Chapter 988: This journey, like a dragon leaving the abyss, like a phoenix departing the heavens, shall never look back!

A heaven-shaking, earth-shattering roar!

Ten thousand streams of light erupted from beneath Li Zhiyi's feet, and every physical, chemical, biological, and martial fission and explosion occurred at this moment.

The scorching high temperature surged straight upward, incinerating tens of thousands of miles of the azure sky, enough to annihilate the stars.

Rules surged, will poured forth, and powers intertwined, scouring the galaxy.

That giant finger was forcibly trampled downward, actually retreating toward beneath the ground.

Roar!

That unwilling, incredulous, and frantic roar resounded.

Within each great province, people were exposed to that abundant, intertwined web of rules and power, and at this moment, they personally experienced the might and infinity belonging to gods.

They were shocked, stunned, their minds unable to reorganize.

Within the deep space of the universe.

The phantom of Jilie in a white dress had calm eyes, but that eerie, cold smile gradually vanished completely.

Her original intention was to drag Chen Yan's true self into taking action.

Yet she did not expect this scene to occur.

The current Bai E was no longer as powerful as before; after all, in order to frame Chen Yuan, Jilie had transferred nearly half of the malice and Ancient God aura within Bai E's body to Fanni.

This was originally a must-kill strike belonging to the Mother God.

The Ancient God status within 【Unity】 far exceeded what Bai E and Fanni possessed.

Moreover, Lord Chen was a truly supreme Ninth Rank.

He possessed three martial Dao statuses within his body.

If Lord Chen were to become an Ancient God, he would completely surpass Bai E.

Li Zhiyi, Zhang Huizhi, and even the supreme beings of the entire human world could not stop him.

Chen Yan's true self would have to take action.

Even if Lord Chen could not kill Chen Yan.

Chen Yan would no longer have the time to continue perfecting his own rule spectrum.

But Jilie did not expect that this link was so perfect, and the place where it went wrong would actually be Lord Chen himself.

That person had guessed the methods the Mother God might use before he died.

Leading to the collapse of the Mother God's plan.

Yet at the next moment.

A figure appeared beside Jilie.

The Lord of Xia had hair as white as snow draped over his shoulders, and his black robes fluttered.

His face was carved with the ravines of time, yet his gaze was sharp as a blade.

He appeared just like that beside Jilie's phantom.

Jilie's phantom looked at the Lord of Xia, a mocking smile emerging in the depths of her eyes.

But the Lord of Xia did not pay attention to Jilie, instead turning around to lock eyes with Li Zhiyi in the human world.

"Kid..."

The Lord of Xia's voice was cold:

"You succeeded.

You successfully dragged me to this step.

If you lose, I will not let you go even in death!"

Li Zhiyi looked up at the Lord of Xia, saying nothing, but bowing in salute.

The two did not discuss the plan, only exchanging glances.

Both were people who, from beginning to end, would only walk their own Great Dao.

If another's Great Dao blocked their own, both would charge and kill regardless of everything.

But at this moment.

The Lord of Xia conceded.

For Chen Yan, he stepped aside from his own Great Dao path.

He said nothing, but Li Zhiyi knew that the Lord of Xia was about to walk a path from which there was no return.

"I am going to find my true self."

The Lord of Xia murmured, looking at Li Zhiyi:

"The one in the college entrance examination secret realm was me, and the one inside the Purple Firmament World-Fixing Mirror was also me.

Kid, you have repeatedly refused me; I would like to see just how far you can go."

The Lord of Xia laughed aloud, ignoring Jilie's cold gaze, and reached out a hand toward the human world:

"Divine artifacts, return to my body!"

The next moment.

Hum, hum, hum!

Within the human world, the firmament changed, and streams of light flew toward the Lord of Xia from all directions.

The Lord of Xia Sword, Purple Firmament World-Fixing Mirror, Calamity Corpse God Lamp, Inverse Nine Sword, Star Ruler, Ash-Life Binding Puppet, Retracing Mirror, and Enlightenment Myriad Image Map—one by one, the divine artifacts of the world flew toward the Lord of Xia.

They transformed into streams of light, surging into the Lord of Xia's body.

The instant the light entered his body, ten thousand zhang of golden light erupted from the Lord of Xia's entire being.

It was as if a remnant soul that had wandered for ten thousand years had finally found its own physical body.

Endless pressure erupted from within the Lord of Xia's body.

The next moment.

The furrows carved by the years upon the Xia Lord's body faded away entirely.

His skin became lustrous like jade, his features handsome and upright, his sword-like brows and star-bright eyes sharp as lightning.

That endless imperial aura surged straight into the clouds, causing the deep space of the universe to tremble slightly.

"In heaven and on earth, I alone am the honored one!"

The Xia Lord extended his right hand; beneath the robe of his left arm, it was completely empty.

Yet, in his expression remained that same arrogance and dominance, indifferent to the world.

This was his true appearance.

He was the end of the human era, the collective embodiment of all the final destiny of the human race.

