The yellow sand ahead seemed to thin out slightly. But in He Yiming's eyes, it still filled the entire sky and earth.

The harshness of the environment here far surpassed that of his homeland.

When He Yiming's gaze fell upon the entrance to the passage, a flicker of nostalgia even appeared in his eyes.

Having been here for over half a year, their experiences were beyond what ordinary people could imagine. Even after ascending to the Divine Dao, they had still been striving for endless combat.

This was an inhuman existence; if the individuals here were not Divine Dao powerhouses with incomparably tough nerves, these Deities would have gone completely mad over these five hundred years, if not outright perished.

His gaze swept over it only briefly before retracting. He nodded slightly toward the Divine Dragon and stated, "Lord Shenlong, I am ready."

Counting the time on his fingers, He Yiming knew why the Divine Dragon had summoned him. Yet, this time, he felt quite grateful to the Dragon, as it had not interrupted his fundamental studies but had waited until he emerged from seclusion before calling him. In that regard, it had shown him considerable respect.

The Divine Dragon's massive head nodded slowly. "If you are ready, follow me."

Its body slowly began to writhe, and then the entire form started to shrink. Vast amounts of Heaven and Earth Energy surged in the space in a peculiar manner, pouring ceaselessly into the Dragon's interior.

He Yiming's eyebrows lifted slightly. The Divine Dragon's performance shocked him to an even greater degree.

When the Divine Dragon displayed its body at its largest posture, it was truly magnificent, like a colossal mountain. Yet, as its body began to contract, it could actually shrink to less than ten zhang. But at this moment, the Divine Dragon’s display shattered He Yiming's existing perceptions once more.

The Divine Dragon continued to shrink; its body went from seven or eight zhang to five or six zhang, then three or four zhang, until finally, it was reduced to only about one zhang tall.

Staring at the Divine Dragon before him, its tail touching the ground, standing upright to a height almost matching his own, He Yiming’s mouth gaped wide enough to swallow his fist.

Although he didn't understand the art of transformation, he knew one thing: transformation was never simple; there was always a limit. If that limit was surpassed, every additional inch of growth or shrinkage would become an immensely difficult feat.

One was a slender dragon of barely one zhang, the other a behemoth like a mountain. Before this day, no one could have connected the two beings.

"How... how did you do that?" He Yiming murmured.

The Divine Dragon gave him a cold look. "Talent, plus effort."

"Talent?" He Yiming paused slightly, then recalled something: among the five Divine Beasts he had encountered, only the Divine Dragon seemed to know the art of transformation, and to such an exaggerated and unbelievable extent. He faintly understood that not all Divine Beasts possessed such abilities; this capability, like his own Chaos Dantian, was something unique.

The Divine Dragon swung its tail, kicking up a small amount of sand. It turned in a circle, its movement somewhat stiff.

A slight twitch crossed He Yiming's lips. He immediately understood that the Divine Dragon was accustomed to maintaining its massive size, so upon shrinking, it felt a sudden, slight awkwardness.

However, this wasn't the first time the Divine Dragon had appeared in such a small form. After just a moment, it regained normalcy; its movements were fluid as water, with no trace of hesitation remaining.

"The Eye of Light and Darkness, bring it out," the Divine Dragon commanded.

He Yiming was prepared. With a flick of his wrist, he retrieved the Eye of Light and Darkness from the Five Elements World and activated the Divine Dao Artifact's concealment ability.

The next instant, a mystical ripple propagated through the void like waves, and the two of them vanished instantly.

In He Yiming's sight, the Divine Dragon’s body was enveloped in a strange radiance. However, this was only because they were both protected by the Divine Dao Artifact, allowing them to see each other. If not for this, He Yiming wasn't sure if the Divine Dragon could perceive him. But he was certain that he absolutely could not perceive the Divine Dragon’s existence.

Glancing around, seemingly quite satisfied with their current state, the Divine Dragon moved its body and took flight, leading the way toward the distant lair of the Death Creatures.

He Yiming followed closely, but worry gnawed at his heart. In this past month and a half, the strength of the Death Creatures had expanded immensely. Nearly every day, countless monsters charged the passage entrance from all directions.

If not for the combined efforts of numerous Divine Dao powerhouses blocking them, these monsters would have already broken into their world through the passage.

But as the number of monsters grew, they also understood something: reinforcements for the Death Creatures had arrived, and they were resuming their century-old assault. Moreover, according to Liu Mu's description, the Death Creatures were coming with unprecedented ferocity this time, their power greater than before.

When facing the tide-like Death Creatures, only the Heaven and Earth Energy of Divine Dao powerhouses could inflict mass casualties. Against the Golden Monsters and Mutated Monsters, only the Domain of Pseudo-God Realm powerhouses could completely restrain and suppress them before slowly eliminating them.

