A martial artist’s Natal Treasure is intrinsically linked to their life force, connecting to the main soul, the Sea of Consciousness, and even the Ancient Tree of Divine Power. Generally, a martial artist cultivates only one Natal Treasure to maximize the potency of that single divine weapon.

Natal Treasures offer numerous miraculous uses, allowing for a communion of minds, frictionless transmission of power, and the ability to imbue them with soul consciousness...

However, if a Natal Treasure is generally damaged or heavily wounded, the master suffers corresponding repercussions. Worse still, the shattering of a Natal Treasure can cause the master’s divine body to break apart, resulting in the fragmentation of their very soul!

Bastus’s white cord was woven from the white hair of corpses belonging to a hundred different races, mingled with numerous rare materials, which he painstakingly refined over several centuries until it finally took shape.

This white cord, named the "Corpse-Transforming Leash," was his ultimate reliance for refining corpses. Many of the Corpse Slaves he refined were bound and influenced by this "Corpse-Transforming Leash"; this white cord was essentially the whip and rein for his Corpse Slaves, allowing him command.

The outer reaches of Skeleton Island were shrouded in layers of mist. Those pale white vapors exerted a resisting force upon the Corpse Slaves; they were condensed by the parents of the little Skeleton long ago as a defense mechanism. That is why Bastus and Nazario could not bring their Corpse Slaves inside this time; otherwise, with the addition of their respective Corpse Slaves, this battle would have been absolutely foolproof.

One of the miraculous uses of the "Corpse-Transforming Leash" is its ability to absorb vitality, transforming a vibrant martial artist into a corpse, making them easy to refine into a Corpse Slave.

Mei Ji was bound by the python that evolved from the "Corpse-Transforming Leash." If the restraint continued for much longer, her consciousness would gradually blur, eventually turning her into a mindless corpse. Afterward, Bastus could simply activate her mind to become a basic Corpse Slave, which could then be further refined to grow stronger.

The damage to the "Corpse-Transforming Leash" caused Bastus to suddenly suffer a backlash. Without a second thought, he sped toward the scene at maximum velocity.

A streak of white light tore across the sky. Midway through his journey, Bastus raised a hand to beckon, and a sensation of flesh-and-blood connection surged into his heart.

The severed, two-piece "Corpse-Transforming Leash" suddenly trembled, wriggling like a broken serpent body, and actually began to reconnect, striving to return to its original state.

Shi Yan was relatively far away; by this point, trying to stop it was too late. He could only roar toward Mei Ji, "Stop it with all your strength!"

Mei Ji cursed Shi Yan's ancestors three generations deep, gritting her teeth. She refined the last sliver of her remaining strength. On the palm of her pale white left hand, a thick ice sword, two fingers wide, began to condense bit by bit. Reflected on the sword's blade was her own graceful figure, as if branding her soul imprint onto it.

As the ice sword fully materialized, Mei Ji's face became even more bloodless. She swept her jade arm, bringing the sword down again with fierce force upon the break point of the "Corpse-Transforming Leash"!

"Hiss!"

Amidst the spattering ice light, the "Corpse-Transforming Leash" cracked open anew, with wisps of milky white corpse energy drifting out from the rupture.

Bastus’s divine body, halted mid-flight, shuddered as if struck by a massive mountain. His face contorted into a ferocious grimace, and he screamed maniacally, "Bitch! I will absolutely make your life a living hell! I will make you understand the price of offending me!"

Mei Ji’s heart turned cold. She knew that even self-detonating her Soul Altar would not be enough to prevent her from falling into Bastus's hands this time.

Otherwise, she would truly suffer torment worse than death, unable even to find release in dying.

She turned her head, her icy gaze focusing sharply on Shi Yan. "Are you satisfied now? Is this the outcome you wanted?"

Shi Yan frowned, saying nothing as he retreated, pulling himself far away from both her and Bastus.

Mei Ji looked at him deeply a few times, then finally turned back with resignation. The snow lotus blooming from between her voluptuous peaks began to ooze drops of fresh blood, radiating a mesmerizing, seductive beauty, mirroring her own enchantingly gorgeous countenance.

The seepage of blood from the snow lotus caused the vital flow within Mei Ji's body to gradually weaken. Judging by this abnormal rate of life drainage, she must have invoked some secret technique that overdrafted her potential—she was truly preparing, just as Shi Yan had predicted, to sacrifice her own demise in a final, desperate fight against Bastus.

An abnormal soul fluctuation also emanated from her mind, and her pair of icy eyes were now brimming with resolute determination!

Bastus, arriving in a fury, felt his spirit suddenly seize up, freezing his movement. The distance between him and Mei Ji became fixed at a hundred paces.

Bastus dared not advance another step!

He merely watched the Treasure, which shared his life force, without daring to immediately move to reclaim it.

This was because the fluctuation emanating from Mei Ji at that moment was too bizarre and unsettling, like a volcano poised on the brink of eruption; once activated, it would unleash a final, blinding surge, dragging all nearby entities into the fiery abyss.

As a peer at the peak of Immortality, Bastus clearly understood that even if Mei Ji possessed only a tenth of her divine power, if she willed her own self-destruction, the resulting explosion would be enough to shatter him alongside her; within a certain radius, he would have no way to escape.

"If you want to die, go ahead and die. I don't have time to waste on you." Bastus stopped before her, his face dark, then suddenly his brow twitched.

His figure flickered, and he abruptly changed direction, sweeping toward Shi Yan.

As he approached, he also saw the streak of blood-red light Shi Yan had launched. Counting things strictly, it was Shi Yan who had first broken his "Corpse-Transforming Leash," so Shi Yan was equally an enemy.

