Streams of neon brilliance bloomed across the surroundings, transforming the dead, dim void into a scene of sudden, vivid splendor, layer upon layer of colored light intertwining like a breathtaking fairyland.
Ziyao, clad in a rose-red gown, sat perched high upon an amethyst throne, her smile radiant as she gazed across the expanse.
After a long, long while.
The shadowy incarnation of Shi, accompanied by Eija, approached, halting at the periphery of the colored radiance. Shi turned his gaze upon Ziyao and spoke in a cold tone, “Are you truly going to stop me?”
Ziyao feigned surprise. “If I weren't stopping you, why would I conjure such a grand spectacle? Do you find it entertaining?”
“I hear you are called Ziyao now, your main soul usurped by a splinter fragment. How utterly ridiculous,” Shi sneered coldly. “For beings as formidable as us to be overcome by a mere fraction, it’s the biggest joke imaginable.”
“Heh heh.” Ziyao didn't argue, merely chuckling pleasantly. “The source of your Devouring Profundity lies right behind me. If you wish to attempt integration, you must first get past this barrier.”
“Where is he?” Shi surveyed the area.
“I am here.” A voice emerged from within a brilliant yellow stream of light, and only then did this avatar of Shi fully emerge, revealing itself before Shi’s eyes. “You needed something from me?”
The appearance of Shi made both Shi and Eija startle.
Shi stared at Shi for a moment, then let out a relieved breath. “So, it’s only an avatar. I wondered. If your true body had arrived, you would already be attempting to merge with the source of the Devouring Profundity, not wasting time chatting with me...”
Saying this, Shi strode directly toward the overwhelming cascade of colored light.
Eija’s eyes turned frigid, a bone-chilling aura emanating from his emerald-green skin. A cruel, murderous glint flashed in his venomous, viper-like pupils. “Shi Yan, this avatar of yours can only die here.”
Rolling waves of green mental energy instantly solidified into a colossal cleaver, forged from the soul power emanating from his eyes. Lifelike and vividly real, it swung toward Shi Yan’s avatar.
Shi moved first. His shadowy form abruptly mutated, transforming into a monstrous entity resembling a gigantic octopus, its lush green tentacles like powerful flood dragons, hacking down toward the sheath of colored light condensed by Ziyao.
“Smash! Crash! Thwack! Pop!”
The colored light distorted violently. Ziyao’s exquisitely beautiful face warped amid the spraying radiance, and then a single purple pinpoint of light exploded.
“Boom!”
The true bodies of the twelve Heavenly Serpent forms materialized. Ziyao, in human form, sat enthroned between the serpent heads, her smile undiminished. “It seems your harvests on the Land of Void and the Sea of Ruin were bountiful. You’ve recovered eighty percent of your original strength. This is genuinely troublesome.”
The colossal serpents swam through the empty space, while countless dense, rainbow-colored arcs of lightning surged forth, weaving into an ocean of divine light. Pure, sacred energy flowed and surged, threatening to drown Shi’s true form.
Shi roared. Eight gruesome islands, identical to the Profundity of Shi, manifested directly above his head. Within those eight blood-red islands, the Devouring Black Hole also appeared, releasing an aura of malice, gloom, coldness, making this entire realm dense with bloody crimson.
Bridges of blood connected the eight islands to the Black Hole, integrating them into a single entity. The sinister, despairing, dark, destructive aura they unleashed seemed intent on annihilating heaven and earth, turning all living things to ash. This supremely evil negative fluctuation possessed the power to extinguish all matter!
“If the Desolate One hadn't been strong enough back then, the Primordial Era would have been destroyed by you. Your purpose for existence is slaughter, destruction of all things, annihilation of life. You are the incarnation of all evil in the cosmos. Too bad you lost back then, just as I did, leading to an entire era of dormancy...”
Ziyao’s expression slowly turned icy. As she spoke, the myriad arcs of light converged, transforming into a massive net capable of covering the sky, a net that seemed able to bind the firmament and squeeze the universe tight.
The colossal net of light descended slowly to ensnare Shi’s true form. Two immensely powerful beings who once jointly resisted the Desolate One in the Primordial Era now stood opposed in the New Era, engaging in a furious battle.
If this combat were taking place anywhere else, it would shatter the heavens and devastate countless lives, reducing many domains to nothingness.
But here, in the most mysterious location in the universe—where there is no heaven, no earth, no life, and no space in the true sense—this absolute void ensures that the battle unfolding here will not inflict irreparable destructive consequences upon the true Sea of Stars.
The clash between these two beings caused intense energy fluctuations to ripple outward far beyond this secluded spot.
“Sending this avatar against me is tantamount to suicide. If the avatar perishes, the main body’s strength will diminish. So, I shall eliminate this avatar of yours first!” Eija sneered, beginning to circulate the Profundity of his own power.
Among the Shi Clan, Eija was the most exquisitely skilled. He was Puta’s father, and his cultivation of Profundities such as Soul Mastery and Death were likely more terrifying than Ming Hao or Xuan He. He was also one of the Ten Great Domain Ancestors, the most formidable entity in existence.
“Rumble! Rumble!”
