With a single declaration that time should not be wasted, the Divine Master immediately ceased any delay, and in an instant, a radiance surpassing the sun exploded from around him.
That brilliance seemed to weave together the profound mysteries of various attributes—containing the auras of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Lightning, Wind, and Ice—all interconnected by the profound meaning of Light. This transformed the Divine Master into a colossal sphere of light, his divine body rendered as dazzling and piercing as a diamond under intense illumination.
Streaks of intense light, as if imbued with fragments of the Divine Master’s own soul, descended upon Ming Hao like an endless barrage of sword rain.
Ming Hao’s eyes held a deep, murky green hue. As his profound mysteries shifted, his newly integrated, phantom-like body—formed from merged split souls—gave a slight twitch. The space around him underwent violent collapse, as if he were actively crushing the very fabric of existence.
Wisps of ethereal souls drifted out from within him, instantly taking the form of a Soul Altar, albeit one that was dim, vague, and difficult to discern clearly.
A terrifying magnetic field, capable of unsettling the soul, emanated from the Soul Altar Ming Hao had condensed. Everyone nearby felt their main souls tremble, as if being pulled by some unseen force, on the verge of collapse, experiencing a truly dreadful internal turbulence.
Shi Yan was no exception.
His own Soul Altar was drawn in, feeling as if it were about to sink into Ming Hao’s altar.
The sensation was horrifying—a feeling that his soul was no longer his own, as if control over his primary soul was being seized, turning him into someone else’s slave.
This was Ming Hao’s profound mystery: Soul Command. Any living being possessing a soul would be profoundly affected once he unleashed this mystery.
Everyone understood that Ming Hao’s direct target was not them; they were merely affected by the residual tremors of his mysterious power. Yet, even so, most found it almost unbearable. Their expressions filled with shock, and they hurriedly retreated away from Ming Hao.
The Divine Clan members fared even worse; their complexions shifted slightly, and they all retreated much further away.
Except for the Four Generation Heavenly Kings.
Having attained the second heaven of Immortality, the Four Heavenly Kings possessed profound realms and exquisite power, ensuring their souls would not falter under the influence.
But the patriarchs of the Twelve Great Families and the elders of the Elder Council all wore grim expressions and backed away rapidly.
The brilliant radiance unleashed by the Divine Master pierced toward Ming Hao’s Soul Altar, but suddenly, it vanished, much like frost dissolving away.
“After ten thousand years, you, Ming Hao, have finally emerged from the Eight Guardians, qualified to stand against me.” Divine Master Brian’s eyes showed pleasure, and with a faint smile, his figure flickered, instantly appearing in the void above Hui. “Our battle should take place further away. This way, it won't affect your people, and my side can remain settled.”
His injuries had not fully healed, yet even so, with the mastery of his third heaven of Immortality’s profound mysteries, the divine insight he released made things unbearable for many spectators.
Those vast, sacred rays of light, containing miraculous insights from all sorts of profound mysteries, put even Xuan He and Friet on high alert, forcing them to concentrate solely on dealing with the onslaught of the light beams he projected.
Lei Di, Qing Long, and Di Ka Luo were similarly forced to divide their attention, having to contend with the pressure he exerted.
While it didn't utterly push Lei Di and the others into disarray, it was certainly troublesome enough to prevent them from truly relaxing.
Likewise, the Soul Command mystery released by Ming Hao affected everyone’s soul. The members of the Divine Clan’s Twelve Great Families and the elders of the Elder Council were all suffering unbearably. This meant that the fight between the two titans forced everyone to halt their actions, dedicating all their focus merely to defending against the residual energy waves generated by their clash.
“Very well,” Ming Hao dissolved into a wisp of spectral light, carrying his Soul Altar, and vanished abruptly in the direction of the Divine Master.
The two stood above Hui. Though they were clearly present, when the crowd looked up, they felt an intensely bizarre and strange sensation, as if peering at a reflection in a lake through layers of light and shadow—a feeling profoundly blurry and unreal.
It was as if the Divine Master and Ming Hao were not existing in the same world as them, but rather in a mysterious realm woven by their own hands, within their own domain.
The Divine Master resided in a world of dazzling, shimmering light, where stars revolved, ice frosted the expanse, oceans of fire surged, and continents held forests—possessing everything a conventional world entails.
Ming Hao’s world was dark and unfathomably deep, filled with clusters of vague, phantom-like spirits, and overlapping, refracting voids, as if constructed from shattered fragments of countless worlds stitched together. His figure seemed to vanish, darting continuously through these broken realms, making him impossible for anyone to capture.
Once a martial artist reaches a certain height, a certain plane of existence, they attain godlike abilities akin to a creator, capable of conjuring an entire world from nothing.
A world perfectly tailored to one’s profound mysteries, a stage where one’s power, realm, and divine abilities can be maximized. This is, in fact, a high-level transformation of the Divine Domain. For example, someone cultivating the mystery of Ice could, during combat, use ice power to forge a new world covered in snow and ice, where they could unleash the deepest secrets of Ice mystery and display their strongest force.
At this moment, the two peerless powerhouses, the Divine Master and Ming Hao, were each condensing worlds most suitable for their own mysteries. These worlds were their modifications of the true reality, rather than pulling out their own Origin Worlds for battle.
