141: Chapter 141 Devouring the Origin, Fragments of the Reincarnation Seal Gather

【Warning! Ancient God-level will awakening detected! Target "Guiyi" is a mutated evolutionary entity born from the core fragment of the "Void Devourer" after absorbing Netherworld Authority over long years! Ultimate goal: Devour all Netherworld Authority and replace the Netherworld Heavenly Dao! Suggest abandoning keys immediately and evacuating at full speed! Repeating...】

Blood-red system alarms flashed frantically, the cold mechanical voice carrying an unprecedented urgency.

“Withdraw?” Lin Chen stared at the terrifying eye emerging from the seven-colored light, composed of countless tiny Soul Vortexes, his lips curling into a cold arc. “Why should I spit out the meat that's already at my mouth?”

As soon as his voice fell, the [key of suffering] and [key of memory] in his hands were suddenly snatched by an invisible force, flying out and turning into streaks of red and silver light, shooting towards the seven-colored light at the core of the vortex!

“The keys!” Su Qingyu cried out in alarm.

“Boss! Stop them quickly!” Zhang Hao stomped his feet in anxiety.

Lei Xiao (Original) swung his axe to intercept, but the axe light slid past the streaks of light as if they were in another dimension.

Lin Chen didn't move. He didn't even look at the two keys flying away; his gaze remained fixed firmly on that cold “Eye of Guiyi.”

He was calculating, sensing.

His connection with the keys hadn't been completely severed. The deep-level permissions bound by the system, along with the Nether Lord Bloodline aura he had infused into the keys, acted like the most secretive anchors, allowing him to still vaguely sense the status and position of the keys.

“It's luring them, accelerating the fusion,” Lin Chen whispered. “It's not simply devouring the keys; it wants to use them as 'coordinates' and 'catalysts' to completely detonate and absorb the Netherworld Authority fragments contained within... especially the part that resonates with the 'samsara seal'!”

Sure enough, the moment the two keys plunged into the seven-colored light, the [key of the soul - incomplete form], shaped like a dark-gold heart and suspended in the deepest part of the vortex, suddenly erupted with unprecedented light! A pure, ancient wave, seemingly carrying the aura of the Netherworld's origin, resonated violently with the incoming keys!

The three keys began to rotate and draw closer within the seven-colored light, as if they were about to merge into one!

“Buzz—!!!”

The entire Soul Vortex—no, the entire rule level of the Netherworld—trembled because of this resonance! Countless illusory chains and gear phantoms appeared in the sky; these were the manifestations of the Netherworld's underlying rules, now fluctuating due to the violent changes in authority!

Within the Eye of Guiyi, the rotation of the countless tiny Soul Vortexes accelerated, revealing a cold sense of “pleasure” and “desire.”

“Authority... Guiyi... Heavenly Dao... Reshaping...” A fragmented, grand will spread out, filled with a non-human, pure desire for “existence” and “devouring.”

“It's using the keys to forcibly pry the core rules of the Netherworld! It wants to 'write' itself into the underlying Heavenly Dao of the Netherworld!” Lin Chen realized instantly. This “Guiyi” was more terrifying than a simple fragment of the “Void Devourer”; it had a clear goal and evolutionary path—not destruction, but “usurpation”!

It had to be interrupted! Before it completed the fusion and tied itself completely to the Netherworld's rules!

“System!” Lin Chen shouted in his mind. “Highest authority application: Deploy all available nether talisman reserves to activate the [Directional Rule Interference/Pollution] program. Target: The fusion process of the three keys! Interference sources: Use the 'Traitor Dragon General Dragon Aspect's Remnant Soul,' 'Traitor Judge's Remnant Soul,' and 'soul skeleton gate's Core of Suffering' I just collected!”

Since “Guiyi” wanted to absorb clean Netherworld Authority, he would add some “flavoring”! He would use the most filthy, distorted reverse-rule information, filled with betrayal and pain, to pollute this fusion!

