206: Core Rage

“Is this the payment?” Li Dong repeated the Grand Elder’s words, withdrawing his gaze from that huge, pulsating tumor and looking back at the old man. “You guys really dare to name such a price.”

“This isn’t a price, it’s a plea.” The Grand Elder in the center’s voice was filled with a burnout-like exhaustion. “The Demon Suppression Division has shed too much blood already; we... can’t afford to gamble.”

Li Dong didn’t speak, just quietly looking at the “source of all evil” before him.

Good stuff, really good stuff.

The [divinity core] in his body was like a lunatic who hadn’t eaten in three days, screaming frantically, urging him to pounce and feast immediately.

As long as he swallowed this thing, reaching the Soul Transformation Stage would be a certainty.

But the cold warning from the [ancient stone slab] in his Sea of Consciousness was like a basin of icy water, forcing him to calm down.

Danger.

Deadly danger.

This feeling was very strange; the source of the danger didn’t seem to be this tumor emitting infinite pollution, but something else... something hidden even deeper.

“Are you sure there’s only this thing in this tower?” Li Dong suddenly asked.

The three Grand Elders exchanged glances, and the old man in the center shook his head: “The Demon Suppression Tower has existed since ancient times. Its deep structure is beyond our ability to probe. But for ten thousand years, the core it suppresses has always been just this one ‘source of all evil’.”

“Fine.” Li Dong shrugged. “Since the payment is on the table, I won’t be polite. But let’s get the ugly words out of the way first: once I start, I won’t care if your crappy tower falls apart.”

He paused and added: “You’d better use every ounce of strength you have to help me pin it down. Otherwise, if it explodes, this world will probably end up setting off a big firework along with it.”

“That goes without saying.” Elder Huo, who didn’t know when he had followed them down, replied in a deep voice, “We will use ourselves as the array eyes and activate the highest authority of the Demon Suppression Tower to buy you time.”

“Then let’s begin.”

Li Dong stopped talking and took a step forward.

The Grand Elders immediately returned to their respective positions, sat cross-legged, and formed profound hand seals.

“Suppress! Demon! Activate!”

The aged voice echoed at the bottom of the tower.

Hum—!

On the walls of the entire Demon Suppression Tower, those bronze runes that had been sleeping for who knows how many years lit up all at once. Golden light gathered into chains, binding tightly around the huge tumor in the center.

“Roar—!”

The tumor seemed to sense the threat, emitting a screech that didn’t sound like it came from a living creature. Violent divinity pollution erupted like a volcano, fiercely impacting the golden chains, and the entire space at the bottom of the tower began to shake violently.

“Now!” The Grand Elder’s voice carried a hint of urgency.

Li Dong grinned, as if he had seen the signal that the buffet was open.

The black vortex mark between his eyebrows spun crazily, and his whole body was shrouded in a layer of deep black light.

[Void Vortex]!

A visible black singularity appeared in his palm, then suddenly expanded, turning into a black hole that devoured everything, aimed at the tumor temporarily suppressed by the golden chains.

Terrifying suction erupted. The flesh and fascia on the surface of the tumor were forcibly torn off, turning into a pure torrent of energy that poured into Li Dong’s body.

Refreshing!

An unprecedented sense of comfort spread through his whole body; every cell was cheering.

However, the owner of this big meal was clearly not happy.

“—!”

There was no sound, yet it surpassed any roar.

A vast, cold will, filled with the desire for destruction, crossed endless spatial dimensions and descended with a boom!

The space at the bottom of the tower was forcibly torn open by this will, and a huge tentacle composed entirely of Void Realm energy reached out, carrying the power to crush all Laws, heading straight for Li Dong.

The “Boss’s” projection was here again! And this time, it was bringing a physical attack!

“Oh no!” Elder Wen and the others outside the tower had their expressions change drastically.

The golden chains made unbearable cracking sounds under the pressure of the tentacle. The three Grand Elders all spat out a mouthful of blood, their auras instantly wilting. They could suppress the tumor, but they couldn’t stop this angry strike from a higher dimension!

“Damn it, I knew it wouldn’t be this simple!”

Li Dong cursed inwardly, but he didn’t stop his devouring actions at all.