Astonishing roars erupted from Eija’s physical body. Amidst those terrifying sounds, the space around Eija became utterly dark.
He mobilized the Profundity of Darkness, swallowing all light in that expanse. Even the divine radiance unleashed by Ziyao could not penetrate Eija’s position.
Eija vanished, and a wave of absolute darkness, like thick cloud cover, surged forth, rapidly flowing toward Shi Yan’s avatar.
“An avatar is indeed only a fraction of the main body’s power, but if the main body is sufficiently formidable, then the avatar’s power can reach a terrifying degree!” Shi Yan chuckled coldly and spat out a dazzling sea of stars.
The stellar river was bizarre and multicolored. One could faintly discern mountains and lakes on the planets, see myriad creatures moving about, and witness the transition of the four seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
It was like a genuine domain, a world brimming with life force, a space-time capable of perplexing any living being!
As the darkness advanced, the seemingly real world slowly became engulfed in shadow. Within the gloom, Eija stared in horror at this panorama of stars. He looked at a lake on one planet, saw the fish swimming within, and observed a few fishermen casting their lines. From those fishermen, Eija sensed a profound surge of vitality.
That was the fluctuation of genuine life!
Eija was suddenly struck with dread.
The domain he occupied did not seem to be an illusion, but rather an entity condensed by Shi Yan’s power Profundity, possessing no essential difference from the external heavens and earth.
Since when could Shi Yan’s Profundity evolve space, construct true realms, and nurture living beings?
How could this level be achieved by someone in the second heaven of the Domain Ancestor realm?
A cascade of doubts flooded Eija’s mind, causing a sharp jolt. He suddenly understood, truly realizing Shi Yan’s true level—the third heaven of the Domain Ancestor!
Shi Yan had actually broken through to the third heaven of the Domain Ancestor! He had reached the realm of creation where the Profundity of Power could evolve space, where a single thought could spawn all things!
Shi Yan, operating at the level of the third heaven of the Domain Ancestor, even with only an avatar, was absolutely not to be underestimated!
He fully grasped the meaning of Shi Yan’s earlier statement!
If the main body is powerful enough, the avatar will also be terrifying enough to make enemies tremble!
“Contract!” Just then, within that vibrant, life-filled world, a low shout came from Shi Yan within every planet.
Heaven and earth abruptly shifted. The many planets suddenly retracted their pervasive starlight.
The dazzling, glittering starlight was completely drawn back into the interior of the stars. The celestial bodies instantly became dead stars, the entire realm turning cold and desolate, utterly devoid of vitality!
Eija watched in stunned confusion. Looking again at the lake, not a single swimming fish remained. The fishermen on the shore had turned into bleached bones, fragile skeletons that crumbled to ash with a puff of wind!
Eija’s mind fractured. He was lost in Shi Yan’s world, repeatedly manipulated by Shi Yan’s profound and esoteric Profundities. The impact of the stars, the space, the life, the Devouring, and the world constructed by the Eight Great Evil Forces shook his soul, causing the darkness to gradually dissipate. Eija’s divine form was completely revealed within the starscape...
He frowned deeply, contemplating something—some ultimate truth of the cosmos, the most profound mystery of Profundities.
When would this end?
He was lost within Shi Yan’s world...
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!”
Arcs of light resembling meteors transformed into streaks of seven-colored spirit snakes, penetrating Shi’s Devouring World, surging against the dark, despairing, destructive, and chaotic realm capable of crushing everything.
Shi possessed his own unique domain, a place reputed to be the most terrifying in the Sea of Stars.
Because that world was so extremely terrifying, after creating the Shi Clan, Shi preferred to leave them to cultivate in the Void Sea rather than dwelling in his own domain, which was solidified from his own flesh and blood.
For his domain was centered on Devouring, Destruction, Despair, Darkness, Corrosion, Chaos, and Death. Devouring and the Eight Great Evil Forces were the eternal themes of that world—a realm far more horrifying than the eternally desolate and barren lands!
That world was the source of all the evil within his heart!
To destroy that domain was to destroy all of Shi’s evil power, to truly annihilate Shi!
Ziyao was preparing to use her sacred, pure divine light to evolve that most wicked domain, to destroy the source of all Shi’s evil, to shatter his heart, and break his very realm!
“What timely arrival!”
Another Shi Yan suddenly appeared. This was an avatar of Shi Yan. Upon arrival, this avatar smiled, transforming into a drop of crimson blood that merged into the avatar currently struggling against Eija.
Time rushed on. After a while longer, Shi Yan’s true body and that avatar imprinted with the Devouring and Eight Great Evil Forces also arrived.
His true body grinned maniacally, beckoning to the avatar confronting Eija. That avatar completely merged into the true body.
The true body let out a long cry, then suddenly underwent metamorphosis, transforming into a gigantic Demon God that distorted the heavens, charging toward Shi.
The avatar branded with the Devouring and Eight Great Evil Forces stood firm, took a deep breath, and advanced step by step toward the source of the Devouring Profundity.
He intended to verify the thoughts in his heart, to truly integrate the source of the Devouring Profundity and seize command of all the world's evil divine power!