Xu Yunfan, controlling Han Shi’s battered and broken body, walked step by step along the edge of the still-cooling lava, heading toward the White Bone Monster Tree.
There was no joy of victory in his eyes, only determination and a hint of imperceptible exhaustion.
The bloody waves of the Sea of Suffering churned and whimpered at his feet, reflecting the killing field that had just become the grave of three Golden Core Level existences.
With two Dao Fruits returning to the Celestial Dao, Xu Yunfan could clearly feel an immeasurable amount of Merit descending upon him from this world’s Celestial Dao.
’Is the Celestial Dao encouraging them to kill each other?’
Xu Yunfan pondered.
The final obstacle had been cleared. This Taiyin Dao Fruit, so crucial for the next step of his cultivation path, was finally within arm’s reach.
Xu Yunfan glanced at the information silently scrolling across his Attribute Panel.
[Successfully killed a Golden Core Level existence: Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. Daoist Cultivation +180]
[Successfully killed a Golden Core Level existence: White-haired True Daoist. Daoist Cultivation +120]
[Successfully killed a Golden Core Level existence: Bitter Sea Qiu Long. Daoist Cultivation +100]
His Daoist Cultivation Value instantly surged from 3608 to 4008.
With the surge of Daoist Cultivation on his Attribute Panel, a vast and irresistible power materialized from nothing, washing over his Divine Soul and Golden Core. Inside his Dantian Cave Heaven, the Divine Sky Golden Core, entwined with ninety-nine Purple Gold Thunder Dragons, hummed and trembled. Like parched land receiving sweet rain, it frantically absorbed this sustenance born from slaughter and plunder.
Power surged within him. The Purple Gold Thunder Patterns flowing across the walls of the Grotto Heaven grew more brilliant and solid, and even the Dao Rhyme cycle of destruction and creation seemed to quicken by a fraction.
However, Xu Yunfan’s Heart and Spirit did not linger on the joy of this increase in strength.
His Daoist Cultivation had increased, but the key to a true breakthrough was right before him.
Through the eyes of Han Shi’s battered, collapsing body, Xu Yunfan’s icy gaze locked firmly onto the branches of the White Bone Monster Tree.
There hung the Taiyin Nether Dragon Fruit. It had survived the earth-shattering battle completely unscathed, radiating a pure, cold brilliance.
It hung there quietly, as if the churning of the surrounding Sea of Blood and the demise of three Golden Core Level existences had nothing to do with it.
Its aura of Supreme Yin and Cold was restrained yet profound, carrying the mystery of Life and Death Reincarnation.
"No! Xu Yunfan! Stop! You’ll destroy me! No!!!"
Han Shi’s Divine Soul let out a desperate shriek from the depths of his Sea of Consciousness.
He could clearly feel Xu Yunfan’s will taking over the last vestiges of control of his body. It drove his cracked, Magical Power-depleted hand to reach for the Dao Fruit that would be his doom.
A manifested Dao Fruit.
It was the tangible manifestation of the authority of the Heaven and Earth Laws.
An existence that countless Foundation Establishment Daoist Masters yearned for, yet also feared immensely.
For a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master to form a Daoist Golden Core, they had to use their Grotto Heaven Embryo to sense and connect with the Dao Fruit. The Laws they cultivated needed to align with the power of favor bestowed by the fruit. Only under the protection of this favor would they dare to smash their Grotto Heaven into the Dao Fruit Core, completing the final fusion and ascension.
It was unheard of for someone to dare touch a complete, ownerless Dao Fruit directly with their physical body.
That would be no different from a mortal trying to grasp the core of the sun.
Han Shi knew this perfectly well.
The moment his body touched it, the Power of Supreme Law within the Dao Fruit would instantly obliterate his physical form—a mere Peak of Foundation Establishment Sword Body—along with the Divine Soul residing within it.
He wouldn’t even make it to the Sea of Suffering Reincarnation; it would be true annihilation of both body and soul.
In an instant, terror flooded his Divine Soul.
He abandoned his last shred of dignity, frantically begging for mercy within the Sea of Consciousness that Xu Yunfan now completely controlled.
"Lord, Master! Spare me, please spare my life! I’m willing to be your eternal slave, at your beck and call! I beg you... please, don’t make me touch that thing! It’s certain death, certain death!!!"
