216: Temptation and backlash

On the Qingzhou battlefield, those Void Realm Clones trapped by the glass-like distorted space suddenly seemed to have been injected with a final madness.

Their massive bodies swelled without warning, countless fissures cracked open on their skin, and the destructive Void Realm Law inside them began to reverse frantically in an unprecedented manner.

"Oh no! They are going to self-destruct!" Elder Huo roared, his aged face instantly drained of all color.

What does it mean for a Soul Transformation Peak Clone to self-destruct? This land, along with all of them, these remnants of the defeated army, would be instantly evaporated into nothingness!

And now, there are nine! They intend to use a mutual destruction tactic to burst that eerie prison from the inside!

Lin Yue and the other surviving Cultivators instinctively wanted to retreat, but found their legs as heavy as lead. It's over, this time it's truly over.

However, the heaven-destroying energy storm they anticipated did not occur.

Those Void Realm Clones, expanded to their limit, were like punctured balloons, yet they could not make a single sound. All the energy generated by their self-destruction, capable of tearing apart heaven and earth, was tightly suppressed inside by that layer of glass-like space, churning and crashing madly, yet not a single bit could leak out.

Immediately after, an even more horrifying scene occurred.

That violent energy was forcibly kneaded, compressed, and filtered within the glass-like space by an invisible force... In the end, it actually turned into wisps of extremely pure energy flow, which sank into the Void Realm and vanished.

The entire process was terrifyingly quiet.

"This..." Elder Huo opened his mouth, unable to say a single word.

Lin Yue stared blankly at this scene, and Li Dong's nonchalant reply when facing the crowd's questioning at the top of the Demon Suppression Tower flashed through her mind.

"I ate them."

So... this is what he meant by "ate"? It wasn't a description, it wasn't a metaphor, but literal—to digest the enemy, flesh and bone, along with the power they were so proud of!

She suddenly felt that the boy who once needed her protection had already reached a height she could not comprehend at all.

Meanwhile, in Jing City.

That Void Realm tentacle descending from the sky, condensing the main body's will of "The Boss," easily tore through the outer defenses of the [Nine Dragon Heaven-Locking Array] under Li Dong's deliberate indulgence.

Like a black pillar of heaven, carrying endless malice and an aura of destruction, it struck straight at the heart, fiercely stabbing toward the heart of the Jing City Dragon Vein!

The hearts of the three Grand Elders guarding the Demon Suppression Tower were in their throats.

"This kid is playing with fire!"

"Too careless! This is a direct attack from the main body!"

They could feel that the intensity of this strike far exceeded any previous Clone.

However, just as the tentacle was about to touch the core of the Dragon Vein, it seemed to hit an invisible wall. No, not a wall, but more like a giant stomach wall covered in digestive glands.

Sss—

There was no violent energy collision, only a teeth-aching sound of corrosion.

At the tip of the tentacle, that indestructible Void Realm energy, containing high-dimensional Law, began to twist and disintegrate at a speed visible to the naked eye. The complex Law structure was forcibly dismantled, and the high-and-mighty power was pulled down from its pedestal, becoming... fragile, or even, one could say, crude.

"Is this... 'Dimensional Reduction'?"

In the heart of the Jing City Dragon Vein, Li Dong, sitting cross-legged, had his consciousness fully synchronized with the [Eternal Prison]. He perceived everything clearly, like a precise surgeon dissecting a sample delivered to his doorstep.

The secret technique he comprehended from the [ancient stone slab] allowed him to no longer simply use power to oppose power, but to perform a demotion process on "The Boss" from the root of the rules.

Your power is Advanced? Sorry, here, you have to follow my rules.

Deep in the Void Realm, that giant eye trembled violently.

An unprecedented pain spanned the endless space, striking directly at its core of will.

This was not a loss, not the energy consumption of a Clone being destroyed. This was a deeper, excruciating pain of being "deconstructed." It was like having one's own arm torn off, then placed under a microscope, dismantled one by one into muscle fibers, nerves, bones... and finally reduced to the most primitive particles.

Its own Origin was being forcibly analyzed and devoured by that thief in a way never heard of before!

"Roar—!"

A silent roar exploded in the Void Realm dimension, yet it was filled with helpless fury.

In the Jing City Dragon Vein, Li Dong turned a deaf ear to this roar.

He was completely immersed in the insights brought by this "digestion."

"So that's how it is. Your essence is 'parasitism,' not 'creation.' You seem powerful, but your Foundation is built upon twisting and polluting the Origin of other worlds... Therefore, once you encounter power capable of 'purification' and 'assimilation,' you have no way to counter it."

As the Void Realm tentacle was thoroughly decomposed and devoured by the [Eternal Prison], a massive and pure torrent of energy poured back into Li Dong's body.

A small part of it was the Origin power belonging to this world that had been stolen by "The Boss." They returned to the Jing City Dragon Vein, the Luck of the entire Jing City was invigorated, and the Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth seemed to become more vibrant.

The largest portion was the Void Realm Origin purified by the prison, as well as the Law information analyzed from it.

The Nascent Soul inside Li Dong greedily absorbed all of this, and his newly broken-through Soul Transformation Late Stage Realm was instantly solidified, even showing faint signs of climbing toward the Peak.

His understanding of the [Eternal Prison] deepened as well.

This thing is not a prison at all.

It is a converter, an ultimate weapon with growth potential. And he himself is the core that drives it, the one and only catalyst.

At the top of the Demon Suppression Tower, the three Grand Elders let out a long sigh of relief, looked at each other, and saw the shock and ecstasy in each other's eyes.

"It... is injured. Not a loss, but real damage."

"Li Dong succeeded, he really found a way to restrain that thing!"

"What are we waiting for?" The lead Grand Elder's eyes flashed with brilliance, his voice resolute, "Pass on my order! All remaining forces of the Demon Suppression Division, act immediately! Convert all activated lairs into extension nodes of the prison! We will not defend anymore, fully cooperate with Li Dong... feed it!"

The order spread throughout the entire Demon Suppression Division at the fastest speed.

Those Cultivators who were still struggling to hold on were stunned the moment they received the order.

No more defense? Turn the lairs into... food?

What a crazy, yet what an overbearing plan!

Deep in the Dragon Vein, Li Dong felt the "prison" nodes from all over the world being lit up one by one, the Origin power of the entire world was converging toward him, and the digestion speed of the [Eternal Prison] suddenly accelerated.

He knew that the stage of passive waiting had ended.

The bait had been cast, the big fish had tentatively taken the hook, and had been fiercely stung.

Next, it was the hunter's turn to take the initiative.

Li Dong slowly opened his eyes and stood up. His gaze seemed to penetrate the thick layers of the earth, crossing thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, accurately locking onto the Mobei battlefield.

There, a Void Realm Clone, completely controlled by the [Eternal Prison] and with the most abundant energy, was being slowly "digested."

"The appetizer is finished, it's time to taste the main course."

He muttered to himself.

"Starting with you, I will send your 'Boss' a big gift."