CHAPTER 52: I WILL BE WAITING!

"You’re a hypocrite, teaching me morals when you just committed the same act a while ago!" Deus said, his voice laced with disgust.

"Won’t you teach me a lesson then?" a familiar voice answered, cold and sarcastic.

Hearing Ileus respond, Deus’s fury flared.

"You...!"

His voice remained calm, but there was a sharp edge to it—pure anger, thinly veiled.

But then, he suddenly stopped.

"Hahaha!!!"

He erupted into laughter—loud, unhinged, the kind only a lunatic would release.

"I guess I underestimated you. To think that one day, you would dare challenge me... But don’t worry—just count yourself dead!"

In the depths of the dark void, Ileus floated with a smug expression plastered across his face. Beside him hovered the familiar crystal.

He was confident Deus wouldn’t be able to find him here. Mana blended well with nature’s essence—unlike Qi—so everything looked natural from afar, even under intense scrutiny.

More so, detecting Mana while using Qi-based senses was like trying to find a whisper in a storm.

He wanted to test the waters—to see if he could wrinkle that calm, ever-composed face of Deus.

Since the day he had become Deus’s subordinate, he had never once seen an emotion flicker across that face. And now, this was his chance.

To see him angry. To see him react.

"Let’s play a game of hide and seek, shall we?" Ileus said coldly, deliberately.

Deus chuckled.

"Good. I wonder what gave you the courage. The last time I played such a silly game... was when I was still a foolish mortal!"

"..."

"Why not stop hiding like a rat and come out to face me like the real god you claim to be!?"

Ileus didn’t reply. He knew better. He knew his boundaries. This man was millions of times stronger than him.

The aura of Deus alone could freeze him solid, just like it had done to the Nine Supreme Gods.

That’s why the plan had to go forward—had to. If not, it wouldn’t be long before everything fell apart.

"Little White... I’ll be gone for a while. You might get bored, but try to guide the others."

’Master, when will you return? What about the half-mechas? What will we do without you?’ the crystal’s voice pleaded inside his mind.

"Go back to my world. I created it for you all. Go there. Level up. Train. And give my current subordinate gods the message..."

He briefed it swiftly, giving final instructions. After that, once the crystal had teleported far away, he decided to make his presence known.

Meanwhile, Deus began noticing something strange in the air. It was faint at first—almost unnoticeable—but slowly, it became clear.

A foreign energy.

Familiar.

Mana.

He recognized it immediately. It was the same energy Ileus had once told him about.

With no hesitation, Deus focused his spirit sense and tore open the void in the direction of the disturbance.

What greeted him was Ileus’s smiling face, already beginning to disintegrate into particles of light—shiny, pixel-like fragments vanishing into the dark.

And then came his voice. His final words.

"I’m not running away from you... I’ll be back. Next time, I’ll come with something none of you will ever expect!"

Deus scoffed at the so-called parting message.

"The Law of the Divine Dao is Supreme. The path of Qi is the Supreme Path. And yet, you choose to create your own?"

He exhaled lightly, then continued coldly:

"Well, something interesting has finally come along after all these boring years. So for that... I’ll let you live. But a bounty will be placed on your soul. In your next life, you will die for real."

He raised his hand and drew the mark of Dao in the air, his face utterly expressionless.

As soon as the mark was complete, he noticed a thin trail of black and blue smoke rising from where Ileus once stood.

Two types of elemental essence.

"Dark Essence... and Reincarnation Essence. Go—return to your respective gods for absorption."

Sigh.

’I guess I’ll have to raise and train a new batch,’ Deus thought. ’Letting him go like this after taking over my subordinate gods... it’s shameful. But I’d be lying if I said I’m not curious.’

’I want to know what he’s planning. Where he’s hidden them.’

Hovering high above, Deus looked over the mass destruction he had caused. His heart was pulled in two directions—anger and sadness.

Of all his gods, he had loved Ileus the most. Not because he was the strongest, but because he was different.

Rebellious. Daring.

He had always kept him close. Watched him.

Even when Ileus vanished without a trace, Deus had known what he was up to. He knew about the plane Ileus had created. The dimension. The self-forged world. The foreign energy—Mana.

And yet... he had let him.

Even if he could go back in time, he wouldn’t change a thing. He would still let Ileus do what he wanted.

"Ki was formed... Qi was formed... and now Mana?" he muttered.

His path was certainly different from the others.

When Ileus chose to die, he did so deliberately—in front of his master.

To show him that his ’servant’ was now gone.

In his next life, Ileus didn’t want to return as someone bound. He wanted to be free. Free to walk his own path without restrictions.

Deus understood.

If he had wanted Ileus truly dead, he would have destroyed his soul the moment his body disintegrated.

But he didn’t.

And now, Ileus had a chance.

Once he reincarnates and grows strong enough—strong enough to fend off attacks from even angels of the Nine Heavens—then the real challenges would begin.

What Deus wanted to know was simple: What gave Ileus the confidence to think he wouldn’t kill him?

"Ileus... such a fascinating creature," he muttered to himself. "Your breed is new. Unique. I know you won’t choose worthless mortals as your parents. But don’t worry..."

"I’ll be watching. I’ll watch you grow stronger. Strong enough to withstand a single strike from one of my subordinates."

"I want to see what kind of performance you’ll put on when that time comes. I want to see what you can really do."

His voice echoed in the heavens, like thunder rolling across the sky.

"Don’t worry, Ileus... I’ll be waiting."

"Your last fight in your next life will be with me—and you will die by my very own hands. I’ll make sure of it!!!"