The final age concluded, and the Great Desolation shattered, its main body coiling deep within the desolate continent, sinking into an epoch of profound slumber.

During this sleep, the desolate continent, having served as his vessel, was continuously tempered by the unconscious emanation of his power, transforming it into an unparalleled artifact—a divine weapon honed like the sharpest blade!

A killing instrument imbued with his profound mysteries and the mark of his life force, possessing terrifying might! When that desolate continent descended from the heavens, the energetic upheaval radiating from within caused the soul of Solon, standing below, to tremble with dread.

At that moment, his expression shifted dramatically; with a fierce roar, the finger he had pressed upon a gray line suddenly yielded with the crisp sound of fracturing bone!

“Crack!”

The bone snapped, and the ring, transmuted from the Wheel of Fate, immediately slipped from that finger, plummeting onto the thick, coarse gray line below.

“Boom!”

In the consciousness of the Great Desolation, now in the form of an ancient dragon, a sound like mountains collapsing erupted. His primary soul felt as though it had been subjected to relentless bombardment, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.

Within the depths of his pupils, intricate, cryptic markings resembling dragon scales emerged—lines that coiled and netted, seemingly tightening around his sacrificial altar.

He could not condense any further power to infuse into the desolate continent, nor could he continue to augment its energy.

Nevertheless, the desolate continent continued its descent, falling like a colossal iron sphere, its momentum unstoppable, aimed directly at Solon’s crown.

To the desolate continent, Solon’s human form was less than an ant. As the continent plummeted, shrouding everything like a cloud poised to swallow heaven and earth, he was preoccupied with forcibly restraining the thread of the Desolation’s fate and had not spared a thought for evasion.

For the moment, the Desolation’s thread of fate was momentarily constrained, but now, escape was impossible…

Seeing absolute annihilation rush toward him, Solon shifted his hand, pressing his finger onto another line upon the same scripture, roaring, “Hold it back for me!”

“Waaaaah!”

The primordial creature Yuan, whose immense body had borne the brunt of the Desolation’s terrifying shockwave, was violently thrown aside. Before he could recover, his soul was pierced by sudden, agonizing pain. Amidst a shriek, he was powerless to resist; his shell, harder than the desolate continent itself and vast as a continent of burnished copper, lunged toward the trajectory of the descending landmass.

“Thud!”

The desolate continent struck down, slamming heavily against Yuan’s carapace. Visible waves of energy violently sprayed outward, creating endless, resounding explosions that shook the void.

Yuan let out another piercing, earth-shattering scream of agony. His giant tortoise form curled tightly inward, retracting his limbs and head.

The surface of his shell, vast as a sprawling continent, showed a distinct indentation. Yuan’s body shuddered, clearly gravely injured.

Solon’s expression remained unchanged. He breathed a silent sigh of relief; Yuan had absorbed the blow for him—at the cost of Yuan’s grievous injury.

He did not consider the lives of Yuan, Hantian, or the others to be of any importance. As long as he remained safe, anyone could be sacrificed in his eyes. While Yuan writhed in painful roars, Solon, holding the Book of Fate with both hands, finally found the opportunity to subtly slip away, retreating from the space engulfed by the desolate continent.

“Keep striking him!”

As he relocated, Solon issued a new command. Hantian, Rupert, and the others, whose forces had been scattered by the Desolation’s power, were unable to control their soul altars. Like puppets, dripping with blood, they charged once more toward the Desolation, burning their life souls as fuel, rushing forward like moths to a flame.

Blood dripped ceaselessly from their forms. Hantian’s divine body was now engulfed in fierce flames, and even the blood and bones within him seemed to combust, his life aura rapidly diminishing…

Rupert, the denizens of the Underworld, all suffered the same fate.

They were willing to perish, to court mutual destruction, if only they could restrain the Desolation’s physical body!

Under the terrible threat posed by the Desolation, Solon had also become maddened, his previous stratagems intended for Shiyan now unleashed prematurely against the Great Desolation.

“A true tyrant, indeed!”

Within the Desolation’s eyes, the desolate continent was suddenly reflected. That landmass, which had struck Yuan’s shell, seemed suddenly re-energized, rocketing upward, and before Solon and Yuan could react, it slammed down again, crashing onto the tortoise shell.

The surface that had previously borne a continent now saw that landmass utterly shatter into dust.

Yuan’s primary form sustained terrifying, profound damage. His immense body, suspended in the void, could not withstand the repeated, hammer-like impacts of the desolate continent. With a sharp, agonizing cry, he plummeted directly onto the spatial mirror surface.

“Crack! Crack! Crack!”

The spatial mirror, already marred by fissures, could not endure the additional impact of force and finally fractured completely.

Yuan’s colossal body burst through the spatial mirror, falling into the dark, unknown depths below.

“It’s broken!”

“It’s pierced through!”

“The two layers are connected!”

The inhabitants of the Underworld, Hantian, Rupert, and the others screamed out. Though their souls were controlled, preventing them from resisting Solon’s orders, their basic cognition remained. While desperately striking the Desolation, they had all perceived the anomaly in the heavens and earth.

Even the Desolation and Solon were momentarily stunned by the sudden turn of events, both focusing their attention on the spatial mirror.

