The wind diffused, drifting through the air. Gusts of wind blew in succession.

Lu Yuan sat down cross-legged, beginning to refine the Dragon of Swallowing Wind. "The Way of Heaven, the wind moves within it, mending the unseen gap through the seen, exhausting all celestial changes to manifest the unchanging..." The mantra of the Dragon of Swallowing Wind flowed through Lu Yuan’s mind, phrase by phrase.

Following these heart-techniques, Lu Yuan circulated the flow of vital energy within him, which had long since transformed into Wind-Attribute vital energy, brimming with ecstasy. Unaware of how much time had passed, finally, above Lu Yuan’s head, a dragon weaving through the wind and air materialized: the Dragon of Swallowing Wind was complete.

This was the seventh dragon. Thus, the seven Devouring Dragons finally achieved great completion.

He had been cultivating this technique since first entering the Central Heavenly Dynasty; it was only now that it was fully realized. And at that moment, countless divine senses flooded into Lu Yuan’s mind.

He did not know when, but a figure clad in grey robes appeared in his consciousness. This figure had an unremarkable face and looked at Lu Yuan, saying, "Finally, a living being has appeared who has mastered the Formless Devouring Art." Lu Yuan couldn't help but ask, "Who are you?" "I am the Ancestral Dragon." The figure slowly turned its head.

Its appearance defied description; it seemed that this person was inherently representative of all greatness and majesty in the cosmos, as if he were the heaven and earth itself—the heaven and earth was him. He could resemble anyone, yet perhaps resembled no one at all.

The Ancestral Dragon! Lu Yuan was intensely startled.

In legends, he was the paramount expert of the Dragon Path, analogous to the Chaos Civilization Beast, the paramount expert of the Beast Path. Both the Chaos Civilization Beast and the Ancestral Dragon were Lords of Civilization, beings closest to the Eternal Lord.

Yet, rumors suggested the Ancestral Dragon had vanished untold epochs ago. To think his Formless Devouring Art was actually created by the apex expert of the Dragon Path—no wonder it was so formidable.

No wonder this technique was so heaven-defying. The Ancestral Dragon spoke, "This Formless Devouring Art is actually a failed creation." A failed creation?

Lu Yuan paused. This technique possessed immense power; few even in the Ancient Civilizations could match it.

"This technique can absorb all manner of script, ultimately transforming to birth the supreme script character, the Dao-Character. I intended to attain the realm of the Eternal Lord by mastering the Dao-Character that no one else grasped.

But alas, even with the Dao-Character in hand, I could not reach the Eternal Lord. Thus, it is merely a failed work.

I possess at least a dozen such creations," the Ancestral Dragon said nonchalantly. So that was it.

Even mastering this Dao-Character did not grant passage to the Eternal Lord. The Ancestral Dragon's goal had been to assault the realm of the Eternal Lord.

Lu Yuan felt no particular disappointment. To be honest, he wasn't an exceptionally ambitious person.

Normally, he'd be content hiding in some remote corner, drinking. If it weren't for the necessity of reviving the Sword Dao, he likely wouldn't have exerted himself so fiercely.

Now, he was forced into it. The Eternal Lord realm held considerable allure for other great powers.

But truthfully, for him, the attraction was zero. As long as the Sword Dao could be revived, what did the Eternal Lord matter?

He truly wasn't that idle. Since ancient times, countless Lords of Civilization had failed; he never considered it his objective anyway.

Furthermore, the Formless Devouring Art was quite potent; it was only considered less impressive when weighed against the ambition of a peerless figure like the Ancestral Dragon aiming for the Eternal Lordship. "Since you are the inheritor of the Formless Devouring Art, and the only one in these countless epochs to successfully cultivate it, I shall pass on the subsequent stages to you.

The Formless Devouring Art achieves near-total absorption of Second-Tier Scripts, but its attraction to Initial Scripts is extremely weak," the Ancestral Dragon stated. Lu Yuan was struck by this; it was indeed a genuine problem.

It seemed he currently couldn't absorb Initial Scripts at all. "The continuation of the Formless Devouring Art requires the character 'Swallow' (Tun).

If the Initial Script Tun can be obtained, most Initial Scripts will be drawn into it; that is the true Formless Devouring Art," the Ancestral Dragon looked at Lu Yuan, "I hope that in an epoch far from now, a being such as you appears before me." With that, the Ancestral Dragon's form slowly dissipated into nothingness. Lu Yuan felt somewhat adrift.

He hadn't heard mention of the Ancestral Dragon for epochs; he didn't know if the Ancestral Dragon was alive or dead, existent or extinct. But regardless, he had finally obtained the remainder of the Formless Devouring Art.

The follow-up required pairing it with the Initial Script, Tun. Snapping back from the awareness within his divine sense, Lu Yuan circulated the seven Devouring Dragons.

Instantly, seven colors—gold, cyan, white, crimson, azure, void, and violet—swirled. Lu Yuan desperately wanted to seize some Second-Tier Scripts to devour now, to complete his Dao-Character; he was eager to try.

Of course, before that, he had to head toward the Heart. The descent into the Abyss of the Feet had taken a considerable amount of time; the battle at the Heart should be on the verge of commencement.