He was the true Heavenly Mandate Dragon, the only one in the human world.

Powerful, a power that transcended the Ninth Rank!

This was the true foundation of the Xia Lord's one hundred thousand years.

But this was not his true self.

His true self was still somewhere in the deep space of the universe, experiencing reincarnation, constantly moving to exterminate the Mother God.

Since ancient times, the Xia Lord had looked down upon the heroes of the world.

Xia Zhiyang, Chen Yuan, Chen Yan—all these brilliant talents were, in the eyes of the Xia Lord, merely a group of disobedient juniors.

He was a true transcendent deity.

Transcending beyond the human world, he had eyes only for the Ancient Gods.

Aside from the Ancient Gods, no one could stop him.

For those latecomers who walked their own Dao, he would neither stop them nor acknowledge them.

In his heart, slaying the Mother God had been his mission alone from beginning to end.

Only Chen Yan.

Was a junior he had been forced to teach, time and again, out of helplessness.

At this moment, he was going to yield the path of the Great Dao for this junior who annoyed him so.

He was going to travel to where his true self was, to become one with it.

To go and block the Mother God, to delay the Mother God's progress into the human world, and to create enough time for Chen Yan.

The Xia Lord took one more look at the human world; this glance felt as if he had returned to those years.

When Stone City was destroyed, when three humans used their final strength to lift him up.

Just like a mother on that earth, throwing her child with all her might toward the opposite shore.

When ten thousand years of time had flowed by, and today the Ancient Gods reappeared.

It seemed as if that moment from back then was just before that glance he had just cast.

"The human world, it is still this human world."

The Xia Lord laughed aloud:

"Those who respect me, fear me, love me, or hate me, have either perished or been wounded; few remain.

The human world of today no longer belongs to me."

He turned around and looked at Jilie:

"This journey is like a dragon leaving the abyss, like a phoenix departing the firmament; there is no looking back!"

Jilie looked at him, revealing a cold smile, carrying that disdain which could not be concealed.

It was just like looking at a bug he had toyed with for ten thousand years, bearing that touch of coldness.

The next instant.

Slap!

The Xia Lord's hand suddenly covered Jilie's face.

"What are you looking at!"

He spoke indifferently.

The next instant, Jilie's look of disbelief flowed out from between the Xia Lord's fingers.

The next moment.

Boom!

Like a meteor crossing the vast universe, the Xia Lord and Jilie both vanished.

At the same time.

The gray fog world created by 【Unity】 suddenly shattered at this moment.

The top fifty powerhouses of the human world were no longer under surveillance.

Upon the earth.

Dressed in white, Ji Chen gazed into the firmament, his eyes trembling, and then he bowed in salute:

"Respectfully sending off my Lord!"

The final thread of karma seen by the Retracing Mirror needed the Xia Lord to complete it himself.

Ji Chen smiled dashingly and looked toward the distant direction of Jizhou.

"What I had to do, I have already done!

Whether I can see the future or not, it no longer matters!"

Ji Chen laughed aloud, waved his hand, and flew toward Jizhou.

The Xia Lord had departed.

I do not know how long he can hold back the true form of the Mother God after merging with my true self.

But one thing is certain.

This time, the Xia Lord will never return.

Defeat means breaking free from the cycle of reincarnation and vanishing without a trace.

Victory means leaving the human world, heading into the depths of the universe, and searching for a path of one's own.

The human world is neither a burden nor a responsibility to him.

From the moment of his birth, he was born only to exterminate the Ancient Gods.

Once the Ancient Gods have fallen, he will have no more ties.

Li Zhiyi watched the Xia Lord depart from afar, a complex mix of emotions flashing through his heart at this moment.

The next moment.

His gaze grew calm once more as he looked at the giant finger below.

He met the gaze of the pairs of compound eyes upon that giant finger.

The next moment.

Boom!

Hundreds of millions of strands of pitch-black malice surged suddenly from the giant finger, rushing toward Li Zhiyi.

Li Zhiyi did not dodge, absorbing all of this malice.

Ominous things began to grow upon his body, and terrifying mutations began to occur.

This world-shocking scene was born, yet Li Zhiyi made no move.

The next moment.

A stream of light flowed out from Li Zhiyi, rushing along the giant finger and into the earth below.

It passed through the already shattered world barrier.

Li Zhiyi arrived in the Evil Realm.

Between the Sea of Malice and the pitch-black canopy of the sky.

The head of that colossal Ancient God slowly rose from the depths of the Sea of Malice.

Its skull rose like a mountain, covered in writhing humus and blood-oozing tentacles.

Compound eyes like hundreds of millions of turbid, dead stars were densely embedded within the folds of its skin.

Its body stretched for unknown millions of miles, winding beneath the canopy of the Evil Realm in a suffocating, evil form.

Its mere silhouette was enough to crush the sanity of all living beings.

It is Bai E.

The nightmare of the human race.

And also...

A human who has endured one hundred thousand years of torture.