The devastatingly beautiful face of Mei Ji underwent a miraculous transformation as Zhen Ru let out a cold sneer.

The frost-white skin rippled, trembling like droplets of water, and after a surge, the visage instantly reverted to Zhen Ru’s original features. Zhen Ru’s eyebrows were long and sweeping, her cheeks clean and lovely—lacking Mei Ji’s intense allure. Her features were exquisitely delicate, complemented by a tall, graceful figure clad in a moon-white robe, making her appear elegantly beautiful, like a quiet lotus, her aura entirely different from Mei Ji’s. A flicker of cold disdain crossed her slender eyelids. "The outside world whispers you can contend with Yuan Zu, which sent shivers down my spine, causing me no end of trouble. To think you'd be so utterly defenseless—what a profound disappointment."

Her tall, yet somewhat slender frame stood quietly before Shi Yan, her expression a mask of confident composure.

Shi Yan’s features twisted menacingly. His robust physique began to split open in a grotesque manner; strands of muscle and chunks of flesh startlingly emerged from the lacerated wounds. Specks of golden light gradually appeared within the exposed flesh, accompanied by piercing, sharp cries. "Crimson Gold Spirit Ants! It’s the Crimson Gold Spirit Ants!"

Shi Yan gasped for air, his face grim. Ignoring the tearing of his own musculature, he suddenly roared, "Who are you, you wretched woman? Did I sleep with you? Or perhaps slaughter your entire family? Why would you go to such lengths to ambush me with Crimson Gold Spirit Ants? Is it truly that much of a depraved compulsion that you’d throw yourself at me, wanting me to ** you mercilessly?" "Vile thing! Silence!"

Zhen Ru, recoiling from his base insults, snapped coldly. She extended a finger, stark white as snow, and pointed it toward the center of Shi Yan’s brow. A slender, silver steel needle materialized from her fingertip. The needle was etched with intricate patterns that, upon close inspection, resembled earthworms writhing, causing one’s scalp to prickle.

A rank, foul odor emanated from the silver needle. Even before it made contact with his brow, Shi Yan felt a sharp sting in his mind. The Soul Pool deep within his Soul Altar seemed sullied, throwing his spirit into violent upheaval, causing even the circulation of his profound Mysteries to gradually stagnate.

"My Crimson Gold Spirit Ants have undergone several generations of mutation; they are far more tenacious than those from the Primordial Era. Don’t even dream of swallowing them with your Devouring Mystery!" Zhen Ru declared haughtily. "Before coming, I specifically researched this with Ejia. Targeting them with profound Mysteries is futile; I can assure you that generation after generation of evolution has rendered both your Devouring and Corroding Mysteries completely useless. Feel free to test it if you doubt me!"

As she spoke, the slender silver steel needle plunged into Shi Yan’s brow!

Billions of silver electrical sparks suddenly erupted from Shi Yan’s mind, transforming into wriggling, arm-length earthworms that all fell into his Sea of Consciousness.

These worms thrashed within his Sea of Consciousness, spewing filth, causing his very Sea of Consciousness to begin transforming into a muddy bog. Even his Soul Pool was on the verge of being completely defiled. Every (Divine Ability) and (Profound Mystery) became incredibly arduous to deploy due to the pollution of his Sea of Consciousness and Soul Pool.

Inspecting his flesh and blood through his Mind’s Eye, he confirmed the Crimson Gold Spirit Ants were indeed different. Magnified, these ants possessed fangs and sharp spines, and monstrous horns atop their heads, as if they were hybrid offspring of different demonic insects.

He activated his Devouring Mystery, only to find the insidious ants bizarrely burrowing into his blood vessels, merging with his blood, adopting the very scent of his flesh, rendering immediate consumption impossible. ...As for the Corroding Mystery, it would be equally ineffective unless he managed to dissolve his entire physical body first.

A sudden sense of unease gripped him!

