Core of the Sea of Oblivion.
In the dark center of the Sea of Oblivion, the massive skinless Long is slowly circling Zhang Rongfang, continuously crawling, speaking words persuading him to activate the passage together.
Its voice is sometimes gentle, sometimes resounding powerfully, sometimes like a family member able to evoke resonance, full of strong persuasiveness.
Zhang Rongfang stands at the center, his wings slowly flapping, lost in thought.
The sky grows darker; the Sea of Oblivion never has sunlight shining upon it, only a faint glow from Taoyuan projecting downwards, extremely hazy.
But such glow fluctuates with the gray-black mist steaming from the sea surface.
Periodically, innumerable gray-black giant hands fly out from the sea, forming a tide-like impact, rushing upwards.
These densely packed black hands seem to want to grasp something, uselessly waving upward repeatedly.
At this moment, Zhang Rongfang stands at the island’s edge, already seeing slender black hands flying out from the seawater, stretching towards the sky.
They emit painful wails, cries of despair.
"See them? They are all the forgotten ones...." Long agonizingly sighs, "They’ve lost everything, lost their memories, also forgotten by the entities outside. And you...."
It turns to look at Zhang Rongfang.
"If you keep staying in this world, this soon-to-be-destroyed world, one day you’ll be just like them, forgetting everything that once was. Also forgotten by everything outside.... because you were never originally from here. Compared to the lives here, you are inherently an outsider..."
Zhang Rongfang remains silent.
The words spoken undoubtedly struck deep in his heart.
Indeed, everything of the Great Spirit, for him, was everything of the original Zhang Rongfang.
And he, everything of his true self, still lies in his homeland, that seemingly ordinary world.
"Then what about you? What use are you?" Zhang Rongfang finally speaks slowly.
"Indeed you’ve persuaded me, wanting to activate the passage and return home. But do you.... know how to activate it?" He gazes at Long’s massive eyeball, not shying away from direct confrontation.
"The technology to activate the passage is solely with us.... but to initiate activation, we need to overcome several layers of blockage.... it’s those irksome Spirit Eye Race who left those blockades." Long explains.
"Can’t it be opened directly?" Zhang Rongfang raises an eyebrow.
"It used to be possible, but later, those repugnant Spirit Eye people utilized their so-called otherworldly tech to create three Flawless Secret Locks." Long grits his teeth slightly.
"They wish for death themselves, yet are displeased by us seeking new vitality, look at their so-called technology, such cruelty, feeds on human brain marrow, ruthlessly savage.
But we are different! We respect every life, whether it’s strong or weak, wise or ignorant!"
Zhang Rongfang directly overlooks Long’s intensely leading emotional tone.
"I need proof! Proof you can indeed help me activate the passage. Proof the passage you speak of is indeed my former homeland!"
"That’s easy." Long smiles.
It swiftly leaps, in mid-air its body rapidly shrinks, transforming into a slightly taller than Zhang Rongfang slim human-like form.
This human form is covered in flesh with no clothes, no gender traits, like skin reborn after being charred, devoid of hair.
He bends down, his over three-meter-high frame, head close to Zhang Rongfang.
"Since you want proof, then follow me, take a look at all the preparations we’ve made to escape. How about that?" Long whispers softly.
The featureless face right in the center lacks eyes, only a large black mouth from which slender black cores continuously spew forth.
"Alright." Zhang Rongfang’s expression remains unchanged, "Lead the way."
"Worthy to be the Human Immortal Dao Lord, King of Bloodline, your heart seems fearless...." Long applauds in praise.
"Then..... observe here....."
He suddenly stands straight. His hands becoming slender and sharp, vigorously stabbing at his chest and abdomen.
With a slash sound.
His fingers forcibly pierce into his abdomen.
Fingernails like blades, gradually carving open the skin on his belly.
Like unzipping a piece of clothing.
Soon, the opened abdomen radiates a faint gray halo.
"Enter here; this is the Chana Tower I control. There, we have a comprehensive plan to show you."
Long points to his opened abdomen, smiling.
This is a test.
A test of whether Zhang Rongfang truly dares to enter the gateway passage opened within his abdomen.
’Chana Tower....’ Zhang Rongfang knows this name.
From Zhaoyu Pavilion and Rongxin’s memories, he’s heard this name multiple times.
This is the source of all evil influences, the essence from which the Evil Spirit Vehicle type creatures originate.
Those polluted by evil influences, if without timely remedial methods, will gradually transform into Evil Spirit Bodies over time.
Only the furnace system can purify everything.
Strangely, however, such evil influence seems to have no effect on ordinary people. It only impacts entities parasitized by Spiritual Lines.
Staring at the gray passageway opened before him.
Zhang Rongfang glances at the half-smiling Long, immediately steps forward, his body suddenly transforming into a blood light, flying into the passage.
Long tilts his head, emitting an odd gurgling laughter, then his head also starts stretching, swiftly plunging into his abdomen’s gray passage.