Their impending clash made every spectator’s expression grave. They forgot everything else, focusing all their attention on the two figures. Everyone present was among the supreme existences within the vast Stellar River; they were all outstanding within their respective factions, with the lowest realm being the second heaven of Origin God, and a significant number being Pseudo-Immortals or true Immortals. For them, the battle between the Divine Master and Ming Hao was a pinnacle confrontation they might never witness again in their lifetimes.
By observing the clash of these supreme experts and grasping the profound mysteries they wielded, perhaps they could broaden their own horizons and achieve a breakthrough in their cultivation.
Because of this, they had even eased their vigilance regarding Hui.
Only one person was not overly focused on the battle between the Divine Master and Ming Hao: Shi Yan.
At this moment, Shi Yan remained immersed in an exquisite state, unwilling to extract himself. The mysterious energy flowing from Hui slowly circulated within his body, integrating into his bones, meridians, flesh, cells, fibers, and into the Divine Power Ancient Tree within him.
Gradually, he discovered an astonishing phenomenon—his body was faintly becoming transparent!
His Soul Altar and physical body had been tempered by that energy for a long time. Not only had it propelled him to the third heaven of Origin God and greatly enhanced his comprehension of profound mysteries, but now, it was actually altering the structure of his internal Soul Altar!
His Sea of Consciousness was becoming boundless, and his Divine Sense, influenced by that energy, seemed to be transforming into an entirely new form of power!
The Divine Sense within his Sea of Consciousness, much like his internal Divine Power Ancient Tree, felt like the source of an alternate power. This evolution of Divine Sense, this surging fullness of power, made his entire body tremble!
He slowly began to realize what was happening…
Divine Sense, generally speaking, was also a form of energy, but this energy was mostly limited to perception; it couldn't manifest truly powerful attacks. For instance, faced with a mountain peak, concentrated Divine Power could directly shatter it, causing the mountain to collapse, or with stronger corrosive power, dissolve it entirely.
But the penetration of Divine Sense was merely like wind—infiltrating everywhere, capable of probing every minute corner of the mountain to detect its secrets.
Divine Sense could not directly shatter a mountain; this was common knowledge, the normal rule of truth.
But now, as the Divine Sense in his Sea of Consciousness changed, he experienced a profound intuition: his Divine Sense… could move mountains and drain seas!
He felt that his current Divine Sense possessed infinite marvels. As his Divine Sense transformed, he suddenly experienced another profound realization: the Turbulent Void Domain was filled with an unimaginably vast, boundless energy, energy that was invisible and intangible, detectable only by his Divine Sense!
The moment this wondrous feeling struck him, he suddenly discovered that his physical body seemed to be affected; as his Sea of Consciousness changed, his body appeared to directly dissipate into nothingness.
With a flicker of thought, he circulated the Divine Power Ancient Tree, and his body instantly reverted to normal, shifting from an invisible state back to reality.
He froze abruptly, stunned for a long moment, before his entire body shook violently, his eyes blazing with manic delight.
The state of his body when invisible was precisely, unmistakably, the same as that of the Bloodthirsty’s skeletal remains!
It was rumored that the Bloodthirsty possessed insight into a mysterious power—a power that, over ten thousand years, only the Bloodthirsty had fully comprehended. Divine Master, Ling Xiang, Xi Ze, Luo Lin, and the others had sought this power for years without success. That power seemed to be this very mysterious force!
This power clearly originated from the Primordial Beings. Hui, having previously [text cut off/implied intimate contact], had promised him its secrets if he helped it escape.
He hadn't expected Hui to truly know the mysteries of this power. The evolution of his Sea of Consciousness, the miraculous changes in his physical body and Soul Altar, were triggered by the absorption and transformation of the Primordial Being's mysterious physical energy via the Seal Devouring Mystery!
His ecstatic joy didn't last long.
Soon, he snapped back to awareness and suddenly realized he could no longer absorb the power flowing from Hui.
It was at this moment he noticed that Videson had exhausted his life potential. His face was ashen, and not a single trace of corrosive power was left within him. Videson quietly began to sink toward the bottom of the Turbulent Void, like a dying meteor—briefly dazzling, but destined for final extinction.
Shi Yan looked deeply toward the direction Videson was falling, a look of regret on his face, sighing softly in his heart.
Videson had appeared suddenly like a comet, shining brilliantly through peerless fortune, only to be ultimately buried by the combined efforts of Ming Hao and the Divine Master. Ming Hao had instructed him to swallow the Bloodthirsty remnants to give to Hui, and the Divine Master had used a secret technique to place the Bloodthirsty’s skeletal remains in his abdomen, forcing him to burn his own life force—the energy from the skeletal remains—to severely wound the Primordial Being Hui, in order to seize everything Hui possessed.
Neither Ming Hao nor the Divine Master truly believed Videson’s realm and power could sustain itself for long.
But neither cared for his life or death; to fulfill their own ambitions and obtain Hui, both chose to sacrifice Videson.
Videson perished thus. The Divine Master and Ming Hao had yet to grasp Hui’s mysteries, but unintentionally, they had allowed Shi Yan to succeed. Shi Yan’s life form transformed, and he successfully held that mysterious power.
Truly, man proposes, but Heaven disposes. They had no idea that while they were locked in a death struggle, Shi Yan had already completed the accumulation necessary for his power to transform.
P.S. It’s one chapter today as well. Stable updates will resume tomorrow. I was genuinely laid low these past two days; a minor illness brewed into a major sickness. A painful lesson learned indeed~