In his journey thus far, he had faced countless perilous crises, but this confrontation was proving to be exceptionally difficult!

His Divine Body and Soul Altar were being infiltrated simultaneously. With every passing moment, his application of the Mysteries became more difficult. If this dragged on, he would lose all resistance and be left entirely at his opponent’s mercy.

"What do you want?" He forced his mind to clear of all distractions with maximum speed, settling his breathing, and said with a grim face, "The Profound Mystery Talisman Tower and the Fallen Star River—is that why you came? How did you even know I was here?"

"What I want?" Zhen Ru licked the corner of her mouth, her tongue delicately gliding across her lips, her demeanor captivatingly seductive, yet her words were chillingly absolute: "I want you. Your blood, your sinews, your very bones! I imagine your blood must be exquisitely rich and flavorful, perhaps aiding me in breaking the racial constraints of the Myriad Forms race and evolving this body to an entirely new peak."

"Drink my blood? Eat my flesh?" Shi Yan’s face darkened. He continued to secretly channel power to stabilize the massive upheaval within his Divine Body and Soul, simultaneously probing for a way out of this predicament while gathering intelligence. "Wouldn't Yuan Zu be a better choice? He is a pure Primordial Life Form. If you could consume his blood and muscle piece by piece, wouldn't that facilitate a physical breakthrough more easily?"

"I would, certainly, but Yuan Zu isn't that easy to handle. Finding him is difficult enough, so I had to settle for you as a breakthrough point. I advise you not to waste your efforts; at your level of cultivation, you simply cannot contend with me. You can't even form a Primordial Body!"

Zhen Ru’s expression was dismissive, clearly believing Shi Yan was far simpler to deal with than Yuan Zu. She evidently deemed the external assessments of Shi Yan to be empty words; at least from her current perspective, Shi Yan was significantly inferior to elder powerhouses like Yuan Zu.

It was for this reason that, amidst the world's turmoil, she chose to target Shi Yan first, leveraging the inherent advantages of her Myriad Forms race's innate divine abilities.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Shi Yan sneered.

"I am waiting for my little treasures to completely seize control of your physical body and the Sea of Consciousness, only then can I confidently drink your blood and eat your flesh," Zhen Ru said, narrowing her eyes. The cold light in her slender eyes was sharp, like a brutal, hungry she-wolf preparing to gorge on a delicacy.

Shi Yan fell silent, slowly closing his eyes. The flesh and bones of his Divine Body were being steadily devoured by the mutated Crimson Gold Spirit Ants, while his Sea of Consciousness and Soul Pool within the Altar were being polluted. His Mysteries and Divine Abilities were being compromised, growing sluggish and operating abnormally.

He attempted again and again, using the Eight Great Evil Forces, along with profoundly mastered Mysteries like Life and Star Fire, to purge the abnormalities in his body and soul. He quickly discovered that those Mysteries were utterly ineffective against the Crimson Gold Spirit Ants within his flesh, and against the vile little worms polluting his soul. Those two bizarre creatures possessed a quality akin to the Myriad Forms race's innate divine ability; their aura and life fluctuations were perfectly synchronized with the very essence of his blood, flesh, and soul! It was unbelievably bizarre!

For the moment, he was helpless.

Zhen Ru watched him coldly, possessing no immediate follow-up methods. She simply intended to see if Shi Yan could mount any resistance under the relentless consumption of her two mutated creatures.

After several minutes.

Shi Yan made his first decision!

"Krak-krak-krak!"

The very spatial structure of the cold, icy secret chamber emitted strange sounds of freezing and fracturing. Layers of spatial ripples visibly spread outward, and as these ripples expanded, the space within the chamber began to seal itself off layer by layer. Unable to stop the intrusion, he chose to first seal his physical body, employing the most terrifying sealing technique of space—self-sealing!

