Ancient God Emperor Artifact

Deep within the void, the flow of time was vastly different from the outside world.

The lotus of white bones, which spanned across the chaos, had remained perfectly still for an entire month.

The Vast Void Dao Ancestor sat cross-legged on the lotus platform, his withered hands cradling a "pseudo Dao Pattern" that emitted a faint grey light.

He did not rush to devour it, nor did he rush to cultivate.

As an Ancient God who had lived for countless eons, he had seen too many bait, and laid too many traps.

Although the successful transformation of that Void Child had tempted him, it was not enough to make him completely lower his guard.

From his single eye, thousands of divine sense threads, finer than a strand of hair, shot out.

These threads acted like the most precise surgical knives, peeling away the rune in his hand layer by layer.

He was dismantling it.

From the outermost energy structure, to the core logic of the laws, and then to every minute spiritual energy node.

He did not let slip any abnormal fluctuations.

"The structure is perfect."

The Vast Void Dao Ancestor muttered to himself.

The construction of this rune was natural and flawless, the flow of the five elements was endless, and the balance of yin and yang was seamless.

"The logic is sound."

He peeled away another layer.

The operational logic within the rune was indeed "removing the false and preserving the true," purifying the origin by reversing negative states.

This was unlike any curse or restriction he had ever known.

He had even captured several Heavenly Demons wandering in the void and forcibly implanted the rune into their bodies.

The result was invariably the same.

The ferocious Heavenly Demons became docile, and their chaotic demonic energy became pure.

There were no signs of self-destruction, nor any trace of manipulation.

A full thirty days.

The Vast Void Dao Ancestor used hundreds of secret arts and performed thousands of deductions.

All results pointed to a single conclusion: this was a true, pure, supreme mystic art capable of rewriting the level of life.

"Could it be... that Li Yan truly took out his ultimate secret technique for that female disciple?"

The Vast Void Dao Ancestor's wariness finally began to loosen amidst this prolonged verification.

He looked at the rune in his hand, which remained undamaged and was even self-repairing, and his greed gradually overshadowed his doubts.

Since no problems could be found, there were no problems.

He believed in his own judgment, and even more so in his status as an Ancient God.

In this realm, no trap could escape "Vast Void's" eyes.

He opened his mouth and swallowed the rune, which he had dismantled and reassembled countless times, in one gulp.

Boom.

A cool yet immense power of law instantly exploded within his origin.

In the Central Continent Immortal Realm, within the Listening Wind Monastery.

Li Yan maintained his posture of sitting cross-legged and drinking tea.

But in his sea of consciousness, the causal line that had been taut for an entire month finally sent a violent fluctuation.

"Old fox, you finally took the bait."

Li Yan put down his teacup, a faint smile forming on his lips.

He was not surprised by the Vast Void Dao Ancestor's caution.

If the other party had started practicing immediately, they wouldn't have deserved to be called an Ancient God.

But this month of inspection was destined to be futile.

This was because Li Yan had not poisoned the rune, nor had he set any overt restrictions.

He had used a more advanced method: "repairing falsehood as truth."

The Vast Void Dao Ancestor's origin was "Yao Jue," deception, and illusion.

Li Yan's Side Effect Law, however, had "reversal" at its core.

He reversed his own law and disguised it as a power originating from the same source as the Yao Jue Dao Patterns, integrating it into the rune.

This was akin to making a fishhook out of real gold.

The fishhook itself was real, and the gold was real.

No matter how the Vast Void Dao Ancestor analyzed it, it was still a piece of genuine gold.

But its effect was to hook the fish's mouth.

This was a dimensional reduction attack on a logical level.

The Vast Void Dao Ancestor was searching for a "false" trap, unaware that the trap itself was constructed from "truth."

When a habitual liar hears an absolute truth, they might instead perceive it as the most perfect lie in the world.

"Since it's connected, don't just stand there."

Li Yan's mind stirred, and he gently flicked his fingertips in the void.

Deep underground, at the core of the formation.

The Devouring Array, which had initially only connected to the Heavenly Evolution Pavilion, suddenly emitted a low hum.

The array's power instantly increased tenfold.

In the depths of the void, the Vast Void Dao Ancestor, who had just begun practicing a new Cultivation Method, felt his body tremble slightly.

He sensed that the rate at which his divine power was draining seemed to have increased.

But he paid it no mind.

It was normal for such a powerful Dao Pattern to consume more energy.

Instead, he increased his spiritual energy absorption from the disciples in the Void Hall, attempting to compensate for this deficit.

What he didn't know was.

Every bit of energy he absorbed was being secretly siphoned off after being transformed by that "pseudo Dao Pattern."

