Chapter 655: Yin Tianhuang's True Strength

"Whoosh—"

A breeze seemed to flow through Yan Jing's palm.

Yan Jing opened his hand, revealing a seed gestating within the wind.

In an instant, the seed sprouted, branching out and unfurling leaves.

It morphed into a tree, blossoming and bearing delicate, gleaming fruit.

Every leaf radiated light.

"Whoosh—"

Another breeze swept past. The leaves scattered, crumbling to dust and returning to the roots.

Finally, a single seed rolled back out from the pile of fallen leaves.

With that, a complete cycle of life was finished.

"Whoosh—"

The wind blew once more.

Just as the seed was about to sprout again, Yan Jing reached out and snuffed it out.

The radiant light behind Yan Jing faded away.

Having completely absorbed the Tenth Rite, his understanding of life had reached an entirely new level.

"Everything is ready now."

Yan Jing murmured softly. He took a single step and appeared inside his seclusion chamber.

The maid's corpse still lay nearby. He reached out, and the body slowly dissolved into drifting white ash.

"Are they already here?"

Yan Jing looked out toward the distant horizon.

Thick clouds clustered there, crisscrossed with bizarre phenomena.

Several powerful auras surfaced in the distance.

"Then let it begin."

Yan Jing nodded, and his figure vanished from the spot.

...

...

"According to the data transmitted back by the Survivor..." Wang Yu said softly as she looked at Long Quezhou.

"More than a dozen life signatures have already entered the airspace above Yueyin."

"What should we do? Step in and handle it directly?"

Long Quezhou shook his head.

"Those people haven't done anything out of line yet, and that person hasn't given any instructions. We wait."

"Did you feel the fluctuations in the air distort for a split second just now?" Wang Yu asked, nodding slightly as she looked at him.

Long Quezhou shook his head again.

"No. Why?"

Wang Yu frowned.

"It's nothing. I just vaguely felt that person's aura appear a moment ago."

Hearing Wang Yu's words, Long Quezhou focused his mind.

Now that he thought about it, he really had sensed a faint, familiar presence just a moment ago.

"If that person appeared, he would come find us... right?"

He did not sound very confident.

Wang Yu nodded.

"True. With his status, there is no reason for him to act personally."

If any genius from the Central Region were present, they would be absolutely stunned by this conversation.

Those heavenly prodigies who reigned supreme across the Central Region had just been dismissed as nobodies by two people from a remote Domain.

An outsider might assume these two were among the ten legendary monsters. In reality, just a few months ago, they had been nothing more than over-the-hill, rural "geniuses" who did not even qualify to enter the Central Region.

"Do you want some tea?"

Having finished discussing the important matters, Long Quezhou turned around to brew some tea.

"Yes, no sugar. I—"

Wang Yu looked toward the horizon, abruptly cutting herself off.

A terrifying surge of weird energy erupted on the horizon. The bizarre phenomena in the sky instantly dissipated, condensing into a single point.

The two of them exchanged a silent, deeply shocked look.

It was him.

There was no other possibility.

Damn it. He actually made a move himself.

Wasn't he in seclusion?

Could he not stand to watch anymore? Or did he think they were bungling the job?

A chill ran down their spines. A second later, their bodies transformed into two streaks of light and shot toward the horizon.

...

...

"Should we head back?"

Aboard the Bone Bird, Ning An stared at the unnatural phenomena in the sky. He had asked Zheng Youlan the same question countless times by now.

"No."

Zheng Youlan shook her head. Beneath her black veil, a strange light seemed to flicker in her eyes.

Was that terrifying corpse actually the person ranked first on the leaderboard? Why was such a horrific corpse puppet incubating here? Where exactly was that number one player? Where did he come from, and what was his current level?

Countless questions swirled in Zheng Youlan's mind. She was absolutely determined to find him.

It did not matter how powerful he turned out to be.

Even those ten monsters could not possibly take down this many people alone.

As long as Advent Day had not yet arrived and no demigods had appeared, no one in the Tenth Tier could possibly accomplish such a feat.

She was utterly convinced of this.

"That person will become a roadblock on your path,"

Zheng Youlan muttered softly.

"I have already seen it."

"..."

With Zheng Youlan saying that, Ning An was out of options.

"Fine, but we need to be careful."

He steered the Bone Bird higher, only stopping when they were thousands of meters above the cloud layer.

"How are we supposed to watch from up here?"

Zheng Youlan asked softly.

"Don't rush."

Ning An conjured a Bone Mirror in his hand. He then tossed a bone fragment over the side.

