174: Anchor point fluctuations

"Get out of my head!"

Li Dong let out a silent roar in the deep sea of his consciousness.

That will from the God Lord was like a pervasive plague—cold, viscous, and carrying an unquestionable arrogance—attempting to twist and format every single one of his thoughts.

His spirit seemed to have become a whiteboard being repeatedly erased and rewritten, where the handwriting that originally belonged to "Li Dong" was being covered by a more ancient, more domineering script.

Agonizing pain was the only sensation.

It was not physical pain, but the torture of his Soul being forcibly torn apart and reshaped.

[Give up, tiny lifeform.] The will was not transmitted through sound, but through the direct infusion of concepts, [Struggling is meaningless and will only add to your suffering. Look, this is the truth of the world.]

In an instant, Li Dong's consciousness was forcibly dragged into grand and desperate tableaus.

He "saw" flourishing Mortal Realms, like grains of sand in a sea of stars. In a single moment, all life upon them—whether Mortal, Cultivator, or even flowers, grass, fish, and insects—simultaneously lost their "meaning." Their existence was crushed by an invisible force, transformed into the purest streams of energy, and flowed into an indescribable, even more vast "Divine Kingdom."

There was no conquest, no enslavement, only cold "formatting" and devouring.

The Mortal Realm was the field. Living beings were the crops.

The harvest season had arrived.

[Do you see clearly now? Become a part of me, become my most perfect vessel, and you will escape this boring Reincarnation. I will grant you eternal peace, and... the power to control it all.]

That temptation was like maggots in the bone, pointing directly at the deepest exhaustion and desire in the human heart.

Who does not want to obtain eternity? Who does not want to obtain power?

Just nod, just give up the resistance, and this pain tearing at his Soul would disappear, replaced by the peace of a god.

"Screw your peace!" Li Dong used every ounce of his will to erect a mental barrier in his Sea of Consciousness. Even though the barrier was teetering under the impact of the God Lord's will and covered in cracks, he roared, "Even if I die and rot into mud, it's still better than being your 'canned goods'!"

This crude but tenacious resistance seemed to enrage that high and mighty will.

The pitch-black rune between his brows suddenly grew searing hot, and the erosive force abruptly doubled!

However, just as this will attempted to completely assimilate Li Dong, a sudden change occurred!

The Perfect Dao Body, which had been passively enduring the impact, suddenly "came alive" like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. A domineering, unparalleled instinct to devour, originating from the deepest part of life, awakened from every inch of Li Dong's flesh and blood!

If the God Lord's will was a high and mighty "imperial edict," then the instinct of Li Dong's Perfect Dao Body was an unreasonable "hunger"!

"Mine?"

"No, it's mine!"

An invisible suction force erupted from the depths of Li Dong's Perfect Dao Body, targeting the God Lord's mark between his brows and beginning a reverse "stripping" process!

That high and mighty God Lord's will was like a huge block of cheese, and the awakened Perfect Dao Body was like a starving mouse, beginning to crazily gnaw away tiny crumbs from the cheese!

Those crumbs were the most core Law fragments within the divine power. Flickering with barely perceptible light, they were forcibly torn from the mark by the Perfect Dao Body, then unceremoniously devoured and subjected to Fusion.

Li Dong's body trembled violently; he felt as though he were about to be blown apart by the struggle between these two terrifying entities.

Yet at the same time, an unprecedented realization rose in his heart along with the integration of those Law fragments. He began to vaguely understand what "divinity" was and what "rules" were.

"So... that's how it is..."

This feeling was like a blind man seeing light for the first time.

The God Lord's will seemed to fall into a momentary stupor due to this sudden backlash, and the force of its erosion slowed.

Li Dong seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and snapped his eyes open.

"Li Dong!"

"Kid, you're awake!"

The stone door of the secret chamber had long been pushed open. Wei Zheng and Li Qingxuan were anxiously waiting outside, while the Royal Ancestor stood behind them with locked brows.

