25 - (Spoiler in title)

Xu Xin realized that his arm had been pinned to the carriage by an arrow, and it had many barbs on it, going both ways, clearly meant to pin someone by a body part to whatever the arrow stuck into.

He didn't even grunt as the arrow stabbed into his hand, but an annoyed expression covered his face as he instantly used all the strength in his body to firmly grasp the arrow and pull away from the carriage as hard as he possibly could, using every bit of leverage that his body could get.

As he did so, cracking sounds started to sound as the wood of the carriage started to split and break, with nails coming out and the fabric covering it being torn.

At this moment, every bit of strength he had was being used, and the carriage was unable to hold up against it as it started to crack and break around the area where his hand was pinned to it, and only a couple seconds later, a loud *SNAP!* sounded, as a chunk of the carriage wall was ripped off by Xu Xin.

Inside the carriage, Xiao Wei and Yue Ning had seen an arrowhead covered in blood suddenly slam through the wall, but only a moment later, that part of the wall had suddenly been ripped entirely off of the carriage, and they could see outside through it, seeing Xu Xin's back.

The goal of that arrow was obviously to pin him to the carriage wall, but it had completely failed to do so.

But before anything more happened, another arrow, covered in the blood red glow, shot out of the woods again, this time its target being one of the royal guards.

Seeing the red arrow flying towards him, the guard instantly formed a gauntlet of inner breath on his arm, which blocked the arrow, but it wasn't nearly enough as the arrow fairly easily broke through his inner breath barrier and shot through his arm, eliciting a shout of pain from him, after which it continued towards his body and stuck straight into his chest.

The arrow had managed to hit his aorta, and he instantly started to bleed out, and within another couple seconds, he was dead.

Without any hesitation, Xia Yue took her bow and nocked an arrow, which she shot towards where the arrows had come from, but there was no response from the other side.

Then, another arrow came, heading towards another guard, who managed to barely block it, with it sticking through their arm and into their chest, just barely missing the heart and vital arteries.

At this moment, a vile laughter rang out from the woods, which sounded like a laugh of death, and a figure covered in black robes walked out slowly, with a blood red bow in their hand that had a blood red arrow already nocked onto it, filled with power and already drawn.

The shape of the figure suggested that it was a female, but there was nothing beautiful about her, with blood stain tattoos going down from her eyes and being shown on her clothes, going all the way down to her feet and even splitting off into several streams.

It was clear from her apparel that she was a High Blood Priest of the Blood Order, and once she got closer, everyone saw her glowing red eyes, which confirmed their suspicions.

Instantly, the group nearly fell into despair, because there was the chance of an ice cube on the sun for them to survive this.

In fact, she had used barely any of her true strength in those attacks just then.

Her weird laughter continued to get louder as despair set into their hearts, and she then spoke in an eerie but beautiful voice.

"Xiao Wei, you were the only reason Xiao Xin died and the only person who knows the truth of what happened. Did you really think that we would let you go?"

Her voice was smooth and beautiful, but it was saturated with a terrifying killing intent no less brutal than Xu Xin's and only stronger than the latter's.

Her voice traveled straight into the carriage, where Xiao Wei sat, shivering in terror.

Just from the killing intent alone, he knew it was the Blood Order, and the words she said reminded him of what he had done, and he knew that they were going to attack him at some point, but he didn't expect it to be so soon.

He only barely managed to suppress his terror as he stepped out of the carriage, shaking violently as he faced death itself. He even faintly pissed himself in the face of such mortal terror.

Looking into her eyes, he seemed to see a river of blood in a valley of carnage and death the likes of which he had never experienced.

This was actually an intimidation technique that was used with killing intent to break the opponent's will, and if they were weak enough, to shatter their mind.

But she didn't try to kill him with this, hence why he was still alive. Otherwise, his will was so weak that he would just die instantly.

He didn't even have the courage to stand as he fell to his knees, pissing himself in terror as his mind and soul shook incessantly from fear. His eyes seemed to become unfocused as his heartrate sped up dangerously.

However, it was at this moment that the unexpected happened.

Suddenly, an old and calm voice rang out, with an ancient tone that far surpassed anything any of them had ever experienced. It was a genderless voice that seemed to have transgressed through time itself.

At this moment, Xu Xin's eyes and body didn't seem to be his own as his entire body was covered in an aquamarine glow, with his eyes shining brightly.

"I didn't go through all of this effort just for the one destined to fulfil the Prophecy of Black to be killed by a mere half-mortal.

KNEEL!!!!!" This voice seemed to come from a god, and though it was quiet and calm at the beginning, the last word was yelled out with a voice that seemed to shake the entire world, bringing an earthquake as the ground shook and the water boiled.

The whole area within a thousand miles of them shook at that moment.

Instantly, the high blood priestess felt her entire body get smashed to the ground, forced to her knees in a kowtow position as her bones broke and her organs nearly exploded.

