The Revert to Silence Death Ray had been forcibly deflected, preserving the Ancient Demon Star Altar, but Li Wuyang had paid a terrible price. His soul was severely wounded, his aura languished, and he had nearly lost the strength to fight again. Yet the Finality Council's attacks were far from over. The true killing move was often hidden behind the thunderous first strike.
At the instant a crack appeared in Li Wuyang's mind due to his grave injuries, an exceedingly cold and sinister force seeped silently along the soul channel connecting him to the star array, like an invisible venomous snake. This was not a simple energy attack, but an erosion aimed at his Dao heart and the very source of his consciousness—Dao Heart Seed Demon!
This was a vicious secret art developed by the Finality Council specifically against high-level cultivators. Its origins could be traced back to methods used by extraterrestrial heavenly demons to beguile living beings, later modified by the Council with Annihilation Dao Principles to become even more difficult to guard against. The caster turned a wisp of pure Annihilation Demonic Thought into a seed and planted it deep within the target's consciousness when the target's mind was unstable and Dao foundation shaken. The seed would feed on the target's negative emotions, flaws in the Dao heart, and even their own insights into Dao principles, quietly growing until the target's Dao heart fell into corruption, their soul was tainted, and they might even become a puppet controlled by the Council.
The one casting this art on Li Wuyang was a thought incarnation of the Holy Lord of Annihilation, far away in the Eternal Night Great Hall! He had seen that Li Wuyang was the key to sustaining the star array and its greatest variable, so he intended