The violet brilliance in the colossal insect's form betrayed no trace of human emotion, yet a strange, iridescent light flickered within those eyes!
She seemed, for the first time, genuinely alarmed!
She turned toward Vidsen, her expression sharpening into one of gravity. Simultaneously, the giant insect’s writhing accelerated, becoming more violent and surging, stirring ripples that could destabilize time and space, unleashing energy bent on world destruction.
The pressure on Ming Hao and the others intensified tenfold!
The insect’s strength seemed to have doubled instantaneously. The surge in power caused the layers of seals and barriers binding it to crack open like shattered nets, forcing Ming Hao and the others to immediately expend energy to repair and compensate, leading to a rapid drain of their divine power.
Shi Yan had not participated in the sealing of the giant insect; given his current realm and cultivation, it was impossible for him to intervene for the time being.
He turned his gaze toward Vidsen.
Vidsen erupted madly, his entire body spewing forth a thick, corrosive vapor. His domain field expanded, and a hissing sound echoed in the turbulent void, like water boiling, spreading outwards in an astonishing manner!
The core of this corrosive power carried the aura of absolute destruction, capable of dissolving any living being. It was terrifying to the extreme, extending its reach until it finally surged toward the giant insect.
The insect struggled with ever-increasing ferocity!
“Suppress it with full force!” Ming Hao roared.
Xuan He, Phellet, Dicalo, and Leidi, drawing upon their power at the Second Heaven of Immortality, activated the profound mysteries they had cultivated for ten millennia. Crimson rivers, blood-red in hue, manifested the subtle essence between life and death; ropes formed from strands of corpse energy that bound heaven and earth; illusions of ephemeral spaces flickered in and out of existence; ferocious, roaring thunder dragons—all of these were unleashed upon the colossal body of the insect.
The giant insect was fixed rigidly within a confined area!
Vidsen’s violently erupting corrosive power finally permeated the seals, spreading toward the insect.
A glimmer of joy lit Ming Hao’s eyes as he narrowed them. A fissure appeared in the insect’s seal, and this opening exerted a suction force, drawing in Vidsen’s corrosive power and channeling it into the star-like body of the giant insect.
“Pfft! Pfft!”
The relentless corrosive energy poured in, resembling strong sulfuric acid sizzling against flesh. The insect’s body instantly emitted thick black smoke, and the creature let out a piercing shriek that was unmistakably one of agony, like a maddened beast enraged.
Vidsen, having swallowed three Bloodthirsty Relic Bones, erupted again in a frenzy, displaying unbelievable power—a power seemingly extracted at the cost of his own life force, pushing the relics’ might to its limit. This level of corrosive force truly possessed the astonishing effect of destroying heaven and earth.
The parts of the giant insect’s body being dissolved by the corrosion mystery billowed thick smoke. This smoke drifted out from the confines of the seal, floating like clusters of pitch-black clouds, seeming almost sentient as they sought to escape.
“Boom!”
At that precise moment, a profound shock reverberated through Shi Yan’s mind, causing his divine body to tremble uncontrollably!
All the acupoints across his body acted like water pumps, generating an endless, sucking force, akin to a giant whale drinking the ocean!
Clusters of black clouds drifting from the insect’s body transformed into beams of dark smoke. Like young swallows returning to their nests, they all surged toward him, pouring into his acupoints.
A surge of life force, powerful enough to shock the heavens and shake the earth, churned violently within his acupoints, so abundant that it caused him to groan in shuddering ecstasy!
The black clouds floating from the insect’s body entered his acupoints and, without needing any purification or refinement, instantly transformed into a pure, surging stream of mysterious energy!
Like a clear, warm current, like the primordial liquid of life’s evolution, it merely circled once within his acupoints before differentiating through some intrinsic bond.
A portion of the mysterious energy sank into his Primordial Realm; the heaven and earth of his realm expanded instantly, acquiring countless stars that glittered like diamonds!
At the shifting of his thoughts, these stars condensed into mountains and oceans, manifested as flora and blossoming trees, and surfaced as clouds beneath the azure vault. Aside from the absence of insectile life, they were scarcely distinguishable from the real world!
Another portion of the energy permeated his limbs and bones, soaking into his tendons, skeletal structure, blood, and even the cells of his bone marrow. His divine body absorbed this unknown, mysterious power like a sponge soaking up water—it was an indescribable, unparalleled sensation of wonder!
Life and physical form seemed to be ascending simultaneously!
He experienced a sensation reminiscent of when he first descended upon the Divine Grace Continent and was immersed in the Blood Pool—that feeling of being fundamentally reborn.
The black cloud clusters emanating from the giant insect should have contained fragmented consciousness; indeed, as soon as they detached from its body, they tried to flee, only to be eerily severed and swallowed by the devouring mystery within Shi Yan’s acupoints. After swirling once inside, the residual consciousness was obliterated, leaving behind only pure, mysterious power.
It was this very mysterious power, like life’s purifying primeval liquid, that nourished his physical form and gently refined his soul.
His divine body, his soul altar, and his Primordial Realm were all ascending comprehensively!
Vidsen’s appearance, driving the power of the three Bloodthirsty Relic Bones, created a catastrophic corrosive force that corroded the giant insect with intensity potentially exceeding that of Gado. This process dissolved a certain power residing on the insect’s body, which was then absorbed by his Devouring Mystery.
