The moment the red light vanished, an overwhelming darkness engulfed the world—an abyssal darkness so dense with dust that even the sky itself turned pitch black. It was as if day had been devoured, replaced by an eternal night.
"BOOOOOMMMMM!!"
"BOOOOOMMMMMMM!!"
"BOOOOOOOOMMM!!"
All nine gods erupted with their full might, divine power surging outward to push back the crushing abyssal dust. Yet, the moment they forced it back, the dust surged in again like a living tide, trying to swallow them whole.
"DAMN YOU!!!!!!!" Liu Xiao roared, his voice trembling with fury as the surrounding world drowned in utter blackness. The abyssal dust here was different—it was alive, devouring everything in its path. It clung to the air like a curse and coiled around them like a serpent waiting to strike. Even he, a Supreme Ancient True God, felt an unnatural chill burrow into his bones.
"BOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!"
With a wave of his hand, the six worlds behind him erupted once more in divine brilliance. Their heavenly radiance exploded outward, tearing into the suffocating darkness. But this time… the result was different.
The mighty power that had once cleared nearly a million miles of the Endless Fog now only managed to part the dust for a pitiful hundred miles.
A hundred miles.
Liu Xiao's pupils contracted. This place… was not meant for them. Although he didn't know exactly where they were, he was certain—this had to be the deepest depths of the Endless Fog Sea. The soul-crushing erosion, the overwhelming suppression pressing down on their godly power—it was utterly terrifying.
On the other side, High Priest Wan Dao moved just as fast. His golden formation poles slammed into the abyssal ground, one after another, as sacred runes ignited and divine light surged to life. The formation flared—powerful and blinding—trying to lift the weight pressing down on their godly bodies.
But the moment his light touched the ground, his heart sank.
"This pressure…" Wan Dao muttered, sweat beading at his brow. He gritted his teeth as he infused even more of his godly power into the formation, yet no matter how much he pushed, the pressure on their bodies didn't lighten by much at all.
He—an Ancient True God—was still suppressed.
"BOOOOOMMMMMM!!!"
Three worlds exploded into view behind High Priest Wan Dao, each one radiating its own unique rhythm of heaven and earth. One glowed with the golden brilliance of divine harmony, another pulsed with ancient and unbreakable laws, while the third churned like a vortex of primordial power. The collision of their laws sent tremors through the corrupted void.
As Wan Dao's power surged, the unbearable pressure on the gods finally eased. Their backs, once bent under the weight of this place, straightened. Their breathing, once strained, found rhythm again.
Even still... they were far from safe. The corrosion here was terrifying!
"The pressure… it's lessening," Meng Kongchan muttered as he clutched Yun Che's scorched body tighter, sweat running down his temples.
"Kongchan... YOUR ARM!" Hua Fuchen's voice trembled with panic as his eyes widened in horror, seeing the sickening black veins crawling up Meng Kongchan's right arm like a plague.
"Cut it!!" High Priest Wan Dao roared without hesitation, his voice thunderous and commanding.
"BOOOOMMM!!" Without a second of doubt, Hua Fuchen summoned his divine blade and swung it down in a golden arc. The blade severed Meng Kongchan's arm cleanly at the shoulder, divine light flaring in its wake.
The severed arm hit the abyssal ground with a dull thud—and in mere moments, it turned ashen gray, crumbling into dust as the terrifying corruption of the abyssal erosion devoured it completely. There was no flesh, no bone left—only nothingness.
Meng Kongchan staggered back, his face pale and drenched in cold sweat, but his gaze never once left the unconscious figure of his son in his arms. He had poured nearly all of his divine power into protecting Yun Che from the crushing abyssal pressure… leaving himself completely vulnerable.
"Dammit!" Hua Fuchen clenched his fists, his heart pounding. "You fool! You almost got yourself killed!"
But Meng Kongchan didn't respond—his eyes were locked on Yun Che, filled with pain, fear, and unrelenting resolve. He would rather lose everything... than lose his son again.
Wan Dao's gaze remained fixed on Yun Che—or rather, the limp, scorched body cradled protectively in Meng Kongchan's trembling left arm. The youth's face was pale, his breath faint, yet steady... and still, even in unconsciousness, his presence stirred something inexplicable.
That father… That love…
Such devotion, such desperation—it was a strength. But in the eyes of someone like Wan Dao, it was also a dangerous weakness. A thread that could one day be pulled and unraveled by those who knew how to exploit it.