The fragment spun through the air, eventually hovering right where they had been positioned earlier.

Ripples drifted across the surface of the Bone Mirror like water.

Soon, the image sharpened into focus.

"Hum—hum—"

Ning An looked into the mirror.

The image inside was constantly shifting.

The hovering bone fragment would move to match their own flight path.

"Nothing should go wrong now."

Ning An nodded in satisfaction, feeling slightly relieved.

Suddenly, a terrifying surge of weird energy erupted in the distance. A violent shockwave rushed toward them like a gale, whipping their clothes wildly.

Startled, Ning An looked at Zheng Youlan.

Zheng Youlan frowned deeply.

"Such a terrifying surge of weird energy... Who could it be?"

Neither of them immediately connected this terrifying fluctuation to the person ranked first on the leaderboard.

The center of the unnatural phenomena in the sky was in an entirely different location. The two points were so far apart that it seemed impossible for a single entity to be responsible for both.

"Did one of the monsters show up?"

Zheng Youlan muttered.

Before they set out, she had heard that two or three of the monsters were highly interested in this operation and might join.

But when everyone finally gathered, she realized something was wrong—not a single one of those monsters had actually shown up.

At the time, she had assumed they simply lost interest. She never expected them to arrive at the last minute.

"Let's go take a look. Be careful—this counts as valuable intelligence."

After a brief discussion, the two sped toward the distant source of the weird energy.

Before long, they arrived at the epicenter of the blast.

The bone fragment slowly spun in the air before locking into position.

Consequently, the image on the Bone Mirror sharpened.

But when they finally saw what was in the frame, they were both stunned.

Because the person in the mirror was not one of the monsters they had imagined, nor was it a stranger. It was...

A man in a red and gold robe.

"Yin Tianhuang..."

Ning An murmured in disbelief.

Beside him, Zheng Youlan furrowed her brow.

Yin Tianhuang, the successor of Roosting Phoenix Tower, was currently radiating a majestic power that far surpassed anything they possessed, despite being at the same level.

"Who is he fighting?"

Ning An adjusted the angle of the Bone Mirror. Finally, another figure drifted into view.

The two were stunned yet again.

It was another familiar face.

Wearing a silver-white robe and with long hair cascading over his shoulders, he wielded an axe-like weapon. Countless spatial rifts fractured the air around him.

Lin Mo.

The leader of their current operation.

"Why are the two of them fighting?"

Ning An stared at Lin Mo.

Lin Mo was in terrible shape.

Compared to the bold, high-spirited leader who had set out on this mission, he was a wreck. His silver-white robe was shredded. The axe in his hand bore a massive, glaring crack, and weird energy bled from the fissure like venting steam.

One of his eyes was squeezed shut, a slow trail of blood leaking from underneath the lid; it looked entirely blind. His other eye was bloodshot and vivid red.

It looked as though it had been badly burned.

In stark contrast, Yin Tianhuang looked almost pristine.

He bore no visible injuries whatsoever. The weird energy around him flared at full power, making him look completely dominant.

The terrifying blast of weird energy they had felt earlier had come from him.

"What's going on? I didn't think he was this strong."

Ning An muttered softly.

"Didn't you say Lin Mo had already taken that step? He's on the verge of claiming his Demigod Realm Divine Throne! How could Yin Tianhuang possibly push him this far?"

Zheng Youlan shook her head, speechless.

She had never calculated Yin Tianhuang's path.

Because she had never once considered him a real obstacle on their path to godhood.

This red-robed man definitely had his unique merits. Hailing from the remote frontiers, he had still managed to establish a firm foothold in the Central Region, even rising to the First Echelon right below the ten monsters.

His talent had long since been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

But...

This was supposed to be his absolute limit.

He came from the Southern Frontier Domain. His early Ritual choices had been suboptimal. While his mid-stage Rituals originated from a divine path highly praised by the Pavilion Master of Fengqi Pavilion, he only possessed half of it. It was a completely defective path.

It was not until the late stages of his progression—relying on sheer effort and the resources of Fengqi Pavilion to pivot toward the path of Space—that he had finally made a name for himself. Only then did he gain the foundation required to attempt a push for the peak.

But... compared to the true geniuses of the Central Region, his flaws were far too glaring.

Talent alone could not smooth them over.

This was the Central Region. If there was one thing the Central Region never lacked, it was talent.

"How could this be..."

She stared at Yin Tianhuang's figure in the Bone Mirror. Her eyes seemed to pierce through her black veil, seeing directly into his very being.

Her gaze finally locked onto his collarbone.

A faint light flickered there.

Golden...