He, who had merely been observing coldly, had now become the greatest beneficiary; for every cluster of black cloud that drifted from the insect, he absorbed a stream of energy!
Vidsen was operating in a frenzy. The insect could have evaded his corrosive power, or at worst, retreated calmly. But now, with the combined sealing efforts of Xuan He, Ming Hao, and the other four Immortals, it was trapped and forced to endure the full brunt of Vidsen’s insane corrosion.
The mysterious energy bleeding from an Origin Lifeform that had existed for eons was like pure primal power; it required no purification and became the catalyst for Shi Yan’s comprehensive evolution!
The sensation Shi Yan felt was incomparably blissful, like a mortal evolving into a martial artist, and a martial artist evolving into a final deity!
Every second, his bones, cells, blood, and tendons were steeped in the power flowing from his acupoints. For the first time, he realized his divine body was like an ocean that could never be filled. His bones, blood, tendons, cells, and even the smallest fibers seemed to become insatiably greedy, tirelessly consuming the power emanating from his acupoints—an instinct for evolution!
His Primordial Realm was also expanding; stars flickered brilliantly, the sea of stars stretched further, and space inflated!
The energy flowing from the giant insect far surpassed his comprehension; it was infinitely more wondrous than the power of the martial artists he had devoured over the years. This energy continually spurred him on, penetrating every minute cell.
Simultaneously, his Divine Power Tree was also permeated by this energy. Unlike before, this energy was not just filling it to make it grow stronger; it was transforming it!
The crystalline branches of the Divine Power Tree mysteriously connected with every single tendon in his body. At this moment, the tree and his meridians were gradually becoming one integrated whole!
His spirit shuddered violently.
He naturally understood the implication: the Divine Power Tree was the source of power, while the meridians were the conduits for executing profound mysteries. To unleash any form of power, he had to draw divine power from the tree and channel it through his meridians, shaping it with consciousness and profound techniques through his limbs.
The process of channeling power from the tree into the meridians was often the slowest part of executing a profound mystery, as the tree was located in the Qi Sea Dan Tian and was inherently disconnected from the meridians.
But now, the branches of the Divine Power Tree branched directly, connecting to individual meridians. With a mere thought, divine power would surge into the vessels, allowing the release of a profound mystery technique in an instant of intention, without delay, stagnation, or loss, maximizing the power's utilization.
Vidsen continued to spew power madly, exhausting the last vestiges of the Bloodthirsty Relic Bones' essence, pushing the limits of his life potential.
The giant insect struggled and writhed violently, letting out shrieks that pierced the soul, forcing Ming Hao and Xuan He to exert themselves to the utmost. Leidi, who had only just reached the Second Heaven of Immortality, had transformed into his dragon form, yet blood was seeping from the corners of his muzzle, indicating he was nearing his limit.
Xuan He and Ming Hao understood clearly that the only reason Vidsen could achieve such a terrifying, instant level of power was due to the mobilization of the three Bloodthirsty Relic Bones.
Once the power of these three relics was depleted, he would burn out, unable to continue.
During this critical window, if they failed to inflict a critical wound on the giant insect and force it back into slumber, all of them would be utterly annihilated.
Therefore, they spared no expense, even incurring personal injury, to unleash the true strength they had hidden for years, determined to pin the giant insect down and force it to endure all of Vidsen’s corrosive assault.
No one paid attention to Shi Yan.
This so-called new Lord of Bloodlust was viewed by them as an irrelevant minor character, a martial artist at the Second Heaven of Initial Divinity, whose contribution here was negligible.
They neither valued him nor had the leisure to notice, so they remained unaware that while they focused on sealing the insect, and as Vidsen potentially exhausted his life potential to catalyze the relics, Shi Yan was undergoing the most profound and ineffable purification of his life!
“Save me!”
Suddenly, a soft, terrified soul-voice pierced Shi Yan’s mind.
Shi Yan snapped his head up, looking toward Ziyao on the giant insect. This time, Ziyao’s soul-voice was not in the language of the Origin Lifeform; he understood it with perfect clarity.
Ziyao, currently positioned on the insect, had half her body sunken into one of its fleshy orbs. A look of sorrowful beauty crossed her features, and her lovely eyes were filled with pleading as she gazed deeply at him.
Shi Yan looked back at her, a flicker of confusion crossing his face, but it quickly hardened into resolution: “You are not her!”
“It is me! It is me!” Ziyao struggled on the insect’s body, appearing on the verge of tears and utterly pitiable, seemingly striving to escape. Yet, several fleshy tendrils held her slender waist captive, preventing her departure.
“You are not her!” Shi Yan clung to his rational clarity, closing his eyes and refusing to look at her again.
“You are so cruel!” Ziyao cried out sharply.
Shi Yan remained unmoved.
“I am indeed not her, but she is a part of me! She is one of my ten divine perceptions fused together, another avatar of mine—an avatar that understands your so-called Seven Emotions and Six Desires. If I perish, she too will cease to exist. Do you truly intend to watch her disappear?” Ziyao’s words seemed to penetrate everything, each phrase landing directly in his mind, completely inaccessible to Xuan He, Ming Hao, or the others.
At these words, Shi Yan’s body jolted violently.
Because he knew, instinctively, that what she said was the truth—it was an intuition of the soul.