He narrowed his eyes slightly. One day, it might be Meng Kongchan own undoing.
But this wasn't the time to dwell on sentiment.
Wan Dao exhaled sharply, his expression hardening as he turned his eyes toward the sky—toward the sea of suffocating abyssal dust overhead. His divine senses stretched, sharp and probing, trying to pierce the soul-crushing gloom.
"Fog Monarch! What did you do?!" His roar split the fog like thunder, echoing across the corrupted sky.
That red light…
It wasn't just a teleportation.
It was a perfect trap.
A teleportation technique so advanced, so precise, that even he—Wan Dao, the greatest formation master in the entire Abyss—had failed to notice it coming, failed to sense its activation, failed to react in time.
His hands trembled slightly. Not in fear.
But rage.
"Nothing much, hahaha…"
The eerie, mocking laughter echoed through the suffocating fog, bouncing from every direction, resonating within the bones of every god present. The ancient voice replied casually to Wan Dao's furious demand, dripping with sinister glee.
"I simply left a little gift in the boy's body—a teleportation formation crafted with care. You see, I like that body far too much. Why would I give it up so easily?"
The gods froze for a heartbeat. The sheer audacity.
"You dare play tricks on us!" Liu Xiao's voice exploded like thunder, his six worlds behind him rumbling in rage. His divine might surged once more, but the pressure of the abyss immediately clawed it back down. "If I catch you this time, you're dead!"
"Catch me?" the voice chuckled darkly, "Please… if you survive this, maybe then you'll be qualified to try!"
"ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!"
A beastly roar, impossibly deep and soaked in pure destruction, tore through the suffocating dark and shook the sky that had long since lost its color. Then came another. And another. Each roar more thunderous than the last, as if the world itself was howling in agony. The very air vibrated with a primal dread, the ground beneath their feet quaking as though it too feared what was coming.
From within the crushing abyssal dust, countless pairs of glowing gray eyes slowly emerged—silent, watchful, and brimming with hostility. They stared at the gods from every direction, like predators waiting for a signal to pounce.
Then, the fog parted.
A massive silhouette stepped forward, its sheer presence bending the space around it. Its hooves cracked the unbreakable abyssal ground as it walked, and its body radiated a dark majesty, as if it had been born from the deepest depths of destruction itself.
"Abyssal Qilin God…" Hua Fuchen breathed, the name escaping his lips in a whisper lined with hatred and dread. His hands clenched into fists, his eyes narrowing with fury. "You're the one… the one that nearly killed Caili…!"
Before the others could react, another enormous figure slithered through the void, its scales shimmering with a murky sheen and its pupils gleaming like molten gold.
"Dragon Lord?!" another god exclaimed in disbelief, a rare tremor in his voice. "Here?!"
And they kept coming—one after another, monstrous beasts of legend, their auras surging like tsunamis. At least five of them, each one exuding power equivalent to the late stages of the Divine Limited Realm—the peak of all that stood below godhood!
And flanking them were dozens, maybe hundreds more. Each one a terror in its own right, all of them Divine Extinction Realm, middle-stage and above. The battlefield was surrounded. Suffocated. Flooded with the might of destruction incarnate.
In the area where they were in previously, these beasts would be nothing, but this time, it';s different! In this place, in the true depths of the Endless Fog, where godly power was smothered like a flame beneath the ocean...
These beasts were kings.
No—here, they were gods.
For Yun Che, having the majority of the abyssal beasts under his control annihilated by the gods wasn't a setback—it was the best outcome. Every fallen beast, every clash of divine might, was part of the plan. After all, he needed a believable reason to draw the gods deep into the Endless Fog Sea… and they had walked right into his trap.
He had expected a counterattack the moment he feigned surrender. What he didn't expect—yet quietly welcomed—was that it was High Priest Ling Xian who acted, using her Vermillion Bird flame. With a body that was near-immune to pure flame, Yun Che was able to endure it with ease. The injuries that marked his flesh… all self-inflicted.
At the time of his "kidnapping," he had only been at the sixth level of Divine Master Realm. Now, even if his strength had grown, he suppressed his aura so that the gods would sense only what they expected to find. With the Ni Yuan stone helping, his disguise was perfect. To them, he was just a heavily wounded junior… not the master orchestrating everything in the shadows.
And no one—no one—suspected the burned, limp body resting in Meng Kongchan's arm was the one commanding the nightmare surrounding them.
