220: Dragon Vein Battle

“Since I cannot swallow it in one bite, then I will turn the entire Jing City, no, the entire world, into a mouth!”

The moment Li Dong's voice fell, he transformed into a streak of light, charging fiercely toward the entrance of the Jing City Dragon Vein beneath the Imperial City.

“Trying to run?”

The Ultimate Shadow's emotionless mental fluctuation resonated once more, its massive body following closely behind as it dove into the deep underground.

Li Qingxuan and the others on the surface felt a violent tremor beneath their feet, as if the entire Jing City were about to be overturned from below.

“Everyone, hold the entrance! Do not let anything come out!” Li Qingxuan's voice carried a hint of trembling, but it was filled with even more determination.

Deep within the Jing City Dragon Vein.

This was another world entirely.

The Qi of the Jing City Dragon Vein, thick enough to almost manifest into reality, formed golden rivers that flowed slowly through the massive underground cavern.

Upon entering, Li Dong felt as if he had returned to his home turf.

“Come, have a seat in my home.”

With a thought, the entire Jing City Dragon Vein seemed to come alive.

“Hum—” Countless strands of golden power from the Jing City Dragon Vein surged into Li Dong's body like a summoned tide. His Aura climbed steadily, and the presence that had seemed somewhat thin before the Ultimate Shadow now faintly possessed the qualifications to stand toe-to-toe with it.

The core of the Eternal Prison resonated perfectly with the power of the Jing City Dragon Vein.

“Clatter!” Invisible chains, woven from the power of the Jing City Dragon Vein and the Law of the Eternal Prison, shot out violently from the surrounding rock walls and from the golden subterranean rivers, aiming directly at the Ultimate Shadow that had just intruded.

“Roar!” The Ultimate Shadow clearly hadn't expected the environment here to exert such great suppression upon it. The moment it was entangled by dozens of chains, it let out a roar that shook the entire underground space.

This roar was no longer a mental fluctuation, but a pure, destructive sonic wave.

Its vague humanoid outline began to expand wildly, transforming in the blink of an eye into a Chaos demon god hundreds of zhang tall. With a casual wave of its arm, it whipped up a destructive Void Realm storm.

“Crack! Crack!” The indestructible rock layers of the Jing City Dragon Vein were as fragile as crackers before this storm, being scoured and annihilated in large swathes, turning into the most primitive nothingness.

The foundation of Jing City began to groan under the unbearable strain.

“Is that all you've got?” Li Dong stood in the distance, watching the opponent run wild in his “home,” his face showing no change in expression.

He slowly raised his hands; the “main course” he had prepared was finally ready to be served.

“Did you think I lured you here just to play hide-and-seek?”

As he spoke, the flow of energy deep within the Jing City Dragon Vein suddenly changed. It no longer flowed solely toward Li Dong but began to rotate at high speed, centered on the Ultimate Shadow.

An energy vortex, massive enough to shroud the entire core area, appeared out of thin air.

This was the true purpose of the “main course”—it wasn't a weapon, but a massive energy guide, a funnel!

There was only one goal: to “pour” this big guy in front of him entirely into the Eternal Prison!

From this moment on, the battle had transcended the scope of Spells and Divine Abilities.

This was a collision of Laws.

It was the ultimate showdown between the Law of Void Realm devouring and the Law of suppressing the Origin of the world.

Deep within the Jing City Dragon Vein, space was twisted, and time was chaotic. One second, time felt as slow as a snail; the next, the Ultimate Shadow's fist had already slammed toward his face.

Li Dong struggled to maintain the energy vortex while simultaneously activating his Perfect Dao Body to take the hit head-on.

“Bang!” Under the force of that punch, the vortex shook violently, and Li Dong's body swayed along with it.

“Pfft...” He had underestimated the power of a half-step Mahayana after all. Even with the dual enhancement of the Jing City Dragon Vein and the Eternal Prison, the opponent's unreasonable force still permeated through.

Fine cracks began to appear on his Perfect Dao Body, and golden blood seeped out along the fissures, only to be instantly evaporated by the violent energy.

Damn, that hurts.

But, he could still hold on.

There was not a hint of retreat in Li Dong's eyes; instead, they burned even brighter.

Just then, the Ultimate Shadow, tightly gripped by the energy vortex and being continuously dragged toward the core of the Eternal Prison, seemed to realize its fate.

A Void Realm fluctuation, even more bizarre and terrifying than any previous attack, erupted violently from within its body.

It... it was going to detonate the Jing City Dragon Vein!

It wanted to drag Li Dong, drag the entire Jing City—no, it wanted to drag the core of this world down with it!

“Madman!” Li Dong's expression finally changed.

This was the “boss's” final order: even if it couldn't eat, it was going to flip the table!

The Jing City Dragon Vein was wailing and trembling; the golden energy began to turn violent and unstable, and an Aura of destruction emanated from the depths of the earth's core.

A critical moment!

Just as Li Dong was preparing to risk severe injury to forcefully suppress this self-destructing force, the ancient stone slab that had been silent in his Sea of Consciousness suddenly flickered.

Hum— An invisible barrier instantly unfolded between Li Dong and the Ultimate Shadow, forcibly isolating the command force that was detonating the Jing City Dragon Vein!

The power of the ancient stone slab and the Eternal Prison produced a perfect synergy at this moment!

Now!

At this life-or-death moment, Li Dong's Void Eye was pushed to its limit.

The entire world transformed into countless flowing lines and data in his eyes. He pierced through the Ultimate Shadow's chaotic and violent shell and saw the core within its body.

That was no energy source, but a... a more refined, more stable “divinity anchor point”!

It was the terminal used by the “boss” to remotely control this projection!

So that was it; this thing wasn't an independent individual at all, just a marionette!

Found you!

Li Dong no longer hesitated, ignoring the severe pain radiating from his Physical Body. He violently forced his divinity core, which swirled with black and white Qi, out of his body, transforming it into a black crystal key that exuded an Aura of finality.

“I went through so much trouble to come back, and you still want to send me back? In your dreams!”

He poured everything he had learned in his life, and all his understanding of the Laws of the Void Realm, into this single strike.

Demon-Suppression Void · Devour—the ultimate Profound Truth!

The target was not the Ultimate Shadow's massive body, but the one and only, fatal “divinity anchor point” within it!

What he had to do was not kill this puppet, but... cut the strings behind it!

On the surface of Jing City.

All the surviving Cultivators and royal retainers felt the terrifying tremor coming from deep underground, one that threatened to tear their very Souls apart.

They didn't know what was happening below, but they knew the battle had reached its most critical moment.

“Hold the line!”

“Defend to the death!”

A centurion of the Demon Suppression Division roared, using his own body to plug a fissure that had been shaken open; the violent energy instantly swallowed him whole.

More people used their lives to build the final, fragile line of defense.

They did it for only one thing: to buy their Commander even a single breath of time.

For that sliver of hope for victory, which was so faint it was almost invisible.