Threads of brilliant spatial fissures, winding with arcane mystery like serpentine rivers, gradually evolved into a dense spiderweb, completely influencing the surrounding space and forming various constraints meant to bind Shi Yan.
Shi Yan held a shield in one hand and a blood-red sword in the other, his face calm and placid as he looked up at the approaching Beloe.
He appeared utterly oblivious to the impending doom.
“Your demise will bring new life to the Shadow race. I will undoubtedly usher in a brand new chapter for them. Rest in peace,” Beloe sneered.
Chii-chii-chii!
Wriggling lines of energy gradually sealed the void, slowly contracting.
Pulled by the psychic tether, Shi Yan’s physical body was immobilized, as if trapped in a cage, unable to move. Even his divine sense operated sluggishly, and his soul felt plunged into a dark, alien domain, experiencing a helplessness born from an inability to extend its perception.
Yet, he remained unmoving. A strange luster appeared deep within his pupils—a luster that was profoundly dark, carrying tones of mockery and derision, as if proclaiming that all of Beloe’s efforts would be reduced to ash, that Beloe’s scheming was utterly futile.
That strange light in his eyes sparked an unsettling sense of danger in Beloe.
“Klang!”
Suddenly, the blood-red sword struck the blood shield, producing a crisp sound of clashing metal from the shield’s surface.
The hazy world sketched by the blood lines on the shield’s face abruptly came alive, vividly manifesting a single crimson eyeball that quietly gazed upon Beloe.
A thunderous shockwave instantly reverberated through Beloe’s mind, wrenching a thread of memory from the depths of his soul and forming a marvelous tapestry within his Sea of Consciousness...
In the somber secret cavern of the Shadow race, a youthful Beloe looked haggard, his gaze vacant as he stared at the pitch-black rock wall. A wisp of faint light, like a firefly, appeared, gradually magnifying, slowly elongating until it formed a shadowy silhouette. The shadow was dim, its true form obscured, and it emitted subtle soul fluctuations, whispering something softly by Beloe’s ear.
The younger Beloe looked up in confusion, as if immersed in a dream, silently listening to the shadow’s explanations, his body beginning to emit a brilliant yellow radiance.
The light enveloped him entirely, causing the void to distort. His soul mimicked the fluctuation of the light, and an expression of dawning comprehension surfaced in his eyes.
The shadow flickered unsteadily like candlelight, its wondrous soul vibrations murmuring softly, elucidating the profound mysteries to him.
The scene instantly flashed away. The shadow gradually faded and vanished, but just as it disappeared, it left behind an imprint shaped like a blood-colored cloud mass before truly ceasing to exist.
Beloe remained suspended at the intersection of those spatial fissures, yet he was lost in confusion, just as he had been when first glimpsing the exquisite intricacies of spatial principles in his youth—just as he was when those profound truths were imparted to him...
Shi Yan watched him quietly.
After a long pause, Beloe snapped out of his bewilderment, his expression regaining clarity and reason, though his face shifted between shadow and light.
“Understood?” Shi Yan offered a faint smile.
“Understood,” Beloe replied, nodding with a grim expression.
“Continue serving as the Patriarch of the Shadow race. I will contact you when necessary. If the God Race makes any major moves, you must find a way to notify me.” Shi Yan’s expression grew serious as he promised, “What the God Race can give you, I can give you in the future, perhaps even more. I have acquired the Primordial Fruit; the God Race is destined to decline. Be at ease as my pawn; I certainly will not treat you unfairly.”
With that, he moved swiftly toward the periphery, intending to disengage as quickly as possible.
Pa-pa-pa!
Suddenly, explosive sounds echoed through the void. Those spatial fissures, meticulously condensed by Beloe, instantly solidified into glaring sharp blades.
The blades burst forth like firecrackers, unleashing violent energy fluctuations, violently slicing toward Shi Yan’s divine body.
Beloe’s eyes sharpened like blades, and he stated in a low voice, “So what if I understand? I have struggled in this world for years, surviving among the strong, never knowing a moment’s peace, always on edge! I do not wish to live this way anymore!”
The glaring blades, sharp as light-saber strikes, crisscrossed the area. Wherever they passed, the void hissed and shattered, causing countless streams of outer-domain light to cascade down, resembling meteors breaking free from the river of stars, their momentum astonishing.
“Then do you realize you will die?” Shi Yan turned back, letting out a sudden, regretful sigh.
“I’ve been a dog my entire life; I refuse to be one any longer. Either I seize the Primordial Fruit and become the master, or I die!” Beloe’s face had never possessed such fierce determination.
“Since you refuse to be a dog... then you must simply die,” Shi Yan shook his head and sighed sorrowfully.
The eye that had materialized within the blood shield suddenly transformed into the blood-colored cloud imprint. The imprint drifted out and pierced into Beloe’s forehead in a flash, ignoring spatial distance.
A corresponding fluctuation arose from the soul within Beloe’s sacrificial altar. A wisp of a specter emerged and directly enveloped Beloe’s soul. The specter seemed to question him about something, but unfortunately, Beloe’s soul conviction was firm; he shook his head with a bitter smile.
The specter said nothing more. It grasped the incoming blood-colored imprint and thrust it into Beloe’s soul.
As soon as the imprint entered, Beloe’s soul began to rapidly dissolve. In the span of just a few breaths, Beloe’s soul signature perished into the void, completely dissipating.
Cracks appeared on his soul altar, segment by segment, until it gradually collapsed.
As for that wisp of specter, it vanished in a flicker, having exchanged no communication with Shi Yan.
A strange color appeared in Shi Yan’s eyes. He paused silently, then lightly tapped his brow.