Lu Yuan instantly summoned his sword and flew upward. On his ascent, he encountered few people.

Finally emerging from the Abyss of the Feet, he observed that the number of people scattered about had significantly diminished. Casually inquiring midway, the person at the Eighth Heaven of the World Realm answered with equal casualness: "The Heart is about to start, and the Heart holds the most Chaos Civilization Fragments.

Those fragments are immensely useful to everyone. Except for the weakest among us, everyone else rushed straight to the Heart; no one has time for other places." I see; the Heart was indeed about to activate.

Once it did, it would be time for frantic plundering. He needed to speed up then.

As soon as the Heart opened, he could obtain the Chaos Heart Crystal he required, along with the greatest concentration of Chaos Civilization Fragments. He would fly directly to the final battlefield now.

As he flew toward the Heart, the number of people on the route grew denser. After flying for a long time, he finally beheld a colossal Heart.

It was truly an immense Heart, perhaps thousands of zhang in size, shrouded in a faint layer of Chaos-tinged mist, giving it a hazy appearance. Lu Yuan overheard someone nearby discussing, "This Heart has already shrunk.

The true Heart of the Chaos Civilization Beast was certainly much larger than this." This Chaos Civilization Beast's Heart had indeed shrunk. The Chaos Civilization Beast, once renowned as the largest in physical stature among the Lords of Civilization—it was no lie.

Lu Yuan saw two distinct groups gathered near the Heart. Lu Yuan casually chose the group on the right and flew straight towards them.

As Lu Yuan headed toward the right-hand faction, he vaguely sensed something amiss. The leading figures in this group seemed vaguely familiar.

The man at the forefront wore an inky-jade Qilin battle robe and held a great halberd—wasn't that the Son of Desolation? Upon closer inspection, he recognized the Desolate Saint Prince, the Jade Emperor, and the Son of Immortality among them.

This felt ominous; he had chosen the wrong direction. Lu Yuan had indeed erred.

Gathering near the Heart were all the high-level experts from the Holy Land of Civilization, including the Son of Desolation, Hua Fasheng, the Jade Emperor, the Son of Immortality, the Son of Law, the Son of Martial Arts, the Desolate Saint Prince, the Saint Prince of Law, and others, all assembled in one place. As mentioned earlier, the Holy Land of Civilization was currently divided into two primary factions: the Desolation Alliance and the Anti-Desolation Alliance.

The Desolation Alliance was centered around the Son of Desolation. The Anti-Desolation Alliance was centered around Hua Fasheng, though both alliances were temporary coalitions.

At the Heart, the Desolation Alliance and the Anti-Desolation Alliance stood separately, awaiting the Heart's opening so they could seize the Chaos Civilization Fragments. Now, it was obvious that Lu Yuan had inadvertently chosen the wrong direction and flown toward the Desolation Alliance side.

Lu Yuan was initially startled when he saw the alignment. The members of the Desolation Alliance hadn't noticed the approaching figure right away, but the distance wasn't extreme, so someone quickly recognized his identity.

"The sword master, isn't that Lu Yuan, the Eighth Son of Fortune?" "It's Lu Yuan!" "He's definitely with the Anti-Desolation Alliance; why is he running to the Desolation Alliance? Has he gone mad?" "He must have made a mistake." "That's too careless.

How could he misidentify things like this?" "He's courting death. Here in our Desolation Alliance, he will die immediately." Seeing Lu Yuan cause this mess, the members of the Desolation Alliance loudly remarked on how muddled the Eighth Son of Fortune was, likely half-drunk, and how he was now truly seeking his own demise.

Lu Yuan realized at that instant he had taken the wrong path and prepared to change direction immediately. Ordinarily, upon seeing Lu Yuan, the Son of Desolation would have attacked instantly; he would never grant Lu Yuan any space to grow.

The Son of Desolation's principle was always to strike down an established opponent immediately, regardless of time—this was his style. However, he was currently engaged in a fierce mental battle of divine sense with Hua Fasheng, the strongest being below the Fifty Heavenly Ranking, and he dared not be careless, unable to spare the focus to dispatch Lu Yuan.

But while the Son of Desolation couldn't act, figures like the Jade Emperor, the Son of Immortality, the Desolate Saint Prince, and the Moonlight Buddha were capable of striking. They naturally all wanted Lu Yuan dead and lunged out, attacking him.

However, Lu Yuan had already realized his misstep and was changing course toward the Anti-Desolation Alliance on the left. Consequently, figures at the Half-Step Civilization Realm, such as the Jade Emperor, the Son of Immortality, the Desolate Saint Prince, and the Moonlight Buddha, could not catch up.

But they couldn't keep pace with the two figures from the Star Civilization, Xing Ruohe and Xing Ruohai, both at the Tenth Heaven of the World Realm. The Star Civilization was always renowned for its speed; their velocity slightly surpassed even Half-Step Civilization Realm experts like the Jade Emperor and the Son of Immortality, allowing them to intercept the misguided Lu Yuan a moment sooner.

It all happened in a flash of lightning and flint.