239: Clash of Wills, Light of Purification
At the top of the fortress, the air froze like iron.
Ye Chen's sudden appearance and his earth-shattering accusation acted like an invisible cold wave, instantly freezing the intense Battle Intent of all the Panshi Warriors, leaving behind only shock and bewilderment.
Everyone's gaze was focused on the three figures in confrontation.
Rock Mountain's massive rocky body tensed slightly, and the joints of his fingers gripping his war hammer creaked from the force.
His face, originally as steady as a mountain, now had stiff muscles, and the trace of panic in the depths of his eyes at being seen through was quickly replaced by a twisted ferocity.
"Senior Ye Chen... why do you say that?" Rock Mountain's voice was low and hoarse, carrying a sense of offended anger, yet hidden within it was a trace of imperceptible guilt.
"The Abyssal Lord has awakened, the Ancient Path is in peril, and seeking reinforcements is the only way to survive! Could it be that you... intend to sit idly by while the defense line collapses?!"
He attempted to occupy the moral high ground, placing Ye Chen in a position of disregarding the overall situation.
Beside him, Xi was pale as paper, her delicate body trembling slightly.
She dared not look directly into Ye Chen's gaze, which seemed capable of piercing through the Soul, but instead clutched the metal fragment tightly, whispering, "No... it's not like that... we did it for... survival... for... continuation..."
Her defense was weak and powerless, more like a form of self-consolation.
Ye Chen looked at them, his eyes devoid of anger, holding only a deep sorrow and cold determination.
He could clearly "see" that two strands of grayish, abyssal will, filled with temptation and twisted meaning, were like maggots boring into bone, deeply rooted in the core of Rock Mountain and Xi's Divine Soul.
It was twisting their cognition, amplifying their desire for survival and their fear of the abyss, turning them into Puppets!
"For survival? You can betray your allies and lead the butcher's knife toward your own kind?" Ye Chen's voice was not loud, but it sounded like a thunderclap, exploding within Rock Mountain and Xi's Souls.
"Look at your Divine Soul; it has long been eroded by the filth of the abyss! This so-called request for reinforcements is nothing but a trap to lure us in! Wake up!!"
He stopped wasting words, and the power of the seed of chaos in his brow and the initial fire seed erupted simultaneously!
A warm and blazing radiance of Chaos, containing the essence of purification and hope, like the rising sun, suddenly spread out from him, enveloping Rock Mountain and Xi!
"Light of Chaos Purification!"
This was not an attack, but a redemption!
It was Ye Chen's application of the "Life" and "Purification" aspects of the Chaos Law after the Fusion with the fire seed, aimed at dispelling and purifying the abyssal temptation that had eroded their Divine Soul!
"Ah——!!!"
The moment the Chaos radiance fell upon them, Rock Mountain and Xi let out shrill screams simultaneously!
That was not physical pain, but the extreme torture brought about by the intense conflict between two diametrically opposed wills as their Souls were being purified!
They clutched their heads and howled, their facial expressions twisting and changing.
At times, they looked as ferocious as evil ghosts, filled with resentment toward Ye Chen and a reliance on the power of the abyss; at other times, they showed struggle and pain, which was the weak resistance of their true consciousness against the abyssal erosion!
"No... don't... take away... the power..."
"Survive... we must... survive..."
"Betrayal... is the only... path to survival..."
"No... that is... wrong... ahhh——!"
Chaotic fragments of thought escaped from their twisted mental fluctuations.
The earthy yellow light around Rock Mountain clashed violently with the grayish abyssal aura, causing fine cracks to appear on his massive body.
Xi was curled up on the ground, the metal fragment fallen to the side; she clutched her hair tightly with both hands, her sapphire-like eyes filled with painful bloodshot veins.
The Panshi Warriors inside the fortress were stunned by this sudden turn of events.
Seeing their beloved Commander and the Watcher in such pain, they were at a loss, and their ranks fell into Chaos.
"Steady! Everyone hold your positions! The Commander and the Watcher... have been eroded by the power of the abyss!" Ye Chen's voice was like a stabilizing force, reaching the ears of every giant with unquestionable majesty.
"I am trying to purify them! Lock down the fortress, and strictly forbid any information from being passed outside!"
His command carried the will pressure of the Law Realm, causing the chaotic giants to execute it subconsciously.
The fortress's defensive light barrier was raised to its maximum, isolating the interior from the exterior.
The purification continued.
The Chaos radiance was like a warm flame, burning away the grayish aura within the Divine Soul of Rock Mountain and Xi.