His mysterious and unique soul altar floated up from the crown of his head. The black hole within it, formed by the Devouring Profundity, aimed remotely toward Beloe’s head. Beloe’s gradually disintegrating altar was drawn out, transforming into a white light that merged into the black hole.
Beloe’s divine body rapidly withered, aging as if a luxuriant ancient tree had instantly passed through ten thousand years, desiccating into a mere husk. Every trace of energy was drawn out.
Pat-ta!
His body fell to the ground, shattering like glass, exploding into a pile of dust that dispersed with the wind.
Soul and flesh perished, and Beloe’s mark on the world was erased, leaving not the slightest possibility of rebirth.
The flying ash scattered on the breeze, carrying faint whispers of unwillingness, like the sighing of the wind, like soft weeping, until it truly became the roar of the wind...
Shi Yan’s expression was complex. He sighed inwardly, shook his head, and murmured softly, “Why bother...”
The leading soul manipulator of the Bloodthirsty lineage, the one who had guided Beloe into the Hall of Spatial Profundity, had implanted a restriction in Beloe’s soul from the moment he took him in, tampering with his mind.
That person had been orchestrating this calculated plan for millennia. Perhaps the entire process—Beloe’s gradual ascent to Patriarch, his eventual allegiance to the Ascot family of the God Race—had been schemed by that individual, purely for deployment at this critical juncture.
Such as today.
If someone other than Beloe had confronted Shi Yan today, even if they didn't die, they would have paid a devastating price.
That person had plotted everything, secretly aiming for something immense; Beloe was merely a single pawn.
It was a tragedy that Beloe only realized this at the moment of his death.
He had spent his life struggling for survival, constantly attaching himself to the powerful for the sake of the Shadow race’s strength, only to suddenly comprehend that his rise and all his experiences had been secretly manipulated. He understood that becoming the Patriarch of the Shadow race might not have been due to his own talent, but rather an engineered outcome...
Beloe could not endure this realization. In the end, he refused to remain enslaved and controlled, choosing death to break free from the relentless shackles of fate.
Shi Yan was filled with emotion.
“Perhaps you are right,” he muttered, watching the space gradually return to order, his face grim.
“Mmm!”
Suddenly, his soul trembled as if his Profundity Layer had been infused with some exquisite insight, which immediately stunned him.
He focused his concentration to comprehend it.
The Devouring Profundity had swallowed Beloe’s altar. Beloe, a powerhouse of the Second Heaven of the Beginning God Realm specializing in Spatial Profundity, now had his entire life’s comprehension of this principle transformed into minute streams of memory current, flowing directly into his own Profundity Layer, rapidly fusing with his existing understanding of Spatial Profundity.
Shi Yan was dumbfounded.
He had always assumed the Devouring Profundity merely condensed and nourished soul energy, capable of nurturing and tempering the soul altar. In fact, the previous times he had devoured altars, that had been the sole effect.
Today was different...
It turned out the Devouring Profundity could also refine Profundities, transforming them into memory currents, turning insights directly into enhancements for his own Profundity realm.
The reason this hadn't happened before was that the Profundities cultivated by the altars he consumed did not align with his own. But Beloe happened to cultivate Spatial Profundity just like him; thus, after his altar was consumed, the miraculous currents of comprehension naturally integrated into Shi Yan’s Profundity Layer.
What an evil and terrifying Profundity!
Shi Yan felt both astonishment and joy, yet as he merged with Beloe’s refined insights, he also experienced a sense of heart-pounding dread.
At this moment, he truly grasped how horrifying and formidable the Devouring Profundity of the Bloodthirsty Lord was, and finally understood why the Bloodthirsty Lord could stand proudly between heaven and earth for so many years, compelling the strong of the Four Great Races to willingly submit.
A corner of Yaolong Star.
Sloan, Keda, Philp, Mia, and several other Beginning God Realm experts from the God Race stared solemnly in one direction, their expressions gradually relaxing.
Keda’s face eased, and looking in that direction, he murmured, “The void fluctuations are evening out; the battle should be over. Our Patriarch should be here shortly.”
Sloan smiled and nodded, reassuring the group, “I’ve known Beloe for many years; I trust he won’t disappoint us. Everyone can wait at ease.”
This location was not only occupied by members of the Ascot family; experts from the Fernandes and Bai families were also present. To ensure Shi Yan’s elimination and remove future trouble, the three factions had committed sufficient strength so the Elder Council could promptly activate the ‘Bridge of Heaven.’
The Beginning Gods from the Fernandes and Bai families, seeing Sloan’s confidence, said little, simply sitting in wait with impassive looks.
Time passed second by second, yet Beloe never appeared. Sloan’s own expression began to darken ominously.
Keda, sensing the mood, wisely rose. “I’ll go take a look.” He boarded a disc-shaped war chariot unique to the Shadow race and shot away like lightning, vanishing instantly.
“Uncle, will something have happened to Beloe?” Philp asked sharply.
Everyone’s brows twitched.
“You worry too much,” Sloan offered a fond smile to his nephew. “Beloe is a Second Heaven Beginning God who cultivates Spatial Profundity. Never mind him; even if your father attacked personally, he could only defeat Beloe. To utterly destroy him... that seems unlikely.”
The clansmen from the Fernandes and Bai families secretly nodded, agreeing with Sloan’s assessment.
Spatial Profundity cultivators were widely acknowledged across all star domains as the most difficult kind of cultivator to kill.
Half an hour later, Keda returned in his disc-shaped chariot. His face was contorted in terror, and upon arrival, he shrieked, “Our Patriarch has perished!”