"What are they doing?" Tianming furrowed his brow. It was a little too far, so he couldn't see clearly with his own two eyes. He could only get a rough image with his Plundering Eye.

Di Zang and Po Suo were mumbling something in the middle of the monochrome formation, causing a black and white mist to form and snake around them. The mist soon gathered and fused into the five-colored formation. Tianming couldn't hear what they were saying, either.

"I heard these two were twelfth-level death samsarans, the strongest people on the Flameyellow Continent who are only a step away from godhood. Even though I can fight normal ghoul kings now, I might not even be able to escape from them if they discover me, let alone chase them away and destroy the formation..."

After a bit, he was sure that they didn't seem like they were about to leave soon.

"Big Brother, since you saw those two using Fatesteal, does that mean you'll have to deal with them to stand a chance to survive?" Feiling asked.

While it didn't really matter what Nonahall's actual goals were, they would definitely have Feiling killed immediately the moment they breached Taiji Peak Lake. Tianming and Archaion's fates had been entangled long ago.

"That’s likely to be the case. The question is how to stop them. The two of them are far too strong, so even if the three sect masters come to help me, we might not be able to deal with them."

"What about luring them away?"

Tianming gave it some thought and shook his head. "You're underestimating them too much. If what they're doing is really that important, there's no way they'll be lured away so easily. Still, what in the world is within this formerly grey star?"

He couldn't figure it out no matter what.

"Whatever. I'll give it a try, at least. Let’s see if I can breach the formation with my Plundering Arm," Tianming said.

"So we'll go to the other side of the star?"

"Yes. If we can enter, let's see what's inside."

"Won't it be dangerous?"

"It's better than knowing nothing about it."

Right as he was about to do so, the monochrome formation suddenly showed a huge change. It began flashing with a strong black and white light that pierced through the star. The two pale eyeballs within the formation began furiously shaking.

All of a sudden, something emerged from within the five-colored star that caused Tianming to forget to breathe. Eventually, a pure-white figure appeared in the formation with the eyeballs taking the place of its eyes. The figure was a vague apparition, but it looked at Di Zang and Po Suo using Ye Bodhi's eyes.

"The ritual was successful! All hail the overlord!" Di Zang and Po Suo immediately knelt. While Tianming couldn't exactly hear what they were saying from where he was, he did find it weird that people on their level would ever kneel to somebody else. The figure gave Tianming a bad feeling.

The agitation felt by the two ghoul kings was overwhelming. They seemed to be shedding tears of joy, as if they had been waiting for this moment for far too long.

Just as Tianming was about to make his approach, he thought, this figure looks bald too. Reminds me of Ye Bodhi.

Then, the white figure in the distance turned towards him. He was discovered! "There's a fly nearby," the figure said.

"Understood, My Overlord. I shall chase it away," said the white-robed Po Suo. The young girl turned to Tianming with a gaze that could kill. "Oh, you came here to serve yourself up even though we haven't come hunting for you yet."

She turned into a blur and rapidly approached.

"Let's go!" Tianming flapped all six of his wings and flew downward. The prospect of facing off against a twelfth-level death phase samsaran was far too terrifying. The difference in their levels alone gave Tianming a feeling of approaching death.

In terms of acceleration, the Celestial Wings was better than Meow Meow. Fortunately, they were quite some ways apart, so he still had some hope. However, he couldn't even turn back to look. The threat from Po Suo seemed to constantly linger behind him and he just couldn't shake her off. His plan to try entering the star from the other side had also failed.

"Stop wasting your effort, Li Tianming. I've wanted to kill you for a long time." Her old and husky voice sounded like grating dry wood.

Tianming had an epiphany that not all fates could be changed, even if he saw it coming.

......

Within the monochrome formation, the figure asked, "Are you the one who woke me up?"

Di Zang only stood up after the figure waved, his tears flowing and mouth shaking. "My Overlord... it's been two hundred thousand years, and this day has finally come! It's been far too long!"

