Chapter 265: Soul Shield

Beyond the Divine Realm, the gaunt old man whose frail form seemed ready to be scattered by the wind had two clumps of gray flame fiercely flickering in his sunken eye sockets.

His own "Withering Law" is unstoppable—contact kills, touch rots—but now it was like a cow sinking into mud, not even a bubble rising.

No, it's even worse than a cow sinking into mud.

It was a humiliation of being… being eaten like a snack.

He could clearly feel that the power of his released law was not being nullified or twisted, but being digested by a greedy stomach.

"How can this be!"

A hoarse roar, full of endless fury, rang out; he had lived for centuries and had never suffered such a disgrace.

Conventional attacks were ineffective, so he could only resort to the most extreme, most vicious method.

A flash of resolute ferocity crossed the old man's eyes; he no longer cared about the two companions and suddenly opened his mouth.

"Puff!"

A mouthful of dark‑red essence spurted out; it was not ordinary blood but the primordial essence he had cultivated for centuries, containing the foundation of his Dao techniques.

The essence did not disperse in the air; instead, it writhed and coalesced in a strange way, instantly forming a palm‑sized gray rune.

The moment the rune appeared, the surrounding void seemed to have all life drained, even the light grew dim. Upon the rune were inscribed Withering and Soul Extinction Dao traces; they were not power but curses, an annihilation of the very concept of life!

"With my remaining life, I curse your soul's ruin!"

The old man's face turned as pale as gold paper, as if he had aged another few decades, yet the malice in his eyes reached its peak.

He pointed fiercely at the rune.

"Go!"

"Hum—"

The gray rune made no sound of cutting through the air; it merely quivered lightly and vanished from its spot.

Within the Divine Realm.

Wang Zhize was concentrating fully on maintaining the operation of the entire world, while also having to watch that his younger brother wouldn't eat too fast and choke himself.

At that moment, an unannounced, searing pain from the deepest part of his soul, like a red‑hot ice spear, drove mercilessly into his mind!

"Uh!"

Wang Zhize let out a muffled groan, his body shuddered violently, and his complexion turned as white as paper in an instant.

He didn't even see where the attack came from; the gray rune had already pierced the Divine Realm's barrier, ignoring all physical and lawful impediments, and directly branded his divine soul.

Excruciating pain!

Indescribable agony!

It was as if his entire soul were thrown into a meat grinder, his consciousness tearing and collapsing wildly. The world before his eyes began to warp and blur, his control over the Divine Realm becoming like a marionette with its strings cut, resulting in a fatal stall.

The sky of the Divine Realm, once a steady black‑gold, began to flicker uncontrollably, and the earth emitted a strained lament.

"Brother?!"

Next to him, Wang Zhitao, still smacking his lips savoring the jelly‑like texture, instantly sensed that something was amiss.

He saw his brother's body trembling uncontrollably, the face that was usually serene now covered with cold sweat and pain.

"Brother, what's wrong with you?!" Wang Zhitao panicked.

Wang Zhize tried to speak, but discovered that even controlling his vocal cords was a luxury; the gray rune was frantically eroding everything about him.

It's over…

It was the only thought flashing through his mind.

However, just as the gray rune was about to fully detonate, shattering his divine soul into fragments,

In the deepest part of his Sea of Knowledge, the Law Core that had been formed by his grandfather Wang Shan as the foundation of the entire world suddenly blazed brightly.

A gentle, weighty yet incredibly resilient force, like the warmest embrace, spread outward from the core.

The force possessed no earth‑shattering grandeur; it simply flowed naturally, forming an invisible shield that precisely stood before the gray rune about to erupt.

No collision, no roar.

The gentle force simply wrapped the rune silently, like a spring breeze turning to rain, gradually wearing away the rune's malicious destructive will.

In an instant, amid the throbbing pain, Wang Zhize clearly "saw" his grandfather's figure.

It wasn't a true image, but a feeling—a resonance of shared bloodline. It was his grandfather telling him: don't fear, I'm here.

