165: Crystal Resonance

"Boom!"

Li Dong's body was like a nail hammered into a wall; he was embedded into the ground in front of the Vermilion Bird Gate, and spiderweb-like cracks spread out with him at the center.

His bones groaned, and his Meridians wailed.

The spiritual power within his body was almost bottomed out, and even maintaining the [Spiritual Domain] had become incredibly strenuous; the golden light shield flickered, ready to extinguish at any moment.

"How does it feel, 'key'?" The divine messenger's voice remained flat, yet carried a detachment like one looking down upon ants. "The power of the Nascent Soul Stage is not something you can imagine. Your little bit of cleverness has no meaning in the face of such an absolute gap."

He seemed to be admiring a work of art, savoring every tremble of Li Dong under the immense pressure.

"Now, offer up everything you have and become the stepping stone for the Lord God's descent. This is your supreme glory."

As he spoke, he raised his hand again. The giant palm that obscured the sky condensed once more, and this time, a bizarre single eye even appeared in the center of the palm, coldly gazing at everything below.

The pressure suddenly increased tenfold!

Li Dong let out a muffled groan, and unable to hold it back any longer, he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Damn it, am I really just a power bank?

But this charging method... it's a bit too hard on the "wires."

He felt his consciousness beginning to blur, and his Soul seemed as if it were about to be forcibly squeezed out of his body by this power.

"Li Dong! Retreat quickly!"

From afar came Wei Zheng's heart-wrenching roar, mingled with the urgent Phoenix cry of the Royal Ancestor. They were tightly entangled by another force and could only watch helplessly as Li Dong was crushed.

Retreat? Where to retreat?

The entire capital was within this damn Formation; even if he retreated to the ends of the earth, he would still be in their pot.

Just as Li Dong felt he was truly about to be pressed into a meat patty, deep within his Sea of Consciousness, the black crystal and the ancient stone slab, which had been quiet as a mouse, finally stopped pretending.

"Hum—!"

A vibration that did not come from the outside world, but directly from the depths of his Soul, erupted suddenly!

In an instant, a light of Chaos, far more ancient and domineering than the divine messenger's power, erupted from within Li Dong's body!

That light was neither gold nor black, but a chaotic, indistinct color. It did not attack the divine messenger but instantly enveloped Li Dong entirely.

"What... what is this?!" For the first time, the divine messenger showed a look of shock.

He clearly felt that the moment his power came into contact with that chaotic light, it was like a red-hot iron block falling into an ice pit; not only did it fail to melt the other side, but it was forcibly cooled and solidified by a completely unreasonable force!

Something even more incomprehensible to him happened.

Under the shroud of the chaotic light, Li Dong's body seemed to have turned into a bottomless black hole.

The "Divine Sacrifice Formation" that covered the entire city, extracting the Dragon Qi and the grievances of countless living beings, had its energy flow direction forcibly reversed at this very moment!

The black-gold energy that was originally converging from all directions toward the core of the Formation now seemed to have found a better destination; it went crazy, changed direction, and surged wildly toward Li Dong's position!

"No! This is impossible!" The divine messenger shrieked, the god-like composure on his face completely vanished.

This was no longer a power bank; this was directly stealing his substation!

His power originated from the Formation, and the Formation's power originated from the Lord God, but now, Li Dong, this "key," was actually reverse-hacking and absorbing the Lord God's power!

This was not a simple devouring. Li Dong could clearly perceive that the divine power surging into his body was being "analyzed" and "reconstructed" after being filtered by the black crystal and the ancient stone slab.

The rules belonging to the Lord God, which were full of corruption, were weeded out, leaving only the purest energy, as well as a trace of... information fragments of a higher dimension that he could not understand.

"Crack... crackle..."

The massive Formation covering the capital, those energy veins composed of black-gold runes, began to emit sounds of shattering under the unbearable strain.

Fine cracks appeared on countless core runes, the entire Formation's operational speed dropped sharply, and there was even a pause lasting several seconds!

The divine messenger's connection to the Formation was weakened to the extreme at this moment. The divine radiance on his body dimmed visibly, and that pressure of the Nascent Soul Stage also fell accordingly.

"Good opportunity!"

"Vile beast, die!"

How could Wei Zheng and the Royal Ancestor let such a god-given opportunity slip by!

"Roar—!"

The Golden Dragon reappeared; this time it was not a phantom but several times more solid, and the Imperial Dragon Qi transformed into sharp claws, tearing through the sky!

"Screech—!"

The clear Phoenix cry transformed into blades of sound waves, piercing directly into the divine messenger's Soul!

"You damned insects!"

The divine messenger was both shocked and angry, turning around in a hurry to defend.

Amidst a thunderous roar, the divine messenger's figure was forcibly blasted back dozens of yards, and his body, constructed of divine power, was struck with two huge gaps, with black Qi overflowing.

He had been defeated!

Although it was only temporary, it was the first true defeat since the war began!

However, Li Dong, who was at the center of the storm, could not be happy at all.

He felt like he was about to explode.

No, it was even more uncomfortable than exploding.

The black crystal and the ancient stone slab formed a frantically spinning small energy vortex within his body, and a massive amount of divine power surged in, instantly filling his nearly dried-up Meridians, and even the Bottleneck of his cultivation was vibrating violently.

But what followed was not the pleasure of a surge in power.

It was a kind of... hunger.

A kind of uncontrollable longing and screaming that originated from the deepest part of his Soul and from every cell.

That feeling was like someone who had been hungry for three days and three nights suddenly seeing a full Manchu-Han feast; the only thought was to swallow it, to swallow everything!

He craved more divine power, craved to devour the divine messenger before him, and craved to suck the entire sacrifice Formation dry!

Good grief, have I raised two ancestors in my body?

They are not some selfless Magic Treasures; they are alive! They need to "eat"!

This thought made Li Dong's whole body go cold. He realized that this power was not a cheat that could be used infinitely; every time he used it, he was feeding them with "divinity."

If this continued, would he also be changed by them and become a monster that only knew how to devour?

Just as this intense feeling of hunger was assaulting his sanity, amidst the chaotic light, deep within his Sea of Consciousness, that blurry image of the "Theocratic Empire" flashed by once again.

But this time, the image became slightly clearer.

In the center of that divine kingdom built from the corpses and faith of countless believers, behind that blurry statue of the Lord God, he saw it.

He saw a very inconspicuous... pitch-black crack that seemed capable of swallowing even light.

On the other side of that crack was the endless, cold, and despair-inducing Void Realm.

The black crystal and the ancient stone slab seemed to have... fallen out from that crack.