“Truthfully, I had been watching this thing long ago, secretly observing its every move. It’s just that in recent years, this object has gradually become restless; perhaps as more and more martial artists have been enveloped, it is beginning to recover like a severely wounded being…”

Dicarlo’s expression was solemn as he continued to explain: “Over these years, the void channels within many Star Domain Sea regions have frequently experienced problems. Many martial artists crossing star domains using these void channels would mysteriously vanish, and even a significant number of people transported via the spatial teleportation arrays I refined have disappeared into thin air.”

He looked towards Shi Yan and Xia Xinyan, his expression growing even heavier, “I could never figure out the reason, until I later discovered one of the mysteriously vanished individuals within these surrounding cloud masses; only then did I grasp the truth.”

Dicarlo pointed toward the surrounding clusters of pitch-black clouds, his face grim, and stated: “All those who vanished were secretly influenced by this object, dragged into the void turbulence, and ensnared by it!”

Shi Yan and Xia Xinyan were deeply shaken, their faces filled with disbelief, a chill creeping into their hearts.

If this object could affect the void channels and drag those crossing domains into the void turbulence, then travel between star domains in the future would become fraught with peril.

As the most exquisite master of spatial profundity in the world, Dicarlo had constructed numerous spatial teleportation arrays for the Vast Ocean Merchant Guild. The failure of those arrays and the mysterious disappearances of those martial artists must have severely impacted his reputation, forcing him to uncover the true cause.

If everything he said was true, then future traversals through the void channels would instill widespread dread and directly affect the stability of the Star Sea.

“It’s not just that,” Dicarlo stroked his snow-white beard, gazing warily at the clusters of pitch-black clouds beside him. “It seems to have also secretly influenced the Starry Sky Barrier. You cultivate spatial profundity; you should know that the impact of ordinary martial artists’ power rarely causes the void to collapse. But now, many martial artists at the Third Heaven of the Origin God realm can trigger the void to tear and shatter during combat, potentially causing entire star domains to disintegrate…”

Shi Yan was stunned.

He suddenly recalled his battle with Xing Huo, when his Blood Sword struck Xing Huo’s inherent supreme treasure, the Heavenly Star Ice Jade Fragment, causing the void to crack and shatter.

At that time, he abruptly had a feeling that the void seemed too fragile, shattering far too easily.

That void collapse dragged ten thousand members of the God Clan into the void turbulence. He knew those people likely wouldn't survive. Connecting this with Dicarlo’s words, his face suddenly turned ugly; an ominous suspicion formed in his mind…

Could it be that this mysterious object was secretly causing trouble, its goal being to ensnare those God Clan members and swallow them up like Xing Huo?

“The reason I brought Leidi here is that I noticed the recent fluctuations in the Domain Sea growing increasingly strange. Just recently! It seems… it has suddenly amplified its power quite significantly!” Dicarlo continued.

“Uh…”

Shi Yan rubbed his nose, looking quite embarrassed, and said: “My previous battle with Xing Huo caused the void of the Fire Rain Star Domain to explode, pulling ten thousand God Clan members into the void turbulence. I wonder if its sudden surge in power has something to do with those God Clan members, and Xing Huo?”

At these words, Leidi froze, while Dicarlo’s expression changed drastically, looking utterly furious. “It was caused by you!”

“Don’t get worked up, don’t get worked up! Look, I’ve come here seeking a solution too, haven’t I?” Shi Yan offered a sheepish, dry laugh.

“Little Luo, don't forget the purpose of our arrival; the main task is paramount,” Leidi quickly interjected, trying to smooth things over. “That brat is, after all, a lucky star for our Heavenly Demon Clan. If you kill him, our Heavenly Demon Clan will suffer a devastating blow.”

“Hmph, I dare not kill him,” Dicarlo’s complexion was foul, as if he’d lost his parents. “He is a plague, a tumor on the Star Sea. If he died, this Star Sea would find peace, but now, everyone in this Star Sea doesn't desire peace, and I have no wish to offend everyone in the Heavenly Evil, Netherworld Brightness, and Profound River realms.”

“The main task is paramount!” Leidi repeated.

Dicarlo gradually calmed down. “Yes, the main task. I will excise the pitch-black matter from the outer layer of those growths, and you will use your thunderous power to shatter and destroy them completely, then let that brat incinerate the remnants into ash with his Origin Heavenly Fire. We’ll see if we can eliminate this thing slowly.”

He already had a plan.

“It sounds foolproof!” Leidi burst into loud, rough laughter and winked at Shi Yan. “You have no issue with that, right?”

“No problem,” Shi Yan shrugged in agreement.

Dicarlo wasted no time and immediately acted, unleashing his refined profundity.

In this bizarre place, he formed hand seals, seemingly pulling the essence of the void. His body flickered intermittently, like a shining crystal. After a few seconds, billions of sharp blades erupted like a torrential downpour, splitting into myriad forms, all slashing toward the clusters of pitch-black clouds.

Like magical carving knives, the sharp edges pierced, cut, and striated the black clouds, peeling away their outer shells like husking corn.

Clusters of ugly, repulsive lumps were successively revealed, hanging in the void like fleshy tumors, filling the surrounding firmament. They were densely packed—perhaps tens of thousands—and vaguely seemed to possess an underlying order, forming an unknown, peculiar ancient formation.