Rings of brilliant light refracted numerous illusory spatial projections around Shi Yan. At a quick glance, it appeared as if myriad mirrors had materialized around him, showing countless different versions of Shi Yan.

As the vast space of the secret chamber rapidly condensed and sealed around the smaller form of Shi Yan, Zhen Ru realized what he intended to do. —Since he couldn't stop the fluctuations of the Soul Altar using the Time Mystery, he had to first block the crisis in his physical body. Spatial Sealing could contain all tangible things, including the physical form!

"Hmph. Once the Soul Altar completely falls, the spatial seal will break without a fight. I’d like to see..." Zhen Ru muttered to herself. By using space to seal his physical body, if she were to shatter the seal, she would need to blast apart those spatial barriers. Doing so would cause a massive explosion within this chamber, potentially alerting the tribesmen of the Shadow Phantom Race and possibly drawing the attention of Mandis, causing her to return prematurely. She held great reservations regarding Mandis and, knowing the terror of the Time Mystery, had deliberately acted now while avoiding Mandis, thus she certainly did not wish to alert her.

She was confident that the invisible creatures she had unleashed in Shi Yan’s mind would rapidly reproduce, quickly overwhelming his Sea of Consciousness and Soul Pool, thereby gaining control of Shi Yan's Altar first. Once the Altar was breached, Shi Yan’s physical body would be nothing more than a puppet, posing no threat whatsoever. Therefore, she felt no urgency.

Deep within Shi Yan’s mind.

Just as Zhen Ru predicted, the massive, worm-like barriers were indeed reproducing wildly within his Sea of Consciousness. Through the assault on his Sea of Consciousness and the draining of his spiritual power, those terrifying beings were launching their final assault with a frightening pace of proliferation. Spiritual Consciousness and the Soul Pool formed the bedrock of the Soul Altar, just as the Divine Power Tree was the core of the physical body—they were the source of power. They were also the energy reservoir for activating the Mysteries within the Altar, the core that maintained mental clarity and the vibrant development of the Domain. Once the Sea of Consciousness and Soul Pool were lost, the warrior’s Soul Altar was effectively surrendered, potentially allowing for usurpation, seizure of the Altar, and the erasure of the soul imprint!

Shi Yan knew clearly that the key to this battle lay in the Sea of Consciousness and the Soul Pool. Only by eradicating or refining those proliferating creatures could he find a sliver of life! While his consciousness was still clear, he circulated his soul power and tore open a rift in his Domain situated above the Sea of Consciousness! Within the Domain, which shone like a sea of stars, numerous black holes spun relentlessly, constantly purifying the energy harvested through brutal slaughter. His Domain was unlike others; it could miraculously connect to the acupoints, through which dense yet chaotic energy poured into the Domain. The Domain was like an entirely new cosmic space, continually expanding its boundaries as energy was injected! As the Domain expanded, energy settled and gathered, and new Stars of Life were condensed anew. Following the changes in his soul, will, and Mysteries, these Stars of Life underwent subtle transformations: some manifested mountains and lakes, some held frigid, icy lands, some were zones of scorching fire, some teemed with lush life in jungles, and others were desolate deserts... Distinct natural landscapes were distributed across different Stars of Life, subtly corresponding to the myriad Mysteries he cultivated. However, true races had yet to be gestated by him...

A rift tore open in the Domain. The earthworms, which had been defiling his Sea of Consciousness and Soul Pool, became ecstatic. Like flies drawn to carrion, a portion of them excitedly diverted their assault into the Domain! Externally, Zhen Ru's eyes also brightened, sensing the battle was very close to its conclusion... Recommending a new book, "Martial Arts Without Heaven," book number... I found it quite good, so I recommend it. Also, just one chapter today~~~ Ugh, my reputation is utterly ruined, so I make no more promises. This book might conclude this month or next. I find the later plot points cumbersome; there are too many things to sort out, making it impossible to speed up. I sincerely apologize for this; I am truly sorry to you all~~RQ

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