The current situation heavily favored the Son of the Sword. Lu Yuan, hidden within the Devouring Poison Mist, was at an absolute disadvantage. For now, Lu Yuan would not lose, but it was estimated that in another twenty hours, he would be defeated.

This was an unchangeable predicament. And Lu Yuan, currently inside the Devouring Poison Mist, was waiting. He naturally knew about the twenty-hour agreement; he guessed the emergence of the Gate of the Sword Path would take less than twenty hours.

If it exceeded that limit, he would be in serious trouble, but surely nothing that absurd would happen. What should he do while inside the Devouring Poison Mist? As Lu Yuan pondered this, several Nine-Tailed Cat Demons, towering several thousand zhang high, suddenly descended.

Ah, Nine-Tailed Cat Demons. He had captured some before. Back when he captured them, he had only just reached the Chaos Realm.

He had entered the Devouring Poison Mist once then. If these colossal, mountain-sized Nine-Tailed Cat Demons had appeared then, he would have been finished. But now?

What were these few against him? Lu Yuan was already bored waiting for the Gate of the Sword Path, with nothing better to do. He might as well slay the Cat Demons and collect their demon pearls.

These Nine-Tailed Cat Demons intended to devour the intruder. It had been a long time since they had tasted human flesh. Now that a human had conveniently delivered himself, what greeted them was a fierce burst of sword light—one ray was enough to slay all the demons eager to eat Lu Yuan.

He then began collecting the Cat Demon Pearls. He collected the pearls within the Devouring Poison Mist, one by one falling into his grasp. These Cat Demon Pearls were vastly larger than those he collected during the Chaos Realm; each one was likely almost the size of a millstone.

After collecting a total of one hundred and ten Cat Demon Pearls, Lu Yuan finally began refining his physical body. The sole purpose of the pearls was to temper his flesh, making his physical defense immensely stronger, allowing him to reach the state of the Supreme Indestructible Body. Lu Yuan hadn't refined pearls in a long time, so he began the process now.

He tossed all the millstone-sized Cat Demon Pearls into his mouth at once. Lu Yuan's mouth was of normal size; logically, he shouldn't be able to consume pearls that large. However, Lu Yuan had mastered the Iron Laws of Space and used spatial manipulation to ingest these pearls as easily as eating small steamed buns.

In the moments that followed, Lu Yuan’s entire body emitted a metallic sheen, and the divine body's radiance shone brightly in all directions. Lu Yuan clearly felt his divine body had become vastly stronger than before, reaching the absolute limit of his current realm. However, through this period of ruthless slaughter, Lu Yuan had nearly wiped out the Great Nine-Life Cat Demons within the Devouring Poison Mist.

Forget it, he thought, he would just wander around randomly next. As Lu Yuan strolled, he faintly sensed something calling to him—a sensation of ultimate familiarity. Something in the Devouring Poison Mist was summoning him, and it was deep within its core.

Lu Yuan became intrigued and flew straight toward the deepest part of the Devouring Poison Mist. The deeper he went, the denser the poisonous vapor became. Upon reaching the deepest part, Lu Yuan saw a single bone.

It was a bone that seemed etched with infinite vicissitudes and traces of countless ages. As Lu Yuan gazed at it, his Formless Devouring Art involuntarily began to circulate. This bone was evidently connected to the Formless Devouring Art.

Lu Yuan was slightly startled and placed his hand upon it. Suddenly, an immensely powerful devouring force surged from the bone into Lu Yuan’s body. All of Lu Yuan’s magical power seemed to dissolve, but the Formless Devouring Art immediately activated, countering the bone.

Moments later, torrents of divine consciousness flooded into Lu Yuan’s body. Lu Yuan instantly understood the origin of this bone. This bone did not come from this epoch but from a previous one.

In one ancient era, there existed an octopus with one hundred and eight thousand tentacles. Yes, you read that correctly; a normal octopus has eight tentacles, but this creature possessed one hundred and eight thousand. The range of a normal octopus could cover only a minuscule area of the ocean.

But the domain ruled by this giant octopus with one hundred and eight thousand tentacles spanned countless star fields. Within these innumerable star fields, its endlessly long and slender tentacles coiled, making it a divine object and a monstrous fiend of that time. The creature's greatest ability was absorbing the tentacles of its kin to strengthen its own one hundred and eight thousand.

Undoubtedly, this giant octopus grew stronger and stronger. Yet, when the Great Heavenly Tribulation and the destruction of the epoch arrived, it finally could not withstand it and exploded. After the death of this giant octopus with one hundred and eight thousand tentacles, its most vital bone remained intact.

Through numerous twists of fate, it eventually landed on the Sword Cultivation Star. Its ink automatically transformed into the poison mist that even World Realm experts dared not touch, while its bone rested in the deepest reaches. Lu Yuan’s Water-Devouring Dragon, part of his Formless Devouring Art, had a subtle resonance with this giant octopus bone, which was why it summoned him.