"Listen..." Li Dong began, his voice hoarse as if two pieces of sandpaper were rubbing together, "The enemy... has already been activated."

"What do you mean?" Wei Zheng strode in, his face full of exhaustion and confusion. "Wasn't the God Envoy already killed by you? Where did this enemy come from?"

"That was just a... a vanguard." Li Dong gasped, feeling his lungs like a broken bellows. He struggled to raise his hand and pointed at the divinity core floating in mid-air. "The God Lord has buried 'seeds' throughout the entire Great Xia... they are mental anchor points."

"Mental... anchor points?" Wei Zheng clearly didn't understand this new term.

"Something that can convert fanatical believers on a large scale." Li Dong explained with extreme difficulty. The mark between his brows began to throb violently again; the God Lord's will had regained its senses and was attempting to cut off his connection to the outside world. "The capital is just one of them, and the largest one at that. The others... right now... have all awakened!"

Before he could finish speaking, a Jade Slip at Wei Zheng's waist suddenly flashed with a frantic, blood-red light.

Wei Zheng's expression changed, and he quickly picked up the Jade Slip. After a sweep of his Divine Sense, he froze in place.

"What's wrong?" Li Qingxuan asked quickly.

"...You were right." Wei Zheng's voice was dry. He raised his head and looked at Li Dong, his eyes filled with unbelievable shock. "We just received an 800-li urgent military report. Yun Province, Ji Province, and Qing Province around the capital... have simultaneously erupted into large-scale riots of fanatical believers."

He paused, seemingly organizing his words: "It's not the kind of scattered rioting from before. They... they are very organized, like an army, and are... are gathering in the direction of the capital!"

Li Dong closed his eyes. Through the mental network constructed by the God Lord's mark, what he "saw" was far more terrifying than Wei Zheng's military report.

In his perception, those fanatical believers converging from all directions were not simply conducting a military gathering. Their marching routes and the locations where they gathered all followed a bizarre rhythm. The life force of countless individuals was being uniformly orchestrated by those activated "mental anchor points," weaving into familiar networks...

That was... the prototype of a sacrificial formation!

They were not trying to attack the city!

They intended to turn the vast land outside the capital into a new, larger sacrificial ground, using millions of living beings as fuel to complete the "divine descent" that had failed in the capital!

What a ruthless method!

The failure of the battle in the capital did not make the God Lord retreat; instead, it made him flip the table and directly launch a full-scale assault!

"Lord Wei, it's too late..." Li Dong spoke again, his voice carrying a cold calmness. "They are not here to attack the city."

"Then what are they trying to do?"

Li Dong did not answer directly, but cast his gaze toward that divinity core.

His Perfect Dao Body was still instinctively "stealing" Law fragments from the God Lord's mark. Although the speed was slow, it was continuously strengthening his understanding of divine power.

"This thing..." Li Dong pointed at the core, "is a codebook, but it needs a key to open."

He tried using his will to guide a wisp of the Law fragments he had just "stolen" to touch the core.

Hum!

The divinity core trembled slightly, as if it had sensed a power of the same origin. The flow of the halo on the core's surface accelerated, and the billions of changes in the Law of life and death within it seemed to reveal tiny gaps that could be deciphered.

There's a way!

Li Dong was overjoyed.

But the next second, the God Lord's mark between his brows grew hot again, and an interfering force surged out, instantly severing his connection to the divinity core. The gap that had just opened a crack "snapped" shut.

"Damn it!" Li Dong cursed inwardly.

The God Lord was clearly aware of the danger; it would rather let this core be ruined than give Li Dong a chance to crack it.

"Li Dong, what exactly are you trying to say?" Wei Zheng saw his expression shifting and was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

Li Dong raised his head, met Wei Zheng's anxious gaze, and said word by word: "They want to swallow the Dragon vein of the capital and completely sever the roots of the Great Xia."

"Order all defensive lines not to defend passively. Their true target is the... altars that those fanatical believers are building!"