They knew that mirror was the primordial form of spatial profundity, the barrier separating the Profundity Layer from the Sea of Consciousness Layer—the spatial essence fused by Shiyan. The cracking of the mirror, allowing Yuan and the desolate continent to plunge through, meant the separation between the two layers was gone, meaning they too could directly charge into the next layer!

Solon’s grip on the Desolation’s soul-thread loosened slightly as he was forced to divert some power to deal with the unfolding event below.

The Desolation acted similarly; with a gust of breath, as if swatting flies, the Underworld denizens, Hantian, and Rupert were blown about like debris in a hurricane, scattered far from his massive form.

“Shiyan! Get out here!” he bellowed toward the rent in the spatial mirror below.

The Desolation’s roar echoed, and numerous impending doom lightning spheres condensed, raining down like meteors toward the aperture.

“Awooo! Aaaah! Aah!”

Suddenly, from within the opening came Yuan’s roars of terror and fury. He seemed to be experiencing the most horrific nightmare of his existence, reacting more violently than when struck by the desolate continent. These terrifying shrieks suggested a creature cornered and facing utter extinction, chilling the bones of all who heard them.

“What happened?”

This question echoed in everyone’s mind as they instinctively focused their gaze downward.

Even the Desolation and Solon paused their combat, looking down in confusion, wondering what cruel torment Yuan was enduring.

“Come out!”

The Desolation waited a few seconds, growing impatient. His dragon claw snatched at the void.

The desolate continent, like a giant iron ball, abruptly tore through the fissure in the spatial mirror and shot backward, returning to the Profundity Layer where everyone stood. Before anyone could react, the Desolation snorted coldly, “Let’s see what trickery you’re playing!”

The desolate continent struck down again!

This time, the target was not Solon, but the already cracked spatial mirror. With a terrifying sound that seemed to tear the soul, the spatial mirror completely collapsed!

Innumerable spatial fragments, like razor blades and shards of broken glass, scattered everywhere.

It was as if a colossal sheet of flat glass had exploded. Shards spun madly in the air, and beneath their feet, an enormous chasm instantly materialized.

These spatial fragments, imbued with primal essence, transformed into spatial daggers, twisting and redirecting their trajectories as they shot downward into the dark, unknown depths.

“Sssst! Sssst! Sssst!”

Sounds like sharp implements piercing flesh echoed from below, accompanied by Yuan’s earth-shattering screams, sending chills down the spines of everyone watching.

With the spatial mirror gone, their vision was no longer obstructed. They peered down and were immediately struck with bewilderment.

They saw the true form of Yuan, the giant tortoise, his body riddled with spatial fragments. Yuan’s body was lacerated and bloody, as if subjected to a thousand cuts, the dense wounds deep enough to expose bone. Thick, viscous blood flowed across his immense form, resembling rivers of gore!

After a quick glance, the onlookers noticed that these rivers of blood were all flowing toward Yuan’s abdomen. They then quickly shifted their angles, trying to see what lay beneath Yuan’s belly.

“Heavens! It’s Shiyan! Shiyan is tearing at Yuan’s body, devouring his flesh!”

Yuan of the Soul Clan, shifting his angle for a better view, shrieked, his soul scattered and his face turning ashen white.

Previously, Yuan’s vast shell had blocked their view, but now, from the changed angle, they clearly saw the true scene: Shiyan’s primordial body was situated against Yuan’s colossal tortoise abdomen!

His body was covered in dense scales, and the spurs on his elbows, knees, and shoulders were like jagged mountains. Shiyan had morphed into a hideous giant, bone wings extending from his back like a row of sharp swords, radiating bone-chilling coldness and sharp light—imbued with the slicing aura of spatial profundity essence.

Shiyan, towering like an ancient tree, held ten “Claw Blades”—his fingernails, sharp as knives and intensely cold—deeply embedded in Yuan’s underside, tearing open a vast, bloody wound. He was ferociously gnawing at Yuan’s flesh, sucking the creature’s lifeblood!

The suddenly revealed scene was brutal, bloody, and profoundly shocking!

“He’s… he’s eating Yuan’s meat!”

“Good heavens, has he gone mad?”

“How utterly cruel, how utterly bloody! He waited until Yuan was severely wounded, then struck out, intending to eat Yuan alive and dripping with blood!”

Those who clearly witnessed this scene felt their hair stand on end; their bones went cold, and profound terror etched itself onto their faces.

At this moment, Shiyan was undoubtedly a demon in their eyes—a man-eating demon!

Even Solon’s expression shifted slightly, muttering under his breath.

The only one showing no emotional fluctuation was the Desolation, who scoffed, looking at the crowd with derision.

“Making such a fuss over nothing. His profound essence avatar is not here. To absorb Yuan’s power, he must consume primordial essence blood, growing strong by eating flesh and drinking blood. In our age, this is how we operated: either someone ate me, or I ate someone else. But it has always been I who did the eating!”

“Do you think Yuan hasn't done things like this before? He carries the scent of the Lizard; that means he consumed the Lizard later on. Only now, when it’s his turn to be eaten, does he learn pain and fear. It seems his cowardly, timid nature hasn't changed across an entire epoch.”

…RQ