It was seawater dyed with blood, the crimson clinging like a blood-soaked kerchief, starkly contrasted against Mei Ji’s pale face.

That wall of ice, likewise condensed from Dark Energy, contained the essence of the Ice Dao's profound mysteries, imbued with the very consciousness of Mei Ji's soul.

"Crack, crack, crack!"

Under the assault of the Soul River, the ice wall began to shatter. Mei Ji's delicate body trembled; her soul felt as if it were being drained, her vital spirit utterly exhausted.

The luster faded from her skin; taut flesh turned slack, and wrinkles began to etch themselves onto her jade-like face.

"Not bad. You have finally condensed Dark Energy. The Phantom Shadow Clan could have gained another Ancestor. What a pity..."

Napton's tone was calm, his eyes narrowed, radiating a cold light like an ice blade. The Soul River, having finally pierced the ice wall, continued its relentless journey toward the center of Shi Yan's brow.

Mei Ji, standing beside Shi Yan, visibly aged, her long hair slowly streaked with frost. Despair and helplessness filled her eyes.

Suddenly, a Realm Stone flew from Shi Yan's palm. A surge of brilliant light, pregnant with surging life energy, pulsed within the stone. The Realm Stone enveloped Mei Ji like a pouch, drawing her inside in an instant.

Tearing open a rift, Shi Yan pushed the Realm Stone through, watching as Mei Ji vanished.

Yet, he did not retreat. He stood his ground as the Soul River rushed toward him, a thin line aimed squarely at his glabella.

"Boom!"

A flame erupted from Shi Yan's brow. It danced, carrying the very breath of life. Within the flame, a spirit, initially indistinct, gradually sharpened into clarity.

It was Shi Yan, yet subtly different—this soul was forged from fire!

Patches of gray cloud clusters hovered beneath the flame. These clusters condensed from Dark Energy, serving to buoy the flame—the Sea of Consciousness—where Shi Yan's second soul resided.

Napton’s Soul River slammed into this mass of fire, surging toward Shi Yan’s secondary soul.

"Rumble!"

Billions of flames burned fiercely. The vague form of Shi Yan’s subsidiary soul, consumed by the furious conflagration, began to shift, stretching like a spectral shadow, morphing into a towering, hideous giant.

A world-shaking pressure emanated from the colossal, nebulous figure. Amidst the myriad flames, the giant image reached out to grasp Napton’s Soul River.

Ricardo, Ferrel, and the Shark Emperor, locked in intense combat, suddenly gasped in shock. They halted their attacks simultaneously, their gazes fixed on Shi Yan with expressions of profound astonishment.

Deep in the seabed, all the powerhouses of the Sea of Annihilation looked up at Shi Yan.

Tu Shiqi, the Dragon Lizard Ancestor, and Ya Yun all wore expressions of utter bewilderment.

The Dragon Lizard Ancestor murmured in a low voice, speaking the ancient tongue unique to his clan, a language inherited from the primordial being 'Xi.' Upon seeing the massive image, he instinctively let out a soft, murmuring sound in that primordial dialect.

A flicker of bewilderment crossed Shi Yan's eyes.

He stood motionless in the water. Before him, countless flames piled up to form a lotus platform. Beneath it were the dark energy clouds of the Sea of Consciousness, and above, a hazy, giant silhouette.

The colossal figure was ceaselessly transforming, slowly solidifying—its body formed of Heavenly Fire, its shape molded by his subsidiary soul!

In two opposite corners of the seabed, the Divine Lord Brian and Audrey simultaneously exhibited blankness in their eyes, as if their consciousness had been momentarily seized. They involuntarily clutched their heads and crouched down, their faces contorted in pain.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

Suddenly, billions of flames erupted from Brian and Audrey, flames of every color, seemingly imbued with living awareness.

All these flames converged upon the fiery lotus platform before Shi Yan. The monstrous, savage image atop the platform grew ever larger, its immense, terrifying aura slowly spreading outward.

"Ugh!"

Some began to buckle, their knees unable to hold, overwhelmed by an uncontrollable urge to prostrate themselves. Others collapsed onto the ground, heads bowed, afraid to look up.

Napton’s Soul River, condensed from Dark Energy, lunged toward the fiery lotus platform, only to be seized by the giant image.

It was instantly torn apart!

Napton’s face turned ashen, terror flashing in his eyes as he instinctively tried to flee.

"Boom!"

A strand within his soul was ripped away by the colossal figure. He watched in horror as his connection to the Soul Refining Cauldron was severed!

The Soul Refining Cauldron suddenly lifted strangely, settling firmly atop Audrey’s head.

To the stunned amazement of all onlookers, the Soul Refining Cauldron merged into Audrey’s mind, beginning a miraculous fusion with her.

Amidst the eerie silence, the Divine Lord Brian rose, his eyes still closed. Billions of light screens erupted from his body, coalescing into a crystal barrier of light. A dazzling sphere of brilliance formed in Brian’s chest. The blinding orb was snatched by the giant image.

The interior of the sphere suddenly blazed like a galaxy, hundreds of stars seemingly manifesting within. As the giant shadow hurled it, the sphere flew toward Napton.

Napton fled madly, consumed by terror and despair, countless souls swirling beneath him.

The sphere relentlessly pursued him, locking onto Napton until it plunged into his body. Napton froze; his Nine Nether Domain seemed to shatter. Within the dark, icy realm, a dazzling sun hung suspended in his Sea of Consciousness. His spirit fractured, and he fled for his life.

"How is this possible? How?" Ricardo stared blankly at the heavens.

"Heavens!" Ferrel cried out in disbelief.