The greater the pressure, the greater the motivation!

With a thought, the new power within him was mobilized, and streaks of black lightning flashed within the vortex around him. This was something he had parsed from the Demon Suppression Division’s Cultivation Technique and then “magically modified” with his own Void Realm power—[Void Demon Suppression Thunder]!

Zzz—!

The black lightning combined perfectly with the Void Vortex, and the devouring power instantly skyrocketed, forcibly tearing a deep, bone-exposing rift on that huge tumor. Li Dong braced against the pressure and dove right in!

He wanted to dismantle it from the inside!

“Courting death!”

That grand will was thoroughly enraged. The Void Realm tentacle became even more violent, lashing out and actually shattering several golden chains. It looked like it was about to pierce through the Demon Suppression Tower’s defenses and drag Li Dong out of the tumor alive.

The members of the Demon Suppression Division outside the tower were already feeling despair, and the three Grand Elders looked like gold paper, their spiritual power drained, almost fainting.

Just at this critical moment.

A sudden change occurred!

The [ancient stone slab], which had been silent in Li Dong’s Sea of Consciousness, suddenly erupted with unprecedented, brilliant light.

It was no longer warning; it was directly taking action!

A blurry phantom of the stone slab emerged from between Li Dong’s eyebrows, growing with the wind, instantly becoming as huge as a mountain, and plainly blocking the path of that world-destroying Void Realm tentacle.

Boom!!!

A loud noise that couldn’t be described in words exploded in the depths of everyone’s Soul.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only the most primitive collision and annihilation of Law against Law.

The forward momentum of the Void Realm tentacle was forcibly stopped.

The phantom of the [ancient stone slab] also shook violently, and countless cracks appeared on it. Clearly, this head-on collision had cost it quite a bit.

But, this was enough!

“Nice job!”

Li Dong seized this fleeting opportunity. The black crystal key transformed from the [divinity core] in his body shone brightly at this moment.

“Give me... break!”

He poured all his focus into it, using the [divinity core] as a conduit to unleash the final Profound Truth of [Devouring Pseudo-God].

The black crystal key turned into a stream of light, piercing with extreme precision into the deepest part of the tumor, the invisible node connected to the “core”.

Click.

A soft sound, as if a key had been inserted into a keyhole, and then turned gently.

The connection between the tumor and that “Boss” was completely severed!

“Roar...?”

The tumor’s struggle came to an abrupt halt. It emitted a confused low moan, and then, the massive energy that had lost control began to collapse inward crazily.

Boom!

It didn’t explode, but like a pricked balloon, it rapidly withered and disintegrated amidst violent trembling, finally turning into a fist-sized, black-red divinity essence of extreme purity, floating in mid-air.

The next second, this essence was swallowed in one gulp by the [Void Vortex].

In Li Dong’s body, a crisp sound, like glass shattering, was heard.

The small black crystal Nascent Soul figure entrenched in his Dantian was instantly covered in cracks, then shattered with a boom. But these fragments didn’t dissipate; instead, under the pull of a higher-level power, they re-condensed and reshaped.

A more solid, more profound “God”, whose features were identical to Li Dong and whose whole body seemed to be carved from the most perfect black crystal, replaced the position of the Nascent Soul.

Soul Transformation Stage, achieved!

An unprecedented feeling of strength flooded Li Dong’s limbs and bones. He felt that with just a thought, he could tear open the space in front of him.

He raised his head, looked at the Void Realm tentacle that was being temporarily blocked by the phantom of the [ancient stone slab], and waved his hand casually.

A pitch-black crack appeared out of thin air, like a beast’s mouth, swallowing that arrogant Void Realm tentacle in one gulp, not even leaving a ripple behind.

“Get lost.”

Li Dong spat out the two words faintly at the void crack.

“—Roar!!!”

An unprecedented angry roar that shook the entire Void Realm came from the other side of the crack.

On the “Hunting Map” in Li Dong’s Sea of Consciousness, all the light points representing “Nests” dimmed at this moment, only the “Void” representing the final goal shone with unprecedented, blinding brightness.

That “Boss”, that true “core”, for the first time, felt the threat from a “bug”.

A real hunt had only just officially begun.