Within this perfect illusion, a river flowed, clear and warm, where he bathed, surrounded by a dozen fiercely alluring figures attending to his every need.

The Soul Charm technique of the Phantom Race, strictly speaking, wasn't an esoteric art, but rather an innate gift, akin to the marvel contained within the Third Eye of the Celestial Eye Race. The Soul Charm targeted the darkest desires of the mind, drawing out the buried cravings of men to achieve control over their very hearts.

Given Shi Yan’s resilient nerves, he should never have been so compromised. Yet, precisely because he had just broken through to the Immortal Realm and his entire acupuncture system had devoured excessive Death Essence, his body was saturated with countless negative emotions—brutality, bloodlust, and unchecked desires—which he had managed to suppress.

At this critical moment, the masked woman suddenly deployed the Soul Charm against him. It was like a bolt of celestial lightning striking dormant earth fire, instantly triggering his suppressed desires, making them swell exponentially and causing him to lose himself in a flash.

It must be said, the masked woman’s Soul Charm had struck at the most opportune moment.

The masked woman’s eyes were languid and alluring, her laughter light and charming. As her graceful form swayed, enthralling, fiery bodies flew forth from her being, weaving around him one by one.

Pulled along by these phantom forms, Shi Yan laughed with unrestrained abandon, deliberately sweeping towards the masked woman.

“Sister will take good care of you. Just come with Sister to the Phantom Race, and I promise you won't ever want to leave. Come now, Sister will take you away right now…”

The masked woman’s voice was honeyed and soft, capable of penetrating the sea of consciousness itself. Some male aliens far in the distance, hearing her voice, felt their blood surge and their breathing grow heavy, as if straining desperately to suppress their inner lusts.

Soon, Shi Yan was tightly bound by the illusory women swirling around him like water snakes, forcibly drawn to her side.

“Yuan Mo, you need not worry about the affairs of the Water Race; our Phantom Race will certainly look after you,” the masked woman said with a slight, charming smile. Seeing Yuan Mo’s own expression turning strangely complex, she realized he too was affected by the Soul Charm, though she inwardly scoffed. Outwardly, she continued smiling: “I won't meddle in the matters here. Hmm, you Water Race should also leave as soon as possible.”

She tilted her pale neck high, gazing into the cold, dark void, silently summoning something.

“Whoosh!”

A dazzling, intense light shot across the expanse. As the light dissipated, it revealed a war chariot crafted from seven-colored crystal, shaped like a soaring shuttle, glittering like the stars.

With a graceful movement, she landed upon the chariot. Shi Yan, still held fast by the phantom women, was also escorted onto the seven-colored crystal war chariot.

“Let’s go.” Her jade hand gave a sharp clap.

The seven-colored crystal war chariot shot off like a streak of starlight, instantly piercing through the gloom, desperately trying to escape the place of trouble at top speed.

“Roar!”

The roar of the Dragon Lizard Ancestor’s true body suddenly echoed from the deepest reaches of the earth. The sixteen meteorites scattered along the periphery of the continent exploded outward like pincushions, instantly flinging billions of sharp spines. These spines, blazing hot like firelight, bombarded the Dragon Lizard Continent like meteors.

“Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!”

That single seven-colored crystal war chariot was instantly riddled like a hornet’s nest by those fiery spines, revealing countless thumb-sized puncture marks.

“Puff!” The core within the chariot was destroyed, and it immediately came to a dead stop.

The masked woman’s eyes turned frigid. She coldly glared down at the Dragon Lizard Continent below, her delicate jade hands suddenly gripping Shi Yan’s arm tight, preparing to fly out in her true form, to pierce through the deluge of fiery spikes and flee the Dragon Lizard Continent.

“Rumble!”

An earth-shattering explosion erupted from the depths of the earth. The Dragon Lizard Continent fractured piece by piece, splitting into countless meteoroids in an extremely short span of time. The entire Dragon Lizard Continent instantly became a sea of meteors.