Mei Ji, who had been prepared for mutual destruction, watched as Bastus hesitantly shifted his target. A cold glint of satisfaction flashed across her beautiful eyes—the treacherous plan had worked. She scoffed internally, gazing toward Shi Yan, suddenly feeling an immense wave of pleasure.

"Old dog, you are far from capable of killing me. Feel free to try if you don't believe me."

Shi Yan moved across Skeleton Island like an illusion. In the blink of an eye, his figure would vanish to a location tens of thousands of miles away as he reactivated the Profundity of Space. He became an elusive shimmer of light, never lingering in one place.

A brief respite on Skeleton Island had allowed him to recover a sliver of strength. He was not completely spent, and if he focused on escaping, he could maintain it for some time.

Just as Mei Ji had gone to great pains to hunt him before, this maneuver proved effective against Bastus as well.

Bastus sped wildly, yet he simply could not lock onto Shi Yan. Especially when Shi Yan secretly circulated dark energy, he would suddenly vanish without a trace, driving Bastus into a frenzy.

Mei Ji watched coldly from the side, observing Bastus roar like a maddened tiger yet unable to capture Shi Yan. She felt increasingly delighted—she had personally experienced Bastus's current predicament and understood his frustration perfectly.

Especially since Bastus was only proficient in Corpse Power and had no comprehension of how to utilize soul energy to track someone cultivating Dark Energy concealment.

This made dealing with Shi Yan even more difficult.

What surprised Mei Ji even more was that the dense, world-enveloping Corpse Qi that Bastus spewed out in his rage seemed to have no effect on Shi Yan whatsoever. Shi Yan remained agile and unhindered, completely unaffected by Bastus's blockade.

Mei Ji withdrew her schadenfreude. Her beautiful eyes gradually turned grave. She had a vague premonition—Shi Yan’s cultivation of some secret technique could counteract Bastus!

This feeling had surfaced when Shi Yan extracted the corpse poison from her body in a manner that she would never forget, a profound humiliation. Now, concentrating her senses, this premonition grew ever stronger!

The profound principle that restrained the Corpse Power of the Devouring Clan?

Mei Ji couldn't immediately place it. She searched through the vastness of the Star Sea for various strange profundities but found nothing that matched. This left her deeply perplexed.

She never once considered the Profundity of Devouring. Firstly, it was the supreme Profundity of the Devouring Clan itself; secondly, it had been lost even within the Devouring Clan; and thirdly, Shi Yan was not a member of the Devouring Clan.

She couldn't figure it out, only sensing that Shi Yan’s background was mysterious, holding many enigmas that she could not decipher.

While she observed secretly, the "Corpse-Transforming Leash" beside her inexplicably vanished, apparently retrieved quietly by Bastus. She paid it no mind, using the opportunity to ingest the pills Mei Ji had refined, hoping to recover some strength quickly.

She then turned her attention to the battle between the little Skeleton and Nazario.

On that side, the little Skeleton was still surrounded by swarms of Profound Yin Corpse Worms. However, lacking the support of Bastus's profound principles, the Profound Yin Corpse Worms were clearly less potent. Their piercing shrieks were no longer sufficient to cause the little Skeleton's soul to collapse.

This made it difficult for Nazario to smoothly impose his own power profundities onto the little Skeleton. At this moment, the little Skeleton's eyes shone brilliantly; one blast of fire flame and one of cold flame erupted, forming two meteors of ice and fire that instead put Nazario in a rather awkward position. The white eyeball in his hand also looked somewhat listless, apparently having expended considerable effort.

"Bastus, what the hell are you doing?! Stop chasing him! Kill this little bastard first!" Nazario roared in exasperation.

Bastus, who had been single-mindedly pursuing Shi Yan, suddenly came to his senses. He realized his time was limited. Rather than wasting it on Shi Yan, it was better to join forces to kill the little Skeleton first, then deal with the two minor nuisances, Mei Ji and Shi Yan.

Shi Yan’s movements were erratic and impossible to capture, and Mei Ji appeared ready for mutual destruction at any moment, meaning she couldn't be dealt with quickly either. Out of options, he flew back toward Nazario.

"Whoosh!"

A streak of light flashed past. Shi Yan suddenly reappeared near Mei Ji once more. He looked at her, "Once that little Skeleton is killed, you will truly only have mutual destruction as an option. If you can help the little Skeleton fight and defeat or shatter both of those old Devouring Clan monsters, we can all survive."

"Go yourself if you want to. I only have a tenth of my divine power left; actively joining the fight is just asking for death," Mei Ji retorted coldly. "You insidious, cunning brat, full of schemes. You want me to drag an old Devouring Clan monster to death with me—a fine calculation, but how could I let you succeed?"

"I am only at the first heaven of Immortality. If I expose myself, I will die even faster," Shi Yan spread his hands, a picture of bitter helplessness.

"You know you are not that weak," Mei Ji looked at him deeply. "Don't even dream of sacrificing me. I will not grant your wish!"

Shi Yan fell silent.

He knew his little scheme probably wouldn't work. Pondering, he made a new decision. "Let us join forces against Bastus. Trust me, the two of us combined truly stand a chance. I guarantee that his power directed toward you will be greatly weakened!"

"Finally willing to exert yourself properly?" Mei Ji snorted.

Shi Yan frowned, remaining silent.

"Fine, I will join you in battle. There can't be a result worse than death anyway, so I'm staking it all! I declare now: if you dare to hold back, if you don't fight with everything you have, and I realize the situation is hopeless, I will drag you with me to perish with Bastus!" Mei Ji ground out through gritted teeth.

Shi Yan nodded with a bitter smile.

...(To be continued)RQ