Xu Yunfan’s will didn’t waver in the slightest.
Han Shi’s wails and pleas failed to stir the slightest ripple in his heart.
From the moment of this avatar’s creation, its value had been precisely calculated.
Now was the time for it to be utterly spent, to provide its final bit of value.
Seeing that his pleas were useless, Han Shi completely broke down.
Decades of pent-up resentment, the humiliation of being controlled, and the despair for his own cultivation path erupted like a volcano, transforming into the most venomous curses and roars within his Sea of Consciousness.
"Xu Yunfan! You animal, you devil! You cold-blooded butcher, you’ll die a horrible death! You used me, you deceived me! You treated me like a tool, like bait! Like a disposable pawn.
You’ll never attain the Supreme Dao! You’ll face divine retribution! The Primordial Daoist Lord is watching you! The World Honored One Tathagata is watching you! What you’ve done to me today will be repaid a thousand, ten thousand times over! I curse you! I curse your path to the Dao to be severed, your Golden Core to be shattered, and for you to fall into the Eternal Hell forever!!!"
These thoughts, filled with venomous hatred and despair, churned like the foulest mire within Han Shi’s Sea of Consciousness.
However, none of it could stop the hand controlled by Xu Yunfan.
That hand, carrying the last ounce of strength from the Sword Body Han Shi had cultivated his entire life, and driven by Xu Yunfan’s resolute will, crossed the final distance and seized the Taiyin Nether Dragon Fruit hanging from the gnarled, white bone branches.
"ARGH!!!"
The instant it made contact, Han Shi’s Divine Soul let out an inhuman scream, instantly overwhelmed by boundless pain and the crushing pressure of the Law.
HUMMM!
The Taiyin Nether Dragon Fruit suddenly erupted with an unprecedented, cold brilliance.
This brilliance was not gentle; rather, it contained the destructive power of the Supreme Yin and Cold, and the Law of Life and Death Reincarnation.
It instinctively repelled any who touched it that were not at the Golden Core level or did not possess a Yin-attributed Dao Foundation.
Horrifying Ice Crystals, visible to the naked eye, instantly began to spread from the fingers that had touched the Dao Fruit.
These Ice Crystals contained the Law of the Netherworld’s stillness and the sinking Origin of the Sea of Suffering.
Han Shi’s resilient Innate Sword Body was as fragile as paper before this power.
Wherever the Ice Crystals passed, his flesh, bones, meridians, and even the walls of the Sea of Consciousness housing his Divine Soul emitted a sickening CRACK. They rapidly turned gray and lifeless, then disintegrated.
Under the extreme pain and the corrosion of the Law, Han Shi’s consciousness rapidly faded, like a candle flickering in the wind.
In his final moments of vision, he saw his arm, covered in Ice Crystals, rapidly crumbling away, and the cold Dao Fruit still clutched tightly in its palm.
In the split second before Han Shi’s avatar was completely destroyed by the Dao Fruit’s backlash and reduced to dust in the Sea of Suffering...
"Seize!"
Far away, on the Cloud Platform of the Divine Sky Palace, Purple Gold Thunder Light flared in Xu Yunfan’s true body’s eyes. His Heart and Spirit dove deep into his Attribute Panel, activating the powerful control link that transcended space and ignored all realm barriers.
A magnificent power originating from the core of the Attribute Panel instantly descended.
It precisely captured the Dao Fruit, which Han Shi’s ruined body had touched for only an instant, as well as the fragment of his Divine Soul that was on the verge of dissipating, leaving behind only a tiny True Spirit Seal.
SWOOSH!
On the Attribute Panel, a special transport and storage function was instantly activated.
BOOM!
Eight hundred li away, over the Sea of Suffering, Han Shi’s ruined body could no longer withstand the terrifying pressure from within and without. Like an overinflated balloon, it violently burst apart.
A berserk energy—a mixture of the last wisp of backlash from the Taiyin Dao Fruit, Han Shi’s shattered Sword Essence, and the Death Qi of the Sea of Suffering—transformed into a destructive shockwave woven from gray, white, and black. It erupted outward, completely leveling the already ravaged remnants of the White Bone Island and kicking up monstrous waves of blood.