210: Returner

The yellow sand fell with a rustle, covering the last traces of Sha Xie, as if he had never existed.

Li Dong stood where he was, motionless.

Inside his body, the "divinity anchor point" he had just swallowed was stirring up monstrous waves.

Mountains collapsed, tsunamis raged, stars fell, and the world was born anew.

His Perfect Dao Body groaned under the unbearable strain of extreme shattering and reconstruction, yet in the next second, it erupted with even more vigorous vitality.

Peak Middle Stage of Soul Transformation.

The surge in power did not bring him much joy; instead, it brought a heavy sense of falling.

Those memories belonging to "Demon-Suppression Li Dong" were no longer stinging fragments, but had transformed into a rushing river, pouring into his current Soul.

The comrades from a century ago, their voices and smiles, the banter before every mission, the mutual support after every narrow escape... and, finally, that betrayal and despair under the bloody twilight.

Everything had returned.

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

He whispered to himself, his voice hoarse.

Who am I?

I am a monster who returned from the Void Realm, a hunter who devours divinity.

I am also... the missing commander of the Demon Suppression Division, Li Dong.

These two identities, like two venomous snakes, were tearing at each other deep within his Soul, yet under the powerful suppression of the Void Realm and the divinity core, they began to merge in a bizarre way.

Suddenly, something within him that had been sealed for a long time began to turn again, like rusted gears.

That was the imprint of the oldest and most core Cultivation Technique of the Demon Suppression Division.

In the past, they had been suppressed by the power of the Void Realm into silence, but now, with the recovery of his memories, these imprints were actively approaching and intertwining with the power of the Void Realm.

Li Dong subconsciously raised his hand and slightly curled his fingers.

Hum—

Streaks of pitch-black lightning leaped at his fingertips, but they were no longer pure "Void Demon-Suppression Lightning."

Within the lightning, one could faintly see ancient and complex Demon-Suppression runes appearing and vanishing, carrying an awe-inspiring righteousness specifically designed to restrain, Seal, and purify.

The power of Demon-Suppression and the power of the Void Realm, two forces that were like water and fire, achieved an unprecedented balance in his hands.

"Demon-Suppression Void..."

A brand new term naturally emerged in his mind.

This Divine Ability did not belong to the past, nor did it belong to the present; it was a product that belonged solely to him at this moment.

A password... to restrain the "Boss's" power?

Just then, the "hunting ground map" in his Sea of Consciousness, composed of "nest" coordinates, suddenly changed.

The endless Void "hole" representing the "Boss's" true form fluctuated slightly.

There was no anger, no intent to kill; instead, it was like a... curious scrutiny.

It was as if it were saying: "Oh? You remembered? Interesting."

Immediately after, in the far north of the map, an area completely covered by ice and snow, an ancient light point that had never lit up before suddenly flickered, its light weak, yet incredibly resilient.

That aura...

Li Dong's pupils constricted.

It was a secret stronghold of the Demon Suppression Division! It was the place they had last defended a century ago!

Was the "Boss" inviting him over? Or rather, was it provoking him?

"Using my past as bait?" Li Dong smiled, but there was no warmth in that smile. "It seems you are also very curious to know what exactly went wrong with this 'work' of yours."

He hesitated no longer; a wisp of his Divine Thought spanned thousands of miles and charged directly into the highest council chamber of the Demon Suppression Division headquarters.

...

Demon Suppression Division, Dragon-Seeing Terrace.

Elder Huo was pacing back and forth anxiously, while Elder Wen held a cup of tea that had long since gone cold, his brows furrowed.

"Still no news? What exactly is happening over at the Weeping Sand Sea?" Elder Huo slammed his hand on the table, making the teacup hum.

"Calm down." Elder Wen sighed. "Li Dong... his actions cannot be measured by conventional logic; we can only wait."

Just then, a vast and cold Divine Thought descended into the council chamber without warning.

"It is me, Li Dong."

The voice rang directly in the minds of all the high-ranking officials.

Elder Huo and Elder Wen stood up abruptly, their faces full of shock and uncertainty.

"Sha Xie is dead; I killed him. Like me, he was once a member of the Demon Suppression Division, devoured and twisted by the 'Boss' a century ago."

The flow of information was concise and cruel, carrying fragments of blurry yet real images that impacted the minds of everyone present.

"I have recovered part of the truth from a century ago. Now, I am going to the far north to end the beginning of everything."

In the council chamber, there was a deathly silence.

After a long time, an Elder spoke with a trembling voice: "He... he said he is Commander Li Dong who went missing a century ago? How is this possible!"

"Sha Xie... I remember this codename; he was one of the personal guards who followed Commander Li Dong back then!" Another Elder flipped through ancient books, his voice trembling.

"Could this be a sowing of discord by the 'Boss'?" A voice full of doubt rang out. "His power is bizarre, devouring divinity, and now he claims to be a predecessor of our Demon Suppression Division... This is too absurd! What if he has been completely controlled and is leading us to our deaths in the far north?"