Speaking of Meng Kongchan…
His one arm held Yun Che tightly, never loosening even as the abyss around them churned with killing intent. He had already poured nearly all of his godly strength into Yun Che's body, forming layers of divine energy to shield him from the abyssal corrosion. The corrosion here could tear apart even gods… yet he would protect his son, no matter the cost.
Yun Che, in that moment, felt a storm of emotion. His "father" energy flowed through him like warmth in a frozen world, and for a moment, a flicker of guilt passed through his heart.
But he couldn't stop. Not now.
This rescue… this reunion… it could not be so easy. Not when his plans were just beginning to take shape.
With but a thought—his thought—the five late-stage Divine Limited Realm abyssal beasts howled and launched themselves into the battle!
"
"ROARRRRRRRRRRR!!!"
The five abyssal beasts charged headlong into the temporary haven carved out by the gods, their overwhelming destruction radiating like a tide seeking to crush everything in its path!
"How dare you look down on us!" High Priest Ling Xian's voice rang like thunder, laced with divine fury. Even if her strength was halved under the abyssal suppression, an Ancient True God was still an Ancient True God! Her might, her existence, still stood above all True Gods—even those at their peak!
"BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!"
Her divine aura exploded, igniting the space around her in a storm of vermillion flame. The Vermillion Bird within her bloodline screamed to life, and she surged forward like a comet of fire.
Her flame tore through the void, divine heat distorting space as it slammed into the leading beast. In an instant, it was engulfed—its grotesque form crackling and burning as the godly fire annihilated it from existence.
But just before its final breath—
"ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!"
The Abyssal Dragon Lord's roar shattered the silence. Its call didn't just echo—it pierced. The roar vibrated across every thread of divine sense and space, interrupting Ling Xian's flow of power at the final instant.
"Ugh...!" A flash of pain crossed her face as her divine soul trembled. Just for a breath. Just for a heartbeat. But that was all the beast needed.
With a flash, the half-burned beast slipped back beyond the barrier, retreating into the suffocating darkness of the abyssal dust. The moment it re-entered the corrupted zone, its charred abyssal flesh began to regenerate rapidly—devouring the surrounding dust as nourishment. As for other beasts, they all scattered into different direction!
"How dare you!!!" Ling Xian roared in outrage. Her soul. Her divine soul! Even momentarily stunned—by a beast! A Divine Limited Realm beast no less!
Her fury surged with her flames as her gaze locked on the Abyssal Dragon Lord. And without hesitation, she shot forward like divine judgment descending from the heavens—aiming straight for the monster who dared touch her soul!
"ROARRRRRRRRRR!!!"
The Abyssal Dragon Lord opened its maw wide, a torrent of gray flame condensing in its throat before it erupted forth like a river of annihilation, screaming toward the incoming god with soul-searing intensity.
"DIE!!!" High Priest Ling Xian thundered in response, her voice cutting through the storm of destruction. She didn't flinch. She didn't slow. That gray flame—no matter how vile or terrifying it was to others—meant nothing to her.
A mere Divine Limited Realm flame? Against me?!
She raised her left arm, and the instant the flame touched her, the gray flame didn't even manage to hurt her, she didn't even feel a thing! Without even looking, she know the flame cannot do anything to her. As the daughter of the Vermillion Bird, her affinity with flame transcended comprehension. In all the Abyss, no being—not even her Lord—would dare claim greater dominion over flame than her!
"BOOOOMMMM!!!"
The Dragon Lord's abyssal flame slammed against her, but it was like water against a mountain—ineffective, meaningless.
Her right hand burned to life with celestial heat as she summoned the true flame of her bloodline. Vermillion fire surged out like divine wrath incarnate.
"BOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!"
The world cracked. Space itself screamed. The heavens above and the abyss below trembled under the strike. The Abyssal Dragon Lord didn't even have time to scream before the flames engulfed it entirely. Its regeneration, its resistance, all meant nothing before this ancient power.
It was turned to ash. No—to nothing.
On this day, the Abyssal Dragon Lord fell. And not a trace of its existence was left behind.
"Hmm!" High Priest Ling Xian snorted coldly, her fiery gaze locking onto the remaining beasts. She was just about to surge forward again when—
"Ling Xian! Pull back now!" High Priest Wan Dao's voice suddenly rang out, sharp with urgency, his expression contorted with horror.
"Ling Xian, return to us now!" High Priest Liu Xiao bellowed right after, his eyes wide with disbelief as he too saw what Wan Dao had just noticed.