The lumps secreted a slimy, sickening fluid, like saliva ejected by a foreign body. The lumps swelled and slowly writhed, gradually drawing closer together.

It was like billions of magnified cells were condensing and reassembling, a sight that sent shivers down the spine and filled onlookers with dread.

“Rumble! Rumble!”

Suddenly, streams of lightning, accompanied by deafening thunderclaps, burst forth from Leidi’s Origin World like billions of thunder snakes, all plunging into those massive flesh-balls.

“Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!”

The massive flesh-balls suddenly emitted wisps of grayish smoke. The balls swelled and writhed, secreting even more viscous fluid.

Many of the trapped martial artists inside these balls had their tendons and intestines re-emerging as writhing tentacles, densely spiraling out to entangle Shi Yan and the others.

The intestines and tendons were sticky, dripping foul-smelling, yellowish fluid—as repulsive as imaginable.

Simultaneously, an evil consciousness spread forth with the released matter, rushing toward the group.

“Leidi! Do you feel that?” Dicarlo suddenly shouted. “Is this the kind of consciousness a low-level being can possess?”

Leidi’s expression also turned grim. He frowned and concentrated on sensing, then suddenly said: “Your feeling is correct. It seems disdainful of communicating with us because it considers itself a higher form of life, and in its eyes, we are mere ants. That is indeed the sensation…”

Shi Yan and Xia Xinyan, having slightly lower cultivation, couldn't perceive the deeper subtleties like Leidi and Dicarlo, but at this moment, their attention was focused, and their faces showed shock.

“Unleash the Heavenly Fire! Use your strongest power to incinerate this place!” Dicarlo commanded sternly.

As soon as he spoke, the unquenchable clusters of flames swirling around Shi Yan suddenly extended and spread outward like a spark igniting a prairie fire. In an instant, a scorching, surging wave of Origin Heavenly Fire formed around him, and it split into billions of streams, falling onto the massive flesh-clusters alongside the lightning bolts.

“Crack! Crack!”

The massive tumors seemed to burn under the intense fire, and the sound of them turning to ash could indeed be heard.

The perverse creature was first stripped of its thickest outer defense by Dicarlo, then bombarded by Leidi’s terrifying lightning, and finally purified by the Origin Heavenly Fire. The combined effort of the three seemed to have indeed uncovered a way to annihilate this object.

Every single large tumor was now engulfed by the Origin Heavenly Fire, being fiercely burned.

“It doesn't seem too difficult,” Leidi grinned savagely and boasted, “Whatever this thing is, burn it until not even dregs remain, and see how it can cause trouble then!”

Dicarlo evidently agreed somewhat with the brute, perhaps because of the efficacy of the Origin Heavenly Fire in incinerating all life. His attitude towards Shi Yan softened slightly. Looking at the raging flames spreading everywhere, he remarked: “This place is just one location. As far as I know, there are at least ten similar areas. Let’s move on.”

“I need to find someone,” Shi Yan frowned.

“If you needed to find someone, it wouldn’t be here; otherwise, you wouldn’t have burned it so readily. You must have scouted this place before we arrived,” Dicarlo said impatiently. “Let’s handle the main task for the future safety of our countless star domains first. Perhaps the person you seek is bound by one of these things in another region; we can investigate them one by one; it won't take too much time anyway.”

“Oh, what is that?” Leidi suddenly let out a soft exclamation.

Dicarlo and Shi Yan simultaneously looked in one direction. There, the massive flesh-lump restraining Xing Huo was being burned by the Heavenly Fire, yet it showed no sign of melting into ash.

Instead, a severe cold emanated from it. That extreme cold quietly transformed into an ice-blue, strange mist that spread outward. Wherever the mist passed, the Heavenly Fire released by Shi Yan was extinguished one by one.

“That is Xing Huo’s inherent supreme treasure. This thing is very peculiar. According to him, that object is called the ‘Heavenly Star Ice Jade Fragment’… He obtained it from the ‘Void Sea Region,’ and it took him over seven hundred years to refine it into his life-bound treasure. Its power is terrifyingly potent!”

Shi Yan concentrated on watching the icy cold glint flickering within the flesh-lump for a moment, his mind stirred, and he suddenly exclaimed.

“An object obtained from the Void Sea Region…”

Dicarlo’s expression tightened suddenly. “If it can withstand your Heavenly Fire without burning, its coldness won't diminish, and it can even use the icy mist to extinguish your still-unmature Heavenly Fire—this thing is definitely a miraculous artifact.”

Upon hearing this, Leidi’s eyes shone, but his excitement quickly faded, and he shook his head. “Unfortunately, it’s not suitable for the profundity I cultivate.”

“Zi Yao!”

Just then, Xia Xinyan couldn't help but scream, pointing in another direction.

Within the surging flames, the largest lump cracked open like a skull, and from it emerged Zi Yao. Her eyes were indifferent, devoid of any emotion, chillingly cold. She reached out with her hand, and the ‘Heavenly Star Ice Jade Fragment’ transformed into an icy light, shooting instantly into her fair jade hand.

An incredibly terrifying fluctuation suddenly erupted from within her body, in no way inferior to Dicarlo and Leidi.

At this moment, layers of colorful halos rippled behind Zi Yao, spreading like ripples of light. She was bathed in the center of this splendid divine glow, giving people a dreamlike, illusory feeling.

But the aura emanating from her was bone-chillingly terrifying—it was a cold detachment that did not belong to humanity.