【Command received. Assessing feasibility...】

【Target "Guiyi" is currently in a high-focus fusion state. Defenses are concentrated on external physical and energy levels, making its defense against rule-level 'Information Pollution' relatively weak.】

【Plan feasible. However, it requires consuming a massive amount of nether talismans to construct the 'Pollution Information Stream' and break through its peripheral rule barriers.】

【Estimated consumption: 85% of remaining nether talisman reserves (approximately 320 billion nether talismans). Requires a temporary pledge of a portion of the Host's soul origin as a risk guarantee for the 'Pollution Carrier.'】

【Confirm execution?】

Pledging soul origin? The risk was not small. But now, there was no time for hesitation!

“Confirm execution! Immediately!”

【Command confirmed. Burning nether talismans... Constructing Pollution Information Stream... Binding carrier...】

【Warning: Soul origin pledge in effect. If the pollution fails or the carrier damage exceeds 30%, the Host will suffer permanent soul trauma.】

【Pollution program, launch!】

There was no earth-shattering light or violent energy impact. Only an invisible, intangible, yet distorted “information stream”—containing Dragon Aspect's and the Judge's ten thousand years of hatred from betrayal, endless memories of painful torture, and the massive amount of negative emotions absorbed by the soul skeleton gate—pushed by Lin Chen's burning 320 billion nether talismans. Like a most secretive virus, it silently penetrated the rule barriers outside the seven-colored light and accurately injected itself into the core area where the three keys were merging!

“Hmm?”

The Eye of Guiyi showed an emotional fluctuation similar to “confusion” for the first time. It felt that within the “pure authority” it was about to absorb, something extremely “disgusting” and “discordant” had suddenly mixed in. It was like a bucket of foul-smelling blood and rotting internal organs had been poured into a pot of delicious soup about to boil!

The fusion process came to a sudden halt!

The resonance of the three keys became chaotic and distorted. A phantom of the Judge's twisted, sinister smile appeared on the key of suffering; images of Dragon Aspect's backstabbing dragon claws flashed in the key of memory; even on the dark-gold key of the soul, scenes of countless souls wailing in pain from the soul skeleton gate began to emerge!

“Filth... Interference... Purge...” A trace of annoyance seeped through Guiyi's cold will as it tried to mobilize power to purify these “impurities.”

However, at the very moment it was distracted by processing the pollution—

Lin Chen moved!

He had been waiting for this exact moment!

“Little Red Clothes! Maximum power! Memory interference! Aim for that eye!” Lin Chen roared.

Little Red Clothes, who had been on standby, immediately pushed her heavily modified [memory interference projector] to its limit! An unprecedented chaotic beam of light, mixed with countless fragmented happy memories, peaceful images, and even hypnotic ripples, slammed into the Eye of Guiyi!

The Eye of Guiyi was focused on processing the internal pollution and was caught off guard by this seemingly “weak” mental interference from the outside. Although it couldn't cause substantial damage, the “meaningless,” “peaceful,” and “discrete” information forcibly shoved in—completely opposite to its essence of “devouring” and “Guiyi”—was like throwing a handful of sand into a precision-running supercomputer. It caused its cold and ruthless will to experience an extremely brief, negligible—stutter!

Perhaps only 0.01 seconds.

But for Lin Chen, it was enough!

The [nether domain asset system], ultimate operational authority, was activated once more!

This time, the target was not “Guiyi,” nor the keys.

It was—the Soul Vortex itself! And the massive amount of imprisoned and tortured pure soul origin at the core of the vortex, briefly exposed because the fusion process had been interrupted, which served as the energy source for forging the “key of the soul”!

“System! Calculate the total value of all 'ownerless' and 'illegally imprisoned' soul origins in this area! Activate the most efficient [Forced Acquisition and Emergency Withdrawal] program! For the acquisition funds, use the expected returns from the portion of my soul origin I just pledged as a deduction!”

Lin Chen was gambling! Gambling that the system would recognize the future returns of him “investing in his own soul” as credit collateral for the current acquisition!

The system seemed briefly silenced by this crazy financial operation once again, but based on the core principle of “everything can be traded,” it quickly completed the assessment.