This silent guardianship, like a strong heart injection, made Wang Zhize's nearly collapsed divine soul surge sharply.

"Aaaah—!"

A roar of extreme anger reverberated throughout the Divine Realm.

Wang Zhitao saw his brother's anguished expression, saw the gray force that made his own heart flutter, and his simple mind was left with only one thought.

Kill it!

His eyes instantly filled with terrifying blood threads, and the mysterious black‑gold runes on his skin seemed to awaken, swirling and boiling wildly at an unprecedented speed.

"How dare you touch my brother! I'll eat you!!!"

Wang Zhitao, in a frenzy, charged forward, and, aiming at the area on Wang Zhize's forehead that had been shielded by his grandfather's power, suddenly opened his mouth wide.

A swallowing vortex, deeper and more ferocious than any before, thundered into formation within his mouth!

If before it was just eating a meal, now he's fighting for his life!

The gray rune, already suppressed and broken by his grandfather's power, was now violently yanked by Wang Zhitao's unreasonable devouring force.

Under the combined assault, this supreme killing technique, which had consumed most of the Disaster Shadow Guard's primordial source, didn't even have time to emit a wail before it "cracked" and completely collapsed.

All the tangled energies, vile curses, and even the old man's lingering divine thought were completely swallowed by Wang Zhitao's black‑hole‑like vortex.

"Gurgle…"

Wang Zhitao let out a hearty belch, a terribly foul odor spewed from his mouth; he grimaced in disgust, "Pah! What is this? It's bitter and astringent, like an unwashed bitter melon! Disgusting!"

Though he complained, the black‑gold runes on his body blazed brightly, and his entire aura surged dramatically.

Wang Zhize gasped repeatedly, his complexion still pale, but his eyes had regained clarity.

Wang Zhize reached up and touched his own brow; there was no pain there any more, only a warmth that came from his grandfather.

Just now, it was only that little bit away.

If grandfather's protection had been delayed by a second, if Zhitao's devouring had been slower by a second, I would now be a soulless husk, and this Divine Realm would collapse completely.

Wang Zhize slowly lifted his head, his gaze pierced the spatial barrier and fixed rigidly on the withered old man outside the Divine Realm, whose aura was languid because his origin had been wounded.

The prior calm, composure, and teasing had vanished in this moment.

In their place came a cold as ancient black ice, and a raging fire that seemed able to burn everything.

That was not merely an attack on him personally.

It was a desecration of his grandfather's resting place! A trampling of the protection most cherished by the two brothers!

"Zhitao." Wang Zhize's voice was light, yet carried an unprecedented chill.

"Ah? Brother, you're okay now?" Wang Zhitao hurried over, his face full of worry.

"It's fine." Wang Zhize looked at him, "This guy, he provoked me."

"It's more than just provoking you; his cooking is terrible! Brother, let's capture him and have him cook again!"

Upon hearing that, Wang Zhize's icy face somehow drew a smile, but the smile was uglier than crying.

"No." Wang Zhize shook his head, "No need for him to cook."

He ceased passive defense; with a thought, the authority of the world's ruler was driven by him to its limit.

"I say, this place does not tolerate you."

In an instant, outside the Divine Realm, the area where the withered old man stood experienced a violent shift in spatial law.

The old man felt the surrounding void instantly turn as viscous as amber, a massive, invisible yet omnipresent pressure pressing from all sides. His body sank, nearly falling from the air.

Even more terrifying, he discovered that the Withering Law within his body was becoming sluggish, like rusted gears turning with great difficulty.

This space... is rejecting me!

No, it is exiling me! It intends to erase me completely from its very concept!

In the old man's sunken eye sockets, genuine fear appeared for the first time.

A cold, merciless voice pierced the spatial barrier and rang directly within his spirit.

"Guest, you have had your fun. But you absolutely must not, under any circumstance, lay a hand on my family in my house."

"Now, the game is over."

Wang Zhize's mouth curled into a cold, ruthless arc.

"It's time... for you to taste the Wang Family's 'family law'."