As the continent disintegrated, the tip of an enormous beast, tens of millions of meters long and colored the deep red of flame-stone, briefly surfaced, revealing its back.

That crimson spine looked like an unbroken mountain range, stretching across hundreds of the meteoroids. As the spine swayed, those meteoroids burst apart one by one.

Then, the beast’s true form was fully revealed: it was a gigantic crimson lizard, covered in scales the color of deep-red flame armor, its head shaped like a ferocious dragon’s maw. It dragged a tail as long as a mountain range, wreathed in fire. The giant lizard opened its mouth and spewed forth lava like a wide river.

This was the true body of the Dragon Lizard Ancestor! This was the real Dragon Lizard!

The moment the Dragon Lizard’s true form manifested, the illusory lizard fighting the massive crocodile abruptly shrunk to a single point, vanishing into the Dragon Lizard’s star-like, crimson eyes.

“Awoo!”

The Dragon Lizard roared toward the heavens, and from its cry, a river of molten fire shot skyward like a comet.

The Phantom Race masked woman, who was attempting to use the distraction to flee with Shi Yan, had barely killed the thrust of her seven-colored crystal war chariot and hadn't yet managed to move when she was instantly submerged by that river of magma. Her expression drastically changed, and she immediately activated her esoteric art. Divine power erupted from her delicate body like rainbow light, rapidly weaving itself into a protective curtain.

The vividly colored curtain enveloped her and Shi Yan, shielding them from harm within the magma river.

However, bursting through the river of fire immediately did not seem like an easy feat.

—She was temporarily immobilized.

Looking down from above, she spotted two small points of humanoid light near the Dragon Lizard’s head. Upon closer inspection, they were none other than Tu Shiqi and Ya Yun. At that moment, the couple were also looking up at her, their expressions clearly displeased.

Her bright eyes darted around, searching for Xing Ge. She immediately found Xing Ge in a state of extreme disarray, retreating back toward the location of the Great Crocodile and the ferocious soul of Ming Hong. Beside Xing Ge, the Seven Great Ferocious Souls were all gathered, five of whom were now gasping for breath, their forms reduced in size by at least a third.

The five near-death souls had followed Xing Ge deep underground, intending to slay the Dragon Lizard’s true body.

Now it was clear: Xing Ge had suffered a massive setback. Not only had he failed in his goal, but he was also severely wounded.

“Brother Lizard, why go to such lengths?” Xing Ge’s eyes flickered, his face pale, blood dripping from his lips, chest, and back. Sitting atop the Great Crocodile soul, he said grimly, “You conspired with Tu Shiqi and Ya Yun to ambush and heavily wound me. But what of it? I am the Commander of the Soul Clan. Do you truly dare to kill me? Are your Dragon Lizards truly prepared for racial annihilation? Do you think the Profound Heaven Race can protect you?”

“Dragon Lizard! I have no interest in your dispute with the Soul Clan, and I no longer wish to trade with you. I just want to leave this place quickly. Why do you stop me? Do you truly intend to make an enemy of our Phantom Race? Can you afford that?!” From the void, the Phantom Race masked woman, trapped in the magma river, cried out with cold, bright eyes.

At this juncture, the aliens from the numerous minor races quietly retreated, knowing that the current events were beyond their involvement.

A very small minority, however, remained hidden in the shadows or watched from a great distance.

These individuals were true powerhouses, all at least at the Second Heaven of the Immortal Realm, with five or six reaching the Third Heaven. Their races might not be able to stand against the Soul Clan, the Profound Heaven Race, or the Phantom Race, but individually, they possessed the qualifications to fight the Dragon Lizard Ancestor and Xing Ge.

Many of them were quietly repositioning themselves, flying off the meteorites that formed the sea of rubble, silently approaching the masked woman.