An invisible channel, spanning countless dimensional barriers.

It directly connected to the Furnace beneath Li Yan's feet.

Within the deep pit.

The Myriad Manifestations Spirit Fire, originally a seven-colored glazed hue, was suddenly tinged with a bizarre, sickly white.

This was the origin power of the Vast Void Dao Ancestor.

The cultivation of an Ancient God was immeasurably vast.

Even a small portion of it, when siphoned off, was enough to fill seas and move mountains for a plane at the level of the Canglan Realm.

The flames surged.

The Emperor Lord's severed arm, which had been slowly dissolving, finally lost its last bit of resistance in the face of this newly added power.

Crack.

A crisp cracking sound echoed from deep within the severed arm.

The indestructible Divine Bone split open, revealing a fissure.

Li Yan's eyes shot out with brilliance.

"Now."

His fingers moved like a blur, unleashing tens of thousands of hand seals.

"Three Essences Unite, Forge God Demon."

Boom.

The entire underground space violently shook.

Three distinct, extreme powers converged at this moment.

The first was the "Deathly Seal" power contained within the Emperor Lord's severed arm.

It was the ultimate physical body, the pinnacle of slaughter and destruction, representing the apex of the material plane.

The second was the "Yao Jue" power transmitted by the Vast Void Dao Ancestor.

It was the ultimate illusion, chaos, and mental control, representing the bizarre changes of the consciousness plane.

The third was the "side effect correction" power controlled by Li Yan.

It was the neutralizer, the adhesive, and the Monarch that commanded all.

It forcibly twisted the two irreconcilable Ancient God powers together.

Visibly, the severed arm began to change its form.

The originally ferocious dragon scales shed completely, replaced by a new skin shimmering with a mingled luster of cyan-gray and dark red.

This skin appeared delicate as jade but possessed an indestructible texture.

The five fingers became slender, their tips no longer claws but transformed into some kind of semi-transparent crystal.

With every slight tremor of the fingertips, black spatial rifts were drawn across the void.

Even more terrifying was its aura.

No longer purely ferocious.

It was a bizarre sense that made one feel dizzy and disoriented upon sight.

It seemed to exist here and yet not here.

It was real, and also illusory.

It was a weapon of slaughter, and also a vessel of lies.

This arm was evolving into a monster that surpassed its original grade.

It combined the overbearing nature of the Bloodline Emperor Lord with the cunning of the Vast Void Dao Ancestor.

It even incorporated Li Yan's unreasonable reversal of karma.

Li Yan watched the work gradually taking shape before him, his breathing involuntarily becoming heavier.

Too strong.

This strength even exceeded his initial expectations.

Originally, he just wanted to forge a handy weapon to fight against an Emperor Lord.

But now, due to the Vast Void Dao Ancestor's "generous contribution," this weapon had undergone an uncontrollable, positive mutation.

It seemed... to possess a living characteristic.

"Unimaginable."

Li Yan muttered to himself, his voice echoing in the vast underground space.

"If this hand is completely refined into a Magic Artifact."

"A single sword strike wouldn't just shatter the enemy's physical body."

"I'm afraid even the enemy's concept of existence, their karma and logic, would be rewritten in an instant."

"This is no longer a Divine Artifact."

"This is... Heaven's Punishment."

Li Yan slowly extended his right hand.

The Myriad Manifestations Spirit Fire below seemed to sense its master's will, lifting the newly formed arm, which had shrunk to normal human size, slowly upwards.

The arm hovered before Li Yan, exuding a suffocating pressure.

Li Yan could feel that within the arm, there was still one last core that had not been broken through.

That was the Bloodline Emperor Lord's final trace of instinctual obsession.

And the Vast Void Dao Ancestor's Ancient God imprint left in the energy.

These two forces were still making their final resistance, attempting to seize control of this new body.

"It still needs one last spark."

Li Yan's eyes were cold.

He looked up at the water mirror.

In the image, the Immortals of the Heavenly Evolution Pavilion were still madly contributing their greed.

And in the depths of the void, the Vast Void Dao Ancestor was still tirelessly operating his Cultivation Method, supplying origin energy.

"Vast Void, since you're working so hard."

"Then I can't let you down either."

Li Yan clasped his hands together abruptly.

"Great Array, reverse."

This time, he was no longer passively receiving.

He was taking the initiative.

He wanted to follow that thread of karma and take a huge bite.

Even if it meant the Vast Void Dao Ancestor would notice, he didn't care.

Because the forging was at its final stage.

Once he took this step.

Even if the Four Great Ancient Gods arrived together.

He, Li Yan, would dare to cover the sky with one hand.