177: The rise of the alien?

The "Army Breaker" flying boat hovered silently in the night sky. Below, the valley that was once an altar was now nothing but a purified, sacred clearing.

Wei Zheng’s eye twitched, his mouth hung open for a long time, but not a single word could escape.

Finally, he looked at Li Dong, who stood at the bow of the ship, his clothes still stained with blood, yet his figure as steady as a mountain, and choked out, "You... what is this? Even storybooks wouldn't dare write it like this."

Broken and then established? No, this is far more sinister than that.

"Just good luck," Li Dong replied casually, though his attention was not on him.

"Luck?" Wei Zheng almost jumped up. "You call this luck? You're dancing in the Divine Lord's minefield and even swiped their family heirloom!"

Li Qingxuan said nothing; her gaze shifted between Li Dong and the erased threat below. After the shock came an unprecedented sense of stability. This man always seemed to be able to tear open an incredible path to survival in the most desperate of situations.

The Royal Ancestor stood with his hands behind his back, a certain light flickering in his turbid eyes. He did not look at the battle results but kept staring at Li Dong, as if studying a rare treasure he had never seen before.

"He is no longer human," the Old Ancestor suddenly spoke. The voice was not loud, but it made both Wei Zheng and Li Qingxuan quiet down.

"Old Ancestor..."

"I am stating a fact," the Old Ancestor's tone was calm. "The Perfect Dao Body was originally just an 'object,' but now it has 'come to life,' possessing its own will and desires. It is no longer a mere Dao Body, and Li Dong is no longer a mere Cultivator. He has become an... alien entity. An alien entity wandering between divinity and the Void Realm."

These words made one's spine chill, yet there was no fear on the Old Ancestor's face; instead, there was a hint of inexplicable... excitement?

"But right now, the Great Xia needs such an alien entity," the Old Ancestor concluded.

Just then, Li Dong's body swayed without warning. The jet-black mark on his forehead suddenly lit up like a red-hot branding iron, and a will of extreme malice crossed the endless Void Realm, descending with a roar!

[Traitor—!]

There were no extra words, only pure rage and killing intent. This mental shock was far beyond any previous instance; its goal was not Possession, but to completely crush Li Dong's Soul.

"Li Dong!" Li Qingxuan stepped forward.

"Don't panic." Li Dong raised his hand to signal he was fine. He withstood the shock, even revealing a strange expression on his face.

This Divine Lord... is truly a generous benefactor.

Every time it gets angry, it packages up some of its own secrets and sends them over along the connection.

[You dare to devour my followers! Steal my authority! You base worm, you contaminated vessel! I will...]

The Divine Lord's cursing came to an abrupt halt, as it discovered its power was like a clay ox entering the sea. Not only that, but with this angry shock, certain "network structures" it used to connect to this world, certain deeper "node distributions," were being forcibly parsed by the mark on Li Dong's forehead and "gifted" to him in the form of an information stream.

"Thanks for the hospitality," Li Dong replied in his heart.

The Divine Lord's will, filled with incredulous fury, receded like a tide.

Li Dong opened his hand, and in his palm lay the contaminated Soul body stripped from the Remnant Soul of the Dark Scorpion. In front of everyone, he channeled a wisp of the purification power he had just comprehended, which carried fragments of divine Law.

The black aura on the Soul body rapidly dissolved, revealing the originally muddled Soul light of the Nether Scorpion Elder. The Soul light flickered, and a weak but clear fragment of consciousness emerged in everyone's minds—it was the suspicion within the Shadow Council regarding the Divine Lord's promise of "eternal life," and the weariness of endless slaughter.

Wei Zheng saw it clearly: "They... are not all doing this willingly."

"This gives us a direction," Li Qingxuan's eyes brightened. "Splitting them, turning them—it's not impossible."

Li Dong did not respond. He put away the Remnant Soul of the Dark Scorpion and took out another item—the "divinity core" seized from the Divine Envoy.

Previously, in their eyes, this thing was just an unbreakable energy block. But now, after absorbing the Law fragments "gifted" by the Divine Lord, Li Dong's perception of it was completely different.

This was no longer a combination lock, but an open instruction manual.

"So that's how it is..." Li Dong muttered to himself.

He closed his eyes, sinking a sliver of his mind into the interior of the core. Another part of his mind, following the strange connection just established, sensed the Dragon vein deep beneath the capital, which had fallen into a deep slumber.

The next moment, he carefully drew out a wisp of power, finer than a hair, from the "divinity core" and gently "pushed" it toward the Dragon vein.

Hum—

The entire capital region felt a barely audible tremor.

Deep beneath the ruins of the imperial palace, the "Dragon head" of the Dragon vein, which had long since lost its luster, actually lit up slightly, emitting a weak but longing response.

It's working!

Wei Zheng and Li Qingxuan simultaneously felt the vibration of the flying boat beneath their feet and the fleeting sign of a Spiritual Qi recovery. They looked at each other, both seeing the wild joy in the other's eyes.

Repairing the Dragon vein, the Foundation of the Great Xia's national fortune, now has hope!

However, Li Dong's mind did not linger on this for too long. Because just a moment ago, the mysterious black crystal stone and the ancient stone slab in his Sea of Consciousness had a more violent reaction after devouring the new divine fragments.

That "hunting ground map" unfolded in his mind with a roar, clearer and more magnificent than ever before.

On the map, the network of light points representing the Divine Lord's forces was clearly marked. But this time, the boundaries of the map extended outward countless times, and in the more distant, deep, and boundless Void Realm, new and terrifying light points were lit up.

Some light points were like blazing stars, emitting an overbearingly tyrannical will to devour.

Others were like deep black holes, from which not even light could escape, leaving only pure silence and finality.

They... were all far more massive and ancient than the furious Divine Lord from just a moment ago.

A cold and grand command came from the ancient stone slab once again, stronger than ever before—[Void Realm Fusion].

Only then did Li Dong understand that the Divine Lord was merely the "hunter" closest to him in this dark forest.

And further away, there were countless more terrifying "predators," watching covetously.

The Perfect Dao Body within him became restless as never before; it was not fear, but a kind of... hunger, like facing a full-course feast.

At the same time, the newborn Golden Core in his Dantian, entwined with purple thunder patterns and transparent ripples, completely stabilized. Middle Stage Golden Core, filled with power, stronger than ever before.

Li Dong opened his eyes, gazing into the depths of the night sky, as if he could pierce through the clouds and see those greedy gazes hidden behind the stars.

Trouble, it seems, has only just begun.