The sudden turn of events instantly plunged the situation into its worst possible scenario, jolting Shi Yan's mind so severely that he almost lost the ability to sustain the power gathering to calmly suppress the soul counterattack from the "Hui" spirit.

At this critical juncture, it was the pure soul black water diverted from the "Yuan" that managed to stifle the aura of the "Hui"!

However, by this time, Shi Yan harbored not a sliver of trust for the "Yuan"; instead, he regarded it as an adversary far more troublesome than the "Hui," his body and mind tensing with solemn gravity.

The "Yuan" had concealed its treacherous and venomous nature from beginning to end. The compassion it showed before the "Hui," its gentle facade, its warm smile—all were sheer pretense!

All its manipulations and schemes were designed to bring about the current predicament, forcing Shi Yan to expend all his strength, summon the divine artifact Fallen Star River, bring out the Profound Glyph Pagoda, and activate the Profound Soul Energy to join forces in suppressing the "Hui," while simultaneously inciting Zi Yao's scattered soul fragment to fight against the main will of the "Hui."

It intended to leave Shi Yan and the "Hui" both unable to attend to other matters, allowing it to calmly execute its plan, of which striking the Old Ancestor of the Dragon Lizard was merely the first step!

"My ancestor was actually killed by you!" The Old Ancestor of the Dragon Lizard was aghast, utterly devastated. In a mere instant, he suddenly understood everything, realizing that all of this was the insidious machination of Yuan Zu.

Almost instantaneously, the Old Ancestor of the Dragon Lizard roared out, his true form as a giant lizard rapidly re-coalescing at a visible speed. The skin surface of the giant lizard body glowed like a red-hot branding iron, vaporizing astonishingly fierce heat energy. His massive maw spewed lava madly, surging toward Yuan Zu's main body like a waterfall.

"A pity that you are merely at the First Heaven of the Domain Ancestor realm; compared to the 'Li,' you are still far behind." Yuan Zu's smile did not diminish.

His human body flickered, distorting and blurring, vanishing just before the dense lava.

The main body, which had dominated the continent, had been lying motionless, as if in deep slumber. At this moment, it suddenly stirred, and countless streams of black seawater surged in from all directions, enveloping the lava erupting from the giant lizard's mouth, and binding the Dragon Lizard Old Ancestor’s energy along with it.

The Dragon Lizard, having assumed its true form, roared within the vast ocean. Lava surged within its enormous body, forming a scorching pool of magma.

Within the crimson magma pool, he roared furiously, channeling his profundities to use the magma pool to resist the encroaching black seawater, struggling fiercely against the power profundity of the "Yuan."

However, as the ocean of black water advanced, the magma pool was battered by an overwhelmingly dominant force and was visibly shrinking continuously.

The human avatar of Yuan Zu, which had disappeared, quietly materialized beside Shi Yan's contorted and terrifying physical form. Near the position of the "Hui's" serpent head, his smile remained, observing Shi Yan’s extreme agitation. Looking at Shi Yan’s blood-red eyes, he spoke leisurely, "You had better not attempt to stop me from striking the Dragon Lizard, because the moment you slacken even slightly, your woman's soul consciousness will be completely obliterated by the 'Hui,' never to be recovered."

Shi Yan, who had been on the verge of diverting his attention to strike back at him, immediately calmed down upon hearing this.

He knew with certainty that Yuan Zu's words were absolutely true. He could feel Zi Yao currently engaged in the most brutal soul struggle against the "Hui" within the "Hui's" soul. Originally, Zi Yao held the advantage and was close to seizing control of the "Hui's" soul, but after the "Yuan" struck the Dragon Lizard, it clearly diverted some power elsewhere.

This caused the "Yuan's" suppression of the "Hui's" soul to weaken, completely erasing Zi Yao's advantage. Now, the struggle between Zi Yao and the "Hui" was barely holding at an even par. If he, like the "Yuan," were to slacken even slightly and divert some power to attack the "Yuan," he was certain Zi Yao would be instantly annihilated.

The "Hui" would never tolerate a backlash from Zi Yao! The moment he withdrew his power, it would surely eliminate Zi Yao, that potential threat, completely!

The reversal of the situation was entirely due to the "Yuan's" sudden withdrawal of force; it had calculated everything with extreme precision, deliberately engineering the current circumstances.

Shi Yan needed to focus single-mindedly on continuously increasing his power to suppress the "Hui's" counterattack, while utilizing Zi Yao’s soul fragment to influence the main body—using Zi Yao's backlash to restrain the main will of the "Hui"—thus temporarily freeing himself to calmly strike at the Dragon Lizard.

Even if Shi Yan was fully aware of Yuan Zu's intentions, he had no means to intervene. And even if the "Hui" knew, it too would be helpless.

This was because Shi Yan, Zi Yao, and the "Hui" had formed a situation of mutual suppression; any one of the three making the slightest mistake would lead to their soul consciousness being erased by an opponent, resulting in total failure.

"Shi Yan, I haven't been paying attention to you for just a day or two. Ever since you obtained the Profound Glyph Pagoda last time, I have been collecting intelligence about you. Heh heh, you probably never imagined that, for your sake, I even traveled to the Desolate Domain. Even now, you must be wondering, wondering why I took notice of you so early?"

Yuan Zu's main body continued to erode the magma pool created by the Dragon Lizard's profundity, while this human body engaged Shi Yan in idle conversation, as if chatting over tea.

—In reality, it was merely Yuan Zu talking to himself, as Shi Yan currently had no capacity to spare any attention for communication, forced to be only a passive listener.