Blood leaked out of her mouth, nose, eyes, and ears as she let out a scream of absolutely unrestrained agony and fear. She couldn't even move a muscle, and her body wouldn't listen to her mind.

The veins in her body had instantly exploded, and her eyes were filled with red tears as she couldn't even see through her own blood.

The ground around her cracked and caved in as the trees around her were shattered into splinters and every living thing near her instantly died, torn apart into nothing more than a bloody mangled mess on the ground.

Then, only a moment later, her body exploded into a cloud of bloody mist as the ground near her sunk ten meters down.

By now, everyone in the area had already long ago fainted, leaving only Xu Xin standing as his body was surrounded by godly power.

At this moment, that weird power faded away, leaving behind Xu Xin, who was completely confused.

Because of that power, the arrow in his hand had been disintegrated, and all the injuries on his body were completely healed as every cell in his body felt full of power and strength.

At this moment, a voice rang out in Xu Xin's mind, which caught him by surprise.

"I have just used almost all of my remaining power, and I can no longer help you along your path. You are alone now. Destiny cannot protect you, and you must fulfil the Prophecy of Black."

After hearing this, Xu Xin also passed out, and everything within a thousand miles was completely dead silent, as if nothing dared to even breathe.

...

*The next morning*

Xia Yue suddenly woke up, and as soon as she did, she looked around, only to see everyone around her passed out.

She then looked where she had seen the high blood priestess, but all she saw was a thirty meter area around where she had been that was completely and totally destroyed, with not a single blade of grass surviving.

It appeared as if the heavens themselves had chosen to destroy this part of the world.

Thinking back to what happened, she couldn't even remember a single thing aside from an ancient feeling washing over her that made her feel like nothing more than a baby ant of the weakest species in front of a king among dragons.

She had witnessed the power of someone almost at the peak of the spirit realm, but even they would be absolutely powerless to resist this level of strength.

She felt lucky to be alive at this moment, and she only had one question: why would someone that strong help them?

However, she was absolutely sure that she would never find the answer to this question, so she quickly moved to wake everyone up, making sure not to hurt the guard who had been shot with the arrow.

As she got to Xu Xin, she realized that the arrow that was previously stuck into his hand was nowhere in sight, and his hands had been completely healed as well, which made her suspicious, but she didn't think anything of it since last night had been simply far too weird.

However, she did take note of it. She figured that maybe he was a part of the reason.

As she woke up Xu Xin, he instantly sat up as memories of last night flooded into his mind.

As he looked around, he was reminded of what happened, seeing that the entire area around where the high blood priestess had been was destroyed.

He then looked at his hand, only to see that it had been completely healed, and there was no sign of the arrow that had impaled it.

Then, looking at Xia Yue, he instantly calmed down as he grasped the situation.

He would think about what had happened later, because if he was to do something right now, it would not benefit him in the slightest.

Instead, it would make Xia Yue and the others suspicious of him, not for him being Xiao Xin, but because it would seem like he knew about what had happened last night, which could bring calamity upon him.

After waking him up, she woke up Xiao Wei and Yue Ning, who were both completely confused, because they couldn't remember anything of what had happened last night.

The only ones that could remember some of what had happened were Xia Yue and the two remaining royal guards.

And thinking about what the high blood priestess had said yesterday, they quietly hid what they knew, because if they brought attention to it, they would likely fight to the death.

Of course, this was regarding the information that the high blood priestess had revealed: Xiao Wei was the only reason that Xiao Xin had fallen, and he had directly and intentionally contributed to it.

Xia Yue was now certain that Xiao Xin had never done anything wrong, and that he hadn't betrayed the kingdom. Instead, it was Xiao Wei who had betrayed them, and she was certain of this.

As for the reason that the royal guards didn't say anything about this, it was because if they did, not only would they have to fight to the death with Xia Yue to protect the information, but they would also likely be killed if it was found out that they knew about it.

At this moment, everything was tense, with the possibility of life and death happening at any moment. Only Xu Xin was calm at this moment, and he was thinking about what the voice had said yesterday.

It had said "I have just used all of my remaining power, and I can no longer help you along your path. You are alone now. Destiny cannot protect you, and you must fulfil the Prophecy of Black."

All he could wonder about right now was what the Prophecy of Black was, and how just a portion of the power from the person who set up the 'bloodline inheritance' was able to instantly completely destroy a cultivator nearly at the peak of the spirit realm.

He also faintly realized that it wasn't a bloodline inheritance, but a stepping stone to complete a prophecy and legacy.

This meant that it truly was a major insult to call it a mere inheritance, and he also realized that anything of this level was beyond the scope of this entire continent.

He even thought to himself, 'Could it be that this is a fortune from beyond this world?'

Little did he know just how right he was and just how little he actually knew.

(Title: God)