredibly shrill shriek, but even the sound could not escape the palm. Its body deformed violently, its bones shattered inch by inch, and its flesh was forcibly compressed.
The Precursor civilization sheltered within its body experienced for the first and last time what it meant to face a truly irresistible crushing force from a higher level of life. The technology they prided themselves on, the ultimate weapon they spent eons creating, was as fragile as a bubble before a greater power.
As Ian's palm slowly tightened, the massive body of the Cosmic Red Fish, along with the entire Precursor civilization residing within, was compressed, fused, and finally completely annihilated.