The abyssal will was extremely stubborn, resisting crazily, and constantly releasing various twisted illusions and whispers, attempting to interfere with Ye Chen and backlash against the power of purification.
"Look... your so-called purification... brings... only pain..."
"Give up... only by accepting the abyss... can you obtain... eternity..."
"They... have long since fallen... beyond saving..."
The cold whispers were like vipers, coiling around Ye Chen's mind.
"Noisy!"
Ye Chen's Dao Heart was as firm as a rock; how could it be shaken by such tricks?
He fully activated the Light of Chaos Purification and even drew upon the undying belief in protection left by Blazing Venerable in his Sea of Consciousness!
"Senior Blazing Venerable! Lend me your strength!"
As if responding to his call, the initial fire seed that had merged into his primordial fetus leaped suddenly, and a purer, more scorching power of purification surged forth, merging into the radiance!
This power, carrying Blazing Venerable's reluctance to see his comrades fall and his determination to save them, had an extremely strong restraint against the abyssal temptation!
"Sss-sss-sss——!"
The grayish aura in Rock Mountain and Xi's Divine Soul, under this Light of Purification that combined Ye Chen's Chaos Origin and Blazing Venerable's belief in protection, melted and evaporated rapidly like snow exposed to the scorching sun!
Their twisted and ferocious expressions gradually calmed down, and their struggling howls turned into painful but conscious groans.
Seeing that the purification was about to succeed, the lurking abyssal will seemed to realize it was at the end of its road and launched a final, frantic counterattack!
It no longer attempted to maintain the temptation, but instead sought to detonate Rock Mountain and Xi's Divine Souls along with their Physical Bodies!
"Since... I cannot control you... then let us... perish... together!!"
Two extremely unstable grayish light orbs, filled with destructive energy, suddenly condensed between Rock Mountain and Xi's brows, looking as if they were about to explode with a roar!
Once they exploded, not only would both of them be annihilated in Soul and body, but the entire top of the fortress could be razed to the ground!
"Don't even think about it!"
Ye Chen's eyes sharpened, and the Space Law and the authority of "Force" that had been ready to launch were activated simultaneously!
"Space Imprisonment!"
"Power Stripping!"
He pressed his hands into the void, and the invisible power of space instantly froze and solidified the space around Rock Mountain and Xi, forcibly imprisoning the two balls of destructive energy that were about to erupt!
At the same time, the overbearing Law of Force turned into an invisible giant hand, fiercely reaching into the imprisoned space, precisely grabbing the cores of those two grayish energy balls, intending to forcibly extract and crush them!
This was an extremely dangerous operation; any slight carelessness could trigger the bomb prematurely or cause irreversible damage to the Divine Souls of Rock Mountain and the other!
But Ye Chen's control over power had reached the Transcendent level, and the Chaos Law encompassed all things!
That overbearing power, wrapped in the Chaos Origin, became like the most precise scalpel, carefully cutting and stripping away the abyssal core that was tightly intertwined with their Divine Souls!
"Get out——!"
Ye Chen let out a violent roar, and his hands pulled outwards fiercely!
"Puff! Puff!"
Two soft sounds, like pulling out two poisonous thorns deeply embedded in flesh!
The two grayish energy cores, struggling violently and emitting malicious curses, were forcibly extracted by Ye Chen from between Rock Mountain and Xi's brows!
Just at the moment the energy cores left their bodies——
"No——!!!" Two shrill abyssal shrieks, filled with endless resentment and unwillingness, emanated from the two energy balls, and then quickly dimmed and dissipated.
As for Rock Mountain and Xi, it was as if all their strength had been drained; their eyes rolled back, and their massive and delicate bodies collapsed to the ground simultaneously, falling into a deep coma.
At the center of their brows, only two faint marks remained, which were being rapidly repaired by the Chaos radiance, but that unsettling grayish aura had completely vanished.
The purification... was successful!
Ye Chen panted slightly, looking at the two unconscious figures, and then at the two grayish energy cores in his hand that had lost their activity and were being purified into nothingness by the Chaos currents, his eyes grave.
He had gone through hardships to successfully rescue Rock Mountain and Xi from danger, thwarting the trap set by the enemy in the request for reinforcements.
But this crisis had also completely exposed the terror of the abyssal infiltration and the riddled state of the defense line.
He raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the fortress, looking toward the direction of the Thousand Illusions Maze.
That awakened Abyssal Lord would absolutely not give up because of the failure of this plan.
A greater storm was coming.
And he must also find out as soon as possible, to what extent exactly... had the abyss infiltrated?