Their focus was entirely fixed on Shi Yan, intending to snatch him from the masked woman’s grasp and secure… a sliver of opportunity to break through to the Domain Ancestor Realm!

“Release Shi Yan, and I will let you leave, gifting you an Immortal Pill,” the Dragon Lizard Ancestor’s true body boomed like thunder and lightning. His massive, star-like crimson eyes fixed on the masked woman, then his head turned to glare at Xing Ge, roaring, “Xing Ge! Anyone can leave, but you will not! I will risk everything this time to ensure I kill you!”

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

The Dragon Lizard’s colossal claw swept out, seizing a meteorite the size of a giant mountain, and hurled it toward Xing Ge from afar.

The meteorite was pitch-black and incredibly hard; infused with his true body’s power, it could likely shatter a small Life Star. As his giant claw descended, it obscured the light in the sky, projecting an overwhelming sense of deterrence.

Xing Ge’s face turned icy: “You truly do not know what is good for you!”

The Great Crocodile beneath him suddenly let out a long cry, temporarily swallowing the other five weak ferocious souls, causing its volume and power to instantly swell threefold. The Great Crocodile transitioned from its phantom form, faintly solidifying toward substance.

The crocodile seemed cast from black iron, dark as ink, and a profoundly cold and malicious aura erupted from its entire body. Under Xing Ge’s command, the crocodile roared and lunged madly forward, using its body to deliberately absorb the impact of the meteorite. Golden sparks erupted from its form.

It had truly become tangible!

“Kill him!” Xing Ge shrieked. The Great Crocodile roared and charged toward the Dragon Lizard Ancestor’s true body, while Xing Ge himself coldly took out a bell and shook it violently.

“Clack! Clack! Clack!”

Inside the massive meteorite beneath them, a sound of shattering echoed, and the Soul Clan’s Soul Refining Cauldron burst forth from the ground, hovering directly above Xing Ge’s head.

The three-legged cauldron loomed like a mountain range, slowly rotating above Xing Ge. Mysterious and profound Primal Runes flickered across it; these runes seemed to coalesce into bizarre souls, and with Xing Ge’s cultivation level, he could faintly perceive the fierce aura of the trapped spirits condensing on those runes.

“Let’s make a deal,” Xing Ge suddenly turned to the Phantom Race masked woman. “You and I join forces against the Dragon Lizard and the Profound Heaven Race. Afterward, you can take that boy. I want the lives of the Dragon Lizard and the Tu Shiqi couple, and I want that boy’s female companion. The two Immortal Pills in the Dragon Lizard’s possession will also be yours. How about it?”

At these words, the Dragon Lizard Ancestor immediately became furious and agitated, and Tu Shiqi’s spirit trembled.

The Phantom Race masked woman’s eyes, however, lit up, and she let out another light, silvery laugh. “This proposal is quite good; I’m very interested too. Since the Ancestor won’t let me leave, then—I’ll stay.”

Her expression turned cold, and she commanded sharply, “Xing Ge, the Dragon Lizard Ancestor is yours. I will help you deal with the Tu Shiqi couple!”

Xing Ge was overjoyed, unable to suppress a sinister grin.

His own strength was slightly inferior to the Dragon Lizard’s. After being heavily struck underground, even with the addition of the Primal Being Soul Refining Cauldron, he could not handle the combined force of the Dragon Lizard and the Tu Shiqi couple. However, with the Phantom Race masked woman assisting, his situation would instantly reverse!

He had probed her earlier and knew that the masked woman possessed profound and exquisite cultivation, her strength unfathomable.

With both sides allied, he could take the Dragon Lizard’s life, replenish the Soul Refining Cauldron with souls to fulfill his promise to the powerful figure within his clan, and acquire Audrey to learn the whereabouts of the Desolate Domain, thereby entering it to refine the Desolation. Sacrificing Shi Yan in exchange for all this seemed a worthwhile trade in his view.

...(To be continued) RQ