182: Yuanying is damaged

"Almost time, time to close the net."

Li Dong's voice echoed softly in the underground space, like a death sentence.

That magnificent golden figure fell into complete madness; it clutched its head, its body flickering rapidly between solid and illusory, as the roars of countless remnant Souls inside nearly broke through the shackles of divinity power.

It was a high and mighty Divine Envoy, a spokesperson for the gods walking on earth; how could it be devoured like food by a Mortal, a despicable "key"?

This was simply the greatest blasphemy and humiliation!

"No... I won't let you succeed!"

The golden figure snapped its head up, its face composed of light with all its features twisted together, its voice sharp and piercing, "Since I cannot bring you, this key, back, then let us both return to the brilliance of the God Lord! With my Soul, I offer a sacrifice here!"

Its body, that Late Stage Nascent Soul shell stitched together from countless Souls and divinity power, stopped struggling at this moment and instead began to collapse rapidly inward.

All the dissipated energy and all the wailing remnant Souls were pulled by an irresistible force, converging toward the core in its chest.

The light there instantly turned from a brilliant gold into a heart-palpitating pale white.

"Not good! It's going to self-destruct!" Wei Zheng shouted from outside the Formation.

A Late Stage Nascent Soul's self-destruction, even if it was a fake, had enough power to raze this underground space and nearly half of the South Gate District above to the ground!

"Retreat! Guard your minds!" Li Dong let out a low shout, and instead of retreating, he stepped forward.

Self-destruction?

Isn't this just like serving a whole roasted lamb on the table and saying, "Please enjoy"?

"Your Highness, Old Ancestor! Increase the Formation's restraint!"

Before Li Dong's voice had even faded, a destructive shockwave that defied description erupted from the center of that golden figure!

There was no sound, no loud bang.

It was as if the entire world had been muted.

Only a pure white light, capable of purifying all things, instantly filled the entire entrapment Formation.

In front of this white light, the Formation's light barrier twisted violently like thin paper, emitting a groan under the unbearable burden.

Wei Zheng, Li Qingxuan, and the Royal Ancestor all felt an irresistible force hit them, and they simultaneously spat out a mouthful of blood as their bodies were slammed hard against the rock wall behind them.

And Li Dong, who was at the center of the explosion, bore a hundred or even a thousand times the pressure they did!

"Excellent!"

The black crystal stone and the ancient stone slab in Li Dong's Sea of Consciousness erupted with unprecedented hunger, and his Perfect Dao Body seemed to have activated some ultimate permission at this moment, turning into a greedy black hole.

Come! Into my bowl you go!

The white divinity storm washed over his body, but it was like a river flowing into the sea, crazily devoured and converted by his Dao Body.

His parched Meridians were instantly filled, and the surging energy washed over every inch of his flesh and blood; the Golden Core, which had already been mostly repaired, had the last trace of cracks on its surface completely disappear under the infusion of massive amounts of pure energy, and it began to expand and solidify at an incredible speed!

Late Stage Golden Core!

Peak Late Stage Golden Core!

Just one final step away from glimpsing the threshold of the Nascent Soul!

Just as this gluttonous feast reached its climax, Li Dong suddenly felt something was wrong.

At the core of the explosion, the purest "divinity fragment" condensed after the fake Divine Envoy's self-destruction had not been completely locked by him.

It trembled slightly in the terrifying shockwave, actually broke free from Li Dong's devouring force field, turned into a tiny stream of light, pierced directly through the crumbling Formation light barrier, rushed out of the underground, and shot into the night sky outside the capital!

"Damn, a fish that escaped the net?"

Li Dong cursed inwardly, but there was no time to chase after it.

After ascending to the high sky, that divinity fragment exploded with a boom, turning into a sky full of golden light rain, drifting down to every corner around the capital.

The next second, outside the capital, the various forces that were originally fighting fiercely over false intelligence instantly ceased fire.

Countless powerful Divine Senses, filled with greed and fanaticism, simultaneously locked onto the golden light rain falling from the sky.

"It's a divinity fragment!"

"Nascent Soul-level divinity Origin! A massive Opportunity!"

"Grab it!"

After a brief silence, a chaotic battle a hundred times more intense than before erupted completely on the wilderness outside the capital.

To fight for a fragment the size of a fingernail, several Golden Core Cultivators fought with true fire, the light of their Magic Treasures illuminating the night as if it were day.

Deep underground, the light dissipated.

The entrapment Formation was covered in spiderweb-like cracks, clearly already scrapped.

But it had ultimately completed its mission.

A faint and joyful humming sound came from deep beneath the earth under their feet.

That was the Dragon of the capital.

In the explosion just now, it had instinctively absorbed a wisp of pure energy purified by Li Dong, like a patient suffering from a long drought finally getting some rain drinking a mouthful of ginseng soup, its dormant state seemed to have eased slightly.

"Cough, cough... Is it over?" Wei Zheng struggled to stand up, blood still hanging from the corner of his mouth; he stared blankly at the figure standing straight in the center of the Formation, his mind blank, "A Late Stage Nascent Soul... just like that... gone?"

"He wasn't killed." The Royal Ancestor braced himself against the wall, his aged face full of shock and complexity, "He was... eaten."

Eaten...

When Wei Zheng and Li Qingxuan heard this word, their hearts jumped violently. When they looked at Li Dong again, the feeling was completely different.

If Li Dong before was a peerless sword sharp enough to cut through everything, then now he was more like a bottomless vortex, an "anomaly" walking on earth.

"It seems," Li Qingxuan wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, her eyes shining astonishingly, "our gamble was right. This 'key' Li Dong can not only open locks but also eat them."

She looked toward the faint sounds of fighting outside and suddenly smiled: "Moreover, he casually threw the leftovers we didn't eat to the pack of hungry wolves outside. Now, they'll have plenty to be busy with."

Wei Zheng was also dumbfounded upon hearing this. A crisis that could have destroyed the capital was resolved by Li Dong in such an unbelievable way, and he even incidentally turned the external threat into a farce of mutual slaughter.

What kind of thing is this!

Li Dong ignored the trio's conversation; he was closing his eyes, carefully feeling the changes in his body.

His cultivation was stabilized at the Peak Late Stage Golden Core, and the Perfect Dao Body's "resistance" and "digestive ability" toward divinity power had been raised to a whole new level.

More importantly, he felt a closer connection had been established between himself and that "divinity core".

He was now confident that as long as he was given enough time, he could use this core to completely awaken the sleeping Dragon.

However, at this moment, the ancient stone slab in his Sea of Consciousness lit up again after digesting this big meal.

The command for [Void Realm Fusion] was stronger and clearer than ever before.

A more magnificent and heart-palpitating "hunting ground map" slowly unfolded in Li Dong's mind.

On the map that originally only had one dim light spot, at this moment, in the distant depths of the Void Realm, several brighter and larger "God Lord" level light spots had appeared.

And at the end of all the light spots, a "core" target, unimaginably huge and exuding the aura of Origin, was faintly visible.

A sense of hunger from the depths of his Soul surged into his heart again.

Li Dong slowly opened his eyes and looked at the deep night sky.

So that Late Stage Nascent Soul from just now didn't even count as an appetizer.

This banquet had only just begun to serve its courses.