Deep within the core of the crimson mist sea.
Xuan Hao's Primordial Spirit still stood majestically like a mountain.
From the central head, his crimson gaze pierced through layers of grey mist, locking onto the giant dark green core deep underground.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Thousands of "Blood-Colored Immortal Silks" stretched to their limits, deeply piercing into the ground, fiercely clashing with the outer god's extending tentacles.
With each clash, large sections of "Immortal Silks" shattered and annihilated, while the dark green tentacles exploded, sending flesh and blood flying.
The strength of both sides was evenly matched!
Xuan Hao was well aware of this fact.
Likewise, he had assessed the advantages and disadvantages of the battle.
Although this outer god underground had its gestation process forcibly interrupted, the immense material energy it had accumulated before was still inexhaustible.
But Xuan Hao did not fear it.
It lacked wisdom, possessing only the instincts of devouring and destruction.
This was the essence of most outer gods.
They seemed to be equivalent to the Universe itself, infinitely expanding and devouring everything.
This was both an advantage and a flaw.
As a True Immortal, Xuan Hao possessed the Outer God's status and human wisdom.
He knew very well that the key to victory lay not in this high-level power struggle, but below!
It lay with those tiny humans.
The Martial Artists of the "Corpse Immortal Path" led by Qu Huaiwei were frantically sweeping and clearing the outer god's corrupted Dependents.
Every node destroyed, every energy transmission Veins severed, was equivalent to "bleeding" this outer god, which relied on material energy for its existence.
Its source of power was being cut off little by little.
Meanwhile, Xuan Hao himself could continuously draw "Spirit" escaping from the city through his spiritual Domain.
With one side diminishing and the other growing, time....
Was on his side!
....
Beneath the Primordial Spirit's feet was a relatively stable area.
There was no smoke of war, no blood, only a dead silence of oppression and an unshakeable sense of confused.
Hundreds of figures sat or stood, their eyes hollow.
They were the ordinary people who had perished in the aftermath of this divine war.
Old Zhang, Old Wang, Boss Sun, the female office worker...
They were all gathered here.
"It's been a month...."
Old Zhang squatted on the ground, holding his head in his hands.
Old Wang's voice was hoarse and full of despair: "Are we....really dead?"
Unfortunately, no one responded to them.
Only now did they come to terms with reality.
They were indeed dead.
They could think, they could perceive, but they had lost the warmth of their flesh, lost their connection to reality, and were trapped in this eternal nightmare.
"What's there to be so dejected about?"
A playful voice sounded, and the Flower-Faced Man's massive six-armed figure emerged from the mist, the small head on his shoulder spinning around.
Everyone looked up, their eyes numb.
Although this man in the flower-faced mask was a monster, they had grown used to him over the past month.
"Death is just the beginning."
The Flower-Faced Man smiled, a glint flashing in his eyes.
"What do you mean?"
Everyone looked at him in turn.
The Flower-Faced Man spread his six arms and said, "Open your eyes and look, touch yourselves. You still have consciousness, you can still think, you can still stand here. Can this be called dead?"
His words made everyone pause.
"Is it because....He?"
Old Zhang hesitated, looking up at the giant shadow that covered the entire sky.
"Naturally, it is the True Monarch."
The Flower-Faced Man's voice rose a few pitches, "It is the True Monarch's great power, His supreme Divine Ability, that protected your Souls, saving you from complete dissipation."
"You are now neither dead nor alive."
He surveyed the crowd, a shrewd glint in his eyes: "Think about it, since the True Monarch can pull you back from nothingness, then how difficult would it be for Him to let you return to reality and reunite with your families?!"
As his words fell, everyone's expressions changed.
"Return to reality?!"
"Is it really possible?"
"Can we still go back?"
Like light in the darkness, everyone's eyes lit up.
"Of course."
The Flower-Faced Man said decisively, "As long as you are willing to listen to me, when the True Monarch's great power sweeps the world and reshapes order, that will be the day you return to reality."
"What do we need to do?"
Old Zhang's voice trembled slightly.
"It's simple!"
The Flower-Faced Man's lips curved into an arc, "From today on, you are no longer lonely wandering spirits; you have a new identity, the Corpse Soul Dao! And I, under the True Monarch, am the messenger who will lead you to new life!"
He spread his six arms, like a charlatan embracing his followers:
"From now on, follow my guidance, devoutly worship the True Monarch, and when the True Monarch's divine oracle descends, that will be the day you see the light again."
"We are willing!"
Everyone grasped this last shred of hope.
Because they had no other choice.
They knelt down one after another, bowing to the Flower-Faced Man, and even more so to the giant shadow above their heads.
"Very good."
Watching everyone prostrate on the ground, the Flower-Faced Man was secretly pleased.
The True Monarch and the messenger were high above, and would not care about these tiny Souls at all.
But he was different; these people were his capital.
They were his chips to prove his worth to the great True Monarch!
If Qu Huaiwei could establish the "Corpse Immortal Path" and become a favored person under the True Monarch, then why couldn't he form the "Corpse Soul Dao"?
As long as the scale was large enough, and the contributions numerous enough, he might even become.... under the True Monarch.
A new favored person!
The Flower-Faced Man looked up at the giant shadow.
Sure enough, the True Monarch did not refute.
Not even the messenger appeared.
Indeed, They didn't care at all, which was enough to prove his idea was correct; the True Monarch only cared about value.
....
Time flowed, and a month quietly passed.
Xuan Hao's Primordial Spirit remained unmoving.
This was a clash of high-level powers, a long process of dissolution, and could not be rushed.
Moreover, he had already gained a slight advantage.
"Six months at most...."
"I'll win."
Xuan Hao breathed a sigh of relief.
Such a long standoff was actually very dangerous.
Among humans, there were many powerful Martial Artists, not to mention that outer gods were everywhere in this world; if another outer god intervened....
Then the outcome would be different.
At the construction site in the real world, those giant tentacles had visibly shrunk.
Like vines with severed roots, they lost their continuous energy supply, becoming shriveled and sluggish.
When the standoff reached the third month....
The tentacles at the construction site had begun to retract, retreating into the underground crack.
Xuan Hao naturally pressed on step by step.
Crimson "Immortal Silks" rapidly spread, eroding the outer god's final line of defense underground.
The scales of victory were tilting towards Xuan Hao.
And in the shadow of the Primordial Spirit, the "residents" of the Corpse Soul Dao gradually adapted to this Soul state.
Under the guidance of the Flower-Faced Man, everyone had formed a "settlement" at the foot of the Primordial Spirit.
They lived here and Cultivated here.
"I wonder how things are at home."
Old Wang sat by the roadside, sighing as he looked at the eternal crimson sky above.
"Didn't Lord Flower-Faced say that as long as we Cultivate well, there's hope of going back?" a young man next to him said.
"Yes, we still have a chance."
"And it's actually quite good here; at least we don't have to live in fear anymore."
Everyone discussed, filled with both vague hope for the future and deep helplessness.
"Huh? A new arrival?"
Soon, everyone noticed a strange figure at the edge of the settlement that had appeared at some point.
It was a young man, about twenty-something.
He was tall and straight, with a stern face, his gaze constantly surveying this strange space and the giant shadow above.
"Hello everyone, my name is Tang Zhan."
The young man smiled and walked towards the crowd proactively.