"Because you are different from everyone else!" Yuan Zu’s gentle smile gradually receded. "I conversed with Suo Lun; when he observed you, he couldn't locate your thread of destiny! Every living being possesses a thread of destiny! The members of the Seven Clans have one, ordinary mortals have one, even we Primal Beings possess one! But you—you do not have that thread of destiny!"

Yuan Zu’s expression turned cold and bizarre, his voice becoming chilling and sharp. "I am intensely curious, just who are you? Or, what is your true form, what is your soul? To be able to merge with the Desolate Soul Fragment and simultaneously possess the Devouring Black Hole of Shi—it is inherently unbelievable. Your existence shatters the rules of this heaven and earth! Your actions, your profundities, your breakthroughs in realm—they are all completely contrary to reason!"

After a long pause, Yuan Zu gazed deeply at Shi Yan and barked again, "Just what are you?!"

Shi Yan's soul consciousness merged with the dense negative emotions, guided by soul energy, taking the form of a sea of blood-souls, sinking into the outer layer of the "Hui's" soul, suppressing the rotation of the "Hui's" normal thought processes, causing the "Hui’s" consciousness to blur, unable to maintain clear and calm intelligence.

Consequently, he himself was unable to divert his attention to converse with Yuan Zu.

Yet, he could hear every word Yuan Zu spoke regarding the suspicion about his identity—no thread of destiny, continually breaking the rules of heaven and earth, his very existence seeming to disregard any law or principle in existence...

This was Yuan Zu’s definition of him!

He harbored a vague conjecture in his heart, suspecting that the root of everything might lie in the special nature of his soul!

—He came from another timeline. Because his soul was not born in this time and space, he could ignore the constraints of this heaven and earth’s rules and break through his limits without any restrictions!

Of course, this was merely speculation; he had no way of knowing if it was truly the case, nor could he confirm it for Yuan Zu.

Yuan Zu stared at him with a strange, cold gaze. After a long while, he suddenly declared, "I will soon ascertain the root cause."

With that, he ceased paying attention to Shi Yan, gathering his power to assault the magma pool forged by the Dragon Lizard’s Profound Divine Power, sending the ocean of black water surging forward, determined to break through the Dragon Lizard's final defense line.

"Aooooh!"

A roar of fury against heaven and earth erupted from Shi Yan’s mouth. With that roar, the firmament above his head was shaken until it shattered into fragments. The expanse of heaven and earth submerged by the "Yuan's" ocean of black water, due to the appearance of the rift in the firmament, caused some of the seawater to leak away, and also caused the sea level in this spatial area to sink considerably.

This was the power of Shi Yan's counterattack.

"It's useless. Never mind that you cannot exert your full strength; even if you fought me at your peak, defeat would be certain." Yuan Zu's mocking voice came from all directions. "Do you think you are the War God 'Huang' from the Primal Era? Unless that fellow recovers his strength and comes here personally, there is no way for you to reverse the situation."

As he spoke, he channeled his power, and the space shattered by Shi Yan miraculously healed itself; even the sunken black water rose again.

However, he did not know that because of the previous sinking of the ocean, the Profound Glyph Pagoda enveloping the "Hui's" head flickered, momentarily exposing Shi Yan's massive head.

Naputon and his group, hidden in the far distance, paid little attention to Shi Yan’s head. What concerned them was the Profound Glyph Pagoda!

Many among them knew that the Profound Glyph Pagoda was closely linked to the Gate of Primal Origin, and even more so, they knew that the Pagoda could refine the Primal Source Glyphs. Thus, the moment the Profound Glyph Pagoda flashed into view, those who had been preparing to observe further suddenly felt their desire become insatiable and made their decision in a very short time.

—To charge directly into the center of the battle!

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Streams of figures, like thunder and lightning, tore across the dim sky, traversing the spatial distance, streaking across the territory above the ocean of black water.

"The Profound Glyph Pagoda!"

Just then, Jia Ni of the Secret Rune Clan suddenly twitched her eyebrows, her alluring face flashing with astonishing radiance.

As they drew closer, they saw the Profound Glyph Pagoda gently swaying deep within the black ocean, releasing waves of strange fluctuations, fluctuations that seemed capable of suppressing the soul.

Beneath the Profound Glyph Pagoda, as Shi Yan's Star Profundity rotated, countless dazzling starlights materialized, allowing the terrifying bodies of the twelve giant serpents to be faintly discerned. However, they could not directly glimpse the "Yuan's" main body deeper beneath the ocean, nor did they know that the "Yuan" was ruthlessly striking the Old Ancestor of the Dragon Lizard.

"I want that Profound Glyph Pagoda!"

Naputon suddenly shrieked, sitting atop millions of fierce souls like a patch of gray cloud, charging toward the Profound Glyph Pagoda.

The "Yuan," which was eroding the Old Ancestor of the Dragon Lizard, roared furiously upon seeing several Domain Ancestors appear above its head, and realizing those people were attempting to seize the Profound Glyph Pagoda, "All of you, get lost!"

It knew profoundly that the Profound Glyph Pagoda was the key to suppressing the "Hui's" soul. If anything went wrong with the Pagoda, the "Hui" could immediately break free from restraint, obliterate Zi Yao's soul, and subsequently retaliate fiercely against it.

It had to maintain the current situation; it would not allow anyone to disrupt the balance, nor would it allow any of Shi Yan, the "Hui," or Zi Yao to break free.

Therefore, it was compelled to act!