Zheng Youlan was truly shocked now.

A golden-tier Ritual... That was a level exclusively held by the monsters.

According to the intelligence gathered by Yongle, not a single one of Yin Tianhuang's Rituals was golden.

Yet... the sight before her proved that Yongle's intelligence was dead wrong.

This man had hidden himself far too well. He had never once revealed this trump card, which was why no intelligence network had ever picked up on it.

"What exactly does this Ritual do?"

Even as Zheng Youlan tried to puzzle it out, Yin Tianhuang suddenly made his move.

He took a single step and appeared right in front of Lin Mo.

"Clang!"

Lin Mo swung his axe preemptively. Surges of weird energy exploded from the weapon, barely blocking Yin Tianhuang's descending palm strike.

Yin Tianhuang simply smirked.

Then, he spoke a single syllable.

"Water."

Torrential waters surged up from the ground, rushing straight into the sky and completely swallowing Lin Mo.

"Rumble—"

Lin Mo gritted his teeth as gruesome fissures tore open across his body. His blood blossomed like roses, instantly dissolving into the churning current.

Atop the Bone Bird, Zheng Youlan's brow furrowed tightly once more.

"How is this possible?"

She was completely lost.

This was an ability of the Ocean Pathway.

Yin Tianhuang didn't possess a single Ritual from the Ocean Pathway!

Before she could even process it, Yin Tianhuang spoke again.

"Flame."

"Boom!!!"

A pillar of fire plummeted from the sky, incinerating the surrounding red clouds as it slammed directly into the rushing waters.

"Bubble, bubble—"

The liquid instantly boiled.

It was clear this current wasn't ordinary water. It didn't evaporate; instead, it transformed into a roiling, blood-red liquid indistinguishable from magma.

"Gurgle, gurgle—"

Lin Mo let out a bloodcurdling scream. He swung his axe viciously, his weird energy erupting as if to cleave apart everything in his path.

"Crack—"

Yin Tianhuang instantly teleported thousands of meters away.

A fresh blade wound slowly appeared on his chest, dripping crimson blood.

The drops plummeted toward the earth below.

"Heh."

He reached up to trace the wound on his chest. Then, he smiled.

"Heal."

A pale green light flared from his hand, gradually knitting the grisly wound shut.

"I knew something wasn't right,"

Zheng Youlan spoke slowly, a grave look settling into the eyes that stared at the Bone Mirror.

"That isn't his ability."

"What do you mean?"

Ning An froze.

Zheng Youlan drew in a deep breath.

"To be precise, it wasn't originally his ability.

"I know what his golden Ritual is now.

"It's an ability belonging to the Great Desolation.

"It's the very thing the people from the Great Desolation faction have been hunting for."

Zheng Youlan had just named one of the six major organizations.

"What is it?"

Ning An still didn't understand. He naturally didn't have Zheng Youlan's encyclopedic grasp of outside intelligence.

Zheng Youlan took another deep breath.

"It is Taotie."

"Rumor has it that the King of the Great Desolation will finally emerge in this generation. When that happens, the Great Desolation Pathway will fully blossom, and all the mythical, peerless legends of the Great Desolation will reveal themselves one by one."

"Chongming, Taotie, Chaos, the Vermilion Bird, the Phoenix... All of these majestic entities will manifest the Rituals they left behind in this world."

"It was exactly because of this prophecy that the Great Desolation faction has spent years scouring every domain for talent."

"It's said that this is exactly how they found the monster who represents their faction."

"And of all the Rituals they've been hunting for, Taotie is the most closely watched."

"According to ancient records, the power of Taotie is Devour."

"And according to the theory of a certain supreme entity, the Taotie Ritual allows its host to seize the abilities of any enemy they defeat and claim them as their own."

"That's completely broken!"

Ning An's eyes widened. He had never expected the so-called Taotie to possess such a terrifying ability.

"Then how is anyone supposed to fight him?"

Ning An looked at Yin Tianhuang, feeling a cold dread creeping over him.

Anyone possessing ten different abilities could already be declared a Divine Envoy.

But what if a person had hundreds of abilities? What if they had thousands?

It was common knowledge that some cultivators were inherently weak but possessed one extremely powerful skill. If that skill was absorbed and paired with other abilities, the synergy would be catastrophic.

Only God knew how many people Yin Tianhuang had secretly devoured over the years while hiding behind the reputation of Fengqi Pavilion. There was no telling just how many abilities he had amassed.

"He is going to be invincible,"

Zheng Youlan said slowly.

"He will undoubtedly claim a seat on the Day of Godhood."