In fact, it had summoned Lu Yuan once before when he was in the Chaos Realm, but he hadn't noticed it then. This time, forced into the Devouring Poison Mist by the Son of the Sword and idling while waiting for the Gate of the Sword Path to appear, he happened to sense the summons. The Son of the Sword is truly a good man.

If not for him, Lu Yuan never would have thought to re-enter the Devouring Poison Mist, nor would he have realized he could forge the Water-Devouring Dragon within the Devouring Dragon lineage here. This was an opportunity. Joy flashed in Lu Yuan's heart.

He sat cross-legged, activating the Formless Devouring Art to absorb the bone. The bone was about ten zhang long. Lu Yuan slowly absorbed it, and the bone gradually shrank, becoming smaller and smaller.

Eventually, the bone vanished completely. Lu Yuan then discovered that his Water-Devouring Dragon had materialized. A transparent dragon flashed above his head—this was the Water-Devouring Dragon.

Of the seven Formless Devouring Dragons, he had now cultivated the four elements: Metal, Wood, Water, and Thunder. From now on, the Civilization Texts related to these four elements would not only be useless against him, but he could also absorb them to strengthen himself. Lu Yuan naturally understood the Water-Devouring Dragon's function.

A major branch of the Primeval Civilization Texts was the Flood System Texts, and Flood belonged to Water. The Water-Devouring Dragon could swallow them entirely, leaving nothing behind. Besides that, many other Civilization Texts were water-attributed.

Life was proving incredibly fortunate. Shortly after Lu Yuan successfully cultivated the Water-Devouring Dragon, he felt a change occur within his Sword Dao Gourd. Sending his divine sense inside, he discovered that the mouth of the gourd was pulsing with the urge to erupt.

Lu Yuan immediately realized the Sword Dao Gourd could now spew forth the Gate of the Sword Path. Excellent! He should test it out first.

It wouldn't do to have problems surface right before a confrontation. Lu Yuan activated it with his divine sense, and with a boom, a colossal, incomparable portal appeared within his Sword Space. The sheer height and majesty of this portal defied description.

Lu Yuan looked up at it, sensing endless sword radiance emanating from it. He vaguely saw massive sword lights flickering within the gate. This portal was tightly shut, yet it carried a sense of suppressing all things.

Ancient, venerable, majestic, terrifying, solemn, with infinite sword light flashing—it seemed to gather the supreme mysteries of the Sword Dao, infinite divine abilities, the ultimate peak of the Sword Dao. This was the Gate of the Sword Path. The heavens and earth themselves seemed to tremble faintly.

Yes, a new portal had manifested in the world, a monumental event for the entirety of existence. Lu Yuan realized that if not for the blood-and-flesh connection he shared with the Gate of the Sword Path, he himself might have been crushed by it. This was the Gate of the Sword Path; even he felt the immense pressure it exerted.

Lu Yuan was confident that with this gate, any swordsman, regardless of their technique, could be utterly suppressed, because this portal was fundamentally the master principle of all sword arts. Now, it was time to leave. He now possessed confidence surpassing that of the Son of the Sword.

No matter the opponent, as long as they wielded a sword, he could defeat them even if they were one minor realm higher. Meanwhile, in the outside world, the heavens and earth were subtly vibrating! Indeed, the whole world was shaking.

The Martial Saint Emperor’s Son, the Bronze Saint Emperor’s Son, the Wasteland Emperor’s Son, and the Dharma Saint Emperor’s Son were all familiar with this faint trembling of the world. Every time a new Civilization Realm emerged, the world would tremble slightly. Could it be that another Civilization Realm expert had appeared?

Who among them had broken through to the Civilization Realm! The four Emperor's Sons were filled with endless envy. Despite their immense power and status, they knew that achieving the Civilization Realm held far greater authority than their current positions.

The Civilization Realm itself commanded endless authority and boundless strength. The Son of the Sword also looked up. He knew of the world trembling that accompanied the birth of a Civilization Realm expert, but he instinctively felt this was not that.

"The time is now nineteen hours. If Lu Yuan doesn't emerge in the last hour, we will consider it a forfeit," the Dharma Saint Emperor said with a hint of helplessness. Although he wanted to favor Lu Yuan, he couldn't this time, with the eyes of the other Emperor's Sons watching.

Sharpness flashed in the Son of the Sword’s eyes. Only one hour left. Lu Yuan, come out and face death.

The Sword Gate will be mine, the Sword Dao will be mine, and you are merely the loser. Just then, the Son of the Sword saw a figure clad in cyan robes flying out from the Devouring Poison Mist. Lu Yuan had emerged.

The Son of the Sword grasped the Tai'e Immortal Sword. "Lu Yuan, you have finally come out to die. I have waited a long time for you.

Now, I will completely eradicate you." The Son of the Sword’s aura was surging—the moment had arrived for him to feel utterly satisfied by slaying Lu Yuan. The nineteen hours of waiting had not been in vain.