Although He Yiming had not participated in the fighting directly, he had temporarily lent the command of his Divine Dao Puppets to Liu Mu and then joined the fray, so he was not ignorant of the true battle conditions.

The closer they got to the monsters' lair, the denser the monster population became. He Yiming seriously doubted that even with the might of the Divine Dragon, they could smoothly penetrate the area.

After flying for about half a day, they encountered countless Death Creatures, forming a vast army of monsters advancing toward the passage entrance. Although their speed was not fast, their numbers seemed endless, as if they had no conclusion.

He Yiming's complexion paled slightly upon seeing their sheer numbers. To say he wasn't worried would be a pure lie.

Led by the Divine Dragon, they flew high in the sky. Hidden by the Eye of Light and Darkness in this expanse of yellow sand, they remained undiscovered by the Death Creatures whose numbers stretched beyond sight.

The Divine Dragon suddenly passed him an object. "Put this on."

He Yiming was slightly startled, and when he took it, his eyes widened immediately.

It was a hard shell, clearly peeled off the Death Creatures on the ground. What made He Yiming dizzy was that the Divine Dragon had somehow manipulated it, imbuing the shell with a remarkably strange aura—an aura identical to that of the ordinary monsters below.

Flipping it over casually, He Yiming understood the design: this was an ultimate disguise shell, perfectly suited for human infiltration, even preserving the compound eyes with astonishing realism. The expert who crafted something this level, akin to high art, must be extraordinary.

However, thinking about its purpose sent a chill down He Yiming's spine.

"Hurry," the Divine Dragon’s cold voice cut in.

The muscles in He Yiming's face twitched a few times. Gritting his teeth, he forced the shell on. Although the exterior was terrifying, the interior was odorless. Furthermore, it had been specially treated to completely mask human scent with the stench of the Death Creatures.

"We go down. As we get close to the ground, you put away the Eye of Light and Darkness," the Divine Dragon said in a deep voice.

He Yiming replied with a wry smile. At this point, there was no room for regret. Despite anticipating the horrors ahead, he could only steel his resolve and press forward.

After observing for a moment, the Divine Dragon rapidly descended. He Yiming accompanied it, his eyes scanning the surroundings. Moments later, he understood why the Dragon had chosen this landing spot: there were no Mutated Monsters nearby, meaning no Death Creatures had discovered their presence.

"Deactivate."

The Divine Dragon’s voice rang out abruptly. He Yiming dared not delay and quickly retracted the Eye of Light and Darkness into his body.

A discordant flash of light skimmed across the sea of monsters, but it lasted only an instant, failing to cause any reaction whatsoever.

Two large monsters descended into the throng, like two tiny drops of water merging into the ocean, creating not the slightest ripple.

Those monsters, though fearless in battle, possessed extremely low intelligence.

They could not discern the difference between these two newcomers and their brethren; they passed by as if they had never seen them before, moving onward.

A thread of He Yiming’s extremely faint spiritual consciousness locked firmly onto the Divine Dragon. Wherever it went, unless it actively erased his mental link, they could not be separated.

However, when He Yiming landed and saw the appearance of the Divine Dragon, he was astonished, realizing the wonder of this world was far beyond his comprehension.

The entity he had locked onto was standing upright like a human. Its pair of compound eyes darted around restlessly, and its movements betrayed no flaw.

But the Divine Dragon’s physique was completely different from a human’s. He Yiming had expected the Dragon to disguise itself as a Mutated Monster whose form resembled its own. He had never imagined the Divine Dragon and himself were dressed identically.

Yet, after watching for a long time, He Yiming still could not figure out how the Divine Dragon had managed to tuck its four claws into the monster's ape-like limbs, executing the disguise so perfectly that no flaw was visible.

Furthermore, no matter how He Yiming observed, he couldn't determine where the Divine Dragon had stowed its tail, which was nearly a third of its body length.

If it meant self-mutilation by cutting off its tail to achieve this disguise, He Yiming would never believe it.

The Divine Dragon parted its legs, causing the sandy ground to crack. It glanced toward He Yiming, and a sinister light flickered in its eerie compound eyes. Coupled with He Yiming's earlier observations, the sight felt increasingly grim and terrifying.

Then, the Divine Dragon’s body sank, entering the earth. He Yiming hesitated for a moment before quickly stepping forward and following closely behind.

Ps: This Saturday and Sunday, same as usual, White Crane will post three chapters. The Monthly Tickets have slipped to fifth place. Sigh... It’s not far off, brothers, throw in a few monthly tickets if you have any, thank you.

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