【Target soul origin valuation... calculation complete. Value approximately 500 billion nether talismans.】

【Host's pledged soul origin expected returns (estimated based on current growth rate and authority)... valuation 800 billion nether talismans.】

【Credit collateral established.】

【Starting forced acquisition... Acquisition complete!】

【Starting emergency withdrawal program—forcibly extracting, condensing, and transforming all acquired soul origins in this area into the highest purity 'Soul Essence'!】

“Rumble—!!!”

The entire Soul Vortex, like a giant beast whose spine had been removed, suddenly collapsed and wailed! The countless souls that formed the main body of the vortex, imprisoned and tortured for untold ages, seemed to have found ultimate liberation. They turned into a sky full of brilliant silver points of light, then surged toward Lin Chen like the Milky Way flowing backward!

No, they surged toward a “rule withdrawal port” temporarily opened by the system in front of Lin Chen!

A massive amount of soul origin power, pure to the extreme, was frantically compressed and refined. Finally, in front of Lin Chen, it condensed into a [Supreme Soul Essence] only the size of a fist, yet seemingly containing a sea of stars and constantly shifting with seven-colored luster!

With its energy source gone, the Soul Vortex instantly collapsed and dissipated! Only that thin seven-colored light remained, along with the three keys within the light that had become extremely unstable due to the sudden loss of energy, their fusion process completely interrupted and even starting to conflict and backlash against each other!

“No!!! My foundation! My resources!” The Eye of Guiyi let out a roar of true anger and heartache (if that cold fluctuation could be called a roar). It had lost its most important source of soul energy, its plan was interrupted, and even the three keys were in jeopardy!

It suddenly turned all its fury and attention toward Lin Chen. Within those cold eyes, countless Soul Vortexes began to rotate in reverse, emitting a terrifying suction and rule-crushing force that sought to devour and crush Lin Chen along with that [Supreme Soul Essence]!

But Lin Chen didn't even look at it.

With a wave of his hand, the [Supreme Soul Essence] fell into his palm. At the same time, taking advantage of the moment when the three keys were in conflict and their connection with “Guiyi” was weakened, he used his previous binding and bloodline connection to forcibly “pull” them back from the seven-colored light!

The key of suffering and key of memory were in hand. As for the third key, the dark-gold [key of the soul - incomplete form], the moment it left the seven-colored light, it actually let out a “crack” and its outer shell shattered!

Beneath the shell, what was revealed was not a complete key, but a... damaged fragment of a seal, emitting an endless aura of reincarnation, seemingly carved from the most ancient nether jade!

【Ding! Supreme Artifact detected: reincarnation seal fragment (one of the core components)!】

【Detected that the Host has gathered the three rule credentials of Suffering, Memory, and Soul (fragment), and they are resonating with the reincarnation seal fragment!】

【Conditions met, hidden ultimate authority unlocked...】

The system notification voice became solemn and majestic.

Lin Chen looked down at the three keys (the key of the soul had turned into a fragment) rotating and resonating around that reincarnation seal fragment. A sense of vast power, as if he could control the life, death, and reincarnation of the Netherworld, suddenly awakened from the depths of his soul!

He slowly raised his head and looked at the ancient will that had completely revealed its true form due to rage—a mass of writhing, seven-colored distorted flesh attempting to re-condense (Guiyi's true form).

Then, he held up the slightly glowing reincarnation seal fragment in his hand.

“Now,” Lin Chen's voice was calm, yet carried a majesty that could judge heaven and earth,

“it's my turn to acquire you.”

“Using the true 'Heavenly Dao' of this Netherworld.”

(Hook: The reincarnation seal fragment's light intensified, actually projecting a towering phantom behind Lin Chen—a face-blurred but majestic as hell figure: the Rule Imprint of the First Generation Underworld Lord! The moment this imprint appeared, all the rule chains in the entire Netherworld that had not yet collapsed chimed in unison and bowed! And that “Guiyi” mass of flesh, it let out a shriek of extreme fear and hatred, as if seeing its natural enemy, and frantically tried to flee back into the depths of the void!)