The Shark Emperor’s expression turned to shock. He suddenly grabbed the heavily wounded Shen Ren, ignoring the strangeness of the seabed, and fled at maximum speed.

The massive, blurry figure coalesced before Shi Yan roared silently amidst the flickering flames.

The sound pierced directly into the soul altar of every being!

Those below the Third Heaven of Immortality found their altars collapsing, their Origin Worlds shattering, and their divine bodies exploding. Hundreds of corpses suddenly littered the seabed.

The Dragon Lizard Ancestor, Tu Shiqi, Ya Yun, and the Earth Ghost Ancestor—those at the level of the Third Heaven of Immortality—bled from their seven orifices, their eyes glazing over, and fled in disarray.

Ricardo and Ferrel stared at the giant image for three seconds, then, chilled to the bone, they retreated in fear.

Innumerable spatial rifts began to appear on the seabed. The interior ocean of the Sea of Annihilation, like ice melting under fire, began to dissolve.

If one could extend their consciousness across the entire seabed of the Sea of Annihilation, they would realize that the vast, boundless space was bizarrely contracting!

It was shrinking rapidly, as if a gigantic balloon were being deflated!

Shi Yan stood in the water, his eyes vacant, seemingly soulless.

Audrey sat quietly in a corner, the Soul Refining Cauldron merged with her mind.

The Divine Lord Brian floated in the sea, eyes closed, resembling a blinding sun.

Ming Hao, the leader of the Soul Control lineage, his spirit flickering, prostrated himself on the ground, gazing up at the terrifying figure in the ocean, overwhelmed by a despairing helplessness, feeling that all control over life and death rested entirely with the entity before him.

In mere seconds, the appearance of that terrifying figure had completely reversed the disadvantage. Hundreds of Immortal Realm experts in the Sea of Annihilation had been severely wounded and fled; those below were instantly annihilated!

Napton’s Domain was shattered, his altar critically damaged, and he fled for his life.

Ricardo and Ferrel dared not persist or attack; they too fled desperately.

In the vast seabed of the Sea of Annihilation, only a handful of figures from the Desolate Domain remained, save for the massive, enduring image.

After a long pause, the giant figure reached out, and a rift flickered open. Audrey, Ming Hao, the Divine Lord, and Shi Yan's group were enveloped by the blurry giant form and instantly transported away. They were then thrown one by one into the Desolate Domain. The giant figure seemed to have exhausted all its power, splitting into three parts that flew toward the Gate of the Desolate Domain, merging into Shi Yan, Audrey, and the Divine Lord, respectively.

The seabed of the Sea of Annihilation had shrunk by nearly a third in volume; those spatial regions seemed to have vanished as if their essence had been drawn out.

After an unknown period, a snow-white skeleton arrived at the Theater of War. This skeleton was Shiro, the Ancestor of the Bone Race, one of the ten great Ancestors of the Vast Star Sea.

Shiro concentrated, sensing the area where the battle had taken place. After a long silence, he gasped in horror, "The aura of a Primordial Being!"

He lingered there for a long time, then wandered the seabed of the Sea of Annihilation, searching for any residual traces, but found nothing. He eventually returned empty-handed.

Much later.

In a secluded corner of the seabed, inside a fragment of a star-stone, a world of mist and cloud curled around a figure.

The figure was enveloped by surging life fluctuations—it was Mei Ji. Her appearance had returned to its captivating beauty, her skin still porcelain white, but her aura was extremely weak.

In the world within the star-stone, Mei Ji gradually awoke, discovering her divine power was even more depleted than when she was critically wounded. Her Sea of Consciousness felt shattered, and she couldn't even condense her divine sense.

Her condition was dire. If not for the vibrant life force filling this misty world, her soul's magnetic field would have dissipated, leading to her death.

Lacking the strength to escape, she could only wait anxiously.

She waited for Shi Yan’s arrival.

Time flowed by. In this misty world within the stone, measured by the Phantom Shadow Clan's time scale, months had passed.

Shi Yan had not come.

Tears welled in Mei Ji’s eyes. She believed Shi Yan was likely dead or gravely imperiled. This misty world could not sustain itself indefinitely and began to dissipate.

Mei Ji felt as if she too were approaching her final end.

Through tear-filled eyes, within the world of the stone, she glimpsed a small figure appearing in the seawater outside.

A petite girl, looking no older than eleven or twelve, exquisitely carved, slowly materialized. She looked at Mei Ji inside the stone, her eyes filled with pity, murmuring in an aged voice, "Foolish child..."

The stone suddenly shattered, the misty world vanished, and Mei Ji found herself free.

Her eyes almost scattered, she stared dazedly at the little girl, whispering in a dreamlike state, "Grandmother..."

"Sleep now, sleep soundly. Now that I am here, no one can harm you. When you awaken, my Phantom Shadow Clan will have another Ancestor." The little girl said softly.

Mei Ji slowly closed her eyes.

Seeing that she had fallen asleep peacefully, the little girl nodded gently, embraced her, and slowly dissolved, like a wisp of air.

Three days later, in a hidden location within the Sea of Annihilation, Ferrel’s lair was sacked. The giant sea turtle he rode was dismembered, and all of Ferrel's offspring were slain.

Upon hearing the news, Ferrel dared not investigate the perpetrators. He fled all the way to the Ancient Demon Clan territory, formally announcing his allegiance to them, and subsequently remained in seclusion there.

Almost simultaneously, all islands belonging to the Soul Clan in the Sea of Annihilation were sunk; the Soul Clan members there were slaughtered. Napton, who had returned early to heal, chose the same path as Ferrel: remaining in hiding.

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