"What are you two talking ab—?!" Ling Xian's words caught in her throat as she turned to glance at them… only to stop cold.
Her eyes dropped.
Her left arm—was gone.
Her pupils shrank as she saw a gray flame creeping across where her arm had been, inching higher, licking at her shoulder like a living parasite.
Her entire left arm had been burned off, and she hadn't even felt it happen.
Her heart seized. Her breath hitched. Then—
"Ah… AHHHHH!!!" A shriek tore from her throat as divine energy exploded from her body in desperation. She threw all her power toward her shoulder to extinguish the flame, but to her horror, it kept going—relentless, devouring, unstoppable.
Without another option, Ling Xian gritted her teeth and forced her power into a single burst.
BOOOOOOM!!!
Her left side detonated in a controlled explosion, blasting away the creeping gray flame just before it could reach her core. In the same instant, her figure blurred and shot back toward the other gods.
"I'm fine. It's just a flesh wound," she said coldly, landing amidst the stunned group of gods. Her voice was steady, but her expression was grim.
The others could only stare in silent shock. A flame that could burn off the body of an Ancient True God—without her even realizing it until it was almost too late?!
Just what kind of flame was that?
When had the Abyssal Dragon Lord gained such power? Or… was it even its power to begin with?
Still, they all took a breath of relief when she confirmed it was only a flesh wound. For a god, especially one at their level, regrowing an arm was hardly a matter. A few hours—at most a day—and she'd be whole again. But even with that assurance, the unease in their hearts only grew as they turned their attention back to the beasts before them.
Then—
"Wait… the spot they're standing on…"
High Priest Wan Dao's voice trembled as realization dawned, horror blooming across his face.
BOOOOM!!!
BOOOOMMMMM!!!
BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!
With synchronized force, the three remaining abyssal beasts slammed their massive limbs into the ground.
Cracks shot outward like spiderwebs, and with each stomp, the formation poles that sustained Wan Dao's Divine Formation shattered one after another.
The divine light that had been shielding the gods from the crushing pressure of the abyssal ground flickered… dimmed… and then—
It vanished.
Instantly, the soul-crushing suppression of the Endless Fog Sea returned in full force, crashing down upon them like a mountain of death.
"I hope you brought more formation poles, old Dao!" High Priest Liu Xiao shouted, his voice strained as he struggled to maintain control of his six worlds. Holding back the abyssal dust alone was already consuming most of his strength—he couldn't spare even a flicker more right now.
"You think I'm a one-trick pony?" High Priest Wan Dao replied with a forced grin as dozens of formation poles shot out from his sleeve like streaks of golden lightning. They plunged into the ground in perfect symmetry, each one igniting with divine light as he poured his power into them.
Once more, the divine formation flared to life. The soul-crushing pressure began to ease, the abyssal weight lifting from the gods' shoulders.
Still, despite his confident front, Wan Dao's hands trembled slightly. With a speed that only someone at his level could manage, he swallowed down the blood rising to his lips. The destruction of the previous formation had hit him hard—being directly connected to the divine array, the backlash was no joke.
But now was not the time to show weakness.
"Careful of the flame, Ling Xian," Liu Xiao reminded, his voice tense. "We still don't know which of them carries it."
"Got it," she replied, her voice low, steady—yet in her eyes, there was a flicker of fire that hadn't been there before. She glanced toward the abyssal beasts, a smirk slowly curling at her lips.
"If I can't tear them apart up close..." she said, the air around her starting to heat up with divine intensity, "...then I'll just burn them all from afar."
With that, her body rose high into the air, drifting above the others as a searing explosion of Vermillion Bird flame ignited around her. The heavens trembled with heat as three majestic worlds shimmered into view behind her—each one a radiant sphere of elemental might.
Fire. Ice. Lightning.
Of the three, her world of fire blazed the brightest. Its glow surged through her, igniting every fiber of her being with divine power, its heat resonating like a phoenix's cry across the endless gray sky.
"BOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!"
Her divine aura erupted with overwhelming force, shaking the ground and ripping open the space around her. Her gaze turned to the beasts below, sharp and fierce.
"Earlier, I let my guard down. But no more! You all shall—"
"PUKEEEEEE!!!"
Her words were ripped from her throat as her face turned deathly pale. Blood sprayed from her lips as her form trembled violently—and then, without warning, she plummeted from the sky!