For a time, there was much discussion, and suspicion and fear spread like a plague.

Elder Huo clenched his fists, his eyes full of struggle. He was both excited by the news of an old friend's return and terrified by Li Dong's incomprehensible power.

Just as everyone was arguing, three even older auras, appearing to exist with the heavens and earth, descended from the highest point of the Dragon-Seeing Terrace.

They were the three Grand Elders.

"Enough."

The aged voice directly quelled all the commotion.

"We believe him."

"Ancient records state that in the far northern ice plains, there is the 'Tower of the Lost.' It once suppressed a 'Primary Rift' that was older and more dangerous than the 'source of all evil' beneath the capital. That was the place where our Demon Suppression Division first clashed with the 'things from beyond the heavens,' and it is also... where Li Dong was last seen."

"Go." The Grand Elder's Divine Thought finally transformed into only these two words, directly transmitted to Li Dong, who was far away in the desert. "No matter who you are, no matter why you have returned, go and cut off the beginning of all that tragedy. The Demon Suppression Division... awaits your return."

Li Dong withdrew his Divine Thought and looked up towards the north.

He took a step, and his figure vanished into the vast yellow sand.

...

The far northern ice plains.

This was a forbidden zone of life; the howling cold wind was enough to freeze steel into powder in an instant.

But as Li Dong walked through it, it was as if he were walking on flat ground. Those bone-chilling cold winds, along with the faint Void Realm energy mixed within them, were automatically absorbed by his Perfect Dao Body the moment they approached him, turning into the purest nourishment.

He even felt... a bit comfortable.

This godforsaken place was actually quite good for one's health.

Following the guidance of the map in his mind, he traversed the continuous ice-covered mountain range and finally stopped deep within a huge ice valley.

A tall tower, buried by ice and snow for who knows how many years, stood brokenly ahead.

Most of the tower had collapsed, but on the exposed parts, one could still see those Demon-Suppression runes, familiar to the point of being carved into his bone marrow.

"Old friend, so you were still waiting here."

Li Dong said softly, as if greeting an old friend he hadn't seen in a long time.

He walked closer step by step and entered the tower.

The inside of the tower was empty and dead silent. The walls were covered with dried, blackened bloodstains, and the air was filled with a thick, inseparable Void Realm energy and... the smell of rust.

As soon as he stepped in, bursts of hallucinatory roars and screams rang in his ears.

"Hold on! The great formation cannot be broken!"

"A-Dong! Run! Take the spark and go!"

"For the Demon Suppression Division! For the common people of the world! Kill—!"

Scenes flashed before his eyes; it was as if he had returned to a century ago, personally experiencing that extremely tragic defensive battle.

He saw his companions falling one by one before him, turning into bloody, mangled corpses, while he himself was completely swallowed by an endless Void Realm rift.

That sense of despair and helplessness swept over him once again.

The divinity core within him beat wildly, as if resonating violently with some existence deep within the tower.

Li Dong was expressionless, walking step by step toward the top floor of the tower.

That was the core of the battlefield.

At the top of the tower, a huge Void Realm rift, over fifty meters in diameter, was like an ugly, unhealable scar between heaven and earth, constantly twisting and writhing.

From the rift, a suffocating, pure aura of the "Boss" was emitted.

And before the rift, a figure stood proudly.

It was a man completely frozen by ten-thousand-year black ice. He was wearing a tattered Demon Suppression Division commander uniform, holding a sword in one hand in a blocking posture, as if he had fought to the very last moment of his life.

With his own life and Nascent Soul, he had turned into this never-melting ice sculpture, guarding the rift tightly and slowing its expansion.

Between his eyebrows, there was also a mark.

A mark similar to Li Dong's, but eroded by frost and the power of the Void Realm, appearing in a twisted and painful state.

Li Dong saw that face clearly.

A face that, in his memories, always wore a gentle smile.

A century ago, the deputy commander of the Demon Suppression Division, his best brother, and the last person to cover his retreat—codename, "Ice Seal."

"...A-Feng."

Li Dong called out softly.

As if hearing his call, within the ice sculpture, the eyelids of Ice Seal's tightly closed eyes trembled slightly.

His body had long since died, but his consciousness had been tortured by this Void Realm rift for a century, unable to live, unable to die.

He sensed Li Dong's arrival.

A will, weak to the extreme but incredibly resolute, was transmitted from the ice sculpture, ringing intermittently in Li Dong's mind.

"...A-Dong..."

"...Don't... come over..."

"It... is waiting for you..."

"I... can still... hold on..."

Before the words could finish, the twisted mark between Ice Seal's eyebrows suddenly erupted with blinding black light!

The "Boss" in the rift seemed to be completely activated by Li Dong's appearance and began to frantically urge the backup plan it had left within Ice Seal's body!

Black cracks began to appear on the ice sculpture.

A mutation that had been delayed for a century was about to begin.