His head and neck stretch longer and longer, causing the rest of his body to soften like noodles twisting.
In no time, his entire body reverses twistingly into the passage.
Like a pocket turned inside out, the entire body drains into it.
Then the passage rapidly shrinks, finally constricting, merging, closing.
Leaving just a slender flesh-colored strip, with a plop, it falls to the ground.
The strip grows limbs, reverting to the initial skinless lizard form Zhang Rongfang saw, disappearing swiftly into the gray-black soil.
*
*
*
Outside the sky curtain.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!!
A giant monster, its body shrouded in black smoke as if made of ink, was slowly approaching a human figure not far away.
The monster had a huge horse’s head, a humanoid body, and dense black mane trailing from the back of its head down to its tailbone, forming a line.
The monster stood four meters tall, exuding a pungent aura of ominousness.
This very feeling of malevolence caused the skin of the figure nearby to swell with lumps of varying sizes.
Pain!
Excruciating pain!
The Moon God was nearly unable to control his own body as he watched helplessly while it seemed like numerous living worms were writhing under his skin, crawling incessantly.
Every movement of these wriggling tumors brought an unbearable mix of pain and itchiness.
According to Laf’s previous explanation, he understood that he had been tainted.
The evil aura had corroded him for too long, without enhancing the Spiritual Line within him to weave a Martial Arts Atlas in the Heart-Burning Furnace.
Now, the consequences were manifesting.
The intense pain rendered his whole body powerless, even standing was a strenuous task.
Thud.
The tall, horse-headed Evil Spirit was stepping closer.
Hiss...
It let out a piercing, eerie laughter.
"Eat... living soul..."
Suddenly, the Evil Spirit lifted its right foot, stomping fiercely towards the Moon God.
Boom!!
The ground caved in and cracked as the Moon God rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the stomp.
He raised his hand, half-kneeling on the ground.
A streak of black Spiritual Line shot out from his palm, like a spear.
With a thud.
The black Spiritual Line spear pierced through the horse-headed Evil Spirit’s forehead, straight through the middle.
Moo!
The Evil Spirit roared, grabbing the black Spiritual Line forcefully and shoving it into its mouth.
"Flame Emperor Talisman!"
Suddenly, the Moon God leapt up, his flesh and blood rising, condensing into twelve talismanic disc patterns.
The symbol belonging to the Flame Emperor Talisman glowed white.
Simultaneously, his muscles rapidly swelled and enlarged, a large amount of black Spiritual Line surged from his palms, faintly tinged with red.
In an instant, the Moon God charged forward, striking the Evil Spirit’s chest with his hand.
The black Spiritual Line plunged deep into its chest, then exploded like a bomb.
Boom!
The entire horse-headed Evil Spirit blew apart, transforming into countless wisps of black smoke. Amidst the smoke, dark red lines resembling lava writhed and danced.
Soon, the lava-like dark red lines shot off in a certain direction, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.
The Moon God witnessed this scene, unable to hold on any longer as his consciousness began to fade.
With a thud, he fell to the ground, the Spiritual Line retracting quickly, but inevitably stained with a touch of black smoke.
After finishing this, the Moon God’s consciousness gradually blurred.
He rolled over, lying on his back.
The outbreak of the evil aura’s corruption was sudden, catching him completely off guard.
Originally, he planned to head to the Eternal Palace to purchase a Martial Arts Atlas using the Divine Marrow he had acquired earlier, to weave his own Heart-Burning Furnace.
But unexpectedly, halfway there, he couldn’t hold on any longer.
His consciousness slowly slipping into confusion, the Moon God’s eyes gradually closed,
He gazed up at the sky, vaguely seeing the dark clouds moving slowly, parting to reveal a thin sliver...
Daylight was coming....
’Didn’t expect... I would just fall here... transformed into the so-called Evil Spirit...’
The Moon God’s last consciousness slowly became chaotic and dim.
"Is this a host lying here? Looks like it’s been tainted by the evil aura." Suddenly, a clear male voice sounded nearby.
"He actually doesn’t have a furnace, seems like an old relic from an interaction zone." Another female voice analyzed.
"Should we save him?" the clear male voice asked.
Silence fell around them.
"We need news from the new interaction zone, let’s take him back." Another calm, low male voice finally decided.
In his muddled state, the Moon God felt himself being lifted by a strong force and placed onto a trailer at the back.
The trailer seemed to be made with a simple mechanical structure, one person held the front of the trailer, easily pulling it away into the distance.
Time slowly passed.
Uncertain how long had gone by, the Moon God’s consciousness gradually recovered, waking from his stupor.
He opened his eyes, finding himself lying in a bright, sunlit white room.
Beside the bed was a strong man in a fitted black sleeveless top, examining him intently.
"Ounan bro, he’s awake!" The man, seeing the Moon God had awoken, quickly shouted towards the open doorway.
The man ran out swiftly as he shouted, seemingly unafraid of the Moon God running away, disappearing in the sunlight outside the door in a flash.