"Don't make a big deal out of this. It's pointless. Once the Skysource Hellshaker Formation collapses, our race shall return to the human realm. As for the pain and despair we've suffered throughout the two hundred thousand years and thousands of generations.... We'll make sure to settle the debt with this continent and the world." The voice of the figure sounded young and firm. He could already see the boundless land stretching out in front of him, his eyes shaking from sheer agitation. He was born in a world devoid of hope, sustained only by the ancient records passed down through the generations.

"Is... is this the human realm?" he asked with a shaky, pain-filled voice.

"My Overlord, all those generations suffering in despair was all for this day! I can only imagine how it feels! Our race shall cleanse this world with blood and pay back these mere mortals for the tens of thousands of years of suffering!"

"Leave those words for the day of our arrival. The ritual won’t last forever, so let's get to the main topic."

"Yes, My Overlord. There are two keys for the Heaven Cauldron held by two different people. All we need to do is steal them and open the cauldron to destroy Great Emperor Xuanyuan's divine body. Then, the cauldron's power will rapidly dissipate into chaos. All that'll be left is for those of us within the Ninefold Hell to attack the formation at the same time. We'll definitely be able to break open the Skysource Hellshaker Formation!"

"The chaos that results from the destruction of Great Emperor Xuanyuan's divine body is our only chance. Otherwise, we'll have to wait thousands of more years for the Heaven Cauldron to run out of power!"

"How in the world did a body he left behind sustain the formation for more than two hundred thousand years?" Di Zang said.

"Did you lose a lot of history?"

"The constant chaos across the continent caused much of our history to be lost to time. Among those of us left on the continent, only one person with the royal bloodline emerged, which brought us back to prominence."

"The matters back then weren't that simple. The humans came from the cosmic aether... and with help from other races."

"I see..."

"Listen well. When you destroy the divine body, those of us on the inside will have to launch a concentrated attack on the formation at the same time. Most of us have chosen to enter hibernation to survive to this day. We need a month's time to wake them all up. Let's choose the day a month from now to put the plan into action. We’ll destroy the formation and finally free our race from the sea of pain!"

"Understood!"

Waking up their overlord to agree on a set time for their plan was the purpose of the ritual. It was obvious that they had no way of knowing from within the formation if the divine body was destroyed.

Now that they had established contact, it was time for the final battle. Even though the events in the Kilostar Domain and at Tianming City had gone against expectations, the two ghoul kings seemed unfazed, as they weren't afraid of the 'dead'. So what if six million warriors from the Nonahall Divine Realm perished? Even if billions died, they wouldn't bat an eye, for they weren't humans to begin with!

"A month should be enough time to destroy the divine body, right?"

"Definitely, My Overlord! By the way, someone of the Blooddragon Clan of the Archaic House of Xuanyuan absorbed more than a hundred thousand dragon souls from the Blooddragon Sealing Formation. He's rather capable, and wishes to inherit our bloodline."

"Blooddragon Clan? It shall be permitted."

Soon, his body began dissipating, but he was actually laughing. "It took two hundred thousand years of waiting for the destruction of the Blooddragon Sealing Formation and Kilostar Domain! The Ninefold Hell shall descend again! A month from now, the true rulers of the Flameyellow Continent shall return."

Then, the eyeballs suddenly burst and the figure within the formation disappeared. Di Zang knelt and kowtowed until the figure completely vanished before standing back up and taking a deep breath.

"Now that we've confirmed the time with the overlord, it's about time to flatten Taiji Peak Lake. A month is enough for us to destroy it ten times over! The changes in Tianming City put a dent in my perfect plan. So, Li Tianming alone was enough to destroy my whole army, huh? If that's the case, I'll show you what a royal specter's bloodline is like! What's the difference between an army of millions and a person who’s consumed millions of lifebound beasts?"